Two men made their way through the forest, one tall and one short.
They were dressed in leather and on each of their hips one could see a black dagger with a skull shaped pommel.
"Which of us do you think has the real one?" A short man asked, eyes glued to a red ring in his hand.
"I bet the branchmaster has it, didn't he say anyone who can infuse it with mana could bond with it? With such a flimsy restriction the branchmaster would be an idiot if he actually handed over the real one." A tall man answered, glancing at the red ring in his own hand.
"If that was the case then why make this whole show of distributing copies? Didn't he say this was a way to let the ring find its destined owner?" The short man argued, unwilling to let go of the perceived opportunity.
"Mate you're too naive, chances are this is a smoke screen to divert those snobby nobles." The tall man scoffed, he knew better than to expect handouts from the Thieve's guild. "Plus, yours is definitely a fake so stop dreaming about it."
"You're such a party pooper." The short man grumbled. "Can't you at least imagine a bit, what if the branchmaster handed over to one of us grunts? And what is by sheer luck we found out who has it and snatched the ring for ourselves! Ahh, the things I would…" The short man suddenly stopped midsentence.
Silently he spread his mana sense around. "I feel a presence nearby." He told the tall man.
In a bush a few meters away Valthar dry gulped.
He had just woken up a few moments ago and cursed his luck a thousand times in his head.
Worse yet Valtahr felt the two's life energy pulse with killing intent.
Pulling their daggers out the two men slowly stalked closer to the bush.
Mana from the air around started to gather at the tip of their blades, their muscles tensed under their clothes, ready for combat.
The short one walked in front and the tall one followed behind.
"The mana signature is very weak, either an animal or…." The short man gave the tall one a look.,
"One of the noble scouts?" The tall man asked very quietly.
With that the two men stopped on their tracks, only a couple meters away from Valthar.
"You over there! Yeah you in the bush, show yourself."
Valthar's heart skipped a beat, as his hope they wouldn't find him crumbled before his eyes.
For a second Valthar considered running, but the chances he would be caught in the blink of an eye were just too high.
The leaves in the bush rustled as Valthar slowly raised himself.
"Good afternoon fellow commoners, I was just taking a nap here. I hope I haven't disturbed you two in your peaceful walk." Valthar's training on proper speech kicked in as a pool of cold sweat dripped down his back.
"Who sent you here?" The tall man narrowed his eyes and pulled his hand back, ready to throw a dagger at Valthar when suddenly…
"Wait wait wait! I know who this guy is." The short one said with a relieved laugh. "It's the tree toucher!"
"The what?" The tall one asked, confused.
"Remember those guys who got purified by the church? He is one of those!" The short man said before he leaned closer and started to 'whisper'.
The thing is, his whisper was very loud in the quiet forest.
"I saw him around and heard about him at the night market, they said the Church crippled him so thoroughly he lost his mind."
"After they let him go, the Tree Toucher now spends his days limping around and touching every single tree at the edge of the city, from early morning till late at night." The short man snickered. "People say he is searching for a magical tree to cure his broken mana veins."
"No way, you need to stop listening to these stories mate." The tall man scoffed at his companion, already completely free from the earlier tension.
"I'm serious. Scan him with your mana sense, the Church did him dirty!" The short man yelled and pointed, the earlier attempt to whisper now completely abandoned.
The tall man spread his mana sense towards Valthar and just like the short man had said Valthar's mana veins were truly beyond repair.
"Let's go back then mate, seeing a cripple in the woods is never a good sign." The tall man said before locking eyes with Valthar. "And you! You better keep your mouth shut about this Tree Toucher."
With that the two men walked away, chuckling to themselves.
Meanwhile Valthar stood frozen in place, lost for words.
'Tree Toucher?!' Valthar felt a dozen emotions stir in his stomach.
Yes he touched trees.
But not for the whole day!
Yes he was purified. But who said anything about losing his mind!
And what kind of shameless person goes around spreading such slander?!
Do they have nothing better to do with their lives???
A part of Valthar almost wanted to go after the two and argue about it, but he held his tongue and squatted back into the bush.
In the silent forest one could hear the sound of leaves being torn to shreds.
*
One or two hours before sundown Valthar made his way back to the Inn.
On his way back he couldn't help but pay more attention around him.
And as if to confirm his worries, many people throughout the way started to whisper as soon as he appeared.
They too might have heard about his shameful nickname or the absurd rumors.
In some ways it brought him memories of the few noble parties he went to.
Full of gossip and people with way too much time on their hands.
In some ways some things can be found from the heart of the Empire to the edge of the Outlands.
Tired, Valthar took a bath and laid in bed.
Now it was just a matter of time till his body processed the life energy.
Very soon he would become a first ring mage.