"Elara?"
Roger sighed
"I'll get heart problems with all the times that little brat shocks me with that disappearing trick."
"Anyway, where am I? I've never seen the trees this big in any forest surrounding the town."
Roger looked into the distance
A tall dark figure caught his eye between the cluster of trees
"What is that?"
Roger walked closer to the figure, curious
The figure started to shrink, and get wider... Its body was deforming going a from a tall thin stature, to a short wide one, soon it was completely spread apart on the floor flat like a pancake. it looked as if they were ants working together to create a work of art in the form of a body.
Roger began to lose his fear after seeing this all unfold, he sighed in relief
"Phew... I thought that was the end of me for a minute, you all must just be some extremely coordinated ant species adapted to survival, is this forest that dangerous?" "I should get out of here"
Roger turned around and started walking away from the ant like creatures on the ground, but they followed him
He noticed them following and decided to speed up to lose them, but they were just as fast as he was
Even when he sped up to his fastest, they could always catch up
Roger become too tired, he sat down resting on a tree
"Man... you little things need to leave me alone, I just want to get out of here"
He waved his hand at them shooing them away
"Go! Go away! I don't have food, and I'm obviously not food, don't follow me anymore."..."Haha good thing I'm alone, people would call me crazy for talking to some ants"
Roger stood back up, he noticed a few of the ants crawling up his leg hastily.
"H-hey!, get off me!"
Roger shook his feet trying to get the ants to fall off of him, unfortunately it was ineffective and even more continued climbing up his leg
"Aghhh! This is so annoying, leave me aloneee!"
Suddenly the ants climbed down from Rogers leg and went back onto the ground, carrying a large object
"Huh? What is that thing..."
Roger started to feel dizzy
"Hey wait... thats-thats mine"
Roger started to wobble, and soon he fell to the ground
One of his legs were missing
The ants painlessly amputated his leg and took it away with them
"Why? I just wanted to get out of here... Why does this have to happen to me..."
Roger layed there unconscious
Later even more of the ants came and gathered on Rogers body
Every limb was detached, only his head remained, not even a hint of his blood remained just a head, beside a eerie looking tree
*Back to the village*
"Elara, what are you doing inside Old man Rogers home??
"Woow how did you get in?"
"Did you see Mr Roger?"
Many other kids clamouring in the background curious and envious of Elara's 'Awesomeness'
"Hahahaha, everyone gets 10 silver coins!"
All the kids cheered
"Ohhh Yeahhhh!!!"
"We'd do anything for you!!"
"Three cheers for Elara!!"
"Your the best Elara!!"
Elara interrupted the praise
"Did I hear... you would do aaaannnyyyythinggggg, for meee?"
The children all looking confused
"Uhhh, yeah"
Elara grinned, a smile of pure evil
"Hehehehe"
"Well then, I will give you all 10 silver each, if you give me..... hmmm let me think"
The kids eyes already sparkling with determination to complete a mission they don't even know yet
"Ah yes. If you sneak and find your parents money... take 1 gold coin and bring it back to me, one gold coin equals 10 silver, hehehe"
The kids were thinking hard, they had no idea how money worked, all they knew was how to spend it,
"DEAL!!!"
"Cmon guys, its only 1 gold, our parents probably have tons of those!"
The kids all scattered
"Hahahaha! such easy children, its' fun being the smartest person ever, but sometimes I wish there was someone who could match my intelligence"
Elara sighed
"Welp! That's probably impossible to find in this town! HAHAHAHA!"
1 hour had passed, all the children returned to Elara waiting for them all with a bunch of sacks of 10 silver coins
"Wow she really has many 10 silver coin pouches there!"
"Alright everyone line up, come one at a time, and no pushing!"
Elara was very stern now, she had waited for such a long time, she'd better not be disappointed
Elara began
"First up! Step forward!"
The first kid walked up to Elara with his gold coin in his hands
Elara saw the flashing sparkle of the coin and her mood changed immediately,
"Hahaha, nice one my friend. Place the coin in here please."
The child placed the coin in a sack Elara had set up
Elara gave the child 10 silver coins in return
"here you go "
All the children were amazed that it was really true, they were about to gain 10 silver coins by giving away 1 gold coin, unbeknownst to them, a gold coin is worth 100 silver coins
Elara however, used their stupidity to her advantage
*15 minutes later*
"Phew, that's everyone, time for me to get out of this town, I have made 50 gold coins!!"
"Hmmm I should head to Alanca now, that's the best place for me to start a business, and make tons of money!"
Elara had a bright gleam in her eyes, looking up at the sky she felt she was able to accomplish something she was dreaming of for a very long time
She walked into her home, it was rid of all childish things like toys, the only things that filled the space were books about business and common laws, her bed and some unused looking sofa, yet very clean.
"I have no time to sit around and lazing, I need to start making my way to Alanca now to finally have a chance!"
Elara was confident in completing this dream of hers
She stepped back outside her house with her backpack on her back filled with all of her gold coins,
She walked all the way across town and got to the gate to exit,
however...
A large group of beasts had managed to break in and cause havoc
There was no exiting or entering until the mess was cleared
Elara had nowhere to go until the situation was taken care of
Elara looked to her right and opened her eyes with joy as if she seen the love of her life after a long time of separation
"Draymond!!!"
The guard captain Draymond looked around
He squinted his eyes looking towards the left
"Is that..."
"Draymond!!"
Elara waved jumping up and down
"Is that Elara??"
Draymond walked over to her greeting her
"Its been a while Elara, what are you doing here?"
Elara responded excitedly
"It sure has been long!"
"But I wanted to leave the townnn!! whats going on?" Elara sighed
"Unfortunately there has been an increase in dangerous beasts in the forests nearby and so we closed the gate and reinforced it temporarily, now we are just dealing with all the beast that are still in town"
"I see... what is the reason behind the increase in beasts in this part of the forest?"
"No Idea Elara, you would probably get to find out later if we deal with this situation first"
"Anyways, where were you heading to?"
"I want to go to Alanca"
"Oh? for what reason?"
"It takes a few days to get there from here"
"you don't even have any proper transport"
"It's also far too dangerous for you alone"
"-And yo-"
"Okay okay, I get it, is there anyone that could go with me?"
"Well... I guess I do have someone, but I've only just started teaching him"
"That's fine, I'll take him"
"It isn't like you taking him now is the issue, I just still have a lot I want to teach him before he goes"
"Well then hurry and teach him it now!!"
Elara was growing impatient, she was desperate to get out of the town and couldn't hold in her feelings any longer
"Where is this guy your training anyway!??"
Draymond sighed...
"Tenzen! Come here!"
In the blink of an eye, Tenzen appeared
Elara squealed
"W-w-where did he come from??"
"Elara, this is Tenzen, Tenzen, this is Elara"
"Wow, hello Elara!"
"Uhm... Hey"
Draymond stared at Elara
"What's wrong?"
"Are you shy?"
Elara looked up into Draymond's eyes angry:
"I am not! Its just our first meeting, it's awkward..."
Draymond and Tenzen burst into laughter
Draymond wiping his tears continued
"Well, this is Tenzen, I am currently training him, but I guess it would be great for him to learn from real challenges on your journey to Alanca"
Tenzen looked at Draymond confused
"Does this mean I have graduated on my first day??"
Draymond smiled
"No kid, it just means when you return, I will be able to test your growth!"
Tenzen looked up into Draymond's eyes, they shone as bright as stars
Tenzen grabbed Elara by her arm and started running off
"Lets go Elara! Our journey begins now!"
"You kids stay safe out there!"
Tenzen still holding Elara by the arm, jumped over the 20 ft town walls
Elara gasped
"H-How did you jump that high!?"
Tenzen smirked
"Hehehe, aren't I cool?"
"Whatever" Elara said, rolling her eyes
They landed onto the ground, Elara using her wind magic to soften her fall, while Tenzen landed on the ground at full force creating shockwaves
"IM FINALLY OUTSIDEEE!!" Elara screamed
"Hahaha, is it your first time outside of the town?"
"What? of course not!"
"I just never really went out often since I had something I really needed to do in town"
Tenzen looked curious, but decided not to ask
"Hmm, alright then! So where are we heading to?"
Elara seemed excited
"We are going to Alanca, The Land Of Opportunities!"
Tenzen also excited
"Great! I will have many opportunities to fight strong people there, wont I?"
Elara put her hand on her chin thinking
"Well yes, since Alanca is on the list of one of the strongest and largest kingdoms in the world, there are definitely many great fighters wandering the territory"
Tenzen growing impatient
"HAHAHAHA! WELL THEN LETS GET GOING NOW!!!"
"Okay, we'll just follow this path for 2 days and we will make it out of the forest"
*Draymond sighed beyond the walls*
"I'll be lonely here for a while, wont I?"...