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As I woke up, I noticed that I was lying down in a nicely made tent. There was a small fire blazing just outside it. Anders was snoring beside me. My heart did a somersault in my chest; honestly, it was the cutest thing I ever saw. The way he sticks his tongue out while he sleeps is just adorable!

I checked on my wound. It was completely healed, no scars or scabs, my fur looked like it never had a cut. I got up slowly, just in case. There wasn't even the slightest bit of pain. I walked outside the tent. The air smelled like dew drops and honey. It was around night time but I don't know how long. I don't even know how long I was out. I sat by the fire and let the warmth seep into me. I heard rustling somewhere in the bushes and I tried to grab my sword but I don't know where it is. I prepared myself for any attack coming my way. What came out of the bushes was the lion I saw before.

"Good, you're awake! I was beginning to get worried." The lion said. His voice was tenor; firm yet relaxed and soothing. I'm guessing he's at least two years older than me. He was holding my swords. As he gave them back to me he said, "I cleaned these for you. Demonic ashes are so hard to get off these things."

"Um... Thanks... Sorry, what's your name? I didn't get it before I passed out." I asked.

"I'm Arthur. But you could call me Arty." Arty said cheerfully.

"Arty, the lion mage. You're kind of... muscular for a mage." I said as I got a proper look at him from top to bottom.

"Thanks... You're Rowan I presume." He smirked.

"Yup. I guess I should thank you for healing me." I smiled. The aura he emits; it's like he's radiating both power and kindness.

"Oh, don't mention it. It would be much better if I could cure your temporary amnesia. But alas, it appears that I don't have any spell for that." He said.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"Around several hours, it must be close to dawn right now... You know, your friend that's snoring over there was worried sick about you. He wouldn't leave your side all night even when he fell asleep. I swear, he snores so loud I think that he might actually alert the demons that were here." He giggled.

"Well, his snoring might actually be the one keeping the demons away." We both let that thought settle in our heads and we both laughed.

"You know, your alright." He declared.

I laughed, "Why don't we take a walk. Just for a while though, I wouldn't want the demons to ambush Anders and besides, I already had a long rest. I want to burn some energy."

Arty agreed to walk. We walked in the woods while we shared some things about ourselves. I told him everything that transpired from the moment I woke up without remembering a thing, I also shared some bits about the memory that I recovered. We stopped occasionally to catch our breath or to check if we were being followed. He shared some details about his past. Ever since he was a just a cub, he had magic and because of that the other furs were afraid of him. He said they always treated him like I was some monster. After a while he just couldn't take it and decided to run away. I asked about his parents but he just waved the question away. I guess that was private so I decided not to ask further. So he became a nomad ever since. He learned to survive all on his own, which was quite a feat. He learned different types of magic from different wandering mages but he never really stayed with them. I don't know why he didn't stay with them though. He avoided talking about his mentors as much as he could. I think he has some things he'd like to keep private so I'll not ask anymore. Through the years, he got tougher in the wilds, and his magic grew stronger. He said that he also explored lots of ruins, he didn't find any treasure though but what he did find was some bits of Intel about magic and ancient history.

Several minutes later, we reached the end of the woods and ended up on top of a cliff. In front, the whole horizon was stretched out and the vast sea expanded to the unknown. There was a beach at the base of the cliff; the sand was almost as white as snow. The smell of the sea filled our lungs and the sound of the crashing waves on the beach rhythmic and soothing to the ears. The sun that was peeking from the small gap that separated the sea from the sky was slowly rising. The forest behind us turned silent waiting for the first taste of light in this new day. The light from the sky slowly turned from gray to blue as the sun slowly awakened from its slumber. We gazed in awe at the brilliance of the rising sun. As the light touched our faces and the forest, everything seemed to burst to life. A cool breeze washed over us and the forest; we let our fur and ears get blown back by the wind. The flowers slowly bloomed, the sound of rustling leaves echoed from behind us. We were amazed at how life could be so beautiful.

"Wow." Was all I managed to say.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Arty said in amazement.

"It sure is." I agreed.

It was all beautiful until the small earthquake rattled us; things were somewhat shaky. The cliff we were on started to crumble. We jumped back into the forest just in time before it all fell. As we turned our gaze back to the sea, dark clouds formed in one distinct part of the sky and the water turned black while something slowly rose from the depths. A stone castle arose from the sea; it continued to rise until it floated several meters above the surface of the water. It was a grotesque and vicious looking castle that was floating on a huge pile of rock. The castle itself was made of granite. The entrance was a large arch that was sealed by a spiked gate. The towers were at least fourteen meters taller than the walls and had a post for guards but now it was empty. The rest of the castle was shrouded in darkness. Demons slowly rose from the sea and walked toward the beach. We hid ourselves in a nearby bush. The demons were slowly growing in number. They were all different shapes and sizes; some were like slugs, there were also the shades, dark ogres. The others were reptilian in looks, some had wings, some had deadly weapons for heads and some were just plain ugly.

"What is all this? Is this some kind of demon fest?" Arty whispered.

"I don't know but this might have a lot to do with the demon attacks. Anders said it wasn't normal for them to be attacking so coordinately and he believed there was someone behind all this." I replied.

Out of thin air, a portal of darkness opened and out came a hooded person in black robes. He began to speak in a powerful and raspy voice, "Minions! Now is the time to reclaim the land that was once mine! We have been exiled for far too long! This is the time to reclaim our glory! No one shall stand in our way! We will conquer everything in our path! The nobles of this land shall bow to us and the new kingdom shall fall!"

The demons all cheered in unison.

"Starting tonight we shall make ourselves known to all!"

The demons cheered again.

"Everything shall be ours!!"

The demons cheered again but louder this time.

"We got to go. This place isn't safe anymore." Arty whispered.

I nodded.

We silently strode through the forest. We were several meters away from the camp when I bumped into Anders.

"Anders! You're awake!" I was surprised. He hugged me tightly for a few seconds and then punched me on my shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?" I asked.

"Never, ever do that again! I thought I'd lost you!" he shouted.

Arty silenced Anders, "Quiet you! We must move quickly."

Anders didn't need to protest. We went straight to camp and Arty waved his staff in the air and the whole camp just shimmered and disappeared. I strapped my armor on in a jiffy and buckled on my swords. We dashed through the forest with as little sound as possible. After we were a safe distance away, we slowed our pace. Anders then brought up his question impatiently, "Will you explain to me why we just bolted away like that?"

"Tell him Rowan." Arty said.

I explained to Anders what had happened; the dark floating castle, the demon army, the hooded person, everything. "Oh, that is definitely not good." He said.

We stayed silent for a while as we walked. We didn't know what to do next. I thought about what that hooded person said and I knew that no one would ever survive. Unless...

My thoughts were interrupted by Anders, "What are we going to do now?"

I then thought up the plan and told it to them, "I was thinking that maybe we could go to the capitol and alert them about this and they could fight this thing." I replied.

"Go to the capitol? But it's all the way up north!" Anders protested.

"We have no other choice. It's better than running and hiding. Arty, what say you?" I turned to Arty.

"Sounds like a good plan." He stopped to get something from his small knapsack, "I've got this map; it could show us the way to the capitol."

We gathered around the map. "We are right... here." He pointed at the southeastern part of the map; there was Shroudspire town. It was surrounded by Shroudspire forest and to the south were the Windlorn Mountains, to the east of it was the sea. His finger travelled up North West to a place called Dragonskeep City. "And this is the capitol." It was a port city near the Needlespring Mountains to the west. I presumed that that serves as the natural border of the kingdom.

"It's so far away. How can we get there in time to warn the Capitol?" Anders complained.

"Easy. We'll use the Emperor's highway." Arty traced his finger to a road that went all across the kingdom, "But we will have to stop by Knightlock City, and some other places to get supplies, though."

He pointed to a bastion-like place on the map. It wasn't that far from us, it was relatively near and was the nearest entrance to the Emperor's highway.

We nodded.

"It's settled then. We go to Knightlock City to refresh our supplies, and then we stop in other cities if necessary but we shouldn't make our stay longer than two days. We must make it to the capitol as fast as possible, form an army to fight this...evil and we rescue my mother along the way." I summarized.

"Good. Let's get going before any demons show up." Arty said.

"Looks like we have ourselves a quest. As long as I'm with you, Rowan, I know we can do it!" Anders cheered up.

So this is the start of our journey. We have to do whatever it takes to stop this evil from taking over the land and save my mother in the process. This is going to be one hell of a ride.