Chapter I: Homebound

He had never been one for the snowy mountains of the north, and the other two knew that. Varyn and his lifelong friends, Mya and Sjin, were traveling back to the southern region of Lofiron after having delivered an important document to the lord of the northern keep. Surely the rulers of the land could have come up with some more interesting names for their provinces, right? Eagle's Keep, really? That, however, did not matter to Varyn at the moment. What did matter to him was that they all made it back in one piece.

The trio were all equipped with adequate gear for the region, but that did not make it that much better. Their hardened leather armor that they all preferred had to be exchanged for thick, padded fur that was more suited for this environment. Mya had objected at first, complaining that the fur would not complement her appearance very well. She had always believed that appearance makes the person, or at least, she said that to hide her vanity. Sjin was not nearly as annoyed by the outfits as Mya; he may prefer leather, but he was always ready to try out different things, especially if it was a new blade for his arsenal.

Varyn just wanted their first adventure to be a success. Now that they were all nineteen, they had decided to join the Adventurers Guild located at the southern keep. Once enlisted, the friends had been required to pass a series of tests dealing in various fighting techniques, means of survival, and magic. Mya had excelled in most forms of magic, but grew quite attached to magical transmutation and shapeshifting, and Varyn could swear that those classes made her even more than she had been as a kid. Sjin went for any melee " focused class he could get himself into, perfecting all forms of the art of combat, but he always had a soft spot for longswords, which he kept one of on his back in a custom scabbard.

Being the leader of the group, Varyn prided himself on being well " rounded. He primarily focused on his survival studies, but had been sure to master a sword style centered on parrying, dodging, and counterattacks. Varyn was sure to learn a spell or two as well, but mostly just the occasional fireball. His primary training in survival left him with a high tolerance to many poisons and the ability to survive the harshest of environments. If only he could have gotten advanced training in the art of conversation since he was never much of a talker.

"How much longer do we have again, Varyn?" Sjin blurted out.

Varyn jumped slightly. The group had been trudging along the snowy trail in almost complete silence for a while now.

"Umm, a day or two at most. Why?"

"Ugh," groaned Sjin. "Why couldn't we have rented a wagon back at the keep?"

"Because the roads are near impassable for wagons this time of year up north. You should know this."

"Pffft! You think I'd bother with that? I'm a man of action! I don't have time to remember stuff like that," Sjin proudly exclaims while pointing his sword heroically into the frigid air.

Mya peers up from her book titled Creatures of the North: A Guide.

"Maybe you should pay attention after all," she says, jabbing her thumb behind them.

A tuft of Sjin's dark red hair was being whisked away on the winter breeze.

"Heh... Maybe you have a point, Mya. I'll, uh, be more careful next time."

They all share a laugh and continue on for a few more hours in teeth-chattering silence as the evening sun begins to draw ever closer to the horizon and the pines cast long, cold shadows across the trail.

Mya snaps her book shut and tucks it away into her pack. "It's getting dark. We should find a place to settle down for the night."

Varyn and Sjin stop and turn toward her. "Yeah," says Varyn just as he spots an area just off the trail. "This looks like as good a spot as any. Erm... Mya, could you..."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

The mage steps forward and casts her hands forward as they emit a warm glow. All of the ice and snow melts away to make room for the sprouting grass. A clear, shimmering dome appears around the new site, further melting away the snow around its outer edges.

"Just trying to show off there, Mya?" Sjin teased with a chuckle.

A sly smirk grew on Mya's face. "I could get rid of the dome and let your sorry tail freeze and fall off, Sjin."

"I'm not complaining, but I doubt I can freeze off a tail I don't have, Miss Mage."

"No tail? Are you sure?"

Mya giggled.

Sjin turned around to discover that he had a newly formed cat tail protruding from his backside. His scream caused some snow to fall from the trees.

It was all Mya and Varyn could do to stop from rolling in the snow with laughter.

"Mya!! Get rid of it!" Sjin cried out.

"Oh, stop whining. It's only temporary. Besides, I think it complements you quite nicely," the mage joked.

The group was unaware of the creature watching from deeper in the forest. They were just regaining their composure when it came sprinting toward them. Varyn saw it first.

"Look out!" he screamed as he tackled both Mya and Sjin to the ground.

The creature pounced and soared over their heads, its fangs sinking into Varyn's cloak, ripping it off his back.

Mya shrieked. "Varyn, are you okay!?'

"I'm fine, but that thing stole my cloak. I want it back."

Varyn hopped onto his feet and whirled to face the beast. Before he could begin to speak, Mya spoke up.

"It's an ice warg. Definitely larger than normal, for sure, but it's still just an oversized wolf," she says as her hand erupts into flame. "Let's play fetch."

Mya hurls a fireball at the warg and lands a decisive blow. The fireball explodes and ignites the enormous creature and the trees surrounding it. It whines and howls in pain while rolling around in the wet dirt left by the explosion in an attempt to extinguish the inferno, but to no avail.

"What did they teach you at the guild, Mya?!" Sjin cried out.

"Oh that's just a little trick I taught myself. Normally fireballs don't explode so violently," she explained.

A loud whine was heard all around, snapping Mya and Sjin out of their small exchange, and the two turned just in time to see Varyn pull his blade from the beasts neck.

"I wasn't about to let it suffer that way," he remarked as he wiped the steaming blood from the shortsword and slid it back into its scabbard.

Sjin perked up with a grin, not even noticing that his new tail was wagging behind him as a result. "At least we're now guaranteed a good meal every night from here on out!"

"That's one way to look at it, I guess," chirped Mya as she extinguished the warg with a wave of her hand. "I wonder what wargs taste like though..."

"Only one way to find out!" Sjin ran over to the warg and pulled out a skinning knife.

"I guess I'll see if I can make anything out of this guy then. See if there's any unscathed fur left while you're at it, Sjin. We can see if it goes for a decent price back home."

"Sure, sure... But hey! What about the fangs and claws? That have to be worth something too!" Sjin hefted up one of the warg's paws and took a look at them. "I sure am glad we didn't let this thing land a hit. That would have been nasty."

Mya looked up with a certain gleam in her eyes. "Yeah, we could sell those, but could you save some for me? I've been dying to practice my enchanting skills, and I bet you guys would love to have a warg fang necklace anyway, and enchanted to boot!" She nudges Varyn in the side. "How about it?"

"Huh? Oh! Sure, knock yourself out." Varyn had been busy setting up his cooking pot over the campfire that no one had even seen him make. He prided himself in that.

With everything decided, Mya dug out yet another book, this time on enchanting. The title was a bit worn, but from Varyn's point of view it seemed to read Enchanting for the Aspiring Mage. With that, everyone got to work on their jobs. Varyn setting up the campsite, Sjin skinning and gutting the warg, and... Mya... reading her book. They were ready for the approaching nightfall.

"Oh wait." Mya stood up and held out her hand. A small white sphere materialized on her palm and ascended upwards and disappeared with a low hum over the campsite. "Boop," Mya added.

"What was that," Sjin mumbled,"something to entertain yourself?"

"No," replied Mya,"it's an alarm. If anyone, or thing, gets close to our campsite it will go off and wake us up."

"Oh... Well good thinking, Mya," the cat-boy grumbled.

With that, everyone enjoyed a good meal and went off to sleep. Varyn worrying about intruders, Mya reading by a small glowing orb, and Sjin, cuddling his longsword.

Author's Note

Revised edition.