Alaric pushed his body even further as he dashed through the trees, leaping over roots like they were nothing. He also pushed his senses to their limits, feeling the air rush through his hair as he blurred through the woods.

  It was nice to be outside at last, away from prying eyes and not having to worry about running into Soldiers dressed in vermillion cloaks and armour.

  The forest surrounding Melbourne opposite the mountains was large and flowing with aether—this was a characteristic common to all natural forests—and this one was known as the Vine Woods.

  Alaric didn’t ponder the name but he did like everything else he’d learnt about the forest. Unlike the woods surrounding the Five Hills, there was something fundamentally different about the Vine Woods.

  Apparently, the forty-mile radius of the Vine Woods surrounding Melbourne, commonly referred to as the Purified Zone, was bathed in Holy Magic at least once every month, cleansing it of demons and keeping others from coming close to it.

  This ritual was enough to remove the demons and did well to reduce the likelihood of them wandering in but it wasn’t enough to remove the Aether Beasts that gathered, drawn in by the thick concentration of Aether.

  Because of this, adventurers, especially low-ranking ones like Alaric, were able to take on quests to exterminate Aether Beasts in the Purified Zone.

  “Alistair,” Scarlett appeared right next to Alaric seemingly out of nowhere, “There is a pack of B-grade MudHounds not far from here.”

  B-grade was not the weakest out there but then again, it wasn’t too strong either. The problem here was that it was a pack of them. Even the strongest of warriors could be overwhelmed by numbers.

  “How many are they?” he asked.

  “Does it matter? Their Aether cores will fetch us at least ten gold,” the girl responded with a shrug.

  Alaric sighed. This was her hunt after all. Since Alaric was the one tagging along, she didn’t leave him much choice.

  Before he could tell her to lead the way, however, a voice echoed in his mind, [ Alaric… there is something I have to tell you. ]

  Alia’s voice could never startle Alaric. He was always aware that she could suddenly speak into his mind. What startled him now was her tone. She rarely took on an urgent and ominous tone.

  [ What is it? ] he asked.

  [ I have taught you a lot about the Old Tongue and how it can be used to cast spells… but that’s not all it can do ] she responded.

  [ What do you mean? I can summon magic from Twelve of the Thirteen Constellations when normal people specialise in at least three of the Thirteen types of magic and you’re telling me there is more that the Old Tongue can do ] Alaric was stunned.

  [ The Old Tongue is the universal language of the world. Every creature is born with the inherent knowledge of the Old Tongue. The same goes for humans but since they rely on their cognitive thinking rather than instincts, they need to learn the language to use it ] the guardian continued.

  [ You’ve told me all of this before. What are you getting at? ]

  The guardian sighed, [ Sometimes, even you can be dense. The Old Tongue is spoken by all except for demons. That means you can talk to animals in the Old Tongue. ]

  Alaric felt his blood go cold. If he could speak to animals, did that mean the Mudhounds they were going to fight would speak to him? 10 gold… for a pack of Mudhounds.

  His heart pounded heavily in his chest and his breath hitched. A slight wave of dizziness caught him.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Wasn’t he just fine with slaughtering those Mudhounds a few moments ago? Why was he now considering sparing them?

  They could… speak?

  No, this was way too confusing. Why had Alia told him this? Surely she didn’t have anything against killing the Mudhounds.

  If she had, she would have told him when they were getting the quest. If she didn’t want him to kill the Mudhounds and still let him come on this quest, then what did she want him to do? Maybe she wanted him to talk to his prey before he killed them.

  The fact that she was hearing his thoughts now and not answering was an all-too-familiar feeling, [ You want me to figure this out on my own, don’t you? ]

  [ Huh! You’re not as dense as I thought after all. ] she responded and finally went quiet.

  Alaric sighed, then turned to Scarlett. The girl noticed his attentive gaze and smirked knowingly, “Done consulting that voice in your head?”

  “Do you have a voice in your head?” Alaric asked her before he mistakenly revealed Alia’s existence to her.

  “Everyone does, Alistair. Mine loves to burn everything in sight though so there is not much to go around there,” the girl responded with a fond smile.

  ‘Her guardian… loves to set things on fire?’ that part wasn’t making sense to Alaric.

  Weren’t guardians elegant otherworldly beings that were meant to guide them? Why was hers trying to burn everything to the ground instead?

  Alaric didn’t understand what that was all about, so he chose to think about it later. He didn’t sense any deceit in Scarlett’s voice, but then again, she was a former assassin. Why wouldn’t lying be part of her skill set?

  She hadn’t done something to lose his trust though, so naturally he was thoroughly confused by her words.

  Shaking his confusion off, he proceeded to make his point, “Have you heard of the Old Tongue? Some call it the Ancient Tongue or the Ancient Language.”

  “Ah, the language of the Constellations,” she replied.

  “Oh! You know that much! That makes this easier,” Alaric was relieved, “Well, it’s come to my notice that animals are capable of communicating in the Old Tongue.”

  “Wow…” the girl’s eyes beamed before losing all excitement. She narrowed her eyes at him, “Don’t tell me you want to ‘kindly’ ask our prey to leave Melbourne?”

  Normally, Alaric would panic… but this was Scarlett. She was just as frightening as she was insecure. Just the night before, Alaric had seen a side of her he didn’t want to see again. Trusting her was not easy… but if he was going to find out whether she was worth trusting, then moments like these were crucial.

  “I don’t know what I want to do when we meet that pack. I’ve never talked to animals before… so think of this as a test run,” Alaric responded.

  Scarlett slowed down to a stop and searched his eyes. After a few seconds, her eyes lost their usual spark, “You’re not joking.”

  Alaric shook his head and looked away. ‘This is what happens when my guardian decides to test my judgment in the presence of others.’

  Scarlett groaned, running a hand through her luscious red hair, “Can’t you ask them to just drop dead or surrender themselves to our blades?”

  “I think that would make them mad,” Alaric replied.

  “No kidding!” the girl rolled her eyes, “You know what? Let’s make a deal. If you make us lose our marks, you’re paying me 10 gold.”

  “What makes you think I have that kind of money?” Alaric raised his eyebrows.

  “You were looking for an Alchemist yesterday. No poor person just wakes up one day and decides to visit an alchemist unless they want to become an apprentice or something,” she said sternly.

  ‘Sharp…’ he mused. Ten gold was a lot of money though.

  “You have yourself a deal,” Alaric nodded.

  “Wait, really?” the girl’s eyes widened, “I should have asked for 20. We should go hunting more often.”

  Alaric laughed it off and started running away from her, “We made a deal so let’s get going.”

  She looked like she wanted to say something as he went on his way but stopped herself… “Hey, don’t be like that! You can give me five gold since our initial agreement was to split the reward money.”

  “That also works for me,” he responded.

  “Sweet! See? I’m not that greedy,” she huffed.

  “Somehow I’m not convinced.”

  There was a bit of silence before she inched closer to him, “Could we hunt a bit more so I can make 10 gold out of you then?”

  “Only if I end up losing prey worth that much,” Alaric responded with an eye roll.

  [ Assassins love money. Shocker! ] Alia commented sarcastically.

  It wasn’t long before Alaric and Scarlett happened upon a small clearing. Not far ahead, the ground rose into the air, then caved inwards to create a dark den. No light emerged except for a few pairs of eyes that stared back at them.

  Three wolfish creatures rested outside the den, turning to them for just a brief moment before brandishing their fangs.

  Strange incandescent crystals grew from their shoulders and foreheads like protective pads for ramming into enemies. Their fangs were longer than the average wolf’s fangs and the ground seemed to tremble as the hair on their backs rose like spikes in the wake of their rage.

  Dread flowed into the boy’s bones as he stared at the beasts. ‘There are more of those things inside, aren’t there?’

  “It’s all you, Alistair. I’ll give you three minutes. Figure out whatever it is you’re trying to figure out or I start cutting heads,” Scarlett said, leaning calmly against a tree, “Oh! And these are Mudhounds so watch your step.”