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Kris looked down at the paper in front of her with a vacant eye. She thought back to the jail. She'd saved Posipheid, and Ailen had saved Patil. They just needed to teleport themselves out. Mission accomplished, the day is saved. But she'd wanted to show off, to prove she was useful. It was selfish. She was the only one who cared. Everyone else was fine with her. She was the problem. She thought she was so damned smart, and she'd almost gotten someone killed for it. The sight of Ailen rushing back into the room to save her, heedless of the danger, was etched into her mind - along with moments after, when the flames took her. They'd been lucky to not have died immediately, and it was entirely her fault, because she was selfish. Lyri's words echoed in her mind. It's scary to think of losing friends. In a small way, she knew the sun elf meant her, but she wasn't worthy of her concern. She almost took someone important from that sweet girl for her selfishness. Every other failure she'd

You'll miss. Thoughts that were not hers flitted across her mind as the half-drow held the bowstring taut. More than a hundred and fifty feet away, a deer grazed in a clearing. Its ears flicked, alert to any danger. You'll miss, and you'll never find what you seek. She loosed the arrow, watching it streak through the air. The deer had just enough time to register the arrow before it sank into its skull, killing it instantly. Kylirai smirked as she slung the bow over her shoulder and went to collect her kill. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Kylirai slid the deer off her shoulders onto the ground as she approached the cave. Adjusting her gear, she entered the cavern. As she descended further, she strained her eyes against the darkness, slowing her pace. The sound of movement caught her attention, and she stepped back just before an arrow clattered to the ground in front of her. Reaching down, she groped around for the arrow and

"You don't have to go, you know?" Her mother furrowed her brow at his daughter's proclamation. At his side, her father echoed her sentiment. "Yes, you've nothing to be ashamed of, Saffi." The half-elf laughed. "Mom, dad, it's not about that. Look, whatever form it took, I'm stronger now! I can go earn money and send it back to the villages - I can help!" "You can help us right here, Saffi." The elven man placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder, and the human woman did the same. "Yes, be it farming or hunting, you've always been a great help. That's not going to change." She placed a hand upon each of theirs. "I appreciate it, dad, mom, really. This is my home, and I want to help it - I can do so much more now than I could before." She beamed at them. "After all, I'm the daughter of the chieftain of Kalasa village and the leader of the Howling Taiga." Silence filled the air momentarily, and Saffi took a breath. "Besides, this is Lady Emara's will." Her parents looked at the wooden

Legend tells of a beast of calamity; a single flap of its mighty wings could summon a lightning strike, each cry from its mouth echoing through the land like a thunderclap. The thunderbird was a force of wanton destruction, and most accept it to be nothing more than an embellished tale to be told around a campfire. However, all stories begin somewhere, and this story begins near a goblin warren. For many years, the goblin horde of the warren would gather their strength before leading a raid upon the nearby lands, each time being beaten back. War and death, repeating for generations. The cycle continued for decades, and all the while, a small blue bird watched. It watched as the goblins trained, as they gave praise to their dark god, as they attacked their foes, as they were beaten back. It watched all of it. The bird did not understand what the goblins hoped to accomplish with their wars, but it continued to watch. As the years became decades, as the decades stretched to a century, the

Kriseris sighed against the darkness of her room as she sat against the headboard. She had been tired yesterday - lugging around six severed orc heads will do that to you, certainly - but she felt even worse today. Not only did she pick the only inn in town with lax enough security for someone to just waltz in and steal the proof there was orcs to the south, she slept through it entirely. She should have known better that to let her guard down in an unfamiliar room. Done better. It wasn't enough to lose the heads. She got them kicked out of the inn. Sure, the angry elf lady pissed off the innkeeper, but if she hadn't lost the heads, it wouldn't have happened. So she wanted to fix her screw up and convince the lord to help without proof at all, but she couldn't even get inside. The lord's butler treated her like trash and sent her away. She should probably have expected that, but when the distractible elf came by, she got a way better reception, as well as a meeting. Not to mention