It has 3 years since Acel fled his home and disappeared into the wilds of Alkor, a nation utterly torn apart by a 30 years war. It's East falling to internal bandits and it's West under constant enemy attack.
The years of living in the harsh and unf...
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Passing through the door of light, Acel had to cover his eyes from the brightness of the sun. Opening his eyes he could see that the trees once surrounding him were no more. The rolling green hills of southern Vyneland now filled his eyes. Fields of wheat and barley dotted the hills, their stalks swaying in the southern wind. And in the distance, a collection of homes and buildings, smoke rising from their chimneys. It was the settlement on the other side of the forest, he had finally made it across.
Raising his head to the sky and closing his eyes, Acel took a deep breath and felt the wind that now hit his face. The stillness of the forest was gone and the sounds of the Alkoran countryside replaced them. He had almost forgotten what it was like.
Acel glanced at the sun — it was almost evening, some five hours after noon. Although Acel did not know what day it was, they could have spent up to a week or more stuck in that forest.
Turning around Acel saw the western entrance to the forest, and like its eastern counterpart, it was a wall of trees. Ending abruptly with no gradual transition to the rolling hills. Not even a sapling could be seen growing beyond this western wall. Many small logging camps were set up near the forest, some of them populated with tough-looking loggers.
Zanil who was standing beside him was just as mesmerized by the change of scenery as Acel. His head spun around like a bird with a mixed expression of relief and wonder, his body attempting to keep up with him.
With a great breath, Acel began to walk down the stone road, slowly making his way to the town in the distance. Acel had walked for a good distance before Zanil broke from his trance and ran to catch up to him. As he walked Zanil began to excitedly ramble about all the things he was seeing, sporadically and abruptly switching between the hills, fields, and fauna.
He reminded Acel of a child that had just left their home for the first time. It was as if this was the first time he had seen something like this before.
He wondered how long Zanil had spent in that cell.
The further they walked the larger and more frequent the fields became. The sounds of people and wagons began to slowly increase show themselves. They passed some sawmills that were settled near the road, the sounds of cutting and scraping echoing from inside.
Soon they arrived at the outskirts of the town and could see the townsfolk bustling in the town center further within. The buildings were all made from some kind of blackish-green wood, from their base to their roof. A signpost read "Town of Murdahb".
Heading towards the town center many people gave them looks of curiosity, specifically at Zanil, who was quite fond of the attention he was receiving.
The town center had a large well in the center with the stone road making a large circle around it going off in different directions. Acel looked beside him to find Zanil now attempting to impress a group of townsfolk that had been pointing and whispering about him before by showing them his curved sword and doing a few tricks with it.
