“10 years alone in the forest really gets to you huh Phoebe? You really get to appreciate the natural beauty of this jungle.”

     From the distant he heard small footsteps and the rustling of leaves.

     “Someone’s here.”

     Schawn pulled out his feather as it quickly morphed into a blade on his arm.

      Schawn scanned the area and noticed the mans every movement.

     “In 3… 2… 1…!” Then two logs came falling down and a net was blasted from a corner trapping the man, carelessly causing him to drop the letter in his hands.

     “Who are you and what’s your business, few people come to this part of the forest”, Schawn leaped off the tree and grabbed the envelope next to the man.

     ‘Letter of invitation from the Academy of the arcane arts’.

      The man immediately noticed the phoenix flying on Schawn’s shoulder.

     “So this is what’ve become of you knight, wasting your life alone in this forest” said the man trying to distract Schawn as he slowly cut the ropes with a small dagger in his left hand.

      “Knight? What are you talking about?”

     “You wield the blade of the Phoenix, seems you are indeed worthy of something”

      Then the man leaped up from the trap and hacked his silver blade at Schawn. Quick to reflex, Schawn dodged to his left and returned a strike. The man threw a strike from the top and was quickly parried and countered with a low sweep from Schawn. The clash of blades ended quickly with the man lying on the ground.

      “You are fast for someone your age, but you haven’t seen the last of me”

     He took one last stare at Schawn with his purplish eye and threw a smoke bomb, stunning Schawn, and then disappearing into the smoke.

     “You saw that Phoebe? Wonder where he came from.”

      Schawn then took another look at the invitation letter, ‘To Schawn, son of Helios, the invitation to Academy of the Arcane Arts’

     “Academy of the Arcane Arts, my next destination.”