Throne of the Grand Magus: The beginning

The group was now made aware that they had to fear the beasts in the sky as much as the ones on the ground. They constantly switched roles, keeping guard on both the sky and the land as they marched through the forest. It had been a day since the Roc attack but the trio was still on high alert.

"We'll set camp on this tree," said Calder pointing at one of the many massive trees that were scattered around the forest.

Calder took out their food supplies realizing that it probably would not be enough to last them another day. However that had always been the plan, Calder had thought that hunting down creatures in the forest would be as easy as hunting in the wild. Sadly his stomach would soon come to regret his hasty assumptions.

After enjoying a late-night meal, Calder and Marya slept while Arya took first watch. Calder had been hesitant to let Arya be lookout before, however now he realized that he would need as much sleep as possible if he were to survive in a forest with beasts as powerful as Rocs.

*snap* It was a faint sound, but Arya's animal-like hearing had heard it. A twig snapping in the distance.

"Hmm should I wake them up?" thought Arya as he turned to look at Calder and Marya sleeping. "No, if I wake them up they'll make noise and alert whatever that thing is." thought Arya as he swiftly moved down the tree they were sleeping on.

Arya had been watching the way Calder and Marya had been moving through the forest. He could tell by their movements that they were rather clumsy in this terrain. And although his decision was selfish, it was also based on a solid basis.

Arya who was well acquainted with the forest terrain moved through it like he was a native. He swiftly ran through the forest, making as little noise as possible as he approached to the source of the sound.

"Did you hear something?" asked a brown-haired boy in mage robes.

"It must've been an animal. That group is still sleeping on the tree." replied a man wearing a green hood.

"Wait where's the boy?" asked the man before turning around quickly. However, Arya had already placed his dagger on the brown-haired boy's neck.

"Move and I'll kill him," whispered Arya.

"You're bluffing, you wouldn't dare take a life." said the hooded man, assuming that since Arya was a child himself, he would be hesitant to take a life, mage or not.

Arya pulled the blade closer, cutting the boy's neck a bit causing a line of blood to form.

"W-wait, what do you want?" asked the hooded man as he looked into Arya's eyes closely. The hooded figure being a killer himself could tell that Arya had taken a life before.

"What are you doing spying on us?" asked Arya.

"S-save me." said the boy in the mage robes, shedding tears as he said it. The boy was clearly scared for his life.

"Better answer honestly, or I'm afraid you won't be able to help the boy," said Arya as he tightened the grip on his dagger.

"We were just passing by and happened to see you." replied the hooded man.

"Do you take me for a fool?" asked Arya as the brown-haired boy attempted to chant a spell.

"Fool!" shouted the hooded man at the boy, as Arya reacted to his chanting by cutting the boy's mouth.

"Try that again and your tongue will be next," said Arya to the now silent boy.

However, the noise that they made had woken up Calder from his slumber. He was very surprised to find Arya missing and quickly assumed that they had been betrayed, but quickly cooled himself as he made out three figures in the dark. "Is that Arya?" thought Calder as he climbed down the tree and slowly moved towards the figures.

"Now answer honestly or I might grow tired of holding back my blade." said Arya, acting as if he were angry to make the hooded man feel uneasy.

"We were planning on stealing your supplies. But only because we were hungry, we weren't going to hurt you guys." said the hooded man.

"Stealing is stealing regardless of what inten-" Arya's words were cut off by the sound of someone chanting behind him.

"Fire come, embrace your kindred with a burning passion. But burn my foes, leave them broken and ashen." chanted another hooded figure from behind Arya, before a fireball shot out towards him. 

"What!?" thought Arya as he quickly turned around to see what was going on. As he was doing this the green hooded man pulled the boy out of Arya's grip leaving him to suffer the brunt of the attack alone.

However Arya's instincts were quicker than his thinking, he subconsciously dodged to the side, managing to only allow his side to be burned by the attack.

"You're rather quick on your feet kid. Though, you're still lacking." said the hooded man as he chanted a wind spell. "Oh mighty wind, grant us a blessing. A breeze or a storm, a power worth testing," and a gust flung Arya of balance, leaving him easy prey for the approaching fire mage.

*Ting* The sound of blade meeting blade was heard as the hooded fire mage's approach was brought to a halt. Calder had interfered at the last second after he realized what was going on.

"Why didn't you alert us?" asked Calder as he held the fire mage back.

"I didn't want to disturb your sleep." lied Arya, but Calder wasn't buying it.

"You're still outnumbered boy. It's three versus two." said the green hooded man as he was still surprised by the arrival of this new figure.

"Can't you count?" asked a female voice that held almost no sign of emotion.  "Oh mighty wind, grant us a blessing. A breeze or a storm, a power worth testing," chanted the voice and a gust struck the green hooded man off balance.

Arya quickly took advantage of this and rushed to kill the green hooded man, however, the boy in the mage's robes began chanting as well. "Oh water who is barer of life, it is you who has granted it, thus you who is permitted to take it," chanted the boy and the water vapor in the air coalesced, shooting a beam of water at Arya.

"Three mages versus two and a normal human.. I'd hardly call this winnable," thought Arya as he quickly accessed the situation.