The pair hurried through the wide roads of Balin, the usually bright streets now dark and gloomy. Simon led Kothar towards the East gate, which would take them directly away from the fighting in the city while still allowing them to travel close to the Academy, which was situated north east of Balin, in the foothills of the Fidour mountains.
Simon handed Kothar the dark green cloak that he had worn to the Janul forest, evidently he had been somewhat prepared to make their getaway.
"We'll make our way to the Academy on foot, it'll make us less conspicuous to any pursuers." Simon pulled his own hood low over his head, nudging Kothar to do the same.
"What's going on?" Kothar asked.
"Your father was tasked with invading the lands of Duke Kultas, as he was plotting against King Rotan, however, some of Kultas' allies seemed to be unhappy about the invasion, hence the retaliation" Simon said in a surprisingly light tone. This was definitely not his first midnight getaway.
"Father was tasked with doing what?" A hint of surprise edged into Kothar's usually monotone voice.
"Hahaha, most of the Kingdom knows your father as General Tam, but he doesn't like to bring his work home." Simon chuckled, leading in and out of narrow alleyways and even taking a shortcut through a dilapidated house.
Kothar strode alongside Simon silently, in his typical stoic manner. The pair emerged from the wide open gates on to the grasslands east of the castle. The guards were nowhere to be seen, either they lay unconscious in their barracks or some had been paid off. The Fidour mountains towered to the north, visible by the faint moonlight that flowed over the landscape.
Suddenly, the clatter of hoofbeats sounded out in the distance, rising in volume as they grew closer.
"Get down." Simon hissed, grabbing Kothar and pulling him off the side of the paved road, and into the tall grasses of the plains. They held their breaths, motionless, as the hoofbeats grew closer and closer. Thankfully, the horsemen continued galloping onwards, not realizing their quarry lay only a few meters away in the grasses.
After the hoofbeats had faded well into the distance, Simon and Kothar decided to avoid the road. They cut through the plains, walking through the monotonous landscape.
As the moon set and the night grew darker, they camped under one of few trees found in the grasslands. Simon yelled out, clapping and hooting to flush out any wild beasts that might be sharing their shelter.
They ate cold rations, fearing that the light of a fire would expose them to their pursuers.
Over the following days the pair fell into a routine, they would spend most of the day walking without a break. During their rare rests, Kothar would meditate and Simon would peruse his scrolls by the light of a small magic crystal he had brought along with them.
Often, then they would walk while the moon lit the plains, giving a silver sheen to the rolling grasslands that stretched out far to the north, rising up into the Fidour mountains in the distance.
The days blended together, their monotone routine dragging on, until finally the grasslands began to give way to the rolling foothills of Fidour. They were nearing the halfway point of their journey. Now that the rolling hills would obscure nighttime fires, their journey was less grueling, and they enjoyed hot meals of wild game that Simon captured easily with snares he lay before sleeping. They now followed the hills east, for further in the mountains lay dangerous terrain and powerful beasts.
On a particularly cold night, they had trekked far closer to the mountains than earlier in their journey, avoiding a travelling merchant's caravan. It was Simon's turn to keep watch and Kothar fell into a deep sleep.
Kothar awoke, he felt chilled to the bone yet he was profusely sweating. Looking around, he saw that Simon was awake. Kothar met Simon's gaze, Simon silently lifted a finger to his lips, as he kicked dirt over the fire. Hunching down, Simon pointed towards the north, where an eerie blue and green glow filled the night sky.
The glow grew brighter and Kothar began to make out a cacophony of loud screeches. The source of the screeches came into view, a massive green eagle, locked in aerial combat with an ice blue phoenix.
The eagle's feathers shone like the finest steel, shimmering as it danced through the air. Its beak had a vicious curve, and looked razor sharp.
The phoenix looked as if it were carved out of a solid block of ice, each feather looked like a fine ice sculpture, it had a set of purple plumes on its heads, which it shook proudly at the eagle.
Kothar watched wide eyed, as the eagle began to hover in place, beating its huge wings to stay aloft. The eagle screeched as blades of wind began to swirl around it, picking up speed as it flapped its wings. In response, the phoenix flew up high, a cloud of ice crystals forming around its wings.
When a churning tornado had formed around the eagle, it sped towards the phoenix. The phoenix let out a defiant cry, and folded its ice encased wings in front of it, forming a shining shield of ice. The two of them collided in a burst of ice shards and flashing wind blades, a massive boom resounding across the hill, the grass flattening. Kothar and Simon were knocked back by the sheer force of the faraway impact.
By the time they came to their feet, the combatants had disappeared.
Seeing the two titanic birds clash, Kothar realized the sheer power of even the beasts on this world and was resolved to increase his combat ability. One of the birds he had seen earlier would be the equal of a warship in his previous life, this planet was truly dangerous.
Luckily, the journey gave Kothar the opportunity to begin planning augmentations to his biology, even though he now had the use of magic, he knew just how powerful a cyborg could be.
He had decided on enhancing one of his eyes to begin with, and was utilizing Silane's currently limited features to plan how they would safely implant the Mana Sensing Crystal that he would shape into a lens.
[Silane, run implant simulation, adjust for lack of 100% sterile environment and medical equipment.]
[Success rate: 70%]
Since he lacked any anesthesia or assistance, he had chosen to begin with the lens augmentation, as it would still be a virtually painless procedure and he could easily perform it alone.
"Something on your mind?" Simon inquired, shaking Kothar out of his planning.
"No uncle, just thinking about what the Academy will be like." Kothar deflected.
"You'll be surprised at the grand scale of it, mages do love their towers. Most of all, the sheer amount of traffic to and from the Academy will come as a surprise. Who knew mages loved to eat so much." Simon laughed,
"People come from all across the Kingdom hoping to hire a mage or utilize their services. Some for healing, some for war and some for wealth. We might run into some fellow travelers soon, be careful to let on that you're a guaranteed student. At best, they'll tell you the saddest life story you've ever heard and at worse the more vicious might attempt to kidnap you. Many a naive novice has disappeared en route to the Academy." Simon continued, now serious.
Still following the pair, the mysterious figure still shadowed them. With the absence of a convenient rooftop, the figure now slouched near to the ground. Shrouded in the mists surrounding it, which had grown much thicker. It crept closer to where the pair had camped, tendrils of black mist curling through the grass.