Setting Out

Velina silently grieved for a while, then discreetly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. She looked up at Kalei, bringing him back from his reverie, and smiled. "Let's not think about your father anymore. Once you're ready, we'll set off."

Kalei nodded and asked, "Are we going to Maestra Town?"

Velina shook her head. "No. Your Aunt Evelyn and I talked it over. The priests in the capital, Astranaar, are more professional. We'll go there."

"Astranaar? Isn't that a bit far? It'll take a lot of time to make the round trip."

"We can ride Saber to Maestra first, then rent a few Hippogryphs there. They're fast, and if we're lucky, we can reach Astranaar by the middle of the night."

"That's pretty quick. Let's go." After a moment's thought, Kalei picked up the wicker basket by the table, which held bread, smoked meat, and fresh water, and headed outside first.

In fact, the fastest way to get from Maestra to Astranaar was to use the moonlight portal in the town square.

But after the War of the Ancients, the Night Elves had always been cautious about magic, believing that relying on it too much could bring unforeseeable risks. So unless they faced an emergency or had a special mission, they wouldn't use portal circles indiscriminately.

Velina followed Kalei outside. After a few steps, she said, "Kalei, your clothes are much too plain. This is your coming-of-age ceremony. Are you really not going to wear any traditional Druid ornaments? Like a headband woven from laurel leaves, or a necklace made of acorns..."

Kalei cut her off. "No, Mother. I think this is fine. I'm not used to wearing those decorations."

He wanted to say that hanging branches and flowers all over himself seemed ridiculous, but he knew it was a custom the Night Elves had kept for thousands of years, so he didn't have the heart to argue.

It was strange, really. Even though he had lived on the Azeroth Continent as a Night Elf for a hundred years, the habits he had picked up in his previous life as a human were still deeply ingrained in him.

Those habits had also made him a "weirdo" in the eyes of his companions—a "weirdo" who dressed plainly, preferred roasted meat to vegetarian food, and didn't even want to hide in the shade during the day.

Velina clearly knew her son had his own peculiar preferences. Seeing that he objected, she didn't press him and silently followed in his footsteps.

They left the room, one after the other, and stepped outside.

At that moment, both of the Azeroth Continent's moons, the "Blue Child" and the "White Lady," were hanging in the sky.

Looking up, they could see the pale blue and moon-white beams intertwining like soft veils, draping over the land beneath their feet.

Tall, sturdy trees grew across the land. They stood in neat rows like ranks of soldiers, stretching far into the distance.

Scattered among the giant trees were houses built from timber taken from the forest. Flowers, plants, and vines covered their exteriors, blending them into the surrounding woods and creating a distinctive view from afar.

The Night Elves were a people who liked to sleep during the day and be active at night. As the Blue Child and the White Lady climbed higher in the sky, many Night Elves came out of their homes and began to go about their business.

Just then, a slightly plump Night Elf woman and a young man, each riding a Saber, came toward Kalei and the others.

When Velina saw them, she hurried over to greet them. "Good evening, Evelyn. Good evening, little Lox."

The two riders smiled and returned her greeting. The woman named Evelyn then began chatting animatedly with Velina.

The two mothers were so caught up in their conversation that they left the two young men, Kalei and Lox, standing off to the side.

Kalei felt a little helpless. He put down his basket and waved Lox over, then went with him to the back of the house to find their family's two Saber.

Lox was a few years older than Kalei. Since the Night Elves had a low birth rate, a village might go several years without a single child being born. As a result, Lox had become Kalei's only childhood friend in the village.

Lox dismounted and came over. "Hey, Kalei, when did you get back from Maestra?"

"I've been back for three days."

"Did your Druid mentor let you graduate?"

Kalei shook his head. "Not yet, but I've finished all the lessons with my mentor. Now I just have to wait for the exam. What about you? What have you been up to? I haven't seen you these past couple of days."

Lox rested his hands behind his head and followed Kalei leisurely. As they walked, he said absentmindedly, "Nothing much. I've been learning how to fish at sea with my father lately."

"Fishing? I remember you started learning thirty years ago. You still haven't got the hang of it?"

"What's the rush? Thirty years isn't all that long. If I keep at it, I'll learn eventually."

Kalei opened his mouth to tease him, but swallowed his words at the last moment.

Seeing him hesitate, Lox understood what he meant. "Kalei, you shouldn't always be in such a hurry. Remember, we're immortal. There's no reason we can't take our time."

"Besides, think about it. If you rush to learn everything and achieve every dream you have, what will you do afterward? How will you spend the rest of your long life?"

Kalei knew there was some truth to what he said. If Night Elf society could go on as it was, this would indeed be a good way to live. But how did that saying go? There was an exception to every rule.

As they talked, they reached a Silverleaf Fir behind the house, five or six meters in diameter. Two Saber with glossy black fur were playing on one of its branches.

Saber were magical creatures that coexisted with the Night Elves.

They were enormous and long-lived, and could be ridden or kept as hunting companions. They were also easy to feed and gentle in temperament, making them very popular in Night Elf society. If they could afford to, nearly every family kept one or two.

Kalei's two Saber had grown up with him and were especially attached to him.

As soon as they saw Kalei, they stopped playing and leaped down from the tree together, pouncing toward him.

Kalei caught one on either side and patted their round heads with a smile. "Big Black, Little Black, I haven't fed you in ages, and you've gotten even fatter. What good things have you been eating lately?"

The two panthers couldn't speak, but as magical creatures, they were more perceptive than ordinary animals and could understand their master's words.

When they heard him say that, they immediately whimpered as though wronged, shaking their heads as they cried.

Lox heard the names "Big Black" and "Little Black" and couldn't help the corners of his mouth twitching.

In Night Elf culture, names as plain and obvious as "Big Black" and "Little Black" were terribly inelegant. Only an unconventional fellow like Kalei would come up with names like that. Lox couldn't help feeling sorry for the two panthers.

Kalei played with the two Saber for a while, then led them to the front of the house.

The two mothers were still chatting and laughing, having completely forgotten what they were supposed to do next.

Kalei had no choice but to rudely interrupt their conversation.

The two women came to their senses. When they saw that the White Lady had risen to the middle of the sky, they cried out in surprise. Then they hurriedly gathered their things, called to the young men, mounted their Saber, and set off for Maestra Town.

In the game, it took less than three minutes to get from Moonshadow Village, where Kalei lived, to Maestra.

In real life, it wasn't so easy. At the Night Elves' swift walking pace, the journey took a whole night on foot. Even riding Saber, it still took half the night.

The four riders formed two lines and galloped quickly along the forest road.

They hardly encountered any other Night Elves along the way, mainly because the Night Elf population density was so low.

As far as Kalei knew, there were currently about six million Night Elves, spread across the two million square kilometers of Northern Kalimdor.

Even after excluding the Winterspring ice fields ravaged by snow and the immense, towering Mount Hyjal Range, the forested land suitable for habitation still covered more than ten million square kilometers.

It was easy to imagine how sparse the population would be with six million people spread across such a vast territory.

Besides, most Night Elves lived in the major cities: Moonshadow Village, the capital beneath Mount Hyjal; Astranaar in Ashenvale; Nighthaven in Moonglade; Auberdine in Darkshore; and Val'sharah in the Broken Isles. There were even fewer people in the other towns.

As a result, Night Elves traveling through rural areas rarely encountered anyone else.

That was bearable during the day, but at night it was another matter.

Whenever Kalei traveled alone through the deserted darkness, he felt a little spooked.

As he watched the tall trees on either side of the road and heard the strange sounds that occasionally came from among them, he couldn't help feeling tense, afraid that something dangerous might suddenly burst out of the woods.

His concern wasn't unfounded. Although the Night Elves were a powerful people and absolute rulers of Northern Kalimdor at present,

Kalei knew they still faced many dangers in this land.

The most dangerous were the demons of the Burning Legion, who had survived the War of the Ancients and roamed the cosmos, along with the Night Elf traitors who had sided with the demons during the war and been transformed into Satyr.

The surviving demons and Satyr hid in the mountains and valleys of the Kalimdor Continent.

For many years, the Sentinel Corps and the Druids had spared no effort in hunting down these remaining enemies, but they were like cockroaches: impossible to wipe out.

Whenever people thought they had finally been exterminated, they would show up again when least expected.

The most troublesome thing about the demons and Satyr wasn't the creatures themselves, but the dark power they carried.

This dark power had a strong corrupting effect on life. Once the plants and animals in the forest were tainted by it, they would become corrupted and gradually go mad.

If those crazed creatures set their sights on you in the forest, you'd be in for trouble.

So Kalei stayed on high alert the whole way, watching his surroundings constantly in case anything went wrong.

The other three, by contrast, seemed completely unaware. Of course they knew about the demons and Satyr, and they knew dangers lurked in the forest, but their long-standing carelessness made it easy for them to overlook threats they couldn't see.

They sat comfortably on their Saber, chatting and laughing as they rode, paying no mind at all to the seemingly eerie and terrifying surroundings.

Kalei was wondering whether he should warn them to be careful when he suddenly heard a strange roar.

Startled, he quickly tugged on the reins and looked up toward the direction of the sound, but saw nothing.

Lox, riding beside him, noticed he had stopped and asked, "Kalei, what's wrong?"

"Lox, did you hear something?"

Lox shook his head. "No, I didn't hear anything. You're not being paranoid again, are you?"

Kalei frowned but didn't reply. He looked up toward that direction again. The strange roar had stopped, but the faint unease in his heart remained.

He remembered that Bristlelimb Village lay in the direction the sound had come from. Had something happened there?