The Ascension

"They are quite stupid. They followed me out of the gate, a few hundred feet back, and now follow me to the forest." She shook her head, and sighed a bit. She turned her head slightly, as now that her hearing was quite good, she could hear them speak.

"Boss, are we going to follow her into the forest?" One of the archers asked.

"No, shoot her before she gets there! Or shoot one near her, to stop her from going in! She's no use to us dead as we can sell her to the slave dealer over in Stoneglenn." The leader said.

"I can't reach her from here. She's out of range." The archer said. "How did she get so far away so quickly?" The leader grumbled and watched her disappear into the forest.

"Beast shit. Let's hurry, as she's out of sight of the gate, and if she's not that far in, maybe we can grab her before she gets too deep!" They started to run forward, but heard a grunt to their left.

The leader of the group looked to the side and saw the archer fall to the ground. His head was nowhere near his body.

"This speed is hard to get used to." He slowly turned around and watched as Aila dropped the head "Oh well. When people who try to hurt me, I don't have to worry about what my parents would say." She disappeared from sight, and before anyone could cry out, or block a sword strike, the second archer's head went flying.

"Boss! You never said she was a high level elementalist!" One of the swordsmen said fearfully.

"I didn't know!" He said through clenched teeth. When he finally lifted his eyes, he could see the 'easy' mark ahead of them, a sword in her hand, no sign of blood on her body, and staring at them with glowing red eyes.

"I think we just kicked a stone bear in the balls." The leader said in a low voice as Aila's figure flashed, and seemed to disappear.

Five seconds later, three quick sword strokes killed the remaining three mercenaries.

* * *

"I must really be sensitive to scent now." Aila sniffed and grimaced. "I thought this place would be civilized, but some people don't seem to take hygiene seriously." She took the three short swords, two bows, five daggers, two sets of metal greaves, two pairs of leather bracers, and left the rest.

"Their boots are worn right out, and their armor is really cheap, or they couldn't afford it. I wonder what their motive was, other than quick coin." She wrapped up the items and headed back towards her house.

"Hm, speak of a stone bear, and one shall appear." Aila said as an extremely large bear appeared on her path. It growled at her, so she put her bundle down and drew her sword.

"Sucks to be you, Winnie." She said and grit her teeth. "You should have avoided my path, and my home."

As large as a full grown grizzly bear, and probably even larger, this bad tempered bear with an earth affinity charged right at her.

"Ra?" The bear stopped as she disappeared, but then cried out as he felt pain on his flanks. "Wan wan wan!" The bear tried to turn, but found that its rear left leg would no longer stand any weight on it.

"If I was the typical hero, I would wait for you to change your direction and face me. I might even give you a chance to heal, or surrender." Aila eyes glowed red again.

"But I am really pissed that you decided to attack me. Really pissed." Just as the stone bear turned so that it was half way facing her, she dashed forward, and slashed the bear's neck under the chin as she passed. She turned to watch it bleed out.

"Now you'll die, and your hide will be in pristine condition." She licked her lips, and grinned. "I can't wait to taste your meat. I hear it's gamy, or wild, but I still can't wait to taste it!"

* * *

"You are one big bugger." Aila said. "It's easy enough to carry you, but you're so bulky, your paws dragged the entire way." She frowned after she put the bear carcass down, and pulled out her new skinning knife. She looked at the carcass, and thought for a minute or so.

"I need a way to transport you to the town. There is no way I can eat all of you, and I don't have enough salt." She picked up her ax and slowly nodded.

"Always work. What did dad once say?" Her eyes that had been hard and unyielding just a moment ago now turned soft. "Work while you can because you have no idea when your body will not allow it, and the work is not available." She turned to the door.

"I need a cart, which means I need better control of my skill. There is going to be a lot of wasted wood until I figure it out."

* * *

"Bloody hell, this was exhausting!" Aila groaned as she walked back inside her manor. "So many trees just turned to dust!"

She sat on one of her fur blankets and sighed a bit.

"I'm still having trouble with making straight lines." She leaned against the outer wall. "How do carpenters and craftsmen do it? How do they make a straight line? With a string?" She said, her voice filled with sarcasm. She didn't have a ruler, and the closest thing she had was string, or bits of roots from trees she pulled up.

"Wait a minute." An old memory surfaced. "Didn't that television program show a brick layer hold a weighted string? That keeps the string straight." Her eyes began to shine with a bit more eagerness. "Chalk lines are made of string! They make perfectly straight lines!"

She sat down as her thoughts continued to flow.

"Okay, I can make a straight line, but how do I cut one? What machines cut straight lines?" She was focused on her memories, and an old television show came to mind. It was a show from her childhood that depicted pioneer life.

"A sawmill had a long flat blade stretched over two wheels. I remember dad showing me how it was made from a book. I didn't understand the machinery part, but the blade is like any saw blade, and has teeth. It was a ribbon of metal, and run on two wheels, and turned by a water wheel. The blade cuts through the entire thickness of the wood. The teeth cut through the wood and take out a small amount of wood dust as they pass." Aila reasoned it out carefully.

"So how do I make it work using the energy as the blade?" She sighed a bit, and looked down at the small wood pile at her feet.

"Can I make the green energy flow from one hand to the other, and take the wood along with it?"