After a very long and hard journey, having taken many, many days for all of them. A group of four people emerge from a mountain pass seeing a large valley before them from their raised elevation they would have a great line of sight to the spectical before them. It would be late afternoon around three o'clock. Within this huge Valley there would be a lake to the north near the base of a mountain surrounded by overgrown ruins of what appears to of been a town and thick hills, to the south a very unnatural looking swamp as if it was artificially created, to the far west there would be towering walls surrounding a castle like structure that has slight vines and moss growing on the outside as if the place has not been maintained at all in hundreds of years, it would be sitting on the edge of a large cliff that skirts the ocean, a small beach at the bottom, and to just north of this would be a gorgeous waterfall flowing down from the mountains.

These four people who have came to this hidden away valley, are a miss match bunch who have came to this location to become the future apprentices of a mysterious wizard simply known as The Dragon, and that his is one of the eldest of the wizards in existence from anything that is found written about him. Before they would have much to even speak about their view a gigantic Shadow passes over them, a Giant red dragon high in the sky, big enough it could pick up two of them at once in one of it's big hand like feet. It would simply pass over them flying towards the castle before taking a turn towards the mountains towards the south, towards a bunch of caverns in-bedded in the mountain where their nests are.

The future apprentices are fairly worn out from the journey and have options of trying to find a place to camp for the evening and possible greet each other since they meet only a short moment ago, or to push on towards the castle, which the distance would still be a two day travel on foot from the pass, judged by eyeing the distance, so rushing the journey could cause the group to run into trouble.




However before the group could decide on the best choice of action, they would hear the clip-clop of horse hooves, and the wooden sounds of a carriage. It would first be echoing slightly around them thanks to the pass before a carriage appears from behind, at first it would just be a simple shape of a carriage. When it gets close it would appear to be very much like the carriage of a noble, very extravagant, though it is very worn down like it hasn't been taken care of well. The most shocking thing though would be whats pulling the carriage, they look like clockwork horses. For those with some slight magical knowledge they would be a type of Golem with many moving parts.

The rider would be wearing a full body black cloak making it impossible to tell who or what they are from a distance. The carriage would pull up to the side of them, the upwards angle giving them the means to glance under the hood revealing a wooden face. It was another type of golem, but this one could speak as it spoke "Why hello there" it's voice would sound similir to a very old butler who's been around for some time. "Why would there be four young people in this valley at such a time?" The strange golem would ask the four before him, it's face always seeming to smile. "I do hope your not here for the master.. his been in a offly bad state for some time" the golem would seem to just mutter.

She looks around her nine tails swishing around as she leaps from tree to tree. She smiles down at the valley. She then leaps into the air her ears flicking around as she dose. She listens for any potential threats hidden in the area. She lands her tails swishing again. She blinks and then sighs. She sighed as she landed and then sighed. She ran forward and sighed as she came to a stop some time later. She then pulled on her cloak to hide her ears and tails.

Max looked at the golem he was on guard but made an attempt to be friendly. " actually I am here for the master" he said giving a fake half smile. " it's an awfully long walk to the castle you mind giving me a ride in that coach of yours? " max asks his ears twitching ever so slightly.

It was a long trip away from his home village, even for a hunter-gatherer like Alath. All of this to meet the man who called himself ‘The Dragon’. To visit the northern and southern lands that stretches far beyond the neutral zone was one of his goals in life, and he’d thought that being an apprentice of a well-travelled mage would help a lot on his dreams.

And there, is an oddly shaped carriage. One that is too ugly to be called a horse of any kind. Even the man of the carriage don’t look alive. That man was sure as odd as the rumours goes. Straightening on his leather cloak, he approached that man of the carriage, “I’m here to visit your master, if you would excuse me.”

Leon would be surprised at the sudden appearance of a dragon, he figured there would be all kinds of magical creatures in the way of his journey but he never expected to see an actual dragon at any time soon. Sighing a breath of relief when it flew away, he would turn towards the two beastkin and the other human. Leon had never seen any beastkin face to face before so seeing the two before him was pretty surprising, even with one trying to hide their features it was fairly easy to tell.

When the carriage appeared leon was a bit immune to the constant surprises, but after listening to everyone it seemed they was mostly all hear for the same thing. He would simply nod towards the driver to affirm he was of same mind.



The golem would look solemly towards the young ones and seem to sigh "..I will take you all there, but I don't believe things will go so easy as you would desire" he tells them "the master isn't known to take apprentices lightly.. and he hasn't for thousands of years now." The golem would motion towards the carriage door which would open on it's own. The Inside of the carriage would be ten times larger than the outside. You could easily fit multiple families into the carriage, the seats are very royal lavish, and there seemed to even be cabinets with food and water. "the journey will take a while so make yourselves comfortable" he tells them, waiting for them to enter before commanding the horse golems forward.

She steps in and smiles as her tails swish. Her ears flick and she sits down her tails curling up and laying in her lap. She sighs as she curls up like the Fox she is. She looks out the window and sighs. She looks around at the ones around her. "What d you mean he has not taken and apprentice in years?" She asked her fangs visible. Her tails has a firey red orange and an icy blue with a bit of green and white color to them showing her family's mixed haratige.

(If I spell anything wrong....let me know)

Max gets in the carriage and sits on the furthest seat away from everybody. Yet he is smiling eagerly as he would like to meet this "master" . He studies the golem interested thinking this "master" must be a great magic user to build such a creature . As his head lays down on the back of the seat he suddenly sits up" I saw a dragon! " he muses out loud smiling .

@Jasper19 @PrincessVampora



Leon would look at the two beastkin with raised brow, he would listen to the female ask about the master as he decided to start rummaging through the cabinets and pull out some dried meat and fresh water from one of the cabnets. though before he could sit he would jump as max suddenly shouted about the dragon from earlier "uh... ya... did you not realize it earlier?" he would suddenly ask the boy. this would cause leon to shake his head at him.



The golem would flick the reins to have the cart start moving, he would look back towards the window as the question and sigh looking back forward "the master has been in a rough state for over twenty thousand years... but it's not my place to speak of the master's past, if you wish to learn about it you'll have to figure that out yourselves" the golem states simply before going silent as he leads the carriage through the valley.

Max nods at what the golem said " twenty thousand years is a pretty long time to be in a rough state hope he's ok " he says to the golem. He then looks at Leon " No I did not realize it earlier the thing flew by so fast I didn't realize what it was. " he says to leon. " Besides I'm from the desert so I don't see much of anything . " he tells leon. Then sitting back he yawns " so what do you guys think this " master" will be like? "

She sighed and took some of the meat. She bit into it her fangs ripping into it as she gnawed on it. She shrugged as she looked at Max. She swallowed before speaking. "I dont know....i just hopes hes not a dick head." She said to him. She curdled up her tails swishing as she did. "Tho....what do you want to learn?" She asks him.

Leon would chuckle at Max and Lyida "I'd believe not... considering he could be listening to us since this is his territory" Leon would mention to the others with a smirk before taking a bite out of the jerky. He'd shake his head some "I worry most if we'll be successful or not" he tells the two, "if we don't succeed if we would even be able to return home... alive anyways" he would turn to look out the carriage at the surroundings that are moving at a decent speed, catching glimpses of all kinds of beasts, from normal animals to mythical beasts like chimera that seem to all be ignoring the carriage like it didn't exist.

She sighed. "I honestly think its a bit messed up for him to kill us if we don't have success....some times people need a bit of help...." she said as she pulled out a comb and started to groom her tails. It was a nervous habit of hers. She sighed as she did.

Max shrugs " oh well more incentive not to fail " he says and yawns . " Now for what I want to learn? " he asks . " Well probably earth magic I lived in the desert for as long as I can remember so. " he says and stretches. Max then takes off his leather harness letting his shirt become loose around him. " There I can finally do this since I don't have to worry about sand. "

Leon shake his head some at them and just shrugs "I have no clue what I would even want to learn... magic itself is to mysterious to know everything" he would simply say before finishing his water and jerky. "also I was meaning the fact these place seems teeming with monsters..." Leon would look at them "not to mention the name sake of the wizard, that we seen flying above our heads, there seems to be much more beasties around..." sighing Leon would look towards the ceiling of the carriage.

Max nods" there are a lot of animals around but I think we should be fine " he says. He then smiles " Besides the masters namesake is pretty cool in my opinion. " he says then opens the carriage door. " Now I'm going to try and get some information from that golem " he tells Leon and the Fox girl. Max then begins to carefully climb on the side of the carriage as it moves. Finally sitting in the West next to the golem he looks at the creature"hello" he says.

Lydia sighs as she combs her fur out. She then shakes her head. That man was fucking crazy....she thought to herself. She looked at Leon. "Welp....that man is going to die." She said to him as she shock her head. She sighed as she did.

Leon would just shake his head at Lydia's statement thinking they are all in both a bad and good situation to begin with, if everything is successful they be starting new lives.. if not then well one way or another they are probably screwed.





The golem would turn it's head towards max then back forward. Being outside Max can now see a ruined stone fortress right in-front of them, the carriage start pulling through the lowered drawbridge into a courtyard that is heavily overgrown, there is statues some broken and unrecognizable while others still in great condition. The statues would be of various beings.. the different species in this world, all kinds of different monsters and sentient beings. Off to the side there would be a wooden barn like structure where all kinds of sounds are coming from, ones that could give people nightmares.

The golem would pull the carriage to the middle of the courtyard and get off the carriage before turning towards max, now max can see the full size of this home, it being the height of 10 foot 3 inches, the golem would pick max off the carriage and sit him on the ground as the carriage door opens. "This way please" the golem would state to the kids as he heads towards the gate "please do not seperate from me or else you may never find your way back" he tells them "as well as a word of warning.. treat the master with respect".

After passing the gate they would enter a glorious entrance hall, there would be hangers off to the side. "please leave your coats and cloaks here" the golem would state, waiting a bit for them to discard the extra clothing before moving on. The next room would look like a glorious throne room, there would be a long red carpet going from the entrance to the other side of the room. Pillars adorn either side, on the ceiling would be what seems to be a map of the valley even what seems to be a village in one section of it.

On either side of the hall there would be various huge paintings, though they would either be damaged or faded and unrecognizable, along with various doors. At the far end of the hall would be stairs leading upwards to a raised throne, which seems to have various creatures carved into it.

The golem not missing a beat leads to the first door on the right, which leads into a gigantic library, the books towering over 5 shelves everywhere "this place can be a maze.. stick close" he'd state before moving throughout the maze like library, it would seem they had traveled for over 30 minutes before they finally exit on one end into a lounge looking room, there would be pedestals on either side with specific books hovering above them encased in a sphere of magic. Infront of them would be the back of a huge lounge chair with a fireplace past it, on the left side would be a table with a tray of food. there would barely be an impression that some one is sitting there.

The golem would wave at the kids then move towards the sit and speak "master we have guests", to which a hand would just wave back like he was saying to go away, "master that is very rude, you have been like this for many years it's time for you to change your routine and get back onto your feet" then a voice would speak out in an unknown language which the golem would reply to and they would speak for a few minutes before the figure begins to move.



A man would appear before them only seeming a few years older than them in appearance. his face would show annoyance and anger, which would soften slightly but still show much annoyance. "What the heck do you want" he would state bluntly at the people before him.

Max would smile as he saw the castle when the carriage rolled into the courtyard. " Nice place" he said he then hopped off the carriage once it stopped. Putting on his harness loosely he looks at the golem once he said something about respect. "Oh don't worry golem I will be overflowing with respect." He says and follows the goldem inside the castle. Max would smile as he looked at the stone walls and frowned with interest is once he heard the strange language. Once the master answered max would give an overexagerated bow" hello my glorious master I would like to learn and gain the knowledge from the coffers. " he stops and looks at himself " coffers , coffee? Weird word well back to it umm I'm here because i had heard about you from some nomads and wanted to learn magic since then. "

Lydia Sighed as she stepped out of the carriage.She stuffed her tails back into her kimono and sighed as she pulled out her top a bit. She was used to wearing it lose around her shoulders, often borderline showing herself. Her ears flicked as she looked around. She then crouched down and followed the gollum on all fours running to catch up. She sighed as she did and pulled her top back up as it had fallen back to its original place. She looked around and blinked at the fact she had to take off her clock. She was so used to wearing it. She ruluctenly hung it up and followed them. She marveled at the rustic destroyed beauty of it all. She again ran to catch up. She blinked when she saw a man not much older than her. When she saw the annoyed look on his face her nostrils flared a bit, but she quickly calmed down. She as not about to bow down to some one. She looked at the 'master' and watched him. "We all are here to learn from you." she said to him. She was half expecting him to yell at her.

Leon would nod at the golem's words before following, leaving his coat on one of the hangers. He'd look around in awe at the insides of the castle, it was in much better condition than the outside. When they entered the library Leon would be even more shocked at the shear number of books, only a royal library would have as many books as this, leon then reconsidered that only a moment later as they traveled through the library, it would seem this place had even more books then that!

When they was brought to the lounge Leon was curious as the books surrounded by magic but then turns towards the voice when they was addressed, he would bow down like max and reply in his turn, "Yes we wish to learn! sir!" he would say sincerely.



The master would cast his gaze across them looking back at Lydia raising a brow at her haughty attitude when she was asking him to teach them, his gaze would lock on her for a few moment and she would suddenly feel as if the air was escaping around her for a few seconds as a pressure would surround her, going away quickly and shortly after. "Why should I bother teaching any of you, I have no desire nor obligation to do so" he would state towards them "if I so desired I could just kick you all out of here or worse for disturbing me and it's not like anyone would care or try to do anything about it" he states an obvious truth towards them. Master wizards especially in the neutral zone was revered and unquestioned, should one raise their hand a kingdom would shake in fear from their strength.