Exodus

Vixen landed with a thud outside Haulsten not too far outside the city gates. Feeling a bit disoriented, she gathered her bearings. She was less than a mile outside the city on the other far side off the river 500 yards between the forest and the bridge that led to the city. Trying to remain calm, she looked at her status

[Name: Vixen Race: Celestial (angel) Class:N/A]

[Str: 6 Dex/agi: 9 End: 7 Def: 7 Int:250 Wis: 300 Will: 375 Charisma: 500 (temp max) Mana: 1000/1000]

[Skills: None Affinities: Radiant, Holy Magic: None] 

[Traits: None Titles:None]

She sighed, at least she had a much larger mana pool this time round. She didn't know a lot about the angels, no one did, but they're a race that's extremely long lived. Now that she's found out who she was it was time to plan on the next course of action, survival. Geoffrey took everything from her, and she didn't know if it was even possible but wanted her life back. She would beat him so terribly she'd force him to change her back and only then would she kill him. 

Before revenge, survival. She had to keep telling herself this like a mantra to keep her mind on the goal. She tried to get some equipment out of her spatial storage but Geoffrey took that ability from her too. The clothes she was in were filthy beyond compare she was worried the guards wouldn't let her in the city. That fear appeared to be unfounded, they gave her a mixture of curious and worried sidelong glances but that was it. They probably felt bad for her and also realized that a little girl could do nothing. Vixen had decided to run as much as she could, like Geoffrey pointed out, training could increase her stats and she desperately needed to do so. The first time she had to stop was before she reached the guards, she was so out of breath she almost threw up. The second time was after getting into the center of town. She perched herself on the time of the fountain in the town center deep in thought. 

'When I was human my stats would've increased already. Does being a celestial slow my stat improvements? I guess that'd make sense since humans don't live as long they had to be able to compete to survive. I need to train but right now I can't even manage to run properly I'm used to my body being much bigger. I suppose I can go that route.'

She set off again at a jog and a quarter hour later arrived at the knight's barracks. Her plan was to squire a knight. A knight is a far cry from a simple guard. It's as stark of contrast as the between a mall security guard and a military special forces member. She waited outside their door waiting for the shift change. 

Vixen sat patiently wait for several hours before the first knight walked out onto the street, she had tried to talk to one but found herself nearly invisible. 

"Excuse me sir... Pardon can you hel... par...." It was difficult getting the attention of any of the knights until the one she thought looked like the captain came out. Vixen quickly approached him and bowed, the elf eyes widened in shock. 

'Is this young girl a...no way,' the elf thought as he watched this girl bow her head. 

"Pardon sir, my name is Vixen and I'd like to be a squire to you. I'll work harder than anyone and I won't let you down."

"Saying and doing are very different things. If you want an opportunity come to the knight's training pitch in five days. If you impress me, I'll take you as my squire but be warned you'll be up against boys."

"I understand. Thank you."

With that Vixen left, she had a lot of work to do and it was getting late. She found some rags in the garbage around the city and made something soft enough to sleep on. 

Over the next five days Vixen did nothing but train. She would get odd jobs from restaurants carrying heavy things to train her strength in exchange for food, she'd help the farmers plow to train her strength, speed, and endurance. At night she'd bathe in the river's eddy where the current was nearly nonexistent before falling asleep. As gross as it was she only had the one set of clothes to wear and they smelled something terrible, but by the end of the last day before having to go to the pitch she was able to raise her strength by two and her other stats by three. It was due to this that she realized her stat allocation would be much different this time around. 

Vixen walked to the pitch with confidence, the training she had put herself through helped her associate her mind with her body, she was much more in sync with herself now. She arrived at the pitch and there were close to 100 people there and not a single girl. As she walked by the boys were covering their noses and making fun of her for how she smelled of mold. She didn't blame them, but at the moment there was nothing she could do. This was a dog eat dog world and if you didn't survive then you just were not strong enough. 

Vixen noticed the elf knight she' would pledge to on the platform in the front and next to him was a large burly man who walked to the front of the platform to address the crowd. 

"Alright line up everyone! I want ten rows of ten," the man roared. "My name is Lance and I'll be the proctor for this event and here's out its going to work. I'm going to choose people to fight each other with magically protected real weapons. You probably won't die but bones can still break. The object is to render you're opponent unable to fight, we do have healers standing by. For the first fight I'm going to choose you," he points to a boy nearly fifteen years old and definitely one of the favorites for this competition, "and you," he points to Vixen with a sly smile.

'Let's end this joke already,' thought Lance.

The two made their way to the weapons rack, each one shone a different color along the edges of the blades, the magical protective enchantment the knights were referring to. Vixen tried to pick up one of the great weapons without thinking. It was so heavy for the current her she nearly toppled over, she flushed with embarrassment. Even the one handed swords were too heavy for her, but she could at least wield it with two hands. The boys on the field snickered at her as she faced her opponent.

"Remember we do not pity our opponents. For a knight to show weakness is the gravest of crimes! So us what you can do! Ready, fight!" Lance's voice rang out over the pitch. Vixen didn't waste a second as she sprinted towards her opponent. She slashed upwards and sideways used every technique she knew, except there were fundamental problems. First, she didn't have the weight behind her attacks. She didn't have her strength nor the weight of a true two handed weapon, secondly, the boy was much older and had a long reach than she did. Lastly, she possessed no sword fighting skills or abilities, wiped by Geoffrey. She tried everything she possibly could to win, to use her fighting experience. 

When the boy would attack, she knew she would not be able to bear the weight of it so she parried and redirected the energy of the swing somewhere else. She'd use her fists, legs, sheath, and even the sun to try to gain an advantage but the current disparity was just too much. The fight ended with Vixen sprawled onto the grass gasping for air.