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Snakeroot enters Firefang Jags,   Chapter 7 - The Decision With his emerald daggers still bloodied, the wood elf set off for his next kill near the edge of the trees. The shimmering green forest had lost it's luster for Snakeroot. He had been trained as a hunter had now bested everything the Forest of Incantation could throw at him. Snakeroot wanted more, he wished to seek out new challanges and battle new adversaries. All wood elves were warned of the outside world, it was a dangerous place where both monster and man would kill an elf without a seconds thought. While Snakeroot had no death wish, he still lusted for more than what his wooded home could give him. In the village of Eleyond, the hunter grew up with his two best friends: Birchbreaker; the strongest elf in Eleyond, and Belle; the femme fatale with the surest aim of all the archers. The trio had always dreamed about leaving the forest but now that they were older, Snakeroot seemed to be the only one who still held this dream as a potential reality. Snakeroot decided that with or without his friends help he would leave, and unfortunetly it would be without. When the hunter asked his friends to come with him, they laughed it off and told him he needed to get his head out from the treetops. Snakeroot approached the edge of the tree line, ahead of him was the daunting Firefang Jags; a volcanic mountain range that blocked the rest of Galfin off from the Forest of Incantation. Snakeroot stood like a statue, trying to gain the courage to step out of the woods and begin his mountainous climb. What seemed like hours passed in the seconds that Snakerot gathered his thoughts. Finally he took his first step, only to have an arrow whiz by his left ear. Snakeroot did not yield. Another arrow flew by his right ear, and a strong feminine voice was heard from the treetops behind him.   "I've hit within very little space of your head, I won't miss next time!" The voice sounded as if she was faking bravery, her voice cracked at the end, the archer was holding back tears.   "If you wanted to hit me you would have done it the first time, you don't miss, Belle." Snakeroot yelled back, still walking away towards the rocky terrain.   Snakeroot continued walking up a path towards the Jags, a large shadow briefly blocked out the sun, this caught Snakeroot's attention, as he looked up he saw a large log high in the air, about to crush the wood elf. Snakeroot quickly jumped backwards, rolled off his back and acrobatically flipped onto his feet, daggers drawn and ready. A large elf walked up towards Snakeroot, carrying a large two-handed weapon, the head of the weapon was part axe and part hammer. This immense elf was strong enough to carry his weapon with only one hand   "Don't make me do this." the large elf said to Snakeroot.   "Don't get in my way Birchbreaker, I'm tired of this meaningless hiding, the wood elves have no reason to be afraid of the outside world, you yourself used to talk about how amazing it must be past the Jags, because why would the gods put such a large barrier to hide something useless, something irrelavent, remember that? What happened to that Birchbreaker?" Snakeroot tried to hold back his emotion, Belle had now came down from the tree.   Belle spoke softly "Snake, those were the dreams of children, we have responsibilities now, we can't just run of and go looking for some grand adventure that we don't even know exists. What if on the other side of that mountain is just more trees. "   "And what if it isn't just more trees?" Snakeroot was looking for any sign of his friends changing their minds.   The hunter looked down as he spoke. "Listen, I understand why you two don't want to come, Belle, your parents would miss you and the same goes with Birch and his sister, but my parents didn't survive the fire and I have no responsibility to hold them to. I'm sorry, but I don't belong here anymore."   Belle lost control of her frustration, tears running down her face. "We are your family! Birchbreaker and I grew up with you and we take care of eachother, we always have. I can't imagine what you had to go through to lose them so young but do you really think they would want you to go on some some suicidal mission just for the hell of it?!" Belle turned away from Snakeroot and Birchbreaker, she was now sobbing uncontrollably.   Birchbreaker walked up to Snakeroot, "Look Snake, I know it was hard for you growing up without your parents, but my mah died in that fire too, and you know that my old man was never part of my life, that's why we have stuck together for this long, we had something that kept us going. We always wanted to get out of this place, to forget the bad times. I know why you're leaving, we've both always wanted something more than just living and dying. You're looking for the same thing as me, a purpose." Birchbreaker reached out put his hand on Snakeroot's shoulder. "I've got my little sister to take care of, otherwise I'd be with you every step of the way. Now go. Be sure that you don't go dying on me, I already lost my mom, I don't want to lose a brother as well." Snakeroot nodded at his friend and turned towards the Firefang Jags.   Belle broke out into tears and ran after her departing friend, Birchbreaker grabbed her in a bear hug and restrained her. "Let him go Belle, just let him go." Belle squirmed out of the giant wood elf's grip and ran back toward Eleyond. Birchbreaker turned and started walking back as well. Snakeroot began his climb up the mountain's face, using his daggers to dig into the rock.   Snakeroot had set out to explore what adventures awaited him on the other side of the Firefang Jags.