Arthur couldn't be expected to be professional or tidy enough to keep track of time. It was nightfall by the time he realised that he had strayed too far from his hometown and gotten himself lost...

"I'd suggest you hide now. The activity of Beasts are more obvious at night." In the darkness of the shadows made by great amount of trees that nearly blocked the sky's visibility, a silhouette that could be barely seen gave some helpful advice.

"Give your name or fight me!" The young Warrior pointed his sword towards the shadow and stated.

Arthur's chest puffed out like this: ╭(╯^╰)╮

He wasn't going to let someone he just met push him around. At least, that's what this idiot thought.

'Where did this little gangster come from?' Alex was surprised, but then continued at his own pace:

"Okay, calm down. Haven't your parents ever told you that the night is the domain of Beasts? You-"

"Answer with your name or fight me!" The young meathead didn't even listen a word he said.

"..Fine. My name is Alex. What's yours?" The shadowy silhouette of the future Arcanist sighed.

He stepped into the light of dawn…

The figure that appeared from the darkness seemed to look like your typical young barbarian.

Alex looked like he had been stranded on a deserted island. He wore rags and hides, but the way it had been sewn together at least made his clothes suitable to be worn on this cold night.

"Arthur. Now... fight me!" The foolish meathead asked without a hint of shame on his little face.

"But I thought...! Hah... I refuse."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a weakling."

"You live in the Dark Forest, yet you still say your a weakling?" Arthur asked with clear doubt.

"Being strong and being hard to kill are two different concepts entirely. Don't you see grass everywhere in the world despite them having no strength to resist people who step on them? I'm just a lucky survivor." Alex shook his head.

"You talk a lot for someone who lives with Beasts."

"Well, you're much more observant for an idiot."

"What did ya say, punk? Fight me on ya own, bro!"

"…I refuse."

"Fight me!"

"I refuse." The back and forth between these two future rivals and buddies was as such. Alex's way of communicating could be said to be terrible amongst others his age. He didn't really have much partners besides a few Humanoid Beasts...

"Enough!" After having refused about ten times already, the young Arcanist was annoyed by the guy's stubbornness! Why did he even have to gain from talking so much with this little meathead...!?

"Although I'm grateful for you being polite enough not to attack me… despite really wanting to pick a fight, that doesn't mean I will EVER agree. You're nothing more than a kid lost in the woods to me.

Shouldn't it be obvious for you to be asking me for help? I don't understand why you're recklessly throwing yourself into danger when you're still so young..." He continued to nagging the young fool.

"You talk too much."

"..." The kid who now lived twice was speechless.

He couldn't see even a hint of worry in the young yet brawny Warrior's eyes… despite the dangerous circumstances he was in. One had to know that the Dark Forest wasn't someplace for kids to play.

It was filled with apex predators who stealthily waited for their time to hunt as nocturnal animals.

Roaming around here at night was suicide!

"Fine... I blame myself for being such a busybody.

I've seen you hunt for a few know that, though you may be a battle maniac, there's still a functioning head on your shoulders. I'll tell you more after we've found someplace to hide. Follow me!"

"...Then lead the way." The young Warrior's sixth sense was warning him to not play hard-to-get when someone was offering free advice to help him out. He wasn't going to brazenly decline Alex's heartfelt generosity. What was the point in that?

The meathead followed the mysterious boy in front of him into what seemed to be an array of black Runes forming a barrier... Once he entered, he felt like the Runes were actually camouflaging them.

And so... That, is how the their life before their Hero's Journey got onto the right track.

A helpful hand from the young Arcanist was enough for Arthur to give him some trust.

This was to the point the young Warrior almost forgot that he would have his rear handed to him once he got home. The duos unexpectedly mundane and real 'ordinary' life was like so.

The night went by and the run started to rise...

"Let's meet up again."

"...Just follow for now." Alex told him the next morning as he really couldn't believe Arthur would leave himself defenceless after knowing that the barrier around them would keep the two safe.

He couldn't understand why the young yet now experienced kid trusted him to such an extent...

Though he later decided to brush it off as Arthur being too naively trusting. Only after figuring out the young Warrior's thought process did Alex reluctantly go to sleep in the makeshift bed.

He made it out of tree branches and leaves…

These chain of events eventually lead to the young Arcanist showing him the way home the next morning. Since he wanted to help, he might as well fulfil his task. The boy was determined to help out!

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"You shouldn't have come to come here. The only reason you survived the night is because you met me. There's no other reason you survived." Alex reprimanded the young Warrior as if he was an adult. Which his mental age WAS back then.

He didn't need the 40+ years of experience as the Head of the Dragon Family to take care of children.

Plus… 15 years of his past life adding 8 of his current life was old enough to be one anyway.

"I could've handle it all myself..."

"You don't believe me? Do you not know the Dark Forest's ecosystem? The reason no Human hunts at night isn't only because Humanoid Beasts start roaming about at midnight. It's more than that…

You should already know it's also because the Light Attribute. 'Light Mana' makes humans stick out like a sore thumb at the dead of the night. You would have been surrounded if you tried 'night hunting'." The boy didn't hold back in his retort.

He was unaware that the youth was already about to do this exact suicidal action in the future.

"...Thank you." For the first time since they met, the young Warrior finally showed how grateful he was.

"...You're welcome." The conversation between them didn't flow as well as it would in the future.

They weren't really familiar with each other yet.

Arthur was still a guy who couldn't express his feelings properly and Alex, who had been starved for proper communication between him and a fellow humans, was similarly awkward to talk to.

He only had 'knowledge' of how human society worked without any recent experiences of it.

It had been two years since he had been left to his own devices by his foster father: Necron.

He almost felt like he was kicked out, in retrospect.

The Arcanist was immediately thrown out once the Death Imperial was sure that he was independent enough... The Lands of the Dead didn't welcome the living hanging around that place for too long.

In truth, Necron wasn't exactly sure how humanity raised their young. He had only been an Undead for his entire life, after all… The God of Death only knew that 'dead' beings didn't need help after reaching a certain level of independence.

The 'Ghouls' of the Dark Forest's monstrous races were such an existence. The Death God taught him enough about the Death Attribute in his spare time for fun. This was so that it wouldn't be hard for him to utilise Death Runes if he was ever in a pinch.

He already helped the First Anomaly enough…

"What made you come out here to hunt?" The young Arcanist asked. He decided to avoid Monstrous Beasts on the way. The little Warrior mimicked his sneaky actions and found the little guy to be quite adept at stealth for his age.

'Is this guy of the Ninja Class?' Arthur speculated in his head before answering Alex's question:

"I want to be a good Warrior."

"If you wanted to become stronger, isn't training at home more safer than hunting all on your own?"

"I never said that. I told you I want to be a 'good Warrior'. I want to become a reliable person."

"Is that the reason...?" Although he framed it like a question, it felt more like an acknowledgement of the young Warrior's small dream instead. Though what Arthur didn't know was the criticisms he held.

As someone who once lived in the modern era, Alex wasn't a fan of eight-year-olds feeling they were obligated to risk their lives. He could see from Arthur's face that he didn't have what it took... The idiot was mindlessly fighting rather than training.

No, it was more accurate to say he didn't even know why people train before fighting in real life...

"You should have stayed at home. Your family must be worried sick after knowing about how you left."

"They wouldn't." The young Warrior spoke in certainty. This made a vein pop on Alex's head. He turned around to glare at the kid, who had been following behind him. Memories of his former life and his father flickered through his brown eyes.

Alex's face scrunched like this: (╬ಠ益ಠ)

He didn't like how this meathead child thought that there were any parents who wouldn't be worried.

At least, they would if they raised him up so well...

"Good parents would always worry about their children!" The future great Magic Prodigy growled with a hint of ferocity in his demeanour. He didn't show an angered expression but coldly looked at Arthur with eyes that doubted his statement.

"Okay..." The scared warrior unconsciously agreed.

"Sorry, I was reminded of my own dad."

"Did he somehow die?" Arthur asked bluntly without paying heed towards how sensitive the subject was. He was the kind who had no filter on his mouth and wore his heart on his sleeves.

"No, 'I' did." Though the answer the young Warrior got left him confused about what he truly meant.

The shifty Arcanist once again turned to lead the way, but this time his back held a hint of loneliness.

"I'll visit you often."

"We won't be meeting again. I'm gonna avoid you."

"Then I'll look for you all over the Dark Forest."

"Don't you dare do that! ...Fine, but that's only if you can get your parent's permission to meet me."

"It's fine! Your a kind guy!" Arthur laughed as if it was already decided that they'd be meeting now.

Alex felt a migraine coming on after seeing the naive look on the young Warrior's face as he spoke.

The young magic user closed his eyes and held his temples in pain, his face showed a little fatigue.

"I don't understand you. Why are you willing to risk your life to meet me? Are you feeling suicidal?"

"Of course I'm not. I value my life!"

"You could have fooled me... Eating, resting, hunting, and hiding, was the routine I saw from afar. Do you enjoy putting yourself in pain and not training properly, or are you just a battle maniac?"

"Why didn't you come over to help out if you were watching me do all that?" The young Warrior felt a little embarrassed now. He had been left in quite a pathetic state yesterday after an intense fight.

If it wasn't for his vast experience in taking beatings and the strong endurance he'd built over the years, he would've died! I guess there was some meaning in his sister's beatings now...

"You should be grateful I'm even helping you get back home. Why would I risk my life for someone I just met? Would you've done the same if you were in my position?" Alex scoffed such a naive thought.

"Obviously, I would!" Arthur didn't seem to figure out the deeper meaning and nodded heavily.

"Hah... You're such a weird guy."

"Not as much as you!" The brawny kid looked like he actually felt offended to be considered 'weirder' than the bot he knew lived in the Dark Forest. If any sane person on Gaia was to compare them, the result would most likely be that ALEX was weirder!

There was no way Arthur could compare to him...!

Once the young Warrior saw the gate to Sivil, Alex didn't even give him the chance to say goodbye before disappearing. Not even his shadow was seen as he kept himself away from human society.

He already had a home amongst very special Humanoid Beasts known as Ghouls and didn't feel the need to join society as of yet. It's not like Alex wasn't curious about the customs of his own kind, but he felt there wasn't a need for him to stand out.

The only thing he left for Arthur after slipping away was a Light Rune that the young warrior could use to call him if he ever wanted to hang out. It wasn't only HIM who had to report back to his guardian.

Alex made his way deeper into the forest…

[Rune Formation- Shadow Teleportation]

After setting down an array of Dark Runes, Alex stepped into the shadowy magic circles drawn on the floor. His whole body immediately disappeared after he did so, leaving not even a single trace.

It was moments later that he found himself at the edge of a little village far from the town the young Warrior lived in. A rare smile formed on his face once he entered the village he'd lived in all his life.

"Where have you been? Rodrid was worried about you!" A old, but strangely beautiful woman spoke.

The many people were walking around to do their chores paused, then continued doing their chores.

If one was to look around, they'd see that most of the women of this village had good appearances.

"I'll go talk to him." A blush appeared on his face.

The boy was prepared to apologise to his guardian.

As Alex walked deeper into the village, he found the man he was looking for despite a lot of the males of the village looking similar. The only person out of place here was the young Arcanist himself.

Unlike the beautiful women of the village, the men of the village were a little grotesque due to their roles being as the hunters in their little Beast society. Their legs were short yet bulky while their arms were as long as a normal person's legs.

This inversion didn't seem to put female Ghouls off though. In fact, it was actually the opposite.

They looked at their partner's strength and found it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye to them.

You could even say they had a muscle fetish of sorts... and didn't find 'normal men' appealing.

"ALEX, GET OVER HERE RIGHT THIS SECOND!" A roar, one which scared the living daylights out of the young Arcanist, resounded that caused him to lower his head in shame. Eyes shifting to the side.

All he wanted to do was leave for a bit..,

The situation between Alex and Arthur was actually quite similar when comparing them together.

Except Arthur took more of a savage beating his parents finally found him. It was common since…

…that's just how Warrior families worked.

The was the beginning of their friendship that would last even at the toughest of times. A rare bond that not many could form in their lifetime thanks to going through a survival adventure together. Don't ship these two together though!

(͠≖ ͜ʖ͠≖)

I meant it in a non-homo way since they're both straight. A Hero's Journey form tough bonds!