"So it was you..." Lena said.

"It wasn't me! Why would I do that? Takuya was my friend."

"Friend? You always took him to dangerous places. And now look, you took him to that forest, and he is dead!"

"Dangerous places?" Grandma said. "If a canary stays trapped at home, it will forget how to fly. You need to let him outside, to let him fly. The only dangerous place is with those damn miners!"

"Look at his body," the Elder said. "It has no injuries. If they fought, he would have some injuries. The forest holds many mysteries, but what happened isn't Rayen's fault."

"It doesn't matter anymore. Leave. Just let me be with him alone." Lena hugged Takuya's body.

As they left, grandma got closer. "Hey, hey. Are you going to let her have the whole rabbit? We hunted it together, we should get a piece each."

"We will prepare for the funeral tomorrow." The Elder said.

Rayen went to bed without eating. He didn't have time to buy food. He was tired, the whole search took many hours, but he couldn't sleep thinking about Takuya.

"Aiii..." Grandma complained on the other room. "We should've brought the rabbit. It was a big one. Now I'm hungry."

"Takuya is... dead? How is this possible? Maybe he is just unconscious... But the Elder spoke about the funeral. Takuya was so excited talking about finding his path. Now he is dead. He can't just die like that..."

Rayen stared at his hand, trying to stop thinking about Takuya. It was pointless to think about it. "I'm sure I saw a badge back then..." He tried to remember it. It was a badge of a tree with circles in the middle, it looked like an eye. He kept staring at his hand, but nothing happened.

"Hmm..." He remembered the burning sensation, how it melted into him. He closed his eyes and did his best to recall everything that happened. His hand felt hot. When he opened them, he saw his hand shining. Once the light stopped, the badge was on his hand. "I knew it!"

The badge was hard to see in the darkness of the room. He opened the window to let some moonlight on it. He observed it on detail. There was something strange about it, but he couldn't tell what it was. He closed his hand and thought about it disappearing. When he opened it, the badge was still there.

"I should be able to make it fuse with me again." He imagined it fusing with him. It took him a few tries before he could succeed. He made it appear again. It was a bit easier this time. He closed his hand and the badge disappeared once again. "I think I get the gist of it." He imagined it appearing on his hand. And the badge once again appeared. Then he imagined it becoming part of him, and the badge disappeared. It was hard and exhausting, but it distracted him from Takuya's death. He spent hours making it appear and disappear until he felt asleep.

Morning came. He didn't notice the moment he fell asleep. He looked at his hand, the badge appeared and disappeared in less than a second. Now he could control it at will.

"This shouldn't be all there is to it. Disappearing and appearing is a nice trick, but it has to have another use. If I discover it, I may be able to get a good price for it on the city." He didn't want to sell it, it felt like a part of him now, but getting the medicine was more important. He struggled, then nodded. "I've decided, after the funeral I will go to the city and sell it. Even if I can't find another use, I can still get some money from it."

Today was the day of the funeral. He had to see the Elder later. It still felt unreal how Takuya died, but death was something common and inevitable. He took his things and the herbs he got from the forest.

"Goodbye Grandma."

"Remember." Grandma said. "Hold B to run, and press A to attack."

Rayen nodded and left. As he was walking, the sound of footsteps came from his left. 'Footsteps? Takuya?' Rayen looked back, but there was no one there. 'I must be imagining things.'

He arrived at the store.

"Hi, Rayen. I heard what happen. At least you came back safely."

"It's hard to believe. How could he die like that? He didn't have any wounds."

"The Rakuya Forest is too mysterious, you shouldn't go to places like that. But since you already done it, did you find anything good there?"

"Not really." He put the herbs on the table. "There are many I don't see in the forest."

The shopkeeper examined one by one. "Hmmm... Some of them are hard to get here, but they are all common. Sorry."

"It's okay."

"I can give you 9 small crystals."

Rayen nodded and bought some food and the medicine. The money wasn't enough, so he had to use some of what he had saved. Instead of winning money, he had lost some.

Rayen went back and prepared food for his grandma and himself.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"When I was your age, young man, I battled a dragon to death!" Grandma made up a story as they ate. "I remember it clearly, it flew toward me spewing fire. The crops were ruined. I couldn't forgive him for that. So I went there. Everybody was like 'Nooo, escape', but I didn't escape. I valiantly fought and killed it. In the end, I lost an arm and was full of bruises, but you should have seen how the dragon ended. Hah! With my other hand I managed to take out its heart, then I took his big heart... and squished it! Thinking back, I should have ate it instead, but it looked disgusting."

"You have both arms."

"It must have grown back, like hair does."

"Arms don't grow back..."

"I guess for some people they don't, just like hair. Look at the shopkeeper, his hair doesn't grow back anymore."

Rayen went to see the Elder. He was outside looking at Takuya's body with the doctor. She was an old woman who knew quite a bit about medicine. Not a real doctor, but the closest they had.

"What happened to him?" Rayen asked.

"His heart stopped." The doctor said. "He has no injuries. The time of death was yesterday at midday."

"That was just as he left the forest."

"I see." The Elder nodded and looked at the distance. "This is strange. He was young, healthy and he has no injuries."

"It may be rare, but sudden deaths are things that happen. Even to young people. It's not unheard of."

"We must prepare the funeral then... Rayen." The Elder said.

Rayen was distracted looking at his sides. He felt observed. There must be someone, but he couldn't see anyone. "Yes?" He looked at the Elder.

"Your duty is to get the black roses."

"I know." He had done it many times before.

Rayen went into the forest. Black roses grew almost everywhere, which, of course, included this forest. He didn't like them, although they looked beautiful, they always had harsh feelings attached to them, and, more importantly, they couldn't be used in potions, or at least he didn't knew any potion that used them.

The bushes rustled at his side. 'An animal?' He took out his knife to fight. The forest didn't usually have dangerous animals, but it was better to be cautious. The bushes rustled again. He paid close attention to them. A rabbit jumped out. Just when he exhaled, he heard a sword cutting through the air. He reflexibly jumped forward and looked behind him. He saw Takuya's sword in front of him, cutting down his neck. Blood fell from his wound tainting his clothes red. He moved back. He was still alive. He had somehow managed to evade a fatal injury.

"Takuya?" He looked above, but what he saw wasn't Takuya, it was his mother, she had his sword in hand. Thankfully, Lena wasn't as skilled as Takuya, or he will be dead. "Why?"

"You did that to my child. The only thing I had left in this world. I cannot let you live any longer. You always went with him, right? Now you must go with him again, to the afterlife. If there is any." She swung the sword once again. Rayen moved to the side, managing to evade the attack. She kept swinging wildly, not leaving Rayen the chance to close in. Even if she wasn't skilled, she had the advantage with the sword.

'I need to go back and tell the Elder.'

"You think I will let you escape?" Lena ran after him. "There is no escape."

Each step, his wound hurt more and more, and the blood loss increased. It became harder to breath. Rayen tried to run faster, only to trip on a root. He wouldn't reach the village, not with her pursuing him. He may die here, but he wouldn't die without a fight. He stood up.

Rayen's neck burned. He couldn't stop the pain, but he knew better than to touch it. Lena screamed as she swung the sword with all her strength. Rayen stepped back. The sword missed completely. 'I can't believe she has such strength. But her attacks are predictable.' Rayen fixed his vision onto her, paying attention to her every movement. The world around him slowly disappeared. She attacked once again, but he evaded it once again.

"Argh... Just die already!!" She shouted as she swung again, again, and again.

Rayen danced around, evading all her attacks. The pain on his throat kept increasing every time he moved. It was hard for him to keep his eyes open. He couldn't notice the details of her movements anymore. His vision had turned blurry.

"This is the end." She raised the sword. Rayen quickly moved to the side. Even if he couldn't see her clearly, her attacks were too slow. The sword passed by his side. Rayen thrust with his knife into her neck. The only way was to kill her in one attack. He put all his body into the attack. *Swish* The attack went to her neck... and failed. It passed near her neck, but barely touch her.

"Annoying piece of filth." She kicked him on the stomach. He struck against a tree and fell to the ground. His knife flew away.

*Cough cough* He coughed blood. All his body hurt. The blood kept falling from his neck.

"Son... I will be going next, after I take revenge for you..." She raised her sword, a smile on her face.

Rayen felt a breeze as the sword went down. He tried to move, but somehow, he couldn't. "I guess this is the end..." He closed his eyes, accepting his fate. Hot blood splashed on his face... but no pain came.

He opened his eyes once again. There she was, his grandma. Standing between him and Lena. Her body was cut down to her stomach. The ground was covered with blood, you could see her bones and organs protruding. The sword still in her body. Lena tried to take it out, but she couldn't. It was stick in grandma.

She headbutted Lena after each word. "Toby... wanted... a... HORSE!!!" She grabbed the hand that had the sword and kept headbutting her. "Give... him... a... horse!"

"Wha... what's wrong with you!" Lena was dumbfounded. She couldn't believe what's happening, no one would.

Rayen used a tree as support to get up and looked at her. 'That wound is too big, how is she still fighting?' "Grandma, are you okay?"

"I've lived in pain for many, many years. This little injury is nothing. Fly Toby, I'm not going to let her take you to the mines. You will die down there. I've seen it." One by one, grandma's nails broke as she held Lena with unnatural strength. She will not let her go for anything in the world.

Rayen felt burst of energy inside him. He couldn't let grandma die here. He took a big rock. "Grandma, leave. I will take care of it."

"Stop singing and fly, Johnny. I will give you your favorite strawberries later on."

"Wasn't it Toby?..." Rayen went to her. She was still headbutting and started bitting. Lena struggled, but couldn't escape. He hit her head with the rock, blood flew everywhere and she stopped moving. He hit her again and again until she fell to the ground. He then dropped the big rock on her face.

"Grandma!!" He hugged her, she was trembling, then put her on his shoulders. "I'll take you to the village. The doctor is there, she will save you."

"Uh? Rayen? What are you doing here? What happened to Toby? Is he safe?"

"Grandma... Yeah, he is safe."

"Those damn miners..." *Cough cough* She coughed blood. "Uh? I can't move my arm... What's this? Blood? Ah, I see... I'm dying, heh."

"It's okay, Grandma. The doctor will save you."

"Rayen... I made a promise a long time ago. *Cough cough* I want you to..."

"Don't talk anymore. You can tell me once you are fine."

"No, listen to me. This is important! I promised Toby his favorite strawberries. I don't think I will make it. Remember, you have to give them to him once you are back."

"Gra... Grandma..."

"Don't think this is without a reward! If you do it, you can take my savings. They are below the floor of my bed. I was planning to keep them as college funds for my grandson, but alas, colleges don't exist here."

"Eh? What did you said?"

"That you have to give Toby his strawberries! How could you forget it so quickly?" *Cough cough* Blood fell from her mouth. "I think I shouldn't have entrusted something so important to you." She sighed. "Oh well, you are the only one I have here. The only one..." She closed her eyes and stopped moving. "Goodbye, Rayen." Rayen couldn't feel her breathe anymore.

"Grandma?" He put her on the ground and shook her. "Grandma!!!"