Polon quickly caught up to Alz and walked up to his side. The atmosphere was calm and peaceful, as though the attacks of the past had just been a cruel lie. The two elves indulged themselves in the nostalgia from the past as they silently walked out of the village.

Polon didn't ask anything and Alz remained silent as well, as though unwilling to break the serene mood which surrounded them.

"Why?" Polon finally asked in a calm voice after they exited the village, breaking the peaceful silence that filled the air.

He didn't ask where they were headed, because that didn't matter to him. He and Alz both understood that the trip itself was where the meaning and wherever they were headed was only secondary, which was why Alz wasn't surprised when he heard this.

Alz's eyes went blank for a moment, his mind moving back to that day he first found the book he still kept with him, of the sights filled with an otherworldly beauty he never imagined before. He was recalling the reasons behind his decision, thinking of the best way to answer his best pal.

"It's the only dream I have left, the only thing that kept me alive." a sincere voice finally exited Alz's lips several minutes later.

"Even if it means leaving the tribe, leaving all of us behind!?" Polon responded instantly, his agitation leaking towards the end as he started raising his voice.

Alz abruptly stopped in his tracks at this question and Polon quickly reacted stopping right before Alz. Polon looked directly into Alz's face, catching a glimpse of the sad, bitter and helpless expression he had. His heart began to stir as he felt the weight of these emotions.

"I can't stay here anymore." Alz's voice carried lightly into his ears, making it his turn to fall into silence. He didn't want to, but he understood why Alz said those words. The resentment in Alz's voice was hardly noticeable, but it resonated strongly with those of his own.

Alz started to walk again and Polon followed by his side. Both of them didn't speak and silence dawned between the pair again, but the silence this time was heavy and depressing, opposite of the soothing atmosphere from before.

The skies slowly began to darken as the two elves continued to cut through the forest with sluggish movements far from what they were capable of. Suddenly, a sigh escaped from Alz's lips and he lightly shook his head with a slight smile on his face.

"I will be back, I promise." he said in a refreshed voice, as he finally thought of something he had neglected before, a solution to the problem which was weighing heavily on his heart.

Polon slowly turned his head to look at Alz while surprise lit in his eyes. Just because he was leaving doesn't mean he wouldn't ever return. This lasted but an instant before he looked down while his eyes dimmed again. After all, nothing had changed and Alz was going to leave.

"POLON! CAN I LEAVE THE VILLAGE TO YOU?" Alz suddenly shouted, his voice echoing loudly within the forest.

Polon was alarmed by this and quickly readied his spear. It was never a good idea to shout in the forest, even if the first darkness hadn't arrived yet. This was such an obvious fact that Lein only mentioned it once in passing before, because he didn't think anyone would actually do it.

Yet, Alz's face showed no signs of worry. Contrary to that, his eyes were wide open with a savage grin on his face. He prepared both crossbows but kept one back in its holster, holding the other in his hands.

Sure enough, Alz's shout didn't go unnoticed. The two elves began to hear sounds closing in from four different directions, surrounding them. Polon immediately felt relief wash over him when he noticed that there were only four wolves.

"Did he hit his head too hard when he was away?" He sent a fierce glare at Alz while thinking multiple rude comments towards Alz. However, he didn't voice them as he knew that getting into an argument now would only be counterproductive.

While he was doing this, his body had already begun moving. The sluggishness from before was nowhere to be seen, replaced by sharp movements befitting the rising star of the tribe.

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

His blood began to boil, and he felt an urge to charge at the wolves. If this were any other situation, he would have already charged at the wolves directly, but now Alz was by his side. He focused his senses on the closest wolf immediately moved to stand between it and Alz in combat stance.

"Leave it to me." a voice suddenly came from behind and he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. He turned behind with a questioning gaze, but Alz merely shook his head lightly and pulled him back.

The force was weak and he could have easily resisted, but he moved along it and went behind Alz, silently observing him. He also remained in his combat stance, ready to jump in at the first sign of danger.

Alz calmly pointed his crossbow in the direction of the wolf with his eyes closed. Several moments later, his eyes suddenly sprung open and he fired an arrow in front, immediately taking off towards another wolf after this.

A pained whimper came from the direction he shot at earlier, but Alz didn't care as he was already on the next wolf. He cocked his crossbow and pointed it ahead, firing it instantly. This time the sound of a hard collision spread out almost immediately after he fired.

Alz didn't check this time either, he had more pressing issues to handle. He immediately cocked his crossbow while turning around to face the two wolves that were viciously snarling at him.

Polon was shocked by Alz's performance but his attention towards the surroundings didn't let up for a single second. He didn't think that Alz would be able to handle these wolves in time and was just about to charge up when a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

Alz aimed both his crossbows at the two wolves before him and mercilessly pulled the trigger, releasing two deadly arrows which instantly robbed the lives of the two wolves.

Peace quickly returned to the surroundings, leaving the four motionless bodies and the scent of blood that wafted in the air as the only signs of the short skirmish.

Polon strapped his spear back to his shoulder while staring at a crossbow in Alz's hand. He had never seen anything like it before. He was sure Alz didn't load any arrows earlier, yet it still managed to fire arrows repeatedly at incredible speeds. However, he was quickly distracted by Alz who started speaking.

"See, I've became stronger. I can protect myself now, I will surive, and I promise I will return safely." Alz faced Polon and began to speak in a gentle voice.

"I will definitely be back, so can you watch over the tribe while I'm gone, Polon?" Alz paused for a moment and stared directly in Polon's eyes before he continued, holding his fist up at the end of the sentence.

Polon grimaced, but he soon made an exaggerated sigh. Alas, it had still turned out this way, as he had expected from the start. "I will probably never win an argument with him." Polon thought as he looked at Alz with a bitter smile.

"You're being unfair." Polon complained with dissatisfaction in his voice, but he still raised his fist and bumped it into Alz's fist.

"I'll take care of the village while you're gone but make sure you keep your promise, or I won't let you off lightly hehehehe." Polon said with a threatening tone, with an evil smirk on his face, and his fist clenched tightly in front of Alz's face, ending in a menacing laugh.

"Remember that you can always come back, the village will welcome you back at any time." Polon added on in a sincere, serious voice while his eyes began to water as he fully came to terms with the fact that Alz would be leaving the tribe.

"Yeah I won't forget." Alz lips curled up and he replied while moisture formed at the corner of his eyes.

Following this, Alz collected his arrows but they left the wolves' remains on the ground as it wasn't beneficial to have the materials weighing them down for the journey ahead.

The two elves then began to chat after Alz told Polon the purpose of this trip. Although, rather than chatting, it was mostly just Polon bombarding Alz with questions one-sidedly about his life in the recent years and his equipment, particularly about his crossbow.

Alz answered the questions to the best of his ability, but most of the answers only made Polon more confused. Seeing this, he decided to skip most of the details and made his explanations as simple and straightforward as possible so Polon could understand.

He freely shared the knowledge he gained from the archives with Polon along the way. However, he didn't mention the location of the archives even once as he didn't want anyone to disturb the last place he considered as 'home' in the forest.

He also figured that the archives wouldn't have much value to anyone else since nobody would be able to understand anything there and the device he used was no longer functioning.

The two elves moved slowly, stopping to camp whenever the skies got too dark. Alz also let Polon try some of the smoked meat he made only to have Polon 'requesting' more than half of his stash after tasting it, something he eventually gave in to reluctantly after Polon guilt tripped him with his departure.

He also showed Polon the picture book he brought out from the archives, causing Polon's eyes to sparkle at the beautiful sights in the book. Looking at these pictures, Polon finally understood why Alz was so set on his adventure and almost wanted to follow Alz, but he held himself back when he remembered his promise with Alz.

Time flew by as the two friends enjoyed the last bit of time they could spend together. However, all things come to an end as with this trip as they reached the last leg of their journey on the fifth day since they left the fourth village.