“I… Uh…” Theodor began, unable to stop his mind from swimming. Where did they come from? He thought. He looked at the corpse of the Leezh, body no longer obscured by mist. The body of the large cat-like beast lay in two only a few feet from where Theodor sat. Its golden fur shined where the few rays of light penetrating the canopy of the forest hit, causing it to look radiant despite its lifeless gray eyes. That… almost killed me. Theodor thought. He looked back at the two that had saved him. Now silent, they were watching him, David with an amused expression and the other impatient, waiting for him to gather himself enough to talk.

Tired of waiting, David eventually stretched his hand towards Theodor with a hearty chuckle to help him up. Theodor reached as well, grasping the other man’s rough callused hand and began to pull himself. Suddenly, David yanked Theodor to his feet, misjudged his own strength, and almost flipped him to his back again.

Theodor barely stuck the landing, his incredible balance saving him from another tumble. Now on his feet, Theodor began, “Thank y-,” before being interrupted by the man with red hair.

“No thanks needed.” He said with an annoyed tone. “How are your wounds?” He asked.

“Oh, a bit sore still but they’re healed so that should go away soon.” Theodor replied, checking where the wounds had been only moments earlier. The spots were still a bright pink like freshly peeled skin after a sunburn. They hurt more than Theodor wanted to let on so he focused on something else. How long were they watching? He wondered.

The red haired man ran his fingers through his hair, moving it from covering his eyes. He looked like he was contemplating something but Theodor wasn’t sure what. The man’s deep ruby eyes pierced through him, like he was looking at something within Theodor rather than Theodor himself. Feeling exposed, Theodor was uncomfortable.

Silence filled the air as no one spoke. Finally, another question was aimed at Theodor. “Why not use your soul rune to fight?” The man with red hair asked, truly curious.

A buzzing filled Theodor’s ears as his stomach lurched, almost causing him to lose the bread his mother had made him. Anxiety washed over him like a tsunami, his knees became weak and his thoughts scattered. How did they know? He swallowed hard and tried to think of anything to say to the two. A dry, “What do you mean?” was all he could manage to respond with. He had never gone out of his way to hide his power, his parents knew he could do something that others couldn’t, but he also knew not too many people should know. Theodor didn’t know much about runes except that strong rune users were held in high regard, but also quite envied.

An annoyed scowl formed on the man’s face. “Do not play dumb with me.” He said. “I may not know what rune it is, or why it has lasted this long, but I can still clearly see the energy of it.” He finished in a “this is obvious” tone.

Now more confused than nervous, Theodor continued to stare without responding. The rune energy can be seen? He thought. He knew runes took energy, he wasn’t sure what kind, but it was only visible while drawing it as far as he was aware.

“You’re not even trying to conceal it,” The man continued before Theodor could think of the implications. “So why did you not use it? Based on the amount of energy it has been using it should be pretty strong. At least strong enough to take care of a Leezh.” With that, the man waited with a look of expectation.

Confusion growing, Theodor couldn’t answer even if he wanted. They saw me try to fight that, so they saw me use it to bring out the potions and daggers. What else could there be? His mind raced, unable to think of what answer he may want. “You saw me use it to retrieve items, what else is there?” He blurted to them.

The two men looked at each other, visibly confused. “...Retrieve items?” David asked while looking back at Theodor?

Theodor cursed himself internally. Well they already know. “Yeah… All I know it can do is store small items inside of me. I just learned that it can store runes but that’s all.” That guy, David, killed the Leezh in one swing. He caught it off guard but still. I should just be honest and hopefully I’ll live. “Honestly, it’s a miracle I survived thanks to you.” He said as he looked at the corpse of the Leezh. He couldn’t help but squeeze where the wound on his arm was and think what would have happened if they hadn’t been there.

The two men shared a look of disbelief at what Theodor had said. How could someone with such a strong rune not know all that it could do? Where had he gotten a rune of such power? The man with red hair looked back at Theodor and he finally made another realization. “You. Do you know who I am?” He asked.

“A noble, right? I’m sorry for not greeting you properly.” Theodor said, bowing towards him as properly as he could muster. Theodor’s shirt hung loosely on his torso during the bow, the giant tears exposing most of his skin.

The man gave Theodor a pitiful look and let out a deep sigh. “You-” He paused. “You are obviously disheveled.” He said as he continued to look at Theodor’s battered appearance. Most of the blood from the Leezh had hit Theodor when it was slashed, covering a good majority of him in blood that was quickly drying. His hair was matted down and the few unoiled spots on his face were from being wiped already. What little material was left of his shirt was being held by threads, revealing the remaining tattoos of daggers and potions that Theodor didn’t think to currently hide. His hands still trembled slightly from the residual fear of the life or death fight he had luckily overcome.

“Let’s go back to town to have you clean up before we discuss any further.” The man said in an almost apologetic tone. “This is no time for proper introductions but know that my name is Brock. Now, come with us back to town before another beast finishes what that one started.” Finished, Brock turned without waiting for a reply and began to walk back towards the town.

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Theodor began to follow, not wanting to be left behind, but remembered something. He stopped and said, “wait.” He quickly turned around and made his way to where he was first attacked by the Leezh. The body of the rabbit that he had killed still lay there where he had dropped it. He grabbed the rabbit and went to place it in his bag but stopped. Brock said my rune was continuously using energy. Am I able to feel it? He focused with his eyes closed, prying into himself to find what was using the energy Brock said was being used. After a few moments of concentration, he felt it. He wasn’t sure exactly where it was inside of him but it was there, steadily consuming the energy that he used to form runes. Without thinking too much he consciously increased the energy that was being used for a moment. He felt the rune draw his energy in but nothing happened. Unsure if it would work, Theodor placed the rabbit to his bare chest under his shirt and increased the energy again. A heartbeat later the weight in his hand disappeared and a new tattoo was on his chest. A rabbit was now there. It worked.

With amazement, Theodor looked down at his chest where the new tattoo was. Oh shit. He thought. His eyes grew wide as he stood, still staring at the rabbit tattoo.

As he turned to face the other two, David called out, “Hey. You just said you could only store smaller things.” A hint of disbelief in his voice.

“That’s what I thought too, till just now.” Theodor replied, still not fully believing what he had just done.

“While that is good and all, we need to get out of this forest.” Brock said, turning to go again.

“Um…” Theodor began to say, not sure how to finish the sentence.

“What else could there be??” Brock asked in disbelief.

“Could we make a stop at a river on the way out? I… could use a quick rinse.” Theodor said as he looked at his ragged clothes. He knew the blood and tattered outfit would not be a welcome sight in town.

Brock gave it a moment of thought before he spoke. “Fine. But you need to be quick about it.”

With that, Theodor led the way to a nearby river. The river wasn’t wide nor deep, a normal boat would never make it through, but it was enough for him to clean up a little. He didn’t dare focus solely on cleaning and kept a watch on his surroundings even while rinsing his face. Once the blood was mostly off of his skin and out of his hair, Theodor produced an extra shirt from his bag that he thankfully brought. Once changed, he let the other two know and they began through the forest.

Theodor followed the two through the forest, lost in thought as he skillfully traversed the gnarled ground. He didn’t notice how far they had traveled when they were suddenly at the edge of the forest. Ahead of the trio, the shadows cast by the trees had reclaimed the land between them and the town. Not wanting to be caught in complete darkness, the two ahead of Theodor sped up to make it to the town's outer edge, causing Theodor to have to speed up with them.

Relief was visible on Theodor’s face as they made it to the edge of town. I made it. He thought to himself as he glanced back at the forest. He had still felt the same familiarity when they had been leaving the forest, but there was an air of danger he hadn’t felt before.

To him, the forest had been somewhere he was safe. A place to escape the town and be himself, but that changed. Now he knew how truly dangerous it could be. Danger he realized he was lucky to avoid as long as he had. The forest would still be his escape, but it became a place to be wary.

Theodor walked behind Brock and David lost in thought even as they reached the edge of town. The list of things that were on his mind was long, the most important was only a few steps away. Who are these two?

As the tension in his muscles released at the relative safety of the town's edge, and the adrenaline drained, Theodor finally realized what a strange idea it had been to follow these two strangers that had confronted him in town and followed him in secret. It was a downright odd decision to make, he realized with disappointment in himself. So much for stranger danger. He thought. He followed them into town and searched his memories for anything that could identify the two. Brock, the one that was the leader, was shocked that he didn’t know who he was. To Theodor, that meant he must be someone important. But what person of import would be so flashy?

Before he could continue on the train of thought, he caught sight of a familiar face. She was sitting in between the two doors of a one story mid-sized white building, which he knew were residences, that looked like it was held up by hopes and dreams. She sat motionless with her arms around her knees, wrapped in dark shadows. A torch light in the distance was the only illumination, which made the shadows around her seem deeper than usual. Even through the darkness, Theodor could see that she looked no cleaner than she had this morning and was just as hungry.

Theodor looked at her as he reached into his bag and glanced around to make sure no one was watching when we willed the rabbit out from his hand inside. The rabbit corpse popped into the bag in the same condition as when he had drawn it into himself. He breathed a sigh of relief that nothing strange had happened to it while inside him; It was his first time using his power on an animal, dead or alive, so he wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m going to need to experiment more. He thought to himself.

“Can y’all wait a second?” He asked. He had already stopped and turned on the road, not waiting for their reply. They did pause as he had asked, but watched with curiosity as he slunk over to the girl sitting by herself.

“What are you doing out here?” Theodor asked.

The girl jumped with a start at the sudden question. She had been zoned out and unaware of her surroundings. When she saw it was Theodor, a small smile was all she could manage for him. “Hey Theo. My…,” she paused for a moment, “parents are fighting so I’m playing outside.” She replied in a dispirited voice. The house behind her was eerily quiet. She hugged her knees again and looked at the ground.

Worried, Theodor asked, “Is everything okay?”

Casey remained distant as she replied, “I’m not sure. Dad left a while ago but told me to stay outside until he gets back since mom is still mad.” She said as she stared into the ground.

“Have you heard her inside at all?” Theodor asked.

At this Casey just shook her head, eyes still fixed on the ground, a dark fear in her eyes.

“Stay here a moment, I’ll check inside.” Theodor said. He tried to sound reliable but his nervous voice betrayed that image.

Before he could go inside a hand landed on his shoulder from behind. Theodor jumped slightly and looked behind him to see that David was the one stopping him.

“Let me check inside, boy.” David said. He leaned closer to Theodor and whispered the next part so that Casey couldn’t hear. “You may not like what you see.”

Theodor’s blood ran cold and he grew stiff when he heard this. David patted his shoulder and stepped past him into the house.

David stepped into the house and time seemed to slow as the three waited for the outcome. After some time, a gruff but pleased, “It’s okay to come inside,” came from the house.

David and Theodor breathed a sigh of relief which caused Theodor to look at David quizzically. David made a face that said “so what” at Theodor and walked into the house. Theodor saw a little bit of light return to Casey’s eyes and stepped to her and placed a hand on her head.

“Let’s check on your mom,” he said as he messed with her hair.

Casey looked up at him and held her relief for the moment. “...Okay,” she replied. She let Theodor help her up and stepped into the house first. Theodor followed behind and saw the other two inside near the far wall.

The inside of the house was as welcoming as the outside. The only furnishings in the single room were a table and three chairs around it in the center of the room. There was a small barrel that, Theodor assumed, used to hold flour. Casey’s parents were able to keep themselves afloat for a time but the steadily rising prices of everything caused them to be unable to afford what they needed. Theodor knew this and helped Casey by slipping food to her, but it wasn’t enough. He could see that now in this gloomy room.

I’ve… been lucky, he thought to himself as he looked around. As he finished the thought he finally noticed Casey’s mother unconscious on the floor; Brock knelt next to her writing a rune in the air.