'Birthday?' Tsugi tilted his head in confusion. Tsugi has never thought about his birth being a happy day. Only until recently, he's met everything but happiness and joy since his birth.

With Mare's enormous hands, the two blades looked like miniature toys. Tsugi reached for the blades and pulled them from the leather sheath.

"They may be a little big for you now, but you'll grow into them." Mare said.

Tsugi was in awe at the beauty of them. A black leather wrapped around the hilt, the blade was a bright silver and curved with a sharp jagged end that came into a point. It was light yet felt very sturdy.

"You are growing stronger everyday. There may come a day where you will no longer need me. When that day comes, I hope that these will come in handy."

Tsugi's chest felt heavy. "I may not need to depend on you, but you are my friend. I will always n-need you."

"Then I will always be with you young master." She bowed her head.

Tsugi sheathed the daggers and wrapped his arms around her thick neck. "Thank you Mare. I will cherish these forever." Tears filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. Why was he crying? He didn't feel sad or hurt. He felt...loved.

"Stand over there." She pointed to a spot further down, approximately forty meters away. Tsugi walked over. "Now try throwing it."

"From all the way over here?" Tsugi could barely see the target, as it was just now a dot.

"Do you not believe in yourself?"

Tsugi pulled one of the daggers out of the sheath and looked at it. He eyed the target and took a slow deep breath. At the pause of exhaling, he flung the dagger and it hurled, slicing through the air with a ring as it pierced the target with a bullseye.

"I hit it!" He screamed in amazement. "Did you see that Mare?! I actually hit it! From that distance!"

"Most excellent young master." Mare smiled. "I must return but you keep practicing." He continued to jump and cheer as he ran to retrieve the dagger.

He threw the daggers a few more times, and before the sun even reached its highest peak, he had already made it to twenty straight bullseyes.

"Alright!" He exhaled in excitement. He cleaned the daggers by wiping them on his trousers and placed them back in the leather sheath. "Time to get to work!"

He started marching back but stopped. There was faint growling and whimpering from deep within the forest. His curiosity got the best of him. He quietly snuck further into the forest as the growls grew louder.

A giant ganjo stood at six meters, standing on its hind legs. It had tough leathery skin with a hard layered shell on its withers and down its back. It bared its teeth and roared angrily.

Standing in front of the ganjo was an animal that resembled a black wolf that was five meters from its withers down to its paws. It had big pointy ears, muscular neck, shoulders and legs. It had a long line of hair that grew down its spine to its long tail. It was weak and injured, but it shakily pushed itself off the ground and bared its teeth.

The ganjo swung its giant paw down toward it. The wolf dodged and latched onto the ganjo's arm, pulling and tugging in an attempt to rip it apart. The ganjo reared its head and roared as it tried to get the wolf to let go. The ganjo opened its mouth and latched onto the back of the scruff of the wolf and bit down hard. The wolf yelps loudly and releases, allowing the ganjo to slam it to the ground.

A rustling in the bushes behind the wolf caught Tsugi’s attention. A little pup came running out, growling and baring its teeth. The ganjo opened its jaws in an attempt to go for the pup, but the giant wolf bit down on the ganjo’s leg and dragged it away. The little fearless pup didn't phase and continued to advance as fast as its little paws could.

The ganjo flips around toward the giant wolf and they go head to head. As the pup approached, the wolf let out a screeching roar and the pup stopped in its tracks. The ganjo sunk its teeth into the wolf's ribs and a loud crack rang out. The ganjo threw the wolf and eyed the pup, who was now growling and advancing again.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Tsugi quickly drew his dagger from the sheath, gauging the speed the and predicting the movement, he threw his dagger right as the ganjo was about to intercept the pup. The sharpness and speed of the dagger pierced through the tough skin into the ganjo’s neck. It immediately dropped to the ground, shaking the forest floor, and sending up a dust cloud. The vibration disturbed the nearby birds and sent them chirping and cawing as they flew away.

Tsugi could hear light growling in the dust cloud. As it cleared he could see the little pup with a mouthful of the ganjo's tough leathery skin in its mouth as it growled and tugged. The giant wolf lay behind the ganjo, its breaths shallow as it whimpered quietly.

Tsugi carefully approached the little pup, who noticed Tsugi and eyed him without letting go of the ganjo. "It's alright little one." Tsugi knew the pup couldn't understand what he was saying, but he continued in a soft tone. "It's dead, it's okay now. Is that your mother? I'm going to go check on her, okay?"

Tsugi cautiously approached the giant wolf. It let out a weak growl when it saw Tsugi and tried to stand. "Whoa, whoa." He slowly raised his hands and lowered his body into a less threatening pose. "It's alright." Slowly and carefully he approached the wolf.

A little pup growled and came running up behind him, biting him in the ankle. The pup had fierce fearless eyes and didn't let go. Although its teeth were sharp, it was still very little and only punctured a little into Tsugi's skin.

He carefully reached down to the pup, the giant wolf let out a low growl and attempted to stand again but collapsed back onto the ground. "It's alright." Tsugi said to the wolf. "I'm not going to hurt him." He continued to carefully grab the pup around its body. It was so small, it could fit in Tsugi's arms. He slowly tries to pry the pup's mouth open, but it wouldn't budge. "Hey little one, I need to check on your mom." Tsugi gently ran his hand down its head and back, stroking the growing line of fur down its spine. After a long while, the pup's eyes softened and it let go. "There you go."

The pup hops over to its mother and attempts to lick and nudge her up, but she doesn't move, only weak whines come out. Tsugi slowly approached and carefully placed a hand on the wolf's chest. Blood continued to pour out of the wounds and its body slowly continued to get colder.

Tsugi didn't know what to do, as he didn't know how to use healing magic, or any magic yet. He stayed by the wolf and slowly stroked her bloody muzzle and head, trying to sooth and console her in the last moments.

The little pup continued to lick and dig under the giant wolfs’ neck to entice it to stand. Tsugi looked into the wolf's eyes, "It's okay, I will take care of your little one." He said quietly. As her last breath left her, her dark eyes went blank.

Tsugi tried to console the pup as it attempted to wake its mother from the eternal slumber. "You can't stay here, other monsters will eat you."

It refused to give up and continued for a long while before falling into a deep sleep. Tsugi picked up the sleeping pup in his arms and returned to his room, hiding the daggers in his cupboard. "I'm sorry but you can't stay here. If anyone finds out I'm pretty sure both you and I will end up dead." He gently stroked the top of the sleeping pup's head.

Sighing, he headed down to the village with the sleeping pup tucked into his tunic, and the food he had packed earlier that day. He still had to take care of Mister Jember’s farm.

As he tended to the fields by picking weed and watering plants, the pup was attentively watching and following behind him like a little duckling. Its oversized head caused it to be unbalanced and tripped over the uneven surfaces. Tsugi laughed and picked it up, placing it in his tunic again. The pup poked its head out of the neck of the tunic and continued to observe Tsugi work.

"Hi Dru. Hi R'jai." He greeted the horses with a smile. They snorted and bobbed their heads in response. Tsugi let them out to run and graze in the field after feeding them each an apple, in order to clean the stalls.

He cleaned up one of the empty stalls for the pup, putting a bowl of water and food down for it. The pup hopped around him in circles, tripping over its own feet, and falling flat on its face every now and then.

"Hey!" He laughed as R'jai tried to eat his hair while he was cleaning dirt out of her foot. "That's my hair, not food." He gently pushed her head away and continued to clean. The brave pup wobbled over to say hi to the horses, but the horses didn't care much and just ignored it. After locking the horses back in their stalls, he places the pup into the extra stall.

"Hmm. You know what, we h-have to find a name for you." Tsugi picked up the pup, scrutinizing it. It had pitch black fur with red-brown patches that looked like eyebrows. "Oh, so you're a boy." The pup's legs dangled in the air as it just stared at Tsugi with big light brown eyes. "Ruzo." The pup's tail starts wagging. "Yeah? You like that name?" The pup continues to wag its tail. "Alright, well you have to stay here Ruzo. I will come back. Just don't c-cause any trouble, okay?" He placed the pup down and closed the stall behind him.

"Alright, see you two tomorrow." Tsugi shut the barn door and went back to the castle. He thought about how much he wanted to show Xeni the awesome gift he had received from Mare and tell her about the events today.

He grinned from ear to ear, joyfully sneaking his way back into the castle. 'Every opportunity I get, is the best time to train', he thought as he ducked, jumped, crouched and crawled his way through the village, into the castle, and up to his room.

He opened the door to his room. His books, clothes and straw bed were scattered everywhere. A giant figure stood in the middle of his room holding Tsugi's daggers in its hand.

"What are these?"

Tsugi's body automatically turned to run out the door, but Sir Gorou's reaction was faster. Tsugi found himself thrown against the wall across his room.

Sir Gorou stood towering over him, his eyes were dark and had a shimmer of red. Tsugi stood onto his feet. Sir Gorou's fist shook violently and he swung his powerful fist toward Tsugi. Tsugi's eyes widened in shock at a fiery flame that had engulfed his fathers clenched fist as it headed straight toward him.

Tsugi blocked the attack with his arms, but it still burned his skin, sending him sliding down the hall. The punch was much more powerful than any of the previous punches he has ever taken.

"And what were you planning to do with these?" Sir Gorou said as he slowly approached Tsugi. Sir Gorou held the daggers up in one hand. Red flames emerged in his hand and the daggers melted into bright red molten metal as they dripped off his bare hands and poured onto the floor.

Tsugi stared in disbelief, tears of anger filled his eyes. He let out a scream like he had never screamed before, and dashed toward his father.