For the first time ever, Wren enjoys breathing the fresh air as she travels through the Misty Woods. Wren makes excellent time through the Misty Woods due to the bright sunlight that traverses the trees. Quite cheered at the prospect of exiting a day or two earlier, Wren begins to softly hum her father’s favorite lullaby that he sung to her as a small child.

“Now fall off to sleep, among the flowers

that bloom in spring,

And I prayed, my hand and

 yours, forever-

be linked,

That I may always,

 kiss-

the hands

I hold dear,

And I'll sing you

to sleep,

and I'll sit

here besides you.

Now fall off to sleep, among the flowers

that bloom in spring,

And I prayed

My hand and

 yours, forever-

be linked,

When the night-

is far from,

over--come.

Let's offer a prayer

thus oh,

 O'God, I beg,

sparest, my child

from fear nor sorrow-

Now fall off to sleep, among the flowers

that bloom in spring,

And I prayed

My hand and

 yours, forever-

be linked,

on the night when the shining

you ,

came-- to this ashen world

I never

cease, to pray, day,

comes again,

May you rise, to find  

a new-

days sun,

Now fall off to sleep, among the flowers

that bloom in spring,

And I prayed

My hand and

 yours, forever-

be linked.

That I may always,

 kiss-

the hands

I hold dear,

And I'll sing you

to sleep,

and I'll sit

here besides you.”

Abruptly, a twig snaps causing Wren to dart off the road into a large shrub. Wren stills her breath and intently listens for nearby sounds as she peers through the thick shrubbery leaves. Wren almost sighs as she mutters to herself, “I knew my luck was to good be true!”

The sound of several footsteps can soon be heard as rapid whispering can be heard among the owners. The groups slowed down and approaches the area where Wren was last seen. Wren crouches against the ground causing a long-legged spider to crawl over her hand and out of sight. From her view point, Wren can count six pair of dusty worn boots.

 A raggedy-bearded man says, "I swear by my dead mother's grave that I just saw a girl walking down dis here road."

A yellowed-teeth man spits onto the dirt road and disbelieving says, "Swear by thy dead mother's grave, eh? Ya don't even know who the wench was.”

The raggedy-bearded man grabs for yellow-teethes dirty and drags him towards him. "Ya calling me liar! I know what my two eyes saw, and it was some girl child walking on dis 'ere yonder road," he indignantly roared.

Yellow-teeth provocatively blows his foul breath into raggedy-bearded man's face. The raggedy-bearded man pulls his face away in disgust. "Well, I reckon I am calling ye a liar. 'Em foul drinks of yours, 'ave finally addled ya mind. Ye can't even, clearly tell what ye see anymore," yellow-teeth sneered back.

 The raggedy-bearded man angrily raises his fist and says, "Why I aught'a break ya scrawny-."

 "Enough!" Said, a tall brawny man as he effortlessly separates the two. “Stop wasting our time. Did ya see a girl or not?" The brawny man demanded to know.

Yellow-teeth gloatingly grins at the raggedy-bearded man, who takes a threatening step towards yellow teeth, but stops shortly thereafter at the brawny man's stern gaze. The raggedy-bearded man rubs his nose with his finger and looks firmly at the brawny man. "I swear to ya, chief, by all the God's; that I saw a girl on 'dis here yonder road," he vehemently swore.

The brawny leader pursed his lips at raggedy-bearded man's words. "The girl that ya saw, could be one of them cursed apparitions. But if ya saw right, it could be a living, breathing girl. And we have nothing to lose, but everything to gain, if ya're right,” the brawny leader explained.

The men grin at their leader’s words as the brawny leader firmly says, "Spread out men and see if we can find any sign of which direction the girl went." The men quickly spread out and begin to search among the shrubbery and trees for any traces of a girl fleeing into the woods.

Wren’s eyes darken with anger at their foul intentions and remains still as possible. Wren’s heart twists with rage and does not pound in fear causing Wren to frown. Since when did she get so angry so easily?

“I thought that Hermit said I had a year left? Figures, I should have never trusted that perverted ghost’s words!” Wren privately grumbled to herself as she moved into a crouching position ready to run.

Unsatisfied at the burning sense of suppressed anger, Wren remembers the technique her father used to whisper to her. “Remember to much anger is bad, so be as cold and deadly as a Frost Giant,” Zarris whispered.

Wren envisions the icy chill of her ice magic and empties her mind of any remaining thoughts. Much like a river icing over, a cold sense of purpose fills her until the roaring river of emotion is frozen over. Wren’s eyes glow icy blue with an eerie calm that hinted at a ruthless will to live at any cost. With her anger being restrained by the Frost Giant’s icy coldness, Wren readies her spells as the band of men methodically near her in their search.          

Yellow-teeth plunges his hands into a nearby shrubbery blindly searching as Wren pulls back to avoid his grimy, pawing hands. Yellow-teeth scratches his head in puzzlement until a brilliant idea strikes. Yellow-teeth plunges his head into the shrub to only halt a hands breath away from Wren’s.

 The two gazed into each other’s eyes as his stank breath is blown into Wren’s face. Wren wrinkles her nose as he gleefully whispers, "Found ya."  Yellow-teeth is about to announce his glorious achievement, when Wren stuffs a pile of muck and leaves into his gaping mouth. Yellow-teeth chokes and falls back onto his backside as he frantically claws at his mouth. Using this opportunity, Wren darts out of the shrubbery and into the woods.

 Meanwhile, Yellow-teeth pants on all fours and spits out the encrusted muck. The raggedy-bearded man gasps in laughter at yellow-teethes antics and gloatingly says, “Didn't I tell ya, I saw her."            The brawny leader thumps the raggedy-bearded man on the back and says, “Well ya were right. So, once we get her back to the cave, I'll reward ya."

The raggedy-bearded man gratefully says, "Thankee thee kindly, chief, for ya're consideration. I am most obliged.” After all, the raggedy-bearded man hadn't seen a woman in many months and such a treat would be a well and much deserved indulgence. But most of all he would especially enjoy, the looks of envy from his comrades. Because very rarely did the Chief, ever allow any of the men to touch the merchandise for fear of damaging the goods.

 Yellow-teeth snarls to his feet and roars, "I swear, I'll get dat little bitch, if it's the last thing I do!"

Before Yellow-teeth can run off, the brawny leader confidently says, "We'll split up into pairs and herd the girl towards the waterfall to corner her there.” The men nod in understanding and split into pairs each heading in a different direction.

Wren scampers through the woods with the vivid image of the brawny man still brightly burning in her mind. The skin tingling felt on her skin with every word spoken told Wren that he was dangerous. Given that is the case then Wren only has one option to whittle away at her opponent’s strength.

Wren glances up at the beautiful sunlight and mutters, “You’re not helping!” Any other day, it would have been perfect except for today. With the clear sunlight, the men would easily be able to track her through the woods as they this area of the woods unlike her.

Wren leaves enough of a fleeing trail as she leaps over bushes and fallen branches. Shrubs and small tree branches tear at her face and clothes, but Wren presses forward even running through a large spider web. Wren winces in disgust in hopes of not having a spider nestling in her hair.

 Keeping an eye on the ground for an unexpected hole lest she break her leg and lose precious time, Wren concentrate on summoning three illusions of herself. Successful, Wren stops in a clearing and motions to her illusion clones to leave in direction as nosily as possible. With the added instructions of hiding when needed and to separate the searching parties as far from each other as possible.

The minute her illusions separate, Wren activates her levitation magic and is much more at ease at leaving zero footprints. Wren only pauses to select a suitable hiding spot a thick Fir tree with plenty of foliage to hide her. Wren is careful to not shake the tree as she climbs lest the newly fallen needles give her away. Wren comes to a halt mid-way as one or two small fir cones all to the ground.

 Certain that any higher would be cumbersome and possibly more trouble than it’s worth, Wren settles down in a comfortable position. It was sad to say, but Wren had yet to master the vampiric ability, Camouflage as it had yet to awaken. For now, Wren could only do it old school and maintain her calm. Despite so, Wren has a nasty smile on her face as she keeps watch. For soon, the hunters would become the hunted.

 In preparation, Wren eases her dagger from her waist and carefully places the cold blade into her mouth. Wren carefully bites down on the dagger and shakes her head to confirm its firm hold.  She truly hoped that it wouldn’t take long for the first of the hunters to find her as illusion magic was quite strenuous on her magic pool. And it would be most terrible for Wren to find herself without magic during the night in the Misty Woods.

  But not long after, Wren hears rustling from nearby as expected. Wren’s eyes gleam as the suppressed rage inside of her stirs, before forcefully being repressed. Normally, Wren would be afraid in such a situation, but after everything, what was a human in comparison to a giant squid or a ferocious monster or a perverted ghost? It wasn’t as though she had never killed a living creature in her life and a human would be no different. That was at least what, Wren told herself.

 And yes, deep down inside, Wren knew that something would change the moment she killed one of her hunters. However, she didn’t have a choice, because the alternative wasn’t one that Wren could live with. Besides death isn’t always a bad thing except for ghosts. All ghosts ought to be wiped out from existence!

Shrubs and leaves are carelessly shoved aside as a large man nosily stomps his way past a particularly large Fir tree. The raggedy-bearded man had accidentally separated himself from his foolish partner, yellow-teeth. That way, if the Chief asked, he could always say it was just an accident.

The raggedy-bearded man picks at his nose and imagens capturing the girl. The raggedy-bearded man dreamily grins at rubbing his triumph in yellow-teeth’s face. Oh, how yellow-teeth would be jealous!

Wrens heart soundlessly slides down the tree trunk and onto the dusty floor covered in needles. Her levitation magic keeps her from making a sound as she lands and creeps up behind the raggedy-bearded man. Wren soundlessly removes the dagger in her mouth as the dagger unusually feels heavy in her palm. Before raggedy-bearded man can ever notice her, Wren clamps her hand onto raggedy-bearded man’s mouth and effortlessly slits his throat. Wren instantly let’s go as the body of raggedy-bearded man slumps onto the ground.

The ragged-bearded man tries to soundlessly plead as he uselessly presses his hands to the gaping wound in his neck. But the raggedy-bearded man is unable to make any sound other than choking gurgles. The raggedy-bearded man’s hands grow weak and finally flutter limply onto the leaves.

Wren numbly gazes at the corpse as a fleeting emotion twists through her heart and is forever gone. Without wasting any time, Wren bends down to wipe her blade on his clothes and almost chokes at the foul smell. “When was the last time that he took a bath?” Wren sickly choked until the urge to vomit went away.

A closer look would reveal that he hadn’t seen a pair of clean clothes in years. Wren ignored the state of the corpse and sheathes her blade. Bending down and trying not to breath through her nose, Wren drags the foul-smelling corpse away by his boots and rolls the corpse under some large, leafy shrubbery.

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Wren’s freezes at hearing movement in the nearby distance. Wren hurriedly kicks leaves over the bloody trail and hides with not a second to spare. Hiding in a thickly leafed Aspen tree, Wren watches and places the slightly damp blade in her mouth. Ignoring the metallic taste, Wren watches the loud, bumbling figure enter the clearing.

 The angry figure of yellow-teeth stomps through the woods. "Stupid git! He just had to run off, didn't ya, shitty prick!" Yellow-teeth hissed. “Ya dim-witted bastard ya better answer me, if ya know what's good for ya! Where ya at?" Yellow-teeth roared as his voice echoes through the trees, before soundlessly fading away.

 Yellow teeth spit a yellowish glob onto the ground and impatiently waits for a response. Not hearing a response, yellow-teeth sulks and curses to himself. “We should ‘ave stayed in town, but no, Chief wanted to try our luck,” Yellow-teeth grumbled to himself.

“Dag nabbit, ya twisted bastard, answer me now!” Yellow-teeth roared into the woods. The only reply heard is the various odd creaks of the woods. Yellow teeth uneasily stepped back and made the sign of the ill omen. Despite having hunted in the Misty Woods for so many years, Yellow-teeth was still afraid. There was just something uncanny about the place.  

A soft-rustle in the distance causes yellow-teeth to yell in annoyance, “I caught ya, ya weasel-faced bastard. Hurry up and come out, we gots a job to do!” Not hearing an immediate response, yellow-teeth angrily shouts, “Ya bastard, enough with ya're tricks! I now ya're 'dere!" The rustling ceases once more and an uncanny stillness fills the forest.

Glaring at where the rustling sounds originated from yellow-teeth irritably clears his throat and says, "Lookie 'ere ya miserable bastard, if ya don't wanna come out dat's fine! But ya we gotta get going to the waterfall's a quarter mile from 'ere. Ya know the chief, will be pissed blue, beside himself, if we don't follow his 'ere orders. And ya remember what he did to the last fellow who didn't follow his ‘ere orders. The chief ripped dat fellow's teeth out, one by one! I reckon even ya're not dat addled witted!"

Yellow-teeth expectantly waits for the raggedy-bearded man to sullenly emerge from the bushes and trees. Throwing up his hands impatiently into the air, yellow-teeth mutters, "Fine if ye wanna play it dat way, ye can ya twittered-brain! Ya're as good as dead, when the chief gets his hands on ya. Ya're as good as a dead man walking! Heck, I'll do ya're ass a great favor, I'll save the chief and ya the trouble and I'll wring ya're sorry excuse for a neck with my own, two hands!"

“A bitch, huh?” Wren recalled to herself what he had called her. Still, she had to thank him for his generous offer in providing her with important information. His most gracious information would make it that much easier for her, naturally, a private thank you are in order. And so, Wren patiently watches as yellow-teeth stomp his way past her current location, before soundlessly slithering back down.

Yellow-teeth irately kicks a pile of leaves and small twigs into the air, but suddenly finds his foot slipping on something slippery. Throwing his arms wildly in the air, Yellow-teeth fights to regain his balance. Startled and out of breath, yellow-teeth curses quite loudly, "Ya cursed forest, ya're still trying to get me! Well I ain't letting ya!"

Yellow-teeth narrow s his beady little eyes and glares murderously at the slippery pile of leaves. Thinking he had stepped into some animal feces, yellow-teeth furiously wiped his boot clean against the ground. But his actions were futile as this caused even more leaves to stick to the bottom of his worn boot sole.

 Furious at the clinging leaves, yellow-teeth kicked at the pile of leaves again. Out of breath, yellow-teeth watched in satisfaction the destruction of the leaf pile. Satisfied, yellow-teeth turns to leave until the drying pool of blood hidden on the ground caches his attention. The whites of Yellow-teeth eyes can be seen as his eyes dart about. "Enough ya bastard! Dis 'ere joke ya have just taken it too far! Dis 'ere is far enough!" Yellow-teeth stuttered.

Uneasy Yellow-teeth steps back and snivels fearfully and weakly croaks, "Fine then, I'm leaving without ya're miserable sorry ass! I ain't taking the fall for your sorry actions!"

 Yellow-teeth ignores the eerie silence and stumbles back. “I’ll just get back on me own feet. Yea, I’ll be alright,” Yellow-teeth thought to himself. After all, the chief would surely understand and be good with it.

 Yellow-teeth calms himself with the image of the glorious beauties he will be gorge himself on their return to town. Yellow-teeth leers at the bountiful willing females that would climb into his lap. Licking his lips, Yellow-teeth is lost in his fantasy and misses the appearance of his quarry appearing before him.

 Too late, the child’s ghastly pale face looms in yellow-teeth eyes to reveal abnormally sharp teeth. Yellow-teeth sees far too late out of the corner of his eye the cold glint of a blade flashes toward him. Yellow-teeth fearfully falls back and grins in relief at having dodged. Glancing down at his nose at the small dagger, Yellow-teeth sneers at the pathetic failure. “With such a large opening, ya still missed huh? Dis ‘ere why womenfolk should stay out of men’s things. Y’all are only good for one thing for mating and making babies,” Yellow-teeth proudly thought to himself. “Dat's whatcha ya get for allowing females any sort of free will! Ya get females getting all upddiy and having them grand ideas. Dis 'ere little girl proved dat only place womenfolk belong is in the house and pleasing us men folk!”

Yellow-teeth is interrupted by a painful cough to find himself spitting out something red and metallic tasting. Yellow-teeth numbly reaches up to touch his neck and feels a wet liquid on his fingers. With dread, Yellow-teeth feels a burning sensation at his throat and looks down at his hand. Drops of blood drip down his fingers as dread creeps into his lower belly.

 Heart-pounding the blood pumps rapidly through his body and up his neck. At the adrenaline spike, yellow-teeth’s heart pumps blood rapidly through as yellow-teeth fearfully tries to staunch the rapid flow to only anxiously glance up and see a fascinated gaze on the girl’s face.

“Huh, that’s weird, I wonder why it took so long to take?” Wren muttered out loud.

 Yellow-teeth tries to speak but he finds that he is unable to speak as metallic-tasting blood fills his lungs. All that escapes his mouth is a desperate gurgle as yellow-teeth chokes on his blood. Yellow-teeth’s body becomes uncontrollably weak and slumps on to his side.

 Lying on his side, Yellow-teeth tries to breath but blood like bubbles and froth are what emerges. To his horror, Yellow-teeth meets the eyes of the child to only find a disinterest in them. Unable to scream nor wail, Yellow-teeth drowns in the icy colored eyes as he desperately wonders, why? And though he very well knew the answer that did not mean he truly wished for one.

Yellow-teeth hears the leaves softly crunch louder and louder as worn boots appear in his fading line of sight. “How did dat girl get me? I could ‘ave sworn I dodged!” Yellow-teeth thought to himself, before fading away into oblivion.

Wren pokes the corpse of yellow-teeth with her foot just to be sure he is dead. It was a rather strange occurrence that Yellow-teeth did not bleed out quickly. “Huh, maybe, I didn’t cut deep enough?” Wren thought to herself as she makes a careful note to note make that same mistake twice.

  Bending down, Wren wipes her blade on the foul spelling corpse and ponders her next step. Before, Wren can move the stinking corpse, an illusion sends a message via their shared magic connection and explains that the men have pulled back. Without a doubt, the men were regathering to plan their next move. Such an action opposed a threat to Wren as only by having them stay in groups would she be able to hunt them down.

Rather than wasting her time moving yellow-teethes corpse, Wren darts towards the illusions’ current location and commands the illusion to remain at a distance and follow. “Two down only four more to go,” Wren thought to herself.

Wren disperses the other two illusions as both were being followed by the expert trackers of the group. Wren sticks to the best option and seeks out the weak links in the group. Using her levitation magic, Wren easily traverses the ground and makes very little noise except for the bushes and branches that grabbed onto her clothes.

Wren disperses her last illusion with relief as she reaches the past location of her illusion. Coming to a standstill, Wren leans against a tree trunk as the sound of moving figures can be heard. The two men wade through the bushes as a short lanky man chuckles with the much taller furrowed-brow man. The lanky man wipes the tears from his eyes and gasping says, "You go on ahead I have to retie my boot laces." The furrowed-brow nods and walks slowly ahead.

The short, lanky man sits down against a tree root and begins to lace his boots. Suddenly, an icy hand blocks his mouth as another slits his throat from end to end. Not even able to make a sound, the lanky man is gently held in place until his body becomes limp. Without even spotting his killer, the lanky man’s corpse is gently laid to rest against the tree trunk.

A few meters away the furrowed-brow man is uneasy at the eerie silence. Glancing back, he says, “Are you done yet?” Frowning at failing to see his companion, the furrowed-brow man sternly says, “Enough! This is not a time to be playing a joke! You know the chief will be angry, if we don't get back soon."

The furrowed-brow man’s words echo loudly throughout the trees with no reply. Frustrated, the furrowed-brow man makes his way to the tree his companion sat at. Sighing, the furrowed-brow man rolls at the obvious prank of his companion who is surely just waiting to leap out from behind a tree. To his surprise, the furrowed-brown man sees his companion resting against a tree trunk. “This is no time for a nap. C’mon now, get up,” the furrowed-brow man said.

 Failing to see his companion react, the furrowed-brow man approaches and nudges the foot of his companion with his boot in emphasis. His companions head only bobs slightly forward causing the furrowed-brow man to sigh and reach over to pull him to his feet. “Look here you trickster,” when the body of his companion slumps the side. A clean slit across the lanky man’s neck can be clearly slit causing the furrowed-brow man to scramble back in terror.

Struck in terror, the furrowed-brow man frantically throws himself behind a tree and holds his breath. Trying to listen for movement, the furrowed-brow man is unable to hear over the pounding of his heartbeat. Trembling, the furrowed-brow man finally remembers to reach for his dagger, when an icy hand creeps over his lips. With a twist and no hesitation, a blade is drawn across his throat. Finally, understanding dawns on the furrowed-brow man at the murderous events that transpired and slumps to the ground.

Furrowed-brow man’s eyes fill with moisture as he raggedly breathes on the ground. This was supposed to be his last outing. After this, he was going to settle down with his sweetheart and have plenty of babies. At least, that was the plan.

To weak to even move a finger, the furrowed-brow man eyesight fades away. The last image seen in his mind is that of the smiling face of his sweetheart, causing him to weakly smile. The warm of her smile chases away the bitter cold until all that is left is a soul searing light.

Wren nudges the well-dressed corpse with her worn boot to ensure his death. Once certain, Wren quietly wipes her blade clean before sheathing it. Wren is about to turn away, before stopping to close the eyes for the fallen corpse. Perhaps, such an action was a sign of weakness. But Wren felt, that at least his one deserved a hint of respect from her.

Glancing at the sun for her location, Wren heads out to the south towards the waterfall location. As she runs, Wren readies her illusions, but waits to call them forth until the last second. Because she was certain that just one second of being able to use them or not would make all the difference to her in the world.

At the waterfall, the brawny leader and a well-dressed green-eyed man wait impatiently for rest of the men. "Something is wrong. They should have been here by now,” the brawny leader growled as he paces back and forth in the clearing.

The green-eyed man’s handsome face twists into a sigh and runs his hands through his honey brown locks of hair. Trying to console the leader, he says, "It's okay chief. I'm sure they're just running a bit behind. Besides if anything went wrong, they would have activated the alarm charms."

 "I'm telling ya, they should be here by now. Something's wrong, I can just feel it," the brawn leader grumbled. The green-eyed man just sighs in exasperation and leans back against the tree to rest. The green-eyed man closes his eyes and enjoys the sun on his face, while the leader continues to pace up and down the clearing like a caged animal.

A quarter of a candle mark passes by and the brawn leader says, "I'm going to go look after them. Ya can stay here if ya want." The green-eyed man opens one lazy eye in reply as the brawny leader glared back. After a second of careful reconsideration, the leader sullenly slumps back onto a round bolder. "Fine, I'll wait a couple minutes more. But then I'll go!" The leader snapped back as the green-eyed smiles knowingly and closes his eye.

 A minute ticked by, when movement could be seen among the trees. The green-eyed man lazily opens his eyes and smiles ruefully. The brawny leader lets out a grunt as three figures can be seen approaching in the distance. The brawn leader frowns at seeing only three of his men and rises to his feet to ask for the missing forth. To his and green-eyes shock, two identical girls dart into the clearing with the third remaining in the back.

Wren and one of her illusions approach the two men as she maintains the levitation magic at the same time. Normally this wouldn’t be a burden, but she was tired, and she was about to use a third magic at the same time. The professions that they were the two men instantly react and put their guard up.

Wren tosses her bags onto nearby boulder and dashes past the brawny leader. Without hesitation, Wren jumps and instantly glides forward in attack, while her illusion attacks from the side. The green-eyed man is barely able to dodge the illusion’s side attack as Wren aims for his neck. Being the experience veteran that the green-eyed man was, despite being cornered, he managed to twist his body to the side.

Wren hisses in frustration as her dagger pierces into his shoulder and pulls back lest the dagger become logged into the bone. The green-eyed man slashes at her past location and easily cleaves the air in two. Knowing that the brawny man was about to reach her, Wren sacrifices her illusion clone. The illusion clone wraps its body around the green-eyed man as he desperately tries to throw the illusion off.

Seeing Wren reproach, the green-eyed man stags his sword towards his back and dispersed the illusion. Knowing she only had one shot, Wren glides around him and stabs her dagger into his side and twisting. Unable to finish the deed, Wren wretches her blade out and dashed backwards as the brawny leader’s sword cleaves into the ground. Wren’s stomach jumps at the close call as remaining illusion clone darts forward to attack the unprotected swordsman.

Gritting his teeth, the green-eyed man presses his hand to his wound and moves forward to attack the illusion. Seeing the green-eyed man still moving, Wren lets out a hiss of displeasure as the brawny leader moved forward. Concentrating Wren gathers ice magic around her and shoots tiny icicles at the leader.

 The brawny leader winces as the icicles pierce into the flesh of his hand. The icicles didn’t pierce deeply enough to damage his hand but were deep enough to cause to bleed. The brawny leader growls at the sneer on the girl’s face. Roaring in rage, the brawny leader cleaves his blade forward as the girl barely manages to duck.

  Wren is quickly being pressed back as she eyes the bleeding hand of the brawny leader and hopes her ice spell worked. The point of the spell wasn’t to wound, but rather damage the nerves of the hand. If her spell worked, soon the damage would be seen. Of course, that was if she made it that long.

Pushing aside, the gloom of her situation, Wren worriedly realizes she is out of breath. Sustaining, three types of magic at the same time had drained far more rapidly than thought possible. At this rate, Wren would be empty in about five minutes give or take. Maybe, more if she got down to one magic. Unfortunately, Wren knew she needed both if she wanted to survive.

The leader relentlessly presses forward increasing his wide reach and excellent defense. From his tempo and strength, it was quite easy to see that he must have had an outstanding knight training master. There were almost zero flaws with rare opening if any in his guard. But most of all, he knew exactly when and where to attack.

Wren barely glances at her side and sees her illusion steadily keeping up with the green-eyed man. Unable to see anything more, Wren ducks back knowing full well her dagger would be unable to parry the blade strike. And though her dagger was well made it wouldn’t be able to take the power held behind that strike.

Ducking down, Wren leaps up and aims from above for his neck. The brawny leader hastily pulls his broadsword up, but that was exactly what Wren was waiting for. Turning to her side, Wren kicks the sword up as the leader’s hand reflexively loosens and goes flying out of his grasp. With a clatter the blade falls to the ground as they both stare at each other for a second, before darting forward.

Wren easily overtakes the brawny leader as she cast a small ice spell under his foot causing him to stumble. Wren reaches the blade first and with all her strength tosses it into the waterfall behind her. The brawny leader at seeing her actions instantly turns back as Wren darts forward.

The green-eyed man at seeing the current predicament boldly sacrifices himself. The illusion clone pierces through the green-eyed man’s defense and stabs through the leather armor and plunges the dagger into his side. The green-eyed man wraps his arms around the illusion as he drops his blade. The illusion clone valiantly struggles and stabs the blade into his ribs again and again. Despite being under attack, the green-eyed man’s grip does not falter.

  With moisture in his eyes, the brawny man grasps the fallen blade and cleaves at the neck of the illusion. The illusion instantly disperses as the green-eyed man weakly falls to the flower and smiles recklessly. The brawny leader has the urge to reach for his comrade, but his opponent is right behind him.

The brawny leader brings up his comrades’ blade as the green-eyed man silently breathes his last breath behind him. Wren is rather pale as she breathes from the strain of her magic. There wasn’t much left magic left in her magic pool even for her levitation magic. At most, she had one or two minutes left, she must finish quickly!

  Wren dodges the violent swing and bites her lips in thought. Even now, the leader’s range is far larger than hers and would be almost impossible to pierce through. In that case, there was only one thing to do, play dead. Gritting her teeth, Wren moves forward as if in attack, the leader sees the opening as the tip of his blade pierces into her shoulder.

 The girl grunts in pain as the brawny leader plays dirty and kicks her right in the ribs sending her flying. Crying out in pain, the girl flies into the ground and lays limply on the ground. The brawny leader angrily snarls, “Ya thought that a pathetic wench like yourself could kill me? I've killed monsters and more powerful men than the likes ya've ever seen! I've even killed the sixth son of the Duke of Dalvair. Why do ya think I'm in this hell hole of a place in the first place? But no worry, before I sell ya off, I am going to make ya wish ya were dead!"

Without even a hint of remorse, the brawny leader kicks the girl again and again until she ceases to move. The leader only stops for fear of the girl being dead and kneels down to check for her breath. The leader presses his head against her chest and feels her barely breathing. The brawny leader grunts in satisfaction, but before he can react a dagger is stabbed into his face. The brawny leader lets out a pig like squeal as he claws at his face and falls back.

Wren painfully climbs to her feet and kicks away the fallen blade. “You really think I’m that easy to kill, huh?” Wren commented as she walked over to the squealing figure of the brawny leader on the ground. The hidden rage inside of Wren bubbles wildly as it erupts past the icy river. Wren only pauses for a second, before raising her blade on high to the horror of the brawny leader.

 “Please, don’t kill me, I’ll give ya anything ya want!” The brawny leader begged.

“Oh, I don’t think speak piggy,” Wren flatly said as she brought her blade down into his head. The brawny leader squeals in pain, but Wren continues until her hands are dripping red and the leader has long since ceased to struggle.

 Wren comes to and flinches at the bloody scene as the urge to hurl wells up in her throat. Wren scrambles back as the rage within her ceases to well up and is closed back over. Wren shivers at the uncontrollable rage and scrambles over to the river and wash her hands. The water turns pink until Wren’s hands and blade are cleaning.

Wren sits back and sighs, “No wonder, Hermit was worried.” Even though Wren wasn’t the type to get very angry, the kind of anger she felt was unlike any other felt. It was though it was a kind of hunger that could never be filled. Her father had never told her about the rage, but maybe, he hadn’t experienced it. And if, so, that did very little to fill her with ease.

Wren bites her lips in thought, “What if I turn into a monster, what am I going I do?” Wren had no qualms about what would happen as Hermit had made it very clear what would happen. But if that were to occur, well, there was nothing else, she could do.

Tiredly glancing up at the sky, Wren glances at the corpses and starts the tiring job of dragging the corpses towards the river, before them tying them down with rocks and tossing them into the river. With a final huff, Wren tosses the green-eyed man’s sword into the river, before heading towards her bags. Hungry and tired, Wren sits down and pulls out a green loaf after another in hunger.

 Finished, Wren tenderly checks her body and finds that the wound on her shoulder had already healed over as did her broken ribs and bruises. Seeing it grow dark, Wren rises to her feet and walks towards the river in search of a resting spot. Normally rock falls like these had a rock cavern nearby. Wren crosses the rocky bank and peeks at the rock ledges. Not long after, Wren finds a suitable cavern hiding partially behind the waterfall.

Making sure her travel bags were on well, Wren digs her fingers and feet into rock fissures and begins the strenuous task of climbing up the slick rock wall. Wren ignores the spraying mist and stubbornly continues until she makes it to the cave. With a grunt, Wren wearily pulls herself into the cave and lies down. Not caring about the condition of the cave, Wren curls up against her travel bags to sleep. Even with the rumbling of the waterfall, Wren falls promptly into a deep slumber.