The old man was dreaming again. The two were sleeping in the forest hanging themselves on the branches as usual.
Alphecca was the best of his time, he proved it in the Hadrian Academy during his tenure there, proved it time and time again, setting unbeatable records, dominating the tournaments… but the fact that he was a bastard hindered him so many times to glory. Even though he had accomplished so much it was still how the nobles would see him.
His enemies were the same society of the nobles that he must protect while his family too was always after his throat. He was under constant pressure to maintain himself, letting the nobles disgrace him and his family’s silent treatment of him.
He hated everything around him… his mother whom he had never met and who left him in that situation, his family who didn’t care about him, the nobles that were elitists.
The only thing he held on to was his sword. Because of this, his faith in his sword grew stronger with each passing day and it gave him so much edge that he was even recognized as the next sword saint.
But then again, there was a time when the call of the frontier fell onto their family, the Varus Clan was a clan of Light Magic users, and their abilities were immensely needed in the frontier because of the appearance of a supposedly demon.
He was gladly cast off by his family to the eastern frontier… but it was the most peaceful time in his life.
At that time the frontier was at its worst. Monsters spawned everywhere, corrupt nobles that ran down the government and adventures who didn’t adhere to what they were.
Still, it was in that place that he found peace.
The last scene he saw was him traveling east in the Trist Valley.
…
The old man woke up in the middle of the night, he was quite sad that his dream was broken. He woke up because of the rain that wet his face. He looked below and the boy was still sleeping peacefully.
He tried remembering his mother. Of all the things he could think of, he was thinking about the face of her mother. Fate brought them together during his stay on the frontier. It was one of the reasons he wanted to die here.
“Hmm,” the old man with his eyes closed tried hard to remember. He could remember her voice but not her face anymore.
This made him regret waking up, wouldn’t he be able to see her if he continued dreaming?
<--->
The two resumed traveling in the morning.
Since the two had begun traveling from the Fisherman’s Village they had been going slower. It was the old man, he had changed after waking up from the comma. He had been walking slower and the magic Simon could feel from him was weaker.
They were now entering the forest just south of the Sun God’s Peak. It was where Simon stayed a while before. The boy was the one leading and he really knew the forest like it was the back of his hands.
As usual, the two traveled off-road following a major direction.
“Simon, slow down, aren’t you cold?” the old man complained as the boy was gaining distance from him.
From time to time, the boy kept forgetting the weakened state of the old man, well he could still sweep the boy’s feet during sword practice. It was not that cold actually.
“I will go slower, don’t worry, there is no monster here,” Simon said assuring the old man “-I could carry you in the back if you want,” the boy offered innocently.
But the old man didn’t want that. “Fuck off boy! I will walk by my feet!” the old man then began to walk faster. He was clearly pissed off.
The two were silent as they were walking in the forest.
Simon suddenly then stopped. There were voices in the forest. There was a battle going on in the forest. Just one look at the old man and the two nodded.
The two started running, subtle but fast, the boy immediately located the fight as the old man was following him.
<--->
3 adventurers were walking down the road south, and on their back was a rider. The rider covered himself with his cloak while the 3 adventurers wore lighter clothes, oblivious to the spring’s cold.
“Boy! We are almost there!” one of the adventurers said as they were nearing the forest. Just southeast of the farmlands and north of the fisherman’s village.
A few days back, they met the rider at the southern gates of the Elford’s castle. He was looking for his brother in the eastern frontier and the 3 had an idea of where the brother might be. To their surprise, the rider was a young noble that was tall for his age.
The adventurers told the story of a monster: a few years ago, a powerful creature was unsealed beneath the Sun God’s Peak. It drove countless adventurers into the frontier. Nobles from the central regions also pursued it, but none made it out alive. Therefore the forest under the Sun God’s Peak was declared a prohibited territory, and only high-ranked adventurers were permitted entry. Adventurers were stationed around the roads warning the travelers and such.
The party together with the rider was one of them. Their party stopped and then pointed into the forest. “It should be here boy!” the adventurer said.
Elijah Yearno nodded and went down his ride, he had to take the two spears on the side of his horse so he had to turn back away from the adventurers when his neck felt the shivers.
He dodged a sword attack by rolling and his horse was instead hit effectively slaying it down. He quickly turned around and as expected it was one of the adventurers who attacked him.
“Oh, he is tough! I missed!” the adventurer said smiling at the boy.
“Why?” the boy asked as he unveiled his two spears.
“You are a noble right? Just passing on your remains would grant us a good amount of bounty,” the adventurer said, the swordsman seemed to be the leader of the party.
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Their motives were truly simple and petty but that aside Elijah smiled at them. “Just tell me one thing… this is the forest you’ve been talking about right? This Balask monster you are saying?” the noble wanted to know.
“We actually guided a platoon of knights, their leader was a brat that looked like you, strikingly similar! Must be your twin or something!” the adventurer waved his hands gesturing to the other two to prepare for an attack. “Unfortunately they didn’t pay us enough!”
The 3 man-party adventurers were the guides that guided different parties that tried to hunt the monster of the Sun God’s Peak.
“Of course,” the boy began spinning two of his spears, he was a practiced spear user. To the adventurer’s surprise, it was the boy who rushed in first.
The boy fearlessly engaged the swordsman, the other two were an archer and an axe user who was probably a warrior.
Elijah carefully parried the swordsman's sword using one of his spinning spears, it was successful and gave him an opportunity to attack but the warrior who was holding an axe timely entered preventing him from landing an attack while then an arrow almost grazed his head. The noble jumped back.
“Man! Don’t shoot his head! We need his face!” the warrior who was holding his axe screamed warning their other member.
“Sorry! Force of habit!” the archer answered preparing another arrow on his bow.
“... The boy is tough, he almost had me! Fucking nobles!” the swordsman cursed.
Elijah gulped… He was in the far frontier now fighting for his life… but he had to know what happened to his twin brother. An idea flashed in his head… setting his sight onto the forest. ‘They are cowards but they would probably follow me.’ but he must make a bet now.
Elijah dashed an explosive move that surprised the adventurers. The noble boy used his long frame to make the sudden movement. He then threw one of his spears in the direction of the archer.
“Damn!” the archer had no choice but to jump away from the throw.
The axe wielder and the swordsman prepared to intercept the boy.
Of course, Elijah was prepared he immediately spun his spear. “CLANG!” “CLANG!” and the attack of the axe and sword was repelled. This opened an opportunity for an attack on the axe man.
But rather than going for an attack, Elijah opted for the archer who just finished scrambling himself. In swift attack, the propulsion of the spear only needed its edge to touch the neck of the archer.
Although the slash was not deep it was enough to kill the archer.
“Shit! He killed him!” the axe man screamed, it seemed that he was a friend to the archer.
Elijah though never looked back and began heading into the forest.
The two adventurers looked at each other and then looked at their dead friend. They must take vengeance or their friend won’t forgive them. The two rushed and followed the nobleboy.
The three were heading to the forest that was forbidden by the adventurer’s guild.
<--->
Simon and the old man hid beside a tree, the boy located the sounds of battle. They were fighting in a small clearing in the forest.
It was a tall boy wearing a dark gray cloak against a swordsman and a warrior holding an axe. One of them should be bleeding as Simon’s nose caught a scent of blood.
“That boy is wounded in his arms,” the old man said. He was quite familiar with the style that the boy was using. The boy was spinning his spear, using the torque of the spin he was attacking and deflecting the attacks of the 2 men.
“Old man… look at that!” Simon who was beside the old man used his fingers to point up. Something was making the shadows of the trees darker, Simon who could see in the dark instantly noticed it.
The old man knew what it was, it was as long (30 Meters) as a large snake but had 6 small limbs “That’s a Sylvan Wyrm!” the old man muttered in a low voice. He followed the shadow and noticed the eyes of it. ‘…It's looking for its master… I thought they were already hunted to extinction!’ the old man thought.
“Boy… I can’t fight it but you can… I will leave it up to you!” the old man said smiling.
“You are still stronger than me!” Simon muttered.
“But… I can’t use magic anymore… and when we spar you never overpowered me,” the old man said sitting on the ground “I will coach you though, our fate is in your decision,” the old man made a fierce grin.
“Let’s fight it!” Simon said as he took out his newly acquired sword.
<--->
Elijah was in a pinch, he was really good with the spear, even his master said that he was probably the most talented student he ever had but it got to his head. When his master said he must build his stamina, he didn’t listen.
Now he was on his last breath, wounded in his shoulders but not yet ready to die. Elijah breathed deeply; he was ready now. Whatever would happen, he was going to do his best.
“STOP FIGHTING!” a voice coming from the forest, the three who were so focused on fighting instantly found where the voice was coming from.
An old man emerged from the forest. He was cloaked, behind him was a boy carrying an abnormally large bag, holding a sword in his hand.
Elijah felt that the old man was not normal even the boy beside him. Why were they in the forest after all? But what made Elijah shiver more was the eyes of the boy, it was normal, it was snake eyes.
The 2 adventurers noticed it too, they were true adventurers of the frontier though they were a bit crazy in the head. A large monster was trailing around them. They didn’t survive that long if they could not avoid dangers like this.
“Shit! It’s the Balask!” the adventurer that was holding the sword muttered. His party member gulped upon hearing this.
Elijah felt all the bloodlust that was directed at him fade away.
“Boys, we can’t escape it now and my boy here decided he wanted to fight it anyway… any of you would be good bait,” the old man said smiling. The two began approaching them.
Although the 2 adventurers were ready to fight, the old man passed through them stepping closer to the noble. The noble didn’t move rather, the demeanor that the old man imposed was crazy, now that he was closer he had never been afraid of something that looked like a human.
“Show me your wounds, we will need you to fight against the monster,” the old man said, he showed his hands, he was already holding a bandage and a few crushed herbs.
Elijah placed his spear down and showed the wound on his shoulders.
“It's coming!” the other boy warned. Using his sword he directed the gaze of the adventurer on the right side relative to where Simon was facing.
“Support the boy guys! Just land an attack when you can!-” the old man instructed as he began doing some first aid. “-It’s a Sylvan Wyrm!” the old man added.
The boy grounded his bag. He was ready now.
All of them were beginning to hear the movement of the monster. The tremors on the ground, the leaves moving restlessly.
“Boy! It can blow water balls!” the old man screamed warning him “And it's hot!”
The boy, Simon rushed in a direction, the two adventurers were surprised by his actions and they immediately felt the tension. Following the boy’s movement they quickly found the monster. Its eyes were looming in the shadow. Its mouth opened and magic infused behind its teeth.
“BOOM!”
A water ball flew towards the boy. The adventurers, who were watching, thought it was the boy’s end. However, the boy sliced through the flying water ball, causing hot water to spray over a wide area.
“It's hot!” the boy screamed and he changed his direction, he was following the head of the Sylvan Wyrm as it was moving around.
“Attack now! Try cutting its limbs!” the old man instructed the two adventurers who were watching.
The boy entered the range of the monster and began swinging his sword. Simon struck the monster's face. The Wyrm countered by attempting to bite and tackle the small boy using its head, but it kept missing. Each miss was met with a counterattack, causing the wounds on the monster to grow deeper and deeper.
“GRAAAAAAA!!!” the monster then screamed, it turned its head to look behind its body, and to its demise, one of its legs was chopped off. The adventurer was the one who cut it off.
“Simon! FINISH IT!” the old man screamed but the boy was already in the air ready to launch a fierce attack.
The Wyrm immediately felt the bloodlust behind its head. It felt fear and familiarity upon laying its eyes on the boy. The Wyrm began its escape.
“No!” Simon muttered.
“Hey, you! Throw your sword to the boy!” the old man who was watching while bandaging the noble screamed.
The 2 adventurers who were getting away from the path of the Wyrm heard it. The swordsman heard it and followed throwing the sword in the direction of the boy.
“Here!” Simon muttered landing a cut on the back of the Wyrm, it was deep, really deep but it was not enough to cut the whole Wyrm. “I’m stuck!” and the surprise was that Simon couldn’t pull out the sword.
A glint of hope literally made Simon look up. A sword was flying in his direction. With no hesitation, he let go of his sword to go for the other one.
“Pierce it behind the ears! The brain is closer there!” the old man coached the boy but while shouting he accidentally pulled the dressing of the noble he was working on.
“OUCH!” the noble grunted.
Following the comment of the old man, Simon located his target, the back of its ears specifically at the right side of the the Wyrm’s head, upon landing on one of the tree branches.
With all his might the boy launched himself aiming his sword.