Holding out for as long as possible, I carried Lukia all the way back to our small campsite. Gale noticed us immediately and rushed to help.

"What happened!" Gale grabs Lukia and softly lays her onto a bedroll. Her body was still burning up, and she was moaning in her sleep.

"Her body went into shock. The stress was too much, and when she got frustrated, she accidentally hurt me. I'm fine, but it was enough to push her past her limit, and she collapsed. The fever she has from being in that storm isn't helping either."

The others haven't returned yet either, so we can't have Herk cast any spells to help until he comes back. The other problem is that we don't have any fresh food secured to feed anyone. I took a moment to calm down and process our options.

"Gale, can you look after her for a while? I still need to find us food."

"Are you sure? Didn't you say you got hurt?"

"It was minor. I am not as good at hunting as Lukia is, but I know how to shoot an arrow to kill an animal. Julia taught me more than enough about handling that."

"Don't push yourself too hard. Let's wait for the others, and they can-"

"We don't have enough time!" I shout and grab Lukia's longbow. Feeling the bowstring and testing its pull, I turn away and walk back toward the forest. "My body isn't well either. If I don't hurry, you'll have two sick party members to care for and no warm food to help us recover. It would take you too long to find anything in this forest before we reach the next village. I'm going alone."

"Tsk! Fine! But get back here alive, damn it!" With a frustrated smirk, Gale gently comforts Lukia with a blanket and continues to create the campsite on his own. Leaving me the time I needed to go out and search for that deer Lukia missed. If anything, I can find another animal if I can track it.

Within several hours of tracking and searching, my body feels heavy. With little water on hand and my body burning up from a fever, I begin to feel the brink of collapsing. Strained and tired, the forest had led me around in search of my prey. Sinking low to the ground, I nullify my footsteps and slowly track a small trail of prints left by a medium-sized creature. The likelihood of it being the deer is very possible.

The sounds of twigs snap, taking my attention behind me—the deer from before, finally back to finding its own food. A soft sigh escapes my lips; the feeling is light and lifting. Propping onto my knee, the large bow is strung back with my hand, and the arrow is knocked, ready to fire. Holding my breath, I steady the shot. Hands shaking, breath raspy and slowed, I pinpoint the moment to release the arrow—the snapping sound of the string cracks forward, unleashing the arrow forward.

It is instantaneous. Right after the crack, the sound of the deer's sudden cry of pain is quickly muffled by the soft streaks of blood clogging its throat. Felled by my shot, the creature's life drains from its body and stops breathing from the arrow piercing its heart.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

A sudden cough arises from my chest, painful and disgusting. I look at my hands, which have been inflamed along with my face. A lone thought remained about transporting this deer back to camp when I was on the verge of collapse. I needed to make do somehow. Approaching the deer, there is another sound of loud twigs snapping. Only this time, there was a slight rumble in the earth as each step approached.

"What in the..." Shocked to see the massive looming creature approaching me, I nearly trip over my feet to face it. A massive brown-furred bear snarls toward me. Hungry and ready to attack for some food. The massive bear roared and charged.

I reached for my sword, but the bear was quick enough to tackle me down, causing the entire weapon to be knocked away from me. I reached for the bow, but the bear was still much too fast for me in my current state to defend properly. I yelled out, trying to escape, but its claw raked across my chest, opening up a nasty bloody wound.

The pain pushed my body to move faster. Drawing out one of the arrows from the quiver, I slammed the arrow tip into its eye. Letting me go from its presence after receiving damage, I reached for my sword and slashed its stomach open. The rain of blood splashed across my torso and face, nearly blinding me, but I didn't relent until the bear attempted to rip me to pieces. Piercing its stomach with the blade, I drew my dagger to pummel it with stabs to the neck and chest, hoping to end its life.

Thrashing around and clawing my sides, the bear slows down and slumps to the side; the blood loss finally causes the creature to collapse. However, its massive body lies directly on my chest. I cough as the air in my lungs is squeezed from me.

"Errrah! Uerrghh!" Grunting with each push, attempting to slip out of the bear's massive form. Using the blood to lubricate my body, I push with all my might, but it becomes useless. I had lost a good amount of blood from the bear's attack earlier, and my body was already on the verge of shutting down if this continued.

"I thought the mark would prevent a creature like this from attacking..." The mark that Vyctor had given me was hot. Maybe it didn't affect the bear since it was desperate to find something to eat. It was massive and starving.

The sky grew dark with the moon rising into the sky. I had already spent too much time hunting before, and now, I am trapped too much by this large bear. Each attempt to escape made it harder to breathe.

"Grr! Damn it! Just...move!" Growing numb in my body, my chances of escaping aren't good. I needed to think of something and fast. Slowly pondering, a soft idea swirled in my mind. A slight grin appeared on my face as I held my head in self-pity. "This isn't going to be pretty..."

Stripping off my gloves, I placed them to the side and pushed against the large body of the creature. Barely lifting, I channeled the power from my magic to disperse. If I can rip a hole and pieces of this bear, I can escape. My mind became blank as I forced my hand through its chest. Bursts of lightning traveled throughout my body as the focus of my magic formed into my right hand.

"Lightning Bolt!!!" The sporadic bolt of energy traverses through my body, to my arm, and out of my palm. Using the same ability I used on the assassin who attacked me and Tia, I forcibly used the impulse of the drawback of the spell to force it to cause the blood in the bear's body to combust and push upwards until it had no choice but to rip out of its own body.

Expanding, the sounds of bones and organs exploding and ripping apart with each moment that I continue to focus. The mass of the creature was much more difficult to destroy. Gritting my teeth, I pushed forward with my hand and felt the body give way. The fur and flesh pulsated and moved apart. The body has its entire stomach and back explode in a geyser of blood and internal organs spewing in a massive red mist. Slowly climbing out, bathed in the dark crimson of the creature, I freed myself.

Coughing violently, I crawled out and laid flat on my back. The wounds on my chest stung along with my right arm. Using my remaining strength, I grabbed the deer and lugged it over my shoulder. Pushing past my limit, I forced my way through the woods. The sounds of night echoed around along the bright glow of fire in the distance...