[https://i.imgur.com/sfHqwWT.jpg]

Drac moved his queen to E3.

“And checkmate.”

“Ahh! Fuck. I was supposed to be the smart one!” Hood kicked the table in frustration.

“Since when? You’re the crass, stabby one. Accept your role while I beat you again and again.”

“Again! I won't lose this time.” Hood placed the fallen pieces on the chess board. For another round.

Axton sat on a chair between them and squeezed his cheeks with his hands. “Are you still doing boring stuff? Come on, Hood! Let's spar!” An excited Axton said.

“Later, I need to figure out this farmer's tricks. Are you reading my mind? Make sense. That's the only way you could beat me this much.”

“If I could read your mind, I would only see murder and torture. Axton, why don't we duel?”

Axton lifted his right eyebrow. "No offence, brother, but you're weak.”

“I am taking full offence.” Drac stood from his chair and materialised a normal double-edged sword. Its point was aimed at the swordsman in a taunt. “Can’t handle losing to a weakling?”

A wild smile appeared on the caveman's excited face. He pushed his chair aside and created a wooden sword. “I don't think you remember, smart one. Grandpa said it himself. I was holding back.”

Axton pulsed away and appeared at Drac's left side, swinging his wooden sword. A small shield of blue blocked the sword, and Drac thrust at Axton's body. The Murus breaks apart, and, in surprise, Drac bends down, evading the wooden sword. Axton’s sword sliced down swiftly, and Drac pulsed way before his head was cut in two. Axton followed and slashed at Drac’s body. A dense Murus protected him until it too broke apart like brittle bread. Drac was launched out of Hood’s mindscape and into Axton’s. Drac lands on cold stone. The land beyond is barren, the perfect arena for a sword master to unleash themselves.

An aura wave came for Drac, and he fought back with his own weaker version. The wave diverted, and the wooden blade swung up at Drac's chin. The farmer leaned back.

“Stop leaving yourself open! HAHA!”

An aura-coated sword met the same, and the ground split and broke.

“You know so much! But it's so shallow!” Axton pulsed at the tip of his practice sword, and Drac flew backwards again. Drac flipped back upright, and a sword came for his neck.

FOCUS.

Drac leaned an inch back and let the wood sword take a trickle of his blood. His sword trapped the swordsman's blade to the ground. Axton's eyes light up with curiosity. Drac kicked his left knee, and the curiosity turned into anguish.

“ARGH!!” roared Axton until his head was knocked aside with a kick.

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"What did you do that for?!”

Drac shrugged and pulsed out of sight. Axton shook his head to relieve his dizziness. A fireball the size of a fist was thrown at Axton's back. Axton easily cut the flame into nothing with a dozen quick cuts. Axton felt the wind of a slash on his back. He turned to counterattack.

No one.

“Huh.” Axton looked around until he sensed an aura from above.

An extremely long blade of aura slashed down on Axton. Axton braced against the attack with some trouble and batted the aura sword aside. The swordsman looked up in the air, and a farmer floated.

“HAHAHA! YOU'RE FUCKING AMAZING! NO, WE ARE AMAZING! HAHAHA!!” Axton crouched close to down his gathered aura to his bones, nerves, and muscles. With his blade by his thigh, Axton launched himself with pure strength and a pulse step and closed in on Drac before the farmer could blink. A thousand cuts from Axton’s wooden blade, then he let gravity take him down. He chuckled as he fell.

Drac woke up at his tree.

“Hood! He’s awake!” Axton sat backwards on a chair, waiting for Drac to wake from slumber. Hood puts his book down to walk over to Drac.

“Drac. How does it feel to be cut into pieces?”

Drac sat up straight on the tree. “I now know what leaves blowing in the wind feel like.” He stared at his hand for a while and made a fist. "Am I ready?”

Drac sat down on the grass by Drac. “Maybe. Maybe not. We will worry about that later. But just know that we are you, and you are us. Losing against yourself is a learning experience. So stop being a sore loser.”

“But sore losers make winning fun.”

“Shut up, Axton. I am trying to motivate him.”

Drac looked at them, arguing with a smile. “I wish we could talk like this outside.”

“You mean we could fight outside?! That would be wonderful. I could beat you again, and Marina will get to see!”

“Marina likes Drac, not you.”

“But she could like me too!”

Drac laughs out loud. His sour mood from earlier vanished. Drac understood that Hood was right. With these two in his corner, he had nothing to worry about since they didn't.

“It wasn't that funny. Mindscape master, do you think we can leave here?"

Hood looked into the distance. "It could be possible. Come back to me on that.”

Axton looked as excited as when he won against Drac.

“By the way, brother, wanna spar again?”

Drac stood up from the grass and stretched. “Sure.”

Drac woke up abruptly with a sore forehead.

“Stop lounging around, lazy. Come out and look.” Marina was his first sight this morning.

She even wakes you up. Lucky bastard.

Drac didn't feel so lucky with a bump growing on his head.

“Come outside,” said Marina with a smile. “It's quite the sight.” Marina gestured for the groggy Dac to follow her. With tired muscles, he jumped from his bunk and left the caravan. He wiped the crust from his sensitive eyes and looked into the distance.

Oh my…

HAHA! I am so glad I left my damp cave!

Even from miles away, the Great Tree rose high into the sky. Higher the clouds. To limit the sky. Each branch of the enormous tree could destroy Foushire if it fell. Its leaves were larger than castles. The green, lush forest that surrounded the tree went as far as the horizon. Trees were packed so densely that stories about trees making the day into the night were surely true.

The home of fantastical beasts.

The land of the long-eared elves.

The many books Drac read did not describe its beauty enough.

“You were right, Marina. A sight it is.”

I am finally here, father. Where heroes are made. Where legends are created.

[https://i.imgur.com/2ANra6J.jpg]