POV: Unkown Hunter

Together we had left the forest in search of something, for adventure, and together we now returned, our wish for adventure satisfied and yearning for home.

"Man, can't wait to taste ma's cooking again," my brother said with a smile.

"Neither can I, so we should hurry," I responded.

We entered the forest we had grown up in. The trees were still the same, it was still dark, the only light coming from the blue orbs hanging from the trees and the occasional gap in the leaf roof. The air was filled with the smell of earth and wildlife. Not the most pleasant smell but to me it was nostalgic.

"You think the village changed?" my brother asked.

"We were only gone for five years, I doubt it," I responded. "Things change slowly in these parts," I said as I looked around. I still remembered the path we were now walking on from the day we left it. Nothing had changed.

"How long do you think it will take us to get to the village?" my brother asked.

"A month, maybe two or three I believe," I responded.

And so we went on with our journey back to the village. At night we rested, at day we walked. We ate what we hunted or found in the bushes. Luckily this forest was filled with animals so we never had to go hungry. And so the weeks passed. We passed many places we remembered from initial trips deeper into the forest. One day, about a month and a half into our travel we ran into something that shocked me. Heretic hunters sent by the church.

When they saw us they immediately pointed their weapons at us and their leader, sitting atop his mount eyes us. He carried a black helmet with a golden crown on it on his lap and was clad in full black armour with the logo of the church on the chest. I felt a pain in my chest.

I hope they weren't after our village.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"We are just some adventurers from a village about a month deep in the forest from here," I responded, showing the man my adventurers license, a necklace with a bronze chip on it on which was a small rune.

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"Ah, you're from that village, go on then. And don't worry your village was not the one filled with heretics," the man said.

I felt relief.

"Thank you for informing us," I said.

My brother kept quiet.

"Alright men, we continue," the man yelled loudly and the band of knights continued on. They were fast, way faster than we were.

As they passed we noticed that they had a coffin with them, from the inside we could her knocking and screaming.

So they've found a survivor huh? I hope they die quickly...

We continued, although it left me with a slightly bad taste in my mouth. Whenever the church sent out the heretic hunters their is solid proof... but I had seen a place the heretic hunters had targeted... it was not pleasant, corpses everywhere.

A solid month had passed and we were finally back in the close vicinity of our village.

"Took longer than expected," my brother said one evening as we sat around the campfire.

"I'm not good with time alright?" I responded.

Both of us began laughing as we waited for our food to cook.

I suddenly felt an ominous presence behind us. My hand immediately found the hilt of my greatsword and I pointed it at where the presence was coming from, holding it with one hand.

"Oh do not worry, I come in peace," the person the presence came from said.

He stepped out of the dark and revealed himself to be a knight, but not one from the church, this one had flowers decorating his armour.

"I simply wish to spend my night here, if that is alright with the two of you," the knight said.

"Sure... but first I would like to know who you are, "I said.

"Of course. I am the Knight of Flowers," the man said.

"The Knight of Flowers?" my brother asked, confused.

"Oh, I am a simple travelling knight, my name is of no importance," the so-called Knight of Flowers said.

My brother and I exchanged looks.

"Fine, we can share the fire," I said as I sat back down.

The Knight of Flowers sat down as well and took out a dead animal from his bag and put it over the fire.

"I appreciate it," he said.

The night went by fast and we barely talked to the knight at all. But he told us that he had seen some beast in the forest and that we should be careful. And we met that beast fast. It was a garlmas, large feline beast with the back end of a lizard. Some say it's a descendant of the royal dragons.

Because of that beast, we had to run around a little longer than we wanted and arrived at the village three weeks later. The water of the lake was calm and one raft was on this side.

"Some hunters must be out... hope they know about the garlmas," my brother said.

I smiled.

"What do you say we announce our return?" I asked my brother.

He smiled back.

"But not too loud, don't wanna lure that beast here."

I looked around and saw a broken tree and trampled down bush.

"Judging by the area it was already here so it doesn't really matter. They don't go into water so we'll be safe once we're on the other side," I responded.

"Alright then, go ahead," my brother said with an even brighter smile.

Ah, he's happy to be back home...

"Hey! We're back!" I yelled out loud.

...

...

...

We waited for a moment but nothing happened. Complete silence.