The wind brushed past my face as the trees around us swayed rhythmically. I momentarily glanced at Boline, who seemed to be half asleep as he lazily trudged along the path.

"Let's stop here for the night..." I mumbled, slumping against a tree, the rough bark scraping my back with dozens of already healing wounds. Boline sighed as he sleepily curled up against a fallen log, resting his head on the soft moss as if it was a pillow.

"Goodnight, Quill," he yawned, almost immediately falling asleep. My mind raced with unending thoughts as I desperately fought for a well-needed sleep. Although my mind was buzzing as if it were a hornet's nest, sleep finally settled in as the twilight skies faded into the dark abyss of the night.

When I woke up the next morning, Boline was nowhere to be found.

"Boline...?" I shouted worriedly and began looking around the area. Suddenly a gut-wrenching scent filled my unsuspecting nostrils, the closer I got, the worse the smell got. The scent was coming from behind a large bush I hadn't seen before. It was full of berries with a deep colour of red, as I got closer, I noticed they seemed to be dripping. Swallowing nervously, I rounded the bush, desperate to discover what this awful smell was. When I finally made my way to the end of the bush, the nauseating sight burned into my eyes. There lie Boline, half of his head was chewed off, his right eye had been ripped out of its socket and was now lying next to him. His brain was exposed, a few chunks of it were scattered around his cranial area, along with fragments of his skull in the pool of blood that seeped from his torn brain. I felt dizzy as the world around me spun, bile spewed from my mouth as I tried to walk away, my legs felt like they were made of lead, they wouldn't move. The scene worsened as my vomit spilled over Boline's remains, chunks of yesterday's dinner stuck to his horrified face. Before I could realize it, I was running. I didn't care where I was running to, the gory image was burned into my brain, I kept seeing it over and over again, no matter how fast I ran or how loud I sobbed, it was still there. Tears poured down my cheeks as I ran, I ended up running into a dark forest. I had been here before, so I knew my way around. With each step, the forest would get darker and darker until there was finally no light left. I stopped walking there and sat down on the cold, hard ground. Warm tears continued to stream down my face as I stared into the complete darkness, trying my hardest to block out everything that had just happened, yet It still found a way to creep its way back into my mind. I felt nauseous and alone, although I had never even gotten to know Boline that well, I mourned for him, wishing it had been me instead. Destined to find who had done this to him, I stood up, wiping my tears. I marched out of the forest and started my journey to find Boline's killer.

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