Staring into the vicious eyes of the beast before them, the unlikely trio was at a major disadvantage. Somehow, some way, three of the Bearillas managed to form into one body, with three heads, it still had bear-like paws, and the feet of your ordinary gorilla. The roar of this monster was unlike any that Rokas had heard in his past adventures, and he couldn't even begin to imagine how something of this nature is even possible. The question remained, was it natural magic, or is this a coordinated attack?

"What is the plan of action? I can already tell Ariah is getting low on Mana, so she may be good for just one more spell, but you have been doing random magic all throughout the day. I'm really accepting the fact that we are going to die right now." Elias said with frustration and fear.

"Well I do have a plan for that, my friend." Rokas responded as he quickly ran over to his bag. He reached into the vial pouch on the side of the bag, and grabbed three vials filled with a bright green liquid. The monster started to snarl and walk towards the trio.

"Hurry, drink these, they're called potions of grace. They will allow us to run for much longer, much faster, and you will notice that tripping is quite impossible. We will leave everything behind, and come back for it when it is safer, that is, if it is still here. I was hoping to use these potions for the mountain, but it seems we're going to have to head for the throat of the mountains now!" Rokas said to the twins. He grabbed the handle to the bag and began running southeast, the other two would follow suit.

The three-headed Bearilla would take notice of this courageous act, and the head in the middle leaned forward while squinting. It took a deep breath, smoke was coming from out of its nostrils, and it spat fire in their direction. The flames were larger than the bonfires hosted at Starch's festivals. They were no match for the volume of fire that this creature was able to produce. The trees that covered the forest, protected the trio whilst running. However, that was just the first time that the monster had used its flamethrower tactic, one or two more times, and everything on the ground near trunk level would be decimated.

Ariah took note of the power, she knew no water she threw at the monster could bare any weight against the mighty flames it possessed. "HEY! CLIMB!" She yelled to the other two boys. The potion of grace ultimately allowed them to break gravity as they sprinted up the tree in perfect unison and balance. They would begin jumping tree to tree, branch to branch to escape this monstrosity. The Bearilla breathed in once again, as would the other two heads. The trio could hear the thunderous-like inhale that the beast would take, they knew something very bad was about to happen.

The trio knew the Bearilla was in pursuit for something powerful, and they acknowledged staying in the trees the whole time would also lead to their demise. Elias, by the luck of his vision, spotted a large boulder just about twenty feet from them. "Boulder below! Hurry, we may be toast!" He yelled to Ariah and Rokas.

As the trio leaped toward this boulder off of the trees they were on, the evolved Bearilla released a devastating exertion. The head in the middle again, released flames from its throat while the two heads between it, blew out an oily mist. This combination would amplify the effect of the flames tenfold. The trio was falling towards the boulder, and they were bracing to land in front of it. They all looked back as they saw the flames rushing towards them, the fire produced would cover and eliminate all the brush, foliage, and trees in the area. They dove behind the boulder just as the flames would follow behind them and decimate the grass and char the dirt around them.

"The air is practically polluted, we need to cover our faces and get the hell out of here. There is no going back, we are just simply not strong enough to face this beast!" Elias yelled. They nodded their heads and got in position as if they were ready for a race. Once the pressure of the heat was dwindling down and the flames were done being blasted at them, they would take off for the run that would make or break them.

#

After an hour of running, they were exhausted, thirsty, and most of all, drenched. The mud throughout the forest caused quite the splashes among the three, and they knew there was no going back. They had limited resources available to them, just some empty flasks, and the feeling of hopelessness. Elias was bent over trying to catch his breath, Ariah laid on the muddy ground, and Rokas stared into the night sky, praying.

"I hate to say it pal, but praying would have been more effective prior to the attack. What are we to do?! There is no way we're gonna survive this one, we won’t be making it back to Starch without some kind of encounter, as well as starving to death. Everything around us is toxic, useless, and DIRTY!" Elias screamed in frustration.

"Don't be blaming Rokas for this! There is no way this is his fault, if anything we should be joining him you bozo. Get over yourself and help us think. Look in the direction that he is looking as well while you're at it!" Ariah yelled back to Elias. Her tone was firm and aggressive, you could tell she was the one with wits.

Staring directly south-east, the peaks of the mountains could be seen with fading clouds circling above. The two moons sat at opposite sides of the sky, but one was right above the icy figure.

"By the two moons, guide us, as we venture to our destination. Hopeless we may be, our courage stands with you. We wish to survive and conquer the steep journey we must pursue. With power." Rokas said softly with his eyes shut, his hands were connected making two circles with his fingers. This resembled the two moons and his worship to them.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Well, what should we do now? We all need sleep, and he is looking at that mountain as if he is ready to climb it." Elias said desperately.

"We sleep in the trees, when morning time comes, we will trek the mountain sides, collect Ariah's mana flask, and then make our way down. After that, we must do what we can to capture some resources needed to survive, which we will also do while adventuring. For now, we sleep... we sleep." Rokas responded with a sudden drop to the ground. He was snoring as loud as Mr. Paine's hogs. Elias picked him up, used the little mana he had left to power jump into a tree. It was bedtime.

#

The nighttime came to an end as the sun started to rise. Beams of light scattered through the forest of many trees and foliage alike. You could see the dew on the leaves as they sparkled ever so gently. Rokas had already awoken and watched vigilantly to ensure their safety while the others woke up.

"Wakey wakey you silver-haired twins. We got a venture to make, and we better make it as fast as possible, we're already out of supplies due to last night's events."

Ariah and Elias started to wake up with a big stretch. Elias was stretching so hard his legs started to shake as he inevitably fell from the tree. Luckily, he landed on his feet and not his face. Ariah looked around the forest and felt odd, her body was well rested, but she still felt short of mana. This would concern her but she would remain silent about the issue.

Ariah hopped down from the tree, rolling as she hit the ground, and went to talk to Rokas.

"I'm ready when you are, I think we should just avoid any trouble, it's better that we just get my mana flask without any fighting," she said.

Rokas was giving her a look with a twinge of suspicion and replied "Let's get going then, make sure you guys didn't leave behind any objects, and ensure there is no blood anywhere, or those creatures could very well trail us."

Nobody seemed to be bleeding luckily, the only objects missing were the ones they lost back at the fire. As unfortunate as it was, the group would start walking through tall bushes and begin paving their own trail. As exhausted as they were, they already were feeling underprepared and desperate, Elias was undoubtedly already wanting to go back to the farm. It had only been a day and Ariah was already wondering how Starch was doing without them. The townsfolk had grown strong since the orc raid on Dockton, they just had to keep persevering.

"Guys, look!" Ariah yelled.

She was ahead of the boys and a clearing started to show. It was evident that they were in a forest, but just about half a mile south, you could see a drop off on the land they were walking on. Forward they went until they came across a beautiful sight to see. Being used to nothing but woods and farmland, the twins finally got to witness the mountains in the distance, as the town called it, except they weren't that far from it.

The drop-off led down about twenty feet, where rocks and a small river flowed. Blue-striped fish were leaping around, to the left a doe and two fawns were drinking water from the river, but as they looked around they began to look up. This is when they noticed how much of a hike they have, regardless of the beauty around them, the ugliness of exhaustion weighed heavily on their conscience.

"Alright, so, it is clearly mid-day and we have limited time to get where we need to go. I predict that if we manage to not engage in any kind of danger, we can get to the mana pond in roughly three to four hours." Rokas said with confidence. He gazed at the mountain that he had once traversed with his father, this time, he felt like he had a new family, and he would do anything to protect them.

The twins nodded their heads with readiness, and onwards they went, jumping from rock to rock to get over the river. Rokas noticed quite the straight shot path to the pond, they would follow this path for some time.

Roughly an hour passed, from forest paths to hiking on the mountain, and they had to start climbing quite steep landforms. Thankfully for them, the windiness was less than expected and snow didn't seem to appear until halfway up the rocky terrain. They were now high enough to be over the trees, they sat for a minute to peer over the forest landscapes. Without any hesitation, Elias quickly looked for Starch, he wanted to see if he could spot the tall grain mill, which he did.

"Sis, look! I can see Starch from here!" Elias yelled with cheerfulness.

Ariah walked up beside her brother, they put their arms around each other's shoulders and just stared. For the first time since they had left their comfy abode, they felt a wave of calmness and happiness. Granted the grain mill was all they could spot from so far away, but they were happy to know their small town was safe from harm's way. Rokas stared at the twins, he never questioned what it would be like to have siblings, but now he has.

Elias turned his head to see Rokas staring at him and Ariah, he noticed his face was appearing quite sad.

"What's wrong? Is everything okay? Elias asked calmly.

"It might sound stupid, but I don't really have any family. Seeing you two so close and loving with one another really makes me wonder what having a brother or sister would be like." Rokas responded.

Elias and Ariah walked towards Rokas and hugged him, Elias was rubbing his fist over his head being playful.

"Look, you don't need to wonder what having a sibling is like, you have us, and as long as you promise to give us all of you, we will give you all of us. We can get through life and our adventures together. In my book, you have been one of the kindest and most open-hearted people I've met, even though I haven't met many people, I feel safe with you." Ariah said to Rokas

Rokas peered into the twins’ eyes, his own eyes tearing up at the thought of finally finding a family to call his own. He nodded his head with a confident grin and took a deep breath. “Alright then, you have a deal, relatives and family are two different things, you two will be my family, for life.

Then, the trio looked further ahead, realizing they had made terrific progress on their journey. They all took in one last sight of the world beyond them and would resume their adventure to the mana pool.