“This way,” Ollie urged, parting the hanging vines that blocked passage underneath a massive arching root that entangled the nearby trees. We were heading deeper into the Beast Lands.

After Egon left and I finished most of my work, Ollie took it upon himself to ask me to follow him. Aymon wanted to talk.

We walked for well over an hour. They made sure we were as far away from camp as possible.

Knowing I was heading for a trap, there were moments when I thought of grabbing the cocky elf from behind while his guard was down. But I figured whatever they had in mind, murder probably wasn’t it. Not yet, at least.

Worst-case scenario, I’d run.

“Are we there yet?” I asked for the tenth time. Any farther and getting back was going to become a hassle. Not to mention we still had more assignments to deal with, not that I finished my last one.

“Shut up and keep walking. I told you, you’ll know when we get there.”

He didn’t even bother to turn around.

“Talking never hurt anybody, but I guess you’re still a bit sore after being called short by the redhead.” I sighed but couldn’t wipe the grin off upon noticing his body twitch. Though he still pretended like nothing got through to him. “Not all girls are like that, you know?”

“Unbelievable. . .” he sighed, stopping to look around.

There was nothing but tall trees and thick bushes all around us.

“Do you even know where we’re going?” I asked, leaning against the nearest tree with my arms crossed. Birds chirped overhead. “Don’t tell me we’re lost.”

“God, you’re annoying!” He finally cracked, stomping on the ground out of sheer frustration.

“Woah. . . what’s with the attitude?” His reactions were priceless.

“Are you being serious right now?” Ollie lowered his voice, finally turning to face me with what I believed was supposed to be an intimidating glare but looked more like he was constipated. “Do you want me to kill you?”

I barely held back my laugh.

“Think you can do it?” I asked, mocking him with the cocky smirk that just wouldn’t go away.

Despite being older and more experienced with magic, his eyes lacked killing intent. Without it, his words were as hollow as his personality. He was nothing more than a gloomy punk drowning in Aymon’s shadow.

Ollie cracked his knuckles in response, keeping a close eye on me while swallowing what little spit was swirling inside his mouth. Considering how close we were, I thought of grabbing his arm and breaking it before he pulled out his wand; however, in the end, he refrained from doing anything and simply turned around.

“What a world we live in. . . so delusional.” He sighed as he was just about done with my shit, stepping forward. “Come on, asshole.”

But much to his disappointment, I didn’t follow.

“I think I changed my mind.” I awkwardly rubbed my neck, getting him to turn.

He was gritting his teeth and just about ready to explode. Like a child throwing a tantrum.

“You. . . you!” He struggled muttering anything intelligible, the poor guy. It was like I was part of a comedy. “Was this is? Was this your big plan? Follow me all the way out here, and then just turn around and leave? Make me look the fool?”

“You mentioned Aymon wanted to talk, not that he invited me to hike back to Thysa. Perhaps he should meet us back at camp?”

He really didn’t like that answer, turning red in the face. Still, he refrained from acting out, taking a few deep breaths.

“You’re lucky Aymon told me not to harm you,” he muttered, sunlight hitting his face.

Pondering briefly, I waved my hands through the air, gesturing for him to keep going.

“Fine, fine. . . Might as well see things through to the end.”

His jaw dropped as he struggled to deal with my shit. Guys like him were book-smart but far too gullible. I could spend hours messing with him without him ever gaining control over the conversation.

We eventually reached a clearing in the forest where Aymon and the crimson-haired girl awaited. Her gaze was far more piercing than his.

“Finally. What took you so long?” She was loud, sitting on a cut piece of rock hidden in the shade. “Did the fool come all on his own?”

Meanwhile, Aymon stood quiet, arms crossed while staring.

“Don’t ask. . .” They could hear the dread in his voice.

He left my side shortly.

“You did good,” Aymon said, grabbing Ollie’s shoulder as he got close.

“He’s so–” but he held back whatever he had to say, exhaling out of frustration.

“He was great company. Truly,” I chuckled. Even I couldn’t take myself seriously. However, it seemed my joke wasn’t well received as it only earned their scornful glares. Not that they planned to look at me any other way. “What? You don’t actually think I’ll sit here and listen to gibberish? Not much of a talk if I can’t understand a word you say.”

“Gibberish?!” Ollie was about to lash out but went silent the second Aymon tightened the grip on his shoulder. “He’s starting to piss me off, Aymon.”

“I know.” Aymon showed sympathy.

“And you know how I get when I’m angry,” he said, like a six-year-old.

But before Aymon could say anything, the girl sitting next to them clapped her hands demanding our attention.

“I say we drop the bullshit and just deal with him the old way,” the girl’s suggestion was as ruthless as you’d expect, coming from someone with such an aggressive demeanour.

“Calm down, Reyna. He’s just some bastard who got lucky and found our foolish Princess when she ran off like a brat. It’s not his fault King Elwyn has a soft spot for his precious little daughter, who probably insisted on him overstaying his welcome, getting him into all kinds of trouble,” Aymon explained, unhanding Ollie and walking over just out of arm’s reach. “If anything, it’s her fault he got carried away. Right, Aleksa?”

Even though Elvish was an elegant language, I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of my nickname. But the name itself was fine, powerful even.

“Rude. You know I didn’t understand a word you said.” I scoffed, taking a proper look around. “You wanted to talk? Talk. Stop wasting time.”

Despite what I thought of them, they weren’t Dustin and the extras. Standing before me were some of the best students Grimhold had to offer. Preferably we didn’t have to fight, but I couldn’t hold back on being an asshole; otherwise, I wouldn’t be me.

“Got somewhere to be?” He looked curious, even raised an eyebrow.

There was nothing but more trees and bushes, the same as everywhere else. It was impossible to tell if someone was hiding.

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We were begging to be ambushed by a predator.

“There’s the assignment Professor Natasha gave us that I hadn’t finished,” I pointed out, still looking around.

“Smartass.” Aymon sighed, probably out of disappointment. But upon noticing that I had no intention of saying anything else, much less look in his direction, he cleared his throat in demand of attention. “Look at me when we’re talking.”

He sounded like my father. Made me chuckle a bit.

“Sure,” I mumbled, looking back at him with much lacked enthusiasm as a powerful breeze swept through the forest.

“This is pointless.” Reyna sighed, throwing me a nasty glare from the shadows. “You’re trying to talk some sense into him, but all he’s doing is making this look like a joke. Told you his kind only knows brutality.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“Quiet,” Aymon commanded, causing a brief moment of eerie silence.

Now that he was closer, I noticed he was slightly taller than I remembered. His eyes were probably imagining ripping out my throat.

“Think your acting needs a bit of work. You ain’t exactly intimidating anyone.” But it was still the most intense staredown I had before with someone who despised me, not that I’d tell him.

“Quit acting tough and stay away from Alice. We both know it’s not your place to be by her side.” He was serious. I think that pissed me off even more. “You’re a human. You’ll what? Push to a hundred? Two, if you’re lucky and don’t lose your head in one of those wars you humans love to stir.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“And that’s not even mentioning political stature,” he added.

I huffed deeply, nodding my head. “Yeah? But. . .”

Aymon raised an eyebrow.

“But what?” he asked.

I chuckled before saying, “But why should I care?”

Shock rendered Aymon speechless and made Ollie’s jaw drop. The impudence, they must’ve thought.

“By Amela’s grace. . .” Reyna rolled her eyes, holding her chest as if grievously wounded my words. “It’s like there’s no end to his preposterous arrogance.”

Ollie scoffed. “He’s no different to those stone trolls we met in Ulfon. Dumb and fooled into thinking he was funny.”

For someone so opinionated, he sure stood as far back as possible. Cracking his fingers, looking like Ellie could take him in a fistfight.

“Enough.” Aymon sighed, gesturing for everyone to relax before glancing back toward me. “Look. I’m sure things might seem great, and you’re probably enthusiastic about whatever’s happening between you two–”

“Right,” I rudely interrupted, making him twitch.

“Yes, so I’m right.” Aymon continued talking but staying composed pained him dearly. It was written all over his smug face. “Sadly, the world doesn’t work that way. And as much as we hate it, lineage matters. We know that, and so do Alice’s parents, which is why they never opposed me marrying their daughter. Not sure if you knew that.”

It was shocking, but only because Alice never mentioned her parents approved. However, Aymon’s words carried little trust. For all I knew, he could’ve been twisting the truth by insisting that by not rebuking his proposal personally that her parents approved. Same for any proposals his family threw at them.

“You sure talk a lot.” I sighed.

“And you don’t listen,” Aymon argued while trying to remain composed. Breaking would’ve only left him feeling humiliated. “This goes beyond just us. We’re talking about the future of Thysa. Surely you’re not telling me you’re shameless enough to let yourself be swept away by a dream. A dream that will quickly become a nightmare filled with neverending trouble for those you care about.”

He even twisted the story in such a way that he was no longer the one threatening me. Truly masterful, worthy of an equally eloquent answer.

“Go fuck yourselves,” the words couldn’t have flown more gracefully, rendering them utterly speechless. “You especially.”

Ron would’ve been proud of my delivery.

As for Aymon, he took his time processing what was said.

“What?” his lip twitched, turning to a hateful grin.

But if we’re being honest, I was kind of disappointed. Despite my best effort, Aymon failed to grasp what I meant. So I went and did the next best thing – I flipped him off. Cultural differences aside, that was universal.

“You shameless bastard!” He turned red so fast that I was confident he had broken a world record. “Here I was doing you a favour trying to talk you down, yet not only do you not listen, but you spit on my kindness and insult me too. The audacity!”

I was grinning like a twelve-year-old, and I wasn’t the only one. Reyna burst into hysterical laughter instead of turning ballistic like I expected. Unlike Ollie, she was having a blast.

Ollie probably had the weirdest reaction, going quiet as if imagining countless ways of killing me.

“But you know what?” Aymon kept going, maniacally smiling while waving his finger around. “You got balls. Yeah.” He nodded. “Either that, or you’re stupid for coming here alone, even if you guessed we wouldn’t kill you. People change their minds all the time.”

Reyna’s crying laughter came to a stop just as he finished talking, giving birth to much-needed silence. Nothing about today was rational: their plan, my actions, and even the strange calm surrounding me as I faced them. Perhaps I’d gone mad after all.

Still, Aymon and his friends didn’t scare me one bit. How could they when the alternative was infinitely worse?

“It’s just as you say,” I admitted, awkwardly rubbing my neck as I had his undivided attention. “I’m shameless, and there’ll probably be countless that won’t approve of our relationship. Yet here I am. Do you want to know why?”

He hesitated to ask but intently waited for my answer, so I took the liberty of taking a step closer, getting close and personal as I wouldn’t want to run the risk of not being heard.

“I gave Alice a choice. And if she’s to bare the consequence of my shallow greed, then the least I could do is make sure cunts like you fuck right off. She’s mine.”

The clouds overhead cast a shadow over us while I stared him dead in the eye, almost as if nature gave me its blessing.

It felt so satisfying to tell him off.

He was perplexed. Not a word came out of his mouth.

“Want me to kill him?” Ollie asked, pulling out his wand.

However, neither Aymon nor I moved an inch.

“No.” Aymon raised his hand, regaining a calmer tone. “We came here to talk. Not to get kicked out of the Academy–”

Reyna scoffed, rudely interrupting. “Like they’d care. You heard what the Professor said. Most of them think of him as nothing more than trouble too. If only the Headmaster didn’t prove so stubborn.”

“Still, no.” Aymon didn’t budge.

“Then why’d I even come here?” Reyna asked, getting fed up with his crap. “I thought we came here to put him in his place, not for me to watch you get humiliated.”

“Dammit, Reyna, can’t you just keep that pretty little mouth shut for once? Seriously,” Aymon sighed.

“What?” Her eyes shot wide, looked hurt even.

“As a matter of fact, I’m fairly sure I told you not to come, didn’t I?” Aymon asked. “So, how about you do me a favour and stay quiet for a few minutes? Okay?”

Reyna’s head dropped as she muttered something before running off.

“Reyna, wait!” Ollie yelled, reaching out for her but doing little to stop her. But he still turned to Aymon, anger brimming in his eyes. “Great. Now look what you did.”

“Ah. Whatever.” Aymon waved her off, averting his attention back to me. “She’ll cool off.”

“Seems like you got bigger problems to deal with,” I said, feeling as if we weren’t even here for me anymore. “Regardless, I hope I made myself clear.”

Things obviously took a wrong turn for him, but he still took the time to take a hard look at me.

“You’re making a huge mistake,” he warned.

“If you’re so mad about it, then I must be doing something right,” I argued, but he just scoffed.

“Don’t come to regret your decision,” he said, turning his back to me again and walking away. He got back to Ollie’s side before tapping his shoulder. “Let’s go. We’ve wasted enough time here.”

“Great. . . now we got to find Reyna–”

It was over.

The two disregarded my existence as they talked about their third. Yet I still couldn’t help the feeling something was off, annoyed I couldn’t put my finger on it. But that’s when the truth revealed itself, and a booming roar echoed from our flank.

For all its worth, I assumed the beast to be sizable by sound alone; however, I wasn’t ready for when the hulking grizzly-like monster charged through the bushes.

Twice the size of a regular bear, it kept much of its original appearance apart from the grey eyes and gleaming ocean-blue markings covering its body. Mana rippled the surface of its fur.

Considering we were out in the open, getting attacked by one of these was hardly shocking. Still, a thought crossed my mind. Why was it charging at me?

That’s when it clicked. It was all part of Aymon’s plan.

The fool.

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading.