We spent about an hour in town, I kept double checking if I had all of the necessary things I needed in order to go on my quest.

I ate a big meal beforehand, and since meeting him, I saw Arin eat for the first time. I thought he would eat a large meal because he hadn't eaten in front of me. However, I noticed he only ate small cheese pastries. I'm not sure why he was obsessed with consuming goods made for little kids, but I didn't question it.

Arin and I left through the back temple exit. The cliffs ended after a slight distance. They resembled walls and the path was straight as if it was man-made. A large open field with farms stretched for a distance that led to a dense forest. The main path that we followed was lined with a lot of blighted ones and guardians training on the outskirts of the temple. The walk to the quest wasn't too far, only a mile or two.

We arrived at a small farm house right outside the large forest that was in the distance. The house was small and cozy. Arin and I talked to the man inside, he must have known him before because they seemed to know each other.

Arin informed me that my quest was in the forest and to stay by the path. He drew his sword for the first time, which actually caused me to stumble backwards. It was a large rusted metal blade. It looked years old and like it was about to fall apart. He stuck the blade in the ground and sat upon the steps of the man's house.

"If you need me at all, call my name." Arin said in an extremely serious and dead tone. "Don't stay out after dark. Bandits come, and you can not face them." He looked at me. "Do you understand?" He was usually very serious and never expressed concern or emotion, but I could feel his attitude. He was dead serious. I felt as if he'd kill me if I didn't listen, but I knew better than to assume that. I adjusted my backpack and braced myself for the quest.

"Right. I understand." I assured him. I drew my knife and headed into the forest. It was daylight, so the forest wasn't very dark. The trees were spread apart, so I could see a lot of the forest. The main path spiraled through, and I continued to follow it.

The forest itself was actually very pretty. The leaves were green and the light from the sun shone through, illuminating the forest. Small creatures roamed the forest. I saw a deer in the distance and it quickly scurried away upon seeing me.

I had never been in a fight outside the tournament before, however Arin claimed that these monsters would be very simple to kill. I held my dagger tightly with both hands as I made my way deeper into the forest. I noticed a clearing up ahead, and made my way towards it.

The forest cleared quickly. It was honestly heart-warming. The way the trees surrounded a small open patch of grass was very pretty. The grass was taller here however, coming up to my knees. There was a small lone tree in the middle of the clearing.

Rustle. I heard something to my left underneath the grass and I quickly turned my body to face it. I could see something moving towards me underneath the tall grass. I quickly side stepped it as it became too close. I saw it jump for a moment before sinking back down to the ground. I couldn't see it. I hated that I couldn't see it.

A flash of orange filled my sight as I moved out of the way of another one. What was attacking me? I stopped to think before I felt a tug on my left arm. I turned my head to see, moving my arm within range of my sight.

I shrieked at the top of my lungs and shook my arm frantically. A small orange slime with angry eyes had bitten down on my arm and would not let go. I ran around the field for a bit, rashly doing things without thinking. I slammed the slime into the tree in the center with all my force and he popped exploding into an orange goo.

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"God that's disgusting." I muttered out loud while attempting to get the slime off of me. I still had my knife in my hand. I rolled my eyes now thinking that all I had to do was stab the damn slime. I looked at my arm. The clothes had torn but the divine ring I wore had protected me from that slime, leaving only a small bruise where the slime would have bitten.

I felt three more tugs on my skin. One on my left side one on my right leg and another on my left arm. I shrieked again and began trying to pull them off. I got one of them off and threw it against the tree. I ran my knife threw it and it popped, covering me again in slime.

Crash. I noticed pieces of cyan glass fall out of my skin. I went to catch one but it went through my hand and disappeared. My aegis must have broken! I thought. That is when the pain hit. The two slimes who were biting me pierced my skin.

I yelped in pain and tore one of the slimes from my arm stabbing it into the ground. I used my knife to cut through the slime that had grabbed at my side. They both explode immediately after being cut by my knife.

I hear some rustling from behind me and I turn around to be met with another slime jumping towards my face. I duck and it attaches itself to the tree biting hard. I stab it with my knife and it explodes on me again.

"Shit!" I exclaim as I hear multiple rustlings from the grass. I turn my head quickly to try and see how many of them are attacking me. I look up, the tree had a large branch that I should be able to stay on from a distance. I leap from the ground, much higher than I originally anticipated, and grabbed onto the branch.

I placed my backpack on my lap and opened it. Arin had given me this backpack with a bunch of supplies in it. I knew I was going to have to pay him back eventually. I rolled my eyes and shrugged. I reached inside and pulled out a bottle of medicine, gaws, and medical bandages.

I patched up both my wounds and jumped from the tree landing on my feet. I had killed four of the slimes already but I needed a total of 15. I heard rustling in front of me. I kept my back to the tree. A slime jumped up from the left and I turned my head to face it. I cut straight through it and continued keeping my eyes and ears completely focused on the sound.

Nothing. The sound stopped. No more rustling. The slimes must have retreated somewhere. I rolled my eyes as I originally thought this would be kind of easy. I searched around for a moment, scouring the grassy field wondering where the creatures could have ran off to.

I sighed before wandering back into the forest. I'd spend more of my time looking before arriving at another clearing. It was smaller this time, with more trees surrounding the area. However, it was filled with the orange slimy creatures. I could see them now as the grass wasn't very tall and they couldn't get the jump on me.

I stabbed at the ground, destroying a small slime that had attempted to spew an acid at me. Another slime jumped on my left shoulder biting down hard into me. I yelped before grabbing it with my hand and throwing it against a nearby tree, chucking my knife at it to make sure it was dead. I dodged another slime before being overwhelmed by five or six of them.

I immediately jumped backwards away from the slimes, dodging most of their acid attacks and clinging onto a nearby branch. I retrieved my knife from the same tree before making my way up to the top of it. Panicking, I grabbed out a cryo-crystal.

"FROSTBOLT!" I shouted crushing the gem in my hand. A large ice ball spiraled out from my hand and exploded three of the slimes that were still spewing acid my direction. I crushed another one and cast another spell destroying two more slimes.

"Wow this is easy." I thought to myself, crushing another catalyst as the pain filled my arm. "FROSTBOLT!" I shouted destroying another slime. I was breathing heavy and decided to take a breather for a moment. I had killed ten total slimes.

The last five went by quickly. I just let them come to me, and casted frostbolts at them as they came closer. I must have cast about ten or eleven different spells, as my aim was pretty bad. However the spell did most of the work for me.

I found myself dozing off in the tree I had spent my time in, and before I knew it, I had completely fallen asleep. This was a terrible mistake on my end, and I knew Arin was going to scold me for it later. My body was tired from all of the work I did today.

As I slept, I dreamt about being home. I dreamt about eating dinner with my mother and friends from my fencing school. I wished I could see Jake again, so he could hold me and tell me everything would be okay. I heard his voice and it felt so real. He felt real. The new world I was in felt real. The pain was crazy, as I had never had to deal with such pain outside of this world.

I want to go home, I want to hug my mom again.