Jalen ran.

He ran like his life depended on it, because it probably did. Snow crunched beneath his feet as he made his way north, trying to dodge the trees in his way without getting hit by the branches and the occasional arrow whizzing past him. As it splashed against a tree, a small spark sputtered to life on its tip and quickly spread to three, engulfing it in a roaring fire.

But Jalen continued to run. His breaths became short and irregular and he started stumbling when he misjudged the height of a snow bank. He rolled as he fell, dodging another arrow. This one left behind a puddle of melted snow and an awful smell as it landed on the ground. Jalen finished getting up and, panting, decided he might as well stop running; given the number of arrows coming his way, he definitely was not losing his hunters at all. He dusted himself off, straightening his novice-white tunic, now covered in a mix of soot and dried blood - mostly from himself, to be honest.

This wasn't how he'd envisioned his coming-of-age ceremony going; he'd imagined himself going though the ritual he'd seen others perform before him before sitting down with his family to celebrate his new class - hopefully an academic one, since that was what he liked doing. When he'd stood before the Altar of Judgement and performed the ritual - making a cut on his left hand and letting a drop of blood fall into the sacred bowl - to awaken his class, he would have never guessed that he would receive the class of warriorheart. After he'd left the altar and retreated in a separate room of the temple to digest this information, he'd heard screams coming from the Altar room along with the sound of clashing steel and the roaring of flames. He'd run back into the room, only to find a battlefield had replaced the joy and trepidation usually associated with the ceremony. As he'd tried to look for his family he only saw his father, his sword out and held before him aimed at a leather-clad warrior. As he continued looking around he took in the carnage; dead bodies wearing initiate tunics laid on the ground across the room, along with most of the people attending the ceremony. Above the bodies stood more people wearing mostly the same leather armor he'd seen on his father's foe. The only difference was, the others were all wearing a symbol on their breastplate; a sword atop a globe, the symbol of the church of Hynia. Right when he was thinking why the church would attack them, his father cried out in pain as the soldier managed to get around his guard and slash him on his arm. Jalen started running toward him to help, but he stumbled on a corpse. Both his father and the soldier turned at the sudden noise, and his father's eyes widened in surprise as he cried: "Jalen, what are you doing here? Run!" He turned to face off against his opponent again but the latter had shaken off his surprise and started advancing towards Elric managing to land a few cuts on his legs and a scratch on his face. Elric winced at the pain, and the soldier took advantage of his lapse in focus to disarm him and skewer him in the chest. As Jalen tried standing, his father fell, blood coming out of his chest wound and his mouth as he looked towards him. Jalen, too shocked to say anything, turned away and ran.

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And now he was in the forest north of Helmond Village trying to run away from those same soldiers - except the "running away" part was not working out really well for him. He finished turning toward the incoming enemies and position himself to fight; though he didn't really like to do it, his father - Elric - had still insisted in training him in unarmed and armed combat. He'd never managed more than the basics but they'd have to be enough; if not, it wouldn't really be his problem anymore.

As the first warrior came into view, Jalen took him in; he was dressed the same way as the other soldiers but was also carrying a bow in addition to the sword. Approaching Jalen, the enemy hung his bow on his shoulder and unsheathed his sword while looking at his latest victim: "You finally decided to face me instead of running away, heretic? The others had at least the honor to die in battle, not like sheep to a wolf." Jalen didn't answer: Heretics? what have we done to be declared heretics?, he thought. The warrior charged him and Jalen focused on the battle; his feet shifted to the side and he tried to dodge the downward slash. He managed to avoid the worst of it, but the sword still caught him on his chest. He hissed in pain but kept his eyes locked on his opponent, who now tried to skewer him. As the enemy soldier attack him, Jalen blinked; the soldier seemed to be moving slower than before. In fact, Jalen was able to evade this thrust more easily than the previous slash. He decided to press his advantage and tried hitting the man; he managed to punch his face. Now, Jalen was not the fittest Helmond resident - far from it. That's why he was surprised to see the soldier fly back and hit the tree behind him. His vision swam and, before passing out, Jalen saw a blue box flashing in the corner of his vision.

You have killed; follower of Hynia

Congratulations; you have leveled up!