A hushed silence fell over the area. Everyone abandoned what they were doing for the sake of staring at the Temsian general.

“Aren’t you Temsia’s regent?” Aayan raised an eyebrow at him.

“I have been temporarily stripped of the title,” Harith said, eerily calm for the words he was uttering.

Ayah choked on her saliva.

He was what?

When?

Why?

“I am now but a general, which makes me qualified to take part in the competition.”

Aayan laughed, a big bellied laugh. “Did you finally anger your little prince into unseating you? If you wish for it, dear friend, I can offer you a seat in my war council.”

“Neither needed nor wanted.”

Aayan laughed harder. He turned to Ayah. “I worry that the young lady is not familiar with the event. If you wish for it, as last year’s champions, I shall offer you my warriors’ protection,” he announced.

“No thanks,” Ayah huffed. “Not needed.”

“It would sadden me were you to lose your life−”

“I’m not that weak, your majesty.” She cut him off.

“Aren’t you?”

His eyes creased. They seemed able to look through her. She steeled herself, swallowing the bile that threatened to rash up her throat. While mostly healed, her body still remembered the beating it had received from this bastard. She stared at him, trying to hide the disgust and hate from her gaze.

“I was chosen as one of the only two representatives of Temsia. If nothing else, please believe in that alone.”

They stared at each other, one smiling benevolently, the other trying to erase the former’s existence with looks alone.

Harith’s sudden touch startled her, long fingers running against her wrist for her attention, barely a graze. Just as abruptly, he pulled away.

“Let’s go,” he said, and started walking without waiting for her.

“Till our next meeting,” Aayan’s smile was anything but sweet.

Ayah sent him a glare, then hurried after Harith.

The forest and the flower grove were separated by a huge stone wall to keep the monsters in. The gate was carved with runes to reinforce it and alert the guards in case of a breach. Now, it was wide open with nervously looking guards watching the other side of the forest, their hands grasped tight over their drawn swords.

They didn’t acknowledge any of the warriors that approached the door to get a glimpse of what awaited them.

The competition was still a couple minutes away. No one tried to enter first. No one wanted to hasten what was in store for them.

Well… no one except for Harith…

He walked through the gate, Ayah close behind. The other warriors sent him resentful glances. But none of them braved through.

Once they were alone, she took hold of the front of his tunic and tugged him down, bringing his head to level with hers. He moved without resistance, allowing her to pull him.

“What are you doing here?” She hissed. “Why aren’t you with Shoaib?”

He stared at her, his gray eyes boring into hers, silent. Ayah shook him a little, startling at the lack of resistance, but she quickly dismissed the feeling at the thought of Shoaib alone with an assassin in his wake.

“He wouldn’t have left otherwise,” he finally said.

She let go of him, and crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for him to continue speaking.

He ran his hand over his face, sighing. “He refused to leave unless I came here. It was either me or him.”

Ayah narrowed her eyes at him. Didn’t he say, just hours ago, that he could order Shoaib around?

“Is that all?” she asked.

“Of course.” He turned away, strangely refusing to meet her gaze.

“So who’s the new king regent?”

“As of today, Temsia has a queen regent.”

“Jamila?”

Harith nodded.

They walked for a while. The forest was silent like the graveyard it would soon become. The trees were less dense at the start, but as they ventured deeper and deeper, the trees became larger and taller, and their path narrower.

The silence, so eerie and sinister, allowed them to detect their first welcoming party.

The system’s ding sounded the same time as Harith stopped and faced some movements in the trees.

[An enemy has appeared!]

[Defeat the monsters and survive!]

“We have company,” Harith whispered.

“How many?”

He took a deep breath, sensing for the monsters, his eyes unfocused before refocusing on her. “A bit over 23.”

She frowned. “A bit excessive, don’t you think?”

He shrugged. “This is their domain we’re intruding on. Their numbers will only be increasing. Blood tends to attract them.”

“Even at night?” She yelped, dismayed. “What about my beauty sleep? I have eye bags the size of the Atlantic ocean,” she lamented.

“Your beauty sleep would have to wait till after the competition.”

She gave an exaggerated sigh. “I’m wounded. You don’t think I’m pretty enough?”

He looked away. “You’re fine.”

She gawked at him. “Just fine?” She brought her hand to her chest in mock disbelief. “How dare you?! That’s not something one says to a woman! You’re not that popular, are you?”

He huffed and unsheathed his sword. His sharp eyes zeroed in on the monsters that stepped out in front of them. Bear-like monsters with strange drawings covering their bodies. Their jaws wide and salivating at the promise of a meal. They were bigger than the monster wolves she had fought the last time in the forest. But what they made up in size, lost in speed.

Ayah summoned her sword and readied herself for the first wave.

She sent her sword sailing through the air. It sliced through a monster’s front leg, severing it, then sank into another monster’s rib. Ayah watched her sword disappear back into her inventory, then reappear back into her hand.

She swung it around, a grin pulling at the corner of her lips.

Quite convenient.

Harith extended his hand before him. Shadows emerged from the ground and spread towards the monsters immobilizing them. They growled and writhed, trying to escape his grasp. His sword lifted into the air, and with a flick of his wrist, it sped towards the monsters, cutting their heads with a single strike. His sword flew to his outstretched hand. And with one smooth motion, he cleared the blood off the blade.

Impressive.

But she wasn’t going to let him get all the kills. She launched into the air, slashing at the nearest monsters. She slashed and hacked, felling down whatever remained after his attack.

[You’ve defeated monster x 2 ]

The sound was music to her ears. She hadn’t known how much she had missed it till now.

She saw Harith glance at her, before another wave of monsters called for his attention. It wasn’t long before the number dwindled to single digits. Harith felled them with a strike− much to Ayah’s dismay.

With Harith here, she could only kill enough monsters to level up twice. He was both a blessing and a curse.

“At this level of skill, you would have slowed them down,” he said, sheathing his sword.

Ayah turned to him, an indignant frown pulling at her lips. “I didn’t ask you to come here.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

In their relative camaraderie, she had made the mistake of forgetting something crucial. The general was famous for holding grudges. He could hold a grudge the size of the Atlas mountains. And just a day ago, she had insulted his personally trained army to his face.

She looked at him, steeling herself for another wave of taunting, but he simply sighed, his hand rubbing at the back of his head.

“This won’t do. You won’t last the night, let alone to the end of the week.”

Ayah glared at him. Her nostrils flared as she let out an indignant breath.

He looked at her, his brows knitted in thought. After a moment of tense silence, he unsheathed his sword and stood in front of her.

“Draw your sword. I’ll train you. And no, refusal is not an option,” he added when she opened her mouth to speak.

“I wasn’t going to refuse,” she protested.

She was merely shocked. She hadn’t thought he would ever bother to teach her how to fight. Him, the general of the Temsian kingdom. Her, a novice with a week of experience holding a sword.

“Good,” he said. Then he launched towards her, his sword held high.

He meant now?!

Ayah staggered, astounded by the turn of events. She had barely enough time to summon her sword before his blade descended upon her like the wrath of hell.

Ayah kneeled on the ground, her legs no longer able to support her. She panted, blinking to try and chase the dark spots that had started to spread at the edge of her vision. She felt her stomach roll and she swallowed painfully, pushing down the bill that ran up her throat.

Was this what Shoaib had to deal with? Each single day?

“Your swordsmanship is crude. No finesse. No technique. It’s like watching a goblin perform a ceremonial dance.” He shot her an affronted look. “Who trained you?”

Ayah swallowed the offensive retort down her throat, lest the madman ask her for another training session. She glared at him, her threatening look losing its effect when she doubled over, coughing her lungs out.

He tutted, shaking his head in dismay. “No wonder you lost against that peacock.”

He looked at the monster carcasses that still littered the ground. “You can rest for today. We’ll resume training tomorrow at first light.”

Ayah gawked at him.

Again?

Harith headed towards the nearest monster carcass. Ayah stood on shaky legs and nudged closer. He took out a dagger and proceeded to cut into the monsters with precise and swift slashes. He took out a small stone, not bigger than the tip of his finger out of the monster’s chest area. He took the stone, swiped his finger over its rugged surface to wipe the remaining blood and handed it to her. She cradled the small stone in her hand.

A mana stone.

While mana stones were used to help replenish mana, this one was too small and too dull to have any real effect. As for now, it was the only proof that they have slayed these monsters. So they had to collect them all to be counted at the end of the competition.

She slapped his back, grinning. “Keep up the good work.”

He rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

She waited till he turned to another carcass before glancing at the blue screen.

[Item available: Mana Stone. Would you like to collect it?]

“Yes,” she whispered, throwing a glance at Harith’s turned back.

Good. he was too preoccupied with collecting the stones, he barely paid attention to her. She turned to the screen.

[Mana Stone]

[Type: Magic Stone.]

[Difficulty: Common. ]

[Usage: Replenishes Mana ]

[Mana stored : 3 ]

Ayah narrowed her eyes at the screen. “Does this mean the other monsters I had defeated also had mana stones?”

[Correct.]

“Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you wanted me to get to my full potential?” she snorted.

[Player is required to seek items out. The system is not responsible for player’s short sightedness.]

Ayah bristeled.

[Mana stones are fully fused with the monsters. Item extraction is not possible.]

“So I have to dig them out myself.”

[Correct.]

Ayah sighed.

She summoned her water bottle and took a generous sip of the refreshing nectar of life, sighing as it cooled her chest.

“We need to head to the river,” Ayah announced.

They needed water. Jamila had mentioned that the forest was thriving with drinkable water sources. If they were to stay here for a whole week, they should be worrying about dying of thirst as much as monsters.

Harith paused from cutting into the monster’s carcass. “Are you sure?” he asked, though his tone betrayed no emotion.

“Why? Is it poisoned?”

His brows narrowed in thought before he shrugged and resumed his cutting. “Might be… or not. But we need to find shelter before night.”

“Can’t you navigate through the darkness?”

He paused, pondering, then said, “I can. But can you?”

“Ah, fair enough.” Ayah laughed.

He shot her a strange look but said nothing else.

Harith led the way. Every footstep was precarious, the ground riddled with gnarled roots the size of a grown man, a carpet of creeping vines and jugged rocks that spoke of thousands of years of history.

“We’ll rest here for tonight,” Harith announced.

Ayah let out a shuddering breath and sank to the forest floor and propped herself heavily against a tree trunk, legs stretched before her.

Harith walked around the area, examining the trees before he took out his sword and hollowed out a medium sized tree trunk. With aching legs, Ayah walked around, gathering dry wood and twigs to start a campfire. She made an assortment of stones in front of the tree he had chosen, and handed him her small wooden prize, watching expectantly as he eyed the stone ring.

“The night will get colder, but any fire will attract even more monsters,” he said, though he still piled the wood inside the stone circle she had made.

When he was about to strike two pieces of rock against each other, Ayah stopped him. Getting warmer was important, but she didn’t want to end up as a monster’s diner because of it.

“It’s okay,” he said, gently dislodging her hand from his wrist. “I’ll keep it hidden.”

Despite his words, Ayah kept throwing fretful glances at the trees as the fire ignited. Harith hovered his hand over the dancing flames, and shadows slowly crept from the ground till it completely enveloped them.

It was amazing how his powers worked. She couldn’t see the flames nor hear the sound of the fire devouring the wood, yet, the warmth was unmistakable.

Harith glanced at her with an unreadable expression. Ayah neared her hands to where the fire was and grinned at him.

“It’s warm,” she said.

His shoulders sagged for a fraction of a second, before he touched the ground and a small bag emerged from the black spot.

“I have hidden some supplies at the edge of the forest. As long as no one removes them from their spot, I can summon them whenever needed,” he explained.

He took out a small package and handed it to her. An assortment of nuts, dried fruits and some hard boiled eggs was inside.

“What if someone finds them?” she asked, popping a handful of the dried fruits in her mouth.

“Then we’ll have to hunt.” He shrugged. “If someone hadn’t insisted they didn’t need to bring food, we wouldn’t have needed to,” he said pointedly.

It wasn’t true. She merely didn’t want to be weighed down by the gigantic bag Jamila and Shoaib had prepared for her. She had brought food, safely stored in her inventory. A tasty roasted chicken, grilled meat, a pie, and most important of all, her chocolate cake, a bit damaged, but still edible. But Ayah wasn’t going to tell him anything for now.

Let him bask in his moment of glory. Their savior from death by hunger.

She grinned.

“As we move deeper into the forest, the monsters we will face will be stronger. We have to be more careful with our energy and mana so we don’t exhaust ourselves.”

Ayah nodded. Her eyes followed his hands as he broke the twigs and threw them into the void, disappearing mid air where the fire was supposed to be.

“Where do you think the other contestants are right now?” she glanced at him. “Do you think they've already reached the guardian of souls?”

The guardian of souls. An assortment of rocks that no monster approached. Contestants always tried to head there as quickly as they could to get a well needed rest from monster slaying.

“The number of contestants gets reduced by a half in the first three days. The faster they try to get there, the careless they become, the quicker they die,” Harith said.

“Isn’t it like a sanctuary against monsters?”

“Monsters don’t get close to it for a reason.”

Ayah’s eyes widened. “You think there’s a monster guarding that place?”

He nodded. “Whatever is in there, it’s mostly stronger than all the monsters in the forest combined.”

“Then why is it called the guardian of souls?”

“If you can escape the monster’s notice, then you’re protected, for a while.”

“That’s all? A game of chance?”

“A chance at survival. No matter how strong you are, eventually you’ll be overwhelmed by the cheer number and one small mistake means your life.”

That was horrible. Why were they making an event out of this? Like the Olympics but bloodier.

Ayah watched the shadows dance around the darkness enveloping the forest.

“Are we heading there?”

“Not if we can help it.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Confident, are we?”

He snorted. “It would be a bit hard for me to escape its keen senses. The stronger you are, the easier you are to be spotted by a likely stronger adversary.” He shot her an amused grin. “But you might be alright, I guess. It won’t notice you.”

She threw a handful of leaves at his head, a half hearted glare on her face that quickly turned into a snort.

“I’ll be telling Shoaib on you, you bully.”

He laughed, a short small laugh. “I’m already shaking from fear.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Harith stood to make the finishing touches to their shelter while Ayah nibbled on her boiled egg, wishing she had brought some seasoning along. The shape of the egg reminded her of something else she had been neglecting.

In a hushed whisper, she summoned the dragon egg from her inventory.

“Is this what they were searching for?” Harith asked, looking over her form.

Ayah nodded, grinning. She held the egg towards him. “It’s a dragon egg.”

He frowned as he turned the white egg in his hand. “Where were you hiding it? Is this one of your abilities?” he eyed her.

“Yes. One of many.” She held her chin up. “Though, I’m a bit unsure how to feed it mana.” Her shoulders sagged.

She would have asked the system, but she couldn’t risk it with Harith just a couple feet away.

“Concentrate all your mana into your hands, then push it into the egg,” he instructed.

She cradled the egg in her hand and closed her eyes concentrating. She imagined a warmth that ran through her veins, then pushed at that warmth towards her hands, then into the small egg.

The cold egg warmed in her grasp. Ayah opened her eyes and gasped at the faint light that had enveloped the egg. Pale blue.

A ding startled her.

[Warning : Mana depleted.]

Ayah shrugged. That was it for today then.

She recalled the egg back to the inventory. Harith didn’t blink an eye nor say a word as the egg disappeared.

Maybe he was getting used to all of this.

Maybe someday, when she found a way around the system’s restriction, she could tell him about all this.

“You should rest. I’ll take first watch.” He motioned to their makeshift shelter.

Ayah nodded. She stood up and headed into the hollowed part of the giant tree. The ground was hard and uncomfortable, but it would do for tonight. She bundled her cloak into a pillow and closed her eyes. Sleep came soon after.

It wasn’t the morning light that woke her− for it was still night when she was woken up− nor was it Harith’s voice calling her. It was the slight shaking of the ground that was increasing by the second. She startled awake. Harith was crouching by the opening of the shelter, his back to her, his eyes glued on something moving before them.

“Don’t make any sounds,” he whispered.

She nodded even though she knew there was no way for him to know her answer. She silently got to her knees, and peered behind his shoulder. She blinked and squinted at the moving shadows that surrounded them, her eyes widening as she finally comprehended what was happening.

The trees were moving.

Big giant trees had uprooted themselves and were roaming around the forest floor.