Since I lost to the silent guy, I have been training every day more intensely and longer than the last one. The last week I had been in the gym everyday until midnight, which my parents didn’t like as I awoke them one time as I came home.

So now they want me to stop training all day long and to take a break. We argued the whole morning about it, and in the end, they decided for me that I wouldn't be allowed to train this week as punishment and thereafter to train only until two hours after the sun sets. I was pretty angry after our little talk, mainly because I couldn’t even argue back and had to accept the punishment.

But I decided directly that I wouldn’t accept it and just keep training, and so after school was finished, I went to the training Center and trained with the advanced instructor on my technique.

While training, I decided to tell him about what happened because he became like a big brother to me. He told me afterwards that my parents wanted probably only the best for me, but he agrees with me that the punishment of not training for a week is just too much.

To end our training, we wanted to spar a little, which we always did when we trained. Back then, I would need hundreds of fights to even win one, but nowadays I have improved so much that there is around a fifty-fifty chance to win. So our matches became more and more exciting.

But at the exact moment our swords clashed—producing a loud sound—there was a loud shout coming from the entrance.

There, my mother and father stood, angry, staring at me. After I and my instructor halted, they slowly made their way to us. Arriving in front of me, they towered imposing over me with a gleam in their eyes. Then they began scolding me for doing exactly what I wasn’t allowed to do, to train. In this moment, my parents were, for me, like beasts; I never knew they were able to be that angry. My instructor tried speaking with them but just got ignored, so he just stood beside me like some dummy.

After being scolded by my parents for a long time and after a long argument about what they would now do with me, they dragged me home against my will. But they luckily decided to ignore this one time and not stretch the punishment out.

At home, they then proceeded to ask me, “Why did you do that?”. So I told them the truth about how I feel about all of this, but then they just shrugged it off and told me, “Might be the truth, but you just overdid it, and a week isn’t that much." I agreed, but inside I knew that wasn’t the case.

That day I decided it would be best to sleep early, so as the sun set, I went to bed and slept nicely through the whole night. The next day, when we were school-free, I awoke early, even earlier than my family.

So I just stayed laying in bed, thinking about many things, but mainly about whether or not I should run away and where to, so that I could train without being disturbed.

The destination was quickly clear—my spot outside the chasm—but with what consequences? In the end, I decided to go because I just wanted to be away from them, and a bit of training wouldn’t be bad for me. Furthermore I really like it there and I can enjoy the beauty of nature.

So I quietly packed my backpack, gently went down the stairs towards the exit, and then I silently pressed down the door handle and went out of the door. Walking outside, I felt the chilling wind blowing over my face. The streets were still empty, and there weren’t any noises. The only thing I could hear was my own breath and my little heart beating.

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I hurried down the streets and alleyways until I reached the rough staircase. Without much hesitation, I began the long climb, which took me quite a bit of time, but the longer it took me, the warmer it got, which made the last few meters much more pleasant.

In the meantime, my parents awoke and then prepared breakfast for the family. As they called all down, they realized that I wasn’t there. So they went in my room to look for me, but what they found was no surprise to them. An empty bed, and a vanished backpack. They combined quickly and knew where I was going, but before they started to follow me, they decided to eat, pack their rucksacks, and then give my little siblings to our grandparents. Afterwards the chase began.

While they were down in Aldorem, I was already sitting on a stone in front of the dark forest, drinking and hiding in the shade of a tree.

Having a nice break I went into the forest and followed my normal path, but in the midst of the forest, I saw some traces. They seemed to come from dogs, but dogs don’t survive out here, which led me to the conclusion that these must be from Iwàrts. Because they are the only wolf species I know of with the capability to survive here.

The moment I realized that I knew what I was gonna do, I would power myself out and train – and at the same time, take my sweet revenge for the bad wound the iwàrt back then inflicted on me.

Silently, I followed the track, but the longer I followed, the more traces I could see. They were coming from all directions and melted with one. But there they seemingly disappeared, so these wolves must have trampled only in the traces of the one before them—making them really smart. Because so as it is I can’t know—and every other predator—how many of them there are for real.

After following them further, I could hear here and there their howling. As I was quite close to them, I began moving through the trees to not be seen by them—giving me a nice little advantage.

On a clearing, I found all the Iwàrts; there were 24 of them, but none of them saw me until now. They stood around in a circle around one of them, who seemed bigger and stronger than all—probably their leader.

After seeing the situation down there, I readied myself and then jumped down on the nearest iwàrt, my knife pointing down at his head.

I stabbed deep into his head, piercing trough his though shell, which killed him. I was happy, as I found out that my new knife was so strong. Before any of the iwàrts could react, I ran towards my next victim and took him down with a stab in his side. Then the other wolves began to comprehend what had happened and began attacking me. “Let the hunt begin” was the last thing I said before beginning my slaughter. I killed Iwàrt after Iwàrt, while taking many attacks. It was now much more easy with my new weapon and my new found strength. As the fight went on my whole back was slashed open, and my left arm had been bitten two times, but I already took down at least fifteen of them. But my head got heavier and it was getting harder to stay sane.

Then the last thing I remember was the alpha wolf biting me in the side, taking me down to the bottom.

The next thing I know is me lying in bed at home, my parents sitting beside me and looking happily as I awoke. The first thing I asked them was, “What happened?" They told me that they found me half-dead lying under a tree after they followed my traces while hearing the sound of the wolves howling in agony. Then they told me that as they found me, there were around forty dead wolves lying around. I found it sounded strange, as I only saw 25 iwàrts lingering around the place. Which means there had been many more wolves coming from all around unnoticed by me, while battling. And seemingly I had killed all of the wolves by instinct in the moment I have no memories of.

My parents told further that as they saw me in my desolate condition, the first thing they did was giving me some healing potions, which I luckily brought along with me. Then they carried me home and laid me on my bed, hoping for the best.

Hearing the story, I hugged my parents and told them I would never do that again, while apologizing. But then I realized that I was really sleepy and fell back in bed before saying “good night.” My parents just smiled, and were happy that I was alright.