When the monster swung its claw against me, I swallowed my saliva and stood still sweating, didn't even bother to move. I couldn't believe I was about to die in a short amount of time, but I was going to anyway.

What a bummer. But at least I had a good time here in Basilia for sure despite being poor and homeless.

Then another medium-sized rock rammed against its head and caused it to cry in pain, dropping on the ground. Touching its face, it took a couple steps backwards and continued to cry in pain.

"C'mon, Mike! Let's get goin'! The other monster's going to get us any minute now," Gideon's voice echoed beside me.

I turned to Gideon and saw him hold out his palm to me, wanting to carry me up from the ground. I smiled at him and grabbed his hand as he lifted me up from the ground. "Thanks for savin' me again, Gideon."

"No, problem, Mike," Gideon said as he grinned back at me, until the monster's roar echoed behind the stunned monsters, causing us to quickly turn to it.

We were lucky that monster hadn't even shown up yet. We turned back to one another.

"Okay, Mike. Let's go find a hiding spot," Gideon shouted.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" I shouted back when we returned to our destination and continued to run for our lives, looking back and forth.

We saw the monster run past the stunned one and chased after us with its claws out ready to strike us. It breathed a bit harder and roared at us.

I searched for something to stun my enemy, yet I found nothing, nothing to give me and Gideon time to hide. Mine and Gideon's heart beats banged on our chests like someone banging on the door, and sweat kept pouring down, this time all over our bodies.

Panicked, I turned to Gideon and watched him still searching for something while the monster was getting close to us. I saw him frown and assumed he hadn't found any either, frowning at him as well, sighing with my mouth closed.

Oh, man. He hasn't found anything to stun this bitch either. Jus' great. Now we're doomed!

Despite the monster's roar echoing behind us, I repeated the question. I widened my eyes with Gideon when the monster's shadow raised its claw up in the air, the moment it got close to us.

Then another monster roar echoed behind the active monster, assuming that it was no longer stunned. Dealing with one monster was bad enough, but another one? Oh Lord, help me…

Laughing at us, it swung its claw against me. I swallowed my saliva and watched him, with no way to avoid it, no way to dodge its attack.

Then the white slash attacked its claw. Roaring in pain, it took a couple steps back and looked down at its cut claw.

Widening our eyes, Gideon and I stopped moving and took a look for investigation, hearing some footsteps. There we saw Arwen arriving at the scene with her hand circling around an orb on top of her wooden, yet crooked staff.

Arwen's here and she just saved us!

The monster's roar echoed again and we and Arwen turned our attention to it. We saw it run dash its claws towards us, breathing hard a bit.

Arwen circled her hand around the orb again, and the orb glowed white. Gideon and I widened our eyes out of amazement.

"Darismo!" Arwen chanted when the orb glowed even whiter than ever before and the light struck her enemy.

With the monster's roar in pain, it flew backwards and rolled over backwards on the ground. The other monster shook its head and turned towards Arwen, Gideon and I, glaring at us and smoke coming out of its hot head.

I turned to Arwen. "Arwen, that was amazing!"

Arwen turned to Gideon and I. "Go on, you two! I'll fight them off! I'll catch up with you!"

Then one monster got up from the ground and roared at Arwen after it shook its head sideways. Arwen noticed it and performed her same actions.

Noticing one monster was charging its claws against Arwen, the other one turned to Gideon and started to charge its claw after him. I watched Gideon take a look around to search for an item to stun it, and his eyes finally spotted a stick near a tree behind him, looking at him and the monster back and forth.

Seeing Arwen too distracted to fight one monster, I searched for something useful, anything useful against the other one. But I failed to find it, despite trying my best to search for it.

I turned back to the monster as it was getting close to Gideon, raising its claw up to strike him. I glared at him.

Alright, Mike. Time to defend your friend.

Stolen story; please report.

Screaming, I charged myself against the other monster. Luckily enough, I pushed it away from Gideon and saved him from that monster's attack.

The other one sliced my stomach and bumped into a tree. I screamed and took a couple steps back, touching my wound.

Gideon turned to me and saw me watching my blood exiting my wound, saying my name, running towards me. "Are you alright, Mike?"

I turned to Gideon. "Yea, I'm fine. Jus' a little wounded, that's all."

The other one roared and charged its claw towards me. Gideon glared at it and raised his stick up in the air.

Swinging the stick at the other one, Gideon was shocked to see the stick being broken into pieces, after it swung its claw against the stick. He shivered and forced a smile at it, dropping the broken stick on the ground.

The other one chuckled and swung its claw against Gideon's chest, making him collapse to the ground. I widened my eyes to see my friend lying on the ground, hacking up blood from his mouth, shouting, "Noooo!!!"

I dashed towards him and slid on the ground, lifting up his head. With my watery eyes, my tears flowed out of my eyes and rained on him.

The monster roared at me and raised its claw up in the sky and was about to swing it at me. My eyes were broadened when I looked up at that thing.

Arwen noticed that thing right after she magically made the other thing, that monster, disappeared in black dust from her white slash spell. She turned to it as well as chanted and casted her white slash spell against the monster.

It cried in pain and fell backwards on the ground. Sitting up, it moaned and rubbed its head.

Shouting my name, Arwen ran up to me and circled her hand around the orb, turning her head to me back and forth. "Stand back and stay there until I defeat the monster. I'll escort you to safety."

"Huh? But-" I was about to say something.

Gideon continued to cough a bit without even covering his mouth. "Mike…you're going to have to save yourself…"

I sniffed and shook my head sideways. "No, Gideon. Don't you say that. Stay with me, man. You're my only real friend that I've got."

"No, Mike. My time in Mysteria is finally over. I must meet with the gods way up there…" Gideon pointed at the night sky, and I looked up at it, then back down at Gideon. "That's where I'll belong from now on, Mike. I must say goodbye."

"No, no, no, no! Don't leave me, buddy!"

The monster's roar echoed to my left and saw the monster breathed, dashing after me until Arwen chanted her spell and fired her white slash at it.

The monster flew backwards and slammed against the tree. The tree broke itself into two and its top half fell backwards.

"But I must, Mike." Gideon patted my watery cheek while I continuously sniffed. "I must leave here at once. Goodbye…Mike…"

"No!!!" I cried as my tears floated out a lot faster, seeing Gideon stare at the sky and was no longer breathing. "Nooo!!!"

I turned to the monster and breathed hard. Arwen noticed it when she turned to me, watching me stand up from the ground to glare at it.

"What in the gods' name are you doing, Mike?" Arwen questioned. "I told you to stand back and wait for me to defeat the enemies."

"No way!" I roared.

"Huh?!" Arwen widened her eyes out of shock.

"After that thing killed my only real friend?" I turned to Arwen. "No freakin' way!" I turned back to the monster as I watched it stand up from the ground. "I want to avenge Gideon's death from that thing!"

"No, Mike! Don't!" Arwen pleaded.

The monster roared at Arwen and I. While she turned to the monster, my eyes searched around for anything useful against that thing.

I spotted another stick lying on the ground behind me, and it was big too. I turned to it and the monster back and forth, picking it up from the ground.

"Mike, don't!" Arwen cried with her hand out, yet I refused to heed.

I raised the stick up and charged against it, screaming from the top of my lungs. The monster roared at me again and charged its claws towards me.

I swung the stick at the monster's chest and it broke into pieces. Huh?! What the-?! It had no effect on it.

The monster smiled at me and it was its turn to swing its claw at me. Hearing Arwen's magical chant, the white slash struck her enemy's stomach, screaming in pain, making it disappear in black dust. I was lucky neither Arwen nor the monster hitted me.

After covering my eyes from the white flash, I breathed in the black dust and returned to the scene. It was the strangest smell that I've ever smelled, unlike the regular dust that I smelled.

It was now all nothing but trees and bushes in front of me under the moonlight. Silence finally echoed in the area besides crickets and owl sounds and the strange smell was finally gone, replaced with some normal fresh air.

Adding Arwen's footsteps coming towards me, I turned to Arwen and she placed her hand on my shoulder. "Mike, we need to get out of here to a much safer place."

I shook my head. "Right, after my ticket out of poverty was stolen from me, and now my friend's gone, I'll go this time." I turned to Gideon for a while and Arwen smiled at me. "Right after we buried Gideon here."

"Consider it done!" Arwen agreed.

Once we dug up the dirt deep and big enough to be a rectangle shaped, I turned back to Gideon, and headed my way towards him alongside Arwen. I closed his eyes and grinned at him.

"And this is my time to say, 'Goodbye,' Gideon," I said before Arwen and I carefully carried him into the hole.

Covering the corpse with dirt, I searched around for a stick and a rock. Once I found them, I fetched them and inserted the stick into the dirt first, then placed the rock in front of it.

I turned to Gideon's grave one last time and shook my head. "Goodbye, Gideon. Even though you won't be able to get out of poverty with me, I'll get that scamming bastard to pay for what he has done earlier. I won't back out of this. I promise."

Once I turned back to Arwen, she shook her head at me and she led me the way. While I followed her like a puppy, I looked back and forth at Gideon's grave, with my crooked smile.

For real this time, as I was still nervous about possibly dying and reincarnating, as something worse than my current position, there is no turning back. I really mean it when I say it, no matter how many times my heart wanted to get out of this.