Aaron stood in the five inch snow. Omari was parched eating some possums whole fur and all. William stood next to him after leaving town.

The next few days were a blur of riding and eating and drinking. training to keep their skills with the spear up. but the battle was still fresh in his mind, the bodies of two hundred men and nearly five hundred dead goblins shuddering at the carnage still fresh in his mind. how Elric and Elly’s skulls caved in and now the last stretch of their journey was upon him.

“Hey Are you ok?” William asked he looked concerned

“I’m fine” Aaron replied still looking at the mountain

”this will be hard and we need to keep watch from now on as to not be surprised” William said but

“ya know it wasn’t wise to lead your future god into battle like that alone”

“that's enough out of you bird” William snarled “we needed to help those people and we did” William said in a calmer tone

“Let's go” Aaron said coldly, mounting Daisy and kicking her into a trot into the woods of leafless oak trees forcing William to quickly mount his moa, nothing could be seen. but that did not mean they were not there. looking closely for goblins or anything hostile the whole forest looked like it was holding its breath. Not a sound could be heard besides the moas and the flapping of Omari's wings, not a songbird or anything could be heard which set Aaron on edge. He looked for anything but found nothing but trees. This forest is supposed to be full of monsters. Maybe they migrated into the kingdom? Maybe

“It's too quiet too quiet” William muttered to himself, looking at the trees as if a troll could pop out any moment. They rode uneasily until nightfall which made their unease worse. William built a small fire with Omari at watch since he had night vision. but still. The whole day was spent in almost complete silence. besides the small talk with William and Omari which they talked quietly because of the unease they all felt. Aaron huddled closer to the fire under a large oak tree. the cold night the mountain and how close he was give him hope

“I wonder what mother and Jessica are doing” Aaron said to himself

“probably at your house sitting around a warm fireplace telling stories and worried sick about us but I’m just guessing” William said eyes on the fire

“properly” Aaron agreed crossing his arms around himself at least their warm “I miss home everything was fine there mother could get on my nerves but other than that it was fine and nothing bad ever happened”

“Didn’t you get three arrows in you from bandits” William said

“Well ya but that's because I hadn't ever fought anyone before now they wouldn't stand a chance”

“Maybe,” William said, looking into the flames. a branch broke. Aaron and William jumped up immediately reaching for their spears as they neared the sound of footsteps in the snow. it must be goblin scouts, I can't see a thing! What if? Trying to use skylight by pulsing it into the spearhead the spearhead burst alight with skylight revealing a boar. it saw them and ran away into the night relishing a breath. He didn’t know he was holding. relaxing and sat back down on a rock dropping his spear and the skylight went out. William still standing held his gleaming celestial iron spear

“I didn’t know you could do that” William remarked

“me nether” Omari came flying in and landed above him watching with his large silver eyes staying silent

“That boar could have been worse if it decided to charge” William said

“Yes, we are lucky,” Aaron said, barely paying attention.

“I’ll take the first watch” William said “get some rest” Aaron got out the tent and proceeded to set it up, rolled the blanket in it and went to sleep soon after.

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In the middle of the night Aaron awoke to William shaking his shoulder rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“what?”

“It's your turn,” William replied, getting up and out of his cozy tent and out to the fire and into the cold night. picking up his spear from the ground. The shaft was ice cold but nothing could be done about it. holding an ice cold spear walking around camp while William and Omari were sleeping. Soon he could barely feel his fingers looking at the empty forest. The trees were blowing in the wind but no sound was heard watching the way he came. seeing only moa foot prints then peering around the oak tree and not seeing very far so he just sat on the cold rock yawning and scaly feeding sticks to the fire. Watching an empty forest. watching is rather boring or exciting in a horrible way with no inbetween. placing his hand over his mouth to yawn hours past before the sun rose.

He got William up as he packed the tent. Aaron threw snow onto the fire dowsing it and made sure the moas were saddled and ready to go. Once everything was ready they ate some hard bread and cheese for breakfast after that they rode off deeper into the woods.

signs of life appeared deer ran away from them we took a break for lunch after a few hours Omari parched near Aaron

“we are making good progress” Omari noted “yes we are” William said barely paying attention to Omari as they stretch their legs

“Aaron we need to hunt to save our supplies”

“I don't know how to hunt” Aaron replied

“just quietly sneak up on a deer and use your skylight to kill it and levitate a foot of the ground to make no sound” William exasperated

“ok for dinner or lunch”

“lunch so it isn’t dark”

“ok” Aaron said walking into the right side of the woods slowly walking alone in the woods. At least Omari will lead me back so I’m fine if I get lost. He spent an hour walking with no lunch in sight, not even a rabbit. I hope I can hunt. Mother never took me hunting. When I asked her about it she said that we only need food that grows from the ground. Which meant because of her fear of blood she didn’t want to take me. walking among the snow covered trees with nothing in sight oak and pine trees became notably more dense using skylight to levitate off the ground a foot so as to not make noise.

levitating forward zigzagging not to get hit by branches and then a fat doe was forty feet to the right Aaron stopped dead in his tracks then hovered behind a tree then slowly got closer when its head was turned then when Aaron got close enough a ray of skylight hit it in the head and chest leaving those wired burns. it bolted but couldn't see and ran into the nearest tree running towards it easily catching up he put it out of its misery quickly with a thrust in the neck slinging it over his shoulders and then levitating witch was much harder with the extra weight so he walked back to camp were the shape of Omari was flying low just over the treetops.

back at camp setting down his kill near the fire William built. while he went to wonder a bit. William took out his hunting knife from his belt and went to work on the deer skinning and cleaning the organs out Omari landed next to Aaron

“I see you're hunt went well” Omari noted

“yes it did” talking to a six foot tall owl is surprisingly becoming normal

“how is your hunt going”

“harder now that It’s day” Aaron turned in surprise “oh ya your nocturnal but because of us you tuned you sleep around slowly don’t worry just a week or two and it will be alright”

“thanks I guess”

With Omari I can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or not. His voice always sounds matter of fact and he has no facial expressions so it’s hard to know what his emotions are. but I think he was sarcastic. They sat in silence as William worked soon. Fat stakes were roasting on a spit venison. I don’t think I’ve had it ever I hope it’s good when they were done we ate them greedily the juicy meat was so good

“so I can’t help but notice that it takes a while to cook them” Aaron remarked with a mouthful of meat

“yes but we need to take more breaks we've been pushing are moas to hard recently”

“Makes sense,” Aaron admitted and we get better food so win win unless we are attacked by monsters then we will have a problem after they ate William took the leftover meat and threw it as hard as he could into the forest

“What are you doing! I worked hard to get that!” William turned towards him and put a finger to his forehead

“think that will attract all sorts of creatures we don’t want to meet the fresh kill will bring minotaurs and worse right towards us”

“oh. I should have thought of that” Aaron said in a calmer tone they soon rode up the slope leaving the meat behind. I'm going to have to hunt more than I thought. as they camped that night eating road food for dinner which tasted like wood chips in comparison.

They sat around a small campfire talking about nothing important. When Omari got a net thrown on to him as goblins sprang from the bushes with howls of rage came as they were quickly surrounded before they even got their spears throwing skylight at the nearest goblin blinding him. They threw about two nets at William and soon he was taken down as he was tangled in rope. Aaron levitated to get away but three goblins grabbed his legs and pulled him down to the ground and received a few kicks to the gut and were dragged away into their nearby camp.