After some time, Astoria stopped laughing.
Maybe it was because she became tired, or whatever it was that she was laughing at, she didn’t find it funny anymore, but at this moment, she just laid there in a daze, listening to the loud rain crashing against her windows.
The only thing that was louder were the echoes of Sam’s screams, which occasionally reverberated across the entire mansion.
As she laid there, she couldn’t help but think back to that fateful day she had with Drake over two years ago. Drake was only five, and she was ten years old. Though that was only one day in her twelve years of life, it had changed her personality considerably and taught Drake about the existence of magic.
Drake and Astoria were going on a walk when they saw a small rabbit, nibbling on some scraps.
“What a beautiful rabbit!” exclaimed Astoria. It was small, covered in pink fur which wrapped over its delicate body. Upon hearing Astoria’s words, the rabbit’s ears twitched, and it instinctively ran.
“Oh no it ran away!” she cried. “I wish I could pet it!”
Though the children in this world matured faster compared to Earth due to their society, she was still only ten years old at this time so she couldn’t help some of her childish desires.
“Would you like to catch it?” asked Drake.
“Yes!” she nodded excitedly but then shook her head in embarrassment.
“No, no, I’m sorry Drake. The rabbit went into the Beast Woods. Dad always told us never to go in there as it's extremely dangerous. We even dismissed our guards to get some time alone. As the oldest here, I am supposed to be looking after you so I can’t lead us into danger.”
Although the Beast Woods was one of the most dangerous places on the continent, the outskirts of the forest were relatively safe and it only became progressively more dangerous as one ventured inside. Many villagers often hunted and foraged in the outskirts.
“True, but the Beast Woods is only dangerous if you go beyond the outskirts. The rabbit is a weak animal, it won’t be able to survive deep inside the woods so it will also stick to the safe outskirts. If we follow it quickly, we might be able to lay a trap and catch it,” Drake calmly analysed.
“This…” she hesitated.
“We can just check out the outskirts for some time and if we can’t catch it, we’ll return. Okay?” insisted Drake.
He had always wanted to explore the Beast Woods and other areas of the world. Now was a good opportunity. He also felt like using this opportunity to give his sister a gift. Like the rest of his family, she also took very good care of him.
“Um…” she hesitated again.
“If we wait too long, we might lose its trail!” Drake exclaimed.
“Okay! But we can’t go too deep or stay there for too long alright?” she replied.
“Of course!” Drake replied excitedly.
Luckily, even though they were just going for a walk, he was wearing a pair of loose trousers and a black sweater on top of a shirt, whereas his sister was wearing a short pink skirt and a red top. They were able to run without restriction.
Drake led the way while Astoria stuck very close to him. They entered the woods carefully.
The trees in the woods were densely packed, and the leaves and branches formed a natural cover that reduced the sunlight on the forest floor, making it much darker and harder to see. One could occasionally hear the chirping of birds, the galloping of small frogs, and the rustling of leaves as some tiny animals passed through.
Drake was trying his best to memorise the route that they were taking to ensure they could find their way back. He would occasionally use a stone to mark some trees to help him identify the route as well.
At first, Astoria didn’t understand what he was doing but once he explained, her eyes immediately brightened, and she felt a greater degree of security.
Soon, Drake saw some trails and came to a stop. Drake bent down to look at something.
Astoria didn’t understand what Drake was trying to see. Soon she couldn’t hold in her curiosity and she peeped above his shoulder to see what had captured his interest.
“Eww! Drake what is that?” she asked perplexed.
He was looking at a small pile of faeces. It looked like it belonged to the rabbit, but he wasn’t sure if some other animal could have caused it. He thought it was unlikely as he hadn’t spotted any other animal around him and these looked fresh.
Drake was no animal expert, but he knew about common animal behaviours from his previous life. Of course, he couldn’t know if the animals would have the same behaviour patterns in this world, but even if he was wrong, it was no big deal.
“I think the rabbit passed through this way,” he said with a frown.
Rabbits lived in burrows back on Earth, so he was wondering where this rabbit’s burrow might be located.
Drake had previously asked his father for some maps of the woods and memorised them. There wasn’t much entertainment in this world, so he often worked on improving his knowledge.
Comparing that to what he had seen so far on this trip, he roughly deduced where they were.
Next, he tried to remember where the rabbit’s food sources would be located, the lairs of its predators that it would try to avoid, and the locations that were easiest to burrow in. By the process of elimination, there weren’t many locations where the burrow could be located.
Judging by the direction that this rabbit was going, there was one location he thought was most likely to be where the burrow was.
Of course, he couldn’t know the exact location of the burrow, but as long as he was in that area, he could easily lay a trap and wait for the rabbit to fall into it.
Having a plan in mind, Drake moved quickly as he picked some common rabbit food, and anything he thought might be useful in laying a trap. After about half an hour, they came to a spot which he decided was the best and easiest location to lay a trap.
Drake used a large stick he found on the floor as a makeshift rod to dig into the ground, often using his hands if necessary. Astoria also helped, but she soon became tired. They were both children, but unlike Astoria, Drake had the mind and willpower of an adult, allowing him to persevere.
Soon, they dug out a hole large enough for the rabbit, placed some branches on top, and covered it with leaves. After some more camouflaging, this section of the floor looked the same as the rest of the forest floor. Finally, he carefully laid some rabbit food he collected on the way, on top of the trap.
After finishing the trap, Drake took Astoria and hid behind a tree located several metres away.
The whole process from when they entered took around an hour.
Drake looked to the sky.
The forest blocked most of the sunlight, making it difficult to determine the exact time, but he estimated that it would become dark soon. He thought to himself that they could wait for about fifteen minutes and if nothing happened, they could only blame their luck and come back another day.
Time ticked slowly.
Drake was exhausted from all the work and so was Astoria.
After waiting a long time, they heard some rustling in a bush.
Excited, they slowly and carefully turned around to spot a small rabbit poking its head out of a bush. It quickly scanned its surroundings and, determining that there was no danger, it approached the meal that had been delivered right to its doorstep.
As soon as it started eating the food, the weak floor made of branches could no longer hold the rabbit’s weight and collapsed, causing the poor animal to fall.
The rabbit yelped in fear, but it couldn’t do anything. Luckily for the rabbit, Drake and Astoria didn’t want to hurt it.
Astoria gasped in surprise and Drake's cheeks lifted into a wide smile. The duo quickly ran to the rabbit. It was trying to jump out but always just fell slightly short.
He had dug the hole large enough so that it wouldn’t be able to jump out immediately, but not too large that it would get hurt upon impact. He wasn’t sure of the exact size that would be necessary, but he just made some rough estimations.
Drake reached down and tightly grabbed the rabbit with both hands.
The rabbit was struggling with all its might to escape but Drake held on firmly.
“Don’t worry little rabbit, we won’t hurt you!” said Astoria as she looked at the rabbit with an excited, but slightly pitiful gaze.
Perhaps the rabbit could sense the gentleness in her voice, or it realised that it couldn’t do anything in this situation, so it slowly stopped struggling. Drake handed the rabbit to Astoria and she began petting it gently.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“It’s so soft! Thank you so much, Drake. I never thought you could actually do it!” she exclaimed.
Her opinion of her little brother improved several folds.
‘Neither did I’ Drake laughed inwardly, but he just replied with a smile. He had accomplished his goal of exploring the forest and also did something nice for his sister in the process.
“Let’s go back to our house. It’s getting late, maybe father will let us keep the rabbit as a pet, or else we can let it go,” said Drake.
“Mmm,” she nodded. “You’re right, let’s head –”
“ROAR!”
A sudden and loud roar interrupted them. It came from far away but was rapidly closing in.
“Quickly! Hide!” yelled Drake.
The roars were becoming louder with each passing second.
‘It is probably some kind of a demon or an oni,’ thought Drake.
It would take them at least half an hour to exit the forest even if they ran at full speed, there was no way they could outrun that thing. They could only hide and hope it doesn’t notice them.
Astoria exclaimed in fear, and she subconsciously released the rabbit. Sensing danger, the rabbit shot away. Drake dragged Astoria and ran in a different direction, trying to find a place to hide.
“ROAR!!!” came the voice, much closer this time.
They couldn’t run anymore.
Drake found a large boulder and hid behind it.
There was a loud thud, and the roars came to a stop.
Squeak! Echoed a terrified voice, followed by the sound of something being crushed.
The two could recognise that voice, it was the same voice that screeched as it tried to escape their hold. It was that poor rabbit.
It was now dead!
Drake could not believe his luck! He made extremely sure to stay well away from the lairs of any powerful creatures. He had seen how fast that rabbit could run so if something even faster than the rabbit was here, it could have only come from the depths of the forest.
But why? Why now?
Drake had no answers. He could only hope that it would go away.
Slowly, and quietly, Drake peeked his head above the boulder. If he knew what kind of creature it was and what it was doing, he might be able to remember its weaknesses and use it to his advantage or find an opportunity to escape.
Beside him, Astoria was gasping for breath, but the poor girl tried her best to be quiet.
Little by little, Drake moved his head until his eyes were just able to see into the distance.
What he saw was a seven-foot-tall monstrosity with the head of a bull and the body of a human. Its body was bulging with muscles, and one could feel that it had the strength to easily crush a human skull. Two large horns were poking out of its head and it was holding a half-eaten rabbit in its massive hands, while chewing loudly.
Drake saw that and lost all hope.
It was a minotaur.
Minotaurs were one of the oni races. Unlike demons, all onis had a skill unique to their race. A minotaur had the berserk skill. When it used that skill, the speed, strength, and defence of its body will be boosted.
The minotaur standing in front of Drake would normally take around a dozen experienced humans to fight against it, while he was just a five-year-old boy! He could definitely not fight it head-on. He had to hide and wait for it to leave, that’s the only-
“AAAAH!” Astoria tried to catch a peek at the oni as well, but she had far less maturity than Drake. Upon seeing the fearsome minotaur, she inadvertently screamed at the top of her lungs.
The minotaur stopped chewing and gazed toward them.
‘Idiot!’ Drake cursed, but he didn’t have time to scold her. He didn’t even want to give any instructions. He just wanted to run.
Grabbing hold of a petrified Astoria, Drake ran at full speed. The minotaur huffed a puff of smoke and looked at them with bloodlust.
However, it didn’t move, it just stood there, eating the rabbit.
‘How is this possible?’ Drake thought. Could it be that it is not interested in us? Maybe it is already too full and tired to chase after them? Drake had no clue, but he didn’t dare to slow down.
“ROAR!” boomed the voice after some time as it rapidly approached the two siblings. They were but children, how could they outrun the minotaur?
Drake cursed in his mind while speeding up. The two were running carelessly, allowing various sharp branches to scratch and destroy their clothes. Some even wounded their tender skin resulting in bleeding gashes.
But Drake couldn’t care about that now, he had gotten a head start and he was going to use it. He was running rapidly while dragging his sister along.
Even though Astoria was older, she was now terrified, and her body wouldn’t obey her commands, making her slow down. However, Drake pulled her along with all his might, and given her own adrenaline rush, she barely managed to keep up.
However, their desperate run couldn’t match the speed of the minotaur. Even though they had a few minutes head start, the minotaur was extremely close. Drake could almost feel its heated killing intent on his back.
He gritted his teeth and kept running before suddenly stopping in front of a cave. Without hesitation, he took a rock from the ground, chucked it inside, and fled. The cave’s opening was large, but the rock’s movement created loud echoes along the cave.
Drake knew they couldn’t outrun the minotaur. In fact, under normal circumstances, the minotaur would have caught up to them by now. However, the minotaur was slower than his predictions, and it didn’t take him long to figure out why.
The minotaur was injured!
He wasn’t sure when he looked earlier, but he saw a large gash on the back side of the minotaur’s leg, oozing black blood. Drake didn’t know if it was an injury and if so, how severe it was, but seeing that it was slower than his predictions, he realised that it was definitely a severe injury.
That must be why it had left the forest depths. It was likely in a losing fight and had to run for its life. Due to that, it was also extremely hungry, making it prioritise eating rather than chasing them.
Still, if it had used its berserk ability to boost its speed, it might have caught up. However, it underestimated the children in front and wanted to toy with them first.
The cave was home to a powerful demon bear. Drake wanted to make the two fight and use that chance to escape. Since demons did not have unique abilities, they were generally weaker than onis of the same class.
However, this minotaur was injured so Drake believed that the demon might still be powerful enough to buy them enough time to run. Of course, if the demon bear wasn’t home now, then he could only curse his luck.
Luckily a different roar quickly resounded from within the cave as a black fiend flew out. It noticed Drake and Astoria run away, but the minotaur was a far greater threat to its home, so it ignored them.
The minotaur had just caught up when it was faced with the demon bear.
The demon bear stood on its rear legs, making it taller than the minotaur. It stared viciously at the minotaur and roared. The minotaur had infringed upon its territory, this was an unforgivable crime!
The minotaur didn’t back down and roared back. Its body glowed red as it grew in height. Its muscles expanded so much that it looked like they were going to tear through its skin. Its claws grew several times longer and two large canines poked out of its mouth. It now stood even taller than the demon bear and looked far more fearsome.
This was its Berserk ability!
The demon bear was momentarily stunned but soon charged towards the minotaur.
Drake was rejoicing at the success while Astoria finally realised that Drake had had a plan the whole time and that they had a chance to escape now.
The two started to run even quicker.
The minotaur stomped its feet into the ground. The demon bear pounced at the minotaur, but the minotaur reacted faster and caught the bear in a headlock, before smashing its head onto a tree. The bear roared in pain and struck out with its claws. By chance, its claws struck the wound on the minotaur’s leg causing fresh blood to flow. The minotaur roared and its grip unconsciously loosed. The demon bear took the chance to break free and retreated.
After a brief respite, the two beasts began fighting to the death once more.
Many large projectiles were sent flying from their fight and some of them landed in the direction of the two children. They tried their best to dodge, however, they were extremely exhausted. Just as they dodged one boulder, a large tree came crashing down.
Drake reacted instantly and pushed Astoria away. However, it was too late for him.
The tree landed heavily on his leg.
“AAAAH!” screamed Drake.
Astoria’s face was aghast. ‘OH MY GOD!’ She wanted to scream but another voice interrupted her.
“Help me!” Drake yelled as he fought against the overwhelming pain and tried to lift the tree.
“Yes… okay!” she replied and tried to lift; however, the tree didn’t budge.
Astoria stopped and panted for breath.
‘What are we going to do now!?’
She felt like crying.
What was supposed to be a casual walk with her brother had turned into a nightmare, and it was all her fault!
‘If only I didn’t want to chase after the rabbit, if only I didn’t stupidly scream and attract the minotaur’s attention, if only I had jumped out of the way of the falling tree myself… this wouldn’t have happened!’
To her utter amazement, Drake had come up with a plan at each moment, but now, that Drake was stuck under a tree!
She couldn’t rely on him for this, she had to finally make herself useful and move the tree – but she couldn’t!
Astoria caught her breath and bent her knees, placing her hands at the bottom of the tree.
“MMMOOOOVVVVEEEEE!” she cried, but the tree wasn’t budging.
She was supposed to be responsible for him, yet he had been the one always protecting her!
‘Why? Why am I so useless?’ she yelled in her heart.
She tried to move the tree with all her might but it was so heavy.
‘Why? Why? Why? Why? Why can’t I do anything right? Even though Drake is giving his all to protect me!’
Somehow, maybe as a result of her self-criticism, her emotional turmoil, the never-ending rush of adrenaline, or all of them combined, she felt a strong influx of strength.
Slowly, she lifted the tree by a small distance. She couldn’t maintain it for long, her hands were shaking, and her knees were about to collapse. But before that could happen, Drake dragged his leg out.
Astoria dropped the tree and it landed with a loud thud. However, there was no time for rest. Who could say that another projectile wouldn’t fly out? Or once the two monsters finished their fight, they might turn on them.
Astoria resisted her urge to faint and helped Drake up to his feet. She put his arm around her waist, while she placed her own arm over his shoulder, allowing him to use her as a clutch to walk.
The two started walking step by step. They were much slower now, but they couldn’t give up.
Drake felt like fainting but bit his lip and continued walking.
‘Just a bit longer…’ he thought. Only he knew the way to get out of here safely so he gave Astoria directions.
Astoria was already completely lost, she had no idea how to go back home on her own, so she could only trust her little brother whom she believed could do anything.
In the middle of nowhere, Drake told her to stop.
“What?” she asked confused.
“I can’t walk anymore,” said Drake. “Even if I could, it is already so late and by the time we make it, it will already be well into the night. The woods are far more dangerous at night. We should camp here.”
He was in incredible pain, but he forced himself to focus on what was important.
“Here? Why here?” she asked bewildered.
Drake didn’t reply but just looked up at a tree. Astoria followed his gaze and what she saw was a tree house.
“When hunters come, sometimes they too would get into a situation where they can’t return home easily. So, they built some camps around the forest to temporarily rest. They would wait there until help came to find them. This is one of them,” Drake explained.
Astoria understood. She helped her little brother up the ladder before climbing up herself.
They were now far away from where the minotaur and demon bear were fighting. So, she knew that they were relatively safe here.
Thinking this, she immediately collapsed. Her mind and emotions had gone through too much today.
Drake saw his sister fall asleep and he couldn’t help but give a gentle smile before he too completely fainted. He had exerted every drop of strength he could muster. Now, all he could do was wait.
“Drake! Drake! Wake up!” yelled a voice.
Drake slowly squinted his eyes open, his blurred vision making out a vague figure.
“Father!” he cried immediately.
Not just his father, but his brother Elwin, along with a bunch of villagers were also there.
“Oh, Drake!” cried his father as he hugged him tightly.
“Ah!” Drake yelped as his father unintentionally pressed his broken leg.
Holt immediately stopped and apologised for his carelessness.
Then, without saying a word, Holt moved his hands. They started glowing in a light green colour.
A few seconds later, the light literally separated from his hands and converged into a small green ball of light. The light was initially bright, but it soon dimmed to reveal the petite figure of a small girl, whose size was no more than that of a thumb.
She quickly moved towards Drake’s leg and gently pressed with her hands. Immediately, his wounds started healing! The little girl, who could only be described as a fairy, was gracefully healing all his injuries before also treating his sister who had just woken up.
‘This...” Drake mumbled.
He knew what to call it, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so.
How could he?
He was a scientist in his previous life and a genius one at that. He was a very rational person, but, after everything he had been through, he had no choice but to accept the truth.
This was magic!