Part 1

The closer we got to the forest the darker the sky became. Yet, it didn’t feel like it was only the sky turning a darker shade. The grass cornering the path wasn’t as green as it was half an hour prior. The verdant bloom of life gradually made room for the all-too-common pale brown of dying grass. Along with the leafless trees, the lack of animal sound, and the empty and whispering howling of the wind, what appeared in front of our eyes was naught but a depressing sight. In the distance, covered in a thin layer of soft mist hanging high, were the tops of the first row of trees from the Grey Bark Forest. Unsurprisingly, from about three kilometers away, those trees looked grey themselves. A creepy feeling seemed to grow in strength the more we approached that cluster of trees. A whisper in my head that warned me to turn back and look for another option.

[Too late to chicken out now…Why am I even trusting the words of that spirit so much? Am I that desperate?... Nah, let’s just call it a preemptive measure. Yes] I thought as I grimly noted the crunching of dried grass below my boots.

“This be far enough to tell us what we doing here?” Asked the bearded dwarf with the tiniest hint of curiosity in his otherwise calm voice. Though he appeared collected, the restless trembling of his hands and fingers betrayed his eagerness for a fight, or rather to watch me fight.

“In short, object retrieval-” I replied as I slowed down my pace and joined the other two “- It’s a sort of crystal cube, purple, about the size of a head with a kind of glassy texture. Its position is unknown yet it has not left the forest, they would know otherwise. My…client gave us about two weeks to find it and bring it back…Any question?”

“Yeah, remind me why we bringing the lass with us? Not that I mind ya presence-” He said as he playfully bowed towards my sister who responded with a snobby princess-like shrug of her shoulders “- but weren’t ya all protective and stuff? Always thinking ‘bout her safety? Hearing she a mage got ya hoping for her help?”

“That’s why I said what I said to you, no?” I replied shrugging.

“Yeah, yeah, the whole ‘ya gotta be her shadow, keep yer eyes on her even in yer sleep’. I get, I get it, I’ll just be working as a bodyguard…Still, doesn’t explain why ya brought her with us” Ballarak said as he tried to inconspicuously nudge my sister’s side with the handle of his hammer causing her to breathe hard and find the courage to ask the question that was clearly eating away at her for the whole trip.

“Yes-” She said a bit shakily “- why did you accept so rapidly?”

“...Would you rather have me complain about how you are clearly unready for such a mission? How you are in over your head? How you are rushing things? How I’d rather not expose you to unnecessary danger?” I pressed as I maintained a cold and authoritarian tone.

“Not really-” She said, slowly shifting away and behind me “- but it just seemed…strange. That’s all. You would usually say those things”

“...You said you can hear them, right?” I replied after a few moments of silence in which I thought of the best way to convey my feelings on the matter.

“Uh? Oh, yes. Not always, I mean it’s more of a…feeling kind of feeling? It doesn’t explain anything…it sounds so dumb now that I’ve said it-” She answered in a whisper, probably hoping neither of us would hear it but, judging from Ballarak's stifled laugh, she failed miserably “- Anyway! The short answer is yes!”

“The object we’re looking for is closely related to magic. Bolton’s Grey Bark forest always had a tight relationship with spirits and monsters. From what I’ve been told, there used to be a shrine, a spirit shrine, somewhere in the woods…You lack experience and contact with mana, now that I know you are a mage, fragile and non-combat-oriented as you may be, I don’t need to treat you with silk gloves anymore-” I said as I meaningfully looked back at her, crossing our eyes for the briefest moments before turning back towards the approaching forest “- This is something I learned myself as a mage. No matter how much of a scholar or how much knowledge on a subject you gather, without experience it amounts to nothing. Especially when it comes to magic. The sum of the two makes for the most complete growth”

“Aye!-” Loudly laughed Ballarak as he patted both our backs at the same time, causing Julie to almost trip “- Always said ya’re wiser than that pretty face gives ya credit for! Better keep them words in ya head, lass”

“However!-” I continued, killing the smile growing on Julie’s face before it could fully bloom “- My orders come before anything else. If I say run, you both run. If I saw hide, you both hide. If I tell you to leave me, you do so and don’t look back. If you don’t listen to my orders, even just once, we pack our things and leave the mission behind, clear?-” I asked. Receiving two firm nods as a response, I felt satisfied “- Now get yourselves ready. It’s not long until we reach the border”

Stepping into the forest felt wrong in so many ways, most noticeable among them was the air. It was damp and heavy, it stuck to our skin like dry, gelatinous mud. It felt gross even breathing it because of the way it made our chest heave unnecessarily. It took my eyes a while to fully adjust to the lack of light. The colors, or rather their lack, and the way the forest itself grew seemed to prevent light from filtering through the tree crowns. Three types of trees appeared to make up the vast majority of the forest. Dead trees without leaves and rotting branches, tall and thin trees with light grey bark and grey/green leaves and lastly, thick and short trees with dark grey bark and crimson leaves. Occasionally, the common pine and fir would appear in the midst of that sea of grey. A last standing soldier, surrounded. It painted quite an eerie picture. It didn’t help that, ever since the moment we stepped foot into the forest, a murder of crows seemed to keep watching us. Seven in total, sometimes disappearing for several tens of minutes, at other times following us intensively.

Just like that, after long hours of marching through the army of trees, fighting the occasional lone wolf and silent fox, and taking breaks to let Julie recover from the high mana pressure she was experiencing, the day came to an end. Because nightfall approached when we were close to a steep cliff, we took advantage of the environment, rapidly dug a hole that could fit two people lying down and used our tents as cover. While not the best of options, it was far better than just setting up tents in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a sea of trees capable of easily hiding away predators. Julie fell asleep like a log right after a quick, hot meal of beef stew. Drinking a bitter excuse for coffee we bought on a street stall back in Bolton, Ballarak and I set on two fallen logs in front of a feeble fire.

“This stuff’s not that bad honestly-” Said the dwarf as he eyed curiously the dark liquid filling his steel camping cup “- It leaves a strange state in ya mouth…Not bad or good, just strange”

“Nah, it’s way too bitter and sour-” I replied as I gulped down the rest of my coffee, swallowing my hopes of actually drinking legit coffee “- Coffee’s supposed to be bitter yes, but not like this”

“Dinked it once already?” Ballarak asked after licking his mustache clean of the liquid.

“Once before, yes…-” I thoughtlessly replied, sending my mind back into my suite-flat. It was morning, the sun had just barely begun to send its warm rays through my windows. Groggily, I would rise from my bed, wash my face from the night’s drowsiness, and steadily walk toward the kitchen, getting rid of the last remnants of sleep with every step. Once there, my first move would lead me toward the corner where that blessed utensils slept: the mocha. Mindlessly I would move through the kitchen, grabbing the powder, filling the mocha with water, pressing the powder into the filter, inhaling that comforting, homie scent, then, patiently waiting for the whole process to end while I cooked something else. The soft whistling of the mocha was like an alarm clock. I would search the shelf for the usual two cups, fill them with the blessed beverage and wait. She would appear soon after. There she was, leaning on the door with a soft and comfortable smile, looking radiant even through her bed hair… “- I-I mean, back at the academy…I tried it at the academy once”

“Aye-” Sighed the dwarf “- Mages and their fancy taste!”

[Why the fuck did I think of that?!-] I cussed in my own mind, inwardly beating my own head in an attempt to erase the thought [- Why now? AND WHY THE FUCK WAS I THINKING OF THAT WITCH THAT WAY?... Fuck…Fuck, fuck, FUCK!]

“Ya good? Ya look like ya’ve seen a ghost” Ballarak said in between loud slurps of coffee.

“Yeah, yeah, I just…got lost in thought for a moment-” I said as I stood up, searched around my backpack and took out a heavy, wool blanket with which I covered myself entirely, leaving out only my boots “- I’ll take the first guard. I’ll wake you up in three hours”

“Mhh, mhh-” Mused the dwarf as he chugged down the rest of his coffee, searched around his backpack and took out a similar-looking blanket “- I’ve been resting for the whole week and got a whole night of good rest yesterday. I’ll keep ya company for a while, then we’ll see who’s tired first, yes?”

“Do as you wish” I replied sighing in defeat, knowing that I could not change his mind even if I wanted to.

Part 2

Three days went by in the same manner as the first. We would walk, explore the forest, fight the occasional wolf, silent fox, or any other beast, and then take a rest for the night. The deeper we delved into the forest, the higher the number of breaks became. Ballarak and I had no need for it but Julie did. In an attempt to show her usefulness, she tried her hardest to communicate with the few spirits dwelling in the forest. Though, as expected, having only a week of actual training didn’t help at all. The continuous attempt resulted in a quick loss of mana and great mental fatigue. Nonetheless, it was good training. By the time the morning of the fourth day came, the pressure of the mana gathered over the forest seemed to affect her much less. The lack of discomfort was a welcome sight on her tired visage.

The morning of the fifth day was much like the others. Woke up at the crack of dawn, when the first rays of light meekly filtered through the thick leaves cover. Breakfast was the same. Bread warmed up on the night’s embers, beef jerky, and whatever green we had with us. I would have liked to prepare some hot tea made from infusions I bought while going around the slums- one of the reasons I appreciated the elves and their keen intuition for useful inventions- but alas, I was alone on that so I left it for another day. Ballarak and I began checking our equipment. Our focus was specially directed towards our amors. Checking the straps, fastening them, fitting the clothes tightly under them, making sure our boots were snug enough, and so on. Julie, since she had considerably less armor than us, focused more on the bow that Alarick gifted her. It was a weapon of good elven craft. Beautiful yew wood adorned with entangled vines. She looked hilarious with this short bow clearly too big for her stuck on her back. Still, it seemed to give her a sense of belonging, of usefulness to our small group and I was all for it if she wished to learn it.

My armor was fairly new, bought it from a vendor in the city with some money Ballarak gained while working in Bolton smithy. To my previous leather armor, I added a pair of padded leather cuisse and exchanged the cuirass given to me by Belluth- now worn and torn in some places- for a newer version. To my, welcomed, surprise, the shopkeeper threw in a pair of leather pauldrons to wear under my cloak. Ballarak instead, giving himself the “role of a tank”, opted to buy some new chain mail armor, covering most of his body with it, along with some bits of more solid steel.

The air felt strange that morning, more eerie…darker, but it was something I soon became accustomed to. In my head, it was no different from the day before and the day before that. Not two hours later, when the thick and disgusting scent of blood, rotten flesh, and death reached us, I regretted not giving more attention to that thought.

It was an ill-fitting clearing the place where that awful smell came from. All three of us were on edge. Julie, most certainly, for reasons that differed from mine and Ballarak’s deep-rooted instincts. In the very middle of that small clearing, stacked one over the other, was a pile of corpses. At least six, most likely ten judging by the sporadic severed arm or foot sticking out of the pile. At its foot, dark crimson blood pooled like a tiny lake and branched out like countless small rivers. Strangely, not a raven, a famished beast, or any other flesh-eating monster was in sight. I unsheathed my sword and signaled Ballarak to stand behind Julie with his back turned towards me. He nodded and grabbed the heavy hammer hanging from his back with both hands. In that tight formation, we waited at the edge of the clearing. For several minutes we remained still, our eyes darting from one side to the other, searching for a predator, for danger. Yet none seemed to appear so we broke formation but maintained our guard high.

“Should the lass look?” Ballarak asked as I began to approach the corpse pile, my sword still firmly in my grip.

“Adventuring comes with its gruesome sights-” I replied throwing a fast glance back at my sister’s pale face “- You should start to get familiar with them…our journey has been lucky so far in that regard. Still…if you need to throw up, do it. Neither of us will judge. We all did at first”

“Yeah, lass-” Agreed the dwarf as he gently patted the girl on the back “- get it out of ya system”

As if on command, that morning’s breakfast began flowing out of my sister’s mouth as she bent forward with a disgusted look on her face. There were tears in her eyes. Throughout the whole ordeal, Ballarak fatherly shushed and patted her on the back, as if to coax the vomit out of her, and once finished, he offered her a sip of his water to rinse her mouth.

“Everything all right?” I asked as I crouched down in front of her and patted her head.

“Y-yes…I mean, no, not really but I t-think I can keep going…Just, please don’t-” Replied Julie with shock still palpable in her tone.

“Don’t worry-” I interrupted her as I stood up and faced the pile “- You don’t have to do anything. Just look away, pinch your nose, and keep your back on mine. All right?”

A meek nod was all she answered before rapidly turning away and pinching her nose, that is not before stealing one last glance at the gruesome spectacle. Wordlessly, without so much of an order or a word, Ballarak and I began to examine the corpses. A practice most common when out adventuring, especially in such an eerie and monster-heavy place.

Most of the corpses were of dark elves, which puzzled us since dark elves were quite rare on other continents, especially in the elven lands. After the war five hundred years ago between dark elves and elves, resulting in the victory of the latter, the few remaining dark elves traveled the world in search of a place to settle. Some began living on the Demon continent, others built small settlements in the human lands while the most went in self-exile on the isles west of the desert continent. Few ever left those isles.

The group wore mostly leather armor, though some donned some seriously heavy iron stuff. It wasn’t anything fancy or rich but neither did they seem to wear a church or a cult’s mark. Some corpses had bite marks, others were half-eaten, while others seemed roughly intact, yet all shared one thing in common: their limbs were crushed. It seemed curious, something I heard already once before but I couldn’t remember. Deciding that, if it was something important I would most certainly remember, I began looking through their possessions.

“Do any of them have the guild’s token?” I asked Ballarak as I checked one elf’s neck without result.

“Not one-” Warily sighed the dwarf before perking up as he seemed to spot something “- but this lad’s shield was something else, I tell ya! Nothing too extreme, mind ya, but this thing could easily go for…mhh, seventy silvers, maybe more. He won’t mind if I take it now, right?”

“I won’t speak if you don’t- “ I replied with a smirk hearing the dwarf chirp with a loud ‘nice!’ as he strapped the child to his back with his hammer “- Found any sigil? A mark? Emblem? Slip of paper?”

“Mhh…Just this one lad. The shield one. Lad’s had this handkerchief kinda thing with…a crow? Yeah, looks to me like a silver crow. See?” Ballarak said as he dug in the man’s pocket and showed me the torn, black piece of cloth with the dark guild’s emblem.

“Seems we found my employer’s previous squad” I grimly said.

“Not a good sign is it?-” Rhetorically asked the dwarf as he threw the cloth back in the pile “- Especially since there’s no cube thingy here with ‘em”

I was about to voice my agreement as I dragged the last corpse off the pile, now nothing but a confusing mix of bodies lying around the clearing when something pulled my cloak. I turned around and found Julie struggling to avert her gaze from any corpse. As she spotted my eyes on her she promptly pointed towards somewhere at the edge of the small clearing.

“Isn’t that strange?-” With more curiosity than worry in her voice “- There’s blood there but why does it form a line?”

Stolen story; please report.

I squinted my eyes, trying to focus on that particular gap between trees pointed out by Julie. The trees seemed bent slightly with their bark scarred and ruined. The blood spilled in that general direction seemed to pool at even intervals while the rest of it seemed to form a sort of line as if a corpse was…dragged! Realization struck me like a mallet. I dated my eyes around to rapidly examine the bodies once more. Crushed limbs, half-eaten and dragged bodies all piled up. There was no mistake.

“Run” I grimly said as I grabbed my sister’s wrist and dragged her behind me and towards Ballarak who was now looking at me intensively.

“What?” She replied confused.

“RUN I SAID!-” I shouted in her face, wide eyes as a sudden tug from Ballarak forced on a rapid sprint “-RUN! NOW! AWAY FROM THE BODIES!”

Not two seconds later an ominous, infuriated mix between a growl and a frog’s croak resounded from deep within the woods, right where the drag marks seemed to come from. I cursed at our bad luck and my inability to see the signs sooner as the three of us sprinted through the maze of wood. Ballarak, being the slowest of us, set the pace, Julie followed behind him as I closed the line. Thanks to his stumpy legs, Ballarak almost tripped every time he had to jump over an exposed root, a fallen log, or a rock yet he never fell. It was curious the way he used his newfound shield as a way to balance himself.

“What the fuck is that?” Shouted the dwarf from the top of the line.

“A Bullfrog Rhino” I replied shouting as I kept stealing glances behind me.

“A what?!” He shouted once more.

“Big fucking rhino with horns and skin armor covering its whole body. It had the legs of a frog and could jump over a building. It makes piles with the corpses of his victims and creates a sort of feeding ground. Supposedly it loves rotten meat. Also, it’s an intelligent bastard and uses those piles to attract other prey” I shouted back.

“Cursed our fucked up luck! What do we do?”

“Just run! We have to leave its territory!” I replied.

We ran like hell, snaking through the woods. The sounds coming from behind us seemed to recede to some extent until the only sounds filling the silent woods were our ragged breaths. We kept running. Even if none of us felt the presence of danger stalking us, we kept running. Suddenly, the forest-like maze opened up into a large clearing. A few sporadic trees stood in the middle of that emptiness… together with one more pile of bodies. This time though, it wasn’t only of sentient races but wolves, other animals, and small monsters were all clustered to the mix. The stench was overwhelming.

“We’re still in the bastard’s territory, yeah?-” Asked Ballarak grimly. Seeing as I nodded while pushing the two of them behind a cluster of rocks close to the edge of the clearing, he continued in a whisper “- What do we do now?”

“I’ll need your help-” I said as I hid completely behind the rocks and tried to control my breath “- wind magic’s not gonna do much against it. Especially if it's an adult”

“I’m all ears. What’s the order?” Ballarak asked as he took his hammer in one hand and carried the shield with the other.

“Ditch the shield, you’ll only need the hammer-” I said and he followed, sticking it between two rocks “- Bullfrog rhinos are cocky, they pride themselves in their strength so it’ll try to skewer the first one that challenges it with its main horn. I’ll be the challenger…Don’t do anything! Keep yourself hidden even if it looks like I’m being treated as a ragdoll. All right? We want the bastard to be focused on me. If it’s not able to kill me with one strike it’ll get angry and agitated. That’s when you came in. After I injure its legs I’ll have to keep it in place, even better if it gets stuck on its own. When that happens strike at full force on its head, try to aim either at its eyes or right above its jaw. Then hide again and wait for it to get stuck once more. Rinse and repeat. Clear?”

“Basically just bonk it, right?” Ballarak asked with a sneer.

“Yeah, sure…bonk it” I replied, struggling to contain a laugh.

The very moment we stopped speaking, heavy steps and loud crunching of wood echoed across the empty glade. A tense look darted between me and Ballarak. Beads of cold sweat ran down my sister’s pale face. I patted her shoulder once and signaled her to keep silent with one finger over my lips. One nod towards Ballarak and I was out of my hiding spot, walking with silent intent toward the source of the ominous sound, my large hat resting on my sister’s head.

When I reached halfway across the middle of the clearing, the creature emerged. Its big yellow eyes looked directly at me with curious intelligence before it moved closer, fully leaving the cover of the woods where it had the advantage of camouflage.

[Fuck it’s an adult!] I cursed wordlessly in my head.

It was big. Way bigger than what I hoped for. With at least four meters of height, two of width and six of length, the beast slowly trudging towards me was nothing less than a tank. Its flat head was easily bigger than my whole torso. Two ivory horns jutted straight from either side of the head, pointing straight forward. Straight at its prey. Straight at me. The third horn, its main weapon stood tall above the beast’s eyes, pointing at the sky with a slight curvature. It was easily two times the size of the other two. Its entire back was covered in thick iron-colored armor made of bone and thick skin, rendering most weapons useless. The same armor thought weaker and more flexible, protected the front of all its four legs. The only bits of flesh exposed were the creature’s lower jaw and its belly, both very difficult places to reach since the bullfrog rhino, with its frog-like legs, moved with its belly almost touching the ground.

For several seconds the monster seemed to sit still. Its eyes fixed on mine in a staring contest for supremacy. A silent mental warfare. Alas, it grew bored of it soon and, with a flash of its yellowish sharp shark-like teeth, the beast showed its aggressiveness. That, or it smiled at the prospect of a new challenger…I couldn’t let it have the first move.

Without wasting any more time in that empty deadlock, I began shouting. Roaring or growling would have been a better term for I had let mana flow through my vocal cords, an almost pointless amount of mana, yet the effect was astonishing. The entire clearing and beyond was filled with the echoes of my warcry, sending birds flying and making my ears ring. I began running.

The monster, at first stunned by the fierceness of my shout, soon recovered and answered with a cry of its own. A deep frog’s croak that turned midway into a famished dog’s growl. It huffed two times, raising dust and dead grass before it began charging at me with short, progressively faster jumps.

In a matter of seconds we both gained speed, the monster with the enormous power resting in its legs and I with the help of boosts. There was no other option. We had to clash. I needed to become the sole center of its attention. To do so, challenging its might was my one and only option. The clash happened with a brutal, deafening sound of earth-shattering and a deaf ringing in my ears. The bullfrog tried to skewer me with its two front horns, I grabbed them both in my hands. Their texture was so rough that it cut into my gloves and drew blood from my palms. Speed, strength, defense, I had all those boosts set at the highest I could get them without injuring myself, yet it still wasn’t enough to fully block its charge. The monster’s strength was so great that, even with all those boosts, I felt my shoulders almost pop out of their sockets and my feet, firmly pressed into the ground, traced deep lines as the monster pushed me backward for more than five meters before finally coming to a halt.

It huffed on my face as its mouth curved wider into a creepy grin. With a grunt, the bullfrog threw its head upwards, causing me to lose my grip on its horns due to the blood. I was suddenly sent flying several meters high as the monster crouched on its hind legs, its strongest pair, in preparation for a jump.

[It’s showing its belly!-] I thought as a smile curved my lips [- Good! So you consider me an opponent, uh you bastard? Then, let me show you!]

I waited in midair, trying to balance myself in an attempt not to turn. The moment I began falling down, the creature jumped. I could see victory reflected in the monster’s eyes. I smirked wider. My heart was racing. I was ecstatic! Bringing my hands over my head, I clutched them into a hammer, bent my knees backward so that my soles were facing the sky, and chanted: gale palm.

A sudden burst of wind pushed me down, spinning two times before I could regain stability. I was way faster than before now and the bullfrog did not expect it. I could see the surprise pictured in its eyes as I shifted my weight enough to dodge its horn and slam my hands full-force on the spot where its armor was weaker: right over the eyes. It grunted in pain as the force of the blow stunned me momentarily and sent shivers into my very bones. I could feel each and every one of my arms’ bones aching. Alas, I had no time to suffer. Pushing with my knees and waist I turned my lower body forward while keeping my hands on the monster’s face. The reinforced sole of my boots made contact with the bullfrog’s chin causing it to try and push me away with its front horns. I let my hand free and used my forearms to cover my abdomen, making use of the force of the blow to distance myself from the falling beast. A cloud of dust, twigs, and chunks of stone and dirt rose as we both crashed to the ground.

Rising up after I rolled two times to soften the fall, my vision turned red in my left eye. A flying rock opened my brow and blood was pouring down like a fountain, covering half of my face in a crimson curtain. My head was spinning, just a bit, just enough for me to overlook the fact that the monster was lying on its side. The perfect chance to strike at its weak spot, missed.

Grunting and huffing it lift itself upward, glancing around the glade in search of me. I smirked as our eyes met, the adrenaline turning my blood into fire, and it growled angrily. It didn’t like how I was still alive. It meant I was strong…and that it could not accept. A single look in its eyes and I knew, it was now serious about removing me from its domain.

Again it huffed as it lowered its head and kicked the ground behind him. Now it was clear. With the level of boosts I could currently use, beating that beast in a contest of strength was impossible. Not without Ballarak’s aid at least. I sank down into a runner’s starting pose and braced for the pain that would come with gathering natural mana in my current state. Surprisingly it was nothing but a tingle, an electric shock that ran through my body. My adrenaline-fueled state must have offset most of it. I moved the gathered mana on one hand, noticing grimly how lacking it was in comparison to my past abilities. With the other, I unsheathed my sword and prepared for the next clash.

We met again, clashing once more after a charge, this time in a more rodeo-like fashion. The bullfrog rhino charged and tried to skewer me with its front horns, I ran against it until the last second when I dodged to the side and hit between its jad and eye with a very minute quantity of the gathered mana in the form of a weak “gale palm”. It charged again, again, and a fourth time, allowing me to either injure the bits of exposed flesh with my sword or strike its head with “gale palm”.

The monster was now furious. During its fifth charge, I whistled, hoping that Ballarak would catch my sign. This time, rather than focusing solely on dodging and retaliating if possible, I aimed to injure. When it was close enough, with its horn passing just mere centimeters away from my side, I attacked with both hands. Both magic and steel met the creature’s flesh, missing the eyes by a breath’s width. Not even a second later, a loud “dong”-like sound followed by a deep grunt from the creature alerted me that Ballarak had indeed caught my sign. As I jumped back and sideways away from the monster, I saw the little figure of the dwarf skipping away until he hid behind a cluster of thick trees.

[This can work!] I jubilantly exclaimed internally.

Dazed and confused by the repeated hits, the bullfrog rhino glanced around. Its eyes darting from tree to tree had a sort of crazed flame burning within. Its pride was being wounded and I enjoyed every moment of it. I shouted again, sending mana flowing over my vocal cords, calling the beast to attention.

“What? Feeling a bit grocery you oversized frog?-” I taunted, knowing full well it could not understand my words but feeling extremely good while doing so “- Come on! What are you looking around for? I’M RIGHT HERE!”

Its focus was on me again and, with another low growl, the rhino charged at me, fury burning bright in its eyes. The exchanges continued in such manner. The monster would charge at me, I would dodge and retaliate. Then again, and again, and again until Ballarak would step in, hit it with his hammer, and skip away. By the time the monster and I reached around a dozen exchanges on this strange, deadly dance, I had learned the way it moved. The times I retaliated and the precision of my strikes only increased after that. I was even able to lead it in such a way that Ballarak had easy access to it’d blind spot.

Alas, a beast is most dangerous when wounded. I learned it firsthand when, after a particularly good strike on the twenty-something clash, I was able to sink the tip of my blade in the soft of the monster’s eye. The howl filled with pain was magnificent, a conquest most glorious. The gushing of the monster’s blood and the incessant writhing of its head filled me with a sense of superiority, a sense of victory. A voice rang deep within me, like a dwindled fire that suddenly breathed air and gained vigor.

[Victory…As it should be] It said echoing in my ears.

Ballarak, emboldened by the monster’s weakened state, forgot about my warnings and jumped out of his hiding place. Hammer raised over his head, he aimed for the creature's writhing head but, with its focus now shifted from me to the pain, it noticed Ballarak’s advance and pulled out its tail. A bullfrog rhino’s tail only grows when it reaches adulthood. It’s roughly as long as the body and filled with spikes…spiked that can be ejected through blood pressure. Adult bullfrog rhinos usually keep their tails as a last resort and instead use them as armor for their bellies.

“Fuck I forgot about that!-” I cursed as I ran as fast as I could towards the creature in hopes of regaining its focus “- BALLARAK, RUN!”

Unfortunately, it was too late. Once I reached Ballarak, the rhino was already in midair with its tail facing us. With a sweep and a loud growl, a rain of spikes the size of a dagger and high-pressured blood began falling over us. Just in time, I reached my dwarf companion to tackle him away from the brunt of the deadly rain. As luck would have it, the only thing that reached me was thick, viscous blood. Ballarak was not so lucky. A spike was lodged in his foot while another was stuck in his thigh. Two howls rose from the clearing once the monster landed back on the ground with a dusty cloud. One belonged to Ballarak, howling in pain, the other was one of victory stemming from the rhino’s throat. Now, as it stared me in the eyes, the monster kicked the ground behind it in preparation for the finishing charge.

[You know it too don’t you?-] Whispered the booming, ancient voice in my head [- Your plan failed…They always do…Stop thinking…Let go]

The rhino charged as the words of the ancient voice rang deafly in my head. I shouted my frustration out loud as I unceremoniously grabbed Ballarak like a sack of potatoes and kept him firm on one shoulder. Not wanting to let go of my weapon, I forsake the use of offensive magic. Encumbered and still stunned by the voice’s words, I dodged too late, and one of the beast’s horns cut into the flesh of my thigh. I howled in pain as I felt the blood gushing from my newfound wound.

[Forget everything else…-] The voice whispered again with a tinge of exasperation and expectancy [- forget the cost…forget your fleeting lifespan…use it…wield it once more…you know you can…STOP…HOLDING…BACK]

The growl ringing in my ears was dizzying, loud, and confusing. Flashes of gold appeared in my mind along with scenes I could not focus on. My whole body felt on fire. Bones, muscles, blood, it all felt like they wanted to jump out of my body and fight in my stead. The sounds became more vivid, louder, and more precise. The huffing of the monster readying another charge, Ballarak’s grunts of pain, and my sister’s shout from behind the cluster of rocks. Colors too became a lot more vivid, though in a sort of mixed-up, confusing way.

“Is this what that man meant when he spoke to me?-” I thought out loud as I barely dodged another charge, hearing the growls filled with frustration in the background “- Should I trust it? Should I do it? Is this it?”

[You know it is…let go once more…just like before…You can’t die now, can you? Not before-]

“FUUUCK!-” I shouted as I interrupted the voice ringing in my head. Faster than I thought I could I dashed back towards Julie’s hiding spot, a strange tingling sensation filling my arms and hands “- Listen, Julie. Run away from here. It’s an order. Get Ballarak and run away from here!-” I shouted in her face as I placed Ballarak beside her as carefully as I could. As I noticed how shocked she was, I was forced to raise my voice once more “- NOW!”

With my order practically screamed in her ear, my sister tentatively picked up Ballarak from the shoulder and helped him up. The man mumbled something directed at me but my ears had already gone deaf to everything except the growls of the beast now slowly walking towards me, teeth showing threateningly. It knew now that something had changed, that there was not much time left until the fight had a victor.

“I’ll fuck you up you dumb excuse of a frog-” I said as mana began pooling around my hands, crackling with palpable energy “- Let’s see how many months you are worth!”

- JULIE BLUESCALE’S POV -

I ran.

As fast as I could, I ran. For as long as I could, I ran. With one of Ballarak’s arms around my shoulders, helping him stand and jump with his one good leg, I ran. With tears in my eyes, I ran.

Minutes passed that felt like hours. I was painfully aware of how weak I was. How fragile and useless. It didn’t matter where I carried a bow, whether I knew how to speak with spirits. My brother still bled for me, for us. Only because I suggested Ballarak go and finish the fight now that Raph was winning. I was a fool. A running fool.

I can’t remember how long I ran. My head was filled to the brim with all sorts of possible endings for my brother’s fight. So filled that I didn’t register the beastly growls echoing through the woods. So unfocused that I didn’t hear Ballarak shouting in my ear. So confused that the only thing that brought me back to the present was a deafening sound coming from the clearing. So loud and deep that I felt its echoes shaking my bones. It reminded me of when I was younger, still back in our house. A night of summer, a heavy storm hit Migur. Rain fell like it was trying to submerge the whole city. Waves capable of fully drenching ships desperately tried to reclaim the harbor as thunders crashed down like the mallet of a fierce god.

Silence followed.

Minutes and minutes of silence. Not a sound. Not a shout. Not a word. Even the wind seemed to cease its constant whistling.

I felt a grasp around my heart and imagined my brother’s body lying bare for the beast to eat and ravage. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t lose him too without doing anything…just like I did with mom. I thought no more. I simply ran back…all the way until I reached the clearing.

There, my mouth fell agape.

A soft smoke covered the entire place as the smell of burnt flesh filled my nostrils with disgust and memories better forgotten. Something crunched under my feet and, as I rose my boot, burned grass and scorched earth appeared, previously hidden by that thin curtain of smoke.

The indistinguishable shadow that seemed to dance in the smoke as I walked into the glade finally became clearer as a sudden gust of cold wind freed my sight from that bothersome curtain. Standing atop the mauled, headless body of the monster with a piercing cold glare of his blue eyes, was my brother. Blood was still covering his face and painting some of his hair red, giving him a dangerous look…or at least more dangerous than what I was accustomed to.

A laugh broke the silence. His laugh. Cold and coming from a sore throat yet full of genuine delight. It felt empty, longing for something yet hiding it away. It reminded me just how little I knew of my own brother.

“Hey, Julie-” He said as he pointed at his head with one blood-drenched and twitching hand “- You lost my hat?”

Confused I mimicked his motions and touched my head, feeling my hair under my fingers. I did so for a few seconds, completely and utterly confused about his statement. Then, I remembered him putting his hat on me right before the fight started.

I broke out in a fit of laughter.