Kai’s muffled footsteps reverberated in the air as he dragged his feet, the large backpack rustling as it rubbed against his sweaty back while traversing the complicated terrain of The Dark Forest. The brown pelts he wore as clothes were now painted a dark crimson color.

The Obborik followed closely behind him, matching his pace while playfully biting at bugs within his gaze as its companions turned the map a few times over to get a sense of direction.

The map he held in his hand could only be called old, it had many holes and the material emitted a putrifying stench and it seemed ready to break apart at any time. Water damage covered its surface, and some of the words were barely readable due to the passage of time.

He took a look at the giant Obborik who blissfully played without a care in the world before glancing upward toward the gigantic trees that seemed without end. Sighing, his lips parted as he told his furred companion.

“We’re in the south of this forest, and the elven kingdom of Evicario is located… all the way up north…” he sighed in desperation before rolling it and putting it within his bursting backpack.

The continent looked weird, its uneven shape and weird small islands that looked like feet of some kind raised a seed of doubt in his mind, but he couldn’t be quite sure from such a zoomed-in map.

The forest was marked on the map as ‘The Dark Forest’, and it bordered the ‘Vampire Kingdom’, which stood at the eastern part of the human kingdom, ‘Alavia’. The forest itself was marked as neutral territory, which meant that the vampires were free to travel and forage through it.

It spanned several kilometers, seemingly reaching from one end to the other, and he almost couldn’t believe his eyes upon seeing the distance they’d have to walk. How did Elly get here so fast the first time around…?

Putting the thought aside, they advanced slowly through the cold forest, unable to make out the time of the day solely from the few rays of sunlight that sneaked through the tall tree’s intertwined, emerald fingertips.

The sound of rustling bushes accompanied by the cracking of branches reverberated in the air as Kai and the Obborik advanced slowly but surely, measuring their steps in fear of stepping onto a wild anima’s tail.

Suddenly, his furred companion’s hair stood on end as it growled at a bush not that far away from them. Its leaves rustled, and two red glowing eyes revealed themselves from within. Kai immediately went on high alert, pulling out his sword as his trembling pupils shone with a desire to fight.

…

Despite the lack of sunlight, the vegetation inside the forest thrived, even more so than everywhere else. Its plants are larger and grow faster, and due to the lack of sunlight their color also greatly differs from those of the other regions. There are many who theorized about why it is so but the most popular one is because of the abundance of mana.

The concentration of mana inside this overgrown forest created many rare and exotic plants that many sought to have due to their various alchemical uses. One of these plants is called ‘Glowing Bell’ - A small plant the size of a squirrel with a white flower in the shape of a bell hanging from it.

It was named as such because of the unique property of its flower glowing when the mana inside it reached its peak. It is usually found in large blooms of about fifty to one hundred flowers, and when all of them glowed they’d give out the illusion of a small moon that descended on the earth. Due to all these reasons, many humans and various races venture deep into the forest to forage.

Such a bloom resided not far from where Kai was walking, the light from the flowers illuminated this small corner of the forest, giving out the illusion of a small paradise.

A young girl who looked to be around fifteen years of age walked among the small flowers, gently picking them up and storing them in a small, shoddily made leather bag. Long, ebony black hair adorned her head, and her innocent eyes shared the same deep and dark color.

Her slim and malnourished body was covered by clothes riddled with tears and her small hands were trembling from the cold air in the forest. She had a faint smile on her thin lips and she hummed a song as she gathered the flowers.

This amount should be enough-no! It has to be enough! She thought to herself, her dark eyes sparkling as she gazed at the flowers in her bag.

Woosh

A sudden gust of wind blew past as her hair flew wildly in every direction. Turning her head toward its source, her eyes widened in fear and disbelief.

A loud roar resounded from within the darkness of the forest, and along with it came the huge figure of a bear. Its fur was a dark red, akin to that of a fox, and two long, sharp horns crowned the top of its head, giving it a terrifying appearance. That, along with its huge stature inspired fear into anyone who saw it.

The young girl dropped down to her knees, her frail body shuddering in terror. She stared at the huge creature running at full speed towards her, with a single thought flooding her mind, Why?... Why is such a creature here…?

She was filled with despair, her beautiful black eyes seemed to dim as tears dripped down her pale cheeks, accepting her fate. Mother…

In her hopelessness, she didn’t notice that the bear was wounded, a deep, long cut ran across its stomach, with blood dripping as it fled, dyeing the beautiful patch of white flowers red.

The bear ignored the girl’s existence, running past her with great speed, sending her flying backward, passing through several bushes before she landed with a thud at the base of a tree. She grunted in pain while slowly raising her head, scratching the back of her neck as she was on her bottom lip.

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Her face, arms, and the rest of her body were cut, scratched, and bruised in several places and fresh blood started dripping down from her wounds. She leaned against the towering tree, breathing heavily as she looked at the bear, however, what she saw next made her gasp in shock.

A small boy with long silver hair wielding an exquisitely crafted purple sword with a few black spots covering its blade quickly dashed past her eyes, running towards the fleeing bear. He jumped up and landed on the back of the bear, his small stature paling in comparison to the huge creature, which stood up on its hind legs, attempting to throw off its attacker. It roared unwillingly at the sky, its voice echoing in the forest.

Kai tightened the hold he had on his legs and quickly raised his sword with two hands. With a loud, savage shout he bore the sword down on the creature, barely penetrating its thick skull before jumping down onto the ground.

The giant bear roared in anger as it tried to pull out the sword, however before it could even get a good attempt in, a white shadow jumped toward it, plunging the sword even deeper into the thing’s skull. It fell to the ground with a loud thud, its last grieving roar falling on deaf ears as Kai walked toward it.

After retrieving his sword he pulled out a cloth from his pocket and cleaned the blade thoroughly before putting it back in its sheath. The Obborik followed quickly after him, looking at the bear with eyes full of hunger, its mouth already wet with droll. It sniffed the air and suddenly turned towards the location of the girl, growling and snarling.

Kai turned his head towards the girl as well, surprise colored his face. I didn’t expect anyone to be here… I think we may have gotten too close to the village…

His cold, crimson-colored eyes looked at the girl, and they glowed slightly upon noticing her blood-covered body. The more he stared at her, the more he seemed to fall into a trance, his pupils dilated as his fangs grew longer and sharper. His heart started racing as a primal instinct was starting to take over him and subconsciously released a faint killing intent. His gaze locked onto the girl, like a hunter staring at his prey.

The girl felt Kai’s eyes staring intently at her, She turned her head to look at him and as their gazes met, her entire body shuddered in fear. All of the muscles in her body contracted and cortisol rushed through her veins. A single thought kept repeating in her mind: I need to run! I need to run! I need to run!

She tried moving her legs but her body refused to obey and the more she looked at Kai the more she felt that she was losing herself. This boy… who is he…? Her body relaxed as her pupils dilated, her mind emptying and all of her fear disappeared.

As more and more time passed, Kai’s consciousness started fading away, being replaced by the primal instinct of a Vampire. His body started slowly moving towards the girl, and what was left of his rationale was weakly fighting back. His claws were growing longer and longer as he advanced and his eyes were glowing so bright that they nearly matched the Glowing Bells.

The Obborik watched all of this unfold and it looked in confusion at Kai, asking itself if the young man in front of it really was the same one it had been traveling with. A glint of intelligence flashed across its eyes, and it quickly realized what its master was about to do.

The Obborik rushed in front of Kai in an attempt to stop him. It barked loudly, in hopes of waking Kai up from his trance but its efforts were meaningless as Kai kept on marching forward.

The Obborik turned its head to look at the girl but upon seeing that she had no reaction it growled softly before turning to face Kai once again. Its eyes were racing about as if thinking about what to do. After a few seconds, a resolute look appeared in its eyes, pouncing at Kai and biting his arm, blood dripping down on the floor.

Kai grunted in pain and shook the Obborik off his arm. He looked around when suddenly his pupils constricted and his body trembled awake. “What’s going on?”

He flinched in pain before looking at his arm, which now had a large wound with blood flowing from within. Then, noticing the girl who seemed to be sleeping with her eyes open and the Obborik staring at him with a wagging tail, his expression turned grave upon realizing what he was about to do, disgust and fear taking over his body. His heart skipped a beat and sweat started dripping down his forehead as a morbid thought popped up in his mind, Was I really about to… kill her?

He looked at the Obborik, who had a knowing look in his eyes. It approached Kai and as if it was apologetic, it started licking the wound. Was it always this smart? Kai thought as he patted the wolf’s fluffy head.

“Thank you,” he said softly before turning and looking at the girl.

“She doesn’t seem to be that old, what is she doing in this dangerous forest?” he said to the Obborik, not noticing the irony of his own words.

He stood up and approached the girl, her figure slowly becoming clearer from within the cover of the bushes. Kai noticed the small leather bag she was carrying and he realized what was going on. He knelt in front of her, trying to ignore the blood that was starting to dry out.

“Hey you… ummm… wake up?”

He clapped his hands and snapped his finger in an attempt to jerk her awake but nothing seemed to work. Before he could try to do anything more, however, the Obborik rushed to the side of the girl and started licking her face, its huge tongue covering almost half of it. This seemed to work as, shortly after, the girl’s eyes started blinking before they turned back to normal.

“AAAAAAH” she yelled loudly and retreated backward at the same time, tightly clenching the left side of her chest with her hands, trying to regulate her breathing. Her face was covered in fear and sweat was dripping down her forehead as she looked at the boy and wolf that stood in front of her.

The wind whistled softly and gently swayed the light branches of the trees, at the same time moving the long hair of the two people back. A sweet silence enveloped the area as the two looked at each other.

Come to think of it, this is the first human I have met since being born… He didn’t have time to consider this before but now that he turned back to normal, his mind finally cleared.

“Umm, are you alright?” he asked in a soft tone, feeling a bit shy. The girl’s eyes widened slightly, seeming a little surprised at the gentleness Kai was displaying, which seemed to be in stark contrast with the boy who killed a bear thrice his size earlier.

She nodded gently without saying a word, and her heartbeat also slowed down a little, clearly her fear had greatly decreased.

Kai didn’t say much either, he looked at the girl’s ripped and torn clothes and seemed to have come to a realization. He took out a small pouch from around his waist, and it jiggled as he searched through it and pulled out a small golden coin that had a weird symbol engraved on its sides.

Placing it gently in her leather bag, he said, “Here… sorry for earlier, I think this much should be enough for your clothes and wounds.” He got up and turned towards the bear, leaving the girl in a daze as she looked at the gold coin.

She turned her head towards Kai, noticing the wound on his arm. She pointed her eyes toward the ground, seemingly thinking about something.