“Alaran, I gave you another chance, but you continue to disappoint me. When will I ever hear good news coming out of your mouth? This has become less than ideal.”

  Alaran was staring at Father Vincent without a trace of emotion on his face. He had explained the situation to the father, and this was the result.

  The room slowly became chilly until it was so cold that the environment started to freeze.

  There was a noticeable shift in Alaran’s expression, becoming harder and more calculating.

  Father Vincent took a deep breath and let out a breath vapor that dissipated in a moment.

  He looked at the ceiling with a lost gaze until he looked down at him, the man who didn’t want to tell him the location of his most precious student.

  “I give you my word, Alhen is safe. He should be returning in a few months,” Alaran said.

  Father Vincent smiled in his direction before starting to laugh lightly. He shook his head and clasped his hands together before bringing his forehead to them, seemingly praying.

  He muttered some inaudible words to himself before standing up from his chair. They were in his office, and the creatures perched on the walls looked way more intimidating.

  “Did you say he should be returning home? So you do not know if he will return? Do you not know if he will keep his word? I cannot tolerate this, Alaran.”

  “Tell me his location immediately; do it when I am asking nicely,” the father ordered with a hidden threat behind his words.

  Alaran didn’t flinch, however, staying true to what he had said before. He would not be revealing Alhen’s location for anything in the world.

  “I am sorry,” he responded, “I cannot give you that information; I already gave my word.”

  “So,” the father began, “you are willing to give up on life just because your mentee asked you to help him? Have you gone soft?”

  “Alaran, I thought better of you, but if you are going to be a nuisance to my plans, then I have no use for you; there are people who will do a better job and follow orders; clearly, you are not one of them.”

  Alaran could see that the father was about to make a dangerous move, something that could truly be a threat to his life.

  His hair stood on end, and his posture straightened more than it already was.

  Before the father could make a move, however, he yelled out, “You will not be able to find him!”

  The father froze, waiting for an explanation.

  “I hid all of his tracks; no matter who you choose to sniff his location, you will never be able to achieve it, because there is no scent to follow in the first place.”

  “And you should know already that I am the best tracker in all of the kingdom. I am the only one with knowledge of Alhen’s location and the only one who will know where and how to search for him. You need me,” Alaran said.

  Father Vincent gritted his teeth, his whole face becoming redder than a tomato.

  Alaran could practically feel the heat emanating from the father’s body and the deadly aura that he gave out.

  “Fine,” the father said, “if you want to keep playing these games, then so be it. You tell me that Alhen is fine, but what you did this cycle shows me that you are someone who does not deserve my trust.”

  “I will keep you alive, but let this serve you as a reminder of what happens to those who disobey me.”

  As soon as those words left the father’s mouth, Alaran knew what was coming, but he was unable to do anything about it.

  He hardened his gaze and tensed all his muscles, but it was useless.

  “BAM!” A loud sound resonated through the room, and Alaran fell to the floor face-first.

  Holding back a grunt of pain, he looked behind him at his legs, and just as he had imagined, his left leg was gone, completely pulverized and useless.

  There were only faint traces of bone, and the only thing he could do was tense his muscles to stop the heavy bleeding that would kill him otherwise.

  Father Vincent looked at him like a squirming worm, his gaze portraying disgust and anger.

  He approached Alaran and grabbed him by the shirt, dragging his limp body to the gates of the church.

  Before being grabbed, Alaran took his cane from the floor, which had slipped out of his hand, and barely avoided leaving it behind.

  The father passed through a crowd of surprised children who looked at him with fear and caution.

  Opening the doors leading to the outside, he didn’t waste a second before throwing him out like a pile of dirty laundry onto the hard floor outside.

  Before closing the door and entering back into the church, Father Vincent spat at the fallen Alaran and scoffed.

  He then closed the door without a second thought, leaving him out in the cold streets of Yhia.

  His mask hid his expression.

  Using his cane, he slowly pushed himself off the ground on his knee and stood with one leg. His body trembled, but no sounds could be heard coming from him.

  Without a word, he walked the streets, which were now full of activity.

  No matter where he went, he could see hunters standing on the roads or sitting on the sidelines, all with their thuls on display.

  It was hard to walk amongst the tight streets and the people.

  His caution rose a notch when he saw two hunters smiling and laughing at him.

  They didn’t hide their disdain from him, talking loudly for everyone to hear.

  “Look at that guy; his life is now ruined, haha, how is he going to keep being a hunter?” One of the men said.

  He was tall, almost seven feet, and even sitting down, Alaran could see that he had an imposing physique.

  “Should we end his suffering?” The other man asked, looking fatter, but clearly being an excellent hunter because of his features, he could smell it.

  The tall hunter smiled at the suggestion and slowly went to stand up, only to lose his head the next second.

  Alaran balanced on one foot and unsheathed his cane, decapitating the man in a heartbeat.

  He wouldn’t take any chances, especially since it had been clear that those guys wanted to harm him first.

  The fat man widened his eyes, drew a dagger from inside his jacket, and threw it at Alaran.

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  Even though it traveled at great speed to his head, he was able to catch it and throw it back, killing the man as quickly as the speed at which he had thrown the thing.

  A pool of blood started to form on the side of the road, but it wasn’t his problem anymore.

  Under the surprised gazes of the passersby, he continued moving forward without stopping to rest.

  The hunters surrounding him recalculated the danger level of the individual in front of them.

  They decided to leave him alone and not get involved in the mess the dead hunters on the ground had created.

  Alaran walked to the deepest parts of the district, where everything was poorly built, and there were many houses in ruins.

  The streets became wider, and the ground got a rough feeling to it, clearly not being maintained for ages.

  Passing by many ruins, he found what he was looking for. It was a tiny house, looking only slightly better condition than the houses surrounding it.

  He didn’t mind and entered.

  In front of him was his house; it was well-lit with many candles everywhere.

  Going inside, there was a hallway with rooms on the side, but he ignored those and went straight to the living room.

  Despite the outward appearance, the inside was immaculate; not a single dirty spot could be seen anywhere, nor any signs of abandonment. It looked full of life.

  Reaching the living room, there was only a small sofa for one person and a table in front of it.

  There was no kitchen; Alaran hunted all of his food, but it seemed like he would have to start buying due to the condition of his leg.

  He sat on the sofa and took a deep breath.

  The stump that was his leg lay on the cushion, and Alaran picked a bottle from the table and opened it, taking a sniff and smelling whiskey.

  Taking off his mask, he threw it aside, revealing his jet-black hair and the burn trailing from his cheek to his chin.

  With the bottle in hand, he downed the contents in a flash before throwing it to the side, knocking some candles on the ground in the process.

  His eyes slowly turned blue, and he took another deep breath.

  He gritted his teeth, which were starting to elongate and turn into fangs, and focused all his attention on his missing leg.

  He tried resisting the urge to grunt but was unable to do so. “Grrrrh!” he exclaimed.

  Alaran could see in real time how new tissue formed, and the bone grew and kept expanding.

  Hair started to grow on his cheeks before he gritted his teeth even harder from the pain and discomfort.

  The process was painfully slow, and his elongated nails dug deep into the sofa. After what felt like an eternity, it ended, and Alaran was left breathing heavily.

  His new leg had grown, but it looked smaller and weaker than its counterpart.

  He sighed and shook his head. “Now I really cannot hunt for a few months. It will take quite some time for my new leg to become strong again,” he said.

  Leaning back on the sofa, he looked beside him to a shrine built on the floor.

  It was kind of small, but when he laid his eyes on it, a warm smile made its way to his face until it was replaced by a melancholic look.

  His gaze had landed on a drawing of a beautiful woman. He remembered drawing that himself.

  “If only you were alive, I could support this torture forever,” Alaran said softly, his words fading away like a gentle breeze.

  A feeling of being tired and an intense urge to eat manifested in his body. Despite his leg having grown back, his transformation was still not reversed.

  ‘That is right, I forgot to prepare a meal beforehand. I will have to hunt with this leg; how troublesome,’ he thought.

  Looking at the front door of the house down the hallway for a few seconds, he made up his mind.

  ‘Alhen, I can only hope that I do not regret my decision to help you. You have to succeed if you want to have a chance of escaping that bastard.’

  When Alhen opened his eyes, he lay on the hard ground, and the first thing his eyes saw was the moon.

  He panicked and closed his eyes in a heartbeat, but then sighed in relief because he noticed that he had the glasses on him.

  Looking down at his injury, he could see that it was patched with a bandage. His relief at being alive diminished a lot.

  If he was this injured, how was he supposed to pass the test Edith would set out for him?

  This had been only the beginning, he was sure of it, and maybe he had even failed because of what happened, and he had no idea.

  “Are you done checking yourself? We have to continue the test; quickly get up,” Edith ordered.

  He looked to the side and saw her sitting on a rock, staring at him intently. Alhen obeyed her orders on reflex, standing up and feeling his abdomen burn in pain.

  Gritting his teeth, he didn’t dare let a sound escape his lips lest Edith think that he couldn’t keep going.

  He didn’t know why she was still giving him a chance despite being the reason that he was still alive, but he wouldn’t question it and would just keep on going.

  He would have to make Alaran’s decision to help him worth it, and it was also about receiving her training to kill Father Vincent.

  Standing to his full height, he felt dizzy and almost dropped back down, but he kept his balance.

  Edith noticed this and asked, “Should we stop the test now? It will only get harder from here. If you want to stop and wait for another time, then this is your chance.”

  Alhen felt almost insulted by her suggestion.

  He was almost one hundred percent sure that she would not give him another chance if he gave up now. Why would she train someone with weak willpower?

  Alhen shook his head at his suggestion and said, “I’m fine; let’s continue.”

  Edith looked at him with an amused gaze and smiled lightly in his direction.

  “Very well, I believe that you will enjoy the next test I have for you, as you do not even have to move,” she said mysteriously.

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked, but didn’t get a response back.

  Edith turned her back on him and started walking forward, and it was at that moment that he noted their surroundings. The plants and trees were not white anymore but yellow.

  They glowed and emitted a nice heat that warmed his body.

  ‘I can only wonder where we are. I hope that this place is not more dangerous than the other forest,’ he hoped in his mind.

  As he walked, he noticed how the plants seemed to move in their direction, following them with their movements.

  The only thing keeping them in place was their roots, but if they were not stuck on the ground, he wondered what would happen then.

  That wasn’t all, however; a large number of animals could be seen everywhere.

  Small rabbits of light and some animals that looked like glowing squirrels, but were somehow different, gave him a dangerous feeling.

  “I suggest you keep your hands to yourself and avoid walking far behind. These animals are deadly, and they will keep you if you are not careful,” Edith warned, and Alhen got a bad feeling.

  The animals that looked innocent before were now a danger, and his way of looking at them changed completely.

  He noticed that the squirrels had sharp teeth and some claws that could easily tear straight through bone.

  The bunnies looked rabid, with a pack of them eating another one of their species mercilessly.

  Its cries filled his ears, and he noticed that a vast majority of the animals were looking at them and creeping closer.

  Edith seemed unbothered, so he didn’t mind it much, but when the animals got too close for comfort, he started panicking.

  This is way too dangerous; I have to do something to drive them away lest I die.

  Edith doesn’t seem to care about their presence; it could be because they won’t attack her or simply that she can take care of them easily.

  For me, it’s another story; I have no thuls, and my senses are warning me to run.

  He didn’t want to not focus on his senses again; that’s what got him betrayed and almost ended his life, but this time he had to ignore them and breathe fully to cleanse his anxiousness.

  After a few seconds of the animals not attacking him, even after standing close, he started to relax.

  ‘It seems that the presence of Edith does have some kind of influence over the behavior of these animals. Despite looking deadly, they have yet to show any signs of aggressiveness to us,’ Alhen thought.

  He kept his ears open and was alert for anything to happen, but it seemed like he didn’t need to worry that much about the small animals, but about the beast currently staring right at him.

  His hair stood on end, and he shivered involuntarily.

  He looked back to see what was causing this feeling and found a bloated mass of flesh with the face of a deformed, crying baby looking at him.

  ‘W-What is that!?’ Alhen exclaimed in his mind.

  Its face was dropping down, and out of its mouth came weird sounds that could only belong in the nightmares of someone with PTSD.

  Despite its appearance, it moved fast.

  Alhen blinked, and it had disappeared, only to appear a few meters away from him, hiding behind the trees and looking at them with curiosity.

  It hadn’t made a sound. The only thing that indicated that it had moved was the slimy trail left by the bloated body of the creature.

  “Bah, bah, bah,” it let out softly, and it smiled at him.

  Not knowing what to do, he smiled in its direction, and the creature seemed amused. Before further interaction could happen, Edith interrupted.

  “This will be my last warning to you. Do not interact with the creatures in this forest; do not look at it or pay it any attention,” Edith began.

  Alhen looked at her with seriousness, absorbing each word into him.

  “Trust me, you do not want to find out what happens if you do,” she warned once again.

  Alhen didn’t dare look back at the creature, despite the sounds that it was making to attract its attention.

  With each second that he ignored it, the sounds grew louder, eventually reaching what seemed to be inconsolable cries.

  His heartbeat increased.

  ‘Crap! I shouldn’t have paid it any attention. Is it going to do something? I should ignore it as Edith said, just don’t look at it,’ he convinced himself.

  Getting his determination back, he continued walking forward, focusing on Edith’s back and nothing else. Everything seemed to be going well until multiple cries sounded in the distance.

  ‘There are more!?’ he exclaimed in his mind.

  More and more were heard throughout the forest, and Edith didn’t seem troubled by it, but Alhen was another story.

  His body started to sweat, and the world started spinning in his eyes.

  The only thing keeping him on his feet was the sight of Edith moving forward. Alhen turned off his brain, his thinking, and everything that wouldn’t allow him to keep moving.

  Just when he thought that he was going to pass out, Edith said, “We have arrived,” and the noises stopped.

  It was dead silent again, but he didn’t feel reassured, as in front of them lay something that left him in shock.

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