The Author's POV

Swooosh—

A gentle wind blew past a forest as the leaves rustled.

The gentle moonlight shone from above, creating a tranquil environment.

"Hey, Kevin, hold up, where are you going?"

But the tranquility did not last for long as it was soon broken by multiple individuals who ran through the forest. To be more precise, it was four individuals chasing behind one individual, Kevin.

Halting his steps, Kevin scanned the surroundings. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he had not noticed the others behind him.

'The old man told me to go out this way, but where is he?'

The forest was huge.

So huge that Kevin estimated that it would take him a whole day to explore it. Finding Ren inside of the forest was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Kevin!"

Suddenly, Kevin heard a voice coming from behind him. What followed after was the sound of rushed footsteps.

Kevin slowly lifted his head.

Coming over from behind a couple of trees were Emma, Amanda, Jin, and Melissa. They were all looking at him with weird faces.

"…huh?"

Caught off-guard by the unexpected sight, Kevin stared at them with a dazed look. Then, quickly recalling what he was here for, he spoke up.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"That's the question we want to ask!"

Emma frustratingly said, walking up to him. Stopping a couple of feet away from him, she looked around the forest.

"You suddenly started acting weird out of nowhere. I called out for you multiple times but you never replied so I followed you here."

"You followed me?"

"Well…hm, yeah. You had a very serious look on your face, I thought that something was up."

Emma turned her head.

"You guys also followed for the same reason, right?"

Everyone silently nodded. Clearly siding with Emma.

Staring at them, Kevin scratched his head. He had been so focused on looking for Ren that he had lost his composure and ended up worrying the others.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you guys like that."

"Whatever."

With a deep sigh, Emma rubbed her face and then looked at the moon in the sky. 'At least she doesn't look too pissed'. Kevin sighed in relief.

But then Emma frowned and glared at Kevin.

"Oy."

"What?"

"You still haven't told me why you're here."

"Oh, right..."

Kevin turned his head before he scratched the back of it.

"Not gonna say anything?"

"…you see, things are kind of complicated."

Not satisfied with the answer, Emma's glare intensified.

"I think we deserve an explanation after you made us worried and caused a whole scene."

"Ugh." Kevin groaned. Lifting his head and staring at the others who were looking back at him, Kevin let out a deep sigh. 'How should I tell them that I was looking for Ren?'

Would they even believe him? Maybe Amanda as she already knew, but what about the others?

"…Ehew."

Eventually, he let out another sigh. He trusted everyone here, and so he didn't mind telling them about his skill, inspection. Whether they believed him or not, it was up to them.

"Haaaa!"

his

the sound came from. Then,

"What was—huh? Kevin?"

but before she could say anything, Kevin had already run off towards where the sound came

"Kevin, wait up!"

called out for him and rushed from behind. Amanda, Jin, and Melissa followed suit as their figures slowly

***

from above, with his hands behind his back,

solemn and pensive look on his

"Haaaa!"

that rang out,

"Should we interfere?"

had a worried

things were going, he could tell

his eyes, Douglas

"Haaa!"

scream rang out. Turning his head,

If we don't stop him now, he'll end up killing

Aaron. The consequences of

of helping Ren get over his mental demons, but from the looks of it,

"Haaaa!"

"I'm going."

would only take him a

"Wait."

before Waylan could act, extending his hand towards the right, Douglas

is the meaning of this?"

Douglas pointed towards a certain spot

a look over

"…huh?"

of where Douglas

Douglas

"You're not telling me…"

exactly what I'm

***

"Haaaaaa!"

and agonized scream felt like a beautiful piece of music to

I craved for more.

order to not have my face revealed, I had to scar my face using this blade

eyes as I stared at

ran out of the poison long ago, or

Don—

smeared the liquid inside of it all over my dagger. The liquid

worry though. I've got the

staring at Aaron who was

out

quite a bit of money on this, so

hand on his chin, I opened his mouth and chugged the potion down his

"Drink up."

"Ugh…Mhh."

escaped from his mouth as I shoved the potion down his throat. A horrified look manifested on his face as he flung his arms around. It was clear that he was trying to protest, but I didn't care. I just watched his body slowly start healing right before

slowly disappeared, pressing Aaron onto the ground I

"Khhaaaaa!"

down half of his handsome face.

asked, tracing the dagger along his face,

dizzier my head became. It was strange...it felt as though a part of me was slowly losing control. But I couldn't quite grasp what was happening. I was too

"Haaa…stop!…stop!…p-please."

Aaron previously, his voice slowly returned to him, and his words started to once again

came to a halt.

you just say

"Haaa…haaa…"

an answer, I was met with Aaron's rough breathing. Standing up and leaning my body forward to take a better look

'He already broke?'

course,

I laughed.

could've broken with just this

you return

again fed Aaron with another potion. The injuries in his body healed at

"Let's continue."

I traced it along his face once again. Fresh blood dripped down from the

"Why aren't you screaming."

My face froze.

from Aaron who just looked up toward the

My eyes became unfocused.

"Aaron?"