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!"

he was about to open his mouth, a muffled shout rang in

the sound came from.

"What was—huh? Kevin?"

up, but before she could say anything, Kevin had already run

"Kevin, wait up!"

out for him and rushed from behind. Amanda, Jin, and

***

above,

have a solemn and pensive look on

"Haaaa!"

that rang out,

"Should we interfere?"

had a

things were going, he could tell that something horrible was

Douglas did not

"Haaa!"

rang out. Turning

don't stop

Ren kill Aaron. The consequences of such actions were too detrimental

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

"Haaaa!"

"I'm going."

the scene any longer, Waylan decided to make his move. It would only take him a second to arrive at the scene, so he should have no

"Wait."

act, extending his hand towards the right,

the meaning of this?"

hand, Douglas pointed towards a certain

a look over

"…huh?"

to look in the direction of where Douglas

Douglas

"You're not telling me…"

what

***

"Haaaaaa!"

pained and agonized scream felt like a

I craved for more.

order to not have my face revealed, I had to

through my eyes as I stared at the dagger in

of the poison long ago,

Don—

all over my dagger. The liquid was pale

though. I've got the perfect replacement

who was

dagger down, I took out

quite a bit of money on this, so be

I opened his mouth

"Drink up."

"Ugh…Mhh."

potion down his throat. A horrified look manifested on his face as he flung his arms around. It

on his face slowly disappeared, pressing Aaron onto the ground I brought the knife closer to his face and traced it

"Khhaaaaa!"

screamed in agony as a long black scar traced down half of his handsome

hurts, doesn't it?" I asked, tracing the dagger along his face, creating more and

on his face, the dizzier my head became. It was strange...it felt as though a part of me was slowly losing control. But

"Haaa…stop!…stop!…p-please."

the potion I had given Aaron previously, his voice

hand suddenly came to a halt. I

you just say

"Haaa…haaa…"

and leaning my body forward to take a better look at him, I noticed that Aaron's eyes were not focused.

'He already broke?'

course, he

I laughed.

he could've broken with just this little

I'll make you return to

again fed Aaron with another potion. The injuries in his body healed at an even faster pace. I was

"Let's continue."

traced it along his face once again.

"Why aren't you screaming."

My face froze.

from Aaron who just looked up toward the sky with a blank

My eyes became unfocused.

"Aaron?"