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 mouth, a muffled shout rang in

snapped in the direction of where the sound came from. Then, everyone exchanged glances

"What was—huh? Kevin?"

she could say anything, Kevin had already run off

"Kevin, wait up!"

and rushed from behind. Amanda, Jin, and Melissa followed suit as their figures

***

forest from above, with his hands behind his back, Douglas

to have a solemn and pensive

"Haaaa!"

that rang out, his brows

"Should we interfere?"

him, Waylan had a worried look on

things were going, he could tell that something horrible

eyes, Douglas did

"Haaa!"

rang out. Turning his

If we don't stop him

The consequences of such actions were too detrimental

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

"Haaaa!"

"I'm going."

It would only take him a second to arrive at the scene, so he should have no problem

"Wait."

before Waylan could act, extending his hand towards the

meaning of this?" Waylan

towards

a look

"…huh?"

of where Douglas had pointed and his

at Douglas again, he

"You're not telling me…"

exactly what I'm

***

"Haaaaaa!"

scream felt like

I craved for more.

revealed, I had to scar my

suddenly flashed through my eyes as I stared at

ran out of the poison long ago,

Don—

all over my dagger. The liquid was pale yellow in color and

worry though. I've got the

my head and staring at Aaron who was barely hanging

took out a potion from my dimensional

a bit of money

chin, I opened his mouth and chugged the potion down

"Drink up."

"Ugh…Mhh."

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,

the burns on his face slowly disappeared, pressing Aaron onto the ground

"Khhaaaaa!"

of his

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

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

"Haaa…stop!…stop!…p-please."

had given Aaron previously, his voice slowly returned to him, and his words

words, my hand suddenly came to a halt. I then lifted my

just say

"Haaa…haaa…"

up 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,

I laughed.

could've broken

I'll make you return to

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

"Let's continue."

traced it along his face once again. Fresh blood

"Why aren't you screaming."

My face froze.

along his face, I got no reaction from Aaron who just looked up toward the sky with a blank

My eyes became unfocused.

"Aaron?"