“Come on, come on, come on…”

Sio watched from behind the tree, a dagger in his hand, ready to kill it as soon as it came close enough. An injured goblin trudged through the snow barely able to carry a torn and tattered rucksack and its splintered spear. It should be an easy kill, as easy as it gets when it involves goblins. It was alone and as far as Sio could tell, none of its friends would be coming. They were most likely killed in whatever hunt they went on earlier in the day.

The goblin was too preoccupied with carrying the pack of things and far too tired to even look up. It’s long nose pointed at the ground, the goblin loosely following the packed snow. Then, as soon as it got close enough, Sio leaped at the goblin and knocked it to the ground with his full weight. He rammed the dagger into the goblin’s throat twisting it while pinning down one of the monster’s arms. Sio ripped through the goblin’s skin, tearing the dagger out and stabbing it again. The goblin raked its dirty claws across his arm. Sio flinched, letting go of his dagger for a split second but the damage to the goblin was done.

He stood, nursing his wound, and cursed himself for getting hurt when it was supposed to be an easy kill. He picked up the dagger, wiped off the blood, and rummaged through the bag. He almost cried when he saw the food. Today was cold as usual but to eat cleanly, he’d have to wipe off the goblin blood. He grabbed a handful of snow and cleaned his hands as much as he could and finished by using some cloth stored in the bag.

He ate and tucked his hands under his arms while he walked back to the others with the bag strapped to him. Every outing he made, he hoped that he’d come back and find his friends awake, wondering where he went. But, of course, he wouldn’t be out looking for food, starving, fighting for his life alone, if that had happened. Each night, when he closed his eyes, he wished to go where they were or to never wake up again.

Sio stopped in his tracks. He left the house around six hours ago in search of food but six hours ago, there weren’t any marks on the trees leading to the village. He pulled tighter on the rucksack and sprinted toward his friend with whatever little energy the food gave him earlier.

At the edge of the village, he saw another set of footprints leading to the house. He pulled out his dagger and quickly approached. The door was left slightly ajar. It had been broken prior to Sio and the rest of his friends arriving so they kept it closed by setting a block of wood in front of it. Whoever came in didn’t reset it.

He set the rucksack down keeping the dagger out in front of him in case whatever was inside charged. If it attacked from a distance, he’d use what little magic he could spend.

Sio breathed a little more easily knowing that he’d worked tirelessly the days before hiding his friends in hard to find places. They didn’t need food, water, didn’t seem to get cold, so the hiding places could be a little more elaborate. There was a scare but only once. He was glad for that at least.

The floor level was clear. He went up the stairs, hugging the wall and skipping the creaky steps. The dagger in his hand felt more like a useless weight than a tool. The thought of running away lingered in the back of his mind and he tried his hardest to shake off those thoughts. If he left, it’d be only a matter of time before some monster had a good enough nose to sniff out his friends.

The moment he heard someone move upstairs, he froze. The sound was close, close enough that if he rounded the corner, he might get the jump on whatever was there. But his inexperience and fear caused him to falter. By the time he could even begin thinking about a plan, he felt it was too late to rush whatever it was. He chose to ambush it by the stairs.

The seconds that passed felt like hours. He steadied his breath as best he could but he worried whoever was there could hear it. Sio could hear it, he could hear his heart beat like wild too. His hands became sweaty and he feared to wipe them as the threat of the intruder appearing any second lingered.

He heard footsteps coming closer to him, just around the corner. He gripped the dagger tightly and searched for the slightest bit of movement. Then, as soon as he saw a hand, he stopped. The thought instantly hit him. What if the intruder was one of his friends who woke up?

Drunk by the thought, he realized too late. The man’s eyes focused on the dagger in his hands. He kicked Sio down the stairs and before he could even stand, the man had him by the tip of a sword.

“Who are you?” asked the man.

He bit his tongue. Who was this person? He racked his head for any possible hints that would lead to who he was, a possible soldier sent by Saelac, or one of Robin’s henchmen? Maybe it was just some wanderer or possibly a villager who’s been hiding or just came back from wherever they fled. Whoever this man was, one wrong move and he’d be impaled.

“I-I’m Sio. An adventurer,” he choked out the answer. Although it wasn’t touching him, he still felt the cool steel as if it stabbed into his neck.

“Are you alone?”

“Yes…” Sio himself couldn’t tell whether this was the truth or a lie.

“Why are you here?”

“I followed the map. I was going to the next town and I stumbled across this village. It was deserted and I was forced to hide from those goblins.”

“Show me your map and proof that you’re an adventurer.”

“O-Of course,” Sio complied, reaching for a bag at the corner of the room and pulling out the map and the proof of his guild membership.

The man snorted, disappointment evident on his face. Sio cared little for his unhappiness, though he feared he might get hurt for being weak. It should have been obvious that Sio was inexperienced when he was taken down so easily. Maybe if it were someone like Emile or Istruan, they could have put up a better fight. If it was Rainen, he’d have the man on the ground instead.

Somewhat relieved that the man was no longer hostile, as he sheathed his short sword, Sio asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m Gustav. An adventurer like you. I’m a C ranked adventurer though.”

C-ranked? Were they saved? Could it be that this person would be their big break? “Where’s the rest of your party?”

An air immediately filled the room, one that left Sio almost unable to breathe. He knew the moment he saw Gustav go rigid that he asked the wrong question.

“...I’m alone now,” he said. “Those goblins…”

He stopped there because no more needed to be said. Sio understood now. Those bodies that they found buried under the snow, stripped of all their belongings, probably were his friends. To think that a group of C-ranked adventurers would all be killed off by goblins. The thought sent chills down his spine. He didn’t want to believe it. It was too grim, too dark. How could he survive in a world where goblins, thought to be the weakest humanoid monsters, killed people far stronger and more experienced than him? He hoped that not all of them were C-ranked.

If it weren’t for Rainen and his friends being from the academy, maybe they’d all be dead by now. However, since encountering Gideon in the forest and being healed, Sio gained enough strength that he thought himself equal to the other magic casters. He didn’t voice the opinion though. They knew more spells and were more experienced than him, and while he liked Istruan better as a leader, Rainen had saved their lives and he respected and was grateful to him for it.

“Why are you alone?” asked Gustav.

“Something happened, I don’t know what but I ended up being separated from my group.”

“I see. You should give up looking for them. If they turn out to be inexperienced like you, they’re probably all dead by now if they haven’t found someplace to hide. Just because you’re inexperienced though, doesn’t mean you can’t do something. Come with me.”

Sio’s face twitched at Gustav’s words. They barely knew each other and Sio was considerate enough not to say a word about his party members but Gustav went and mocked the others anyway. Sio rubbed his face and beat back the bitter thoughts. When it came to people, the only ones he couldn’t handle were the ones who said whatever they wanted whenever they wanted without considering others. While he was no saint, he held his words back as much as he could.

Gustav looked at the rucksack and picked it up, holding it unusually tight. “Where did you get this?”

“From the body of a weak goblin who probably killed your friends,” he wanted to say. But, saying that would only stir up trouble. At this distance, Sio could probably beat him with magic but working together was better than being alone. “I killed a goblin for it.” he chose to answer.

Gustav was in his mid-thirties and had worked as a town guard before being convinced by a friend of his to start adventuring. His skills with the sword were much better than those of the others he trained with, the only person who could beat him fairly was the captain. So, when he decided to leave, the captain, being rather fond of him, gave him a shortsword to start him on his way.

His first quest was to hunt down a band of goblins who had been terrorizing villagers in a nearby woods. Their numbers were estimated to be around eight to twelve strong. He left with a party of six and they spent two days searching and waiting them out. When they found them, the goblins were attacking a man carrying various plants. The fight was quick. The goblins fell one after another and for the first time, Gustav realized how weak most people were. Those in his party had been adventuring longer than him, at least two months, but they could only kill one each while he quickly cut down one after another.

The boy beside him, Sio, didn’t look like the tough sort. Judging by his appearance, he was as new and inexperienced as they came. He carried a shortsword, like Gustav himself, but walked uncomfortably with it. A glance at his hands made him scoff, he had no calluses. His cheeks were a bit sunken, bags under his eyes, and his movements sluggish. How long had he been by himself? He guessed it was maybe only a couple of days. There was no way he’d still be alive if it were more.

“How many do you think there are,” Sio asked.

“I don’t know. It’s a tribe that’s chosen to settle in a cave. My estimate is from twenty to forty. We’ll have a tough time by ourselves,” he said, meaning that he’d have trouble fighting them by himself. The boy, Sio, would act as only a minor distraction once any actual fighting started.

“Why hasn’t anyone come to exterminate them?”

“Because all the nearby towns and cities are too busy defending themselves. Besides, who would wipe out a cave full of goblins when there’s no one to pay or offer any kind of reward? You’ve seen that village, it’s completely empty.”

When Gustav and his friends first came to this area, they had missed the village. Their map didn’t have it marked, maybe because the village was too small or maybe because the map they brought along was a couple years old. They had heard of what people called ‘The Awakening’ but they paid it little mind. They weren’t all that strong but had decent experience under their belt and went about battles with caution.

That, however, was not enough.

Their first encounter with an ‘awakened’ monster happened a month ago. It was a simple wolf-like monster. Its attacks were more ferocious and faster than anything else they’d encountered. It broke their formation more than once and landed multiple small wounds on one of their frontliners but it had been as easy to kill as any other. A simple stab through its side and it was dead.

He should have known back then to stop them from leaving.

“You plan to kill all of them?”

“Yes,” Gustav said. He wiped the blood off his sword and heaved the goblin’s body over his shoulder. “They repopulate fast but they should also be starving for supplies during the winter. We’ll hunt down the teams they send out to get food. That should weaken them.”

“Those parties? There’s usually five or more of them in! I know you’re better than me but even my friends and I had trouble taking on that many and there were eleven of us.”

“Huh, that’s a lot of people. Hard to imagine you were separated from the whole group when it’s that big.”

Suspicion was creeping into Gustav’s mind. The boy was obviously weak and yet he survived all this time by himself. Either he was lying about his friends, or he was a better swordsman than he let him believe.

“It’s a wonder how they haven’t found you hiding in the village yet with all the tracks you leave straight to it,” he commented.

“It took you awhile to find it,” Sio shot back.

Gustav snorted. It was true that he hadn’t noticed the tracks leading to the village until a day ago but the boy needed to hold his tongue. As much as a ‘survivor’ he was, Gustav had no doubt he only made it that far by pure dumb luck. Maybe a god or goddess favored him and twisted events his way if only a little.

It was a miracle the boy ran into someone like Gustav after all. The last surviving, and strongest, member of his party.

If he stayed quiet and stayed in his place as the lowest adventuring rank, then maybe Gustav could end up saving him too. Of course, if anything turned sour, he’d be thrown away. People who thought they were something special just because they carried a sword were easy to find. Unfortunately for Gustav, he was in the middle of nowhere.

Like it or not, he was stuck with the kid. “Grab the other goblin and follow me. If they’re found too close to the camp, it’ll alert the others.”

Sio shut the door and slumped to the ground. He was exhausted. The goblin camp was at least twenty minutes away from the village and the snow fell all day, and while that helped cover their tracks, it made the journey all that more tiring. His new companion, Gustav, wasn’t much help in that department either.

He was more skilled than Sio at everything, save for magic. It was easy for him to tell that Gustav had a low opinion of him, he spoke to him like a child and as if he was waste of supplies. Showing off his skills as a magic caster surely would have raised that opinion but he needed to keep his cards hidden.

Even if he didn’t like Gustav, he provided a slight comfort. Even if the man thought Sio was unforgivingly weak, there are always uses for a person. That’s what Istruan had said once before, anyway.

Istruan had been talking to Marcus, the person who joined the party with Kat and Fia, a few days before he was killed. The two were sitting down, talking, as Sio walked by. For reasons not completely known, he hid and listened as they talked. It was mundane and he felt bad for hiding but he kept still. In their conversation, he could feel the little prods, they each stuck out their foot feeling for the best place to walk, for the best topic to go on.

At some point, they had started talking about adventuring, why each of them were there. Although Sio had known Istruan a bit longer than Marcus did, he’d never heard or even asked why. He assumed Istruan had the same reason as he did, on some level.

“I shouldn’t be here,” Marcus confided. “I’m only tagging along because I didn’t want Kat or Fia to be by themselves. I know I couldn’t protect them if it came to it but…”

“You still wanted to be by them,” Istruan finished.

“Yeah. I’ve known them since I was little. Kat lived in the house right over and Fia’s father was close friends with mine. We always played and went ‘adventuring’ as kids, none of us really thought we’d go out there and try to make it one day. Kat and I applied for an apprenticeship at a blacksmith, an older man named Vulcan. He specialized in making smaller weapons, some war hammers, daggers, and Kat’s favorite, knives.”

“How’d you two end up coming out here then?”

Marcus sighed, “Kat wasn’t accepted. He didn’t take girls, he said. I almost refused but Kat told me to take it. Said it was important for me to follow my dreams. Do what I wanted to do and keep my family going. Times were tough. My dad, the local tanner, gave me this glove to help. He made one for Kat too but she didn’t take it… Then, an illness spread through the village. We were sure there’d be a lot of deaths. Kat and Fia’s fathers were some who caught it. If it wasn’t for a healer who came by, our village would have lost maybe half the people? Of course, he didn’t do everything for free. After he was paid, Kat and Fia’s families were in trouble and so they decided to make some fast money.”

“And that fast money was adventuring.”

“Looks like it. I quit my blacksmithing apprenticeship to follow after them, told Kat I was kicked out. I don’t know if she believes it. Sometimes I wonder if I should go back, with the news of all these new monsters appearing. I’m useless when it comes to fighting.”

“Stop worrying about it,” Istruan said. “You came here to protect those girls, right? You don’t have to be the strongest person to protect someone, and you certainly aren’t useless. Every person has something to give. Everyone is more than the sum of their parts.”

Sio quietly left. He felt guilty for listening in like he’d heard some sort of secret he wasn’t meant to hear. But he had heard it and although the words weren’t meant for him and didn’t mean much at the time, he drew on them for the strength to keep going.

He walked upstairs and opened one of the closets filled with clothes and other junk. He dug through the items, reaching deeper inside until he grabbed his hand. Sio pushed through and saw Rainen, leaning against the wall, still unconscious, still sleeping. He cautiously felt his neck.

“Thank god,” he breathed. Ever since that one incident days ago, Sio constantly checked on Rainen as if the wound would open up again. That’s why he was kept so close while the others were spread out further.

Rainen’s wrapped up sword was laid next to him.

Sio closed the closet and instead of sleeping where he usually did fell face first onto the bed and instantly drifted off. That night, he was met with a nightmare. The first he had since he was cured.