A rock was hit against a piece of rusty metal. Sparks flew around and hit the dry grass underneath and were caught by it before a soft gust of air turned the spark into a flame.

“Here you go.” Noah said with a satisfied smile on his face as he placed the dry grass underneath a pile of wood that he and Ayden had gathered.

“Thanks. I finished peeling the corn.” Ayden replied, handing the yellow cobs over to his friend. Noah quickly impaled them on some thin metal bars they were given and then started to hold them above the fire.

Meanwhile, Ayden continued reading through one of the books they were gifted before heading off from the village.

“Look at this one, Giant Boars. Six and a half feet tall, blade-like tusks... It looks really damn scary if you ask me.” Ayden pointed out with a wry smile, but Noah just shrugged, “Sure, it’s big, but it’s gonna act like a regular boar, right? So if we don’t bother it and quietly move away if we meet one, we’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? It says in here that it’s more aggressive than regular boars. But because it moves in predictable patterns, it’s easy to hunt it.”

“Hm... Hard to say. I’ve hunted regular boars before, so I can kinda predict how they act. Guess I’d have to judge when I see a giant one. But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Noah pointed out, while Ayden kept on reading. It was the second night they had to spend out here in the forest, and their whole trip would take another week.

In the village, they were given enough food to last them that long and some rough maps and a bit of money in case they needed it. Most of the villagers were sure that Noah and Ayden would just run away with everything they were given, but Charles insisted on helping them.

He seemed to have an incredibly positive opinion on ‘Lost Souls’. Noah and Ayden didn’t complain about that, though.

Noah placed some of the finished corn onto a wooden plate and handed it to Ayden, “Not gonna lie, I’m more surprised that they have corn here.”

“You can say that again... In two separate ecosystems, especially one where the world was affected by two moons instead of one, the likelihood of living organisms to develop in the exact same way is... low.” Ayden pointed out as he took a bite into the hot cob. Meanwhile, Noah just sat there and stared into the fire a bit longer.

“Do you think we’ll be able to get home at some point?” He asked quietly. Ayden lowered his plate and stared into the fire together with his friend, “I don’t know. Maybe? We were somehow brought here, so how unlikely is the possibility that we could go back. The question is instead...”

“If we even want to?”

“...Exactly. I don’t know about you, but I feel somehow safe here, as illogical as that sounds. Considering I just spoke of Giant Boars. It’s just a nice feeling for us to not be freaks.” Ayden laughed awkwardly, “Noah, Magic exists here. In one of these books, I glanced over a passage speaking of Spirits and Ghosts. Here, it’s common knowledge that they’re real. There are probably other people who can see Spirits. Or other people who can see personalities like you can. And really? I don’t think I would miss anything staying here.”

Noah looked at the ground and chuckled, “Right, says the guy who’s listening to music every waking hour of the day. Dude, you won’t make it here for a week before going insane.”

“Then we just need to find someone that can play music here. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

“I guess, as long as we’re here together, I don’t have anything to worry about.” Noah said bluntly, and Ayden looked at him with a smirk, “What, is this the moment you finally profess your undying love to me?”

“Hah, right, you wish. Now keep eating your corn and go to bed. You’re sleeping first tonight.”

“Alright~.”

---

Noah woke up through the early morning sunlight and saw Ayden still sitting there on the other side of the burnt-out campfire. Just like he did when Noah fell asleep, still reading a book as if it was the only thing in existence.

“Morning...” Noah yawned loudly as he slowly stood up, stretching a bit. He stood there and rubbed his eyes as Ayden slowly stood up and placed his backpack onto his back.

“Morning. I put the nuts and fruit for your breakfast next to your bag. We should keep going immediately, though. This book says that in the early morning, it can be most dangerous here in the forests. We should try to make our way to the plains by this afternoon.” Ayden explained as Noah picked up the small pouch filled with his breakfast.

“And then beyond there is the mountain we’re looking for?” Noah sighed as Ayden nodded his head, “Mhm, exactly. But don’t complain. You like hiking, right?”

“I like hiking when I know there’s a proper bed waiting for me somewhere at the end of the day. Or at least a fucking sleeping bag. My back already hurts like a bitch right now.”

“I get it, so does mine. But just hold out a bit longer. If we’re lucky, the person we’re looking for has some beds for us to sleep in.” Ayden suggested, and Noah slowly shrugged, “That’d be gre-“

Suddenly, Noah flinched. Something was wrong.

“Noah? Come on, we need to-“ Ayden turned back toward Noah, who just suddenly froze. But Noah was just standing there, staring blankly into space.

“I can... hear a boar.” He whispered, “But it’s a lot... more... beast-like, I guess?”

“You don’t think it’s...”

“I think it might be. Let’s just be careful. We have to head in the opposite direction anyway, so we’re gonna be okay.” Letting out a deep breath to calm himself down and get his mind together, Noah carefully picked up his backpack and started to follow Ayden.

Luckily Noah woke up on time. It would have turned out pretty bad if they had encountered that boar there. Sure, Noah said there was nothing to worry about last night. Still, it was always better not to meet wild, potentially dangerous animals at the end of the day.

Carefully, Noah and Ayden proceeded through the forest at a slow pace. However, the further they walked, the more the two of them started to pick up on small details. Heavily crushed plants, deep cuts on the side of the trees... At this point, they were just walking further into the territory of the boars.

And then, a particular smell entered Noah’s nose. It was rather unmistakable. Although they tried to turn around, it was for naught. Noah realized that the moment his foot sunk into the mud, despite the warm and dry weather.

“We need to go... And quickly.” Noah whispered into Ayden’s ear, and the nervous friends slowly nodded their heads. They just entered the sleeping grounds of at least one of these boars. As they were walking, Noah even managed to catch a glance at one of them.

It was huge like Ayden had described. Its tusks were sharp, and its forehead was covered in a thick growth that nearly looked like it was made of rock. Instinctively, Noah held his breath to make as little sound as possible, to avoid waking the boar under any circumstances.

Fate seemed to have another idea, however. Noah could hear the screech of a bird above him and Ayden. It was so deafening that Noah and Ayden had to stop and protect their ears until it was over. This screech was not only heard by the two friends, however.

To their despair, the screech also woke up the Giant Boar that Noah spotted. Just as the two of them were standing in a spot where it was able to see them. Enraged, the boar stood up and stared at Noah’s face, as if locking on to him. Burying its feet in the mud underneath its feet, the boar started to run forward through the thicket.

Noah pushed Ayden forward without a moment’s hesitation and started to run, holding onto his friend’s arm. As Noah turned around for a moment, he could see the boar crash into the tree that they were standing in front of just a second ago.

With sheer force, the boar managed to make the tree tilt to the side, its roots springing out of the ground.

“Oh, shit...” Noah grumbled as the boar once more buried its feet in the dirt it stood on. It ran toward the two friends, and Noah pulled Ayden to the side as the boar rushed past them at the speed of a car.

“Come on, we need to hurry!” Noah yelled at his friend, running forward as quickly as he could. Or rather, as quickly as Ayden could. Noah wasn’t going to just leave his friend behind.

But at the same time, since they were going slower than Noah could, he had the chance to pay attention to the Giant Boar, making sure to dodge whenever it came running at them. Even if they dodged out of the way the moment it started running, the boar would keep on for the same distance, or until it was stopped through a tree. It was easily predictable, just as Ayden had said.

However, Noah’s ability suddenly activated just a single time as he was looking at the boar while he was dodging it once more.

The boar had a circular, glowing, mud-brown force-field in front of its head. As if it was some sort of shield, protecting its head. When it then rammed into one of the trees, Noah also noticed that this shield was the thing damaging the bark, instead of the boar’s forehead itself.

It was entirely disconnected from the boar’s body and only visible through Noah’s ability. And then, once the boar rammed the tree, it disappeared. That meant this clearly wasn’t part of the boar’s ‘personality’, otherwise it would stay there. Noah had never seen an animal with any sort of strong personality trait anyway.

And then, he remembered that monocle that the watchman from the village had for a moment. This wasn’t part of its personality or its ‘heart’ as the system called it, but this was an ability that the boar possessed.

The moment Noah realized this, an idea sparked up in his mind as his heart started to race even faster and louder than before.

“Ayden, do you trust me?” Noah asked. Without a moment’s hesitation, Ayden turned his head and locked eyes with his friend. He was too exhausted to speak from running like a madman this whole time, but Noah knew what he was thinking.

“Good, then come with me, quick.” The young man said. Ayden was worried and afraid, but when he heard what Noah said next, all that disappeared, “I promise, I’ll get us out of this situation.”