As he exited the city, he didn't turn back, the more he thought about the city the more he choked on his own conscience, it was borderline suffocating and he just had to get away.

The dry parched land surrounded him left and right, and the dirt road mixed with gravel laid as his tracks to reach his destination.

With each gallop the horse made, a trail of dust was left behind, rising as if it were smoke.

The sun was shining brightly scorching the earth leaving an intense heat behind, but the steed moved so fast, the breeze continuously hit him, canceling out the heat, leaving him feeling slightly cool.

The forest seemed close yet so far, he had been riding his horse at least 20 minutes and had covered at least 2 miles yet it felt as if he was nowhere close to his destination.

He began to think about it, he left Elle without taking at least water, he could make without the food and water as he had no appetite and thirst and the thought of starvation and thirst did not bother him, however the horse was a different case, although the steed could probably go around 3-4 days without water and food, it's health would seriously deteriorate and wouldn't be able to carry out its duty effectively.

It was cruel to do the poor animal that he thought to himself, but he wasn't turning back at that point.

The forest was getting closer and closer, and the roadway was no longer surrounded by the dry land, small shrubs could be seen slowly increasing in numbers with each passing minute they moved.

Everything around him was changing, down to the road, the dirt mixed with gravel which laid the foundation for the road now consisted of just hard dirt.

The dry area was getting more populated with life and before he could realize it he was surrounded by bushes, cedar, cypress, pine, spruce, redwood some deciduous trees such as maple, and mosses and ferns. All towering over 30 meters in height and fully grown with the trees leaves and branches standing above him extending and connecting forming a roof like structure with only small pockets of light seeping down lighting the roadway.

A dead silent ambiance with birds chirping and frogs ribbiting being slightly audible in the far distance.

The heat could no longer be felt and the roof like structure provided shade making the climate cool.

The horse's galloping helped him take his mind off all the things that had happened and he dazed off at the sight of the trees leaves shaking by the wind, it was oddly soothing.

The light was slowly getting dimmer and dimmer..........the sun was setting.

"Easy, easy boy," he told the horse slowing it down, slowly coming to a stop.

We'll rest here for the night........

If it was possible, he would've like to move through the night as well, continuing nonstop but at the end of the day the horse was an animal just like him and needed sleep, it would just be plain cruel to force it to do work nonstop.

Small little posts could be seen on both sides of the roadway stuck into the ground with small symbols embedded into the wood.

This must be the charms which that woman mentioned..........the wards

He sat on the moist dirt holding the reign of the horse to ensure that it wouldn't attempt to leave during the nighttime.

It was cold but he endured the cold climate, refusing the need to shiver. The black sky could be seen partially through the gaps in the joint branches and leaves above him, and the cold moonlight leaked through giving a dim light which gave a degree of illumination upon the roadway.

The forest was pitch black and down to the gaps between the trees were not clearly visible.

He was completely surrounded by darkness.

*Scryyyyyyy

A noise could be heard.

What the...............

The boy put his hand on the hilt of his sword prepared to draw it and positioned himself to the center of the roadway away from the sides close to the forests.

*Scryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

It kept repeating itself over and over slowly growing louder and louder as if it was moving slowly towards him.

The creatures of the night were acting up.

The horse had fallen asleep standing and he wished not to disturb it.

He had no intention of sleeping through the night in fear of nightmares that would haunt him, but now another fear was slowly creeping up on him.

*Scryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

He pulled the sword out of the sheath and stuck it into the dirt in front him for convenience.

Although beasts and monsters could not enter the path, the feeling he was getting was unsettling.

In the end, if something were to attack, his only way of survival was to run..................... wake the horse up and run the fuck away.

The sword in the ground was meant to act as a means of intimidation if anything made it past the wards, even a beast would see a threat and avoid it.

Holding the reigns of the horse in one arm and placing the other hand on the hilt of the sword, he closed his eyes and focused on the sounds of the forest, owls could be heard in the distance.

Owls?...........................only owls?..........................What happened to th-

He felt something.

Like eyes piercing through the back of his head. It made chills run down his spine.

He opened his eyes immediately with the sense of danger imminent.

Looking around frantically to find the source of it, nothing could be seen.

He got up and pulled the sword out the dirt.

*Neighhhhh

The horse was unsettled and began to kick up and down.

"Calm down boy, Calm down" he said stroking the horse's mane slowly calming down the horse.

Two small gleaming red lights could be seen coming from the right in the distance of the pitch black forest. Slowly getting closer and closer.

It stood at a distance, hiding in the shadows, judging from the position of the eyes it was around 3-4 meters tall.

What the fuck

The eyes were the only thing visible and it just stood there staring at him.

The pure intimidation being emanated from this thing................he could tell, this was not something to fuck with.

Then it's behavior changed from just staring at the boy.

*Scrape

*Slow Tapping

It was scraping the body of a tree with what he presumed to be an arm and was tapping slowly on another tree with the other.

A cold cross breeze blew, making the situation even more uncomfortable.

The tapping and scraping stopped and the eyes crew closer and closer with its crimson color becoming more distinguishable.

From the darkness, a hand emerged reaching towards the roadway with the rest of the body being hidden in the shadows.

The hand had 4 long sharp talons with dried blood on the nails and it's forearms could be seen to be scaly.

As the hand extended drawing closer to the road.

It was like that of a person reaching for something..........and what it was reaching for was the boy.

The ward began to glow a bright light blue color pushing back the hand.

A dripping noise could be heard similar to that of water hitting grass.

It's arm was bleeding and the blood was dripping on the grass, although it could not be seen by the boy, he could tell.........the ward had probably damaged its arm.

But the most unsettling thing was, this thing was forcibly pushed back and injured yet its main body did not budge an inch and it made no sound.

If anything, it's stare was getting more intense.

The atmosphere became extremely tense and in those moments it felt as if time had stopped, everything that was on the boy's mind was gone, his mind was clear with nothing on it except that which stood in front of him.

The breeze blew even stronger than before, rattling the leaves above shifting the positioning temporarily and in those few seconds, he could see it's mouth.

2 rows of sharp teeth with so many he was unable to count, a big gray, scaly V-shaped jaw with thin black lips with a black tongue on the inside of the mouth but what was most uncomfortable was that it could be seen dribbling with its clear saliva leaking from its mouth reaching its chin dripping.

It looked as if it was smiling.

Although he was unaware of it...............................he was smiling back at it.

Under that spine-chilling fear was a deep sense of excitement hidden beneath.

What is this feeling in my stomach.........

He began to feel something he had never felt before, it was different to the gut feeling he had due to his guilty conscience.

This was more like butterflies in his stomach.

The creature seemed to be infatuated with him and he was infatuated with it.

All sense of logic and reasoning was leaving his body and he clenched the sword tightly with his legs getting weak from excitement.

There was no way on earth he was gonna be able to kill this thing, not in the state he was but he wished to try anyway..................

*Caw Caw

The sound of crows in the distance with their wings fluttering could be heard.

The creature slowly backed away into the distance with those red gleaming eyes growing ever so distant.

Just like that, it was gone as if it was never there to begin with.

*Phew

It's gone................what was that thing?............ Doesn't matter.

"Sorry boy, but we're moving as soon as the dawn of light strikes, non-stop until we reach Mephisto, this forest is too................" the boy told the horse stroking it's back, failing to complete his sentence.

The threat was gone, and dawn soon approached.

He woke all night on guard in case the threat re-emerged, but it never did.

It was time to get a move-on dawn was breaking.

He quickly mounted the stallion and began to ride once more.

The forest seemed to have no end and it was midday already.

Something could be seen in the far distance.

A caravan?

As he got closer, it could be seen it was a steel caravan with the backdoor shut.

It was stationary and wasn't moving.

He made his way past the metal caravan and saw an old man, around early to mid 60's wearing a long brown overcoat reaching around knee height, a black shirt beneath, some black boots and brown pants. The man was fattish with his belly rolling over and had gray slicked back hair, holding the reigns of the 2 horses which moved the caravan.

The boy slowed down.

"Hey there," he called out to the man.

The man looked at the boy.............he was assessing the boy to see whether he was a bandit or not.

"Hey there stranger" the man replied smiling.

"By chance, can I get some water for my horse?" the boy asked.

The man was still suspicious of the boy, it could be seen in his eyes, but it was gradually leaving.

"Ah yes," the man said pouring some water from a wooden bottle into a small metal bowl passing it to the boy.

The boy unmounted his horse and placed the bowl on the ground and the horse began to drink the water.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the boy and the older man.

As the horse was finished drinking the water, the boy quickly took the bowl and passed it back to the man.

"Thank you......." he told the man, slowly mounting himself back onto the horse.

"Not a problem good sir" the man responded.

The boy began to move again leaving the stationary caravan behind.

After around 5 minutes he heard something.

*AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

A woman's scream?.....Where's it coming from?

He stopped the horse in its tracks and began to listen for the direction of the sound.

It was coming from the back.

He turned the horse around and immediately began to backtrack.

The caravan was in sight but the man was nowhere to be seen.

*AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The woman shouted.

It was coming from the caravan.

The boy stopped his horse around 20 meters in front of the horses of the caravan, picking up his sword and began walking fastly towards the back door of the caravan being careful to not make any loud noises.

As he approached from the side, smacking could be heard.

The door was open.

He walked through the opened door and the sight before him pissed him off.

*SMACK

"TELL ME, WHY WON'T IT GET UP BITCH" the old man shouted at a woman with his back facing the boy slapping the woman.

The only visible thing of the woman was her legs which were spread and shackled to the walls of the caravan.

The man was obscuring his full view of the woman.

He was grabbing something and his hand was moving in a rigorous movement back and forth. The man was jacking himself off trying to get an erection to rape her.

Susan...........

The boy took the sword and hit it on the steel of the caravan using the hilt, making a loud noise alerting the man.

The man slowly turned around and watched the boy in shock.

"IT-IT-IT-ITS NOT WHA-"

"Zip your pants up" the boy said calmly interrupting the man, trying his best not to lose composure.

The man zipped his pants up and turned around. He was relatively short and the boy looked like a giant to his eyes.

The man shifted to the side and the boy could see the woman.

A girl with short brown hair with fair skin, her face was black and blue from the beating she had received, her hazel eyes looked lifeless, her skin was dirty, her plump lips bled from being busted and she had short sharp pointed ears. Her brown dress was torn exposing her genitals and she laid there on the ground with her legs spread wide open. Her arms and legs were shackled with the chains leading to the metal walls.

She looked to be around 20.

"I-I-IF YOU WANT, I'LL LET YOU FUCK HER IF YOU LET ME GO" the man shouted at the boy with his voice trembling in fear.

The boy turned his head and stared at the man with cold heartless eyes.

"You aren't in a position to negotiate, move one inch from that spot or speak another word and I'll drive this sword through your piece of shit head" he told the man almost breaking his composure.

The man went quiet and followed the boy's instructions.

The boy slowly approached the girl and raised her head.

"NO-NO-NO P-P-Please don't r-r-rape me" she said with her voice sounding low and tears falling.

"It'll be ok n-"

The man began to run and exited the caravan

The boy sprinted after him and the man fell to the ground tripping on air from fear.

Taking the sword the boy impaled the man's leg to the ground, plunging his sword deep into the earth ensuring the man could not move.

*AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The man screamed

"I beg of you, please have mercy," the man said crying, begging for his life.

A rattling sound could be heard.

Keys?

On the inside of the man's overcoat was the keys for the shackles.

The boy took the keys and entered the caravan where the girl laid, leaving the man impaled to the ground unable to move.

He slowly approached her, looking at her in the eyes.He unshackled her legs and arms.

"T-T-Thank you," she said with her voice trembling from fear.

"Can you move?" he asked the girl.

She gave no response.

"I'm not going to do anything to you," he told her lifting her into his arms.

She was light and he carried her outside and placed her by the reigns of the horses of the caravan.

Then he turned around and headed back to the man.

"PLEASE LET ME GO" the man begged.

The boy pulled the sword out from the man's leg.

"Thank-"

"I don't remember me saying that I was done with you.............." he whispered into the man's ear bending over.

He pulled off the man's overcoat and threw it to the side then tore a piece of the cloth from the man's shirt and stuffed it into the man's mouth and began dragging him.

Dragging the man, the man chose to attempt to resist by trying to shake the boy off.

"Stop or else I will definitely kill you" the boy said staring down at the man coldly.

The man had no choice to listen.

He stopped all forms of resistance and the boy dragged him away around 15 meters away from the back of the caravan.

"For the kindness you showed me before, I won't kill you.........but for what you attempted to do to that girl, I don't feel like letting you off easily," the boy told the man.

He put the front half of the man's body out the roadway and into the forests reach, leaving the boundary of the wards. Then he placed the man's 2 hands on top each other and impaled them into the ground using his sword. Kicking the hilt until it made contact with the arms, sinking the blade deep into the ground ensuring it wouldn't budge.

*MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

The man's muffled screams could be heard by the boy but he paid no heed.

"As you can see, you're half in half out..........quite literally," the boy said staring into the forest.

"Your chances of survival are extremely low, I've left the lower half of your body on the roadway under protection and well........this half is within the forest, if someone sees you on the road during daylight today they can probably pull this sword out and save your life..............however once night time reaches you're at the mercy of the creatures of the forest" the boy said slowly walking away.

He picked up the man's overcoat and made his way to the carriage.

As he approached the carriage, the girl could be seen in the spot he left her, he was gone for at least 20 minutes.

She hasn't taken off?

He thought that she would've taken a horse and ridden off by now, but the girl just sat there at the reigns off the caravan.

"That man won't do anything to you anymore........." he told her trying to comfort her, whilst putting the coat over her shoulders.

She gave no response.

Should I leave her ass here?

"I'm heading to Mephisto, do you want to come with me?" he asked her, raising his voice a little.

She began to cry.

"I-I-I have nowhere to go" she said to herself sobbing.

Did she just not hear me.........

"If you want, I can take you to safety in Mephisto and you can find your family from there," he told her, averting his gaze.

"My family's dead............." she replied, crying even more than before.

You're just like me.....................I shouldn't ask her about this, seems like a delicate matter.

"Come with me, we'll figure things out when we reach Mephisto"

She gave no response, deep down she was afraid of the boy, after all, he was just a random stranger and there was no sense of trust between them. There was no telling what he could do to her.

After a long delay, she decided that he seemed to have good intentions and right now he seemed to be the safest option.

"I-I-I'll come with you, I hope I'm not a burden" she responded after a train of thought at her current options.