Everything flashed through his mind as Miranda began to pull him towards the horse, the thought of the creature having the balls to taunt him, it was infuriating.

"WE'RE LEAVING NOW" Miranda shouted into the boy's ears, trying desperately to break the trance he was in, with every two steps she pulled him back, he moved one step forward.

He was like that of a wild beast in the jungle, although the creature was gone, he felt a need to assert his dominance over it, in his mind, this was survival of the fittest and he was going to chase it in the forest.

There was no way on earth he could kill this thing, his body was in no condition and he had been making his way all this time off pure willpower alone, but primal instinct is something entirely different, it doesn't matter what state the body is in, it invokes a state into the mind where all that matters is to kill or be killed.

It taunted him and that was enough to make him lose his sense of reasoning.

She could notice how hard he was gripping the sword, his blood from the wound on his hand was leaking down the entire sword dripping at the tip.

He was forcefully making his way to the forest.

What should I do?

She had to decide quickly, he was almost at the edge and he was pulling her along with him, she could've let go at any time but she had no desire for him to throw away his life like this.

In the short time she had met him, he always seemed calm and laidback but this was a different side.

*SMACK

She punched him in the face.

What the fuck..........

He regained his senses.

"DO YOU REALLY WANT TO THROW AWAY YOUR LIFE THAT BADLY?" she shouted, beginning to cry.

"Man, I really am fucked up" he told her, stopping in his tracks and wiping the tears off her face.

He began to think about what he was doing.

"Lets go" he said, staring into her eyes walking towards the horse.

Just like that?..............

He strapped the sword on the horse and they both got on and began to ride again.

The night was still young but the creature was gone and they were safe but she was still afraid.

They rode until the break of dawn and the forest seemed to be reaching an end, the amount of trees were thinning.

"Let's stop here Miranda, I have to wrap my hand, it's still bleeding," he told her.

Holding the reigns of the horse continuously had caused the wound to remain open and his body was given no chance to attempt to close it.

"You're right" she replied grabbing his body tight before slowly letting go.

They stopped in the middle of the road and he grabbed her hand and helped her get off the horse.

They sat in the middle of the road and he took his shirt off.

Although his body had lost weight, he was still in decent shape, it was nothing food and water couldn't fix in a short period of time.

Wow..............

He took the sword and cut off one of the sleeves and shredded it into some pieces and began the palm of his hand.

"So what do you think that thing was?" she asked him.

He thought about it for a second.

"I don't know, but it was sending me a message" he replied.

"Sending you a message?" she inquired.

"Yea, it was telling me that wards don't mean shit and that it could've killed me since the first time it saw me and at any point in the 2 days I was here in the forest" he replied keeping his anger hidden.

"W-W-W-WAIT, YOU MET THAT THING BEFORE?" she shouted asking him.

"Calm down............. yea, in my first night here it approached me, I travelled miles and it seems to have kept following me, I had a hunch in that first meeting it wasn't gonna leave me alone" he replied coldly.

"Is that why you wanted to travel through the night before?" she asked

"Yea" he replied

"I'm so sorry, if it wasn't for me this wou-"

"Don't blame yourself, I'm rather happy that this happened" he interrupted her with a poker face.

This is him happy......................

"Wait.........why are you happy..........did you not understand the severity of the situation?" she responded asking him seriously.

"It issued a challenge and I wanted to take it up......." he told her

A challenge.................

"TAKE IT UP? ARE YOU DUMB?.........................Anyways, thank god this is over, hopefully, we should be near Mephisto soon and we won't have to deal with that anymore" she told him with an angry look slowly turning into a look of relief on her face.

"I'll stay in Mephisto for a while and when I regain my strength I'm coming back in here for it" he told her with a resolute look on his face.

Unknown to the both of them, the creature was watching them from far away in the forest and at hearing those words coming from the boy it began to smile.

"YOU AREN'T COMING BACK HERE FOR THAT REASON, YOU'RE SO....SOOOOOOOO.......YOU'RE NOT FUCKIN COMING BACK HERE" she shouted like a command, with her face getting red like a tomato.

Who the fuck does she think she is...........

"Woah, woah, calm down there buddy, shout any louder and your head'll blow up" he told her, waving his arms back and forth. 

She began taking deep breaths and the red color her face had slowly returned to normal and the awkward silence began.

She wanted to know more about him.

"So where are you from?" she asked.

He gave no response.

"Okayyyyyyyy, so how old are you?" she followed up asking another question.

"19" he responded hesitantly.

He never knew when his birthday was and checked his age by the start of new years and not by his date of birth.

He's pretty young...........

"I've been meaning to ask you this since last night when we were talking, but what's your name?" as she asked, her serious demeanor turned to shyness.

She was embarrassed, it should've been the first thing she should've asked when she had met him.

My name?..............

"Lets go Miranda" he told her with a cold look on his face.

He avoided the question?......

He put on his torn shirt quickly and clenched his hand to make sure the cloth was wrapped tightly before mounting the horse.

Both of them got on and they began to move again

The forest was meeting its end, they were almost there.

Looking into the far distance like a hawk, men could be seen waiting on the edges of the roadway. 

Judging by the way they were dressed, they were bandits he assumed.

He stopped the horse in its tracks quickly.

"Why are you stopping?" Miranda asked.

"Ok, so chances are the men in the far distance are bandits" he replied

"W-W-W-WH" 

"Don't worry about it, get off the horse right now" he told her.

They both got off the horse and he unwrapped the bandages on his hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Chances are if they rob me they'll let me live........but her on the other hand......who knows what they might do to her and I can't defend her in this state............

He looked at her body and made a quick assessment. The coat she was wearing reached a little above her feet and it hid her dress perfectly and it was baggy. She was around 5 foot 4 inches.Then the idea popped into his head, he could make her look like a little brother.

"Miranda, this is gonna be nasty, but I need to make you look like a boy right about now," he said with a stern look on his face

"What do you me-"

Taking his other hand, he reopened the wound by pulling the flesh apart and blood began to gush.

FUCK..............

It hurt like hell but his face showed no expression of it.

"WHAT ARE YOU-" 

He put his finger on his lips signaling her to be quiet, he was unsure if there could be more bandits nearby and her shouting could alert them.

"This is gonna be nasty for you" he whispered.

He took his blood and put it in her hair and shook it up, making it look messy and then he took more of his blood and put it on her face and some on the palm of her hands making it look as if she was in an altercation prior to this.

"I think I'm gonna puke," she told him, looking aghast and with her body shaking.

Her face still looks feminine........

Then he began to walk to the forest.

"And where are you going?" she asked him with her arms folded, watching him like she was going to beat his ass.

"Calm down" he bent at the side of the roadway and picked up a handful of dirt.

Then walked back over to her and smeared it on her face and feet making her look as if she was dragged through the dirt.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" she said angrily.

"Maybe............ but on the bright side, you look like a boy now, so should I say congratulations on becoming my little brother?" he responded sarcastically.

"Fuck you" she replied.

He threw the sword into the woods and they got back on the horse and began to move.

There was no say in throwing away the sword, he had to make sure that they looked the part.

The people were within her line of sight and she began to feel fear.

"Just keep your head down and don't say anything, I'll handle it" he whispered to her.

As they drew near the men on the road, 3 men could be seen and then suddenly, 4 men jumped out from the roadway behind them, blocking their exit.

"Hey there traveller........whatcha got there," one of the bandits said while approaching them.

"P-P-P-Please let us leave here, you can have it all, just let us get to s-s-s-safety" the boy said digging his thumb into the wound, forcing a tear and making his voice trembling.

The man watched the both of them and calmly assessed them, they looked as if they had been in a struggle.

"What happened to y'all?" the man asked.

"K-K-K-Kólasi was destroyed and we fled" he responded with his face growing ever so sad and his heart beginning to throb.

"KOLASI WAS DESTROYED?!" the man shouted losing his composure.

Kólasi? Destroyed? Is that where he came from...........

All the bandits could be seen to have a shocked look on their faces.

"S-S-S-Some army invaded and plundered the city, everyone is dead except for us, our family gave their lives for us to escape" the boy responded with his voice fading, feeling as if he was choking.

The atmosphere went quiet, it was awkward.

"P-P-P-Please just let us reach the city, my little brother has been through alot and I'm bleeding, you can have the horse and ther-ther-theres money in the satchel," the boy said begging, looking as if he was on the verge of breaking down and crying.

The man began to stare at them and could be seen to be in deep thought.

"I understand the situation, you've been through a lot, we're merciful bandits, we'll take the money and the horse and let you leave here safely, no-one here will harm you," the man said with a compassionate look on his face.

He had done it, he managed to draw out sympathy from the bandit.

"T-T-Thank you," the boy said with his voice trembling and a grateful look on his face.

"M-Miran, l-l-lets g-g-go" he said with a look of sorrow on his face, grabbing Miranda by the arm and leading her off the horse with the men staring at them with a look of sadness on their faces.

He put his arm around her and began to slowly walk away.

"M-M-Miran, e-everything i-is gonna be a-a-alright" he said, making sure it was audible to the bandits to get maximum sympathy out of them, walking off into the distance leaving the horse and the money Elle had given him behind.

After they reached a good distance away from the bandits, the forests end could be seen.

He turned and looked back to make sure the coast was clear and then let go of Miranda.

"Where did you learn to act like that?" she asked out of genuine curiosity.

"The begging came naturally to me, I'm used to it" he responded without thinking about what he said.

What does he mean by that?

She could tell this was a delicate matter and chose not to ask about it.

However, her mind was itching at what he said about Kólasi being destroyed.

"Is what you said about Kol-"

"It doesn't concern you Miranda" he interjected, walking ahead of her.

What happened to him................

They finally exited the forest and small fields could be seen on both sides with people farming.

As they passed the fields, a small settlement could be seen with multiple flat houses. 

They made their way through the settlement without speaking to anyone, at the end a wide gate could be seen with large buildings made of marble being visible through it.

It was Mephisto.