You grimace as you try to pull yourself up with your staff. Donovan knocks it out from underneath you.

"Don't..." you croak weakly.

"Hm? Don't what? You want me to stop bullying you? You gonna go cry for your mummy or daddy? Tell on a teacher?"

"Don't hurt Aala..."

"Oh. Oh. I see. Well then, I won't hurt her at all."

He grabs you by the hair and pulls you up to face his eyes. They've gone from having a cruel glint to just being... cruel.

"On one condition. Burn the library down."

Your eyes widen in shock. His grin widens.

"Oooh, is that a little too scary for you? Why don't you have Aala next to you while you do it so you don't piss yourself?"

"No... please - "

He punches you in the face. "Didn't ask for your opinion, did I? Shut up. I'll play the part of the hero who valiantly tried to stop you and wounded you badly, but you managed to drive me away and I went to get Aala to help me stop you. Then you'll burn the library in front of her using immolate and run away from the school in the dead of night without saying a word to her or anyone else."

His fist hurtles to your face once more and -

You wake up with a start, staring up at the light splitting through the dense canopy of leaves over you, the back of your head chafing as it rests against the rough bark of an exposed tree trunk. Your back itches, and as you get up tiny insects fall out of your robes - they've probably been biting at you all night. Every inch of your body aches.

How long has it been since you got here? Two days? Three? They say you lose track of time when you stay in Rifan Forest for too long - living off the strange plants here slows down your soul and body and what would feel like ten minutes would stretch out into an hour. But that myth appears to be false - as long as you've been here, you've never noticed any plant which had such an effect on you. That's not why you've been losing track of time.

No, you just don't even have the time to pay attention to sunrise and sunset anymore.

Every second you've been awake you've been fighting to survive. Hiding from rainfall in the hollows of giant trees before being chased out by woodworm infestations, testing berries for poison by rubbing the juice on your arms and hoping you don't get a rash, eating maggots and sleeping in the dirt - it's all been an exhausting string of humiliating and painful events, one after another.

Story of your life, isn't it?

You take your backpack off (you slept with it on; you didn't want to risk it getting damaged, stolen or lost) and take out your spellbook, flicking through the pages idly. You honestly don't even think you're going to bother preparing any different spells: Expeditious Retreat, Unseen Servant and False Life have all been enough in the time you've been here. You don't need anything else at the moment.

But you sure as hell want to get out of here.

Burning down the school library meant you burned down Freeman property and burning down Freeman property meant you'd committed a crime worthy of the highest punishment: outlawry. Now anyone could do with you as they wished. They can shoot you, hang you, enslave you - it doesn't matter. The law will not defend you. No-one will defend you. You've become something like a common wolf who can be struck down by anyone and nobody will care. So you hid in this forest away from society, living like a wolf -

Wolves are strong, Hale. They're powerful and kill without hesitation. You're not really a wolf. You're a -

You can't spend time listening to the voice right now. You need to get breakfast.

You chuck your spellbook back into your backpack and put it on, before digging away at the soft soil beneath you with your long, dirty fingernails, eventually revealing a long, dark wooden pole - your quarterstaff, hidden away safely. You take it out and brush it off before using it to pull yourself up. There was yet another day of work to be done.

You clumsily stumble between the dense network of trees, your boots and your staff shifting and slipping against the uneven and loose ground as you search for some berry bushes. Your eyes are peeled for a certain kind of bush you found yesterday - thorny with bitter purple fruits, but surprisingly filling. Every now and again, you mark trees you pass by with a small dent into their bark using your quarterstaff so you can find you way around, but eventually, the sunlight begins to fade away and the forest gets too dark for you to even see through. You've gone quite deep and not found any food. You decide to head back and -

You hear the clanking of metal nearby. The voices of two men, loud and careless. They're approaching you. You see them - they're both clad tip to toe ridiculously shiny steel armour that glint painfully in what little sunlight comes through. Paladins. Oath of Liberty Paladins. You recognise the stubbled face of Rodrick, the one who threw those goblins into that pit on that fateful day. The other one is a short, unimpressive man with a pale and bony face. You hide behind a nearby rock as best you can, facing the dark part of the forest.

"Axel, I will hear no more of this," Rodrick says flatly. "We must find these wolves, no matter what. It is our duty!"

The other man, apparently named Axel, groans in annoyance. "All I'm sayin' is that we two level 6 paladins shouldn't be out there huntin' 50 EXP animals. I mean, come on! We're some of the best in the order! Why'd you sign us up for the worst quest?" You recoil at the sound of his voice - it's nasally and extremely irritating.

"Because with great power comes the requirement for great virtue."

"Great virtue? Bitch, we're huntin' wolves in Rifan forest, nobody's thanking us! Didn't someone get outlawed recently?"

"You mean Hale Reeves? The wizard?"

Your pulse quickens at the mention of your name.

"Yeah, that guy! We'd be doin' everyone a service by - "

"Axel, he's eighteen. A level 2 wizard at that. What could you possibly gain from killing someone so weak?"

"...300 EXP?"

Rodrick groans in annoyance, while you cringe at the feeble attempt at humour. But you're also put on your guard - it appears that your outlawry has quickly become common knowledge, at least among the paladins. You can't risk being caught by anyone and you really should get out of this forest as quickly as you -

A crossbow bolt whizzes out from the dark, soaring over you and hitting a tree behind Axel, who stares back at it in shock. Rodrick sees it and quickly draws his blade from the scabbard at his hip. Axel quickly and clumsily follows suit.

"Foul assailant, show yourself!"

Out of the darkness steps a slim and tall man covered in full steel plate with a crossbow in hand and although his face is covered by a visor, you instantly recognise him by the shape of his armour and the way he clunks with every step he takes. There's no doubting it, and yet it can't be true.

This man is Alvar. And he's standing right over you. He hasn't even seen you yet.

Rodrick lowers his sword in confusion. "You... aren't you the leader of that party of youngsters I gave the EXP for beating up some goblins to?"

"Yes!" Alvar calls back. "Er, well, I wouldn't really consider myself a leader, per se, but I was the fighter of that party, indeed."

"What are you doing, attacking Paladins of the Oath of Wisdom?" Rodrick demands.

"I'm sorry, but Rifan Forest is private property. You can't be here."

"What? No, it isn't!"

"Yes it is, I bought it."

"You did no such thing!"

"I have the deed with me if you wish to see it."

"Yes, I would very much like to - "

Rodrick is cut off as Axel punches him in the shoulder. "No, that won't be necessary, sir. We'll leave these forests immediately," he says as he glares at Rodrick.

Rodrick stares back at him, before sighing in defeat and sheathing his sword. "Very well. We'll take your word for it. Goodbye."

He and Axel turn around before trudging away, weaving between trees before disappearing from sight entirely. Meanwhile, you're practically shaking in terror underneath this bloody rock with this oblivious idiot standing over -

He looks down, seeing you, and tilts his head.

"Hale? What're you doing here?"