Thanks for reading the first 4 chapters and here is another one that finally contains some close combat. Enjoy ;-)

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Damn, this troll really doesn’t like me. I’ve been dodging his kicks, charges, and stomps for a while now. Looks like Lora is still down for the count. I hope she wakes up soon. Come on!!! Think Skylar, THINK!

As I was trying to think I tripped over a root that was probably put there so I could get hit a moment later by that troll. I have to say, for a troll 3 meters tall, he still hits like a carriage. I landed on the ground, bleeding everywhere. That’s going to leave a mark. Ok, time to test out what I’m capable of. I didn’t have the guts to try this, but it’s my only hope now.

I’ve hid myself behind a tree, knowing how trolls are dumb enough not to find out where I am. I’ve started chanting over my left hand. It was a huge risk. I’ve never tried this out. Chanting some ancient words I remembered from a book I was reading, strange marks appeared on my right arm.

I think this is working. I’m not done yet though. Grabbing a bandage from my back pocket, I wrapped it around my arm in order to preserve those runes from fading away.

It started hurting really badly already. I knew I wasn’t going to last long like this so I had to act quickly. Quickly I rushed to the giant creature which was furious because he couldn’t find me. He tried to swing at me, but I had an opening. I could dash under him, between his legs.

I barely dodged his swing by a hair’s breadth. My arm was now hurting crazily. It felt like it was burning. I got behind him and touched his back with my right hand. I quickly tore the bandage from my hand and the runes disappeared. Troll was a bit confused, but he didn’t realize what had happened. As he swung once more, he was forced ahead by his own physical force, not being able to stop.

Yes, it worked! He flew with a huge speed and even the tree, which was right in front of him, couldn’t stand his own gravitational pull and mass. It broke in half while the troll still flew into the dark forest behind us.

I instantly came to Lora to see if she had regained consciousness. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. She was lying there lifelessly. I brought my head to her chest, to see if she was still breathing. Not giving a damn about the cleavage under my ear, I could hear her heart beating normally. Thank goodness. I was really afraid that kick would be fatal.

But I realized that the back of her head was bleeding. I needed to treat her wound this instant if I wanted for her to live. I didn’t have any bandage left apart from the one I tore earlier. I quickly wrapped her head with the bandage. It started soaking the crimson blood until it was almost fully red. I need to get her to drink this health potion somehow.

I brought her up so she was now sitting and I opened her mouth by lowering her jaw down. I was really inexperienced in this. The way that I did it was so robust. I didn’t think of using this chance to transfer the red liquid from my mouth to hers, by kissing her. Oh well, there will be more chances right?

I closed her mouth and the liquid went down her throat. Now all I could do was stay with her until she regained consciousness. I waited for hours. Now there would be no chance to catch up to that merchant she was telling me about earlier. What am I saying?

I should be glad that she is still alive. Who gives a damn about the merchant. I don’t even have money to spend on items.

“Umlfjgkjsd” (Lora)

“Lora, are you awake??”

*yawn* “Yes, I am... But, who are you?” (Lora)

“Oh no… No no no no no…” (me)

“Where am I?” (Lora)

I can’t believe this. Did she lose her memory? This isn’t happening. Looks like that impact really hit her hard. What am I going to do..?

“What’s your name?” (me)

“My name is Loraine, who are you?”

“I’m Skylar, we have been …~”

I then proceeded in telling her what happened, why she is here and that we are on a journey. The problem is that she doesn’t remember any of the spells or runes she learned in the school. She doesn’t even remember grandma and grandpa. Why did this had to happen?

“Hey, why is your hand bloody?” (Lora)

“What?” I said with a confused voice as I looked at my bloody right hand. Oh my goodness, it must be the aftereffect of the rune. I must do something. It’s probably because of adrenaline that I didn’t notice it was in this shape.

“Look in your bag, and tell me if you have any bandages.” (me)

“Oh, I have some!” She took the bandage and wrapped around my arm.

I then drank a health potion. I think I will be good. It does hurt, but at least I was able to mess up that troll pretty hard. He won’t be coming back, that’s for sure.

We continued through the last bit of the forest until we arrived at the edge where hills filled with grass and flowers awaited us. I’m still not sure where that troll came from, but I really don’t care now that we are safe. I started thinking hard about how I am going to regain her memories. I read in books that there are people who can access the human brain, although with a large cost, and alter memories and so on, but I’m not sure where to find such a person.

If we were to go back to the village, we would need to go through the forest again, which gave me shivers. i knew that the troll I fought earlier wasn't dead.

Also, now we can’t continue the travelling on fluffy because she doesn’t know how to summon him. I guess we can just continue walking. I don’t think that city is all that far away.

“Grrrhgghg” (my stomach)

Looks like we won’t continue walking for now, but rather sitting down to eat something. Good thing I brought that delicious food I made when we started out. Looks like health potions recover your hunger though. I did felt hungry when we encountered that troll, but I couldn’t retaliate then.

"Grrrhgghg" (her stomach)

“Are you hungry as well?” I asked Lora.

She blushed and nodded her head slightly.

I guess she has her shy side too. That’s okay. I have plenty of food for the both of us.

You might have wondered where he kept his food, and potions until now. What he failed to mention before is that his small sack, which he keeps on his belt, has a meter by meter space in it. It is small, but its magic is powerful enough to shrink space itself. He received that sack when he entered a competition in his school a couple of years ago.

It was an enchanter’s competition. The goal was to enchant one item and the judges would chose the most useful enchanted item created. Skylar was first with his levitating shoes. Everyone got a crystal which contained mana. It would be the core to power the item so that it could work.

As a reward for the best enchanted item, he was granted that small sack. Unfortunately, as he was one day lying under a tree sleeping, a group of bunnies came to the shoes, which were lying their harmlessly, and ate the shoes and the crystal shattered as soon as the runes embedded on the shoes were damaged. The animals in this world are just too annoying. As soon as they feel a magic item nearby, they rush to eat it, since it would give them powers. Fortunately for him, they were still bunnies which couldn't eat humans. What a careless person… Loosing flying shoes like that. He could’ve probably sold them for gold coins, but nope.

And so we finished eating the meal and set forth to the town.

We were quite tired though. We would need to rest one more night since the Sun was already setting on the horizon. The clouds turned dark orange and red, while the grass swayed on the light breeze.

We found a rock that was slightly bent over a spot on the ground and so we decided to set our makeshift camp there.

Lora fell asleep first, while I noticed slight carvings on the bottom of the bent rock.

“Are these runes of some sort??” (me)

Still lying down, I tried reaching the runes with my hand, not thinking about the consequences that could be fatal…