“Are you sure you want to go to the forest with me?”

Rex nods his head enthusiastically, he wants to see the use of magic in person and try to replicate it himself if possible. He even equipped himself with a spear, the chief had taught him how to use a spear, but it was few basic moves. The spear was a perfect weapon for him right now as it can be used safely from a distance. He has no intention to fight an unknown creature headfirst, he is going to rely on Lara for the first few days and gain some experience.

“Okay, but I hunt with a team and I will have to convince them to let you join.” Lara says while tying her hair.

He frowns when he hears that there will be other people with them, he is worried that they will reject him as he cannot use mana and be of any help to the group. Lara notices his troubled face and she tries to cheer him up.

“They are good people. They will take you in happily.”

It’s no use worrying about it. If they don’t take me with them I will just look around the village.

Rex sighs and says, “Don’t force them if they refuse to accept me. I don’t want to create problems in your group.”

Lara begins to start packing her stuff, she puts herbs, cloths, a small container of blue colored potion inside her bag. She is not wearing a one-piece dress today as she has to move around in the forest and the dress hinders her mobility. Today she is in a black pant with a brown leather boot and a white shirt.

“Let’s go.” She rechecks everything and gives a slight nod before heading out.

He follows behind her with a spear in his hand, they head towards the edge of the village where they will meet with other members. Although they may not be walking side by side as a couple their relationship is not sinking anymore, the talk between them last night has opened up a new path. They have taken a step forward and they are able to have a normal conversation without her fearing him, slowly but surely, they are returning to what they were before the marriage.

They quickly reached their destination, but there was no one there. They decided to wait and as the meeting place was under a huge tree they could sit under the shade while waiting. Even after thirty minutes no one arrived, and Rex had lost his cool. He hated when someone made him wait as he was always punctual about time. He knew that right now he was the one that needed help and that is the reason he even waited thirty minutes but now he was impatient. He stood up from the ground and patted his pants removing the dust, he then stood in front of Lara and said.

“Let’s go, we will enter the forest without them.”

Lara could see the anger in his eyes and although she knows the anger is no directed at her she is still terrified, she gathers whatever courage she has and says, “Let’s wait a bit more. They usually take a while.”

She does not want to enter the forest alone as she is just a rank 1 water mage and the forest is danger itself. Rex hearing her reply gets more irritated as he can imagine a picture of Lara waiting for her group alone, under this tree every day. Although she is a rank 1 mage she has no chance against a group of men with malicious intention and there would be no one to help her as this fucking place is isolated.

“Is there any chance that they may not be here?” He asks gritting his teeth while his face turns red with anger.

Lara nods her head and replies cautiously, “There were some days when they did not show up at all.”

Rex takes a deep breath to relax his mind and body; it was not the time for his anger. He pulls her up

“Lead the way Mrs. Guide, it’s time for some adventure.” He softly pushes her forward.

Lara hesitates but after taking a deep breath she walks forward, she wants to wait for her friends, but she doesn’t want to argue and upset him breaking the small connection that they have at the moment.

I have to convince her to stay away from this group of hers. They seem to be selfish and uncaring about their teammate, if danger arises then they will not hesitate to betray each other.

Few hours later.

“Something is coming.” Rex whispers, he places his finger in front of his lips gesturing Lara to stay quiet. They had been walking inside the forest for the last twenty minutes and they had yet to encounter a single living being, even birds were nowhere to be seen. The only noise they had heard was the rustling of leaves when they walked over it.

Finally, I was getting spooked out of this eerie silence.

Something that is rustling the leaves slowly makes its way towards them. Rex’s body is running in adrenaline from the fear of the unknown, he is frightened but excited at the same time. Lara is calm and composed as she prepares the spell for water ball, but her instincts are telling her to get away from here.

“A wolf” Lara murmurs in shock seeing the silver wolf. This is something that should not be happening as they are near the edge of the forest, wolves usually live and hunt deeper within the forest. She quickly pulls Rex back and steps forward.

“Hurry up and climb a tree, go as high as you can.” She yells at Rex.

He doesn’t question her authority as he knows the situation is dire, who doesn’t know that wolves hunt in pack. He quickly scans around to look for a tree that is easy to climb and after finding one tries to climb it, but he can’t do it with a spear in his hand, so he drops it.

Lara has finished her spell, quickly a ball of water appears in front of her and hovers around. The wolf ignores the running Rex and looks cautiously at the woman as it could sense the danger from her.

“The wolf is injured, it is bleeding from the leg.” Rex, who was on a higher ground, notices the injury. When Lara hears it, she quickly releases the water ball towards the wolf. The wolf jumps on the left side but it notices the ball change its direction in mid-air, it tries to jump again but the injury delays the reaction. The water ball land perfectly on its face, the wolf gives a loud cry before falling down.

“Hurry get over here.” Rex shouts.

Lara quickly makes her way up the tree; the branch begins to shake so they move towards the base of the branch where it is stable. They begin to scan the area for more wolves, but they don’t see or hear anything.

After five minutes Lara quickly climbs down, “Get down quick, we are leaving.” She kneels in front of the wolf and quickly cuts the stomach area, after few cuts she takes out a small black orb. She then proceeds to skin the animal.

Meanwhile Rex is examining the injured leg, he sees multiple bite marks on its leg indicating that it was in some kind of fight and the winner was toying with it.

What if the other animal is still chasing? Shit I have a bad feeling.

“Lara, I think it’s best that we get out of here.”

“Give me a second, I am almost done. The wolf’s skin will fetch a good price.” She speaks without looking back while blood covers her hands.

Lara quickens her work and within a minute the skin is cut precisely, they quickly leave the area and head out of the forest. They don’t take a break on the road as they have to sell the skin as well. Rex is fatigued from the journey as he does not have the habit of walking and running, they had gone to the forest in the morning and right now the sun was about to set. He heads home while Lara goes to sell the skin and shop for tonight’s dinner.

“Here take this.” Lara hands him the black orb fetched from the wolf after they had their dinner.

“You should have sold it, you get good money from monster’s core.” Rex says as he is confused on why she would give it to him.

She looks down while playing with her dress, she is embarrassed, “I know that you are trying to …” She stops speaking, looks at him with red face and drops the core at the table before running away.

“I also want to keep you happy.” She shouts and shuts her door.

Rex gives a slight smile before grabbing the monster core. He did not expect her to open up with him so soon. A warm heat originating from the core rushes inside his body disrupting his thoughts, it lasts for few seconds before vanishing completely. The black orb in his hand turns into white and crumbles into pieces.

He gets goosebumps from the sudden incident, he gets up and tries to get help from Lara but before he could do that the warm sensation returns and gathers in his right hand. He stops to see his hands but finds nothing but when he clenches his fists the warmth disappears.

BANG

Rex looks ahead to find the source of the sound, his eyes open wide when he sees a big briefcase in front of him appear out of nowhere. He cautiously makes his way and opens the briefcase.

Holy Jesus.