Misha has always been a helpful, cheerful little girl. On days where she doesn’t have anything to do, she would go from house to house to offer services her tiny little hands and bright smile could do. Be it talking to the elderly, picking some flowers, or outright just do anything she wants, she would do it all if it meant that those she does those for would be happy. In return, she would receive her payment in “joy points”. That is her made up currency where people just have to be happy in order to satisfy her.

Today was no exception for her usual helping out. She was going to visit Aren after what happened yesterday since she believed that Aren needs a playmate. See him cry and reach for the warmth of his parents didn’t seem very happy for her, so she wants to make him give her joy points. She doesn’t want no sad people wherever she may go, and Aren is included.

Though there is an entirely different matter she must tend to before she could visit. Misha found her mother sleeping on her workbench. The room she is in is filled with herbs and medicinal materials found in her room’s shelves and cupboards. The open window directly in front of the bench gave way to the yells and shouts of the townspeople, debating whether to turn the bandits in to Rosenvolt or make use of them in this town. It was still morning, and yet the town is already filled with noise. Although Misha isn’t the type to complain, this early bird noise makes her uncomfortable much more than she would like. She won’t, however, let this take her joy points away from her.

Misha moved to shake her mother awake, but her drool is already enough of an implication that she won’t be woken up for a period of time. Even the noise that started about fifteen minutes ago wasn’t enough to knock her awake. But even so, Cecil always prioritized her child more than herself. The table in the dining room was already plated with lukewarm food that’s ready for consumption. She may forget staying awake, but she could never forget her child’s needs.

This was a common occurrence in the Joman household, and Misha is used to it. After all, her mother was an apothecary. Cecil’s job was to collect herbs, appraise their quality, sort the medicinal materials, give treatments, deliver some to the nearby city for income, and tend to Misha every day, but the last one is more of a mother’s responsibility than an apothecary’s work. Of course, this would cause noticeable fatigue on her part, and the incident yesterday only got her much more tired than she already was. Although he often sleeps late, this is the first time she slept on her workbench since the incident only delayed her schedule as a busy woman. Despite her business, family still came first in her priorities. She doesn’t always get relaxing days, but when she does, she makes sure she spends it all on Misha. That is why, even though Cecil barely has enough time for Misha, the child still understands that everything was for her sake.

And so today, Misha decided that she would at least lift a little burden from her hardworking mother. She takes delights in the happiness she brings, and her mother would surely be happy if she would do her a favor. That favor, would be borrowing Cecil’s book of medicine and herbs then gather some herbs on her own. She is an apprentice apothecary after all and if she ever wants to become an apothecary like her mother, she’ll have to do the work by herself sooner or later. By doing this, Misha is killing two birds with one stone.

After eating her breakfast, changing clothes to a little red dress, and bringing with her Cecil’s book and basket, she went out to go to the forest. She passed by people of the town while greeting them, them greeting her back as she did so. The sky was as clear as a crystal clear water, with the sun shining brightly on the smiling girl that is happily skipping on the streets. The townsfolk who saw Misha immediately deduced that she’s going to do something on her own, probably visiting someone. Being a little recurring girl that she is in these parts, the people left her on her own. Unbeknownst to them, Misha didn’t stay inside the town, continuing on to the forest onwards.

Misha knows how dangerous the forest is. Her mother always told her to stay away from the forest because of its dangerous inhabitants. Monsters and animals alike are a threat, and it will only get worse for Misha due to her age and small frame. So with that in mind, Misha instead wants to gather herbs that are found in the shallow part of the forest. Surely with how near she is from the outskirts of the forest, there would be nothing that would try to attack her. She skipped happily into the forest, with the basket and book in one hand.

There isn’t a lot of things you can find at the shallow parts of the forest. At most Misha could find were Noumins, potent herbs that have the healing property to immediately clot the blood as well as disinfect the area around the wound. There was only one “quality” herb that she found, the all-around healing Kalagay that is one of the ingredients for making health potions. Cecil’s book of medicine does wonders on Misha’s knowledge about the herbs she found. Though there isn’t a lot of good herbs, she’s very certain the her mom would be happy of the amount she’ll bring back at home. Knowing that, Misha pumps herself up as she unknowingly ventures into a dangerous territory.

On her usual gathering, a growling noise caught her attention, prompting her to turn her head. There was nothing to be found, only trees and shrubbery. Although it was faint, it was very much real. Misha’s heartbeat became faster as she spent her time looking around, visibly getting more and more uncomfortable as time went on. The still quietness of the forest just adds up to her unease, as it feels like she’s alone, but not alone. Maybe she already had enough in her basket. It’s time for her to go home.

Unlike Aren, she isn’t very brave and actually had thoughts on coming in the forest she knew was too dangerous. Ultimately, however, Misha prioritized her mother than her own safety. Suffice to say, she didn’t think that one through enough. Her feet’s stepping of crushed leaves are the only sounds that she could hear aside from the occasional bird chirps and critter squeaks, but it was all interrupted again by another growling. This time, when Misha turned around, she was immediately greeted by four ravenous wolves.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Her shrilling scream echoed throughout the forest as she stumbled back onto a tree behind her, dropping her basket in the process. The wolves closed in on her slowly, seemingly feasting their eyes on the prey before them. This was supposed to be a happy day for Misha, yet such grim fate awaited her. She wanted to run, but her legs won’t move and her eyes are fixated on the wolves. She instinctively knew that running will not help and so she could only stay still to delay her demise. The only thing she could do, was cry and pray to whoever she worshipped.

As the wolves came ever closer, a sight came upon Misha without notice. A rock hit the leading wolf clean on the head, cracking its skull open. The wolf fell dead with a thud, tongue sticking out and blood gushing out from the wound. The blood that splurted out stained Misha’s dress, but its red taint made it barely noticeable from a normal eye. It also helps that Misha was too busy looking at the wolf’s corpse to even notice the blood on her dress. The terrible scene made Misha gasp and cover her mouth. Already being confronted with terrifying creatures was bad enough, and now she had to witness a bloody execution up close. This was too much for a five year old to handle. She started to cry even more, silently weeping with her back against the tree.

Another rock immediately flew just as the other fell on the ground, hitting another wolf in its stomach and causing it to drop down in pain from its opened wound. Misha had to look away, but something stopped her eyes. From the sides behind a shrub jumped out a small figure, a boy.

“AIEEEEEE!”

Who jumped out with the most hysterical yet barbarically frightening battlecry Misha has ever heard, and it was none other than Aren himself. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Even though she was nowhere near the town, Aren was immediately there when she was in danger.

Aren brandished his knife, grabbing it overhead while in the air to try and smash it through another wolf’s skull. He landed perfectly on the ground, but missed the wolf as it bounced back before he could hit it. His increased attributes fortunately made short work of his stuck knife after it hit the ground, allowing him to retreat back to Misha and covered her from the wolves.

“Are you alright Misha?”

Misha didn’t reply. He took a glance at Misha, finding her staring at him with sparkly eyes. Of course this would happen. Being saved by someone from their impending doom would most likely make the saviour look like a shining beacon. But the great saviour Aren didn't take that attitude well.

“Ihatethis!Ihatethis!Ihatethis!”

Aren isn’t exactly in his right mind. The plan only included throwing rocks while empowered then jumping out to save Misha. The rest of the plan wasn’t envisioned, and now he’s stuck thinking and panicking. He let himself sink into some deep shit, and he’ll be here forever if he can’t figure out something soon.

Thankfully for him, the plan did went well with two of the wolves out of the picture. Now he only has to worry about two wolves, but Aren frankly thinks that two wolves are still too much for him to handle. Another problem is Misha, which he needs to save. Being confronted with two dilemmas only made it worse for Aren’s mind. It was bad enough that he was blackmailed, now he has to do something that will risk his or someone else’s life. There's also the fact that she's looking up to him, both literally and figuratively. If she survives and he dies, then saving her would mean nothing as he's pretty sure this would cause a deep trauma, one he can't do anything about because he'll be dead by then.

Aren thought of stalling for time since her scream earlier should’ve attracted the attention of anyone nearby the forest, or in the town. That isn’t an option for him however, since the wolves won’t wait any longer now that something has gotten in their way of their prey. Running is out of the equation also. Two five year olds can’t possibly outrun a wolf, granted that Aren could run faster than Misha due to the increased attributes. The only thing left to do is to fight, something that Aren doesn’t want to do in his current condition.

Aren prepared himself for combat, positioning his knife in front of him while his left hand is free from obstruction. Aren checks his skill’s cooldown.

Empower CD is 6 sec

His skill should-

“Whoa!”

Aren narrowly dodged a pounce from the first wolf, but the other immediately seized the chance and tried to lock its jaw on Aren. Aren, knowing the inevitable, used his free arm to block the wolf’s bite. His arm bled and the pain caused Aren an agonizing sensation, prompting him to grit his teeth and leak tears as he accumulates more and more stress under the situation. The wolf pulled and shook as soon as it took a hold of his arm, with the other closing in for another attack. Aren’s increased stats allowed him a bit of a fair game with the strength of the wolf’s pull, but the pain of his arm being tightly bitten is getting to him. The other pounced on Aren, but he quickly poured all of his strength to stab the grabbing wolf into the eye, killing it, then used the wolf’s body to block the other wolf’s pounce.

Aren fell on the ground, with the corpse of a wolf separating him from the other as it failed its attack. Aren slashed the wolf’s snout before it could even reach for his neck, making it shortly stagger back from the pain as it bled. The wolf then menacingly circled around him, its ferocious eyes locked unto his, snarling. He freed himself from the corpse, standing back up again. Now there are three casualties on the wolf’s side, but he’s heavily injured compared to the remaining wolf. His left arm is busted and can’t be freely moved anymore. He has nothing else to use to block.

But as many say, offense is the best defense. The fight earlier should've given enough time for Empower to cool down, and it will become his decisive attack for the final round of this battle. Both circled each other, Aren clenching his knife tightly and the wolf regaining stamina to go all out. His left arm made Aren bite his lower lip in pain. He wanted to check on Misha so badly if she’s still behind him, but he can’t take his eyes off the last wolf. There’s no telling what his enemy would do, because never did he fought an animal before.

Then the wolf made the first move, quickly moving in a zigzag pattern towards him. Aren swiftly slashed his knife to the right, but the wolf evaded and bounced on the nearby tree to try to jump on him.

“Shit!”

Aren dived away from the wolf and made it miss. He rolled on the ground, sloppily stopping himself and crouch back up again to assess the situation. Misha is in the edge of his vision now, hiding behind a bush. Despite the situation, Misha managed to think and hide, a decision Aren is very much thankful for. Now the wolf doesn’t have a clear path on Misha, so that would mean the wolf only has to lock on Aren.

“Wait, I’m still in trouble!”

Aren spaced out for a while, but luckily snapped out of it just in time and managed to dodge another pounce from the wolf, but its target was the knife Aren held. It recognized the blade as a great disadvantage and so used the opportunity from pouncing to claw at his right hand, making him drop the knife in pain. The wolf immediately threw the knife as far away as it could with it's jaw while Aren recovered. No favorable outcome, will come out now if he keeps dodging without his knife, and he’s bleeding too much from his arm. If this goes on any longer, he might lose this one. The wolf again pounced, but Aren had already decided. Gritting his teeth, Aren met the wolf’s pounce with his own, barely avoiding its maw and putting it in a hug lock, most commonly known as the deadly “Bear Hug”.

“Empower!”

Empower activated

+100 STR

Strength increased by 5%

An orange glow enveloped Aren as his strength stat instantly increased and hugged the wolf even tighter than before. Both of them fell to the ground, the wolf struggling and violently shaking with the hope of being able to break free. The pressure from the hug and extreme movements is making Aren bleed out more, while exerting force makes it all the more painful for his left arm. All however was worth it.

“Take all of my love!”

Aren yelled as he exerts the final force, giving him the greatest pain and agony he ever felt in his whole life. The wolf’s body ruptured, as blood and insides burst out from its body and painted Aren in red. He knew this would happen, so he already closed his eyes before the ensuing bloodfest could make it to his retina. He could only smell the blood and feel the wolf’s guts, never letting go until the last second.

Empower is now in cooldown

Aren's glow dispersed as he hastily got out from the puddle, eyes still closed, and went to Misha’s general direction. Though being temporary blind, he hit a tree on his way, dropped down, flopped his hurt arm on the ground, and screamed in agony as the adrenaline from the fight slowly dissipated.

“Aren! Are yo okay?”

Aren turned around to look at Misha, running to him in a hurry. He looked at his arm, then back at Misha, tears running from his eyes. His left arms is bleeding profusely, and his body aching all over from doing too much while still in recovery. He hates to think like this, but he’s going to die for realsies. Misha stopped short after seeing Aren in despair, feeling frightened at the thought of losing him again.

“I’m not okay, you idiot…”

Aren took a deep breath. He then slowly turned his head to look at the canopy above. What’s going to happen to him now? He can feel his blood running and his consciousness fading. There’s no way that he can be saved right now. Unless if Misha actually secretly had a really good skill. Aren dismissed that idea, knowing that a kid like her could do nothing in this situation. Damn that god. Alas, he accepted his fate and closed his eyes, lying against the ground with his arms spread wide.

When was the last time he felt this cold? Cold and relaxed, as if he was floating in a cold spring. Aren rummages through the memories he had kept, and there he found it, a memory from long past. He sat there, under the cold hard rain in an alleyway. No one was there, no one knew he was there. He was all alone. Dark and gloomy, the skies wept as John contemplated about what happened. Why it happened, how it happened, when it happened. Despite how his mind went crazy with questions, he did nothing. His body didn’t want to move. It was too comfortable, too satisfied that it felt like he finally found some rest after a long year of moving. That, was the first time he felt released from mortal coil. Unfortunately for him, even death did not want to claim his life. Even until now.

Aren awoke, eyes closed, with memories a little hazy. A warm sensation enveloped his arm, comforting to the flesh and heart. Then it all came back to him, making him open his eyes as fast as his eyelids can, but soon immediately dropped down to cover the eyes from the sight before him. Sunshine from the canopy filled his retina, but as bright as the environment was, his body wasn’t exactly in the mood to get moving. A long grunt came out from his mouth, his expression clearly forming one of disgust and frustration.

“Damn morning…”

He was never a fan of morning.

“Aren! You are alayb!”

Aren turned his head to look at the source of the voice, finding a crying Misha holding his left arm. Though there was one peculiar thing that he noticed, and that is Misha’s hand is glowing with a green hue. If he hadn’t known any better, he would think the green glow means some kind of poison due to how screwed his left arm looks like. But since he is well and alive, he would have to guess that it’s somehow related to healing. While he thinks that, Misha pulled his hand to her cheek, crying softly as she looked at Aren with relief.

“Reawly, I’m sho glad…”

Despite the atmosphere, Aren is just not feeling it right now. His body is aching, and he still feels lingering pain from his left arm, as well as feeling sour from something he can’t remember. For the sake of the mood, Aren forced a smile which Misha didn’t seem to notice. Even though he feels grumpy, it did not mean that he wasn’t grateful. After all, they're both alive and kicking.

“Yeah, I’m glad too.”

Misha clutched his hand gently, the green glow never once faded or ceased to continue healing Aren's arm. Once again he saved her, and once again she shall do what she did before.

"Thank you..."

Thank her saviour, with a bright smile, the greatest joy points she could give. The smile was so infectious, that Aren's forced smile eased and became a genuine one. If Aren's parents can't win against him, then he cannot be not happy around Misha which he, frankly, doesn't mind at all.

On that particular moment, they weren't the only one smiling on his survival.