Leon reached the great forest in a quarter of an hour, he passed through the city gates and ran through the barren grasslands to reach the forest, in terms of distance between the city and the great forest it was only around a hundred miles.

“….” Leon had reached the outside of the great forest and was in awe at the sight of the forest, no matter where he looked he couldn’t see the ends of the forest, it was too enormous for Leon to comprehend.

The great forest had a name, the Forest of Origins. There were 2 reasons why the forest was called the Forest of Origins: Firstly over a 100,000 years ago this was where Noah and the humans from the old world first arrived at and the city of Reon was the first city built by humans. Secondly at the centre of the forest there is a giant tree that towers over the entire forest , this trees name is the Tree of Life furthermore there is only one tree of its kind in the entire continent and it was so big that it could be seen over a thousand miles away from the forest.

Legend has it that a fruit produced by the Tree of Life is a priceless treasure, that all the powerhouses on the entire continent would go mad for at just the sight of it, however it is said to be guarded by a Demonic beast.

A demonic beast is unparalleled in power not even the strongest powerhouses would take the risk of facing such a monster, however it has never been encountered, but the power it emanates throughout the entire forest, keeps the beasts in the forest in order. The forest of Origins is considered the most dangerous place in the Sarien Kingdom.

All the beasts in the forest have gained the blessings from the tree’s natural energy, and are unmatched in power. There are Prime ranked beasts that were the lowest level found in the forest and are extremely powerful. Prime ranked beasts were a level higher than Awakened ranked and gained special abilities by increasing their ranks and were menacing monsters.

Leon stared at the huge trees that were in front of him and was even more dumbfounded at the sight of the Tree of Life that was so tall that it soared over the clouds, having its branches hidden by the clouds. He could faintly see white patches on the trunk of the tree, that seemed to be snow. From where Leon was standing he was over tens of thousands of miles away from the Tree of Life.

What was called the great forest was more of a rainforest, with trees that would elevate over a hundred meters high and vines that would descend from the high branches . The trees would cover the sky with their green leaves absorbing the light energy, there was a murky smell that the jungle protruded, there were bushes with dangerous fruits that were definitely poisonous, and there was an alluring sweet smell to it, similar to honey, that would make the average person eat it without any hesitation, however Leon stayed clear from it.

Leon walked along the outside of the forest searching for a man made path and finally found one that was safe enough for him to start his journey into the forest. It wasn’t humid or very hot due to the natural energy found in the Forest of Origins.

The path was only 2 metres wide, wide enough for a group of mercenaries to travel through, the path was covered with vines hanging down from trees and wild bushes, Leon would hear roars from beasts occasionally which scared the living daylights out of him.

After walking along the path for an hour Leon decided to stop for a bit and rest for a moment, he had encountered many domestic animals, but was not interested in hunting them down.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH”

Just as Leon was about to lie down, he heard a shriek, the direction the scream came from was east and to Leon it sounded like a girls scream. For a moment Leon hesitated to check but he steeled himself and decided to check it out. Leon nimbly raced through the bushes cut through the vines that were blocking the way and also encountered some domestic animals, but decided to ignore them.

As Leon moved closer to where the scream was first heard a putrid smell stormed into his nose, Leon immediately felt nauseous, the smell of blood was in the air. Leon carried on walking however this time he was a lot more cautious and was treading the path more carefully, he slowly came to a stop in front of a small bush, as he looked through the bush he saw a small grass plane.

Leon moved his gaze as he hid in the bush, Leon suddenly froze because of what he saw, there was a pile of black corpses covered in a pool of blood, Leon slowly turned his gaze, all of a sudden he caught sight of a small girl near the pile of corpse and in front of her was a Fire Wolf.

“*Gulp*” Leon swallowed saliva, he froze up when he saw the Fire Wolf.

A Fire Wolf was a Prime being and these type of wolves usually stayed in packs, they were definitely not something to be trifled with, it’s fur was red and white, it exuded a flame type aura that acted as an armour burning anything that came close to it, the grass surrounding it had been completely burned black because of it. The Fire Wolf had golden eyes that would intimidate most opponents of the same level and would strike fear into those that were weaker.

The Fire Wolf at this moment was angry, very angry, it seemed that these people trespassed into its territory and it was now releasing a bloodthirsty aura and baring it’s fangs at the little girl.

The girl looked as if she was the same age as Leon, she had purple hair and brown eyes, just like Leon, she was a lot prettier than all the girls that Leon had seen in Reon that were her age. She was also taller than Leon. The girl was wearing an expensive long white silk dress that covered her body and wore a once blue cardigan over it, which showed she was from a wealthy family, nevertheless it was now covered in blood. Currently she was cowering in fear as there was no one there to save her in this dire situation.

The corpses in front of her are most likely her guards, Leon thought to himself.

At that moment the Fire Wolf moved closer to her Baring it’s fangs, directing its killing intent at her, while she cowered in fear, stumbling backwards trying to get away from the wolf. Suddenly the Fire wolf pounced at her….

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” She shrieked in despair, tears masking her face as she shut her eyes closed.

At that moment Leon jumped out of the bush and immediately picked a rock and threw it straight at the Fire Wolf.

The rock slammed into the Fire Wolf while it was in mid lunge causing it to be stunned for a split second, Leon instantly raced towards the girl and pulled her up from the ground, Leon didn’t understand why he helped her, but he knew that he couldn’t watch her being torn into pieces without doing anything. This whole process took only a matter of moments.

“Are you alright?” Leon asked.

The girl opened her eyes and looked up at Leon, she was shivering in fear but still managed to nod.

“Can you run?” Leon inquired.

She simply nodded again, slightly hopeful for the turn of events.

“Ok then get ready to run when I tell you to, you have to run west from hear and you’ll find a path and follow it up north and you’ll find my home city Reon.”

she nodded again, Leon couldn’t get any words out of her, he figured she must have been petrified because of the Fire Wolf.

The wolf finally regained focus and was now glaring at Leon with even more ferocity than before, it was irritated to the point where all its blood thirst was directed at him, the pressure released by the Fire Wolf was insane, Leon had never felt so scared before.

So this is the level of a Prime beast, Leon thought.

The Fire Wolf dug it’s forelegs into the ground causing cracks to appears on the ground, the cracks grew until it reached Leon and the girls feet.

“Ahoooo” The Fire Wolf howled.

The fire Wolf had activated one of its abilities. Fire erupted from the cracks and swiftly drove through the cracks drawing closer to Leon and the girl, the flames roared into the sky releasing a strong heat wave. Leon quickly hugged the girl and rapidly jumped to the side and landed near the edge of the grass plane. Leon turned to look at the place he was just standing and a spine-chilling fear swept through him, the flames were still ongoing however the grass and earth around it was completely charred black, even the previous corpses had been turned to ash.

Leon’s body was quivering as cold sweat matted his forehead. Leon stood up, the flames were temporarily hiding them, Leon took this opportunity and turned to face the girl who was still in his embrace.

“Quickly get out now! Just do what I told you, I’ll stall this mutt for a while, while you escape,” Leon yelled as he tried to hide the fear and despair in his voice, this was the second time in the past couple of days where he was facing death head on.

She looked up at Leon and opened her small mouth and asked: “Name…. Can you give me your Name?”

Leon couldn’t help but smile, they were both in a life and death situation and she was asking for his name.

“Leon…. Leon Kaiser from the Kaiser clan.” Leon smiled, “Now get out.”

“If you survive this, I will return this favour with my life in the future,” the girl said seriously.

Leon couldn’t help but smile helplessly, he was feeling hopeless inside, despair was spreading through him.

She then turned and quickly ran into the bushes and was gone.

Hm… I forgot to ask her for her name, Leon thought to himself.

Expectedly when the fire died down the Fire Wolf was still there and it was still displaying a heavy killing intent.

The fire wolf opened its mouth, small red lights started coalescing in front of its mouth forming a red ball that grew bigger as more energy gathered into it. Leon knew that if he was alone he might be able to survive this, so he heightened his perception preparing for the concentrated Fireball it was about to release.

A burning red fireball was fully formed, levitating in front of its mouth. The Fire Wolf dug it’s forelegs into the ground and shot a Fire ball at Leon. The Fireball covered the distance between Leon and the Fire Wolf in a split second, Leon jumped to the right at the last moment to prevent the trajectory of the Fireball to change…

“AAAAGGHHHH!!!” Leon bellowed in absolute pain.

Agonising pain coursed through Leon starting from his waist, it felt like he was being burned alive while being stabbed with over a hundred needles at the same time, to Leon this felt over a hundred times worse than the injury Kline caused him.

Leon could barely keep his conscious as he looked at the place he was standing just moments ago and there a trail left by the Fireball was left behind, the fiery heat had burned the grass and when it passed Leon it had struck countless trees leaving large gaping holes that were charred black, only leaving the stench of burned wood.

Leon shivered that attack was at the peak level of a Prime beast. If I was just a split second too late I would be dead right now, Leon thought to himself as he struggled under the unbearable pain he was feeling, the pain he felt was caused by just the remnant power of the Fireball. Leon’s waist was bleeding profusely as a chunk of his skin was burned because of it.

If I don’t get away I’ll die here… Leon felt feeble as he could do nothing in the face of absolute power.

Leon stood there, feeling helpless and drained, he couldn’t do anything to stop the bleeding, he was going to die soon he thought.

The Fire Wolf was collecting Fire energy again, preparing for another attack as it dug its forelegs even deeper into the ground.

Leon’s emotion was in melancholy, utter despair, he was unwilling to die as he stood at the exact same spot. All hope was lost, his vision blurred as tears started forming in his eyes… I give up… Goodbye… Mother… Father…Saffire… Leon thought to himself as tears rolled down his cheeks. Memories flashed through his eyes as he looked up at the Tree of Life, he remembered the love his Mother gave him as she fed him as a small boy and the guidance his father gave him when he taught him sword play at a young age, he remembered how Saffire played with him and also the bad memories of how he was looked down upon by his Great-uncle Lerdo and the other members from the clan.

Leon remembered how his parents were the only ones to believe in him… In the last moments of life a spark ignited in him… I want to live, I don’t want to die. If I die it’ll just prove that Great-Uncle Lerdo was right, in Leon’s last moments he wanted to live, the will to live was birthed from the despair he was feeling.

“Ahoooo” The Fire Wolf howled as it shot the Fireball across the air towards Leon.

“Thump… Thump…”

Suddenly a profound energy was released from within him, everything slowed down, the wind had stopped blowing the birds were slowing down it was as if time was slowing down, all this was happening in front of Leon.

“No it can’t be….. Time has stopped,” Leon said to himself, he could see the fire beam had stopped in mid air.

“Kid, Do you want my help?”