“Go on Sierra. It won’t do anything,” Urvi said, trying to encourage her.

Sierra took one baby step at a time, with her arm extended and the palm facing the beast. She was nervous, her arm shaking visibly. Meanwhile, the boar stood still staring at Sierra with its tail wagging.

After five minutes of slow progress, Sierra’s palm finally touched the boar’s forehead and the boar, seemingly, celebrated by snorting. It bobbed its head, rubbing against Sierra. Her face, which was painted with a grimace slowly faded into a cheerful smile.

Urvi, who was squatted down beside the boar, clapped with a big smile. “There you go!”

Sierra continued to fondle with the boar wearing a big smile on her face.

***

As the fire in the camp faded, we got down to getting cozy for the night. Urvi and I cuddled with Sierra sandwiched in between us. The boar was flat on the ground behind me. I thought I heard it snore.

“Feeling comfortable, Sierra?” Urvi asked.

“Yes.”

It was a lot colder today, so much so, Urvi and I decided to snuggle for some warmth.

“Do you think winter is coming?” I asked.

“I don’t know...” Urvi said. “Sierra, does it snow here?”

“What is snow?” She asked.

“It is the white powdery stuff that falls from the sky,” I explained.

“White powder? No. I have not seen it. How does it taste?” Sierra asked.

“Well... it tastes like water,” Urvi said.

“Then isn’t it rain?”

Perceptive girl. “Well, if it gets cold enough, rain turns to ice and falls from the sky. Do you know what ice is, Sierra?” I asked.

“No... the world outside is big, right?” Sierra asked.

“It is. Big and beautiful,” Urvi said.

“And scary. Mother said outside is dangerous. I didn’t think so. But then those scary men tried to beat me...” Poor girl. Didn’t even know what the men were trying to do.

“It is okay, Sierra. We will protect you,” Urvi said interrupting.

“Yes. Urvi is brave and so is Karna. They make me feel less scared,” she said.

I was sure Urvi’s heart must have been jumping with joy like mine. Urvi tightened the embrace. “We sure will. We will chase away anything that will scare you.”

***

The next morning, we continued on our path to the closest sparrow village. According to what Visenna said, we should have been one day away from it.

The boar joined us on our journey, volunteering to be Sierra’s mount. Sierra rode the beast with joy as her face was lit up by a big smile.

“Say, maybe we should give our newest member a nickname,” I said to Urvi.

“Hmm... how about Boris!” Urvi said.

“Boris? Like the prime minister?”

“Prime Minister? Of which country?”

“Boris Johnson. Of England.”

“I had no idea. I thought Boar - Boris. You get it, right?” Urvi replied. She didn’t look too concerned that she might have offended someone, though we were in an entirely different world now.

“Yes. Yes. I do. How about Porkers?”

Urvi’s face changed to that of disgust. “No. How about tuskers?”

I looked back at it and observed its giant tusks once more. “Fitting name, I guess... Alright. Why not?” I stopped and turned to the beast, who too came to a stop before us.

Squatting down, I pulled out yet another fruit from my inventory which I held before it. “You like this boy? You want it?”

The boar snorted obediently. “Great. From here on out, you will be known as Tuskers. You like that name boy?”

It snorted again, though I had no clue what it meant. “Good boy,” I said and fed it the fruit.

“Tuskers...” Sierra repeated.

Faint sounds of rustling grass graced my ears. When I looked up, I saw that Urvi was already scanning the surroundings. “You hear it?”

“Yeah... wolves...” she said.

We could hear the growling seconds before one, two... no. Five wolves appeared. Seemingly surrounding us.

“Why can’t they be nice like Tuskers?” Urvi asked. “Well. Do you want to go? Or I go?”

“You take the front. I take the back.”

“Works for me.” In a flash, Urvi was armed with an axe and sprinting towards the three wolves ahead of us, who pounced at her.

Meanwhile, I turned back to see the other two ready to get engaged. I prepared my core for what would be the easiest battle we had so far.

***

The daylight had faded once again, and we were still unsure how much further we had to travel.

“Do we just continue?” Urvi asked.

We sat on the forest floor, resting for a moment as we decided how to proceed further. It was pitch dark, barely any light outside. The moon hid behind thick clouds, leaving us to fend for ourselves for the night. We could continue with a fire on a stick, but... “we have no clue how far we are from the village. Sierra, do you recognize this place?”

Sierra, who was resting on Urvi’s lap looked around her and appeared to be just as confused as us. “No... I can’t see anything.”

“Yeah. In that case, better rest up and continue our journey tomorrow,” Urvi said.

We quickly set up a small camp, roasting the last deer meat over the fire while warming our bodies from it. Just as things seemed to be going along fine, fate threw a stone just to shake things up.

Heavy footsteps filled the night air, alerting our senses. Tuskers perked up, lifting his head before turning towards the source of the sound. Urvi and I followed it and saw a huge shadowy figure approaching us. We immediately jumped on our feet, preparing for the worst.

Out of the shadows walked a gigantic bald man. He was more than seven feet tall, making even me look like a dwarf. He had a massive build with shining white skin. His rectangle face was adored by thick eyebrows and a white grin. He wore deep blue tracker pants and heavy boots while leaving his well-contoured torso exposed. He held onto a long handle axe which he used to tap the ground, sending shivers up my spine.

“I am guessing you are the players causing problems around here,” said the stranger in a deep echoing voice.

“Depends on who we are causing the trouble to,” I replied. Did the people of the village send him? He didn’t look like someone from around here, nor did he wear clothing like theirs. I scanned both his arms, and they were devoid of any tattoos or markings. “Who are you?”

“They call me the butcher and I am here for the girl. Hand her over and we can part ways peacefully,” he said.

“No way asshole. Over our dead bodies,” Urvi replied. She had the axe and sword ready for battle.

“Well. I tried to ask nicely. Hope you are better than the last players I met. They barely put up a fight,” the butcher said.

“Tuskers! Take Sierra and run!” I commanded. He lifted Sierra off the ground with his tusks, tossing her on to his back before vanishing into the dark.

“Damn pig! Now I have to chase that thing too.” He began to spin his axe as Urvi charged at him shouting.

She began with a series of slashes from each of her blades which he blocked with the long handle. He countered her by trying to strike her with the handle, but Urvi dodged it with ease. He followed it up by swinging the axe head, but Urvi leapt over it and out of the swing radius.

As she landed on the ground, she squatted down before launching towards him, but the Butcher dodged it with relative ease. They appeared to be matched in speed, however, I had an uneasy feeling that he wasn’t even getting started.

The two traded strikes, dodging and parrying with neither gaining the upper hand. That is until he decided to up his game. His axe swings came much faster, making Urvi look a lot more uncomfortable as she tried to parry them. The flurry was fast, leaving her no time to attack and his speed was only increasing.

However, with the butcher facing away from me, I had the perfect opening to cast a spell. I didn’t waste a moment, casting a simple tranquil spell at him. This seemingly made him stagger, only for a moment, but it was enough time for Urvi to strike him in the arm with her axe, sending him crashing into the ground. We did it! With his arm cut open, we should have the advantage. However, when I looked closer, there was no cut on his arm.

“Urvi! Get out of there!” I shouted. Just as I said, he erupted from the ground and tried to strike Urvi right in her chest, but Urvi instinctively blocked it by crossing her blades. She was sent flying back before crashing onto the ground. The butcher chased after her and I sprinted as fast as I could to reach her. But his axe came down on Urvi in a flash, striking her in the head.

Urvi rolled away before staggering back to her feet. She stood before me, her limbs trembling. “Karna...” she stammered. “I lost a life...”

The last time I saw Urvi this shaken was when we faced off against the mother treant. But back then death had no meaning. Now. Now it is different.

The butcher came charging towards us. I immediately cast a protect as his axe was about to touch us. The collision between the axe and the shield created a powerful burst of energy throwing us back a couple of feet. As I came to a stop and looked up, the butcher appeared to barely flinch. I turned to my left to see Urvi still lying on the ground with a horrid look on her face.

I pounced back onto my feet. I felt it was on me to deal with the situation. I could not deny that I was shivering on the inside, every neuron in my brain was short-circuiting. But I had to do it. The butcher threw a grin at me, his surprising white teeth shone in the dark. “Brave man makes a stand. Let’s see if you have the gaul for it,” he said as he casually walked towards me.

I felt a strange sense of anger within me. Without thinking, I cast a decimate spell towards him, forming it in mere seconds. However, just as the ball met his blade, it bounced off it and flew into the darkness of the forest before exploding with a dull light.

He parried it. Can that even be done? I couldn’t contemplate on it anymore as he was almost on me. He swung his axe down onto me, but I cast another protect to stop it. However, this time the shield shattered immediately on impact. I jumped to my right, evading the axe, or so I thought. Before I could even stand on my two feet. I felt a sharp pain strike me in the back before being thrown off balance and onto the ground. I let out a scream in response as the pain radiated through my body. I felt my back with my left hand only to be greeted by something moist and sticky. Blood.

I felt my throat close up and my chest tighten. Rolling back, I saw the butcher standing above me with the axe raised above his head. As the image of death stared into my eyes, I felt my mana core turn red hot. It began to fire up, sparking embers that I felt in my soul. Instinctively, I thrust my palm towards him, and the blurry image of the butcher caught fire.

A loud roar rocked my eardrums but before I could even process what happened, the axe came down on me. Everything went blank for a second before I regained consciousness. But by the time I did, the axe was coming down on me again. I didn’t even react before everything went blank again.

“Karna!” Urvi screamed at the top of her voice.

As my blurry vision cleared up, the flaming butcher still stood over me ready to bring down his axe on me. I cast a protect just as the axe came down, but it shattered without putting up a fight. This time I felt the blade cut into my chest.

“Karna! Karna!”

And then, everything went blank.

---

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