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I was walking home, it was raining, and thundering. I didn’t realize that something was off till I opened the wooden front door to go in.

My parents were there, happiness and emptiness coagulated together. The feeling of this not being right grew stronger.

The feeling of desperate desire.

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Waking up in a cold sweat Treyu washed himself off, it was almost sundown, and the area was unnaturally quiet.

That was the first time I’ve had a dream instead of entering the abyss.

While sitting in the water, I was trying to remember the dream, but all that was left from it was this emptiness. If that wasn’t with me I wouldn’t have even remembered it.

Racking my head thinking for a reason why, it’s a different empty feeling than I’ve already felt, instead of feeling incomplete it’s just a profound sense of loss.

I couldn’t come up with any reason, so I put in on a shelf in my mind but since the feeling has been constant I can’t exactly not think about it.

While walking back to camp I sensed something strange, the only other time I felt this was when I was looking at those people.

I still don’t like that I couldn’t even talk to that one guy, I’m still in the dark about really everything outside this forest.

On that note will I even be able to hold a conversation? I’ve been talking to no one but myself for what feels like so long. Eh I’ll worry about it if that happens.

And this hunger isn’t as strong as it was for those men, this time it feels like curiosity, maybe because they all thought they were already dead? If so that just shows how much mindset matters.

I left my camp wothout lighting the fire so it would have a less chance of being found, these wood are also like my playground now, I know them better than anything.

Being extraordinarily faster than I was when my village burned. I was able to cover distances that the previous me couldnt think of.

Heading in the direction of my curiosity I arrived at a clearing. I stopped behind a thick tree only peeking my eyes out.

What I saw was my old village, or well that’s what it used to be. Charred remains of houses still linger along with the piles of rubble that once made up the village strewn about.

That’s not all, a horde of goblins, ogres and even a few gotüngs, all in the same area. Numbering roughly 500. Its over three quarters goblin but even one gotüng almost put an end to a careless me. The people have around 100 people split up in 5 groups of around 20.

Even with this massive amount of monsters, people brave enough to fight head on. They looked different than the men that came to the forest, that being that instead of all wearing the same thing, some were but others had completely different equipment.

What’s going on here? The only obvious answer I could make was to deal with these goblins, from being in the forest I already know how annoying goblins are and how fast they breed it’s like they just appear.

I decided to stop thinking and just watch, as I was I realized this is probably where all the goblins went when they disappeared. 

From the angle I have I can see the entire battlefield, I can see ogres and gotüngs hidden from view if you were looking the same way as the people. So I wondered if they know there are stronger monsters hidden.

A line of 20 people of either gender holding a sword, hammer or spear. Cut through maybe 50 goblins in the matter of minute clearing the path to tread further. As they passed a pile of rubble, wood splinters and gravel flung in all directions. 

Some of the people, being caught off guard were hit with pieces of wood and rock so smaller than a finger managing to embed itself into whoever it hit, others managed to dodge by diving to the ground.

It was a gotüng, but about one size bigger, enjoying the show I was on edge to see if they would manage to take it down-

Inturrpted by a feeling that like I was being watched. Annoying, i thought. I’m the one who does the sneaking not the one who gets snuck up on.

I wonder if they’ll chase me, I’m not scared of dying as if I was I would’ve surely been dead already. So even if they are stronger than I am, the tilt would be the same if I won and had no food.

Life and death is such an easy balance to disrupt.

I sprinted off from the way I came, and as expected I could hear crunching behind me. Even if I have short legs, I’m so fast that it doesn’t even matter.

Weaving around trees I reached a place where I dug extra pitfalls to lead something that’s chasing me into.

Stopping at a tree with a hole in its truck which was a marker for me I knew if something chased me they’d fall into the hole I jumped over that’s covered with tall grass.

Suddenly a voice called out,

[???] What are you doing out here bud?

What’s your name?

Stepping from the shrubbery.

A party of four, two men two women. The one who was asking the questions looked like a swordsman, and a swordswoman standing next to him with a stern yet confused face. Then there was a big guy holding a hefty looking shield, and a blonde with a bow.

For a split second when mine and the blondes eyes met I felt like she’s been the one who’s gaze I’ve been feeling.

Isn’t it pretty obvious? I am in furs and in the forest, does that need explaining? Also  name? Why does he wanna know my name?

Getting my mind straightened out because of this unforeseen situation, I answered.

[Treyu] My name is Treyu, I’ve lived in the forest for about 2 years now. What are you guys doing here? And why are you chasing me? I’m a child you know.

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The party of adventurers, Kara, Daro, Grant, and Lia stayed with the main force of the expedition killing goblins one after another.

It was then that Kara’s eyes as an archer, realized that something white was poking out of one of the bushes. It was night, and the only thing that gave and lumination was the moon.

That was just enough for the white thing sticking out of the bush to reflect enough light for her to notice something was off about it. If something that she saw gave her a bad feeling, she knew to trust it.

She had a special skill called Third Eye that was like a heightened intuition letting her know of what she was seeing was supposed to be in the particular situation.

Informing her party that something was off about the forest lining, she and her party stealthily made their way towards the bush.

It was only about 10m away but as it was night, only Kara could slightly make it out.

[Kara] It looks like it could be a child?? 

She whispered dumbfoundedly to her party. 

[Daro] Wouldn’t it be more likely to be some weird monster?

Daro voiced his disbelief. Then to all their amazement what looked like a child bolted in the opposite direction.

Had he heard seen us? Kara wondered as she didn’t even see any sign of them being discovered. 

Immidiatley they chased after the child. It was incredibly fast, faster than even an adult, weaving around trees like he has a map.

It was only maybe 10 minutes of running, but so much ground was covered it was unbelievable. All the sudden the child stopped and they next to a tree, they saw that even though its hair was long it looked like a boy.

After catching their breath they entered faceing the boy.

[Daro] What are you doing out here bud? What’s your name? 

Of course this had to be the first thing Daro says, facepalming on the inside Kara was still gazing at the boys clear blue eyes.