Dodging yet again another arrow, Richard rolled on the ground and laid down on his back behind a fallen tree. In his run he had lost sight of Konnor who at some point ran in another direction. A thick fog had settled and rendered evading even more complicated, their opponent obviously knew the terrain perfectly. " I need to find the boy again and then we need to reposition.". He slowly peeked over his cover to look for either his ally or enemies, he saw something shine in the distance and instantly ducked back into cover. A second later he saw an arrowhead pierce the wood right next to his head. " There is a sort of liquid on it. Poison arrows? Oh no .. ". Realising he had been grazed before by one of those arrows, he decided he had to move quickly before the poison took effect. " I need to find the kid as soon as possible. ". His opponent was fast, smart and deadly accurate in his shots, every one of his moves could be the last. Richard unclipped his cape and threw it to the side while he started sprinting in the other direction, instantly an arrow came out of the fog and pierced it, he only had a few seconds before the enemy could draw another one. Running from tree to tree he was also trying to pinpoint the location of the ambusher but it seems they were moving from one branch to another.

  " Konnor! "

  While running he kept on trying to find the young man, despite the fact he was almost invincible he knew this could be his downfall too. Dodging yet another projectile by sliding under a fallen tree, Richard sensed he was having trouble moving, the terrain was the same but each step felt harder and harder to make as if he was moving in deep mud and his legs were made out of cotton. He took a rest against another tree, his vision was getting blurry, he suddenly was overcome by a nauseating sensation and puked the content of his stomach. " Dammit, where is the boy ? "

  " Homemade recipe "

  The voice of an old man resonated through the forest. Richard started looking around for the person and noticed some faint movements coming from the top of a tree, the second he spotted it, a hooded figure started jumping from tree to tree. " I'm going to be incapacitated soon, so my best defense is offense. " He started chasing after the shape, whoever they were, they definitely knew their best chance was to remain out of range. Trying to knock him down, Richard started throwing his knives at the man but a strong sensation of vertigo was starting to take over him and making him miss his target. Out of nowhere, the man started running on the ground but he was slower than Richard. His vision was almost completely gone, in a last attempt of desperation, Richard kneeled and focused his magic on his body, the ground around him started shaking, the leaves previously on the ground were now suspended in the air. He took a deep breath and released all the stored energy to launch at his ambusher to close the distance and tackle them to the ground. The two men rolled and wrestled on the ground for a few seconds, in a normal fight Richard would have had the upper hand but the effects of the poison were making him way weaker than usual. The old man had used his legs to push Richard away. At this point all he could do was cough heavily and try to remain conscious, what he saw next was the old man kneeling next to him and he heard his voice echoing like it was a dream.

  " The poison will knock you out for a few hours. Stay away from here, you and your little friend. You won't find what you are looking for here, I will protect her sanctuary from all of you. "

  Richard tried to speak but his mouth wouldn't move. " Her? ". His last thought before he lost consciousness was of Isabella's. " I will find you ... "

  " Richard! Richaaaard! "

  Running through the forest, Konnor was still looking for his friend. The fog was making recognizing any landmark difficult, he was completely lost. He suddenly heard a sort of whistle through the air coming from behind. He turned around and got hit right in the chest by an arrow which bounced off, luckily his opponent had not realised that nothing could pierce his skin. Looking straight ahead, he spotted the old man looking at him from the top of the trees dumfounded by what he had just witnessed. He started running to him and kept on getting hit by arrows until he reached the tree. With the accumulated momentum he shoulder bashed the tree hard enough and made it shake. The old man lost his footing but was agile enough to roll safely once on the ground, he barely had any time to stand up than the young man was already trying to tackle him back onto the ground. One had the strenght of youth, the other had the experience of his old age. The old man managed to dodge the first attack by ducking under a kick and tried countering by stabbing the leg with an arrow only for it to simply damage the fabric of the young man's pants. He was now sure after seeing it upclose that this person's skin was impenetrable, having already incapacited the most dangerous one of the two, his current objective was to run away but the boy was not letting him out of his sight. Each of Konnor's hit were getting diverted by the old man's bow. He was getting more and more impatient the longer this fight lasted. The old man kept on running away and suddenly stopped, he started using his bow like a club to throw rocks and dirt at Konnor. Once he got close enough, he blocked the incoming blow with his bow, used the boy's momentum against him and place his arm in a lock to throw him on the ground. He kept his right arm in a tight lock until the boy stopped struggling.

  " Listen to me young man, go get your friend, I don't want to hurt you, just get out of here. "

  " No, you listen to me! We came here looking for someone and we aren't leaving until she comes back with us! "

  " Fine then, sorry it had to go this way. "

  His skin may have been impenetrable but his joints still had the normal limits than any other human could handle. The silence of the forest got replaced by his screams and the sound of the struggle on the ground. The more he was struggling, the tighter the grip of the man was getting on his shoulder joint, his breathing got slower, he could feel time flowing slower too. He was feeling powerless, his struggle came to an end as he heard the man take a deep breath, release some pressure before reapplying it instantly and finally his shoulder joint snapping in a loud crack. His body was responding in the same way he would have before even though he could not feel pain anymore. He was now completely at the mercy of his enemy, the man started dragging him for a few meters before kicking him down a hill. The mercurian rolled down for what seemed an eternity, hitting many rocks and trees only to end up landing face first into a puddle of dirty water. Using his left arm, Konnor painfully raised from the ground, his right arm just flopping around. He thought he could no longer be harmed, shame overcame him as he realised he had just been bested by an old man. " I'm such an idiot .. I don't feel any pain but I can still be hurt in some ways, Richard was right... " His lamentation quickly stopped as he heard a growl coming from his left. He slowly turned his head and only a few meters away from him, was standing a black bear. " Oh come on ... " Doing his best to put distance between them, he started walking back slowly, trying to not trigger an agressive response from the wild animal but unfortunately for him, the more he was moving, the more agitated the bear was getting. " I can't fight this thing, I need a place to hide. " Looking around, he noticed a hollow trunk of a fallen dead tree. Taking a deep breath and mustering his courage he quickly got up and started sprinting towards it. As soon as he started his run he could hear the bear chasing after him. When he reached it, he dived into the trunk and could feel the bear claws narrowly miss his ankles but it was not stopping there. The bear started tearing the wood off little by little " Oh come on give up already! ". Konnor started crawling inside the tree trunk as fast as he could in his current state, the bear then decided to switch tactics and tried digging at his prey from the top instead of crawling inside the tree. He could hear the tree cracking all around him under the weight of the bear. Still crawling, he could see the end of the trunk. Unfortunately for him, the bear managed to rip apart a piece of wood large enough to fit his muzzle through it. He did not wait a second to seize it's opportunity to strike at the frightened young man who was now defending himself the best he could with only one arm available. The bear started tearing through the leather sleeve of his jacket. The boy was trying to crawl away from this but each time the bear would drag him back and slam him against the hard wood. Konnor tried turning on his torso to crawl away but the bear managed to catch his incapacited right arm and pull on it. " This is bad, he's going to tear my arm off! ". Entering a state of panic, he started screaming and punching the bear with no effect, even though he couldn't feel pain, he could feel the ligaments inside his right shoulder snapping one after the other. Looking around, he grabbed a random piece of splinter and started stabbing the bear's head with it, finally one of his hits had an effect when it entered the bear's right eye. Now disoriented, the beast furiously started shaking its head and using its paws to remove the piece of wood. Seizing his opportunity, Konnor crawled out of the trunk, out of breath and out of energy from all this struggle. He turned around to discover the bear standing on his back legs and letting out a roar of rage, thinking this was the end of him, he decided to stand his ground and to scream back at the creature like he was an animal himself until his vocal cord could no longer support it. After a confrontation that seemed to have lasted hours, the bear went back on all four and started walking away from the boy. Falling to his knees while holding his damaged arm, he started laughing nervously at his sudden burst of luck. His mad laugh was echoing through the foggy forest, he looked up and saw the old man peeking at him from the top of the trees.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  " Coming to finish the job huh?"

  " No, I wanted to help but you managed it fine. Now follow my advice and get out of this forest. "

  The young man painfully got up.

  " I told you already, I ain't leaving as long as I haven't found who I'm looking for. "

  " Listen boy, this forest is not for little kids like you to fuck arou- "

  The old man's sentence got interrupted by a roar powerful enough to instill fear in the both of them. Konnor turned around and noticed trees were getting pushed around in the distance, whatever was coming his way was huge and angry. He turned to the old man who was already fleeing.

  " Hey! What is that?! "

  " The thing you just stabbed was a cub! "

  " No it wasn't! That thing was at least twice the size of an adult bear!! "

  " This forest has a species of giant bears, and hat's coming right there is its mom so you better run young man. "

  Once the old man had stopped speaking, Konnor finally saw the origin of this noise, a giant bear twice the size of the one he just fought, foam at the mouth, covered in scar and his wild gaze fixed on him.

  " Oh come on ... "

  " Richard? "

  Richard was laying on his back, he could hear Isabella's voice echo throught his mind, the voice was near but seemed distant at the same time. All he could muster at first was to grumble.

  " Hmmm..."

  " Richard, wake up! "

  " Bella ..? "

  " What are you doing here ? "

  " I came looking for you... "

  " I don't need you to look for me. "

  " Bella ... stay please I love y- .. "

  Richard woke up on the ground, looking around he saw neither the hunter or Konnor. He stood up and grunted, his whole body was still aching from the poison. He must have been unconscious for at least two hours, the thick fog was now gone and Richard could finally manage to navigate through this forest. While he was making his way back to their camp, Richard kept on thinking about what just happened. " This man knows something and he is protecting something, he did not kill me while he could but the second time we meet he will probably feel less merciful. I hope the boy is alright, he might be stupid at times but he can pull throught in tough situation."

  When he arrived at the camp, everything was still there, he started packing his bags and then he whistled and could hear the sound of his horse galloping back to him. Opening the satchel from his saddle, he took out a small bandage and used some clean water from his gourd to moisten it. Once he was done wrapping his head with it he started packing both bags and decided to start looking for the young man. " Alright, where is this fool? "

  " HEEEEELP!!! HEEEELP! SOMEBODYYYY !!! "

  Desperately running through the forest, Konnor was screaming for help while doing his best to evade the giant bear that was coming after him. He had been running and hiding for hours without rest, his body was on the verge of collapse, any logical plan was thrown out the window at this point and his only thoughts were to keep going forward. " I don't want to die, I don't want to die, please please please no! ". Luckily the bear mother was slower than him but his stamina was getting low, there was no possibility for him to fight back against it even with both arms. He felt his legs buckle due to exhaustion and fell face first in the mud. " Come on, get up, keep running! " His body was no longer responding to him, all he could do was push on his left arm to turn around, the raging bear mother approached her prey. Noticing his pitiful state, she started crushing his chest with her paw to keep him from moving and let out a roar to mark her victory. He could feel the air coming out of his chest and was unable to breathe it back in, his vision was getting darker and darker, at this moment he heard multiple voices, he could hear his brother, calling to him, his parents too. But the loudest of them all was a laugh, at this moment all his fears went away, this laugh warmed his heart, he could picture Izi's face while laughing. For some reason he remembered one of their arguments.

  " Kony, did you eat my piece of pie? "

  " YOUR piece of pie? "

  " Yeah! It was mine and I reserved it! "

  " Did you pay for it? "

  " I found it! "

  " You 'found' it? "

  " Yeah, what's it to you? "

  " Well you don't need to steal, you work here! "

  " Hmmmm. "

  " Izi promise me you won't steal anymore, I don't want you to get in trouble for it. "

  " I can take care of myself, don't treat me like a fragile little thing. "

  " I'm not saying it for you, I'm saying it for me, I ... I couldn't live with peace in my heart if I knew something ever happened to you. "

  " ... "

  " Forget it, let's go back to work. "

  " Kony ? "

  " Yeah. "

  " I would not be here without you either, so you better take care of yourself you reckless dense idiot. "

  Konnor smiled while thinking about how he felt back then. " So that's when it happened, that's when I fell for you ... I'm sorry Izi, I couldn't hold on to my promise." He closed his eyes and a tear rolled down his cheek as he let out the last bit of air he had left in his lungs. All of a sudden, he felt the pressure lift off his chest and as a reflex inhaled as much as he could, he started coughing uncontrollably and looked up to discover a scene he had trouble believing he was actually witnessing. The bear mother was struggling against a dark shape that was striking it from different angles. Each time the dark shape was passing by it, the bear was letting out a roar of rage and pain while blood was spraying everywhere from its wounds. Focusing his eyes, he finally realised what the shape was. Richard was jumping from tree to tree and using his magic to maneuver mid air to dodge the bear's claws. Each time the bear attacked, its claws ended up striking air. Richard started moving between the giant bear legs and striking at its joints to make it collapse, he was faster and the creature could not keep up with his movements. He was like a tornado of blades, the metal of his dagger was going throught the flesh as if it was nothing. The bear started turning away as it realised it was at a disadvantage in this smaller space of the forest. Deciding it was time to end it, Richard went back to the head of the creature and kneeled down, just like before, the ground started shaking as he focused his magic in his legs. Jumping vertically towards the head of the bear, he first opened its lower jaw on his way up with a single slash of his dagger. The creature collapsed due to the impact which made Richard's final move easier to perform. He was now a few meters above his target, aiming straight for a spot in between the bear mother's eyes, he used his magic again to launch himself towards the ground, with the help of the gravity and the momentum he managed to pierce the bear's skin as if it was nothing. Instantly, the bear stopped moving as the dagger penetrated the inside of its skull, the last sound that was heard was a faint groan from the now deceased bear mother.

  Richard dislodged his dagger from the skull of the bear and let out a sigh of relief. With the amount of wounds he had inflicted on it he was now covered in blood, looking around he spotted his companion and walked up to him. The young man was resting against a tree and still gasping for air. The two of them looked at each other, Konnor broke the silence first, he laughed but it was purely out of nervousness.

  " You know what? I hate forests ahah! "

  Out of breath, Richard smiled back and offered his hand to help the teenager rise.

  " Me too, let's get you patched up boy. "

  Konnor grabbed the helping hand and stood up, while passing the corpse of the giant bear, he gave a slight headbutt on Richard's shoulder.

  " The fuck took you so long .... ?"