Teal Forest

"You better not do anything reckless or else you'll regret it."

The sound of his voice rang inside his head. Elric knew that this person was the kind who wore masks to suit the person he was interacting with.

'But why is he being straightforward with me? Is it because he doesn't need to put a up a facade for someone so insignificant?' Elric's thoughts kept him from speaking up at the moment.

He knew that no one would believe him even if he told other people and Robin knew this.

*KRIIIIIIIIING!!!*

The sound of the bell that signalled the end of the day rang and snapped Elric out of his trance.

By the time he turned around, Robin was done checking up on his grandfather with another gentle smile on his face without the menacing aura earlier.

He was used to insults and cold stares by the other villagers but he's never felt anything like this before.

He decided to let it go for now since it was something that was out of his hands.

Elric walked towards his grandfather trying to get his mind straight. 'The events that happened today was a bit extreme but expected from the people around us.'

"Grandfather, wait for me here. I'll return the pickaxes and surrender the ores that we mined today, Okay?" He explained.

He then quickly did what he had to do and went back for his grandfather immediately to return back down to the village since he would have to support his grandfather and walk for over an hour.

He looked around to see the empty cave. 'All the villagers must have already went home first. Not that anyone of them would've helped though.' Shrugging his thoughts as he grabbed his grandfathers arm and put it around his neck to support his weight.

The moment they got outside, a voice called out to them and a few footsteps could be heard coming closer.

"Edward! Are you alright!? I saw everything that happened. I'm sorry I wasn't able to do anything and come to your aide. We were held back by the other guards. Good thing that Robin was there" Kleins father, Klaus, quickly supported Edward and transferred the weight from Elric's shoulders.

"I'm okay Klaus. Thank you so much for waiting for us." Edward was grateful to the man who tried to support him.

Elric wasn't able to protest since he was quickly grabbed by Klein that was followed by Alice and his father that trailed behind them.

"Did you guys wait for us to come out?" Elric asked with hint of smile on his face.

"Of course we did!" Klein announced with a bright grin.

Then Alice's father, Rowan walked towards her daughter, who was silent and hesitant to approach Elric and his grandfather, while saying "We might not have the ability to help you in situations like earlier but we will try our best to support you and your grandparents Elric."

He then went to Edward who was being supported by Klaus after patting her daughters head a few times trying to encourage her.

The three adults then started to walk back down the path to the village leaving the three behind.

"I'll head back down ahead of you guys so you can talk." Klein said as he followed the three adults. Leaving Alice and Elric alone.

Silent moments passed with the cold breeze and the sunset that bathed the sky with bright warm colors.

Alice stayed still not knowing what to say.

When Elric decided to break the silence by saying "Are you supposed to be comforting me right now or maybe you have something else to say?"

She quickly lifted her head and face Elric with tears about to flow from her eyes.

'She must have been really shocked and frustrated by what happened. I can't blame her for feeling that way. I felt so powerless in that situation that I'm almost mad at myself for being so weak.' He thought as the tears fell on Alice's cheeks which prompted him to move closer and wipe it with his hand.

"It's okay Alice. We're going to be okay. Let's go back down with the others." He said as he grabbed her hand and quickly joined the others.

After a few hours of walking, they finally reached the village and went straight to the Greyreid's house to escort the injured Edward.

"Thank you so much for your help! Please have a safe trip back." Elric gratefully said to all of them especially the two who basically carried his grandfather to their house.

"You're always welcome. We'll stop by the village physician and tell him to visit first thing in the morning to check up on your grandfather." Klaus said as they waved goodbye to each other.

Rose came rushing to the door as soon as she heard a knock on the door.

She couldn't help but burst into tears as soon as she saw her husbands face covered in scratches and bruises from his fall.

"Do you know how worried I was!? What happened to the both of you!?" Rose exclaimed, demanding an explanation with tears still gushing from her eyes.

"We're okay Rose. Try to calm down first and we'll talk about it." Edward comforted his wife and went inside the house.

They all sat down in the living area and talked about what happened. As expected, Rose cried more when she heard about the events of the day.

After telling her the story, she got up and reheated the supper and got some bandages for first aid to apply before the village physician came in the morning.

"I think you should rest for a couple of days, grandfather. I can fill the quota by myself tomorrow." Elric insisted having seen what the extent of the injury from the status screen.

"What are you talking about!? I'm sure I'll be okay in the morning." Edward argued.

"No! You need to stay here and rest. Just let me handle it grandfather, p-please." Elric's voice cracking from desperation. Trying to hold back his own tears.

"I'm sorry my boy. If only your father was here. We could have—".

"Why!? Why do you keep mentioning that person who left us! He's the reason for what happened to us today! Don't you see that!? He's the reason why we're treated like garbage in this village!" Elric exploded with emotions along with his tears that flowed down his face.

"Why are we the ones to shoulder all the consequences he left behind!? He's the one that's worthless! He's the one that's scum—".

*SMAACK!!*

Elric was halted by his grandmother's slap. And as if on cue, the rain started to pour.

Silence enveloped the whole house, with only the sound of the drops of rain crashing on the roof and all of their heavy breaths were heard.

Elric stood still while nobody spoke.

He was confused and conflicted with his thoughts.

Elric then turned around quickly and suddenly busted outside and started running.

"Elric!" Rose called out to him and Edward tried to get up but couldn't.

"Haaaaaa! Haaaaaa!" Elric panted as he ran aimlessly without looking back. He needed to get out of there before he could say anything else.

He didn't stop and kept going until he heard multiple footsteps chasing after him.

Elric hadn't realized with his clouded mind that the direction he was going to was Teal Forest.

Before he knew it, he was already deep inside the woods but it was too late to turn back as he was being chased by someone or something, he couldn't stop running.

He started to get scared. His breath became unstable and his body fatigued from mining all day.

*CRAAAACKLE!!*

*BOOOOOOOOOM!!!*

A bolt of lightning suddenly struck a tree close to where he was and made him slip causing him to fall but the light from the strike enabled him to see his pursuers.

"Wolves!"

Elric blurted after seeing their ferocious eyes trying to chase him down like prey.

Onyx wolves always hunted in packs and was most active at night, using their black coats to blend in the cover of darkness.

He got back up and started running once more. His breathing as loud as the thunder and lightning strikes, rain pouring heavily coupled with winds as cold as ice.

He wanted to stop and just give up but he kept running towards the mountain.

He thought maybe the guards were still there and could take care of the wolves for him.

He changed his directions towards the mines but something suddenly towered over him and started to roar.

*ROOOOOAAAAARRR!!*

Elric stopped in his tracks and tried to avoid the gigantic bear that swung its arm down to pound him.

He dodged to his side but it was not enough to avoid the speed of the swing.

It grazed the side of his body inflicting a serious wound and ripping most of his shirt off along with some of his flesh. Elric fell to the ground writhing in pain from his horrific injury.

'Is this how I'm going to die!? I don't want to die!!' His thoughts suddenly became clear after receiving the wound which he tried to put pressure on to keep himself from bleeding to death.

The bear once again tried to swing its other arm to attack again but the wolves came and attacked the bear. One wolf climbed on top and bit down on its back and kept biting.

'This is my chance! I need to get out of here!' Elric tried to stand up and run but was pinned down by another wolf.

The hungry wolf then bit down on Elric's arm and tried to rip it off.

Blood was everywhere and the young boy was in so much pain.

Everything was numb. The only thing he could feel were his thoughts and he started to pity himself for being weak and stupid to end up in this situation.

And as the feeling of pain slowly returned to his body, he sensed something was coming.

*CRAAAAAACKLE!!*

*BOOOOOOOM!!!*

Lightning crashed down and hit his body directly sending the wolf that was pinning him down flying as high as the trees.