Chapter 6

"Wow…" Noel gasped under his breath. In front of him, deeply rooted into a stone in the middle of a cave room, was a scythe. Dyed fully in the darkest of black, the scythe gave off an ominous impression, which was only enhanced by the glowing scarlet red gem embedded into the head of the scythe. Although plain, the scythe still gave off a majestic aura as if it was a weapon that belonged to the pinnacle of power, alongside their owner. And this weapon was calling out to him, seeking out his presence. He could feel his connection to the weapon from the depths of his soul. It was his, and no one else's, and he had to have it, no matter the cost.

Just as he was about to grasp the body of the scythe, everything disappeared. The scythe, the cave, it had all vanished. Noel opened his eyes, only to find out that it was all a dream. Or maybe a vision. Who knows? One thing for sure though, was that he needed to find the scythe in his dreams as soon as possible and quickly gain ownership of it, lest something happened to it.

"Muninn, rise and shine." Noel stroked the body of the bird lying on his chest. The bird cooed softly before cutely blinking its eyes open. Noel chuckled at its adorable action before sitting up and getting ready for today's hunt.

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Five years had passed just like that, with Noel's daily routine being sleeping, hunting for food and exploring the forest. He found out that the deeper he went, the more dangerous the habitants of the forests were. The most deadly creatures were the carnivorous plants as they were sometimes very hard to discern from normal plants and thus, were very easy to fall prey to. He was lucky that he had Muninn with him to help him detect dangers, else he would have been long gone by now. He still had no clear idea of where the scythe that was still plaguing his dreams to this day was, but he had a gut feeling that it was located in the centre of the forest

Traversing through the deep parts of the forest, Noel followed the crow that had suddenly taken off in the middle of their meal. Noel trusted the crow with all his heart and had a deep understanding of it after having gone through the past five years with it. Muninn was not only his pet, it was also his partner. If one goes down, the other goes down with it. There was no in-between.

"Oh dear! What do we have here? What's a tiny little bird like you doing in these parts of the forest?" A gentle, motherly, female voice floated out from behind a wall of greenery where Muninn had stopped at.

A lady clothed in a long flowy white dress was standing elegantly in a clearing behind the shrubbery petting a raven standing on her arm. Behind her was a cozy looking small hut with dark smoke still puffing out from its chimney. Sunlight shone down and onto the little hut, making the settling specks of dust around the hut look like fairy dust. This was the scene that Noel had came upon after having struggled through the wall of greenery blocking his way. The scenery in front of him was like a scene from a fairytale. It was enchanting, captivating and breathtaking all at the same time. Noel wished that the scene would remain unchanging and that he could see what he was seeing at that moment daily.

"Oh! Another one. You know him?" The lady gently smiled as she looked between the raven and the young boy that had popped up out of nowhere. The young boy, around the age of 10 or so, looked to be taller than most his age. With his angelic appearance and noble aura, the young boy appeared to be a noble's or at least someone of high importance's child that had just gotten lost in the forest and stumbled upon the clearing by pure accident, yet his shabby appearance and relations to the bird on her arm seemed to say otherwise.

The boy, though young, was alert and guarded against her presence, although he did put in some effort to hide his actions with his indifferent facade, suggesting that he had once experienced, or had knowledge of, the darker side of humankind.

The bird on her arm cawed, agreeing to her question.

"Muninn!" Noel lashed out at the bird. He knew that Muninn would do no harm to him, and that the raven only had good intentions in mind for him, but that didn't mean he liked the idea of being with another human being. He couldn't bring himself to trust anyone at all, not after what he had witnessed the first time he had woken up in this world.

Muninn cooed softly with its head down, as if it felt guilty and was apologising to Noel, before flying back to Noel's side and onto his shoulder. The raven rubbed its head against Noel's cheeks, asking for forgiveness, while continuously cooing softly to Noel. After some time, Noel caved from the raven's adorable act, quickly forgiving the raven from its thoughtless actions.

"Why don't you both come in and grab a drink. I promise I won't bite. I don't like the taste of children anyways." The lady chuckled at the paling face of the young boy from her last few words. The boy was just too cute and easy to tease too. The thought of the boy becoming her child's playmate warmed her heart and made her anticipate it.

Noel hesitated for a moment before taking small but steady steps towards the hut. He was going to trust Muninn's wisdom once again. He had never regretted following the bird's decisions and thus, he would not regret it this time either.