Chapter 3: The Fauna That Resides Within (I)

Out in a sullen savannah, where a gentle warm glow cast its ray among the participants and the Savannah.

Locks of dried grass spread out among the ground as they stood tall and firm. Swaying from side to side every so lightly by a gentle giant, there were no animals to be seen in sight. In the distance, lay an outlandish and peculiar tree, with an incredibly thick and wide trump, and could only denounce its credibly gnarly yet twisted branches.

Two boys, that stood as a party was gathered at the confluence of another. They were something more than the ceaseless amounts of rocks and minerals in piles. No, they were deemed hidden gems.

The sweltering sun made everyone's skins sizzle with sweat and anticipation. As everyone stayed in an overlapping confined box, a maelstrom of emotions erupted from the crowd— one with a confined box

The brim of the maelstrom herded, excitement, nervousness, and least nefarious of them all— confidence. As such, most of the nervousness had come from attending the placement tests in general and from the two boys whose chests revealed their admirable confidence.

One of the boys solemnly called out to a blonde hair boy who had his air slicked all the way up. His attire presented someone from a prominent family but it was his strength, not his family who had brought him this far.

He was hesitant to address the blonde boy, yet his feeble and sheltered mind portrayed the looks of uneasiness. His comrade had been missing for days without end, without any signs of returns.

He was about to ask about him but saw the wry smile on the blonde boy and the decrepit topic was completely switched to something new.

"Leone? I think the test is about to begin." He said in a feeble attempt to start up a loose end.

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 3: 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕱𝖆𝖚𝖓𝖆 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝕽𝖊𝖘𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖘 𝖂𝖎𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓

After countless hours day that went by. The repetitive slashes and slices against the selected tree didn't feel that boring. If anything, I was just wondering how long would it take for the sullen trees to finally become timber.

The slashes carved aggressively the bark of the tree as it was only an interesting miracle, how such a fortress of a tree could still stand even when its insides were embellished with wounds.

The gentle wallow gales blew by as I leaned on the same tree as my sword rested softly on my shoulder.

My long black hair blew by as it hadn't been cut in what seemed like a myriad amount of decades. Soft locks subtly brushed my cheeks as the rushing winds continue to blow against me. Though I ignored it.

Sighing, I had been training for a while and I had already begun to come up with my own sword techniques, skills, and moves but there was nothing to simply guide on my journey.

I wanted to see how much stronger and skilled I had become. Training against someone else, more or less stronger than me was something that I enjoyed. Obviously, I couldn't spar against my grandmother because her legs were like weights to her. No one else in the village would spar with me so, it was just me against the tree.

Now, I was free. I could be catching the rays of the sun all day and then never fret and that imposed more of a big issue in support of my sparring. It was a simple problem. No one lived here.

This forest resided on the edge of a mountainside and the village that I took many paths to venture to was on the base of the mountain. The shrouded forest was incredibly barren with not a single lingering insight. Only the tall fortresses of oak trees stood tall and steady, with its branches like weights of Eden-green leaves, could be seen. Nothing more. Noting less.

The substantial amount of acres of land that the forest occupied was ghastly and the congregation of identical trees made navigating seemingly a destitute dream— making sparring out of the question.

I had already frightened against Kivdre won but the poison from the Holly berries was partly to blame.

Sighing, I looked at the azure sky and wondered what to do next.

I had always admired nature and how it was. Maybe because of the time I had spent here which is now only 13 years but it seems much longer than that.

The azure sky was dotted with aloof blank clouds that slowly drift towards the east.

The beaked chorus of birds filled the air. A small twigs snaps gingerly as a beaky brethren sets a flight. The silent breeze of the wind carriers the bird to its journey as it carriers on— maybe to take a drink of Adam's ale or to migrate.

It brushes against the dense foliage before its flight is at out of sight as the wind also brings the branches of the tree at discord. A subtle sloth-like murmuring of the brook is heard as it spills into the open lake.

Sighing, just the thought of the bird being free made him wonder what animals lived in the forest.

Suddenly, a thought rushed in that I had never thought of before.

I could fight against the beasts that lie in the forest. As my means to grow stronger.

Oh come on, how did I not think of this earlier.

A new sense of exhilaration rushed in and coursed through many veins as I stood up with my sword in one hand— which was drawn out of its sheath.

Running forward, I ran towards my left of the lake where I had times where I kept my distance from it.

Falling a path that ran down memory lane, the stone and the stubble-like path led me to an unnerving, unwinding set of oak trees with pecan-brown acorns littering the sides of the path.

Following it, the sun shown brightly through the foliage as I moved quite cautiously through the path, where one of them had diverged into two.

Skipping the diversion, I continued en route to my real destination where it appeared like any other part of the forest.

The only real difference was the silence.

A hushness filled where I walked as if the birds and the critters who regularly created a dissonance had begun to fade away.

The more I walk, the eerie it became. Not in terms of appearance and atmosphere where serene chords of sunlight could not even breach the gauntest of vegetation. It was just the simple silence that filled the open space, that deviated the mood.

The animal's appearances in this district of the forest were null. Not even a critter. As if they desperately avoided the area pertinent to the beasts that roamed there.

However, I knew this. I knew what I was doing and the risks that I needed to take just to become stronger.

The silence was at its maiden of time's dismay as I walked closer to the bending and swerving path— made by a fading memory that grasp has yet to be relieved. Yet the enveloping silence was suffocating yet the daunting aura that surrounded the near horizon was even worse.

After dozens of more steps, I had finally reached it.