The two guards

Two guards were positioned in the rear entrance of a certain place. A huge gate that was, at least, four meters tall, was being guarded by them.

Their iron armor was shining under the sun. The morning sun didn't let them so hot when wearing those heavy plates, but soon it would get worse. Anyway, they were used to that kind of torture. They needed to work wearing those armors while holding their spears every single day, after all.

They were nonchalantlylooking to the entrance of the valley. They weren't expecting that something would happen at all. It never happened. Sometimes, they would ask themselves whether their work was worth it or not. Nobody would ever come to that place with bad intentions, nor visit it just by curiosity. That wasn't a place where people have anything to solve with anyone. Instead, they preferred to maintain a safe distance.

It seemed to be just another normal day, if not for something moving beyond the valley, that they could still spot.

Between the valley and the dense forest was a plain field with nothing but emerald grass and some lonely trees. There weren't any particularly big animals wandering there, nor anything of the sort. Humans were seen often, but they never walked in the direction of the valley, much less on foot; they would usually make use of carriages, horses, or any type of vehicle.

"Do you think that it is trouble?" One of the guards asked.

"No. It probably is a lost hobo or something."

"You say it like we have this kind of thing happening often. We never saw a freaking hobo here. Also, how could a hobo cross that huge forest? He should be dead at this point. Also, pay attention to that thing hanging on his back. It is an axe..."

"Shall we take action now?"

The guard pondered for a while, frowning hard behind the helmet.

"No. He doesn't have any trace of Mana within his body. He isn't a threat at all, not for us. We can outpower him with our spells."

They waited for some minutes and that person walking continued to come their way. He was nearly entering the valley.

"Hey," one of them called the other with a grim expression and a serious voice, "that battle-axe..."

"Yes. Be careful. It is not more powerful than Mana, but Runes are quite concerning. Depending on who scribed them, it can be dangerous."

They waited with anxiety for the person who was walking towards them to approach more.

The figure seemed to be stumbling rather than walking. He seemed to be quite tired.

As his body got clear to the guards and they could analyze him precisely, they began to get more and more flabbergasted. It wasn't a man or a woman walking toward them, but a boy. A boy that didn't have more than fifteen years, at most.

Shocked, they stayed in the same place without moving an inch. They focused their attention fully on that boy, trying to sort out what he was doing in a place like that.

Several minutes went by as they watched him walking towards them.

When the boy finally stopped in front of them, they didn't know what to do. They just took a step back and firmed their grip on the spears, waiting for him to say something.

"Can I enter?" His voice was hoarse, too hoarse for a boy.

For a moment, they wondered if he was a dwarf or something like that, but it didn't seem to be the case. In the first place, his body constitution and structure weren't abnormal at all, and he didn't have the same characteristics as a grown man. Instead, he looked like an actual boy, but that was just having a miserable time.

"Hey, brat, you don't seem to be in a good state. What are you doing here? That's not a place for kids, got it?"

"I know."

"So why are you here?" The second guard asked, apprehensively.

"Because... Because I am not a kid anymore."

The boy was clearly too weak to talk properly. His coordination and movements seemed worse than that of a drunk.

"I think that he is out of himself, man..." guard A said.

"Yes. I can tell..." the other replied, looking at the boy with pity.

They turned to that lost kid again, still curious about some things.

"Did you go through that forest on the horizon?" guard B pointed to the forest that was still at sight, even from inside the valley.

The boy looked over his shoulder for some seconds before shifting his gaze to them again.

"Yes. I took... A long time. I guess," Ares replied with difficulty. He was feeling too weak and dizzy at that moment. He spent two days walking toward the valley, after all, and he couldn't eat a single thing during this period because he didn't find any animals in the way and didn't want to stop to eat and lose time.

'How could a kid spend this much time inside a forest? Was he alone? Maybe there were people with him and they died in the process... Well, it's useless to just stay talking here like this. He won't reason properly, anyway. We need to choose between kicking him from here or helping him,' guard B pondered.

The two guards exchanged glances once again. They were thinking about the same thing.

'What are these guys doing, standing in front of me? Are they trying to stop me or something? Why are they asking so many things? It is getting me even more tired. I just wanted to enter there and find somewhere to sleep... and eat as well. I am very hungry.'

The boy was starting to hallucinate about food. He himself didn't know whether he was conscious or not at that point.

Ares continued standing still in front of them, sometimes wobbling forward. After a whole minute like that, he couldn't bear it anymore and collapsed on the ground.