The Hidden Struggle

Chapter 10: The Hidden Struggle

Lucian crouched by the still-warm corpse of the first beast, his hands steady as he drove his dagger into its abdomen.

With practiced efficiency, he split the belly open, ignoring the rush of foul-smelling innards that spilled out.

He sifted through the mess with a look of concentration, searching for something specific.

"Empty, god dammit" After a few moments, he let out a frustrated grunt and moved on to the next corpse.

Elowen watched from a distance, her brow furrowed in confusion. She had no idea what Lucian was doing, but the intensity of his actions made her hesitate to interrupt.

He moved from one beast to the next, repeating the process with methodical precision.

With each failed attempt, his muttering grew more audible, though she couldn't quite make out the words.

It wasn't until he reached the seventh beast that his luck changed. As his dagger sliced through the creature's gut, a small glass bottle tumbled out, slick with gore. Lucian's eyes lit up with excitement as he snatched it up, holding it to the light.

"Finally found enough to keep me till tomorrow," he muttered to himself, his voice a mix of relief and triumph. He popped the cork and peered inside, nodding in satisfaction before stashing it away in a pocket.

Curiosity gnawed at Elowen, but before she could ask what the bottle contained, Lucian moved on to the next corpse. Unfortunately, this one held no surprises. Lucian's face fell into a scowl as he sifted through the beast's innards, finding nothing of value.

To anyone else, his actions might have seemed bizarre or even gruesome, but for Lucian, this was a matter of survival—a grim ritual that had begun nine days ago when he was poisoned out of death by Old Man Asher.

The memory of that night was still fresh in Lucian's mind. Old Man Asher had been his only lifeline in the unforgiving Murkmire Forest, but his methods were as cruel as they were effective. When Lucian was on the brink of death, unconscious and helpless

Asher had saved him, but at the same time poisoned him, strangely that had helped him recover on the surface, but his poison coursing through his blood was a ticking time bomb, however there was a method of survival, which was in Line with the madness that Asher seem to have an affinity and that was to take a Potion mixed with more poison and some antidote, enough to keep him alive and slowly build a tolerance for the poison.

It sounded absurd at the time—madness, even. But Lucian had no other options besides Asher had no reason to lie, as deranged as he was he was no liar.

So he had taken the old man's advice, choking down the vile concoction that Asher claimed would build his tolerance and eventually grant him immunity.

Lucian soon discovered that the antidote, mixed with a fresh dose of poison, was hidden inside the bodies of the beasts that roamed Murkmire. The first time he had found a bottle—Potion X, as he now called it hidden within the corpse of a wolf he was tasked to slay—he had nearly vomited from the stench of the wolf's belly.

But the potion had worked, numbing the pain and giving him the strength to survive another day.

Since then, hunting for Potion X had become his daily routine. He didn't go out looking for trouble, but trouble had a way of finding him.

The beasts grew more elusive and more numerous with each passing day, and the required numbers to be slain before getting a single Potion grew, on the first afternoon he kiiled one to get a bottle, then 2, then 4 then 6, and today had been the worst so far. It had taken sixteen kills just to find a single bottle.

If he hadn't run into the strange girl, who had drawn the attention of so many beasts, it might have been even harder.

Lucian glanced at Elowen, who was watching him intently, her eyes filled with both curiosity and something else—determination, perhaps.

He didn't know what had led her to Murkmire, but he could guess that it wasn't anything good. No one sane would wander into this cursed place without a damn good reason.

Finally, satisfied with his find, Lucian began to yank out chunks of meat from the bear-like creature he had just killed, stuffing the meat into a makeshift bag he carried on his back. This was his reward for surviving the day—food to keep him going through the night.

Elowen continued to observe him, her mind racing as she tried to figure out how to solicit his help. She had seen enough to know that Lucian was no ordinary boy. He was a survivor, hardened by whatever trials he had faced in this wretched forest. But could she trust him? Also she was was scared of him.

As Lucian finished packing the meat, he stood up and turned to leave without a word, his mind already focused on finding a safe place to rest.

Elowen's heart skipped a beat. If he left now, she might never see him again, and she couldn't afford to lose the only ally she had in this hostile land.

"Wait!" she called out, her voice tinged with panic.

Lucian didn't stop, his stride confident and unhurried as he headed deeper into the forest. Elowen's desperation grew, and she rushed to his side, reaching out to tug on his sleeve.

~~Whooosh!~~

But before her hand could make contact, Lucian spun around with lightning speed, his dagger flashing as he grabbed her by the wrist and pressed the cold blade against her neck.

His eyes blazed with a fierce intensity, his breath hot on her skin as he growled, "What the hell are you doing?"

Elowen froze, her heart hammering in her chest as she stared into his eyes. There was no hesitation, no mercy in his gaze—only the raw instinct of a predator ready to strike.

The cold metal of the dagger bit into her flesh, not enough to draw blood but enough to make her acutely aware of the danger she was in.

"W-wait!" she stammered, her voice trembling with fear. "I-I mean no harm! I just wanted to know your name!"

For a moment, there was only silence, the tension between them thick enough to cut with a knife.

Then, in the midst of that silence, a voice that only Lucian could hear echoed in his mind, Old Man Asher's cackling laughter.

"Kekeke, you sure know how to make a girl's heart skip a beat don't you?, brat!"

Lucian's expression remained stony, but he couldn't help the slight twitch of his lips at Asher's words.

After a long, tense moment, he lowered the dagger and released her wrist, taking a step back. "Sorry about that," he said, his voice gruff. "I'm Lucian."

Elowen let out a shaky breath, her body relaxing as she stepped away from the edge of danger. "It's my fault for startling you, Lucian," she replied, her voice still quivering slightly.

Lucian nodded, not disagreeing. "Who the hell sneaks up on someone they just met in the forest?" he muttered under his breath.

He was about to say something to her, but then his keen ears picked up the distant howls of more beasts closing in on their location. His eyes narrowed, and he quickly shifted his focus back to Elowen.

"How about we continue this conversation somewhere safe, young miss?" he suggested, his tone more urgent now.

Elowen seemed to have the same idea, her eyes widening as she heard the approaching danger. She quickly nodded in agreement, her resolve hardening. Whatever her reasons for being here, she knew she needed Lucian's help to survive.

Without another word, she followed him into the shadows of the forest, their fates now intertwined in the perilous heart of Murkmire.