Arceus and Artermis have been wandering the outskirts of The Distant Land for a few weeks now, camping out in various places and surviving the countless dangers of the forest. They were almost out of The Distant Land.
Then one night, as they were camping near a riverbank, with only their campfire and the moonlight lighting up the forest, they heard loud screams within the forest. Artemis jumped up, surprised because of the blood curdling screams they heard. Arceus, also surprised by the screams which to him sounded foreign, grabs the dull knife he used to hunt and kill goblins. "Stay here girl, guard our camp. If anything comes, go and hide until I come back, okay?" He says as he wraps Artemis in a blanket made of wildebeast fur.
Arceus ran towards where the screaming was, deep inside the forest. He saw people in the distance. They were running frantically away from something. As he gets closer, he sees a broken carriage a dead horse and a dead old man with half their body bitten off. He followed the screaming again, "Run, Prescilla! Take your mother and run!" one of the voices screamed.
Arceus sees a giant Forest Troll with gray skin and giant scars on its body, chasing the panicked people. Arceus instinctively moved faster and faster, leaping from tree to tree to catch up to them. He sees a tall man with a brown beard, wearing some sort of leather armor, running behind two women and behind the man was the Forest Troll. The man courageously pulls out his sword as he gets ready to face the troll. "Keep running! Don't stop! Don't look behind!" he screams as the two women kept running with tears flowing down their faces, frantically trying to get away from the monster.
The man suddenly stops to face the Forest Troll. He worked up the courage to sacrifice himself for the two women. He imbued magic into his hands and chanted a spell and threw fireballs towards the Forest Troll even though it wasn't effective.
"Over here you stinky big bastard!" He planned to stall out the fight to give the two women a chance to run further. The man then ran to the opposite side of where the two women were running and as he threw fireballs at the Forest Troll, it left out a vicious roar. The Forest Troll ran after the man faster and faster, enraged and bloodlusted.
As the Forest Troll catches up to the man, it grabs him as the man tries desperately to get out of its grasp. The man swung his sword to the fingers of the monster but it did nothing but anger the monster more.
Arceus finally caught up to them and his instincts took over him. The Forest Troll was ready to eat the man and as it held the man up to its mouth, Arceus threw his knife into the hand of the monster.
"Let go of me you damn monster!" The man screamed as he was losing consciousness because of the tight grip the Forest Troll had on him and he lost grip of his sword. Suddenly, the man sees a knife flying towards the hand of the monster, and in an instant, a pair of crimson-red glowing eyes appear in front of him.
Arceus grabs the falling sword and in a swift motion, he imbues mana in the sword and cuts the hand of the Forest Troll clean through its tough skin and bones. "I'll be your playmate, you big stupid oaf."
The hand of the Forest Troll lands on the ground as the Forest Troll screams in agony. Arceus took out the knife from the troll and threw it into a tree, "Now you see me…" and teleported there. "-And now you don't." The man hurriedly tried to shake himself out of the tight grip of the hand that fell to the ground.
The Forest Troll, enraged, searched frantically for Arceus, and as it saw his glowing red eyes from the tree, Arceus vanished and the monster felt a stinging pain on its shoulder.
Arceus teleports again towards the Forest Troll and as he feels his instincts growing more accustomed to the fight, he stabs the monster's eye with the sword and throws the knife again to a nearby tree. Arceus didn't stop and proceeded to mutilate the head of the forest troll. He took out the sword from the monster's eye and viciously swung on its face swifter and faster.
The Forest Troll was roaring in pain, trying desperately to get Arceus off of its face. It tried to crush it with its other hand but Arceus was too fast and sliced off all its fingers.
The man who just got out of the fallen hand sees Arceus slashing away at the Forest Troll's face, roaring in despair with every slash, with only the moonlight shining on them.
It was faint, but the man saw it. A mysterious essence coming out of Arceus. A raging black mist that grew ever slightly with every swing of the sword.
The man was surprised. A boy barely in his teenage years was killing a Forest Troll which even some soldiers couldn't do by themselves. The Forest Troll was fighting for its life but Arceus was too fast for it. It was as if an apex predator was playing with its prey which had no chance whatsoever.
As Arceus comes back to his senses, getting off the adrenaline he felt when fighting the troll, he raised the sword for one last time and with all his might, he stabbed the sword into the neck of the Forest Troll as blood oozed from its giant face. As the monster was falling down, Arceus teleported towards his knife as he left the sword in the monster's throat.
Arceus jumped down from the tree and the man he saved walked up to him to thank him.
"Th-Thank you. I'm in your debt." the man says as he walks towards Arceus.
"The people you were with, we need to find them." Arceus replied, catching his breath.
"Right! I'll search for them. They ran on the opposite side, please help me find them." the man says as he grabbed his sword from the neck of the lifeless monster and they ran towards where the women were last seen running.
Arceus used his mana to find clues about their whereabouts, shifting his mana throughout the forest to feel everything in the surrounding. To the soil that left footprints, to the cracked tree branches, to the leaves that were stepped on, to the small ants on the trail. He recognized them all and he soon found the women and alerts the man of their whereabouts.
As they reconciled, the two women were still crying, huddled together in a dead tree, tired out of their minds from running, hoping everything would just end.
"Miss Gloria! Prescilla! We finally found you." Fredrick says as he walks toward the two women.
"Fredrick! We thought you were dead!" one of the women screamed.
"I'm sorry Miss Gloria, It was the only way to ensure your safety." the man replies as he helps the two women up.
Arceus who was behind the man says, "Please tone down your voices. These woods are dangerous, and with the commotion that just happened, the creatures who lurk in the darkness are all ready to jump on anything or anyone."
The old woman asked quietly, "Who is this boy with you, Fredrick?"
"He is… I don't know his name, but he saved me from the monster." Fredrick replied.
"Arceus. Arceus Genesis Voyde is my name." Arceus says as he bows his head towards them.
The younger woman, who looks slightly older than Arceus, stares at his face that's dirty from the blood of the Forest Troll. She couldn't believe this young man just saved them from the Forest Troll.
"If you guys would like, I could take you up to my camp, just by the river. It's safer there. I can guide you out of here in the morning." Arceus suggested.
The three of them followed Arceus towards his camp quietly, and as they reached the camp, Artemis ran and jumped towards Arceus, licking his bloody face. "So, yes to trolls but no to goblins?" Arceus asked jokingly. "It's safe here now, you can talk freely." He said to them and the group settled down. The younger woman saw Artemis and was enamored by her. "A direwolf! It's so beautiful."
"Artemis is her name. She's the greatest partner anyone can ask for."
"Artemis. That's a pretty name. You said your name was Arceus right? I'm Prescilla Lancaster."
"Nice to meet you Prescilla. I'm sorry we had to meet in such a situation."
Prescilla slowly tries to touch Artemis' head but Artemis growls at her. "Hey, manners. Be friendly, Artemis." Arceus says as he shakes Artemis' head.
"Thank you for saving us, Arceus. We're in your debt. My name is Gloria Lancaster." the older woman says.
"I'm Fredrick Bouchard, a mercenary." the man says as he takes off his armor.
"How did you guys end up here? This forest is filled with monsters everywhere." Arceus asks.
"It was a mistake. Our coachman tried to take this forest as a shortcut to our destination, convinced that it was safe. It's also my fault for being ignorant. I thought I would be strong enough to protect everyone from the dangers of The Distant Land. It turns out I'm not as strong as I thought I was." Fredrick replied as he held his head down.
"We were headed home from a trade, away from our small village. I'm the wife of a humble trader, you see. Me and my daughter would usually come with my husband and return with him too. But this time, his service was extended. We hired Fredrick here, who is a trusted mercenary and a family friend to help us get home. We also hired a coachman, which we didn't even properly know before his untimely death." Gloria says.
"What about you? You're so young yet you're inside this dead forest filled with all kinds of monsters." Prescilla asked curiously as she's still trying to pet Artemis.
"I grew up here in these woods." Arceus answered.
"In the ruined village?! But that village was destroyed long ago!" Fredrick asked.
"You could say that." Arceus answered vaguely.
"So you survived here all alone? Where are your parents? Are there still people living here in this forest?"
"I wasn't alone, and my mother died just recently. I'm the only one living here now. Well, me and Artemis."
"At such a young age. I'm very sorry to hear the passing of your mother." Gloria says as she felt for the boy.
Arceus stayed silent for a while but then he stood up. "I'm gonna go clean myself from all this blood. Please, help yourself with the horned-boar meat that I have. It should be able to feed us tonight, and if not, I can hunt for more."
He walks toward the river near the camp with Artemis following him behind. He took off his torn garment as he walked deeper into the river and Prescilla blushed and turned away as she saw how toned and lean his body was. She also saw the scars on his body and wondered what kind of hell a young man his age had to go through to get those many scars. Gloria noticed this and bumped her head, "Stop staring at the boy and help cook a meal for us!"
Arceus finished cleaning himself as Artemis waited for him from the riverbank. They walked back to the camp and he grabbed a tunic to wear. Arceus finally had a good look at the people that are with them, and in his head, he thought that this is what people are like, 'They're not so different from me'. It was his first time seeing an actual person, not just an image embedded to his head by the essence of the tree. He felt happy, meeting new people.
He sat down beside the fire to dry his clothes as Artemis gets comfortable between his lap. Prescilla handed him a slice of the smoked meat they made. Arceus was curious about the world beyond The Distant Land and asked all of them questions that he was always curious about, like what's the difference between a village and a city, or what the Free People of Teramordia were like, and many more. They talked for hours about many things and as it became late, Arceus helped them set up a comfortable place to sleep in as he stood guard for the rest of the night.
As the two women were sleeping, Fredrick approached Arceus with something on his mind.
"Hey. Again, thanks for earlier. You saved my life from that monster." Fredrick says.
"I'm glad you guys are safe, and I'm sorry about the person that died." Arceus replied.
"He was a coachman from the city, he was always just lazying about. He was a good coachman though, and knowing him, I trusted him when he said that the trail from The Distant Land is safe."
"It would be wise to think that this land will never be safe. This land is like a breeding ground for monsters."
"Earlier. That magic you used to traverse and defeat the Forest Troll, it was something I have never seen or heard of in my life."
"Really? I think a lot of people would be able to do what I did. I never learned proper magic like everyone else."
"No! I'm telling you. That teleportation magic you used, and the way you strengthened the sword using your mana, no normal kid can do that. Where did you learn to use magic?"
"My mother taught me. I can't really explain how she taught me because her method was very unusual. It was more of just by learning from experience rather than by just explaining it. All I can remember is that she embedded an understanding of mana in me and ever since then, I could teleport to whatever single object I imprint my mana on."
"Your mother must be really knowledgeable in order for you to learn something like that. That black mist around you when you were fighting, is that your mana? I've never seen anything like that before too."
"I don't exactly know. It is, but at the same time, it's not just mana. I think… It's like an extension of myself. I feel like… it's part of my existence. Like it's part of who I am."
"You're a mystery, Arceus. I have more questions now than I had before I talked to you. By the way, where are you headed? Why are you camping out here?"
"Wherever my feet may lead me. I have no set plans or destination yet. I've never been out of this forest before."
"You should stay with Gloria for a while. I'm sure she wouldn't mind. The village we live in, although small, is a pretty peaceful place. It's a place where I grew up and a place where I'll keep coming back to, even when my life is in the city now. A kid as mysterious as you, you'll fit right in with everyone."
"I guess we'll see tomorrow."
Arceus and Fredrick talked throughout the night until Fredrick grew tired and slept. Arceus, for the first time, felt a sense of direction to which his feet would walk towards.