They traveled for hours in silence, Ellis in front and the two of them far behind him. The sun was setting when Ameena said they’d stop for camp. The moment she did, Michael dragged Ellis to the middle of the forest and told him to find some Rass’s. Ellis surveyed the area, and found it almost a copy of any other part of the forest. He was unsure why Michael had chosen this spot, but the man was humming to himself, his smile never leaving his face while his eyes remained unblinking on Ellis’s back.

  Ellis had brought his mother’s kitchen knife and bow with him, in case Michael and Ameena had lied and planned to bury him here. He knew it wouldn’t make a difference. It still made him feel better.

  He needed to prove himself useful. Accompanying them to the city, and then having them run off to do gods knew what was not Ellis’s idea of revenge. He had to join them on their secret mission to kill the most powerful man in the area. Suppressing a shudder at the stupidity of what he was trying to join, he focused on the trails in front of him.

  He remembered the Rass had attacked him from above, so he didn’t scan the ground like he was used to, but looked up at the branches overhead. The canopy seemed too thin, not the thick suffocating blanket that had obscured the very sky he had seen on his first hunting trip.

  He motioned for Michael to follow him, jogging towards a thicker part of the forest as Michael came up beside him. They ran in silence for a while, Ellis’s breathing growing heavier while Michael’s humming never ceased.

  Ellis slowed down and got his panting under control, before realizing the strangeness of this task. Was Michael aware of it? Was this a test? Ellis knew what the man was capable of, but Michael didn’t know he knew.

  He decided to try and keep it that way, at least for now.

  “My lord… I don’t want to come off as nosy, but why are we hunting Rass? There is far easier prey around here. I noticed some boar tracks earlier, we could have that tonight instead?”

  “While the offer of bacon is tempting, I’m not out here for food.”

  Ellis nodded, as if that wasn’t an insane thing to say on a hunt, but remembered what the man said about irritating him.

  Michael was the one to break the silence this time. “By the way, you said your perception is high. Let me see your stats real quick.”

  He clamped his hand around Ellis’s shoulder, and terror erupted from the spot, spreading through Ellis like dragonfire. Was this it? Was this where he died? He had stiffened at the touch, thankful his feet had kept walking but otherwise he made sure his body did not react in any other way.

  Michael’s voice lost its fake smile. “I don’t want to keep touching another man. Status Ellis. Show me your status.”

  Ellis still hesitated. If Michael saw he was a child of Anwir, he’d know at some point that Ellis had been lying to him. But he couldn’t postpone this, couldn’t talk his way out of it. Michael’s grip started growing tighter. Whispering status under his breath, he waved a hand at the pop up while trying to hide his grip on the knife at his hip.

  A child of Anwir:

  *Ellis Marsh:

  Strength: 4

  Mana: 1

  Dexterity: 6 (Trusty bow +1)

  Perception: 7

  Endurance: 6

  Constitution: 4

  Total: 28 (+1)

  Level: 1

  Michael scanned it for a while, Ellis sweating the entire time. He was trying to figure out what to say, waiting for that grip to turn into a vice. But he simply let go of Ellis’s shoulder, and shrugged.

  “I am embarrassed to admit that I thought your perception wouldn’t be that high. But it is an entire point higher than mine, and at level 1? Impressive stuff. Bow’s… okayish too, I suppose. Must be what kept you alive from whatever scratched your arms.”

  You're more than level 1? You don’t deserve it you bastard.

  “Uhm… thank you? It was a Rass, actually. Barely made it out alive,” Ellis said, tip-toeing around the back handed compliment to the best of his ability when he noticed claw marks high up on a nearby tree. He directed Michael to walk in the mark’s direction, while he continued on as if Ellis hadn’t said anything.

  “Too bad about your strength and constitution though. You're a whole twenty percent weaker and more fragile than a normal person? Must be a tough life.”

  Ellis held his tongue in check, even as his hands clenched. “Well… yes. I suppose so.”

  “Don’t worry, nothing will harm you while I’m here,” he said reassuringly, patting Ellis on the back.

  Except you.

  Ellis waited for the man to offer up his stats, almost relieved the old custom of exchanging statuses would gain him such valuable information. They walked in silence for close to two minutes, and the confusion and exhaustion made him open his big mouth.

  “Uhm… my lord? May I see your stats?”

  He looked at Ellis as if he were the strange one. “Why? They’re higher than yours, don’t worry.”

  Ellis decided not to push the subject, despite the implicit rudeness of not offering one’s own status in turn, and kept walking. After walking in the direction of that mark for a while, he saw a single leaf fall in the distance. He put his finger to his lips and pointed. Michael followed his outstretched finger and squinted up at the canopy.

  “I don’t see anything?”

  “I’m not sure, but I think there is an Rass hiding up in that tree… now what?”

  Michael only grinned, then turned his eyes from the canopy to the damp forest floor. He looked around before bending down to pick up a rock. Hefting it in his hand, he felt its weight, before tossing it up in the air, once twice before nodding.

  He seemed to speak to himself rather than Ellis. “This'll do.”

  He threw the rock so hard it left a perfect hole through the branches and leaves, a sharp squawk filling the air once it disappeared. Not long after, a big Rass with yellow spots fell from the trees, landing on the floor with a loud thud. It stopped twitching after a while, and laid there with its tongue out and its head half-gone.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Ellis shuddered at the sight. Michael walked past him, but once he saw its bisected head he flexed his bicep and whispered, “still got it”.

  He turned around and grabbed Ellis’s shoulder, shaking him happily and laughing as he spoke.

  “Now that was some hunting! What, we found one in twenty minutes? Mighty fine work Ellis, mighty fine!”

  Michael didn’t hear the softer thud landing behind him as a second Rass jumped down from the trees. It nudged its mate with its beak, tears forming at the corner of its eyes as it stared at the corpse. Ellis turned away, unable to look at the grief stricken animal. Its eyes felt like a mirror image to his own, and he didn’t need any more reminders of his loss.

  Ellis almost wished Michael wouldn’t turn around, that they would just walk off and leave the animal alone. But then it let loose a whine into the air, and Michael’s eyes widened like Delilah’s when she received her toys.

  “There were two of them? Kid, you might just be useful yet!”

  Michael turned around and took off at a sprint. The dead Rass’s mate stood over its body, a deep squawk filling its throat that made Ellis’s hair stand on end, even fifty meters away.

  Michael crossed that distance between them in a little under a single second. He grabbed the Rass before it could react and ripped its throat out, just like yesterday. The blood sprayed over his ruined white shirt, the animal convulsing in his grip as its eyes rolled into the back of its head.

  He threw the shaking Rass down like an after thought and turned back to Ellis, the grin on his face made unholy by the blood that caked it.

  “Ellis you fucking beauty!” he said, giving him two thumbs up. “I want to kill a few more before it gets dark. Lead the way, o’ hunter of mine.”

  Michael started walking back towards Ellis, that same hum filling the air.

  Ellis could only stare at him. “Are you just going to leave them here?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “What? The animals? Yeah."

  “Why would you… kill them then?”

  Michael’s grin dimmed. “Why would you… ask questions? Because I could, for fun, the sun was up… take your pick. Think of it as revenge for what happened to your arms, if you want.”

  Ellis thought back to when he was young. His mother hated lizards, and one night a tiny black one had slipped into their home. She spotted it first and screamed her head off, running out the house and peaking at it from behind the front door as he laughed at his mothers fear.

  Still laughing, he walked up to the lizard and flattened it with his hand, holding it up toward her like he was some monster slayer. He felt proud of his achievement, until he saw his father standing in the hallway, a sad look in his eye.

  “What did I say about killing, Ellis?” he asked, his voice heavy with disappointment.

  Ellis hid the hand behind his back. “Not too?”

  He shook his head and stared at the ceiling, before marching over and grabbing Ellis’s wrist. The man brought it up between them and made Ellis stare at his palm, covered in blood and the squashed innards of the tiny reptile.

  “Killing something is sacred.” His voice had frozen little Ellis to the spot. “The sanctity of a kill must never be violated, even when the creature is small. We kill the deer to eat, we kill the goats for their wool and for the food pits. We don’t kill things for fun, Ellis. Never for fun. Always for a reason. Now you will eat this. Because otherwise it will have died for nothing.”

  The lizard had been slimy and the tiny bones had left a horrible crunch in his mouth with every movement of his jaw. The bitter taste lingered in his mouth for days. The lesson, though. That had lasted Ellis's entire life.

  And now, that memory flashed through his mind as the taste of lizard once again filled his mouth, acidic and crunchy, as he stared at Michael. Every instinct he had screamed at him to open his mouth, and the unblinking gaze of the man covered in blood would close it. Over and over, his mouth opened and closed. Ellis unsure of what to do.

  His mouth won.

  “That’s just… that’s wrong. We should carry it back, the food will hold us over for weeks if we store it right!”

  Michael raised an eyebrow, his smile vanished, his lips now pressed into a thin line of contempt.

  “‘We’?” he said, his voice mocking. He pointed a finger at Ellis’s chest. “You. You can carry them back if you want.”

  His brain started working again, screaming at him as to what he was doing, as to why he would be so stupid to question the man who could rip throats out with his bare hands.

  He ignored the thoughts and nodded furiously before running over to the dead animals. He squatted down and got his arms under the giant forelegs of the creature, and hefted it onto his back. The wet blood mixed with the dry scabs on Ellis’s arms as he heaved the animal onto his shoulder.

  He took a step. Then another. Then realization dawned on him. A Rass might be smaller than a buck… but it was by no means lighter. He felt the strain on his tired legs, every step leaving him more breathless than the last.

  Michael crossed his arms as he watched. Ellis made it all the way back to where he stood before he dropped the carcass at the man's feet, panting from strain.

  “My lord… I…”

  “Will leave them here? Fantastic! Come now, your burning daylight.” He turned and started walking away.

  Knowing it was stupid and doing it anyway, his brain scrambled for an argument. His mind went through everything he was ever taught, but no argument would work with this monster.

  Then he remembered the best argument of all. Money.

  “Wait, my lord!”

  Michael turned towards him slowly, his face flat and his eyes narrow. “Yes, Ellis?”

  Ellis stumbled back a step from the heat that had crept into Michael’s voice. Holding up his hands, he stared at his shoes and gave his final plea.

  “My lord… uhm… the skins fell for quite a bit of silver… and the teeth are a copper a piece! Two Rass might even net us a gold coin, if we sell it at the right place. So… we don’t have to just eat it… we— you can profit from it. It’s a win-win type of situation, I think?”

  Michael didn’t move for a moment. Didn’t twitch. Just stood there, staring at Ellis. Before he put a playful hand under his chin as he hummed and hawed. He snapped his fingers and gave Ellis a wide smile.

  “Now that is an offer I can get behind! Why didn’t you lead with that?” He slapped Ellis on the shoulder, then picked up the carcass lying between them with one hand and skipped over to the other one.

  Ellis? Ellis started breathing again.

  Michael put both carcasses on one shoulder and walked back to Ellis, a contemplative look on his face before he circled Ellis, once, twice, coming to a stop before him.

  “You found me some entertainment, and gave me a way to profit from it to boot. Must say, you are full of surprises my boy. If you remember our first little meeting, ‘Kindness should be repaid with kindness’. Here kid, take this.”

  He took a ring out of his pocket and held it out toward Ellis, who was bracing himself to be stabbed. Picking up the piece of jewelry, Ellis gulped, preparing for Michael to change his mind and snap that outstretched hand towards his throat.

  But Michael simply dropped his hand back to his side and waited with a smug smile, like he was expecting Ellis to bow down at his feet. Ellis didn’t know why. But he started bracing himself as he slipped the ring onto his index finger.

  Minor ring of protection:

  Passive: +1 constitution

  Activate: For 1 Mana cost, the wearer shall be coated in a protective barrier that shall mitigate some damage. Scales with endurance and the stats items.

  Ellis stared at the abomination adorning his finger, a light warmth stretching from his knuckle all the way up his arm, spreading around his body like a disease. All the aches and pains built up over the last few days lessened, no longer needing to be consciously ignored. He suppressed the urge to vomit as he glanced from the ring to Michael, his worst fears brought to life.

  They were mana users. Monsters, spitting on the gods' love for their own selfish gain. The more he learned about these people, the worse they got. He wanted to strangle the man smiling at him, to see how he liked it when his throat was ripped out.

  Instead, he put the ring on. Instead, Ellis only said, “thank you.”

  as to your criticism, yeah I get you on the slow bit, but I really wanted to set it up properly! but I'm going to probably follow your advice and add a small 'slow start' section at the beginning so readers know what to expect!