"Julian, could we take a little break?"
"Are you tired already?"
"No," Maria answered hesitantly. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "But my legs are hurting..."
"Let's walk a little more."
The sky, which seemed to have always been covered by faint shadow, finally showed a change. If before it appeared to be covered by a shadow, the sky at that moment looked as if it had been painted pitch black.
There were no stars, and surely, there was no reflected light of the moon.
Maria, embraced by the coldness of the night, could not see anything in front of her. If not for the small hand grasping her wrist, she may have considered herself swallowed by the abyss.
"Just a bit more, then we may rest."
"Alright..."
"Tch."
"I am sorry..."
Julian was not angry at her mother, not at all. He knew her mother was exhausted. He knew that they had been walking for far too long already. However, they cannot afford to stop. At least, not where there was only a grass plain that surrounded them.
'They are not giving up.'
He turned his head, looking at the path behind him. In that total darkness where everything seemed to be bound into the night, Julian could 'see' the few people that had been trailing them. Worse, he could tell they were capable, as his senses alone failed to pick up on their presences.
'They are not from before. Bandits...? But trained so well.'
He was certain the one trailing them was not with the group of men he met earlier that day. At least, that was what the Arcana told him. Nonetheless, he felt fortunate not having to go against Breathless so early into his new life.
'Their base is still too far... There is no other choice.'
He wanted to take care of them right then and there, but he was not confident that his immature body could do the job. The plan that provided no advantage, coupled with the fact that he needed to protect his mother simultaneously, was also not helping.
Rustle.
Rustle.
"J-Julian, are we walking in the right direction?" Maria asked worriedly, feeling a sudden brush from prickly grass around her body.
"We are, and try not to speak from this point onward."
Maria kept silent, just like her son asked her to. However, the tightening grasp on her wrist heavies her heart. Slowly, she could feel the grass around her thickening, and before she knew it, solid and rough pillars kept blocking and obstructing her path.
Though her son told her not to touch those things, she could tell from the rough textures what those things were. It was something that she used to see all the time in her youth, yet had become rarer than diamonds.
They were trees. Still standing trees. That could only mean one thing.
"Julian... a-are we in a forest?"
"Shh," Julian shushed his mother.
He had hoped that coming to the tainted land would deter the pursuers. Unfortunately, they were more stubborn than he had wished. Nonetheless, the various cover provided by the forest gave him more options than he previously had.
Ktak.
Swish.
Ktak.
"Juli-"
"Silence."
Ktak.
The whistling sound that started to ring around them made Julian hasten his steps. His 'eyes' and 'ears' kept scanning his surroundings, searching for anything that could cover his mother from the loose arrows.
'...cave...guardian...hunt...'
Finally hearing something good from his new set of ears, he rushed through the forest, ignoring the arrows that were finding their way closer and closer to them. Following each and every whisper closely, he eventually found the cave.
"Maria, sit tight here for a moment," Julian said as he stuffed Maria between rocks.
"W-wait, are you going somewhere?"
Maria began to panic. If there was anything that kept her calm, her heart in that land, it was undoubtedly the tiny hand that had been holding her. However, that tiny had let her go for the first time.
Other than the hard surface embracing her and the echoing sound of water from distant, there was nothing else that she could perceive.
"Don't worry, I won't be long."
The calm voice of Julian called out, and at the same time, a heavy and rough object fell into her hands. Even without being able to see it, she recognized what it was right away. It was one of the few things her husband had left.
It was a sword.
"Julian, p-please do not leave me here," Maria urged in a voice close to a shriek.
"No, no, I will return in a bit... Just stay here until I come back, you can do that, right?" Julian spoke hastily.
'Th...t...ki...re..born...'
'...hy...d.es..ther...?'
'..ow..s.ould I know?'
Julian had no time to give her other instructions, nor the patience to wait for her reply. The Arcana had been warning him constantly that those people were getting close to the cave.
"I will be back."
Covering Maria with the knapsack and his satchel, Julian immediately stepped out of the cave.
Taking out the arrow from his quiver, he drew his bow. His eyes were looking at where Arcana was telling him to. He did not see or hear anything there, but he trusted Arcana more than his senses at that moment.
Since his pursuers managed to pinpoint their location accurately, he knew it would be useless to keep themselves hidden or even running away. It would just tire his mother out. He did not know if it was something related to Gift or if it was just something that one of those bandits specialized in. But it did not matter to him.
It would not change what he needed to do there.
Krtt.
He bent his knee, and his body leaned forward as if he was about to take off.
'Fold.'
Rustle.
There stood three men, a step away from where Julian blinked.
'I knew it.'
Though something in one of the man's neck caught his attention, his move was not interrupted. He immediately let his arrow loose.
Twang.
Swift.
"Argh!"
His arrow hit one of them, piercing at least a fist deep into his shoulder.
'Fold.'
Not even redrawing his bow, Julian blinked before the man who stood in the middle. His hand flew to the man's neck, while the man's sword flew to his head.
From a finger away, quickly to a grain away, the sword seemed ready to split Julian's head open at any moment. Yet, it stopped. It was as if there was an invincible wall between the tip of the sword and Julian's forehead.
As if he could not see the sword, Julian did not retreat. His hand grasped the man's necklace before yanking and snapping the necklace away. At the corner of his eyes, he saw a similar symbol tattooed on the necks of each man.
Swish.
"I will be taking this, bandits."
The boy who stood before them had reappeared a distance away to their east. He was waving the necklace like it was a trophy.