Its already been 10 days since I last saw Alice.I''m starting to get worried, I want to visit her but I don''t know where she lives.For a while forgot about those dreams


    I asked everyone in the village if they know where she lives but it seems that no one knows .I even asked the visiting adventurers if they saw someone who matches her description.It seems that she just disappeared


    "Looking for your imaginary friend,John? "


    The who asked that in a mockingtone is Edward, he''s the arrogant son of a merchant who settled in this village.He''s also the richest kid around here andherubs his privilages on everyones faces


    "She''s not imaginary!"


    "Yeah,sure she isn''t"


    He replied,grinning from ear to ear.


    My blood boiled,I clenched my fistthat is shaking withanger.I want to erase that smug look on his face


    "Oh, so you want tofight back?why dont you try hitting me?but I''m sure you knowwhats going to happen if you do right?"


    Edward said while walking withhis hands up in the air as if urging me to do just that


    I want to hit him, but I understoodthat if I do that then It''s not going to turn out well.I know that because I did hit him in the past


    What happened?like I said it didn''t turned out well.I got beaten up andhis father,obviouslyand understably sided with his son. Since they''re rich and I am just the son of a farmer who also hunts sometimes.His father basically rules this little village.


    "You''re a coward"


    I just smiled, because he''s right.I am a coward .


    I left him behind and went towhere Alice and I often meet.It''s outside our villageso going thereafter the sun set is dangerous.I often sneak out of the village to go this place, but I can only meet her when my father is out hunting


    Luckily,today my father isout and is currently hunting in the nearby woods


    I canalmost see the tree which is kind of a landmark.As I approached the tree theusual sight ofmy friend isn''t there


    But thatdoesnt mean there isnt anything there


    A Peryton, a stag with the wings of a giant eagle.Its wings werecoveredwith dark green feathers.Ontop of its head were agiant,extremely sharp jet black set of antlers.


    A magnificent beast, probably one of the most majestic creatures i''ve ever seen.I would probably keep staring at it if Idon''t know what a Peryton is


    Behind that beautifulfacade is a dagerous blood thirsty beast, aPeryton is monster that hates its own existence.Always looking for the "perfect heart"to ascend to ahigher stateof existence,it tears the still beating heart of its prey.


    APeryton''s shadowdoesn''t cast the shadow ofthe beast,instead the shadow shows the outline of the last creature whose heart it has devoured


    I was just about to silently flee until I saw its shadow


    The shadow of it shows the outline ofa girl that I instantly recognized,the shadow it cast is a shadow that I am very familiar with.It has the shadow of Alice


    As if somethingsnapped inside me I did something I would have never done normally


    I picked up a stone and threw it at the beast as hard as I can


    "Give herback!"


    I roared at the beast as If it will change anything, as if I shout harder it willbring my friend back to life


    As expected The Peryton seems unfazed and all I did was anger it and attract its attention.It spread its wings openand the gust ofair coming from it made me realized what I just did and the first thought that came to my head is that


    I''m dead


    I ran as fast I could,I ran evenbefore thePeryton flew.


    The Peryton now circles the sky above me like a hawk and the It skydivedin a ramming position,like a flying bull after amattador holding a capotesUnauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    I jumped and rolled to the right to avoid the angry beast, I almost bumped into a tree


    The Peryton''s antlers only hit air.I quickly stood upbut so does the Peryton, it quickly charge towards my direction.


    I had no time to evade by jumping sideways so I just ducked.Again, I escaped being skewered by its antlers and instead the antlers dug and got stuck into the tree behind me.This is the advantage of being much smaller than your enemy


    Using the chance I ran again,I ran towards the direction of the village.The adventurers are staying there and theyre the only one I can think ofwho can take on this beast.I ran so fast that I didnt notice the root of a tree and I tripped, a stupid mistake


    I can hear the Peryton''s screeches,roars andit even makes sounds resembling a human screaming in agony


    By now the Peryton has already freed one of its antlers and the tree is barely standing.The Perylot was able to free itsantlers because of itsmonstrous strength, its antlers didnt broke because its nota normal antler but rather a material as hard as steel


    I heard the tree snaps and falls toward the ground


    I can barely stand up, my whole body hurts


    My body is coveredin bruises and wounds


    I''m tired both physically and mentally


    The Peryton approached me carefully, thinking that I cant escape.Itis probably restraining itself from killing me immediately so it can consume my heart


    I closed my eyes and gave up, waiting for the death blow, waiting for the beast to tear through my chest and eat myheart


    "Get away from my son!"


    Its the voice of my father, my father roared at the beast and unsheathed his sword.He rushed at the Peryton and tries to stab it but instead of blood the onlything that came out is the sound of steel clashing against steel


    The Peryton kicked at the direction of my father but my father evaded quickly jumping sideways and rolling onto the ground


    "John! get out here! call the adventurersstaying in thevillage!"


    "B-but,father! you-"


    "GO!!"


    I ran away again,as fast as I canwith every step making my heartfeel heavier


    I can''t do anything


    I''m uslessand weak all I can do is run away


    I dont want this


    I''m just fooling myself that going with the flow means that I am smartand intelligent.I dont go with the flow,I get swept by it because I''m weak.


    Its earlyso there are still lot of people outside and after searching for a bit I found the two adventurers surrounded by the village kids


    I forced my way through the crowd of kids,Edward was about to say something but I shove him out of the way.The adventurers noticed me andthats whenI yelled


    " Help! there''s a monster outside the village! my father''s life is in danger!"


    One of the adventurers approached me ,ablack hairedman that looks like he''s in in his mid 20s He''s wearing acuirass andhis arms wereequipped with vembraces.A sheathed shortsword hung on his waist


    He''s aboutto ask mebut when he saw my eyes,seeing how dead serious I am,he stopped and just nodded


    His companion,a blonde hairedwoman wearing a breast plate, her arms werecovered by gauntlets with a red crystal embedded on each palm walks closer to me and handed me a small bottle containing a green viscous liquidsaying "Its not the purest potion but it should be enough to heal your wounds"


    "Tell me where your father is,we''re going to do our best to save him"


    "No,I''m coming my father needs me" I said in a resolute voice,so resolute that even I dont recognize it my self.I thought he''s going to object but he just replied "Then come, just dont get in our way"


    With me leading the way, we dashedto where the Peryton and my father wasfighting.But when we arrived its already too late,the fight is over and my father lies on the ground bleeding


    Irushed to my father''s side and checked his pulse.Its weak but its still there, he''s still alive


    Yes! there''s still a chance!


    "Get him out of here! this place is going to be a battlefield soon!"


    Alaric, the adventurer ,shouted as he unsheathed the short sword that hung on his waist.Its not a normal sword, the blade is covered withrunes


    "Yes!"


    I gently draggedmy father to a safe distance away from the site of the imminentbattle.I took the potion that Christine,thewoman adventurer gaveme and slowlypoured its content in my unconscious father''s mouth.The bruises and small wounds are dissapearing and closing but the hole in his stomach stubbornly refused to close


    No, this won''t do if this keep uphe''s definitely going to die


    Hope turned into despairand all I can think is how weakI am


    Would anything change if Ihad stayed? probably nothing because I''m too weak


    I tried to carry him but since he is a lot bigger thanme and by how exhausted and injured I amI didn''t even managed to move himby 1 meter before Ifell down


    Then I felt it,the weak movement of his chest is gone, I checked his pulse again but they too have already dissapeared


    No...


    I slumped to the ground in exhaustion and sadness,my vision is becoming more blurry by each second.I''ll probably pass out in afew minutes


    I heard the hellish screech of the Peryton as itdescended from above aiming its sharp antlers atAlaric


    "Protection Magic! [Algis]!"


    His sword glowed bright blue and the light turned into particles that got absorbed by his body


    Alaric just stood there not moving an inch,I was expectinghim to get impaled by the beast''s antlers but contrary to what I expected the Peryton''s antlers didn''t even penetrated Alarics armor


    Even the monstrous stag and eagle hybridseems confused


    Seeing this opening Christine pointed her index finger at the Peryton before it can take off


    The red crystal that is embedded inhergauntlet glowed bright red, the light then concentratedin her index finger


    "Concentrated fire spell [Kenaz]!"


    A stream of concentrated fire shot from her finger and it went right through the Peryton''s body, instantly killing it


    If im onlyas strong as them thennone of this would have happen...


    I fell unconscious while cursing my own weakness and uselessness