Rene tried to trace his steps back; on almost every turn, he found himself looking around to confirm he''s on the right path lest he get lost.


    Eventually, though, he took a wrong turn and ended up in an unfamiliar square of the city. He leaned against a nearby wall for a second, scratching the back of his head as he tried to figure out where he was and at which turn he got lost.


    The square was way smaller than the one where the cafe and market were; the buildings mostly looked like residential ones with a couple sparsely scattered shops on the ground floors.


    Suddenly Rene was startled by the loud, cacophonous ringing of bells; nearly jumping out of his skin from the sudden sound, Rene turned his head towards the origin.


    Over the large tower from which the bells rung, stood a large golden crucifix; he instantly recognized the building.


    Rene had stumbled upon one of the city''s churches; there was a crowd of people gathered outside the entrance, and as the bells continued to ring, that crowd slowly marched into the inside.


    A flame of curiosity was lit inside him; he knew about Christianity and knew all too much about the church, but Rene also knew that the books and his mother''s words couldn''t teach him everything he wanted to know.


    Rene slowly approached the large entrance of the church, trailing behind the people who were already inside.


    He watched as a man dressed in white walked down the middle aisle of the church and swung a gilded censer back and forth like a pendulum.


    Slowly the smell of the burning incense crept up Rene''s nose as he stood at the entrance; it wasn''t an incense he was familiar with, but it wasn''t too dissimilar from the ones he was used to.


    As the people focused on the man speaking from the altar, Rene got a bold idea.


    He remembered the teachings of his various professors, "Witches are forbidden from certain places of worship..."


    The words repeated in his head; he always thought the statement was obvious, but Rene wanted to know to what extent.


    He extended his hand through the entrance; he steeled himself for the upcoming pain or fire or whatever would happen when his flesh made contact with such a sacred place.


    But Rene''s hand didn''t catch fire, nor did it hurt.


    This surprised him and only emboldened him to push his hand forward, but as soon as his forearm went through the entrance, he felt a sharp stinging pain where one of the sigils he carved into his skin lies.


    Rene let out a yelp of pain, causing some of the people sitting in the pews to turn back and look at him.


    Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Rene quickly walked away from the church and looked around the square.


    Finally Rene remembered which way leads back to the market, so with his basket in hand, he quickly walked back onto the right path.


    The city was still keenly empty, as people were either at work or relaxing at home.


    Rene didn''t mind, though; he preferred for the city to be empty rather than for it to be full.


    Eventually he reached the familiar path that would be the market; he had never seen what happens to it after everyone closes up shop.


    A field of empty stalls and empty spaces stood where the market used to be; it was a peculiar sight to him as he continued walking towards it.


    He sat on one of the stools, swinging his feet slowly as he thought about seeing Marina again. He wondered if his mother would let him go into town regularly from now on or if this was just a one-time thing.


    A feeling of anxiety crept up his spine as a different idea reverberated in his mind: How would his mother even react to finding out he had made a friend with a regular person?


    Rene knew his mother wasn''t too keen on humans, seeing them as a nuisance at best and as vermin at worst.


    She never outright said it to him, but as he grew older it became clearer and clearer to him, and the older he got, the more he understood why she hated them.


    Humans were never kind towards the occult or the things they couldn''t understand; the stories he heard from the older witches at the academy frightened him to the core.


    Even today, Rene saw and felt just how cruel people could be towards others; this only made his anxiety worse as he thought about what to do.


    Not telling his mother about Marina would certainly make it easier to see her, but on the other side he would constantly have to lie to his own mother just to find excuses to go into the town.


    He let out a heavy sigh as he jumped down from the stall and took his basket back into his arms. With a now quickened pace, Rene walked out of the town and back into the outskirts; he knew he must get back to the manor quickly, as walking through the forest during the night would certainly make him get lost.


    The sky slowly started to change color, prompting Rene to start running towards the so-called mouth of the forest.


    As the sky turned to an orangish color, he had finally arrived at the entrance of the woods; hastily he ran through the path he had followed so many times, stepping over the moss and fungus on the damp forest floor. Rene noticed how much more the humidity affected him as he continued to run.


    Usually it wouldn''t even be noticeable to him, but at this moment he felt as if he was drowning from the air.


    He feared he would trip over the roots and fall, which would no doubt lead to everything he had in the basket ending up outside.


    But he knew he couldn''t stop running, for if he did, the night would turn the already dark forest into an inextricable abyss.


    But just as Rene feared, he soon found himself trying to find his way in an abyss-like darkness; the forest tried to guide him the best it could, but despite its help, Rene was still lost.


    There was no use running now; it was too dark to see the floor, and any misstep could lead to him spilling everything from his basket.


    Rene tried to focus as hard as he could; he tried to blindly track down the manor only by its aura; unfortunately, this could only give him a vague idea of where to go.


    His misguided attempts to follow its warm trail only led him deeper and deeper into the wrong side of the forest; unfortunately, Rene only noticed his mistake when he felt the mossy floor shift into a mud-covered mess.


    "Merde..." Rene swore under his breath as he noticed the bottom of the skirt get caught in the mud; he tried to turn back and get out of the foul-smelling patch of the woods.


    But Rene took another wrong step, ending up with his boot plunged even deeper in the mixture of mud and water that made up the floor.


    He knew stumbling in the dark would be idiotic, and that if it was this dark in the twilight, he couldn''t imagine how much darker it would be during the night.


    He hung his basket on a nearby branch and pulled himself up and stepped on the tree''s roots, finally finding stable ground.


    With a few hand signs and practiced hand movements, a small flame sprung up from Rene''s fingertips, combining into a more cohesive flame on his palm.


    He raised the flame in front of him, trying to find his way back onto the right path.


    But the darkness was overpowering the weak light of the flame, a flame that was only intended to kindle bigger fires.


    The squelching sound of footsteps was heard as something waded through the mud of the foul-smelling swamp; the sound was followed by deep croaking and an even more overpowering smell.


    "Who goes there?" Rene said cautiously as he extended his hand towards the noise; a pair of deeply yellow eyes stared back at him, the jaundiced irises and black horizontal slit pupils stared back at him from the dark.


    If it hadn''t been for the size of the eyes, Rene would''ve dismissed it as nothing but a frog.


    But the eyes that stared back at him were far too large, and so was the presence he felt emanating from behind them.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.The figure lunged at Rene, causing him to panic and nearly lose his focus; the figure made itself clear as it came closer into the light.


    Its hair was dark and matted in mud, its skin was rubbery and tinted in a sickly green hue.


    In the nick of time, Rene moved out of the way of the thing''s lunge, just barely dodging its talon-like nails.


    The creature seemed to stagger for a second before it turned to look at Rene, who was still unsure of how to proceed. "You, you trespassed on my, my home."


    The thing spoke with a croaking voice; its voice was without a shadow of a doubt female, despite its extreme hoarseness.


    Finding steady ground, Rene readied his guard as a wave of uncertainty washed over him; the creature could speak, which meant it was sentient enough to be reasoned with, or so he hoped.


    "I apologize! I mean no harm, I swear it." Rene yelled out as he looked at the figure turn back to him.


    The figure seemed to take its time trying to understand what Rene said; it tilted its head and readied to pounce, "No! No, no, no, no! You trespassed on my home!"


    The frog-like figure spoke again as it jumped at him.


    This time Rene wasn''t able to fully dodge her pounce; he felt the warm, stinging pain of the sloppily slashed wound, which was now drawn across his cheek. If the thing''s hand had been positioned any lower, Rene would''ve been done for.


    A newfound sense of both fear and resolve had awoken deep inside Rene again, the same feeling he got when he was getting attacked by the boys who harassed Marina, but this time it was even stronger.


    The boys simply wanted to beat him; this beast made it clear it wanted to kill him.


    Rene looked around as the figure was trying to find the flame that emanated from his hands; his wandering eyes found a somewhat dry-looking bush. Finding an opportunity, Rene threw the flame from his hand onto the bush, lighting it on fire, in turn making the darkness less oppressive.


    Despite the brightness, Rene was still at a disadvantage; the creature assumedly had ten coarsely sharp claws while he was unarmed.


    Again the creature pounced; its accuracy was greatly damaged by the sudden unfamiliar brightness of the burning bush, and it yelped in pain as its claws dug into the side of a tree.


    Rene felt up the side of his bloodied cheek and winced in pain; the cut was coarse and uneven, and he knew it would be tough to close up, but Rene saw a newfound inspiration in the blood.


    If he managed to create a weapon from his blood when he was being attacked by the boy, there was nothing to prevent him from doing it again.


    Rene dug into his palm using his nails, causing the already bloodied hand to ooze with a freshly warm rush of blood.


    As the woman freed her hand from the trunk of the tree, Rene focused his mind and set his goal on recreating the dagger he made earlier that day.


    The blood slowly coagulated and turned rock solid in his hand as it continued to spew from the fresh wound; Rene felt exhilarated at his newfound ability, but that feeling was short-lived.


    Seemingly having adjusted to the light, the thing started slashing at Rene with a feral pace. Rene now had to focus on dodging the relentless barrage of attacks while also forming the rough outline of a dagger from his bleeding hand.


    "Stay... back!" he yelled out as he kicked the thing in its side. He knew his physical strength wasn''t up to par with the thing''s, but this kick wasn''t intended to cause it to retreat but merely buy him time.


    The thing screamed out in frustration as it feverishly continued to slash at him; finally, the blood stopped, which indicated to Rene that the dagger was ready to use.


    He knew if he tried to attack right now that his hand would get shredded by the thing''s claws; his best bet was to either try and parry one of its attacks or to break her guard somehow.


    Rene lured her into a more densely wooded area on the edge of the swamp; with its uncareful slashes, it was bound to eventually get its hand stuck again in the trees.


    And after a few more minutes of dodging and running in circles around the trees, Rene finally got the opportunity he was hoping for.


    The woman mumbled angrily as it tried to get its claws out of the tree; Rene quickly ran up to her and plunged his dagger into the thing''s shoulder; as the thing screeched, Rene pulled out the dagger and stabbed it again into the thing''s back.


    He was both amazed and afraid; he had managed to outwit the thing in its own territory, but at the same time it looked like he was about to take a life.


    Goats and other cattle were a world behind this thing; its human-like intellect made Rene associate it way more with humans than with animals, making him feel a deep fear for what he had done to it.


    The woman managed to get its hand out of the tree before Rene could stab at it again; instead of trying to attack him, the thing started running away back into the swamp.


    Rene knew he couldn''t let it go so easily; he didn''t know if the thing would stalk after him once he made his way back home, and so he ran after it into the swamp.


    The woman didn''t get far; the wound on her back was too deep to shrug off, and she stumbled and fell onto a patch of dirt on the edge of the swamp.


    Rene stood above her, his hands shaking as he looked down at the pitiful sight; he raised the dagger above his head with uncertainty.


    A part of him was telling him to stab it into the thing and be done with it, but a deeper part of him told him to stop.


    This thing wasn''t an animal, and killing it would make him a murderer, and not a justified one at that.


    Even if it was a mistake, at the end of the day, Rene had stumbled into the thing''s home, and even in this critical moment, his mind drifted back to his childhood.


    He remembered the one time he saw his mother use violence against someone else, not from a tale or worthless gossip, but actually seeing it with his own eyes.


    A man had stumbled into the clearing where the estate stood, something someone couldn''t do on accident.


    He never knew if the man was sent there or came by his own will, but he remembered that the man carried an unfamiliar weapon with him.


    Rene remembered how quickly Carmen responded to the armed man, fast enough for Rene to not even register what was happening; he remembered how the last thing he saw before the manor shut its doors was a split second of Carmen holding the man up high by his neck, the same way she held Rene when he returned to the manor two days ago.


    But by the fact she had blood on her hands when she returned to the manor, Rene figured that the man met a much grizzlier fate.


    As his reminiscing stopped, Rene had seemingly made up his mind and prepared to lower the dagger down on the thing.


    He tried to reason with it; he didn''t want to fight it at first, and most of all, he knew that the thing would''ve killed him if it could.


    The thing seemed to be aware of Rene''s intention, and it closed its eyes, a grimace spreading on its face as it tried to hold back its fear.


    A sharp cry escaped from somewhere deeper in the swamp, causing Rene to stop moving the blade down and turn his head sharply towards the origin of the sound.


    The sight broke Rene; he saw multiple beings that looked just like the woman, but they were seemingly juveniles of the species.


    The aggression, the unrelenting attacks—it all made sense to him now.


    The woman from the swamp was a mother, simply defending her young from a presumed intruder.


    He realized what he had done, and his actions disgusted him. Rene''s hands started to shake and tremble as he saw the worried faces of the woman''s children, who were all huddled up behind their biggest sibling.


    Rene lifted the woman out of the shallow water and put her in a sitting position; she was too wounded to attack but still continued trying to slash at him.


    He turned the dagger back into blood before promptly pouring it on the woman''s wounds before putting his hands over them. With a warm orchid glow, the wounds on the woman''s back and shoulder slowly closed and healed.


    Seemingly she realized that Rene was healing her and slowly stopped struggling and slashing. When the wounds were fully closed, Rene took a step back and let the children come closer to their mother.


    The woman turned back to Rene, its yellow eyes still weary as it looked at him.


    "I''m... I''m sorry..." He said as he backed up from the creatures, even with his remorse, he kept up his guard.


    "Sor—sorry..." the woman repeated to Rene as it croaked to its children to retreat into the swamp; with one final look, the woman followed her children farther into the darkness.


    Rene breathed a sigh of relief; he felt like throwing up at the very idea of what he could''ve done.


    In his mind, the killing of someone''s mother was a sin of the highest order, a sin that would truly make someone a monster.


    The bush slowly stopped burning, and Rene took his basket down from the tree branch to which he hooked it. His clothes were ruined, and his body bloodied and bruised, he felt sick from the sudden blood loss of using the fluid that made up the dagger to mend the woman''s wounds.


    He again focused his mind and made a small fire in his palm before he started walking into the forest once more; the fire was weaker as the forest was somehow more humid than the swamp.


    With a basket one hand and the flame in the other, Rene finally managed to trace the aura of the manor onto a familiar path.


    Finally being on his way to his home, unsure of what time it even was.


    He only hoped to get home before his mother; he would hate for her to see him in such a messy state.