Part 1

I dashed towards the beast. Every fiber of my body was vibrating with excitement. I pressed my right foot on the ground and took flight. I reached something like two and a half meters. The right height I was looking for. Even though it was far from ready I tried to use a tinier version of ‘sky walk’. An instant gust of cold air exploded from my feet, launching me towards my objective. The head of that beast. It was necessary to create a condition for everyone to fight in order to win since the tiger had the absolute upper hand when fighting the soldiers. We had already sustained one death, two grave injuries and several minor injuries. This wasn’t a fight we could sustain for long.

I was almost at its head when the monster finally took notice of me. Too late. I landed on top of it’s head, right over it’s left eye. With a swift move, before the tiger could shake me off, I ignited my sword with the fireball I had in my left hand. A one time trick. The iron became incredibly hot to the point where even my gloves were becoming unbearable to wear. I took my sword with both hands and thrusted the incandescent blade into the tiger’s eye. A loud roar full of pain came out of the tiger’s fanged mouth. It’s head was shaking violently as I was driving the sword deeper while moving it around to cause the highest amount of damage. While I was trying to keep my balance a powerful swing of an orange paw almost hit me. I jumped down from the monster’s head and landed between two shield soldiers. The beast was agitating it’s head and legs, moving his huge body around like a maniac while the soldiers were skillfully avoiding and stabbing it’s legs. In my eyes all of this was a work of art.

The monster’s vision was now restricted but it still had one eye left. It was far from over. The monster moved it’s head around, looking for something, until our eyes locked. Another roar made the trees shake. A scream full of fury. I was it’s enemy and the monster was mine. Nothing else mattered.

“Come at me, you oversized cat!”

I shouted while grinning at the beast. My heartbeat got faster, my muscles hotter, the air inside my lungs felt lighter than usual. A spike of adrenaline kicked in.

[This is fun!]

I started running around inside the pseudo-circle made by the shields. The tiger was following me with it’s deep black eye while thick red blood covered the left side of its face. If I didn’t finish this fight within the next couple of moves I would have probably lost. I had to make every second count.

“Blind! Cover your eyes!”

I screamed, trying to warn my fellow soldiers of my next move. Some actually listened to me and covered their eyes with their hands or shields. Others completely ignored my warning and kept looking at the monster in front of me.

“Starshine”

A spell inspired by the modern flashbang. It’s base was a fire spell but the mana output was converted from heat to light. So the more mana is circulated in order to cast said spell the more bright the fire becomes. I found this conversion method purely casually while training and almost blinded me. After some training and testing, ‘starshine’ became a nice ace to have in situations where the enemy heavily relies on it’s vision.

A blinding light generated from my left hand. A yellow light like the core of the flame it came from. The dazzling light diffused between the trees, dancing around the armors and the leaves around us, sliding on the crimson blood and gently touching the shiny shields. The whole place was instantly covered in light. Some soldiers got blinded by it but the majority were smart enough to listen to my words and avert their sight. The only working eye of the huge tiger had now become totally useless and the animal was now squirming around in what seemed a mixture of pain and fear.

The moment was right. I looked around me looking for one single man, Erik-san. I saw him standing close to the beast with his sight fully working and the huge sword stuck on the hard ground waiting for the opportunity to make a move. Two other soldiers were close to him, my father included. The table was set. Every piece was in the right place for the final move. My role was just to make that final move possible, and I had the perfect way to do so.

With both hands touching the ground I casted two spells. One after the other at a speed that seemed almost as if I was double casting. This was a very risky move. To cast those spells I had to use a huge quantity of mana which meant that if something went wrong my neck was on the line. The risk excited me.

“Stone pillar”

‘Stone pillar’ was the first spell. Not the usual stone pillar that creates simple rectangles like pillars made of stone but the same spell I used when fighting the wolves. Spell modification. The stone became an element close to a metal and the shape of the pillars changed to that of cone-like spikes. I generated two series of those spikes. One near the left front leg and the other near the right front leg. The generated spikes pierced deep and through the leg, reaching the maximum height of the knee. Teared fur and flesh fell everywhere around the beast’s legs painting the already crimson ground with a new layer of dark red blood. Without the strength of its front legs the tiger fell on the ground face first. It was as I planned. As the beast screamed in suffering trying to stand up once again I casted the second spell.

“Stone storm pillars”

Even though the name changed , the concept was still the same as the basic ‘stone pillar’ with the only exception laying in numbers. If, when casting ‘stone pillar’, I generate between one and three pillars, with ‘stone storm pillars’ I generate a number between thirty and fifty. Of course this spell has its downsides. The pillars I generated with ‘stone storm pillars’ are way more fragile than normal pillars leading to an exponentially lower attack potential. But it’s use didn’t consist in attack, rather it was more of a utility spell.

After screaming the name of the spell, a great number of stone pillars generated from the ground between Erik-san group and the tiger's head, closing the distance. The way I decided to generate the pillars was in order to create a roughly working stair. In the end the spell ended up looking more like a poorly made ramp, but it worked just fine for its purpose.

Erik-san and father looked at me with shock as if to ask what was the meaning of that.

“The neck!”

I screamed. While the others looked at me without any trace of understanding on their faces, only one man was running on the stairs holding his sword with both his hands. My father, our captain. He had caught on to my plan.

“Follow me idiots. We are cutting the monster’s neck!”

A common scream of excitement raised from the surroundings and the nearby soldiers started following their commander’s steps. Five people were now running at full speed on the ramp. Father at the top followed by Erik-san and another soldier as wide as him carrying a giant battle axe while other two soldiers were a bit behind the main group. It didn’t take long for them to reach the top of the ramp and, as soon as someone did, it was followed by a loud battle scream, the shine of the steel being hit by a ray of light and the sound of flesh being cut. Five times this sequence repeated and everytime the screams of the tiger became louder and louder until, the fifth time, the screams ceased. The beast stopped squirming and his whole body fell flat to the ground splashing drops of new and old blood mixed together all around. Five blades dove through its neck, pierced front legs and a blinded eye. That’s what it took us to kill such a beast. The silence didn’t last for long as the soldiers started celebrating. Shouts full of joy and relief were accompanied by tight hugs between comrades and heavy pats on the back. I was still looking at the dead tiger’s corpse as the scene unfolded in front of my eyes. It felt unreal.

[Did we just...win?]

The adrenaline that kept me standing until then finally lost it’s effect and the burden from my almost mana exhaustion and tiredness packed one hell of a punch. As I was about to fall on one knee, a gentle hand grabbed me by my arm and helped me stand. It was my father.

“Wanted to show off huh?”

“As if haha”

“We could have somehow done it ourselves without you risking so much but...thank you...you probably saved a lot of people today”

“Well...it was my job to watch your back”

“But that recklessness! Where did it come from? If you only put that energy in your sword training you would now be at least practitioner tier!”

“Aww come on captain! It’s not fair to give the boy a preaching now hahaha!”

Said with his usual loud voice Erik-san. He looked unfazed. Probably if he didn’t have to babysit me, the fight would have been easier for them.

Some people were disposing of the two corpses of the perished soldiers, wrapping them around some white sheets, while others were giving first aid to the injured. I used what was left of my magic to heal those who were heavily injured . Luckily there were no severe conditions so my knowledge in healing magic was sufficient.

“Alright everyone -” started shouting father while standing on top of the monster’s corpse “- you know the drill. Get ready to move the tiger, tonight we’ll have a feast!”

Cheerful shouts rose from the troupes as we all started working and marching back to base camp.

Part 2

I woke up in the middle of the night. Cheerful sounds of cups hitting, loud songs and crackling fire were filling the surrounding of the camp. I was laying in my tent. The exhaustion of the day kicked in as soon as we reached the camp and after a shower I fell asleep almost instantly, without even eating.

“They really sound like they are having a party out there!”

I said to myself while moving aside the pieces of cloth that acted as the tent entrance. What greeted my eyes was a huge fireplace at least three meters long. It was surrounded by small rocks in order for the fire not to spread around, pieces of burned wood kept getting stirred up by the soldiers who were cooking. On top of the fire, on a seemingly skewer, huge pieces of meat were slowly cooking. By the size of them it was clear it was the tiger’s meat. The smell of meat was making me drool. It was a strong smell with a wild taste to it, it resembled the smell of wolf meat but way more blunt. I approached the crowd of partying soldiers and got suddenly greeted by loud shouts of my name.

“Ohh Raphael-kun you’re finally awake!”

“Come on, join us!”

“Good job mage-kun!”

“Let’s have him taste some alcohol!”

[Fuck I’m not good with people….]

I was just smiling and incessantly replying “thank you” while trying to slip away from all that attention. But of course people would keep bothering me to join them.

[I just wanted some meat....]

People were pulling me around, patting me on my back, toasting their cups with one they previously gave me. It was a mess. I was looking for an opportunity to run away from it when finally help came disguised as my father. He raised me from my armpits and put me on one of his shoulders.

“Soo, has the prince finally woke up?” He said with the brightest smile on his face. His cheeks were a bit redder than usual. He was never a good drinker. He enjoys soft alcohol like wine but can’t stand more than a couple of drinks of a stronger one.

“Yep, ready for another fight!”

“Hahaha that’s my boy! But there will be no need for firestep tigers are lone monsters and very territorial ones so our work here is probably done. We’ll just do a little check and call it a day!”

“Ay ay captain!”

“Have you suddenly become a sailor? Hahaha”

We chatted for quite a long time, eating the freshly cooked meat. It was good to have chats like these every now and then. We didn’t talk of anything specifically, it was mostly us making fun of eachother and commenting on the fights that happened in the past days. It was the first time that we had a father-son conversation ever since the raid started. For once I was actually letting my guard down a bit, conversing with the joining soldiers and singing with the drunkards. It was surprisingly pleasurable, but I was soon reminded that the world can be unforgiving.

Part 3

-SOLDIER’S POV-

I ran. Ran as fast as I could. I had no direction, I was just running. The forest dense and the darkness of the night was not helping. The light of the moon only showed me what was in front of me, nothing more. My legs were heavy and even if I was sweating I couldn't shake off that dreadful feeling of cold. If it wasn’t for the adrenaline I would probably be laying on the ground. My lungs stung. The hit I received must have broken something, probably a rib or two. I couldn’t feel my right arm. All I could do was run. I ran so much that I lost track of time. Was I running for an hour? Or has it only been five minutes? I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that it was still following me.

As time passed my legs started to fail me. Every step became heavier and more difficult to make the next. I was slowing down and what was more frightening was that I could hear it’s steps. It was getting closer...that thing.

As I was struggling to keep my mind off the thoughts of my death, a sound that differed from the ones of the forest. Loud voices and cheerful songs filled my heart with hope. I mustered all of the strength that remained me and made one last sprint towards the source of sounds. The first thing that filled my eyes as soon as I broke out of the trees was an immense light. It took my eyes some time to adjust to the light before I could distinguish any detail but I now could clearly distinguish a wooden palisade higher than two men. Inside the palisade the tops of some tents could be seen and the smoke and light of a fire were rising up painting the night sky of a warm grey and orange colour. Some armed men were standing guard around the palisade.

[Soldiers! Thanks the heavens I’m saved!]

“Please help! HELP!”

I screamed as I approached the guards. Their first reaction was of course one of wariness. One pointed a bow towards me while the other two unseather their swords. As I got closer their expression changed to a more light one until they recognized me as a soldier.

“A soldier! Fast bring him in, let the captain know of this! You, soldier, what unit are you from?” One of the guards asked me.

“Captain...Donnovan’s...unit”

“That unit was dispatched in a zone to our west, at least an hour by horse!”

“What the hell happened, soldier?!”

“...monster…”

My lips were chapped and my throat seemed more like a desert. My limbs stopped responding to me and I fell to my knees, my consciousness almost fading. The guard carried me inside the camp. There people were singing around a fire where huge pieces of meat were cooking. The place reeked of the smell of alcohol and sweat. A soldier’s camp smell.

“Captain Bluescale! There’s an emergency! A soldier from Donnovan’s group has been found injured and almost at the brink of exhaustion”

The one the soldiers referred to was a man named Arthur Bluescale. A newly appointed captain who was previously a trainer. A kid was accompanying him. He was at best eight but his eyes seemed different from a normal eight years old boy, they were cold and observing. The blue of his eyes felt like an abyss, deep and menacing. He was no normal boy.

-RAPHAEL’S POV-

“What’s your name, soldier? What happened?”

Asked father preoccupied to the soldier that just came in. He was in a pretty bad shape. He was clearly exhausted to the point where two men were helping him stand and his legs would still tremble like leaves to the wind. His breath was discontinuos, meaning he either got his lungs punctured or some broken ribs. His right shoulder was broken and the entire arm was left hanging as if it was dead. Something happened to that soldier and it wasn’t good news. Everyone around us had already stopped singing and drinking and the whole camp fell to a deep silence, waiting for that man to speak.

“Private Key Manner...I-I couldn’t do anything so I ran! We had no chance, it was too strong. Everyone is probably dead by now! I-I-I…”

“Calm down soldier and give us details. What attacked you? How strong was it? Tell us everything!”

I looked around me. The previously cheerful mood completely disappeared to leave it’s place to a heavier one. All the soldiers around us were waiting for the man to speak. My eyes met Erik-san’s and he spelled with his mouth the words “gear up”. I nodded and, following his advice, I stepped inside the tent while still lending an ear to the conversation outside. My gear was there, near my sleeping bag, all cleaned up and neatly arranged. It was probably the work of Erik-san. Despite his rude looks he was somewhat of a clean freak.

“While exploring our group found a monster den and we decided to put it on fire. Turns out it was a firestep tiger’s den, it’s cubs were laying dead at the end of the den but there was no trace of either one of their parents. When night came our camp got attacked by a firestep tiger, probably it was the parent of the cubs we killed….our group should have been able to handle it but-but it was impossible. That monster was huge. At least five meters tall and its strength was on a whole different level from the other monsters we faced...it was terrifying. Some people tried to fight it, other tried to hopelessly run...I was the only one able to escape but then-”

“It's fine now, soldier. You can rest here. Mitchel, send word to HQ of what happened”

“No no you don’t understand. That thing followed me!”

“What?!”

“I-I could hear it’s steps when I was running. Y-You have to run! You can’t beat it that thing is a-”

The injured soldier didn’t even get to finish when a loud roar was heard coming from deep within the woods. We were familiar with such a sound since it was the same sound as the one that emitted the beast that was now cooking on our fire. A flock of black birds took flight from the forest where the beast roared. It was still far away but we could all see the trees bending to it’s movements.

“Soldiers prepare for a fight!”

Screamed father while hitting the sky with his clenched fist. The tension on his face was visible. I was just coming out of my tent after gearing up when I was approached by Erik-san. He already had all of his gear on except for a couple of pieces and his sword.

“How’s your mana, got enough for a fight?”

“Yeah but for a beast like that my magic could be useless you know!”

“Ahh bullshit! You already fought a firestep tiger so you know how it acts and moves. You just have to create an opportunity, we’ll do the rest!”

I nodded. I didn’t bond with anyone other than Erik-san but I do trust their strength. People started gathering near the palisade as the sounds coming from the forest began to feel louder and louder. The injured soldier had crawled into a corner and was now trembling like a newborn chick. His eyes were open to the point where one could see most of their capillaries. A middle-way between drool and foam was building up in his mouth to then fall all over his pants. It was an unsightly scene to assist.

“Men get ready for a fight!”

The wild crowd of soldiers started to scream and beat their weapons on their chest. Everyone was geared up and waiting for the enemy to show itself. It was probably the effect of the alcohol but everyone was far more excited for this than the previous battles our group fought. I, on the other hand, had a strange feeling. As if something inside me was telling me to run. An instinct.

[Fear?]

I thought, making a comparison between me and the excited soldiers. But no, it wasn’t fear, it felt deeper than that. More like a warning. A warning that I was going to ignore for the time being. The tiger was close. I could see the trees violently bending as it approached with an incredible speed, like the trees were nothing but ears of wheat to the wind. The ground trembled the more the beast approached. It was like a rhythm. Like the sound of a horse running and hitting the hard ground with its clogs. One more roar was heard before the head of that beast appeared from the trees. After it, the whole body came into vision. It was majestic. A five meters tall tiger with muscles so toned that even from that distance we all could see the flexing of its legs when running. Its fur was of a beautiful crimson color with black stripes. It was the same color of blood, a truly terrifying sight yet majestic at the same time. The tiger had two tails this time, as long as it’s whole body. They looked like snakes as the tiger’s movements shook them around whipping the air. Black claws and pearl white fangs were on display. Both of them were longer than my entire arms. A direct hit of them would only spell death for every soldier here, especially me. Long black whiskers adorned the angry face of that beat baring its fangs at us. But what mesmerized me the most were its eyes. Opal black eyes that looked like someone stuck two of the most beautiful stones inside those watery eyes. It was a deep black, darker than the night itself and, because of the fire, light red sparkles were dancing inside those eyes.

That beast towered our palisade showing it’s head outside of it. We were nothing but ants in comparison. The soldiers screamed. A war cry, loud, deep and full of excitement. Everyone had their swords unseather and their shield raised. To the soldier’s cry the tiger replied with a loud roar. Hearing it up close gave me the chills. It’s roar was the signal. The battle started.

Everyone started running towards the enemy while arrows fell down on the beast seemingly doing no damage. Not even one arrow stuck on it’s fur. The tiger answered to that attack with a strong stomp of its feet. A huge fire was created from the spot where the tiger stomped in a circle radius of a couple of meters. I knew now why that beast was called a firestep tiger.

It didn’t take long for our wooden palisade to crumble down at the tiger’s feet. The stage was set. Soldiers started running towards the beast with their captain in the front. I was in the back with Erik-san covering for me. I had my hands already on the ground, ready to cast a spell when bodies started flying.

A single swing of its paw and five men went flying. One of them passed right beside me. A familiar armor and a familiar face. Father was taken down with one hit. His armor shattered and dark red blood came out of the newly opened cut. He landed on a nearby tent destroying it, a couple meters away from my position. The captain was down.

Panic started spreading inside the camp. Some soldiers started running in every direction either trying to escape the beast or helping the injured. Others kept attacking the tiger. It was chaos.

A crimson carpet started covering the camp grounds as everyone was either falling dead on the ground or running injured from the camp to where the horses were kept. I watched the scene unfold in front of my eyes as the whole group was being annihilated while Erik-san was carrying father on his shoulders and I was casting consecutives healing spells. I still didn’t know high tier healing spells and I wasn’t even able to modify them or manipulate the mana output. I was only able to close the cut, luckily it was the armor that took the most damage and other than a few ribs broken my father was out of danger, his lungs and other organs were all intact. The problem was that he had hit his head on the poles that kept the tent standing. We were looking for a safe place to hide father when we noticed that the only left standing in the camp were me and Erik-san. The smell of burned flesh and blood filled my nostrils. This had not been a battle but a one sided massacre.