Scene 4 - Run

A blessing in disguise had occurred, as the monster swarm had actually stopped for a minute to devour the four men, giving the group enough distance for some breathing room. Not slowing down in the slightest, Saren asked, “Mind telling me why there’s a hoard of monsters chasing us, Vince? I would like to know, short version please!”

Vince raised his hands, furiously holding the one-meter long egg. It was scaly and black with thin red lines under the scales, “It’s these damned eggs! We can’t let them go! They became stuck in our hands and then a swarm of monsters suddenly appeared and came chasing after us! We were left with no choice but to flee! The next time the path splits, we’ll split up; I don’t want to drag you along with that girl into this mess! We can handle this, little bro!”

Saren opened his mouth to speak but was fiercely cut off by Vince. There would be no discussion on this matter. He hated and admired Vince’s hard-headedness; it was almost at the same level of Rune’s stubbornness.

“Fine! But you better not die! Rune would be heartbroken and so would the rest of us!”

Vince nodded, picking up speed. He kept running, as a few moments later he could hear the roars pick up again. The monsters were on the move once more, leaving behind only bloody stains on the ground. The two jungle girls didn’t utter a word and kept on running at an even pace behind Vince. Apparently, they were not in the least bit tired; their breathing was normal and not forced.

It didn’t take long though, for the monsters to finish their light meal and catch up with them. Surprisingly, not at any point in time did the path split before while they ran away. Twisting and turning, the massive swarm was getting closer by the second. It didn’t look good for the group. Now the monsters were thirty meters away and at this pace, they would get them within three minutes.

Karrin could have done something about this hoard, but her arm wasn’t fully healed yet. At the time Saren had walked away, she had used a potion on her injured arm. Still, with the time they had, she wouldn’t be able to use it. The only thing they could do now was run or die and as a minute passed, there were only 60 meters left before the monster descended upon them.

Finally, a split appeared up ahead, yet Saren was determined to follow his elder brother. Even if he were to die with him, it would be better than dying a coward! When they came up to the split, Vince and the girls next to him pushed Karrin and Saren out into the other pathway. They kept running on, leaving the two stunned. Vince yelled back to his little brother, “Don’t worry about me, little bro! I’ll be alright! So run and survive, I’ll see you after the test is done!”

Saren shed a tear. Why? Why was his older brother always shouldering the pain alone? We are brothers, so why won’t he let anyone in?! Saren grabbed Karrin’s hand again and ran deep into the tunnel with her.

He didn’t look back.

A minute passed by and as expected, no monsters came and chased them down. It seemed Vince was right; they wanted only those that were carrying eggs. Feeling powerless for not having the strength to kill all those beasts, Saren leaned on the wall and didn’t make a sound.

Karrin was silent for only a moment before making up her mind; she left Saren there to wallow in his pain. She didn’t feel that she owed this boy anything; sure he had saved her once, but his rude behavior infuriated her! Besides, she was the great Karrin! She just couldn’t feel or understand what he was going through so she merely walked away.

Three meters away, she suddenly heard a bowstring, getting pulled back followed by the words, “Don’t move a muscle.”

In anger the girl turned around, ready to murder this boy! Taking out a knife in the same motion, ready to block, only to see the arrow already left his bowstring. The arrow flew right past her face. Karrin then heard a screech behind her, followed by the sound of a body dropping to the ground. Stunned, she turned around once again, only to find a large black and shadowy like monster dead at her feet, mere inches away on the ground.

His voice was cold and unflinching, “Oi, hand over what you stole before I put an arrow through your neck, princess.” Saren wasn’t in the mood to mess around; his brother could be getting torn up piece by piece by those beasts.

Eyes wide, she slowly thought about lying to him, but decided against it, as she was still in no condition to fight. She dropped six potions on the ground; 2 were tier 3 and the rest were tier 2. She placed them on the ground and walked forward slowly. Gnashing her teeth, she said in a low voice, “How did you know? I thought I played it pretty well… What gave it away?”

Saren laughed coldly, “Haha! When I left at the time, you had to have used a tier 2 potion. You didn’t hide that very well from my eyes; I saw the bottle lying on the ground. You then could have used your arm anytime you wanted when you recovered enough, which by the size of your wound midway through our run was enough time to heal.

So I knew you had enough time to take advantage of the opportunity. And the full proof evidence I have is when you grabbed a dagger with your wounded arm!”

Looking down, she cursed inwardly, and walked away angry and flustered her at the same time. This was the first time a boy her age had gotten the better of her in wits! She swore it would be the last as well! Watching her fade off into the distance, Saren knew that this wouldn’t be the last time he saw her.

Exhausted, he sat against the wall as the Labyrinth started to shift and change underneath his feet. Smiling, full of hope, the younger brother prayed that the heavens would protect his elder brother.

At the time that's all, he could do.