“Hmm… can we outpace them? Just until the outpost?” Brown haired knuckle guy asked. I was surprised he didn't immediately suggest leaving me.

“It would be close,” the purple-haired girl responded.

“Let's go then, I don't wanna leave a kid like him to die” He stated with no room for negotiation. He definitely wasn't the oldest and didn't look the strongest but he commanded such trust from the others it was impressive. “Oraki, you carry him.”

“Huh carry me?” I barely had time to think about the situation before I was hoisted up onto the really tall guy’s shoulder, guess his name is Oraki? We began to move to the west and back toward the path I had seen before. Oraki was holding me just below my waist with my upper body leaning over his shoulder, facing backwards, I couldn't see where we were going. There was abrupt jolting with every step Oraki took. The speed these people could run was faster than I have ever seen anyone run before in my life. I felt like there was no one who could catch up to us, this speed was crazy.

“Any Circles you can use to slow them down?” Brown haired knuckle guy yelled out.

“Only one.” Purple hair said back calmly.

BOOOM!!!

An eruption of flames off in the distance that looked to have set a large area of the grassland on fire. “What was that!!” I yelled in half amazement, half fear.

“That’s Arika’s flame trap circle” Oraki responded proudly. His deep voice rumbled my body as he spoke. Showing off his teammates' power was fun for him it seemed. Also looks like Purple Hair's name is Arika.

“Got no detection circles left! We will have to hope that did enough.” Arika called out as we continued to run. I couldn't tell what they meant by circles, this all was so crazy and I was just in shock still.

A few minutes went by, the fire continued to burn but began to fall away into the distance as we distanced ourselves from there.

Out of nowhere Oraki almost leaped forward, jumping into his next step. Since I was on his shoulder I could feel something flowing within him, a power surging from deep inside. It got violent and churned inside until it shot downward as his foot collided with the ground. Right behind him, the ground cracked and broke. A large piece of rock flew up from the ground and up over our heads. If that wasn't crazy enough three rough looking arrows lodged into the rock that Oraki had sent into the air. "Arrows? Someone had to have shot those." I thought while looking down range where it looked like they came from. There was a bunch of really small people scurrying around and running towards us. All of them were holding various weapons but I couldn't make out too many details from this distance especially with the shaking of Oraki's running.

“Arrows!” Oraki called out “Koshi, can you keep the arrows off us for now?”

“Yeah I got it. Just focus on running!” Brown haired knuckle guy or Koshi Called out. Another round of arrows came flying towards us, they seemed to get knocked out of the sky by something but there was nothing there. I decided it probably wasn't the best time to ask what that was.

This continued for a while, arrows flying, getting knocked off course by something. All the while those people were getting closer, but now that they were closer they didn't really look like people anymore. They were more greenish and had weird body proportions that changed one to the other. In fact if I had to call them anything it would have to be Goblins. That would explain the needlessly violent behavior, the rough and tattered looking arrows, along with the random assortment of weapons that look like they were grabbed from wherever they could be found.

“We're gonna have to engage!” The female swordsman, who was nearest to the goblins, announced.

“Kid! Can you shield yourself with mana?” Koshi called out to me. I looked at him and shook my head. “Damn! Tobi! Speed buff Shina!”.

“Got it!” The timid short one or Tobi began to accumulate the green energy again but I could tell it was different than before.

“Shina! Get as many as possible with one strike and get out of there!” Koshi yelled to the female swordsman or Shina.

“BUFFING!” Tobi yelled louder than I thought he could possibly speak as he turned around mid run and sent the green energy ball, or buff, flying toward Shina. When it hit her she immediately stopped her run forward and began sprinting back even faster then she had been moving forward.

“AAHHHHHH!!!” She let out a powerful battle cry as planted on foot in the ground far in front of her. She swung her blade with her entire body, rotating around that planted foot. Midway through the swing the sword erupted into flames and then she cut right through the front line of goblins with a huge horizontal slash. A secondary blade of fire formed as the swing was let lose, that second blade continued back to hit the goblins a bit further back. This heavily damaged and set more of them on fire. She immediately began to run back this way again and was catching up to us again fairly easily. The goblins slowed as they crashed into each other, half of the ones visible were on fire, tripping over severed bodies and burned corpses. Their advance was reduced to half the pace they had before. "These people are crazy." I couldn't help but be amazed.

Right at that moment, as Shina was trying to catch up with the group using the speed buff from Tobi, Koshi yelled out “DODGE!”. Shina realised what was happening and tried to dodge, unfortunately she had overexerted herself with that overpowered attack. She couldn't react as fast as normal. An arrow came soaring down and lodged itself right in her left shoulder on her back. She tried to yell but no sound seemed to come out. She tripped over herself and fell down, the arrow sticking straight into the air as she landed face first slightly leading with her right shoulder.

“KID I'M DROPPING YOU” Oraki Yelled to me. I could barely process his words before I found my feet touching the ground again. stumbling backwards a few steps then falling over, my feet scraping on the ground along the way. Finally landing on my butt facing towards the mayhem. Oraki ran past Shina and pounded his fists into the ground, raising a mini barrier of rock to protect Shina from any direct attacks. He then took out his Greataxe to watch for any arching aerial attacks. Tobi rushed to meet up with Oraki and Shina. Meanwhile Arika and Koshi went forward to engage the enemy.

I sat and watched as goblins were getting killed left and right. Blood was flying and began to soak the ground. Tobi was healing the arrow wound on the spot. The reality of the situation began to sink in finally as I witnessed all of this unfolding in front of me. This is a new world, completely different from the one I lived in before. There were new possibilities, new opportunities, and a new life to be lived. Just one thing hurt my heart and held me back. I was alone, my family was gone, I was the only one left and the only one with this opportunity. I lived my life for my family, how could I in my right mind go on alone in this place. breaking down mentally was reduced to a mumbling sorrowful being. The immense pain from the loss of my family returning, my mind filling up with similar thoughts to before, darkness filling my mind. I began to hyperventilate and freak out, I eventually passed out and fell down to the ground.

________________________________________________________________

“...ostuk…”

“...y little Notsu…”

“...member to li…”

“...ive well. Live well and find purpo…”

________________________________________________________________

“...Too much fo…”

“...We can’t just leav…”

“...At least stay until he wakes up and we know he is ok” I hear Oraki saying as I wake up.

“Ughhh…” I grunt as I cover my face with my hand.

“You up?” Tobi chimes in.

“I guess” I responded while sitting up in what feels to be a roughly made straw bed. The room is dimly lit with candles on the walls. A fire going in the fireplace with a few rickety wooden chairs surrounding it. Tobi was kneeling next to the bed leaning on it with his elbows. I could see Oraki leaning up against the wall next to the fireplace. “What happene…” I began to ask but the memories of the past hour before I blacked out came flowing back in. I slipped back down from my sitting position, my head spinning “Ahhhh…” I cried in grief and nausea.

“You ok!?” Tobi asked hurriedly with concern.

I composed myself as quickly as I could for Tobi's sake “Yeah yeah, sorry” My throat felt dry and scratchy. “Do you have some water?” I asked shakily.

“Yeah let me go get some” He got up and left the room. I looked over to Oraki, who was the only one left in the room.

“Why did you guys do all that to help me?” I asked

“Why would we not?” He responded as if it was nothing

“I’m not worth it” I said, I could feel tears forming as I forced the words out “I’m just a broken lost child with nowhere to go and no direction in life. I'm not worth good people like you risking your lives to help me.”

“We wouldn’t be good people if we thought like that. It’s not about what’s right, who deserves it or anything of the sort. We saw you, and wanted to help you, simple as that.”

“But what is the worth in someone who has lost everything they lived for.”

“Their worth lies in what they chose to do now.”

“But I’ve always had someone I'm living for, how am I supposed to continue without them? Isn't that like throwing away everything I did for them and abandoning them?” My voice began to raise with anger. I'm not sure who it was aimed at, the world or myself.

“I don't know who it is you lost or how it happened but I would bet that what they would want, from the person who spent their life helping them, and living for them, is for them to live well and cherish the moments they have now. Not being trapped and dragged down by the very person they tried to help.”

Something in what Oraki just said sparked something within my mind “Huh?” My mind suddenly became clear. A picture from that room formed in my mind. That accursed room that held my mom captive for so long. But why did it feel so bright? I focused on it and seemed to almost enter it like I was traveling back in time. It was a memory from my mom's hospital room. A room I normally hated because it was a representation of my moms bad health condition. I was half asleep sitting next to my mom's bed and leaning my head on my mom’s legs, she was sitting up in her bed looking at me as she gently stroked my head and hummed a lullaby to ease my rest. I remembered I had been watching her all day because she went through a close call. Finally succumbed to my tiredness. I didn't process her words at the time but now I could hear them clear as day.

“Oh Notsuka,” She said with the most lovely and soft voice I had ever heard. Not a scent of any emotion but pure love coming from those lips. “My wonderful Little Notsuka.” She continued “You always work so much and so hard for me, and for your father and sisters. Makes me proud to be the mother of such a strong boy” I wanted to speak. I had so many things to say, so many things to ask. But as I tried there was no voice that I could use to do so. I couldn't even getting my lips to move. I was completely frozen, entranced by this scene of pure love. I had not seen or felt such a thing in years. She went on “But you see,” I listened closer if that was even possible at this point. “your mom wants you to remember one thing. You being happy means I'm happy, it's the same for the others as well, so make sure you live well. Even if I'm gone, even if everyone is gone. If you were the last human on this planet I would not want you to be held down for even one second by the memory of us. You don't need to suffer anything to show us your feelings because we all know. You’ve shown us your heart, your dedication, and your love. The only thing that can make us happier now is for you to live well. Live well and find purpose.” After this beautiful speech she began the song once more.

I was frozen. The feelings and thoughts my mom had tried to give to me so long ago finally reached my ears. There were tears streaming down my face but I felt no will to wipe them. Completely engulfed by the emotion of this moment. Then The scene began to fade from my eyes. As the room I was in again came back into view. I could faintly see Oraki shaking my shoulders and yelling something at me. Trying to get me to respond. Then I saw Tobi Come through the door with a glass of water. I could hear the sounds of the room returning but before they did fully I passed out again.