Chapter 10; Gilbert pt.2

"Sure!" they both exclaimed at the same moment.

"We were talking about how it would be convenient to tag along", Gil added.

"Why convenient?" ,Ren asked back ,while tilting her head to the side.

The boys first glanced at each other before replying. It was Michael who spoke up first.

"Well...you got these fancy clothes and this magical weapon so we thought that ..."

"That what?"

He sealed his mouth shut. It was now Gilbert who continued.

"You certainly must be strong enough to get out of the woods and in worst case scenario be able to deal with monsters. You see, we have been stuck here for awhile now, due to the Wullfs roaming the area. I myself could fend off some of them and escape , but for Michael it's a different story."

He looked down at the boy who was sitting next to him and gave him a pat on the head. The latter smiled and moved his head like a cat in response.

"I see... May I ask how you would defend against the monsters? Do you have some special abilities? You certainly can't be normal. A normal person wouldn't have been able to identify my scythe as a magic weapon"

-to be fair...not even I was sure of it yet. I assumed based on my last fight , and the ominous feeling I got when I first saw it, but I hadn't been able to confirm it yet. However these dudes did so instantly.

She peered straight into Gilberts eyes, in order to see what he was thinking when he opened his mouth to reply.

"We can use magic. I've been a student of the magic tower ever since I was six. I specialize in potions, remedies and ice magic. Michael only recently found his way to his abilities and can connect with nature"

"He can speak to mother nature?!"

Reverie was quite shocked at this revelation. It wasn't just any type of magic after all. From all nature based types, connecting to nature itself was the rarest one out there. The ability itself gave tactical advantage and would turn any fight or situation in the users favor, if they knew how to use the ability correct that was.

-No matter what, I have to make these two my companions. Gilbert's abilities would be a life saver but Michael's could give me the advantage over any situation if it were to get dire. I don't only want to use them, they seem nice, maybe I can befriend them, but for now it seems like it would be mutually advantageous. They want my help to get out of the forest and offer their abilities to me in exchange for the time being. Sounds fair, now it's time to make them constant companions.

"My ability isn't that good, there's no need to be so surprised... I'm just a weakling and totally useless. I can only talk to a tree at best..."

The boy looked down into his lap ,seemingly making a depressed face. Ren got up from her place and knelt down in front of him. She placed a hand on his head and stroked it gently.

The boy looked up at her and his eyes widened slightly at the sudden show of affection.

She only smiled back at him, indicating that it's fine. He only nodded.

"you know, we all are bad at our talents at first. I know adults keep saying talent is something you are supposed to be good at from the beginning, but that isn't quite right ,you know? Usually we start small and slowly build ourselves up , till we master it. And once you've mastered it, others start to notice and speak of 'talent'. They don't care to see what kind of hard work was put into it, to come this far, so don't bring yourself down over the ex-society's standards. Practice instead and you'll improve in no time!", is what she told him in a reasuring voice ,while kept smiling at him. She didn't only say this to cheer the boy up, but because she genuinely meant these words and couldn't bear such a young child being depressed over standards that shouldn't have been.

Michael's eyes sparkled in response. He hugged her tightly and thanked her while promising to work hard and be useful to everyone. Ren kept stroking his head as if he was her crying little brother, she just consoled.

Gil who was watching the scene formed a thoughtful expression on his face. He was wondering how someone so gentle could speak words that were this wise but also had a hint of deep pain within them. He felt it, the slight tremble in her voice when she spoke to the child, as if she was remembering an unhappy long lost time. In that moment he decided he wanted to get to know her better and wished to be able to understand her.

The three exchanged a conversed about their magics for a few more minutes before they suddenly started to hear a loud howling outside the hut. They instantly quietened down and listened intently to every small sound they could make out.

They knew that danger was approaching.

Gilbert was the first to whisper to Reverie.

"Guess they followed the scent of your blood. In all honesty I'm surprised they didn't come earlier ,it's been 2 days since I found you"

The girl just closed her eyes in response and thought for a moment.

-It would be suicide to stay here, however I'm not able to fight currently ,so I'm the real useless one right now. But I might have an idea....

"Gilbert, do you have a map of the nearby area?"

He nodded and got up to fetch it. Michael also stood up to follow into the next room.

"I will pack our things already, I guess we got no time"

Both Ren and Gil nodded at his words. Only two minutes later Gilbert came back with a map, while throwing a floor long white fur coat with gorgeous golden embroidery over his shoulders.

"Here you go!"

He handed Ren both the map and her own coat ,which she swiftly put on as well.

She opened the map and Gilbert who now knelt next to her pointed to their current location. It was in the north-west area of the forest and surrounded by nothing other than trees.

Reverie looked further into the north-east region where a cliff and the nearby city lay.

It was quite the distance still but should have been manageable in half a day if they moved swiftly.

She pointed to the cliff and asked if there's a way over it.

Gilbert nodded and explained that a wooden bridge was hanging there. It was old and probably unstable, but if they crossed it carefully, they should make it.

Ren thought for a second before she explained her plan to him.

"alright, we will head to the bridge. We should move as quick as possible, as I really have no clue how long it will take for them to catch up to us. We should have at least enough distance in between, to safely pass the bridge or else it's most probably gonna collapse. If worst comes to worst , I will think of something at the last minute. In fact I already got a plan B but I hope we won't need it."

"What is plan B?"

"Believe me...if I were to tell you, you wouldn't wanna tag along so it's best if you don't know"

She gave him one of these serious looks that indicated she didn't want to be asked any further. Gilbert understood immediately and rolled up the map.

Michael came from the room next door and placed two heavy looking bags on the floor. The were filled to the brim with, what Reverie hoped to be rations and important items.

He then threw a small black purse at Gilbert who caught it without issue. He placed both the heavy bags inside that purse which vanished in it instantly.

Reverie assumed it was one of these space distorting bags magicians used. While thinking that ,she noticed how casually she accepted the fact that magicians actually exist, and even longer, than the apocalypse. Gilbert mentioned being raised in a tower. So magic towers, you usually read about in books , existed and Gilbert was one of it's magicians. The more she thought about that, the more odd it became.

How did they manage to keep their existence a secret? Someone was bound to have figured it out sooner or later...at least she thought so, since they lived in the times of digitalization. But there never was a word about it. She was starting to overthink who Gilbert was when she noticed him sticking her scythe into his bag.

Now snapping back to reality, she noticed they were ready to set off. In that moment they could hear another howl.

-to be continued-

A/N; WOW 10 chapters already and so many of you are reading it T_T //sobbing hard// thank you for your support so far! I really hope you enjoyed the story so far and will continue reading!>~<♡

To the lovely person giving my work Power stones: Know I deeply appreciate your support! thank you 😭🙏 To the rest also a deep thank you! any and all support means alot to this small artist/writer 🥺👉👈💕 //gibs cookie//