Chapter 3: Battle of the Boars, A Bloody Awakening

Edward silently watched the boars with his bottomless blue gaze, dagger in hand. He knew he would be absolutely useless this fight, but watching how the adults handle a much larger, stronger specimen would be a good experience. This wouldn't be the first time he would need to help with a hunt, and one day he would probably take the place of one of these men. The men finally in position in the underbrush, Brian gave Ronald the signal.

Ronald and Jeff finally released their arrows, aiming for the eyes of the father boar. They soared through the air towards their target, making a sharp whistling sound. The men watched eagerly, because if these arrows landed this fight would be so much easier and safe. The whistling of the arrows alerted the boar, who immediately tensed up and let out a loud roar. This was nothing like the pig squealing back on Earth, the boar's roar was more like the bellow of a warhorn, the soundwave actually knocking the arrows off target! Ronald's arrow landed in the boar's right foreleg, Jeff's was slightly better and managed to catch the boar in the snout.

Letting out another loud warcry, the boar ignored the pain and immediately set off, sprinting in the direction of the two arrows. Ronald and Jeff, seeing their arrows miss, immediately scrambled in opposite directions, as if it was a part of the plan. The boar, unable to get both of them, immediately chased after Ronald. "Fuck! Why's it always gotta be me.." Screamed Ronald as he ran for his life towards Brian. Brian, seeing his friend in danger, immediately lurched forward towards the boar, launching his spear like a javelin. The spear's aim was true, and as if guided by the wind, launched itself straight into the boar's left eye. The impact of the spear and the sudden loss of depth perception caused the boar to wail, and slow its charge, flipping its head back and forth.

Seizing the opportunity, Ronald knocked another arrow, still sprinting in the opposite direction of the boar. Flipping around, he let the arrow loose. The arrow whistled past Brian and immediately landed on the same foreleg as his original arrow. The other men immediately rushed out, half of them surrounding the sow and her piglets. Still weakened from childbirth, she could only wail softly and viciously chomp at any of the men who approached her. The other half immediately let out loud shouts to bolster themselves, charging at the rampaging boar. Before the boar could react, it found itself impaled by spears, Ronald and Jeff letting out poisoned arrow after poisoned arrow into the beast's hide. It stumbled softly, let out another warcry in the direction of his partner, causing all of the men surrounding her to stumble slightly, and then collapsed onto the ground.

The sow, seizing the opportunity, immediately launched herself onto the collapsed men, softly crying out to her children to run. The mother and father put up a heavy struggle, trying to tie up as many of the men as possible so the piglets could get a chance to escape. The largest of the piglets seemed to understand their intentions and led the others off into the thicket. However, before it could get very far, a small lithe figure jumped from the canopy and landed in front of them. Seeing the small child, the lead piglet thought it could easily overpower the weak human.

However, things did not go according to its plan. Edward's eyes, almost glowing like lanterns, watched the piglet charge towards him, calculating the speed of the piglet and its trajectory. Seemingly unmoving, he waited until the piglet was less than a meter from him before jumping straight up over a foot into the air! The piglet wailed, knowing that his opponent had made a mistake. After all, a target in the air couldn't move, and he had become a sitting duck before the charging piglet. The piglet, victory in its eyes, was eager to ram into the child, hopefully killing Edward or maiming him.

A normal human would be helpless in this situation, and could only embrace death. But Edward was not an ordinary human. No, he was a Fantastical. In the center of his pale blue eyes, a splash of gold appeared. His eyes a strange mix of gold and blue, Edward did something that would have been considered impossible on Earth. In the middle of the air, he actually moved! And not only did he move, he moved straight towards the charging piglet! Before the piglet could react, one of Edward's hands grabbed its snout, pulling it straight up with a strength no child would ordinarily have. The piglet's momentum worked against it, causing it's neck to be completely approachable for Edward's knife. The next movement was precise and lethal, a straight cut across the piglet's artery.

The boar's blood immediately splattered out all over Edward. Covered in the gore, he fell onto the ground. The other piglets, frightened of this human covered in their brother's blood, cowered. In the next moment, his father Brian rushed over, only to see a group of cowering piglets and his only son covered in blood, laying next to the corpse of an animal much larger than him.

Edward had killed his first creature.