Another Beginning

The calming wind and the warm breeze slowly fluttered a young boy's black hair. He was resting down under the shade of a lone tree on a plain grassland. The clouds moved slowly to the eyes of the world but the sun crept up on the holes the leaves couldn't cover, gradually revealing the boy's face.

Feeling the warmth of the mighty star, the boy slightly twitched his eyes before opening them up. Upon realization, he checked his surrounding before he hearing running water nearby. He immediately ran toward the river before kneeling down before it. He gulped his saliva as he slowly looked at the reflection on his face.

His black eyes stared in disbelief upon the image he received. His sword-like eyebrows and his porcelain skin, free of bruises and scars. His immature jawline and his messy medium length hair. He stood up as he saw his slim figure there and only then he noticed a sword on his waist. It was a short rusty sword, perfect for his basic brown clothes made of a sack of rice.

He took a deep breath before his muscles tensed and screamed, "I'M BACK!"

His voice though immature, reverberated through the entire grass plain. He pulled out his rustic short sword as pointed it to the sky. With the eyes full of hope, "THIS TIME! THIS TIME I WILL SAVE...?!"

His lips quivered as he faced down. The wind turned cold even when he was directly under the blessing of the sun. Both of his hands were already down before his knees dropped to mother nature's embrace. His hands trembled before he repeatedly punched the innocent soil repeatedly.

"Why, why, why, why! Why I can't even remember her face! Why I can't remember her name! All I remember are?!"

His trembling stopped before a shout came out.

"Hey, kid are you alright?"

"Yeah, we hear your scream, is everything alright?"

Two middle-aged men who wore hunter outfits were approaching him. The two of them looked like the typical workers from a local village. One of them had a bow while the other brought a freshly made short sword. There were five arrows resided in his quiver and from the arrowheads, it could be seen that it was freshly grinned.

One of them suddenly stopped their tracks before halting his partner to do the same. He signaled him with his chin to see in a certain direction before his eyes turned sharp. They furrowed their eyebrows as the one with the bow immediately entered the archer's stance.

"Kid! Whatever you do, don't panic or made any sudden movements!"

A growl was heard after he said those words. Three adults sized wild boars revealed themselves from hiding. Their tusks alone were longer than the swords they had and the middle one, in particular, had two pairs of tusk with adjacent height. Not only did the middle one was the biggest of the three, but there was also something very distinguishable from the rest of them.

"It's a two-starred red gem!"

"This is the first time I've seen one in this area, usually they are sold at a high price in the capital city."

"...."

The man with the short sword turned silent as he realized how this was a golden opportunity, a lifetime chance.

"Hey," he muttered, "What if we use the kid as bait."

"Are you kidding me? Can you even live after doing that?!"

"C'mon, it's just one sin! Think of the riches we could have!"

The archer struggled with his own heart. The temptation was indeed mouth-watering, however, gaining it by sacrificing a person, not to mention a kid in his mid puberty phase would also haunt them down in their sleep. His hands trembled as it pinched the fletch of his arrow. His forehead was sweating as the tempter whispered once more, "We've struggled for life man! At least with this, we could enjoy ourselves! Buy a piece of land and be a farmer, make an honest and easy living you know, all for one sin."

The archer gritted his teeth before he looked at his partner in the eye without removing his stance. His gaze moved from him and the kid who was still kneeling beside the river. He only just met with the kid through his scream. He did not even know his name.

The archer let out a deep breath before nodding with his eyes. His partner grinned, that was the affirmation he was waiting for.

"Hey kid, no hard feelings yah?" the man laughed.

The biggest boar clawed the ground while he snorted against them. The other two followed suit and got ready for a charge.

The young boy weakly stood up as he faced the sky. He didn't pay any heed to the two hunters on his left nor the three boars on his right. His breathing was calm as if he accepted death's embrace at any moment.

The archer's closed his eyes as he apologized repeatedly in his heart.

The biggest boar finally made his move and charged forward against the young boy by the river. Its acceleration was unbelievable as it left dust for the other two.

"Get ready man! Focus!" said the man with the short sword.

The archer forcibly opened his eyes despite his heavy heart.

"I still remember how to kill."

Just moments before the big boar tried to shred the young boy. It saw how the prey was staring down at it. It was not a gaze a young boy should have against a being bigger than their own.

The young boy flicked his rusty sword and grip it in reverse before he made a narrow slide jump over its head. The blade automatically stabbed its right eye as he dangled on top of the boar's body while staring down at the other two animals.

The big boar growled and started to run in a random direction but the kid still holding on to his trusty rust sword. He turned around his body before he gripped one of its large tusks and pulled the rusty sword with all his might then immediately stabbing the only vision the boar had.

The tenacity of the big boar was something else even with the loss of blood painting the grass plain however its strength slowly diminished before its legs finally gave up. Its breathing interval was gradually reduced before with one last jerk of a muscle, the big boar died.

The young boy who already got off moments before it died, crouched down and took the two-starred red gem on its forehead by pricking it up with the rustic sword.

The man with the short sword wanted to say something but his partner with the bow pulled his shoulder before shaking his head, "Our boars are over there, that one is rightfully the kid's."

"But—"

"Do you think you can kill him? I won't help you, but you are welcomed to try, I will prepare your grave later."

"Tch."

The archer looked at the kid before asking, "Hey kid, what is your name?"

"Lyounus Laventain, " the young boy answered without looking at them before walking away from the scene.