2 Survive

     His vision cleared up. No longer could he just see black and the target he wanted to kill. Everything was finally clear to him. He would question what happened, but he could not afford to waste time. He ran over to the girl.

     Arnum stood over her unconscious body. He didn't even know her name and yet he felt like he had to help her. She told him to stay back from the fight, which meant that she had some worry about his well being. Arnum tore off his sleeves and wrapped the wounds up as best he could. She already lost a bit of blood, but he soon realized that it wouldn't be enough so he took off his shirt and cut it up to make more bandages out of it. He layered them up and tied them around her. Raindrops fell onto the top of his head, and he knew what was next to come. Without hesitation he picked up the female and ran to find some sort of shelter; a cave, an abandoned shack, even some kind overhand from a cliff that could help shield them would be helpful. Arnum, luckily, found a nearby cave. He ran in and gently placed the girl down, allowing her to rest. "If only I could make potions, or do magic, I could help her better… this is all I can hope to do at this point in time." He sighed, and ran out to find some dry wood before the rain got worse. 

     "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, I need to get this fast." He said to himself. He moved as fast as he could to get this done. 

     With the fang he grabbed from the wolf, he cut off branches from trees as big as he could carry. He had a spare piece of his shirt, so he wrapped a bundle of branches with it. Arnum ran back and dropped it in the middle of the cave. He picked up a rock and tried to use the fang as a striker for the fire. He ran the blade on the rock a few times, but no sparks flew. In a fit of anger he put all his strength into the next hit, and sparks hit the wood in rapid succession. He dug a small hole into the ground, which had the wood resting within. The perimeter was covered with rocks to keep it contained. The fire finally started and he put his back against the wall. "Finally. I can rest a little bit." His eyes closed, and he fell asleep. 

     In just a few hours, the girl finally awoke. Her head was throbbing, and sharp pains shot through her body. 

     As the pain died down, she looked to see that her wounds were covered up and a fire had been made in front of her. Looking up, she saw that she was also in a cave. After looking back at the fire, she saw the shirtless boy. She was confused. From what she remembered, she hadn't done a single thing that amounted to her being saved by someone she just met. 

    "Humans… I have yet to understand you." She sighed, and watched the fire in silence with the rain pouring down outside. 

     Another hour or two passed, and Arnum woke up. He saw that the girl had finally woken up. Their eyes met. "Hey. Are you doing alright? How are you wounds?" He asked. She put a hand on her shoulder and nodded. "I'm alright. Thank you." She responded. 

     "Clara." 

     "Hm?"

     "My name. My name is Clara." She responded once more.

    "Oh. Nice to meet you." 

     "You used your clothing as bandages for my injuries… I wouldn't think of doing something like that. You could have gotten a cold in the rain, you know."

     "You worried about me now?"

     "N-No! I'm just giving you some advice. That's all." She scoffed at him, turning her head away. 

    A chuckle escaped his lips, and he looked out to see that the rain had cleared up a little bit. Arnum looked back at her, and he stood up. He noticed that the fire had died. He picked up the fang and put it in his pocket. "You used a fang from the wolves as a weapon?" She asked. "Yeah? I had to use something to fight them." He didn't even know how he was able to use it. He knew he wasn't all that strong, so he was surprised that he could rip it off in the first place. He shook his head and walked out of the cave. "Can you walk?"

     As he watched out to see if any monsters were nearby, he looked back to see her walking over and standing next to him. She turned her head away from him. He shrugged it off. "Before the fight, weren't you leading me to your…" 

     "I'm getting to that. We're not that far from my home. You seemed to have ran pretty far, and in the right direction, in fact." She said, giving slight praise to the young man. Clara turned away and started to walk away. Arnum followed behind. "I'm still nowhere close to understanding the laws of this place, but I'm getting some grip on it. I hope my family is doing alright with me gone. I don't even know how long I've been asleep before I woke up in this place." He thought to himself. He thought that he could get some of his questions answered by Clara and her family when he got the chance. Then again, he still didn't even know why he was being taken to her family.

     Clara looked back at him. "In case you forgot, I still don't trust your story. My family has better surveillance of this forest than I do, so we still see if your story holds up. My family isn't very lenient on trespassers. You saw it already." 

     "Huh?" Wait, now that he thought about it, he remembered the man and the horse. If her story was true, then they really didn't like people walking in their territory without permission. "Scary family you have." He said, but quickly realized she could hear him." 

     "My family just wants our forest to be protected. People have burned the land that my people hand controlled for years." She explained. It seemed that he offended her. "S-sorry." He said. The two would make their way to a village. It was filled with all sorts of people that passed by them. One would be lucky to be able to make out the appearance of a single person in this crowd. He looked up to see decorations hanging off the gutters of homes, and lights hanging off from one roof to the other in a zig-zag pattern that went as far as the eye could see. Even this looked like something from a fantasy game. Arnum would watch in awe as he followed Clara, who he now stood next to instead of behind. The two would stop at a long set of stone stairs leading up to a home on a hill. He was surprised, and by the way Clara looked at it, this was her home. 

     "Pretty nice place." He said taking the lead, he started to walk up the stairs. Clara ran in front of him. "Much like the forest, if you approach the home of the Pendragons, then you will be attacked if you don't have an attendant or a direct family member leading you. That's why I've been in front of you all this time, idiot." 

     She immediately forgot that the kindness he gave her not even an hour ago. He sighed and went with it. It was all he could do since he was a foreigner. Clara went up to the gates and opened them, and signalled Arnum to come in. He gulped down his saliva and did so without hesitation. The two walked into the incredibly large home. The front yard was probably twice, maybe even three times as large as the house itself. It had large and elaborate ornaments like a golden head of a horse, a statue of an elf ready to fire an arrow. Fountains spraying water out in wild arcs that flooded into reservoirs that ran back into the fountain only to be shot back out. The hedges were cut and made into elegant pieces of art. One was even in the shape of a large bear. 

     "W-wow… some fancy stuff." He said. 

     "Are you freakin' kidding me?! The best thing we had in our yard was a bird feeder and a plastic flamingo! How can they afford this crap?" He thought to himself. The more he saw of this place, the more worried he got of the next few moments. A bead of sweat ran down his temple and he followed her up the staircase that would lead to the front door. She opened it and walked in with Arnum close behind. He looked over her shoulder and saw a large painting of the family in the back, it was large enough to cover the entire wall. In front of it was a large fur rug probably made from some large animal. A large couch was on one side of it, and two chairs on the opposite end. Both were red with white accents decorating it. In the middle of the rug would be a coffee table. In one of the chairs was a well dressed female with long pointed ears and golden hair. Next to her would be a man with a powerful presence. He had a grey beard and short ears with grey hair going down his back. 

    "T-t-t-this is your family?" He asked her nervously. She nodded and stepped forward. 

    "Mother. Father. I have brought someone of interest to the both of you." She said sternly and with a strong demeanor. She stepped to the right and revealed Arnum behind her. He jumped up a little and hesitantly stepped forward. He took a deep breath and looked at Clara, who gave him a sign to speak. 

     He did not know what words to say. In a room which atmosphere was heavy enough to break down the strongest of men? How could a kid fresh outta of high school say anything? He already felt like throwing up after they looked at him. Those two were terrifying to look at and he didn't even know why. They didn't even make a sound. An aroma filled the air, and he could tell that this was the reason why. These two were intimidating him with their mana. He knew this pretty well. Mana could be released as something called an aura. This was often used as an intimidation tactic used by people with an immense level of strength. Most could counter it with their own mana but he didn't even know how to and even if he could, he doubted it would make a difference. He let out a sigh and gained some composure.

     "My name… is Arnum… a-and I woke up in the forest y-you guys own. Please trust me that I didn't mean to wake up here. I-I-I don't even know how I got here." He explained to the two of them. So much for composure, he was breaking down with each word he uttered little by little. 

     "What do you make of this?" The man asked to the woman. She stood from her chair and walked to Arnum, then held out her hand. "I shall see for myself." She said, her eyes shooting daggers into his.

     Arnum felt something completely foreign to him. Something grasped him but he couldn't see what it was. It enveloped his entire being, and all of a sudden he felt his skin crawl. The female's hand lowered and she looked back at her husband. "He is telling the truth." 

     "W-was that magic?" Asked Arnum. "I felt something. I don't know what it was but I could smell it, too. Something like strawberries." He added. The three gasped. The man stood from his chair and observed the boy.

     There it was again. 

     "Is someone cutting fruits while you guys are doing this? Now I'm smelling pineapple." He said.

     "How are you able to smell mana? That's something only the most talented of mages can perform after decades of training and preparation!" Said the husband. Arnum tilted his head. "Wait, so the smell is coming from mana? Why does it have a smell? I couldn't really smell anything back in the forest." He asked. The two looked at each other and turned around. They whispered something in their ears and turned around. 

     The husband reached his hand. "My name is Karl von Pendragon. This is my wife, Madam Camille von Pendragon. I assume you know our daughter, Clara?" He asked. 

     "A little bit. But… what's going on now?" 

     "Come. Sit down and we shall tell you what we have discussed." Camille spoke up and guided Arnum to the couch along with Clara. The two sat down opposite Camille and Karl. The two looked solely at Arnum. "Please. Help us rid ourselves of the Black Beast Clan. You must have seen their little pets, the wolves stalk the area." 

     "What? Why are you asking me? I barely even know how to fight. I can't get rid of a clan." He argued. He took out the fang from his pocket and placed it on the table, and pointed on it. "I used this to fight the four that attacked me and Clara. It's just a broken fang." He added. The two shook their heads. 

     "Camille didn't just detect if you were being truthful. She found your hidden potential. Please, if you agree to help, then we shall show you all that you are capable of." Karl explained to Arnum. He was taken aback, and he slumped back on the couch. After a moment of thinking he leaned forward. He sighed.

     He only just arrived in this world, and so much has already happened. Not only did he have to fight ferocious, man-eating beasts, but treat the wounds of a girl he just met with the clothes that he… 

     Arnum looked down at himself and saw that he was still shirtless. He covered himself up and looked at Clara. "When were you planning on telling me I still didn't have a shirt?" 

     "I wasn't. I expected you to say something about it at the market but you never did. It's your fault for not being properly dressed."

     The boy looked at Camille and Karl, and asked if he could borrow a shirt. They nodded and in a matter of moments he had a shirt that, luckily, fit him perfectly. While putting on the shirt, he finally came to a decision. He sat back down and looked at them both. "I'll do it. But I want a full week of nonstop training to get myself prepared. I won't even sleep, I'll only eat and drink to keep myself up. But, I still take an additional day to recuperate and rest before taking the next day to plan my attack. I will also need a team to help since I don't plan on doing this alone." He said without hesitation. His composure changed dramatically. The two looked at each other and nodded. Karl looked at Arnum. "As you wish. Our guards and our swords master will assist in your training. You will be given a special task force as your backup when you depart. Anything else?"

     "Give me your best weapon." He said. The two became surprised at this demand. They whispered to each other once again. Karl waved him over, he stood up and the two of them made their way to the barracks. He opened a door and walked down a long hallway. He opened up a second door and a light was turned on in the middle of the room. It was held over a glass case. Within it was a sword with a pitch black blade, only something that could be compared to the darkest void. The hilt was decorated with a golden dragon spiralling around it. The pommel was adorned with a red gem with a long red tassel wrapped around it. Arnum was in awe of the blade. 

     "You will be given this the day you depart." Karl explained. "Before then you will be given a training katana and will be using that for the seven days you requested. Is that alright?" He asked and Arnum nodded. The two went back and sat down. The four chatted some more and just before it struck midnight. They went to bed and waited until the sun signalled the dawn of the new day. 

     He woke up to birds chirping. He stood up after getting out of bed and put on a new change of clothes consisting of a tunic and blue pants after he took a shower. Arnum walked out and made his way to the back of the house where the other three were, waiting for Arnum. 

     "Good morning. Have some breakfast and we can begin training soon." Said Camille. Arnum nodded and ate his breakfast. He ate like he hadn't eaten in several weeks. He wanted to make sure he had enough energy to keep himself up and running these next few days. After that, he wore a simple set of form fitting armor and grabbed a sword from the racks. Before anything, he was instructed to fight a trained guard with the skills he had currently before continuing with proper training. The two faced each other, and a shot from an arrow hitting a bell signalled the fight to commence. In just a few breaths, he was immediately taken down. Arnum gasped as the air was knocked out of him. 

     He didn't even get the chance to swing his sword. 

     The boy stood up and caught his breath. He picked up his sword and looked to see that a middle aged man with pointed ears approaching him. Arnum didn't need to be told that this family was a bunch of elves and the only people that they recruited were elves. This man, though, looked like a relative. 

     "Greetings, young one. I am Kristopher von Pendragon. I bet you have already met my son, Karl?" He asked, shaking hands with Arnum. He was surprised to meet another relative of the Pendragons. The man stood back and held out his sword to Arnum. "I was told that you were going to be training with me for the next week? I shall be the one to give you proper instructions. Each day you will fight a guard to test your strength." He ordered. Despite his age, he was a man taller than Arnum with a build that could give pro wrestlers a run for their money. Arnum would nod and he held his sword up. 

     "First, the basics. I shall teach you the style passed down through the ages of the Pendragons: Dragon God's Lament." He said. 

     "Pretty cool name." Arnum complimented.

     "Glad that you think so."

     Without hesitation, Kristopher ran for Arnum, and began to swing in rapid motions in multiple arcs.

     Now that he thought about it…

     This seemed to be a bit much for his training.

     It was obvious how much of a hell this week was going to be.