Farewell

Woody chased me through the forest, while shooting arrows once in a while. It would be great if these shots were just normal shots but no. Those were on the same scale as the one I dodged, at the entrance of the village. I ran for over an hour and I could only see Woody behind me. 'I may be able to take him down, if I use all my skills and the new power of my hand, I should be able to kill him. He is good at long distance battle so that means, he has to be worse in close combat' I thought and started slowing down.

I was still utilising the Natural Path skill but I wanted to get closer. Woody probably noticed that and said "Good choice but against me, you have no chances". His running turned into footwork as well and the moment I got closer, he would back away. 'He knows his weakness and I can't go back that way. If I run like this, I will end up being caught' I thought.

I couldn't get closer and I couldn't lose him. This was a predicament, I didn't hope for. He chased me while I ran. I knew that sooner or later, I would run out of energy. He would be tired as well but who would be the 1st to run out? That was the crucial question.

After another 30 minutes of running, the arrows stopped coming my way. 'Is he already too tired? Maybe he run out of arrows?' I thought and looked back. I saw that Woody was still there and more importantly, he had more arrows with him as well. 'Why is he not shooting? Did he get tired and is now waiting for me to exhaust myself? This should be it, if he can't strike me down, he can just wait it out' I thought.

But I was wrong. Woody, that was on my tail, said loudly enough for me to hear. "This should be far enough". When I heard this, I immediately assumed he is going to use an even superior skill. A skill that would hit. I prepared for the worst and awaited the signal from my instincts but it never came.

What came was another sentence out of Woody's mouth. "We ran far enough, they will not catch up now". I was baffled and thought that he was trying to slow me down and make me lose my focus. I continued on running, whatever he said, I would just ignore it.

What followed after a while, was an attack. 'I knew it!' I thought and evaded. Although I jumped as soon as my instincts told me to, I could still feel something knocking me back. When I landed, I noticed it was Woody. "How did you get so close?" was the only thing, I had on my mind. 'For such a long time, he kept a large distance but then, he released an arrow while catching up to me? How the hell did he manage that?' I thought.

Woody said "I told you to stop running, I'm not that young anymore, you know?". I responded "I prefer to die than come back there" but he just shook his head and said "Do you think I would take you back there? The only reason we ran so far away, is to let you escape. Why would I take you back now?".

I was baffled and said reflexively "What?". Woody said "If I wanted to catch you, I would have done so a long time ago. Although we are far away, we don't have much time" and then threw me a bag. "These are supplies you might need. Some tools, ropes and whatnot. If you have any questions, ask but we will have to make it short".

I was confused and stood there for a while. When I finally snapped out of it, I asked "Why are you helping me?". He answered promptly "I'm not a lunatic like the rest of them. Of course, there are a few more people inside the village, that are not lunatics". He then continued "Your father was a brave warrior. Far away from what Trek described him as. To be honest, Trek and his followers are the real filth, to think that he wanted to sacrifice his own grandson…".

I said "Right, what about that sacrifice thing? What is going on over there? He is my grandfather but then, he wanted to sacrifice me? What the fuck is going on in that village?". Woody said "He is dying, and he knows that very well. This didn't happen in one day. This goes on for about 21 years. I know this may sound stupid but he is not dying from any illness. He is dying because he overreached his life".

He then continued "He seems younger than he is and that is because, he is 163 years old. Your mother was his only daughter remaining, and she had you. You were about 3 years old at that time. Trek wanted to sacrifice you, in order to extend his own life. That is the purpose of the sacrifice. When your father learned about it, they fought but because Trek had followers and Raz was alone, your parents had to escape. This they did and they took the sacrificial sword with them".

I was confused and shocked. I asked "A human can live 160 years?". Woody said "Yes, I myself am 98 years old. The village you are from is not normal". I couldn't process that information but managed to ask "Then why would my parents leave that sword with me? Why not destroy it?". He said "This is the sword of the founder of our village. Destroying it, is not easy. They couldn't do it, so they left it with you". I asked "Why not hide it somewhere?". He shook his head and said "I don't know. Maybe they thought, that you will be able to use it. Although the sword is a sacrificial sword and when used in that ritual, can exchange lifeforce between two members of the same bloodline. The sword is also very sharp. That might be the reason why they left it with you".

"Then, how did that woman knew I had it? She couldn't be one of the villagers because she would capture me. So who was she?". Woody said "If you are referring to the woman that took your sword, then the simple answer is, I don't know. I don't know how she learned about your sword but if she was one of Trek's people, you would be sacrificed long ago".

I asked "How did you guys know about Freemount Village?". He said "This is simple. We searched for people named Nex. Trek sent out people to search for you and not a small number. About 20 of them were searching, they found out about the Freemount Village about 2 years ago but you were already gone from there. You have quite a unique name. Your father also had a unique name. No wonder he named you like this".

"Wait. Trek said, he gave me that name". Woody laughed and said "He? He hated Raz and you as well. He never approved of Lily and Raz being together because your father was not from our village. When he learned that he is slowly dying, he wanted to persuade Lily to give you up and extend his lifespan but she didn't agree".

Woody continued "I don't know what type of bullshit Trek told you but he never acknowledged you, even more so, gave you a name". I didn't know what to do at this point and asked "So what should I do?". Woody sighted and said "You need to hide yourself. Trek doesn't have very long to live and he will pursue you, with or without the sword. You may think that the 20 people I told you about may not be a lot but in reality, these 20 people have their own people and so on. Going into any major cities or villages is not a good idea. You have talent, like your father. Develop yourself well and in the future, you can walk with your head straight".

He then continued "Before we part ways, I will teach you my strongest move. Watch it and learn it. I will show it to you only once". I had mixed feeling but I watched attentively anyway. Woody pulled out an arrow and notched it onto the bow. He said "You need to mix your aura with the arrow and let it carry it". He then released his aura, I felt calm when the aura enveloped me. He then released the arrow. "SCREECH!"

The arrow flew through the air like a bolt of lightning and the aura was no longer calm but raging as if a monster was hunting its pray. "Booom... Booom... Booom..." the arrow passed through trees like butter, leaving gaping holes behind. It flew very far and destroyed so many trees on its way, that it seemed impossible. Woody turned towards me and said "This is my final skill and it's called Hunting Arrow. If you ever manage to learn it, you will be able to go to any city with your head up high".

I was shocked for words. This was not some simple screeching arrow that he released earlier, it was much more destructive. Woody said "Now go. Try to stay alive, that is all I can do for you Nex". I was reluctant to leave but I knew I had to go. I said "Farewell, I hope that we can meet one day. I will pay you back for all this help". Woody simply answered "Farewell".