Encounter

drip

drip

droplets of water dripped from stalagmites of the cave into the boy's face. He slowly regained conscious after the shock of seeing his legs filled in blood. However, looking again only one of his legs were missing.

He crawled among the bodies in search of something to help him stand, coincidently one of the robed individuals had a cane.

He crawled towards the mutilated body, seeing the man's arms and legs rearranged as if an exotic art. The state of the man's body was enough to give him an urge to throw up all the contents from his body. However, something stopped him, forcing him to think rationally, even in this compounded cave of horrors, his body now faced a total lack of emotion all of a sudden.

Synchronization: 12%

Memories went by. Unknown in their content however the boy felt as if he were a part of it.

A man nursing his sick mother and another memory of him killing others with a smile while another of being saved by a white knight. He shook his head to stop thinking lest his worsening headache derive him again to a blissful sleep. After all, seeing the bodies, the culprit must not be wanting to leave any evidence behind.

His thoughts wandered on why he left alive, and so he looked down on his body, finding slight cuts and most importantly the rags he was covered in filled with blood.

'It may be a part of a ritual they did here, but I am glad it helped me look dead' he thought.

Using the cane as support the boy surveyed his surroundings.

It was a narrow cave without much utilities for a group of individuals to live long term, making him consider that the robed individuals brought him here recently.

He quickly went up to their bodies and started rummaging them for anything useful. Taking whatever supplies and weapons he can and then he wandered out of the cave.

With a mind numbing headache, and the throbbing pain of his left leg he slowly went out towards the light in the distance.

Beyond the light, the boy saw a horizon filled with the beauty of nature. He admired it, a sense of deep nostalgia flashed before his eyes.

'Blue planet would love a world like this' memories of a monster and his obsession with nature within a tomb came next.

A deep sense of loneliness struck him.

He walked with support of his cane while something stopped him from feeling pain from the previous events. The day was already horrible and he decided to not question anything further.

---------

Few months later:

Bell Cranel Pov:

A white haired boy was making his way to the city of Orario. He had heard tales from his grandfather of heroes and adventurers. Tales that made him want to have an adventure of his own.

After his grandfather's passing, he made the choice to come to orario, to start his very own adventure. Although he was not sure if he will make it as an adventurer he still wanted to do it.

While making his way on the road he got attacked by a bear and so with the first instinct as a villager, to save his life he ran away towards the forest.

The bear menacingly chased after the boy. In this world, without falna, taking down even a bear was a great achievement. However, the hopeless boy who tried to go to the city for the sake of fulfilling his grandfather's dream did not know how to fight.

He ran and ran until he came across a clearing in the deep forest.

A lonely hut stood at the center.

At first he felt bad about intruding the unknown persons home but the bear's distant ear piercing scream was enough to force the boy to make his decision.

The hut was not anything special, it was barely held by twigs.

Inside the hut, he saw a boy, with a bloody rag barely covering anything.

He inspected him top to bottom until he came across his missing leg and almost screamed.

'He might not live long, what should I do' thought bell Cranel after seeing the boy near to death panting in front of him while drops of sweat drenched the boy's body. He wanted to ask the boy if he had any parents or needed help but waking the boy up was not a luxury he currently had. The ear piercing scream was getting closer by the minute.

'The bear must have tracked me through the scent' A part of him wanted to run with all his might, seeing the boy in front of him who was barely alive made him want to do it.

But something inside stopped the boy in his tracks.

'Am I really gonna leave an sick, helpless person to his death' the heroic part of the boy won in the end. He saw a knife on the corner where the sick boy laid and took it out with him.

---

He eyed the bear while his entire body shivered in fear uncontrollably. He mimicked a stance that he saw some other villagers make and made his final stand against the bear.