A Losing Battle

Arthur's deadly dance with death continued for a while with the prince barely surviving the demon bear's attacks by the skin of his teeth.

The demon bear's relentless attacks never stopped coming and Arthur never once got the chance to go on the offensive. He sidestepped, parried, deflected and leapt back, never once turning his back on the enemy.

But no matter how hard the prince tried, the demonic beast was always right on top of him, delivering what could have been a killing blow…

One attack after the other, Arthur survived only to face another one not a second later.

He activated the power of his spear many times, hoping to at least slice through the adamantine claws of the demon bear or pierce the flesh of its paws but that approach yielded no results.

Adjusting the trajectory of his spear was only met by incredible adaptability. The demon bear's claws were always in the way, no matter how much he tried to adjust the path of his blade.

The beast swatted the weapon away as though it was a twig and continued its attack, never breaking its speed.

'Damn it… This monster doesn't miss a beat,' Arthur groggily thought as he dodged another swipe to his gut. Exhaustion gnawed its way into every fibre of Arthur's being.

His vision was already starting to blur.

The prince lashed out with the spear, aiming at nothing in particular.

With his lungs burning, muscles screaming and eyes blurring, Arthur was running out of options.

At this point, he was equivalent to a cornered hare.

He was so tired that he didn't notice when his consciousness took a dip on the other side.

In this moment of weakness, the prince was sent flying across the clearing with three ugly claw marks running across his chest. Arthur rolled painfully across the hard ground before crashing into a thick tree trunk.

His lungs were on fire, his breathing had gotten worse after having the air knocked out of him. He felt like he was breathing through a straw attached to a nearly empty oxygen tank.

His hands shivered against the ground as he tried to get up. His legs wanted to give out under the pressure. He was bleeding, losing blood quickly.

'No… It can't end like this. It won't end here,' the prince gripped the handle of his spear, surprised that the weapon was still with him.

Perhaps it was an enchantment as well.

Either way, the result was the same. Arthur was going to stand his ground, 'I've fought dark creatures back home but… back then, I had the Elemental Arts and my flame core on my side. Fighting without the Elemental arts is harder and very… imbalanced.'

A low growl interrupted his thoughts commanding his attention. Arthur stared at the demon bear circling about him and smirked, "You finally decided to give me a moment of rest. Don't you think you're getting a bit complacent?"

Arthur coughed up a bit, his vision snapping back into focus.

'Very well… Let's finish this,' the prince spun the spear in his hand and assumed another battle stance. 'I can't use the Elemental Battle Arts… but I can't lose right here as well. I must survive this.'

The bear roared at him once more before starting its dash towards him. Arthur felt his surroundings go completely silent as he allowed what little energy he had left to focus on the enemy in front of him.

This was the beast standing between him and becoming a Hunter.

Arthur was going to have to defeat this grotesque abomination if he was to advance on this path. If only he could get his breathing rate right… If only he could stop the throbbing pain in his chest.

If only he could stop the bleeding from the gashes in his chest and regain the strength that had been robbed from him.

His head swayed to the right and he repositioned his foot, catching his dizzy self before he could fall to the ground.

'If only the world could stop spinning…'

The demon bear was on top of him before long… However, by this time, Arthur was losing consciousness fast. His grip on the spear he was holding weakened and the weapon clattered to the ground.

'Damn it, Arthur. This is not the time to be running out of juice. You still have something to finish,' the prince berated himself but his body wouldn't listen.

He collapsed on the ground, waiting for the painful blow from the demon bear. Perhaps a killing blow didn't hurt like he imagined it would.

Maybe he too would simply vanish like the dead monsters he'd slain… In a shower of runes and ash… right?

The pain in his chest suggested otherwise… what if he was really going to die here?

The thought brought him great fear and a face to his mind. 'Darius... I didn't get to hear what Darius had to say to me. I still have to talk to… Damn it, I can't move.'

'Wait, shouldn't I be dead right about now?' Arthur asked himself. He strained his ears… the growling of the demon beast was gone and was now replaced with the sound of footsteps.

"Wow, just a few minutes into the Sorting and you've managed to nearly get yourself killed. You're more hopeless than I remember," a male voice filtered into his ears.

It was a voice he'd only heard that morning on the phone.

"Hi, Dar." Arthur greeted weakly, allowing a weak smile to grace his lips.

"Hey, Snow."

With that, Arthur's mind relaxed. No longer in danger, the exhaustion caught up with him instantly and his mind easily succumbed to the darkness.

Arthur woke up to the sound of a crackling fire and the calming sound of friendly banter. Before he could open his eyes, his ears began picking up on the conversation around him.

"Hey, you said he won't be out so long. Why is he still asleep?" a voice he couldn't place sounded not so far from him.

"Oh, would you relax already? He'll be up in a few. It's not like that thing's coming after us anymore," a male voice Arthur recognised too well sounded.

The prince chose that moment to wake up.

Sitting up, however, proved much harder than he expected.

First was the numbness in his body. He felt much heavier than he normally was. Then came the blinding yellow glow of flames that made opening his eyes a pain.

Arthur's hand quickly flew to his face, shielding himself from the light, "Hey, I think he's waking up. Get over here and help me out."

A pale young man helped the prince get up from his place on the ground patting him gently on the back, "Yeah, it's going to take a few moments for you to feel like yourself again.

This was the point where Arthur would normally feel like eating something… but oddly, these urges never assailed him.

The sky was black as night littered with numerous white specks… stars.

It was night.

"So it gets dark here too," the prince grumbled, massaging the gentle throbbing in his temples.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone quite as crazy as you are," a familiar boy's voice arose.

Arthur raised his head to meet the grey eyes of the boy he'd found cornered at the bottom of a cliff. Beside him was the girl who had been with him.

Both of them were seated down completing the triangle of people surrounding them.

Arthur scanned their unfamiliar surroundings. The cliff where he'd battled the last two bears was nowhere in sight. All around them were trees and nothing more.

His ears picked up nothing in the woods. Perhaps they were safe… but who could say for sure?

"Honestly, I didn't think they would be that powerful and didn't really come up with a plan to defeat them. Though, I did come up with the plan to take down the first demon bear.

After that one, I guess I just had to wing it," Arthur chuckled.

"Who 'wings' it when they are up against demon bears?" the boy chuckled, "We don't even have enough experience to defeat a group of goblins and you're winging it against demon bears," the boy nearly burst out loud.

"I didn't see you come up with any bright ideas—" Arthur grimaced at the pulsing pain gnawing at his chest.

He unbuttoned what little buttons were left of his tattered shirt and stared down at three lime green glowing stitches running diagonally down his chest.

The threads were holding his skin together to keep him from bleeding.

While it was a poorly done job, it did the trick and Arthur looked like he would not be bleeding out soon. The strings holding him together gave off a soft amber glow.

Upon further inspection, he noticed meticulously drawn runes glowing within the faint strands.

'Magic…'