Chapter 3 True Strength

"Did you guys hear that too?" I ask with a trembling voice.

Thud, thud, thud. Heavy footsteps resounded throughout the cave. Pebbles bounced up from the floor, and loose rocks fell from the ceiling, soon followed by dust. The heavy footsteps kept getting closer, and kept getting louder. I could immediately tell that they weren't human footsteps.

"Danny, didn't you say that there were no demonic beasts in the cave."

"There shouldn't be." Danny says, stuttering on his words clearly very scared.

"Hey Danny, isn't this a chance?" I ask.

"What chance?"

"Well if Sylvia sees you killing a demonic beast, while protecting us, wouldn't she be awed by you."

"Yeah, your right. And I've been training all this time. A demonic beast wouldn't be my opponent even with a wooden sword. Sylvia and Sylvain, stay back and watch as I beat this demonic beast."

Picking up his wooden sword he walks towards the entrance of the cavern, and waits for the demonic beast. The footsteps get even louder as the demonic beast comes nearer and nearer tous. It comes into the cavern, and we are able to see what it looks like. It is a bear type demonic beast, that is 1.5 times the height of an average adult. It has 4 arms and two heads. One of its heads is stained crimson, indicating that it had just come back from hunting. I can't believe something like this was living so close to our village without anyone being aware of it.

When it looked our way, a wave of bloodlust came over me. I could tell it was angry that there were others inside of its home. Two of its four arms then went for a strike at Danny. I was watching thinking that Danny would be able to stop that bear, however reality wasn't like that. Danny was barely able to bring his sword up to block the strike, and when he did block the strike, his sword splintered. Then both it's heads bit down onto the defenseless Danny. They each took a shoulder while two of its other arms were grabbing Danny to make sure that he wouldn't be able to escape.

I was shocked. I always thought that Danny was strong, but this scene made me realize that we were just kids. We wouldn't be able to beat this thing. Danny was still being bitten by the bear, and screaming out in pain, twitching his body trying to get out of the bear's grip. He couldn't though, and his twitching just caused the bears teeth to dig deeper into his skin. I fell on my knees thinking that we would be dead here. However, while I was despairing Sylvia wasn't. She was chanting a spell.

"O spell of fire."

Stop, I was thinking internally.

"Come forth."

Danny couldn't even hit it with his sword, what could your magic do. Could your magic really be able to injure it?

"As a ball of fire."

If you did nothing, we may be able to escape by playing dead. It may just leave us alone and only eat Danny.

"To burn."

Yes, we can just let the bear eat Danny. While it's eating we could leave, and go get help from the village.

"My opponent."

I saw the ball of fire slowly moving towards the bear. It was so small, and probably would do nothing even if it did manage to hit. The only thing it would be able to do, would be angering the bear even more. If we had just let Danny die, we could have lived. And then while I was thinking that the ball of fire hit the bear, and I realized what I had been thinking. I was thinking of using my best friend to escape from death. Even if I did survive, would I still be living as a good person. No, I wouldn't. I would be living as someone who killed his friend for his life.

While all of this was going through my head, the bear let go of Danny. He was obviously enraged that it's meal was interrupted, and wanted to stop any further interruptions. Sylvia was already chanting her next spell, but her mana pool was too small, and I could tell she wouldn't be able to create another spell. Even though I was scared I stood up, and walked in front of her.

Keeping a brave front I said. "Go to Danny. Take him, and leave the cave."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry, I'll follow you out of the cave after dealing with this bear."

"I'll be waiting at the end of the cave then."

"No, head to the village." I say while I'm trembling. "Danny is hurt. Make sure he gets healed. Also bring over the adults to help."

"O spell of wind, form from my hands a mighty blade that follows my movements to destroy my enemies."

The wind sword spell that I had created, and promised my mom to not show unless I was in danger. I didn't know how strong it was, but I knew that I wouldn't survive without it. The bear seemed to be staring at my hand, wary of the sword in it. Sylvia was also looking at it in shock. What was she still doing here? She should have already gotten Danny and left to get help for us.

"Go leave the cave with Danny." I yelled to her as I charged the bear.

Running straight towards the bear, and swinging my sword to try to get its attention, the bear responded by dodging to the left. With this it cleared up the only exit so I stayed behind, and Sylvia ran while helping Danny. Staying in front of the exit, I had my sword held out in front of me. My legs were shaking, but I knew I had to do this or else my friends wouldn't get away. I had to stall the bear long enough for the adults to make it back.

"Come at me bear." I yelled to raise my spirits.

The bear then ran at me. It was fast, so fast that I could barely keep up with it. It's four claws would strike at different areas at different times. I barely blocked the first one aimed at my side, before the second one aimed above me came down. Using the recoil from blocking the first attack, I blocked the second, but that was where it ended. I wasn't able to block the third attack aimed at my other side since my sword was hit down. I let go of my sword since I knew I could make another one. I desperately fell down to try to dodge the third attack, and I was successful.

Before I was able to rejoice over my success, the fourth attack came right from the front. I was on the ground so I wasn't able to dodge. My sword was already out of my hands, so I couldn't do anything other than take the hit. Bracing myself, and twisting my body as best as I could, I was punched right in the stomach, which was better than the face. However I was blown to the back of the cave. While I was flying through the air I chanted a spell.

"O spell of wind come forth as a ball to blow away my opponents."

I aimed this spell at the wall behind me. It was luckily able to cushion some of the blow of crashing into the wall. However, it still hurt a lot.

"O spell of wind, form from my hands a mighty blade that follows my movements to destroy my enemies."

Rechanting my spell despite the pain, my sword once again appeared in my hands,, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything with it. I would only lose once again, since I couldn't keep up with the bear's speed. I need to increase my speed, but I don't know how. Maybe, I could use magic, but there is no such magic, or at least I haven't learned it yet. Come on I can't think, just act. There must be a chance since there is support magic. With that I chanted a random spell that popped into my mind, in hopes that it would turn this situation around.

"O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself."

I could immediately tell that the spell worked, since the pain I was feeling practically left. I was also able to move at higher speeds. However this spell much like my other one consumed my mana while it was active. I could feel my mana drain at a frightening rate, and knew I wouldn't be able to keep these spells up for long.

While thinking all of this, the bear seems to also notice my change as it rushes over. I was now able to see it as it moved, and even dodge it's attacks. It was like the bear was moving in slow motion for me, and it's attacks were nowhere close to me. It even started to try to bite me with its heads, seeing as it couldn't hit me with its fists. I almost got bitten by its head because it had caught me by surprise. However, since it was moving slow, I was able to move away in time. However, it immediately followed that attack with a slash from its claws. I was also able to dodge the claws, but they did hit the string keeping my pendent to my neck. My pendant flew away from me, and I remembered my mother's warning. However, I couldn't do anything about that now. If I did try to retrieve the pendant, I would probably be killed by the bear. As such, I let this slip from my mind as I focused on the fight.

Even though we had only been fighting for 30 seconds, almost all of my mana was gone. While I could dodge its attack, I wasn't able to find a place to attack. Recklessly rushing in, since I knew that I would die if I didn't, I tried to strike the bear with my sword. I had completely given up defense to end this match, before I completely ran out of mana. As a result the bear was able to strike my stomach, and cut it. It's claws put three lines vertically into my stomach. They went in really deep, and hurt really bad. In fact I had almost lost control of my mana because of the pain. However, I pulled myself through because I would die if I didn't. Fighting through the pain I slashed my sword, and by luck I was able to decapitate both of the bears head. Even though I was in a lot of pain I had won this battle. As if to signify that, the bear's body toppled down, and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"Huh, I, I have won." I tiredly said as I fell unconscious.

"Syl…. Sylv… Sylva.. SYLVAIN?."

My groggy conscious awoke when I heard Sylvia calling my name. When I opened my eyes, I was looking up at her. I moved my head to the side. I immediately noticed that we were still inside the cave. To my left was the bear's toppled body, both of its heads gone, and to my right was Danny looking angry. His wounds also weren't healed, and he may have been in pain as well. When I saw Danny's angry or pained face, I realized that I was resting on Sylvia's lap. I hurriedly got up and groaned since the pain from the fight hadn't really gone away. In fact the gaping claw wound in my stomach was still there.

"How long." I started to ask a question, when I was interrupted by Sylvia.

"Who are you? Where is our friend Sylvain?"

"Huh. What do you mean? I'm Sylvain. What do you mean who am I?" I was confused. Why couldn't they recognize me? Maybe I'm covered in blood and that's obscuring my face. Or maybe I got hit in the face, and scared so they couldn't recognize me.

"Stop lying." Danny said. "Sylvain doesn't look like you, nor does he have pointed ears. Now tell us what you have done to our friend."

Hearing what Danny said, I felt my ears, and realized that they were indeed pointed. I was confused as my ears should be round like any other persons. I wanted to look at myself, but there wasn't any reflective surface to look at. If I don't look like myself, then what do I look like.

"But I'm Sylvain." I said, still not understanding what was going on. "Wait, my pendant. Where's my pendant?"

"It's right here." Sylvia says as she holds my pendant. She only has the pendant part. I guess it had fallen off the string when the bear had cut the string with its claws. I looked around for the string and couldn't find it on the ground. If Sylvia had the pendant, then she probably had the string as well.

"Oh, do you also have the string as well? If you do, then can you please give them back." I ask as I hold my hand out fully expecting her to give back the string and pendant.

"No I can't give you someone else's pendant."

"But, that's my pendant, just please give it back."

"No, if anything we need to find our friend."

"Come on Sylvia he obviously isn't here. Besides, both him and I are injured. We should go get the adults from the village to look for Sylvain, while we are getting treated."

"But we were at the entrance, and he never left."

"He's not here so let's just leave. Oh you should come with us too. My father would want to know about others in the territory. We should also be able to heal up you wounds as well."

"Come on guys, it's me Sylvain."

"No we're leaving, or you can stay and die from your injuries. Sorry Sylvia, but you are going to have to help both of us here, seeing as you are the only one uninjured."

"Yeah. I was expecting that to come."

I was then grabbed by Sylvia, and taken out of the cave. She supported both Danny and I, and led us to the village. While on the way, I kept trying to convince them that it was me, but they wouldn't budge. I finally got why when we walked past a clear puddle. Looking at my reflection in the puddle, I was completely different from what I normally look like. My common brown hair had turned into a deep green color. My black eyes had become a light green with blue irises. I couldn't tell, but I felt that my plain face had become considerably handsome. I also got a good look at my pointed ears. I had trouble believing that I was the same person.

"If it's like this, then I can see why you wouldn't be able to tell it's me. Is this what mom meant when she said I was special?"

"What are you mumbling about?" Danny asked.

"Huh nothing."

"Well that's fine we are almost at the village."

"I hope I can see dad so he can help me clear up this misunderstanding."

My hope seemed to be answered as I saw my dad. He had probably come back from hunting animals for us to eat. I could see a deer on his back.

I instinctively said. "Hey dad, can you help me. My pendant came off, and now I can't get it back."

My dad seemed to be shocked when he looked at me, but after he said. "I'm sorry. I don't know who you are. You must have gotten me confused with someone else. You both seem to be pretty injured though. Here let me treat your injuries for you guys."

He then got out some cloth and water. He washed our wounds, and then began to dress them up. It didn't take long before he was done. Even though I was still in pain, blood would no longer be leaving my body.

"Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to my wife. If both of you guys are here, then that means my son is here as well. I'll have to bring back this food then."

He then left, and didn't really give any of us a chance to speak.

"See I knew you weren't Sylvain. You've been given basic first aid, so you should be fine for a little bit. Now come on, let's go, my father would want to know about this."

I absentmindedly nodded since I couldn't believe my dad couldn't recognize me. I may have looked completely different, but I should still be the same person even without the pendant on. While walking many were looking at me, and pointing in anger, but I couldn't see that as I was too preoccupied by my thought. Why didn't he recognize me? Am I really that different without the pendant? While these thoughts were going through my mind I was at the village chiefs home, and Sylvia had already left. I had been here before with Danny, but I realized that no one would recognize me as I am now.

"Your home. I thought you were going to be paying with your friends late into the night like always."

"I am home, father. I would've done that if I didn't encounter some things that need to be told to you."

"Well , don't keep me waiting."

"Yes father. First while playing in the cave you told me about earlier my friends and I encountered a bear type demonic beast. Sylvain stayed behind to give us time to escape. While we here heading back to the village, we heard a loud thump. It was as if something had fell down. We waited for a couple of seconds, before deciding to re-enter the cave. When we went back into the cave we found the demonic beast, dead, and this person lying on the floor, heavily injured."

"Who is this." His voice started to cut out as he saw me or more specifically my now pointed ears.

"AN ELF CHILD. I don't know why you are here, but don't think that we humans have forgotten the elven wars. Even if you are a child, you will be punished for the many lives your parents have taken."

"Elf, I'm an elf." These were the only thoughts that were running through my mind at the time. I knew that I was special, but I never knew that I wasn't even human. I don't even know what an elf is. This is my first time hearing this new word. Wait no. I did hear this before when I was five years old. If I remember correctly my dad had said once that my life would be easier if I wasn't a half elf.

Before my thoughts could be organized wind started flowing throughout the office. It wrapped around me and floated me out of the room. I could've resisted, but I knew that this was caused by my mom's magic, but when I saw the person controlling the magic I couldn't help, but be shocked. The person looked nothing like my mom. Instead of my mom's blond hair she had blue hair. Instead of her white eyes she had one green eye and one blue.

Before I could process this the village chief yelled. "Guards there are two elves in the village. Take care of it and also find out how they got into the village."

All the guards in the village started converging on our location. My mom started using wind spells. She used spells that pushed back and focused on defense while the guards used their weapons to try to kill us. She was chanting the spells too fast though, and I wasn't able to hear them. One such spell had even wrapped around me, and I no longer felt any pain. I thought she must have chanted a healing spell, but I didn't want to open the wound to check.

I could, however, hear things like, "elves be gone," and "there won't be another tragedy because of you," from the guards as they were pushed back by my mom.

I couldn't understand why they were doing this. Just because we were elves we were being persecuted. We weren't even attacking, and just defending ourselves, yet they were coming at us with the intent to kill. Why? I don't understand why. Before long we had reached the edge of the village. My mom then bolted, and left the guards far in the dust.

"Your mom right?" I asked when we got far enough away.

"Yes I'm your mom," she says, "we're going to have a long talk on our walk so please wait until I'm done explaining things."