The Way Back

After hours of wandering around, Zac finally found himself back at camp.

Feeling relieved to sleep, Zac heads to his sleeping bag, but Ray seems not to be there as he makes eye contact with where Ray sleeps.

"He's probably out getting more firewood." Zac thinks to himself as he finds Ray's disappearance trivial and not uncommon.

Zac makes it to his sleeping bag, letting out a sigh of relieving stress.

Even when tired from training all day and night, Zac remains to lie awake for hours, lost in thought, thinking of ways to get back at those who've ruined his life.

Coming back from his thoughts, he notices Ray has been gone for way longer than usual, leaving Zac worried.

Zac decides to get up and wander through the common areas, pondering where Ray could be right now.

Zac knows there's nothing to worry about, but he can't help it; he's still a helpless child stuck in the woods alone with no one to guide him or help him further his training.

He looks everywhere for Ray but finds nothing; the safest thing Zac could do is go back to camp and hope he's there or comes back later in the morning.

As the fallen branches and leaves crackle under Zac's foot, he rushes back toward the camp.

When Zac reaches the camp, he looks at Ray's bedding and notices a note lying on the pillow.

Zac walks over to Ray's bedding and reaches for the note; as he opens it, it shows only a short and simple reason why Ray was not back.

"I have to take care of something, don't wait for me and continue your training until I come back."

Although Zac started to get filled with curiosity, he decided to just ask about it tomorrow and head to bed for the night, or he wouldn't be able to get any sleep for the night.

…

[The Next Day]

*Snap*

Zac wakes up to the last log falling over in the fire pit, it's already morning, and he's too tired to think about what Ray is up to, so he starts his morning training that will last till dawn like always.

Zac is given three training exercises; in the morning, he starts with muscle exercise, 1,000 push-ups separated into five sets allowing him a one-minute breather between 200 push-ups. After push-ups, next comes 1,500 pull-ups, a 20-mile run, and finally, he must do 1,250 sit-ups.

It seems impossible for a mere 10-year-old to accomplish such exercises, but Zac started his training without hesitation.

Once Zac finishes his muscle exercises, he moves on to mental training. Zac must focus on what he wishes to accomplish and get rid of his emotions while thinking of the evil he wishes to defeat and confront the vile evil that hurt his mother and him. This training requires hours of meditating.

The last thing he must do is actual combat training, but he doesn't know what to do with his training partner gone.

Curiosity hits Zac again; Ray hasn't been back for a day. What should Zac do?

Having to skip his combat training, Zac is upset that his only teacher is gone somewhere doing whatever he does while Zac is left behind in a forest.

…

After 3 hours have passed since he ended his mental training, Zac can't handle not doing anything anymore, so he decides to find Ray.

Zac knows that he should stay put, as the note says, but Zac can't help but feel impatient with Ray, so Zac sets off out of the camp to find Ray and even experience life outside the forest after a year of not being around civilization.

Chapter End.