Finally free?

The ground was full of roots.The trees were sometimes only a metre away from each other and made it hard to travel through the forest. There was no light, due to the trees not letting through any of it.

Even if someone didn't run it was very difficult to find a way reaching deeper into the forest.

The grass and earth was also wet what made it even harder to run and made it easier to slip.

Idris was on his way into the woods, when he heard the shouts of the knights following him. It had been a few minutes now and Idris hadn't gotten very far due to the bad circumstances. He sought for every shortcut he could find, but it didn't help. His pursuers were too fast. They could easily hold up with his speed.

His leg still hurt a bit, even after healing, making him slower. His left eye was far from being repaired and he could barely see with it.

He had also suppressed his aura and presence as well as he could, but too much was leaked. His opponents could still sense him

Idris also used all of his energy to run faster. Even so, he still used too much of his power to regenerate his eye.

He was careless for a moment, thinking about how close the soldiers were, and touched on of the roots standing out of the ground. He stumbled and fell. As he touched the ground, he felt the wet earth gluing on him.

Idris' transformation had too few energy to support the black flames. They had already turned cold.

Normally the black flames were just overflowing energy, taking on a form, but when the power one holds is used up, it significantly reduces and often disappears.

Idris felt pain all over his body. He had long overused his original mana consume. Even so, he could still push himself for a few more minutes.

He stood up again, his body covered in earth. He didn't care about it and just began to run again. The thought of him getting caught was too terrible.

The knights had come closer. They had split up to search in teams. Every team was formed out of 10 soldiers.

One of the knights from the nearest party spotted Idris.

"There he is. Fast, tell the others. We need to catch him." One of the soldiers said in an obnoxious tone. They knew that Idris didn't have as much strength as before and wanted to use it to their advantage.

The other 9 agreed and charged at the boy.

Idris sensed their presence in the last moment and turned around. A powerful blade crashed into his arm, which he had put up to defend himself.

He flew backwards at one of the trunks he was surrounded by. He spat blood. His arm had a cut now. Blood flowed out of it, slowly dying the ground red.

The pain he felt was immeasurable. Now he not only had his leg and face hurt, but his arm too. Even the power of his transformation could do nothing.

One of the knights stepped in front of Idris who had his head hanging down. "Not so tough anymore, right? What will you do now? We trapped you and now you'll have to endure as much as you can." The soldier swung down his sword to cut Idris again.

Idris wasn't sure what to do, but he knew he had only one option. If he didn't fight, he would just end up being tortured and in the end killed. He still wanted to take revenge for what they had done. All the farmers and their children had been killed because of them... and his mother and aunt too. Even all the houses had been damaged.

He was outraged, but he knew he still couldn't do anything with his current strength.

Idris took hold of the blade. Since the knight in front of him hadn't anticipated his move and became perplexed, Idris pulled the sword out of his opponent's hands and turned it against them.

The sword was heavy and he could barely hold it. Even so he began to swing it around.

The knights easily dogded the attacks.

"That damned brat" Another soldier said with an unsatisfied face. The boy in the front had tricked them again.

The other teams that were near the battle, heard the sounds of two swords clashing. They stopped searching and started to head into the direction the sounds came from.

Idris sensed the people coming in their direction. He didn't think they would notice the battle so fast.

He needed to rush now. After the attack he just tried to land, he took all his strength together. He used all his power in the last slash, making the knights stumble backwards.

He used this moment to throw the sword on the ground and run away. He couldn't fend off the 10 knights he had just held off from harming him and if there would be dozens more, he would surely die.

He was now running as fast as he could, even looking out for the roots and trying not to fall down again.

After ten minutes or so, when he was already at his limits and only stumbled further in hope of surviving, he saw a light coming from an open field in front of him.

It was only about 20 metres until he arrived. As he slowly dragged himself onto the field, he collapsed. He was too exhausted to stand anymore.

The knights arrived with mischievous grins on their faces. They wanted to kill him now and as they were about to run at him to stab him, the cold voice of their general suddenly made them stiff: "What are you doing? We can't pursue him any further. After you step over this point, I'm afraid you would only be killed. This is the border to the kingdom of Fariha. If we overstep the border only war will await us.

Their army put up a barrier here that will scan everyone that comes through it. That little kid will probably be killed too."