Part 2

"Aw, man, it's just a boy… wait a second… a boy?"

Huh", where am I?" Hanz said while slowly opening his eyes. His face was covered in bruises, and his body was sore, but for some reason, he felt calm. The fresh breeze cooled his once-sweaty body, and his face was in the shade. He got up slowly and looked around to see his surroundings. He was near a small river, sitting under a tree. He tried to stand but was in too much pain. He looked at his arm and noticed it was wrapped in leaves.

"What is this?" He said.

A man with several fish on a spear came closer.

"So you're up, huh? You down for some delicious fish!"

Hanz got up further into a seated position and felt a sharp pain coming from his head.

"You must have a massive headache. You took a very hard fall, not to mention you must be dehydrated."

"Huh?" Hanz replied in confusion.

"Water! W-A-T-E-R," said the man, trying to point at the river and hint to the boy what he was talking about.

"That's odd; I'm sure we speak the same language."

"Who are you?" asked Hanz.

"The name's Takagi! What about yours?"

"That's an odd name. I feel like I've heard or seen it somewhere before, though," thought Hanz.

"Um… I'm Hanz Vergu Gorgo Olmuth, son of the rightful noble of these lands."

"Wow, hold on a second; that's a long name. I don't think I'll remember all that… I'll call you Little Hanz."

"I prefer you call me… you know what, never mind."

Takagi got closer to Hanz and sat right in front of him. Hanz took several gulps of water from a cup handed to him by Takagi. It was made of wood and appeared to have been carved out by hand.

"I don't mean to meddle, but why are you here?" asked Takagi.

"Well, it's a long story. First off, why are you in this forest? Haven't you heard this place is dangerous? You should get out before a beast eats you alive," Hanz replied.

"Well, mine is possibly a longer story than yours. How about you go first?" insisted Takagi.

"I am the only son of the great Corgac Xarlug Gorgo Porgarag the Intelect, who is a noble from the great Orc Empire. My father's mansion was raided by bandits who sought to take over the lands of my father. My father was… my father was killed," said Hanz while gripping tightly to his clothing.

Hanz stopped the story and hugged his legs and let out a few cries. Telling the story to Takagi made him remember the events that had occurred. He was so busy running for life and pumped full of adrenaline that he didn't stop to grieve for the murder of his father. He looked up and remembered his mother; she had most likely suffered the same fate. He cried further.

"Um… don't cry…" Takagi said. "Um…what do you do in a situation like this?" He thought.

"So then how did you end up in the forest?" Takagi followed. "That should do the trick, a quick diversion to keep him from thinking about what happened," he thought.

"Before he could be killed, he told me to run for my life. My father risked his life to save mine…" Hanz stopped.

"Oh boy, bad idea! Bad idea! I made him remember again!" Takagi screamed in his head.

"I ran as fast as I could and made my way towards the forest. Unfortunately, the village nearby had been destroyed and set to flames, so nowhere was safe for me to run. I had no choice. I ran for hours upon hours. There were three men chasing me; I'm not sure when they caught up, but I had no choice but to hide, and, to my luck, they took a wrong turn. After some more time of running, I ran into that beast, and it chased me for a while. I never said thank you, but you also saved my life; you have my gratitude," Hanz finished.

"Well, I thought the wolf was trying to steal my food. I've had some run-ins with that wolf before. So now you're stuck with me, huh? How old are you?"

Before Hanz could reply, his headache began to recede, and so did the light blur of vision. After that went away, Hanz looked straight ahead in shock.

"What are you! An elf? But… Why do you have horns? I've never seen an elf that looks like you, especially not with a beard!"

Takagi had adopted a new look, or rather, he didn't try to trim or shave anything. Takagi appeared to look like a caveman with a long beard and hair that was very long. In fact, no elf could grow as much hair as Takagi had on him; it was unbelievable to Hanz. It appeared as if Takagi had turned into a human-wolf. Takagi was extremely hairy from head to toe, which was more evident with the amount of clothing he had on. He was mostly nude with a ripped-up piece of clothing covering his privates. Much to Hanz's surprise, he didn't smell like any homeless man, like there was in the second town closest to his home. That place had many homeless orcs that made it a repulsive place for a noble to visit, or even pass through.

"You don't like it? I've never had a beard in my life; doesn't it look cool!" Takagi said while showing a smile and pointing at his beard.

"Why do you have horns?" Hanz replied once again.

"Um… well, I'm sure you have many questions about my appearance, but trust me, I'd like to know those answers as well," Takagi said. "But first, I'm sure you're starving. Follow me to my camp, and I'll cook up something delicious, and also, I'll tell you my story so we aren't strangers."

Hanz struggled to get up but luckily he still had some strength, especially after drinking plenty of water and a quick rest. The average orc is far more robust and strong than several of the other races, including humans and elves. Takagi led Hanz down a maze of thick forest. Takagi appeared to know the forest very well, and that was very evident to Hanz.

"It must've been hard for this boy to lose everything and have to rough it out in the forest. Only I could understand such pain. I may not have had the best family, but when I lost my grandpa, it all came crashing down. I realized there was no one in the world that actually cared about me anymore," Takagi thought as he walked down a mental path that only he knew.

Takagi's path was very random. Every so often he would zigzag and never travel in one set line. This threw Hanz off but made perfect sense to Takagi. Every time he changed his course, it was because he knew exactly where he was and where he was going. He made small mental landmarks, and when he didn't have a landmark, he carved on trees toward a direction.

Hanz had never seen a forest so thick and quiet, yet also booming with life. Many birds flew by

, small animals, even insects. Hanz stopped in his tracks once he saw something move from the corner of his eyes. He had no idea what it was, but it was bulky and brown. His curiosity grew, and he strayed from following Takagi.

After walking a few meters, he looked down at a piece of a fallen log. He moved in closer to get a look. Smelled it, but nothing. Poked it, and nothing. Finally, he pulled a piece of bark from it, and two sets of pockets seemed to open up from the bark.

Hanz let out a scream and stepped back. The giant log stood up; the pockets resembled eyes and stared deep into Hanz's eyes. Hanz tripped and fell while stepping further back. This log was thick and dry, it had the appearance of a tree with two branches lower than the rest, to indicate its arms. It reached out its arms and grabbed onto Hanz and picked him up. Hanz's heart began to rush, and he was in fear again. He let out a second scream, and the log replied by opening a third pocket. This pocket resembled a mouth, a mouth big enough to swallow someone of Hanz's size. Just as the log drew Hanz closer to indicate it was ready to eat him, Hanz closed his eyes as hard as he could and hoped nothing bad would happen. Hanz's head was now inside the log, and before he could be chomped, he fell to the floor. Takagi had noticed the screams and came to his aid.

"Hey, I thought I said to follow me," Takagi said out loud in a calm voice.

Hanz was shocked at how calm Takagi could sound, knowing there was a vicious man-eating monster right there. Hanz opened his eyes and turned around to face the monster. The log, or tree, had moved several meters back and continued to move away.

"W… what happened?" Hanz said as he turned to face Takagi.

Takagi squatted down near Hanz. He was holding two long branches, "possibly the monster's arms" thought Hanz.

"That was a treant, they aren't really the friendliest creatures out here. They won't eat you or anything; he probably wanted to tear your head off. Just don't go near them, and you'll be okay," Takagi said, then finished with a smile.

Hanz had wide eyes and was amazed at the words that came out of Takagi's mouth.

"How could he say that so casually," thought Hanz.

"Here we are! This is my little home… or campsite, I guess if you would like to call it that."

Takagi's home was similar to the way it had been before with some slight changes. Around the campfire where once the old group used to sit for that one night was now surrounded with moss and one clean log. It was a clear indication of Takagi's only spot where he sat. In a corner, there was a very small house. Takagi walked inside with Hanz following behind. The small house was made of wood, and to Hanz, it was pretty terrible. It wasn't anything impressive; the outside was wooden with moss used to cover any cracks. The door was almost to the point of breaking and struggled to open and close. The floor was dry dirt, and the roof was falling apart. Every now and then, you could see dirt fall.

"So this is the inside! What do you think? Pretty impressive, huh?" Takagi said as he showcased his terrible one-room home.

"This is mere… " Hanz stuttered to finish the sentence. "How long have you been living out here? Is this the home you've been living in?" Hanz said, unable to believe that anyone lived in such terrible conditions. Even homeless people had better clothing and a place to sleep, according to his perspective.

"This shack looks like the work of a child," Hanz commented.

"Huh?! … well, let's get you something to eat," Takagi said, trying to avoid the hard truth about his home. In all honesty, he was very proud of his work.

After Takagi finished prepping the fish, he put them on a stick to cook near the fire. He directed Hanz to sit on a mossed-up log, and Takagi took out a small chair made from wood. The chair was barely stable, but Takagi was making it work.

"What about that log? It's clean; this one's not sanitary."

Takagi got serious. "Absolutely no one sits on that log. That log is the one blessed by the wonderful bottom of the most heavenly angel in this world, and no one, I mean no one! Sits there," Takagi said with such devotion that it made Hanz sweat.

"Um, I think I'm fine with this mossy one," Hanz said hesitantly before sitting down on a log gathered in the old fireplace.

"So what's your story?" Hanz asked.