Ian and Sasha were sitting by the fireplace drinking tea discussing amongst each other.
"Aaron is doing well with his instructor?"
"Yes, soon he can lead his own battalion."
Sasha smiled happily, she often worried about Aaron because of his passive personality.
"Anyways, where is our 3rd child."
"Ahh, he's probably doing some training tonight, haven't you been seeing how much he has changed."
Ian said attempting to dismiss his wife's worries
"Still… Ah, I suppose I have been uptight recently maybe I should be looser with him."
"It's the weekend, let's relax." Ian said smoothly
"I suppose so."
*
"What do you mean you can disappear!" Koren yelled
Sebastian sighed
"Do you even know what evil magic is?"
Koren shook his head slowly
"Well let me explain it to you, where do we get our mana from?"
"Our mana heart?"
The mana heart is the thing that differentiates humans from Thellaria and humans from Earth. It allows for humans to use the natural energy around them and condense it into magic.
"Well, how do we refill the mana we use from our mana heart?"
"Our environment."
"Right, when we use our mana we use the fresh air and trees to help refill our mana pool. Now, where do you think evil magic comes from."
Koren paused thinking to himself for a moment
"Corrupt magic hearts."
Sebastian looked dazed
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, evil magic comes from evil creatures right?"
"Yes..?"
"Well, I think these creatures take in pure mana, corrupt it and then use "Evil Magic"."
Sebastian smiled
"Well, you are somewhat right but you get the basics."
"Evil mana does not exist, but evil magic does."
"Well, now that we know that, how can evil magic hurt you?" Koren said skeptically
"Well, while you were at school I also did my own sort of studying. My form right here.."
Sebastian said pointing at himself
"..Is derived from pure mana, unlike you who has mana circuits to emit mana I am the embodiment of pure mana."
"So your saying.."
Sebastian nodded
"Yes, when I am faced with evil magic I can turn into a form of evil mana."
"That means you can become something that doesn't exist?"
"Exactly… that's why I can't have you reveal my existence to anyone."
Koren started to frown
"Why didn't you tell me this?"
Sebastian smiled sinisterly
"If you want to trick your enemies, you have to trick your allies first."
Koren sighed and started looking for the sticks he was using to start a fire. Him and Sebastian's "Camp Site" was a complete disgrace to the word Camp Site, they were sitting on two rotting logs in complete darkness. The only reason Koren could see Sebastian was because he is, well a ghost.
"Well, my parents will probably notice I'm gone and will come and save us I suppose."
Sebastian nodded
"I suppose so."
*
2 hours passed and no one came to save Koren.
"Well fuck.." Koren muttered
Koren who had been in the forest the whole day was starting to feel the after-effects of it.
"I'm hungry," Koren complained
"Well, we can't go hunting in the dark. Why didn't you bring food?"
"I didn't think I would need to," Koren said yawning
"Well take this as a lesson."
"Master... arent you like the best archer of all time? How come you can't navigate out of this forest?"
Sebastian shrugged
"Well, let's say I take away your sense of taste and then ask you to rate a steak I made."
"I couldn't do that."
"Exactly, as much as it pains me I can't do the same things I did when I was alive."
Koren after a moment of contemplation decided to get up
"Oi, where are you going?"
"I remember there were some berries back there."
He said pointing to his right
"Well, be safe, and don't eat the berries until you get here. They could be poisonous."
"Unn."
Koren grabbed a branch that was sitting next to him and lit it on fire to make a torch.
"I won't take long."
Sebastian sighed and started to recall the first time he got lost in a forest. It was 25 years ago, Sebastian went on his first exploration on his own and got lost. He was lost in the forest for a week before Ricio and Sasha finally found him. He lived off of wolves he killed and berries, he also slept in what he called a "leaf bed" which was a cape covered in leaves.
Sebastian decided to walk around too, he was getting bored of sitting in the dark for so long. He stood up and started to walk in the opposite direction that Koren walked off. Since he could not see anything he just walked recalling his memories of back when he was alive.
Sebastian after a few minutes decided to go back to the campsite. He turned around to find a wolf staring at him, a red-eyed wolf was standing directly in front of him emitting evil magic.
"SHIT!" Sebastian yelled
"Grrrr"
The wolf was growling baring its fangs at him.
Sebastian knew if he started to run he would lose the race any day, the only way for him to survive would be to signal Koren over to him. Since Koren was quite far away from him he would just have to trust Korens ears.
"KOREN KOREN!" Sebastian screamed
No response.
The evil wolf continued to growl at Sebastian, but after a moment it turned around and started to walk deep inside the forest.
'It couldn't see me, but it could sense me.' Sebastian calmed down and started to run towards the campsite.
*
Koren was sitting down at the campsite eating the berries he found. They looked similar to blackberries so he decided to eat them.
"Aaah, this is somewhat comforting," He exclaimed
"Nothing beats sitting by a fire and eating some berries."
The sweet-sour taste of the berries was quite appetizing to him who hasn't eaten since the morning.
"KOREN, KOREN"
Koren who was wondering where Sebastian was ran towards the direction he heard the yells. He ran for a minute before seeing Sebastian's familiar face.
"What happened?"
Sebastian sighed a sigh of relief
"A corrupt wolf was here, it could sense my presence but it couldn't see me."
"Shit, we should go soo-"
The red-eyed wolf that Sebastian thought was gone leaped onto Koren.
"FUCK." Sebastian yelled and jumped back from shock.
The wolf was bitting on Koren's arm who was trying to block the wolf's teeth from his face. Blood was running from his arm down to his face. He mustered all of his strength up and pushed the wolf off of him. Koren did not have any weapons on him other than a dagger he had in his right sock and some arrows he had in his arrow holster. He left his axe and bow back at the campsite.
He took out his dagger and an arrow, holding them waiting for the wolf to act. The wolf was growling at him baring its fangs that were covered in Koren's blood.
Koren stepped back to try and make some space between him and the wolf. He had decided to take the defensive position so that he could bait it out and get a clean hit.
The wolf after a few seconds of contemplation jumped at Koren, however, Koren was expecting this. Right as it jumped, he ran up and slammed the wolf with his shoulder. He jumped onto the wolf's stomach and plunged an arrow deep into the wolf's body.
The wolf screamed in pain
"AWOO"
With only a dagger in his hand, he aimed for the wolf's throat, however, the wolf in a fit of rage scratched at Koren's face which grazed his face but knocked his dagger out of his hand. Koren ignoring the pain took out another arrow and using all his arm strength entered into the wolf's eye. It finally pushed Koren off of its stomach with its hind legs leaving scratch marks all over Koren's body. However, the damage was already done.
The now red-eye wolf started to roar in anger
"AWOOOOOOOOOOO!"
It started to emit a bloodthirsty aura that would make any normal person fear for their lives.
"KOREN WE HAVE TO GO NOW." Sebastian yelled
Koren attempted to run, however, a pack of wolves soon started to surround him inching closer and closer.
"We are fucked…." Sebastian muttered