[363 PD]:

  “...this is why...Serxith...in 270...”

  Words were pouring out but barely any registered in the head of Shoku. It was his third lesson here at the church of hope, and things weren’t getting better. Every time he started to grasp a concept of this world, Sister Xenevia would add something even more complex to go along with it.

  He at least felt a little better when he looked up to see at least 4 other students with dropping eyelids. It confirmed that these subjects weren’t harder for him because of his special upbringing; other people also had difficulties.

  Sister Xenevia snapped her book shut, startling the half-awake students. “That’s it for today, now leave my damn church.”

  Shoku got up and stretched his back, causing it to make concerning popping sounds. His back still hadn’t recovered from his long trip to Bloux. He didn’t know yet if he should be worried about it.

  Most kids left the church in a hurry, eager to play together. Shoku noticed Sister Xenevia walking up to Solane just before the young girl could leave. He overheard their discussion:

  “Do you know if the wild beast is still alive?” Asked the priestess. “Haven't seen it in a while”

  “She isn’t a it, Sister” replied the young girl with a hint of annoyance.

  “But you know who I'm talking about. I didn’t say any name.” Followed the lightbringer while putting her hands in the air.

  “That’s because-” Solane got hushed as Sister Xenevia puts a finger on her lips.

  “Just go check on it.” said the Sister before removing her finger from the young girl. She turned away and simply walked out of the door at the end of the church, slamming it behind her.

  Solane noticed Shoku staring at her and she smiled. With a few steps she was in front of him wearing her usual kind expression.

  “You haven’t seen much of the village’s surroundings, haven’t you?” she asked, “you can come with me if you want to see the fields.”

  “That sounds cool,” awkwardly replied the boy.

  “Good then, we can go together.” said the brunette.

  As the two exited the church, Shoku noticed from the corner of his eyes the large frame of King glaring at him. Shoku had tried to avoid him just as Solane advised him, but it was kind of hard when she herself was the reason for King’s attention on Shoku.

  The smaller boy just hoped that this time he would be left alone.

  Solane led him further than he had been from the town center. The light was becoming dimmer, and more blue lanterns were seen dangling from house facades. Shoku noticed that the ground was getting slightly steeper and before he knew it, they were walking up a hill.

  The stone road turned into a simple dirt path which was practically taken over by grass from how unused it was.

  From the top of the hill, the boy looked around. He hadn’t noticed it when he came into town from the north but now that he was in the opposite direction, he could see it; Bloux was slightly sunk into the terrain. The hills all around it were just the result of this weird phenomenon.

  All around the massive holes were large fields of mudshrooms. Just behind the fields stood small trees with pale leaves. Towering over said trees were massive fungi with thick white feet and a large brown cap. On the undersides of the caps were weird filaments glowing a flashy blue color.

  “wow” muttered the boy. He almost felt sick of always being surprised.

  Squinting his eyes he could make out the shape of a house way bigger than all others. It was built right on a hill, above all the houses. It was too far away from the church to get much of the light, instead the house was lit using fire.

  ?Who is living in such a big house? ? Thought the boy.

  “That’s the house of Mr. Shurnikel, the noble of this town,” said Solane as if she had read his thoughts. “He’s the one who owns the mine.”

  “If he’s the noble, then King’s his son.”

  “Yes, that’s King’s house. It looks pretty neat”, the girl smiled.

  Shoku felt his heart tug for just a second. It was just a simple compliment on someone’s house; there was nothing to be mad about. Yet deep down he felt this vile, sticky feeling which drives all humans mad: Jealousy.

  ?Would she find it cool too if it was my house? ? Thought the boy as he kept gazing at the flickering flames in the distance.

  The two kept walking along the mudshroom fields. Shoku had many bad memories of falling into these pits full of murky water every time he wanted to play outside in Ezoul. These fields were now far enough from his house for that to never happen again, hopefully.

  Solane stopped at the edge of one of these fields in which people were working. These people were wearing knee height leather boots and thick pants to stay ‘relatively’ clean.

  They were diligently filling the straw baskets on their backs with the round fungi growing in the shallow waters.

  One of them, a big man with a beard so thick his lips couldn’t even be seen, noticed them. He walked closer to them with practiced ease; the mud wasn’t slowing him down one bit.

  “Solane, I haven’t seen you in a while,” he said in a deep voice. “Is there a problem with the muddies your parents put in their dough?”

  Solane shook her head no. “Your ‘muddies’ are always amazing, don’t worry,” reassured the girl. “I’m here because Sister Xenevia was worried about your daughter. She hasn’t showed up to the lessons in a while.”

  The man simply chuckled

  “I completely forgot about these things. I knew I was seeing her ugly face too much.”

  Solane tried to keep a smile on her face and even laughed with the man.

  “I see, you must have a lot on your mind. It would be great to see her back at the church.”

  “Eh...go talk to her yourself,” the man shrugged. “She’s not the type to do anything unless she decides to do it herself.”

  “Where can I find her? I am not seeing her in the fields.” Solane was trying hard to keep her unbothered face.

  “I dunno...” replied the man. “Recently our stocks kept getting eaten by an Okeop. My girl saw it this morning and chased it into the forest.” He designated a vague direction in the woods. “She’s probably in there.”

  Solane smile froze on her face. She was REALLY trying to look unbothered by the man casual attitude knowing his daughter was fighting a wild beast in the woods all alone.

  “Right, of course...of course she is.” She turned to Shoku and took one of his hands. “I’m sorry to ask you this but could you help me find her?”.

  Her touch and innocent gaze were already enough for the boy. He was ready to fight a Red dragon if it meant relieving her of her worries.

  Well, those were kind of extinct by now, but the intention was all that mattered.

  “I'll do it!” screamed the boy as he reached for his sword.

  Both the bearded man and Solane were taken aback by his apparent enthusiasm but didn’t comment on it. Solane clasped her hands together a let out a quiet chuckle.

  “Thank you so much. Let’s backtrack, there’s a small trail which leads straight into the forest.” She gave a quick glance toward the fields. “At least we won’t have mud on our clothes.”

  Solane exchanged quick goodbye words with the man and her and Shoku walked back the way they came from. As soon as the two got far enough away not to be heard, her face completely fell. She looked exasperated and tired.

  “I’m really sorry for making it longer for you,” she started. “To be honest I should have expected something like that from this family. They are amazing suppliers for the bakery, but they can be too carefree at times.”

  “Don’t worry, now I get to explore the forest. I, hum, I like trees...” Shoku tried to sound excited to light up the mood a little.

  “Good thing then.” A small smile weakly grew on her face.

  This small moment of joy for Shoku was quickly shattered as he looked up and saw a big figure standing just ahead of them on the path. He felt a small shiver crawl up his spine as a cold glare stabbed right through him.

  ?Did he follow us there? ? thought Shoku.

  Indeed, it would be the only reason why King would be there. He didn’t feel like the type of guy to take a stroll in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by muddy fields.

  “What are you two doing?” His voice cut through the tense silence around them.

  Solane who didn't look very intimidated, first raised an eyebrow at his presence. She too was wondering what he was doing here.

  “We’re going to the forest” answered the brunette

  “Why?” followed the horned boy

  “We are searching for someone,” replied the girl who started to grow a bit annoyed at his dry tone.

  “Someone in the forest?” King thought for a second then squinted his eyes. “The freak?”

  Solane sighed loudly. “She’s not a freak. You would know that if you gave her a chance.”

  King simply shrugged. His gaze went back to shoku.

  “And you believe that this shrimp and his toothpick will protect you from the animals?” Once again, he used this cold and logical tone which made Shoku feel uncomfortable. To be honest, even the ‘shrimp’ started to get a bit doubtful about his abilities.

  “I am not worried about my safety,” stated the girl.

  “Well, I am. So, I'm coming” concluded the big boy.

  Solane looked back at Shoku then at King. She knew it would be futile to go against him. It's not like they could even stop him. If he wanted to come, he would come, that’s how he worked.

  “Ok” conceded the girl. “Let’s not waste any more time.”

  This little adventure, which started lighthearted and fun, now felt heavy and tense. Not a single word was exchanged between the three kids; well, the two kids and the mountain pretending to be one.

  Shoku and Solane walked side by side while King followed just a few steps behind.

  Shoku could feel his icy glare drilling into the back of his skull.

  The forest was made of many small trees just barely reaching above three meters. Their trunks were thin, and their leaves were all condensed at the top, trying to reach as high as possible for some light.

  Unfortunately for them, the heights were already taken by long mushrooms with wide caps; great giants.

  The tendrils hanging from their underside were releasing small clouds of glowing spores. The whole forest was enveloped in a dim blue hue. Walking through it almost felt like a dream.

  At Shoku’s feet were small bushes and clumps of various colored mushrooms.

  He recognized a few, but most were completely new to him.

  As they went deeper, Shoku kept looking around. The kid was blown away by this spectacle of nature.

  Just as he was about to ask Solane about a particularly fuzzy mushroom, he was startled by the fast flapping of wings. Looking up, there was absolutely nothing, not even a single shape in the sky, and yet he could hear it loud and clear; a whole flock of birds was taking off.

  His panic got the better of him, and he stepped back quickly, colliding into Solane. Both fell to the ground with a thud. Solane landed face first into a bush while Shoku was on top of her; his back pressed against hers.

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  Before Shoku could even try to get up and apologize, King grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up like a doll. Shoku’s feet were kicking the air at the giant held him at eye level. His cold eyes now had a hint of violent anger in them.

  “Are you actually stupid?” Said King while gritting his sharp teeth.

  Solane groaned softly as she got up. She dusted her clothes, to get rid of the leaves and dirt staining her usual dark green dress.

  “I’m ok, don’t worry.”

  But as the girl turned to face them, a long cut was marring her pale cheek. The wound was shallow ; it wasn’t even deep enough for her to bleed.

  Despite the wound being superficial, Shoku felt bad, really bad. It was his fault, why did he panic like that? He wasn’t scared of birds, even if those were invisible.

  King's head snapped back to look at Shoku. There was no longer any restraint in his blue gaze. He puts his hands on the shoulders on the smaller boy and started to squeeze him in his grip.

  Shoku felt as if he was suddenly stuck between two stones. As much as he tried to squirm and kick his assailant, King would barely budge. The pain in his shoulders and on the side of his chest started to become unbearable. The small boy started to lose control over his breathing; the air in his lungs was escaping without control from the pressure.

  ?He’s gonna crush my ribs!!!? Realized the boy in horror. He tried to scream but only a quiet wheezing sound came out.

  “I said I was FINE!!!” Yelled Solane. The girl ran to King and tried to pry Shoku out of his grasp by tugging on his massive arms; to no avail.

  Just as Shoku thought his arms were about to cave into his ribs, a flash of pink flew from the corner of his vision and hit King squares on the side of his skull. The hit was enough for his head to slightly recoil.

  The titan slowly blinked, snapping out of his rage. His grip on shoku loosened and he let the small boy fall.

  As soon as Shoku landed on the ground, he started taking long breaths. His heart was beating harder than ever, for a second he feared that it was going to explode. His hands flew to his shoulders, checking if everything was still there. Feeling nothing out of place, he let out a short sigh of relief.

  Solane kneeled next to him and put a hand on his sides, also trying to see if he was fine. Her worried eyes shone with a hint of wetness.

  “Ho Mother Sallith, you’re ok,” said the girl as her shoulders lowered in relief.

  King simply stood unmoving above them; a small red bump had formed where he was hit. Speaking of which, his gaze was focused on the pink sphere laying at his feet. The sphere was small, just enough to fit into an average adult’s hand. It looked like it was made of glass or some sort of crystal; it was impossible to really tell. Considering the material and the speed at which it was shot at him; had it been any other normal kids, they would have ended up with something more serious than a bump.

  “She’s here...” The voice of King was low, almost shameful, just almost.

  As if on cue, a figure emerged from the shadow of a tree. The newcomer was unlike anyone Shoku had seen in this town.

  It was a young girl, or at least he thought it was. Her shoulder length, black hair was messy and full of leaves. Her dark brown eyes were wide open, scanning the people in front of her. She was wearing a plain wool t-shirt which exposes her arms full of cuts and bandages. Her hands were dirty; covered in dirt as if she had been crawling around the forest. She had the same thick pants and high leather boots as the mudshrooms farmers.

  The girl’s faces twisted into an ugly grimace. Her eyes squinted tight, only letting her dark irises visible. Her lips curled up while parting, showing her teeth and a dangling tongue. It should have been a smile, but it simply wasn’t.

  “Are you playing?” The messy looking asked in a scrapping voice. A creepy giggled escaped her which made Shoku uncomfortable.

  “Daria! You’re fine,” Solane got up and walked to the messy girl. “I was getting worried.”

  The girl named Daria cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Solane started “Well you see your fathe-”

  “Ho who is this?” cut her off, Daria.

  Shoku watched in horror as the disheveled girl stepped toward him with an ecstatic look on her face. She tried to reach for him with her muddy hands which made Shoku recoil. He got up and stepped away from her.

  Daria looked at him with wide eyes before flashing her ugly smile at him again.

  “Hello, new friend! Do you want to play with me?” the girl asked while stepping closer again.

  “Hum...” Shoku didn’t know what to say to her. She looked like his father’s description of kids he shouldn’t approach.

  Thankfully, he was saved from answering as King stepped between the two. He looked down at Daria who boldly held his gaze without any fear.

  “Why did you attack me?” Asked the mountain to the wild looking kid.

  “Weren’t you two playing?” Answered the dirty kid.

  “Even if we were, what kind of game asks you to hurl one of your rocks in my face?”

  “It seemed fun in the heat of the moment,” Daria shrugged at the question.

  While the two were having an intense staring contest, Solane walked back to Shoku while sighing.

  Just then the pink sphere on the ground dissolved into white particles before completely disappearing into thin air.

  Shoku looked at Solane with wide eyes.

  “Don’t worry too much about that. She’s a magic user,” explained the brunette.

  If it was possible, his eyes would have gotten wider when he heard the revelation. A magic user, here in this town? How was this possible?

  “Wait like the Vay Vay Bhon royal family !?” asked the boy in surprise.

  “What, you know about the royal family?” asked the girl in surprise.

  “...yes?” Replied the boy. “I come from a nowhere town, but I still know about the royals of Utopia.

  “Sorry, that sounded bad. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  Both just stood in an awkward silence. Solane looked down at her feet, ashamed by her comment. She had been trying so much to teach him about common knowledge around here that she forgot that he wasn’t a clueless infant.

  Shoku didn’t say anything, He had guessed that most people were seeing him as an ignorant fool. But the fact that it came from Solane and not a random kid kind of stung.

  ?Is she kind to me just because she thinks I'm dumb? ? this vile thought managed to crawl into his head.

  ...

  Shoku didn’t notice the small rustling above his head as his eyes were cast down, trying not to look at the girl next to him. It's only when something hit his head that he finally looked up.

  From the top of a giant mushroom, a rain of pebbles and hard-shelled nuts came pelting down on the group.

  Shoku quickly moved in front of Solane while holding his sword up to at least protect his face.

  The rain finished as fast as it started. Aside from a few scratches on his hands and arms he was fine.

  Daria ran up to the feet of the mushroom. A small pink orb materialized in her hand and started hovering above her palm. She aimed and the orb shot up as if pushed by an invisible force. The projectile flew up and hit the edge of the cap which made it sway.

  Shoku could barely identify it, but a small furry shadow quickly jumped off it and disappeared into the low foliage of the forest.

  “It escaped again!!” grumbled the dark-haired girl.

  Shoku felt a small tap on his shoulder and turned to look at Solane. The girl’s smile was back on her face, but it didn’t feel forced nor awkward.

  “Thank you, you’re very kind.” She said in a voice just loud enough for the boy to hear without alerting King.

  Shoku simply nodded without a word. He hated how quickly his heart started fluttering for her again after these simple words. Was he really that easy of a guy? Just a few kind words, a smile and he was happy again? How embarrassing.

  Daria walked back to them while kicking the dirt under her feet; she was still grumbling. A few fresh scratches had appeared on her arms.

  “I’ve been at it the whole day...” she whined.

  “That was an Okeop, right?” asked Shoku.

  “Yeah, it keeps stealing in our stocks” answered the messy girl.

  “I think that I know a way to easily find it.”

  “You do?” Daria walked up to him, stopping a bit too close for comfort in front of him. Her eyes glowed with curiosity and excitement.

  “Yes...” said the boy as he pulled his head back. “...we had some problems with them in my old village.”

  “So, you really are new here!” guessed Daria. She leaned even closer to him, close enough for him to feel her rapid breath on his skin. “What’s your name?”

  Shoku leaned back so much that he was on the verge of falling. He felt overwhelmed by the intensity of this girl and how casually she claimed his personal space as hers. Thankfully for him Solane put her hands on Daria shoulders and pulled her away from him.

  “His name is Shoku, I'm sure you two will get along.” said Solane in a soft voice. “Anyway, Shoku, you said you knew a way to deal with the Okeop?”

  “Right,” said Shoku as he straightened up. “We need to find a mushroom with lots of insects on it.”

  The three kids in front of him looked at him. Solane looked a bit confused, Daria was still excited while King simply raised a skeptical eyebrow. Shoku felt heat rush to his face as no one was talking.

  ?Why did I start talking? ? thought the blushing boy.

  “Seems fun enough.” responded Daria. The girl happily started the search. She would even crawl in the bushes to inspect all the mushrooms.

  “Why?” stated King.

  Shoku watched with wide eyes as Solane smacked King’s arm with a frown on her face.

  “You tried to hurt him, now you listen to what he says without question to make up.” said the girl in a stern voice.

  The silence was loud between the two. King glared at her, and she simply glared back and pointed in a direction.

  “Go search there, I'll go the other way,” added the girl.

  “Tsk” King surprisingly complied with her directives and slowly walked up to a patch bush. He started parting them in a half assed manner.

  Solane’s face softened and she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She flashed a quick relieved smile to Shoku and walked in the opposite direction to search.

  The kids searched the forest for a little while. Since they were 4, they could each cover one of the 4 cardinal directions. Shoku was going north, he checked each mushroom he saw but for now none was what he was searching for. As he was hesitating to go deeper into the forest, a loud voice made him flinch.

  “I FOUND ONE !!!!”

  Shoku backtracked and hurried toward the source of the voice. He noticed Daria kneeling at the foot of a great giant. There was a patch of pale brown mushrooms with thick feet and round caps. Sure, enough one of them had a bunch of squirming insects on it.

  Daria giggled at the sight “What’s wrong with them?”

  Solane and King eventually met up with them. King looked at the mushroom with disgust but decided not to comment on it.

  “So, what is this and how sill that help us,” Asked Solane who looked curious.

  “It’s a trap” started to explain Shoku. “Okeops have a sweet smelling, sticky saliva. They use it to cling to stuff and as a way to capture insects. They coat mushrooms with their saliva and all the insects attracted to the scent up stuck on it.”

  “So, it’ll come to check on if it wants to collect the gains.” deduced King

  “Yes, they do that each evening. Back in Ezoul people hid close to those to take the Okeop by surprise,” completed the smaller boy.

  “Wow, that’s so clever,” said Solane which prompted a small snort from King.

  “I mean, it was taught to me by others...I didn’t come up with it myself,” said Shoku, all embarrassed.

  “I still find that cool,” said Daria who was poking the insects struggling on the mushroom.

  “A-anyway, let’s find a good spot to wait.” blurted out Shoku who was getting redder by the second.

  The kids found some bushes just tall enough for them to hide behind while taking into consideration King’s size. They made sure they were facing away from the wind to avoid having their scents betray their location. Shoku was snuggled between Daria and Solane. The contrast between the smell of bread on his right and the smell of damp mud on his left was definitely something to experience.

  .

  .

  .

  Shoku couldn’t tell how much time had passed. The moon had started to disappear on the horizon, and the forest had grown darker. Nothing much had happened in the meantime. The kids didn’t move from their hiding spot and they were barely talking.

  King had his eyes closed but it was impossible to tell if he was sleeping or not.

  Solane was slowly nodding off, trying her best not to fall asleep.

  Daria had her eyes locked on the mushroom, her whole body vibrating as if she was about to explode on the spot if she stayed longer in this position.

  Shoku looked around, trying to make out any figure in the foliage or on the top of the mushroom caps but there was absolutely nothing. Doubt started creeping into him.

  What if he remembered things wrong?

  What if this trick only worked for the Okeops of Ezoul ?

  What if he wasted the other’s time?

  What if the others thought he was a liar?

  What if-

  A sharp gasp escaped Solane as she jolted, fully awake. She looked at the setting moon, and a sudden realization hit her.

  “I need to go help my parents make the dough for tomorrow’s bread,” said the brunette in a quick whisper. She looked at the others with guilty eyes. “Sorry but I really need to go.”

  “Then I have nothing left to do here,” said King as he got up.

  As Shoku was also about to get up, Solane flashed him a pleading look. With some subtle head movement, she pointed out the quivering form of Daria. She joined her hands to beg.

  Shoku looked at Solane then at Daria. He understood what she was saying but originally, he too only helped because the brunette was there. He felt conflicted, on one hand Daria was a stranger but the thought of leaving a girl all alone in the woods wasn’t too appealing to him either.

  With a sigh he nodded to Solane whose face lit up.

  “Thanks,” she ushered before quickly walking away.

  King shot Shoku one last glare before following behind Solane. Shoku felt a pinch in his heart seeing the two walk away together. His grip on the handle of his sword tightened; Amazing he was now stuck with a girl he did not know while the one that he cared about was with another guy.

  Daria started to tug on his sleeve which only annoyed the boy even more. What was it with this girl who couldn’t keep her hands to herself?

  Just as he was about to call her out on that, he noticed a small figure making its way down the foot of the great fungus.

  It was a creature with fuzzy brown fur; three darker patches striped its back. A long bushy tail swayed from left to right to help it keep its balanced as it was making its way down headfirst. Speaking of its head, it had an elongated snout decorated with short whiskers. Its eyes full of greed were locked onto the mushroom full of juicy insects.

  The most amazing thing was how it was going down. Its black furless hands, albeit agile looking, didn’t have any claws to stab into the smooth foot. Instead, it kept licking them with its red tongue, coating them in gooey saliva which helped it stick to the surface without any problem.

  Its descent was calculated; at each step it would coat the advancing hand in saliva before sticking it. Then it would use the stain left where the hand was to instead stick its feet.

  Shoku gripped his sword, waiting for it to start feeding on the mushroom before ambushing it. But apparently Daria wasn’t exactly on the same wavelength. The boy watched mortified as a crystalized ball flew toward the okeop.

  The beautiful shot perfectly missed the head of the creature, hitting right in front of it. Fortunately, it was enough to throw off its rhythm; its feet missed the saliva stains and slipped on the smooth foot of the mushroom. The animal was suddenly reminded of the concept of gravity and fell with a thud.

  Shoku wanted to ask Daria how she thought it was a good idea but instead acted on the opportunity. He leapt out of the bushes with his sword at the ready. After all, an opportunity was an opportunity.

  He thrusted his sword at the creature but missed as he aimed slightly too high. Such small target wasn’t easy to hit.

  As he lifted his sword he watched the creature also go up. It had stuck its hand to the wood and was now dangling in front of the boy. Both looked as confused as the other.

  ?Is that how King felt in the alleyway? ? thought Shoku for a second.

  He didn’t have time to think much before the okeop spat right in his face, temporarily blinding him with the sticky saliva. Shoku recoiled in disgust but kept his held on the sword. Still feeling the weight of the animal at the end of it, he started swinging it violently in all directions.

  Just then he felt something hard hit his knee, then it was his shoulder and then his chest.

  “Daria! Shoot at it, not me!” screamed the boy as he tried to wipe his face with his sleeve.

  “Then stop moving already!” replied the girl.

  His feet rolled on something round and smooth, completely throwing him off balance. He painfully fell on his back and let out a groan. His sword also slipped out of his grip at the landing.

  He managed to wipe the saliva from his face only to look in horror at the okeop crawling under his shirt. A sharp pain shot through his body as small teeth nipped his skin.

  “GET- GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF ME!” screamed the boy as he tried to pry the vicious creature, well of him as he just said.

  Daria ran up to him and grabbed the tail of the okeop which was poking out of the shirt. She started tugging on it, but the creature only gripped onto the boy harder. Shoku could feel small nails scraping his skin as the beast was hell bent on causing him more suffering.

  “YOU’RE MAKING IT WORSE!” Cried Shoku.

  “BE A MAN AND TAKE IT!”

  “I’M A BOY!”

  The girl materialized a sphere into her hand, grabbed it and slammed it down where the head of the malicious creature should be. A faint crack was heard, and the animal went completely limp on Shoku’s chest.

  Both kids stared at each other out of breath. Daria pulled on the tail to dislodge the okeop. The creature didn’t offer any resistance as it dangled in the girl’s grip with its tongue hanging out in an almost comical way.

  Shoku slowly got up and pulled his shirt up. His stomach was full of small bite and claw marks; they probably wouldn’t leave scars. It hurt, but other than that he was fine.

  He was done for today. He picked up his sword and started walking away silently. Daria quickly followed behind him and got in front of him.

  “Wait a minute,” said the girl. “Come celebrate our hunt at my house.”

  “Celebrate?”

  “Yes, by eating it,” casually announced the wild looking girl.

  ...

  Shoku simply stared at her, and she stared back with a satisfied look on her face.

  “Eat it?” Tried to confirm the boy.

  “Look at how fat this guy is,” said the girl while patting the okeop. “It’s full of our mudshrooms so he must be very tasty.”

  Shoku looked at the lifeless animal she was dragging behind herself. It looked nothing like the animals he was used to eat like dwarf deers. But he rarely ever had the chance to eat meat because dwarf deers were precious back in Ezoul and would only be used for their meat once they died of old age.

  Even if it was from a sketchy creature, he now had the chance to get free meat. Something in him stirred, something morbidly curious and hungry.

  He gulped drily “Why not...” he said in a low voice.

  Daria’s face froze for a second; she stared him up and down with wide eyes as if she wasn’t really expecting such an answer.

  “Wait, you’re serious” said the girl in a soft but hopeful tone.

  “Yeah...” hesitantly said Shoku.

  Her face lit up with joy. Her eyes were glowing with the purest happiness Shoku had ever seen. He lips parted into a wide open mouthed smile, a real smile and not the weird grimace she was making earlier.

  At the sight Shoku felt a warm feeling spread into his chest.

  “Hooray!!” happily shouted the girl. She grabbed onto one of his sleeves and started to drag him behind as she skipped through the forest. She was laughing so much that she was out of breath.

  Shoku just let himself be pulled. His heart was beating in his chest, but it wasn’t like when he was with Solane. It felt less intense and yet just as warm. He couldn’t care less about this girl just a few hours ago and now seeing her happy made him feel all fuzzy and good inside.

  He surprised himself joining into her almost manic laughter.

  ?Is that what a friend is? ? asked himself the boy.

  For now, he didn’t think much more about it.

  He was simply happier in this village.