The beast let out a monstrous howl then jumped at the poor stunned girl with fear dancing in her amber eyes....
In the last moment, Scarlet ducks away and the monster meets with the tree trunk. Letting out a terrific shriek the beast launches itself again at the girl but is stopped by Scarlet's savior, Trystan.
The boy clashes with the monster for awhile but the beast jumps on Trystan, pinning him to the ground with it's claw.
Trystan's sword flies away from him, on the ground, near Scarlet.
The girl gathers all her courage picking up the sword and silently going behind the beast then stabbing it's back with Trystan's sword.
The monster lets out a last scream before it collapsed to the ground.
Scarlet helps Trystan up then they slowly start returning home.
On the way there, while Trystan grasps hard his shoulder where is the wound, Scarlet fells bad that he got hurt to protect her.
"Thank you..." she says
"Sorry, what did you say?" he teases her
"I said thank you, ok? I'm sorry you got hurt because of me..."
Trystan only hums and continues walking with Scarlet's help.
When they got home, the boy goes to his room and the girl follows him insiststing on bandaging the boy's wound.
"Trystan, let me help you with the wound" Scarlet says
"It's fine, I-"
"No, this is the least i can do after you saved me twice today"
"But i-"
"I insist"
After preparing the bandages and the medicinal alcohol, Scarlet turns to Trystan finding him shirtless with a funny expresion on his face and no trace of any scars.
He intrerrupts the girl's staring:
"What are you waiting for?"
"Damn, he looks pretty hot. No! What are you thinkin' ?! Stop it Scarlet, you don't even know clearly what he is. A grass elf? A fairy male?" she thinks
"Scarlet!"
"O-Oh yes, the wound.....where is it?" Scarlet says finally looking for it
"There isn't any because you didn't even let me explain why i don't need help" he says, a few inches away from her
"W-What are you doing?" the girl asks with her cheeks flushed
"I'm trying to get a clean shirt from the wardrobe but you're blocking my way" he says smirking
"A-Ah, sorry!" she says getting out of his way
After putting a shirt on, Trystan goes to the living room and sits down on the sofa.
"You see, i'm an earth elf and my wounds heal themselves very quikly"
"Cool..." Scarlet says sitting on the sofa facing the elf
"And you also didn't let me finish explaining when you ran out of the tree house. But, how did you ran so fast out of the tree?"
"I used the stairs?.."
"Running like that around the tree trunk, on these stairs, i would have broke a leg but, anyways, let's continue with the mark"
"Yes..." she says
"Your father, had the same mark as you on the back of his hand.
He got it the same way as you did, with the tarot card who was created by the forest, to find great magicians or wizards who will mantain the peace.
If your father would have lived, he would have given you the tarot card but he didn't got to so the forest keeped the card until it was your turn."
"Why do you talk about the forest like it's a person?"
"The forest breathes, sees and hears like us but has diferent ways of acting"
"Ok?"
"When your father died, the beasts like the one from tonight started acting on their own and making the forest hell.
This is why in the forest is always darkness because of the monsters and bad spirits that are
lurking in it.
Your role is to kill their leader, the beast that killed your father, rebuild your father's castle and rule the forest as the strongest wizardess.
But before that, you have to master your powers."
"How do I do this if i am supposed to be the strongest wizardess?"
"Like your father, you have to go through The Initiation"
"How do you know all of this?" Scarlet asks the elf
"Everyone and everything from the woods knows this, that's why you are the main target of all the bad things"
Scarlet is stunned, the only sound she can make is "Oh..."
"Perfect! Tomorow you will start The Initiation. You can take my bed and i will take the sofa, i guess you're very tired"
"Yes, I actually am... Ah! But one more thing" the girl says
"Say..."
"When i entered the portal, as you said, the mirror called me master Salastor..."
"This is your father's surname"
"Ok...Night, Trystan"
"Sweet dreams"