"Lerei Tal Bran? Isn't that going to be one of those weird noble names??" asked Rada jokingly.
"Noble? I wish! Bran is the founder of our village, but we don't have any noble titles," replied Rei.
"Huh? Village??"
Streams of questions returned to Rada's head, he finally had someone he could ask for the coveted answers he was looking for.
"Can you get up? We need to get you checked out by the Elder, surely he can help you heal your wounds," Cody said.
He wanted to hurry home and take care of the puppy, the feeling that something dangerous might happen hadn't quite faded yet.
"I guess so..."
Rada tried to get up slowly. The pain was still flowing through her entire body.
"Hold on, I'll give you a hand" Rei stretched out his arm to help him and supported him to walk.
"Thanks!" the boy replied, pleasantly impressed by the girl's good heart.
She seemed strange, at first glance rough perhaps, as she took on expressions and behaviors too masculine for his liking. However she had no hesitation in helping a perfect stranger, that was enough to prove her good heart as a maiden.
"Wait, my bag!"
Before they turned to leave, Rada did not forget his bag.
"Is this yours? What a strange bag..."
Cody grabbed the strap and lifted it, it was still soaked and weighed down by water.
"Wow it's weird to the touch and it doesn't feel very heavy either, its shape is weird too, what is it made of?" he asked curiously.
"Don't you have any like that in your neck of the woods?" he asked with a wry smile. He began to wonder what remote place the two boys were from.
"Definitely not!" replied Rei.
Cody continued, "The bags we have are made from the skins of the animals we hunt, and they're definitely much heavier!"
Rada nodded finding the little boy's words sensible, however a part of him couldn't help but ponder.
After thinking for a few seconds, he asked the two brothers:
"May I ask where we are?" his voice strangely had a mixture of tension and seriousness.
"We are in the hunting grounds of the village, beyond the forest is our village, Bran" Rei replied strangled by his question.
"You don't have a familiar face, where are you from?" this time it was she who was puzzled.
Looking at the boy's battered clothes, she could clearly tell he wasn't local.
"I..."
But before Rada could begin to speak, the ground began to shake.
The trees shook frantically, something was coming.
"Oh no, some beasts must have found the remains of our prey, I told you so sis!"
Cody was scared and at the same time frustrated by his sister who never listened to what he said.
"Argh! What a bird of ill omen you are!" Rei protested to her brother, at the same time irritated.
"What do we do? It's approaching towards us at great speed!" the three youths didn't even have time to complain when suddenly a shadow emerged from the thick vegetation.
Rada's eyes widened, he had already seen a similar situation and was as petrified as the first time.
It was a huge boar, another three meters, with sharp tusks coming out of its mouth, it had a dark coat and gave the feeling that it was really thick.
"A mantis boar!" Rei and Cody were visibly worried.
The huge beast could smell its young, it was on one of the three humans, specifically on Rei. His eyes were as red as blood, he was completely blinded by rage, right now all he wanted to do was tear apart the humans in front of him.
He kicked the ground with his paw before leaving and slashing at the boys.
"Cody, get Rada and take him home, find dad and the others, we can't handle this alone!"
Rei threw Rada towards Cody who was caught off guard and ran in the opposite direction.
"I'll distract him while you go get help! Hurry I don't know how long I can last!"
Rada observed surprised and at the same time incredulous the behavior of the girl, her courage was admirable, but he considered her gesture a pure madness. Thinking about the mortal danger she was facing, he was worried about the girl's fate, he couldn't leave her alone.
With slight effort, Cody helped Rada get up and prepared to return to the village,.
"Leave me here and go," Rada said with a serious expression on her face.
"I'd slow you down, run and get help soon!" he continued.
Cody was surprised for a moment then nodded, turned around and left for the forest.
"I'll be as fast as I can!"
The moment Cody was already running, little Kiba suddenly woke up, immediately feeling that he wasn't in Rada's arms. Without hesitation, he broke free from the little boy's arms and ran towards Rada.
"Kiba where are you going!?" exclaimed Cody.
"It's okay! Don't stop!" Rada stretched out his arms, pleased by the pup's behavior.
Cody hesitated for a moment before starting up again with a conflicted air.
"Little guy can't stay away from me heheh!"
The young man patted the puppy tenderly and looked in the direction of Rei and the huge boar chasing her.
"I hope she's okay..."
Although theirs could not be called a proper acquaintance, he was visibly concerned for the girl, who had no qualms about sacrificing herself to allow him to escape.
He paused for a moment, raised the hand with the strange mark and observed her closely. Kiba's eyes shone intensely at the sight of the mark.
"I wonder what the hell it could be.... Kiba, you too seem to be attracted to this strange mark in my hand."
Rada was no fool, he could clearly see the puppy's unfriendly behavior change completely, at the sight of the mark on his hand.
The symbol was barely visible, until recently it shone brightly, especially when he found himself in danger.
But now it seemed as if lifeless.
"Crazy or not, when this mark shone I felt a strange energy flowing throughout my body, I can only think that it happened to you too Kiba" the pup nodded at Rada's supposition.
"And that's also why you're attracted to it, isn't it?" the puppy nodded again.
By now it didn't matter what he was experiencing.
Rada accepted everything that was in front of him, even the fact that the puppy he was carrying understood what he was saying.
"We have to help her!" A sense of duty, and even concern, did not allow him to just sit there and wait for something to happen. By his nature, he never refused to help someone in need.
Tired and sore, with a puppy in his arms to keep him company, he walked towards the direction of Rei and the huge boar.
In the meantime Rei, intent on escaping, took out her bow and began to shoot one arrow after another at her pursuer.
Each arrow seemed to give off a strange green glow, and a hissing sound could be heard with each shot.
The huge boar didn't even try to dodge Rei's attacks, it just kept on running blindly, the arrows pierced its body, but they didn't go very deep, its skin was thick and hard.
Although powerful, Rei's attacks didn't slow down the beast chasing her, she was running out of ideas, even her energy began to wane.
She couldn't go on much longer.
"Damn it, what can I do?" she asked in exasperation, trying to come up with something.
But all her attempts were in vain, she jumped from tree to tree to try to stall, but that too was a futile gesture.
The boar only needed to knock them down, thanks to its huge size it was able to do so with great ease.
Increasingly irritated by the girl's continuous movements, the big boar began to cut down one tree after another with greater fury, leaving the signs of its passage.
Rei, realizing the seriousness of the situation, tried to speed up, but was taken by surprise by the boar that knocked down the tree on which it was gaining momentum. Lacking the right support, the tree collapsed, Rei fell violently against the surrounding ground, the girl was groggy for a moment, but came to her senses immediately.
The big boar was a few meters away from her, ready to tear her to shreds. It charged with its head, wanting to skewer her with its huge, sharp, steel-hard tusks.
Rei tried to get out of the beast's path, but was prevented from doing so, she had a wound on her ankle, she couldn't even move it, it was most likely broken.
"Oh no, that's the end of it..."
In that instant Rei, as young as she was, saw herself going through a whole life, was that where she was going to die? Because of her arrogance and neglect?
She closed her eyes in anticipation of her now near end.
At that same instant, a shadow seemed to come out of nowhere, slingshot at the girl and hurled her away from the beast's mighty fangs.
"Are you tired of living!? You must not stop! Never!"
The voice of the person still holding her sounded familiar.
"Rada!"
The girl's eyes went wide, unable to believe what she was seeing.