'I wish Lydia was here right now.', thought Melvin. As the three of them ran through the woods Melvin was noticing the monsters, or lack thereof. From a young age he had always heard that the forest was infested with foul creatures with repulsive features that looked quite grotesque.
Looking at the forest for himself however, he wondered where all of those stories he had heard as a child had originated from. All Melvin could see was a beautiful forest with clear streams going this way and that. "Stay sharp everyone, this does not bode well for Kang or our group.", Drake had said in a very serious tone.
Continuing to run for what seemed like an eternity Melvin was starting to doubt that their companion was able to make it this far. 'He couldn't have gotten this far without encountering something right?', Melvin thought without reservation. As if the world had heard his thoughts up ahead they could see Kang.
After getting to him Melvin noted that Kang was a bloody mess he had slash marks covering his body. Blood was seeping out of them staining his once vibrant yellow suit with crimson. "Take him back to the MCG. I'll radio ahead to those at command so they can open the gate when they see you coming." Drake said, still looking around for any traces of the monster that had attacked Kang.
Melvin knew that Drake was skilled, so when he seen him rattled he had a very unsettling feeling. "What about you Drake?" Scarlett asked, before Melvin had time to say anything.
"I'm going to find and eradicate the monster responsible for this," Drake replied. Melvin and Scarlett watched as Drake dashed forward into a full on sprint continuing in the same direction they had been running. 'So much for him being a great leader, I'm gonna have to pick up his slack,' thought Melvin unaware that he and Scarlett were being watched from the shadows.
Lifting Kang from the ground, with Scarlett's help, and hurrying back the way they had came from. "This is good, were nearly half way there already without a single intervention." Scarlett exclaimed, happily noting that nothing happened on there way back. Melvin had started to question something, 'Why weren't there any signs of a battle, or signs of a struggle at least? There weren't any monsters on the way here either'. This question had started distract Melvin just long enough that he didn't see what was in front of him until it was to late.
The monster in front of them was hideous. It had a hood hiding its main features but that didn't matter to Melvin as he could see the blood dripping from it's boney fingers. "T- th- that's a g- ghoul.", Scarlett stuttered out visibly shaken by the monster in front of them. Melvin understood what that meant it meant they were now being confronted by the creature that had attacked Kang.
'It has to be capable of rational thought otherwise it would have killed Kang before we could get here', Melvin thought to himself. "Why di-", *BOOM*. Before Melvin could ask his question a fiery explosion had erupted in front of his very eyes.
"Die you vile creature!" Scarlet shouted, raising her flaming hand readying another fireball all while still helping Melvin support Kang. The ghoul was taken aback by this outright assault. Melvin seen that it was readying itself to attack, however he wasn't going to let the monster do what it wanted to. At least he hoped he could stop the creature.
Pushing Kangs weight onto Scarlett, who had immediately extinguished the flame on her hand to support their unconscious teammate. Melvin dashed forward and, after seeing how it worked when Drake used his, activated his telum. Even though he didn't know its name he thought it was fantastic.
The sword he held was the same blood red color as the intricate designs which it had formed from. The blade was short and looked eerily similar to that of a knights from a time long forgotten. "Take Kang and get out of here!" Melvin shouted, directing his words at Scarlett without ever letting the ghoul out of his sight.
"What about you?" Scarlett questioned. "I'll be fine." Melvin said, again not moving his eyes from the opposition in front of him. The ghoul had crouched down and looked as if it would pounce as soon as it seen an opening though it never did. "Fine, but I'm coming back to help after Kang has been secured. If you aren't dead by then." Scarlett said in a serious tone, while running past the two towards the settlement.
Even after Scarlett had left the ghoul had its sights set on Melvin. This hadn't gone unnoticed by Melvin who thought it was strange that this monster hadn't tried to attack Scarlett when she passed by. 'Maybe it's looking for something, or someone,' Melvin gulped in horror at the end of his thought. The next moment the ghoul was pointing at him, he was in shock maybe it was looking for someone after all and it had found them.
The next thing he knew the ghoul lunged towards him hands open slashing at him with such ferocity all he had managed to do was duck. Melvin ducked down narrowly avoiding a fatal blow to the head. Ghouls may look weak with their bones showing through malnourished looking bodies but were superior to humans in every way giving them a high-class rating and their humanoid intelligence made them a force to be reckoned with.
The next set of blows were faster than the first set of blows and came from his right. With nowhere to go and not enough time to get up Melvin used his sword to block the next set of strikes, a loud clanging resounded through the forest as he moved the sword up and down, left and right. 'This sword may be small but at least its duable and fast.' Melvin noted. However the ghoul had already moved and was now directly behind him, "Ah crap!" Melvin shouted, he cursed himself internally for letting his guard down at such a critical moment in the battle.
This time when the ghoul had swiped at Melvin he had no options left but to take the blows. Melvin was beaten to a pulp the last blow had thrown him into a tree about 11 meters away. "Gaaah!!" Melvin screamed, pain was all he could feel as he slumped down on the tree he had slammed into, blood filling his lungs from the last blow he received. Rage had consumed him as he felt helpless in his current situation covered in slashes.
"If only I was stronger, like my dad had been.", Melvin managed to groan out through gritted teeth while spitting out the blood that was filling his mouth. Struggling to get back up, using the sword as a crutch, Melvin felt a surge of power welling up within himself. Looking around all the blood that had previously stained the ground from his wounds was floating in the air.
'Is this my power?' Melvin thought, internally questioning how his power was even useful. What Melvin failed to realise however was his wounds we're healing and the most important part his eyes were now blood red. The ghoul seeing this new revelation knelt down in front of Melvin, It knew what this was. It was an awakening.