In a village right outside the cursed forest.
„Com'on hurry up, guys!!" a young woman said while jogging down the poorly build street, she looked back every now and then to see, if her friends were still behind her.
She was Isabelle Kopper, a bronze rank adventure. She had long brown hair, tied in a ponytail and had green eyes. A long spear was laying on her back and she wore light leather armor around the vital parts of the body.
„Why are you in such a hurry,Isabelle? The mission we received will take at least two weeks." a friendly looking man said.
His name was Matt Kopper, the biggest one out of the four. He had short brown hair and was 2 meters in height. His round belly was covered by light metal armor. His weapon was a giant metal shield that was at least 1,80meters. If Isabelle was the attacker out of the four, he would be the tank.
„Yeah,Issy. The mission will take forever, so why hurry up?" a other man agreed with Matt.
He had long blonde hair that were covered by a headband. He wore green leather armor and had a big, white bow stretched across his back. He had the famous pointy ears, indicating that he's a elf. And if someone looked closely on his forehead, he would notice a closed, vertical, third eye laying there. Felix Monhood was his name and yes, he was bullied because of that.
„But the sooner we start the mission, the sooner we will be silver ranked! Isn't that right, Wanda?"
Isabelle asked the only woman besides her, Wanda Alvendre. She had long, straight black hair and wore a purple cape and had a witch hat on her head. Her weapon was a 1,60meters tall wooden stick with a white-blue crystal on top of it. She was a magician though lower level.
„I think you are to arrogant about all this, Isabelle. We have only cleared low missions till now. The cursed forest is on another level and everything could happen inside. We have to be prepared, to be stuck inside it over a month. You should think more about survival than money, Issy!"
Wandas words shut Isabelle up and she lowered her pace. She looked at the mission sheet in her hands that stated:
[ Mission:
Go into the cursed forest and hunt 5 Hippolions( a mix out of a hippo and a lion).
Bring their heads to the adventure guild with the mission sheet and your adventure card, to receive 500 gold coins, 5 magic-space rings and a rank 2 weapon from the adventure guild weapon store.
Bonus:
If bronze ranked adventure finish the mission, they will be promoted to silver rank.]
She had mixed feelings about the mission after Wandas statement. Isabelle wondered if they will survive this mission and held her head down, feeling guilty for convincing her comrades into this.
. Matt, who saw the depressing state his sister was in, said.
„Let's buy some potions and artifacts for the mission."
With that, the squad prepare for their mission. If they will survive or die is a mystery for now.
——————————————————————————
Chirp,charp,churp
„Shit, fck!!!"
Claud woke up to the same bird-melody but a different pain. Because of all the events that happened last night, he didn't felt much pain when his leg was pierced.
Claud looked at his purple-black thigh. A huge spike, that was around 15cm thick, was located in his thigh.
Claud vomited several times because of pain but one thought was keeping him going.
„Survive! You have to survive in this live!"
Claud mustered his strength and looked closely onto the black spike, he saw the spike getting smaller and smaller with each passing minute. The spike formed into a black liquid that entered his wound, giving him massive pain.
„is this deadly arrow turning into a toxic poison over time? What a clever weapon."
He praised the beast before taking a broken sword and slashing down onto the spike, breaking its right end.
Argh
The vibration brought massive pain to Claud but he slashed down the sword onto the left end.
Sting
The blade was stuck in the left end of the spike, just like he planned. Claud grabbed the sword hilt with all his strength and pushing it in the opposite direction of his leg with a loud roar.
„Arrrrfgghhjhgghgghrggrgegggrgrgehehrheh!"
The spike left his thigh and fell onto the ground. Claud, who put his entire body weight into that push, fell onto the ground, covering his face with dirt.
Haaaa
He let out an exhausted sigh while fighting the immense pain, coming from the hole in his thigh.
After he recovered, he looked at his, now useless, leg.
„I can't even survive with my two leg's intact. What do I do now that one is useless?"
He thought coming closer and closer to disappear.
Grrrrhg
His depressive thoughts were interrupted by his stomach. Claud didn't now how long he was unconscious and how much time passed since he entered this world but he knew that he had not eaten anything since he woke up. His last meal was in his prison cell, it was a disgusting mixture of insects, dirty water and more unknown things.
His stomach hurt quite a lot, nothing in comparison to his leg pain of course.
Claud looked for something to satisfy his hunger but couldn't even see bugs in his little cave. He looked outside, into the forest but was met with pictures of the traumatized experience he went through. He couldn't go out, out of fear to the monsters he knew and the ones that are still unknown.
„Origi, my friend, where is this special gift you gifted me with? I could really need it now."
Claud said while looking at the celling of the cave in an begging tone.
Nothing happened
He looked at the midday sun, creating heat to no end, and switched his gaze to the dry branches that were laying outside of his cave in the forest.
He was reaching despair, his leg was bleeding non stop, he didn't have food and he couldn't make a fire for warmth in the night.
Arrrrgggghhhghhgghgggagagg!!!
A world piercing scream echoed through the forest, coming from a little cave.
A human, heavenly wounded, crawled from the cave to branches, laying around it. He picked them up with his mouth and grabbed them with his teeth.
He was Claud, he crawled on the ground, trying to make as few noises as possible as he pushed himself to the nearest branches that could be used as firewood.
He bite the sticks in his mouth due do pain, causing salvia to accumulate and dropping on the ground, making him look more like a pig by the slaughter than a human with a second chance in life.
Giant Vultures gathered over Claud, signaling his death.
Claud was filled with panic, he feared not only the hungry scavenger but also the monsters they could have guided here.
Out of his left thigh dripped black blood, making the gruesome scene more terrifying.
He made his way back after he collected a hand-full branches, hoping the vultures would give up on him. But just as he reached the entrance, he heard a terrifying croak sound from above him.
Krrach,krrrreaa
He turned around and saw a massive vulture sliding down towards him. The beast had four black wings and two heads, it looked scary af and came closer and closer down to Claud by every second.
It was the size of an young man and blocked the sun above Claud.
Claud rolled go his left in an hurry, causing massive pain in his injured thigh, and dodged the attack.
Brmmm
The vulture missed Claud and instead going full charge into the ground, making its claws cutting the ground causing it to get stuck in the ground.
It waves its wings as hard as it could, trying to get free but nothing happened. It was deeply stuck under some roots of a massive tree, that created a little hillock.
Krrggh,creerrgha,krerrrr
It cries for help from his brothers and sisters but they just looked at it, waiting for it to die to be their next food.
While all that happened, Claud jumped into cover in his cave, now hugging the five pieces of wood, he fought for, with a happy smile. He ignored the cries for help from the vulture, the massive pain in his leg and his hungry stomach and fell asleep cause of exhaustion.