Alia had always been confident, growing up where she did you always had to be, or at least look confident.
Which is why she did not bend or waver when August said they had to leave. Instead, she calmly assessed their options for survival in the long term.
There were none.
No matter how she looked at it, death was in the immediate future, at least hers. So she continued thinking of her options.
That night, after confirming August had fallen asleep, she opened her organizer.
____
Alia Lindsor
"Skills:
{Protector of nothing}- You have tasked yourself to protect that which does not exist, as long as your will does not break, your body will not.
{Sword of silence}- you are immensely quick, strong and light. Your talent with the sword is unmatched and your growth rate reflects that.
{Know no bounds}- In whatever endeavor you take, you are not limited, and will grow only in accordance to the work you put in. "
-___
All three of her skills were passive, not to undermine the incredible ability they allowed her to possess, but it simply wasn't enough.
{Protector of nothing} provided her with an unbreaking body, but even that was limited, she could still feel hunger, but never would she starve, thirst was debilitating, but she could put it to the back of her mind. Even her skin would not break or crack.
So long as she had aura.
From what she had gathered from her tutorial, aura was like the mana of this world, allowing human beings to use their powers repetitively and continually so long as they had enough aura to do so.
Over the past few days since August had woken up, her aura was steadily decreasing.
The two months prior to his awakening, she had scouted the area and made note of everything she needed for sustenance. After August woke up, she had led him to all these places and allowed him to eat instead of her.
After the first day, her body had begun to consume aura to keep her alive and well.
Alia knew that failing to escape the clearing would mean death, but she was also aware of the fact that the forest was even more dangerous. It was truly a dilemma.
The two of them traveling through the forest together would result in them being chased by hordes of vile creatures. So she needed to end this here.
So she began to practice her swordsmanship, although she used to be an avid fencer, her training in the sport would not be enough to cut it.
August had created a longsword for her, but it wasn't something she was used to. The balance and weight of the weapon were significantly different from the foil she was used to.
Alia knew she lacked the time to fully understand how to utilize the weapon, but maybe, if she capitalized on her newly acquired strength and skill with thrusting weapons, she might be able to win.
But, she would have to wait and see.
~~~~~
A few days later, while she was practicing in clearing, August watching her from the other side as he usually did. There was a sound.
And then another.
The unmistakable sound of heavy steps and crushing leaves heading in their direction.
She watched as August shot up to his feet, scurrying further into the other side of the clearing just as planned. And she herself assumed the stance taught to her by her old fencing teacher.
It was not ideal for a longsword, but she was in no position to complain.
As she listened to the incoming assault, she had a single thought.
'Why now?'
The monsters of the forest always stayed back, they had done so for months, even now they lacked the confidence to come in directly. So why was this armored abomination so different from the rest?
Alia had no time to finish that thought.
Soon the tree line broke, and the armored behemoth stepped through, sunlight glistening off the almost steel-like gray plates of armor that adorned it.
This was the first time she had seen the monster from the front view, and it truly did look like a rhinoceros. A large protruding horn, sunken eyes. It was almost enough to make her believe the monster was a herbivore.
If it's bloodstained, razor sharp teeth and maw weren't there, perhaps she would.
The creature locked eyes with her, lowered it's head, and charged.
Reflexively, she dashed to the side, trying to pierce the creature's hide with a stab from the longsword.
It bounced off.
That was fine, however, as the creature stumbled to a halt. Alia took another chance, bringing her sword down on the gap between two of the monster's armored plates as it slowly turned around.
It bounced off.
But this time, a small drop of blood ran down the blade of her sword.
Alia smiled and attempted to dodge second charge, this timethough, she was a second too late, being hit in the stomach and sent flying back into a tree.
She felt the pain, but her body did not break. Unable to tear the smile off her face she looked over to August as the creature charged into her stomach once more, this time taking a direct hit as she felt the horn break skin.
She reversed her grip and attempted to put her sword in the behemoth's eye, she felt little resistance as the sword slid in, and the beast swung to the side, howling in pain and flinging her across the clearing, separating her from the sword which remained embedded in it's eye.
A loud, explosive sound resounded through the clearing as the beast's head moved ever so slightly. She turned her head to August, who had just fired another sword at the monster's jaw.
In that same moment, another sword appeared inches in front of her, which she grabbed and began dashing towards the beast once more.
It had not taken long to establish that August couldn't resummon weapons he had already given away, from her own guesses, it seemed he could only store what belonged to him, or the things he was in contact with.
Which is why the sword in the behemoth's eye remained there, no doubt uncomfortable to deal with.
Alia lunged at the beast, aiming for it's agape mouth.
She made a mistake.
She had overstepped her boundaries attempting to stab the beast's maw, and instead of howling in pain as she expected, it clamped down.
She bit back a scream, hearing the sound of her bones being crushed between the behemoth's teeth. Both her arms were now in total agony.
Alia had always been confident, but feeling the crushing sensation of her arms shooting through her body, she learned that there was a big difference between confidence and arrogance.
She was arrogant for not trying to run when she had the chance, she had believed that even if there was no chance at victory, she would at least go down fighting.
In the midst of the pain, she found regret clawing at her, telling her that she failed.
Alia didn't want to die.
She really didn't want to die.
She fought to survive on the streets of London for that very reason, she kept surviving after her parents… her brother. She had protected herself to the best of her ability.
And now, she would die protecting someone else.
The beast picked her up by her broken arms using its teeth, throwing her into the ground before stomping on her, crushing a few more ribs in the process.
She looked over at August, the boy had become pale, his tan skin and brown hair had become devoid of saturation, and his gold eyes locked with hers.
She glared back and barked weakly.
"Run!"
He turned to the trees and was gone seconds later.
She had been abandoned, left alone once again. Alia had asked for it of course, but even then, it still hurt.
But she had no time to contemplate that, because there was another surging pain, then the world went black.