1327

Aron woke up with a start, desperately getting ready to fight again. He drew his sword, ready to swing at whatever moved.

But, there was nothing there. Just an empty jungle. The sun was still in the sky.

Aron's breathing didn't slow down. There was no danger in front of him, but he could feel it. He didn't know why, but he was unable to stop.

The pain in his body finally caught up, causing him to almost collapse. His sword clattered onto the ground.

"Ah. You're finally awake." Julia noted.

"What… happened?"

"You don't remember? When the Teostra showed up you went apeshit. Then they both did a supernova, knocking us down here. I dunno how long it's been."

"What even caused that?"

"I was hoping you'd know, but if you can't remember anything, then who knows."

"It's bugging me though. I'm at least… pretty sure that nothing like that's ever happened before."

"If I had to guess, it was probably fear."

"What do you mean by that!?"

"Don't raise your voice all of a sudden, I didn't realise you'd be that against it. The reason I said that was cause when I was watching you, the feeling I got from it above all else, was that you were afraid."

"I don't feel things like that. I'm strong. That's all there is to it."

"Alright, I get it. Geez. All I'm saying is that once you saw that thing, you seemed to panic. I mean sure, there was other emotions mixed in, but what was leading it looked like fear. Caused by the Teostra, I guess."

It then suddenly hit him, almost knocking him off his feet as hard as the blast from earlier.

"Ahh. Ahahah. Ahahahahahaha... Hey, you're pretty perceptive, right?"

"I guess."

"You could tell what my weaknesses were, and you could tell what I was feeling. That's pretty impressive. The only thing you haven't told me is the reason why I'm like this."

"No idea. I can't guess something like that."

"That's fair. I didn't even fully realise myself until just now. Might as well explain, now that I've worked things out."

"You don't have to."

"I want to. Besides, why are you stopping me? Wasn't getting me to open up your plan?"

"That already fell through."

"I guess so. But I still need someone to laugh at how pathetic I am, so you'll do. Anyways, my parents were merchants. This was back at Pokke, over ten years ago. One day, we were travelling like normal. As you can expect, disaster struck."

"Monster attack?"

"What else? It was over in less than a second. Something crashed into the caravans, then the next thing I knew I was in a hell of fire. There was no build up, not even a moment's warning. I never even saw a blink on the horizon. It was just… over like that. It was only a few seconds before I passed out, but in that time, I saw it. A beast of flames. The one thing standing up in that inferno."

"How did you even get out?"

"I didn't. I just passed out and happened to get rescued afterwards. My parents weren't as lucky. So, since then, all I was focused on was becoming strong. I only saw that thing for a few seconds, but I can remember it clearly. A force of mindless destruction. I didn't even recognise it as a Teostra, it was only just now when I saw one up close that I realised what he was. Doesn't it scare you? Knowing that something out there could end everything you have, without even thinking about it. I was terrified."

He looked upwards, towards the sky he'd spent all this time convincing himself he'd reach.

"That was it. It was fear. I cut myself off from others because I was afraid. I tried to become the strongest because I was afraid. I was so fearless because I was afraid. That's all there is to it, now here's the part where you can laugh."

"...I can't."

"You totally can, I don't care anymore."

"Isn't it normal to be afraid of things? I mean, I was so scared of being alone I changed how I acted to suit others. See? Everyone does it."

"Just the two of us."

"I can guarantee that currently everyone in this jungle is afraid of something."

"When you put it like that, I guess I can't find a way to argue back. Well, no point in sticking around here anymore."

"Wait. Where are you going?"

"Back to town."

"How are you gonna do that?"

"By walking."

"Not that. The Teostra and Lunastra are probably still out there, right? If you run into them again…"

"I'll probably be fine if I'm just trying to escape."

"Why are you switching straight back to being overconfident? You're injured, and you just now worked out that you've got a phobia of Teostras that causes you to lose your mind. "

"...So?"

"It's not '...So?', it's 'Ok, so what's your plan?"

"If you've got one then just say it."

"I don't."

"Then why-"

"Cause we're gonna make one now."

"...Fine then. But, one condition first."

"What?"

"If we're gonna survive this, then I don't need you to be someone weak. I need to work with you, not someone you're pretending to be."

"That's… uh."

"Just agree."

"Ok. But, I don't think you should expect that great of a difference. I'm not really that great of a fighter or anything."

"You're smart, right? So get thinking. That's probably what we need here, but I'm just a dude who swings a very heavy sword real hard, so it's on you."

"...Sure."

They somehow managed to climb out of the deeper parts of the jungle.

"If we run into either of them, then our only chance is to run. Both at once would be pretty bad, but I think the worst case scenario would be if we just ran into the Teostra alone. The best is if we don't see them at all, by the way."

"Wait, is it the worst case because of my fear?"

"Hmm… that's part of it I guess. Well, he's more aggressive and his explosions are more direct, so he'll be harder to escape. But more than that, do you remember the fight with them before?"

"Partly."

"Well I guess you wouldn't have been paying attention, but I was using paralysis coating for pretty much the entire time. My main target was the Lunastra, mostly because I couldn't think by the time they both showed up. It's only been a few hours since then, right?"

"Probably, yeah."

"So what I'm saying is that it should take less shots than normal to paralyse her at this point, since she's already been hit with some. Well, I don't have much paralysis coating left, but it'll hopefully be enough."

"Hopefully isn't really reassuring."

"It's all we got. If we run into just the Lunastra, then we can run once she's paralysed. If we run into both, then what I'm gonna bet on is that when she's paralysed, the Teostra'll be confused for long enough for us to escape. In both scenarios, I'll need you to distract the enemy for long enough for the paralysis to take effect."

"No problem. But what happens if we run into just the Teostra?"

"...I'll work something out."

"Well, it's as good a plan as we're getting, I guess."

They made their way slightly into the jungle.

"No luck, huh?" Julia thought aloud, as the Lunastra appeared before them yet again. "Well, a little, but if we had more than the bare minimum then we-"

"We don't have time for tangents!" Aron yelled, before the monster roared.

Another shape dropped down, releasing a heat wave. That warmth caused Aron's blood to freeze.

This time, he was able to stay conscious enough to understand. He felt back. The inferno. The hell of that moment. The eyes of the elder dragon now staring him down the same as the one that carelessly stared off into space all those years ago

He felt himself slipping. The ground had been pulled away from underneath him. He wanted to yell, to scream, anything to prove that he wasn't beneath the creature in front of him.

He felt his shoulder being shaken about as violently as the one shaking could manage.

"Hey! Wake up! We need you in reality, here!"

"...Sure. Sorry."

The monsters wasted no more time, charging straight forwards. Julia jumped to the side to begin her strategy, while Aron focused on defending.

The Teostra charged into him, but was blocked. Aron felt like he was being crushed, but he had to continue.

The Lunastra followed this up with another charge, being blocked still. She covered the ground with blue flame, forcing Aron to stumble out of it which left him open. The Teostra charged again.

The strike knocked all the breath out of him, as well as some blood. He used his sword to stop himself from falling to the ground, but all this did was leave him open again.

Another charge, barely avoided with a sidestep. As he dodged, the Teostra released his powder. A moment later, the air exploded, knocking him back.

He glanced over to see the Lunastra approaching Julia.

"Need to… get her attention."

The Teostra continued to pursue the attack, not giving him a single moment to rest.

The Lunastra swiped at Juli, barely missing. It followed up with a tail swipe, knocking her back. With how close the enemy was, she didn't even have time to charge her shots.

"At this distance, I don't have the time to ready my bow. So… I've just gotta change how I attack!"

She grabbed one of her arrows and stabbed the Lunastra with it. For a few seconds, she got the feeling she'd won, before the Lunastra breathed fire, lighting up the blue powder that now covered the ground Julia was standing on.

She backed off quickly, but as she was hopping away this left her with no means of dodging the next attack. Julia was flung through the air after being hit by a claw swipe by the monster.

As she crashed back down, the Lunastra continued to target her.

Aron watched this go down.

"If they just split us up, we're screwed."

He waited until the Teostra attacked again, blocking the strike. His stamina was getting lower by the moment, but that didn't matter to him. He pushed the monster back and made a mad dash towards the Lunastra. As he turned his back, the Teostra swung with his tail, hitting him directly. Not having the time to care, he continued forwards.

The Lunastra heard him coming and spun around, dodging his strike. The next second, she clawed at him, cutting into his arm.

Aron almost dropped his sword, having no way to counter. The Lunastra went for another strike, this time aimed for his head.

All Aron could do was watch as the end drew slowly closer.

"That's all the distraction I need, thanks."

An arrow was shot. It flew straight between them. The Lunastra was hit directly in the side. As always, she took little notice. Her hand froze. She couldn't move.

The paralysis had finally taken effect.

The plan had worked, but neither of the successful ones could rest.

They turned their attention to the Teostra, hoping for confusion.

What they were met with was anger. Fury at what they'd done to her. He didn't understand what it was or how, which only added to the rage. His flame burnt brighter than ever.

"So it's over… after all. In a few seconds, he's probably gonna blow this entire place up. And I can't even move anymore. I don't think… I can shoot arrows anymore. I don't… want… to-"

Julia's thoughts were cut off by watching Aron.

Despite his injuries, despite the situation, despite his fear, the man continued to act.

Perhaps it could've been because of his fear, but she could tell. This wasn't the same as before. This was no longer a mass of instinct. This time, there was some thought involved.

The two forces slowly charged towards each other.

Aron locked eyes with his opponent. They felt crushing. Overwhelming.

"Hahh. I guess I really am scared of you, after all. I spent all this time running from that, getting stronger cause I wanted to conquer it. In the end… didn't do shit. But that doesn't matter anymore. What does… is beating the shit out of you, right now."

He turned his sword to the side. The Teostra moved straight towards him, ready to explode with anger at any moment.

Aron swung downwards, aiming to crush his opponent's skull. The Teostra swung upwards, aiming to cleave his opponent's head off.

Neither side got what they wanted. The hunter struck first, pushing the monster down into the earth but leaving him alive. The monster struck second, only managing to drag his claws across the hunter's face.

Aron breathed for a single half-second.

"Again."

He swung down once more, before the monster could move.

As he did, the blood from his head trickled downwards, covering his eyes.

"Vision's… gone. Did he take out my eyes? Wait… where is he? He could be anywhere! I need to… I need to… what do I need to-"

He felt the beast's presence everywhere. In front of him, beside him, behind him.

In this self-contained world, the feeling of being crushed only got heavier and heavier.

"-!"

A solitary sound.

"-on!"

"-ron"

More followed.

"Aron!"

The sound filled the world. He turned to the source, finding a hole in the beast's presence.

"This way!"

"We need to go already!"

Aron somehow managed to see something.

"Oh yeah and uh… can you pick me up? Something or other broke."

"Sure. But I can't see for shit, so I need you to guide me."

"...No problem."

He lifted her up by the shoulder.

"Where's the Teostra right now?"

"He's just getting back up. We have to hurry!"

Aron ran as quickly as he could, being guided up the hill.

"He's charging at us. We need to dodge."

"How far is he?"

"I dunno. I can't measure right now. Close. Like, next five seconds close."

"Got it."

Aron pushed her away.

"Hey, what are you-?"

He gripped his sword tigheter.

The world of the beast surrounded him again, now with no presence that disrupted it.

It was just him and the darkness surrounding him.

But this time it was different. He knew where his enemy was. The exact moment when he would be hit was clear to him.

"I don't have time to deal with you. Die already."

With that thought, he swung with everything he had.

Impact.

He felt something break. A second later, the sound of something thumping onto the ground. He dropped his sword, far lighter than it was before.

"Juli! Where are you?"

"Over here, where you dropped me."

Using the sound, he grabbed her again, before rushing off, having to be guided away.

He only managed to get the blood out of his eyes a while later, when they'd left the monsters far behind them.

"So? Did I manage to kill him?"

"Pretty sure he's still alive."

"Well, it's not like knowing that makes me wanna go back and fight him again. This is good enough, probably."

"I mean even if you wanted to, we still gotta go back to town first. Unless you're planning to fight him with a broken sword."

"Oh shit, so I really did break it, then."

"You didn't notice?"

"I did, it's just that it's kinda hard to believe, and since all I heard was the sound of it breaking I figured I was just hearing things."

"Yeah, no. When you hit him it just broke. Looked pretty cool. Also pretty lucky that it was the last hit."

"Ah. There it is." Aron noted.

They made their way back into town, got to their respective huts and immediately collapsed from exhaustion.

It was a while later when they saw each other again.

"Yo." Julia began. "How's your injuries?"

"Alright. It wasn't that bad. Only a couple of broken ribs and stuff."

"That's not really something minor."

"I mean, didn't you break some bones as well?"

"Yeah."

"See. Not that big of a deal."

"I beg to differ, but whatever. You wanna go hunt something?"

"Why?"

"Cause we're both here."

"I mean first off, there's still that whole thing where I can't actually trust you, and second why would you even want to? We've already established that I'm pathetic."

"Ahh. So you're still on that. Ok so like I already said, everyone's scared of something so quit it with that. And even then, you already beat it down. Fears are hard to get over, but a lot of people don't hit theirs in the face so hard their weapon breaks. So shut up, you're good."

"If I was good I'd feel that way, right?"

"That logic doesn't work."

"It does."

"Being a human isn't wrong. Okay then, I've decided. I'm gonna keep bugging you until you're finally able to accept that not being emotionally dead is okay. You don't always have to be some crazy strength obsessed dude with ridiculous feats. If anything, you can probably tone it down now."

"I didn't agree to that."

"Then do that."

"One thing, first. You said you'd fulfill any request, right? You still haven't really done anything like that."

"Well technically changing how I acted counted, but uh… I guess not?"

"Alright then, so my request is for you to not fulfil any more requests."

"Huh?"

"Well changing how you acted, doing everything for others, that just made things worse, right? All it did was creep them out or hurt them, and all it did to you was isolate you further. So just don't. Problem solved. Then I'll work with you."

Julia took a second to process the casual way in which the man threw her entire survival strategy out the window.

"Sure then. Best chance I've got, anyways."

As they walked off, Julia had a thought.

"Wait."

"What?"

"I just realised. When you found out about what I was really like, did you get hurt?"

"Of course not. I was just disgusted with myself."

"But you just mentioned that finding out hurt others."

"That was speaking in general. It's one of those things you can understand without feeling."

"And back there, you called me Juli."

"That's cause I was heavily injured, words are difficult so I forgot the last part."

"Hehhh."

"Yeah."

"...You're even less stoic than I thought."

"Bring this up again and I'm leaving."

"Sure thing."

Julia smirked as Aron's walking speed increased, trying to drop this conversation as quickly as possible.

This began their actual partnership.