With the last faint glimmer of sunlight beginning to swallowed by the black and blue nebula sky above, being past his curfew was the least of Ren's problems as he followed clumsily behind Amerika; the three foot goblin having to lead him by the hand through the nearly pitch-black forest, as his only source of lights were the blanket of shining stars and moonlight that were breaching the thick branches and leaves above.

Holding his iron dagger in his right hand and Amerika's small hand with the other, Ren listened in to the symphony of crickets and birds chirping away at the late hours of the night— reassuring him that there were no potential predators nearby, as the two delved deeper, and deeper through the forest.

"So… This "safe house" you're taking us to," Ren began, after having broken the unnerving silence between them. "Is it another bunker, like the one you said that your family lived in?"

"Somethin' like that, yeah," Amerika replied back in a wary voice, as she too kept an eye and ear out for any signs of potential danger while squeezing them past the large trunks of a few slowly grown trees.

"The bunker that I grew up in was built by humans; old as all hell, but my ancestors were able to salvage it, back when they first found the bloody place about a few hundred years, or so ago," Amerika explained with a hint of pride in her voice, before letting out a jaded chuckle as she added, "The "safe house" I'm takin' yew to ain't as sophisticated n' shite as me own— it's just a fockin' hole in a cave, where we've kept emergency supplies locked up."

"Oh, like… Like guns?" Ren asked, while having remembered vividly the way the vindictive goblin had enthused to him about "blowing the brains out" of those who had attacked her and her clan.

A palatable smirk of sinister arrogance formed across Amerika's sharp-toothed grin, followed by a deep, maniacal laugh as she replied back to the curious boy, "Yeah, haha, heh…! There's gonna be guns in there, alright; guns like yew wouldn't imagine were possible…!"

"Huh, that… That sounds… Ominous— though, quite intriguing," Ren replied back in a wary, and even more curious voice, which earned him a far less malevolent chuckle from the goblin in front of him.

"Yeeeah, it's gonna fockin' be ominious alright— but not for us," Amerika quipped, before devilishly remarking, "Yeah…! It's gonna be real "ominous" for those bastards, when they start hearin' shots poppin' off through the corridors…!"

And while Amerika was giddily imitating the sounds of gunshots with her mouth, Ren couldn't help but to wonder to himself just what sort of firearms she was referring to that could be fired in quick fire succession. 'Is she… Is she planning on us carrying a load of flintlock pistols with us? I can't see how they'll give us much of an advantage… All of that'll just weigh us down.'

Holding off on voicing his concerns until he saw in person what the supposed "unimaginable" guns were in person, Ren decided to try to find as much enjoyment as he could from their stroll through the woods— his dusty rose colored eyes darting up toward the branches.

And while guiding Ren by the hand as he did his best to stargaze through the small gaps within the branches above them, Amerika continued to contemplate her revenge until a thought began creeping into her head.

"Oi, kid," she said aloud, while still keeping as steady of a pace as she could with her limp, "I know I asked yew earlier about why yew were so keen on helpin' me n' shite— honor, and promises, and what have yew— but… I still can't help but to wonder what the appeal of all of this is for yew."

Flicking his pupils down from the branches down to her, Ren did his best to use what limited light he had available in him to stare at the back of her neck-length hair, before asking her in a genuine way, "What do you mean by that?"

Unable but to let out a nervous cackle, Amerika shook her head bemusingly at his confusion before clarifying herself to him. "Mate! Yew've agreed to go divin' into a fockin' hole in the ground, JUST so yew can get armed to the teeth; all of which is to help some green little bitch yew saved slaughter a group of dangerous psychopaths!"

Frowning, Ren argued with her, "I don't think you should be referring to yourself as that," and paused briefly after she let out a scoff before going on to say, "But I think I can understand your confusion…"

"Oh, dew yew now?! Heh…!"

"Yeah, I do," Ren replied back to Amerika's sarcastic remark, while letting out a soft, and barely audible chuckle from his small throat. "Truth is that I've always sort of dreamed about doing this sort of stuff, even when I was younger…"

"So like wot? Tweu days ago, or somethin'~?"

Chuckling a bit louder at another one of her lighthearted jabs, Ren playfully shook his head Amerika, who he could tell was smiling along with him.

"Heh…! Yeah, I guess you could say that," Ren said, while playing along with her quip. "But back to what I was saying… The real reason why I've always wanted to be an "adventurer" stems from my older sister— out of all people, unsurprisingly enough."

"And why is that unsurprisin' to yew? Is she— or was she— an adventurer herself?"

"Neither; she's never done anything of the sort," Ren replied, while smiling to himself at how absurd the idea was to him of Vivine being someone who took on quests for a living. "She attended this place called "Golden Vineyard University"— back when my parents were alive, and we lived in Asti."

Upon hearing the name of the gray-haired boy's previous home, the limping goblin's pace slowed down as her brown eyebrows began to knit together in a contemplative manner. "Asti, eh? Asti, Asti, Asti— why does that sound so familiar to me…?" Amerika asked herself quietly, and continued to dwell on the matter before suddenly speaking aloud excitedly, "Yew know wot?! I think I've actually read about that place!"

And from there, Ren began answering Amerika's questions about Asti, in between telling her about how his sister was formally educated, and how her love for harrowing tales of adventure rubbed off on him. More notably, it flourished his imagination to the point that his dreams of becoming an adventurer had become more of a craving than an escape from his mundane life.

Their conversation came to a screeching halt, when all of sudden Amerika's long, pointy ears perked up at the distant sound of leaves rustling. Coming to a complete stand still, the alert goblin girl whispered a hushed, "Shhh," to Ren.

Swallowed up by the abyss and not a glimmer of moonlight to help him see, the gray-haired boy could only listen in to his surroundings as best as his limited listening range would allow him to. Though he couldn't hear the rustling in the woods like Amerika could, the noticeable lack of chirping from the surrounding wildlife had been more than enough to confirm his suspicions.

'We're either in someone's hunting grounds, or being stalked by some psycho— or both,' Ren concluded, while slowly squatting down on his knees— avoiding actually sitting down on the ground, so as not to alert whatever might have better hearing than him of their location.

Hoping that crouching down low would be enough to evade being discovered, Ren did his best to control his breathing while his heart raced in his chest— unsure whether or not what he was doing was actually helping him in their situation.

Feeling suffocated by not only the blanket of darkness around him— but by the dreadful tension lingering within the warm air that was beginning to make him perspire— Ren couldn't help but to brace himself, as the uncomfortable thought of being ambushed from behind or from above entered his mind.

Breaking the daunting silence was a distant and sudden blood curdling scream that came echoing from the northern direction— the gray haired child's eyes widening, and jumped in his skin the moment he felt Amerika's small hand squeezing down on his.

"B-Bloody hell…!" The mortified goblin uttered out in a hushed whisper, as she tightened her grasp on Ren's surprisingly unshaken hand— wincing each time she had the misfortune of listening to bones breaking apart, and the sickening sound of flesh being torn to bloodied chunks.

Spared of having to hear the horrendous cries of what sounded like a woman getting her body ripped apart by a multitude of growling predators, Ren was more at liberty than Amerika was to quietly ask her, "Shouldn't we go to investigate that…?"

Although Ren couldn't see her due to how dark it was, he could tell that Amerika was dumbfounded at his suggestion by the sudden movement Amerika made, when she whipped her head over shoulder to stare at him wide-eyed.

"Yew've must have a fockin' death wish, mate— sayin' somethin' as suicidal as that shite…!" The goblin scolded in a hushed, barely audible whisper. "I know yew can't see or hear it, but it's bad out there, Ren— real fockin' bad…! We'll be up shite's creek without a bloody paddle, if we even dare to move a fockin' inch right now…!"

Though he knew whatever had made that cry of despair hadn't done so without reason, hearing the dread in Amerika's voice as she spoke only indicted Ren's desire to take action. "Maybe we can save the-"

"-Ren, that bitch is gettin' chowed down on by a group of ravenous focks; there ain't no savin' 'er now," the goblin interjected with an empathic, albeit firm manner— doing her best to dispel any and all heroic hopes that the boy might have conjured within his head.

"And… For wot it's worth… I-It's probably a rabbit gettin' munched on by a pack of wolves— real "circle of life" shite…" She suggested with a slightly optimistic voice; much to Ren's disbelief and confusion.

"W… What sort of rabbit screams like that…?!"

"The fockin' kind that's probably gettin' her legs torn off— THAT sort of bloody rabbit…!" Amerika sassed back in a hissing whisper— accidentally spraying droplets of her saliva onto Ren. "Wait… W-Wait, I-I think they stopped eatin'…"

Caught off guard by how suddenly Amerika's tone shifted in such a short time, Ren furrowed his brows at her as he asked her cautiously, "Is that…? Is that a good thi-"

"-Shhh, shhh…!" The goblin shushed— interrupting him, and reluctantly listening in toward where the aforementioned sounds of flesh tearing had ceased.

With bated breath, the goblin girl kept listening and listening— hearing nothing but to the sound of eerie silence— until at once, she heard what was clearly the sound of a multitude of footsteps quickly stomping against the forest floor towards their direction.

"F-FOCKIN' SHITE!" Amerika screamed with panic in her terrified voice, before immediately tugging the confused boy forward. "RUN LIKE HELL!" She shrieked at Ren, while proceeding to take rapid and painful breaths— limping as fast as her sore legs could carry the both of them.

Before Ren could ask her what they were attempting to flee from, it was then that the bewildered boy heard the unmistakable cacophony of howls from the distance— sounding louder-and-louder by the passing second, as though they were fast approaching.

It wasn't long before into his blind dash through the woods until Ren's ears picked up on the sounds of leaves cracking, and thunderous stomping feet heading towards them in what sounded like a pack.

"I…! I-I don't think we're going to outrun the-?!" Ren tried huffing out, before immediately trailing off into a confused panic— the moment he felt Amerika pull her hand away from his.

"'M s-sorry…!" He heard her apologizing to him with a trembling voice, before stumbling forward blindly in the dark— the light of the moon and stars above, unable to breach through the thick branches when he needed them the most.

Shocked at her act of desperate betrayal, Ren's eyes widened as he felt his foot getting snagged by what felt like a root sticking out from the ground— causing him to lose his footing, and falling flat down on a rough patch of dirt.

Even as Ren fell flat on his chest, he dared not let the leather-wrapped handle of his iron dagger slip out of his fingers— holding onto it desperately, as he felt the wind getting knocked out of him.

Hearing the sound of growling breaths coming closer to him from multiple angles, Ren's panicked mind had no time to even consider calling out to Amerika— his logical side already concluding that such an act of desperation would be a waste of breath.

'I guess I have only myself to blame,' Ren thought to himself in a far more composed way than he figured he would, during a life or death situation. Hearing the sound of what he assumed were paws rushing toward him, Ren used his ears to time his sideways roll, the moment he heard the rushing footsteps came to a momentary pause— indicating that whatever had been rushing toward him had just leapt, and was about to pounce on him.

Rolling onto his back, with both of his hands tightened so round the handle his small blade held, Ren held out the dagger above his chest in front of him— locking his elbows in, and bracing himself as whatever pounced on him knocked whatever wind he had left inside of him.

'I shouldn't have gone into the woods with her… Can't blame her for trying to save herself— it's not like both of us need to die,' Ren continued to think to himself— time itself feeling suspended in a surreal way.

Upon the tip of blade piercing through what felt like thick leather, Ren heard a high-pitch yowl of pain from the wolf on top of him before immediately being scratched by its nails as it scrambled away from him— trickles of its blood lightly spraying on his scratched up face.

'Still… Why aren't I regretting having gone with her in the first place? I should, shouldn't I?' He wondered, before being snapped out of his thoughts the moment he felt a set of jaws clamping down on his ankle— sharp incisors piercing through his pant leg, and sinking themselves deep into his ankle.

Seething in pain and letting out a wincing grunt, Ren's immediate thought was to swing himself forward with the knife held upward to plunge into the head of his attacker— his strategy interrupted, when he was suddenly pounced from behind.

Reaching up with his left hand to guard his neck, Ren clenched his teeth and let out a muffled cry of pain as he felt a new set of teeth sink themselves into his wrist— both wolves wasting no time in thrashing and rapidly tearing at his bitten limbs.

'No… No, I wanted this… The danger, the excitement, the high stakes… Everything that comes with being an adventurer…' Ren thought solemnly to himself, with his lips curled back and his teeth beginning to grind against one another; building his resolve, even as a third wolf leapt forward onto him with its jaws opened up to bite down on his face.

'Even so… This can't be how it ends for me— not when I'm just getting started.'

Gripping the handle of his dagger with vigor, Ren cocked his elbow back before plunging it upward into the throat of the wolf who's teeth had pierced both sides of his cheek— the primal urge for vengeance overwriting his excruciating pain, as he ripped through the creature's gullet while hearing its growls turning into a maddening gurgling.

Head butting the wolf who's throat he had just ripped out of him, Ren blindly started stabbing his blade over his shoulder— using where the second wolf's jaws were clenched on his hand to gauge his target, and successfully causing the predator to flee.

With his hand covered in eye-jelly and warm blood, Ren— in his adrenaline fueled rage— cocked his unbitten knee up to his chest, before kicking his heel down repeatedly on the nose of the wolf that had begun dragging him back by the ankle.

The moment Ren finally got the wolf to let go, he let out a low growl of defiance before lunging forward with the dagger raised a over his shoulder; plunging its blade once through what felt the neck of the disoriented wolf, before pouncing on top of the it to begin repeatedly stabbing it again, and again.

Straddling the beast with each cylinder of his vindictive mind firing off, Ren raised the bloodied dagger above his head to get one last stab in. 'Everyone's gotta die sometime; but it won't be m-'

But before he could satisfy his surprisingly high bloodlust with a final plunge of his blade, Ren's streak came to a halt the moment he felt something sharp pierce him through his shoulder— puncturing bone, and causing him to freeze as a gasp escaped from his lips.

'W… What was that?' He thought to himself— feeling dumbfounded at first by the sudden inclusion of weaponry, before the pain resistance of his spiked adrenaline began to finally come to the end of its peak.

At first, it was just one instance of searing hot-white pain that Ren felt— and then one became two, when another piercing sensation exploded in his lower back, followed by more-and-more punctures.

'Are… Are these these the people who attacked her…? They have to be… Right?' Ren wondered to himself— his mind doing its best to disassociate with the sheer amount of agony he was experiencing.

Skewered like a push pin cushion without the ability to see his attackers in the blanket of darkness around him, Ren's anguished mind became disoriented the moment he felt a hard, blunt object being cracked against the top of his head— warm blood oozing down his scalp, as all at once the blades that had stabbed him were pulled from him limp body.

Collapsing forward with his face buried in the fluff of the wolf's blood-matted body fur, Ren's hearing became obscured by a high-pitched ringing that felt almost as painful as the large gaping wound on the top of his head.

'My hEad hurts! Something's wr on.g qith me— why does is ut hard ro tjink?!' Ren's thoughts echoed unintelligibly within his damaged mind— what little cognitive ability he had left trying its best to make sense of what had just happened.

Blinded by darkness, and unable to hear the voices of his attackers— let alone raise an arm to defend himself— Ren's damaged nerves only allowed him to minutely feel the sensation of what he figured to be a clawed hand picking him up by the back of his neck.

'Hpw foolish if ,ee to thonk I AcTually gad s chamce to survvive this…. I gave omly mydrlf to ,' Ren did his best to self reflect, as the numbing feeling in itself began to fade into an absence of stimulation; the ringing in his bleeding ears grew silent, as the darkness around him seemingly began slipping into his caved-in skull— his lingering lucidity thinking of the optimistic redhead, and the seemingly ever present smile she had whenever they were together.

'Uh… Zealot? What's uh… W-What's a "zealot", Ren?'

'A "zealot" is what you'd call someone who's uncompromising when it comes to their ideals— and it doesn't necessarily apply only to religious beliefs…'

'Could you, uh… C-Could you dumb that down for me just a LITTLE bit more, heh, haha…?'

'Just think of someone who's really, really stubborn, and who'll think they're always right— even if it's obvious that they're not.'

'Kehaha, heh~! Kinda like you sometimes, huh Ren~?'

'Heh, haha… Yeah, I can't argue with that.'