The sound of leaves crunching under his foot and his breath echoed to Arix’s ears. His vision was getting blurry and his speed was slowing down with every second.

  He turned around to see if others were catching up to him. They were not, Elena was already resting at the root of a tree and Tarin had stopped, gasping for air.

  Arix decided to stop too. He went to Elena and sat under the same tree as her. The sun was already down. Lyra had not spoken a single word since the night before. She was sitting under a different tree, in front of Arix.

  Her eyes were wide open, and she was gasping quietly for air. Staring at the ground in front of her, she kept muttering, “Jace is dead, Jace is dead, Jace is dead!”

  Arix turned sideways to look at Elena. She froze in her place with her eyes wide. She whispered, “No, this can’t be real. Maybe he is still alive. We should go and check, hey come on let’s go and check on Jace.” A desperate hope flashed across her face.

  She grabbed Arix’s hand and tried to stand up with him, but Arix kept staring at her while sitting. She shouted, turning all around her "come on everyone, maybe he is still alive, Arix let’s go, we can’t give up on our group member just yet.”

  Arix pulled her to himself and hugged her tightly. “He’s not there, Elena. He died.”

  Her eyes grew wet, and tears started running down her face. She hugged Arix tightly and let out a cry loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Tarin, breaking his silence, said, “We should have fought him. Aghh… I haven’t been training all these years for this. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!” He shouted.

  He went to the tree where Lyra was sitting and punched it with all his strength. Lyra snapped and whispered, “We are all going to die. Yes, we will die here.” Her voice rose as she spoke. She grabbed her head with both hands and screamed at the top of her lungs.

  Tarin, noticing her, grabbed her by the collar, lifted her up, and growled, “Listen, if you are so afraid, then leave right now. We all knew what we were getting into. You still chose to come. So buckle up and face it.” He threw her back against the tree, where she sat motionless, still staring at the ground.

  “Aghh, we cannot be here much longer. That monster will find us. Come on, let's move.” Tarin shouted.

  Arix got up with Elena and went to Lyra. He grabbed her hand and picked her up. “Let’s go, Tarin is right.”

  Lyra started walking forward, her body slightly bent. Elena followed her, with Arix and Tarin behind them.

  After about an hour, the raven came back and sat on one of the branches where it could see everyone—and everyone could see it. Tarin, looking at the bird, yelled, “Aghhh… I will kill this fucking bird.” His greatsword slipped from his back and fell to the ground as he moved forward to pick up a big stone, bigger than his hand. He threw the stone at the bird, screaming, “Go to hell!”

  The bird flew away just before the stone could reach it. After a moment, it returned and sat on the same branch again.

  “Come and fight me, you fucking coward!” Tarin shouted, letting all his anger out.

  Lyra looked back at Arix and Elena, who were looking around. Footsteps echoed in their ears from all directions.

  Arix tried to pinpoint their location, but he couldn’t. Tarin stopped to listen to the same footsteps. He looked to his left and found nothing, then to his right—still nothing.

  The raven croaked loudly and took flight, drawing everyone’s attention. Then there was complete silence for a moment.

  Arix’s heart started pounding. His breathing grew fast. He knew something was coming. He moved his hand to his sword’s sheath, ready to draw his weapon.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  The footsteps grew louder from behind them. Arix turned around and saw the same giant that had killed Jace, running toward them at full speed. One of its hands was still in a blessing posture, and the other held the staff slightly raised. Its posture was straight as it charged at them.

  Arix’s hands were shaking. He looked sideways at Elena and Lyra. Both were frozen in place, staring at the giant, unable to move. Their legs were trembling.

  “I will kill this monster.” A voice came from behind. Arix turned to see Tarin already holding his greatsword, ready to attack at any moment.

  “We cannot win like this, you stupid bastard. Look at them.” Arix pointed toward Elena and Lyra and shouted, “Just run for now!”

  “Shh,” Tarin said, slinging his greatsword onto his back and tapping Lyra’s shoulder. “You don’t want to die, right? Then run.”

  Lyra snapped. She turned around and started running with Tarin. Elena and Arix followed them.

  The giant was closing in on them. Arix was at the back. Without turning around, he shouted so everyone could hear, “We have to hide somewhere!”

  Tarin, who was in front, started looking for a place where the monster wouldn’t be able to see them. He saw some bushes beside the trees, but they were too small to hide everyone.

  Not long after, he found a cave—big enough for all of them, but not for the monster. He pointed toward it and shouted, “That cave! Let’s go there!”

  Lyra, Elena, and Arix saw the cave and ran toward it with the last of their strength. The monster was right behind them. Arix barely made it inside in time, just before the monster could catch him.

  When they reached the cave, the monster stopped outside and then moved away in another direction, as if searching for someone else.

  Inside the cave, Tarin, Elena, Lyra, and Arix were gasping for breath. They finally sat down and relaxed a little, knowing the monster was too big to fit inside. They were safe. For now, at least.

  “I haven’t run this fast since we stole that bottle of wine from that greedy shopkeeper,” Elena said, breaking the silence and grinning at Arix.

  Arix chuckled. “Yeah, I couldn't disagree there.”

  “H– How can you two laugh at a moment like this?” Lyra said, confused.

  “Well, if this is how we die, then we’d better die while laughing,” Elena said, looking at Lyra.

  “How can you jo– joke right now? Jace just d– died.” Lyra frowned.

  Elena paused for a moment. “We should have been more careful. But he is gone now, and we can’t bring him back.” She took a deep breath and continued, “I saw my parents die in front of my eyes. You cannot bring someone back from the dead. You can only move forward with your life.

  Lyra’s eyes widened. She turned away from Elena and started staring at the cave wall again. Arix took a deep breath and looked at Tarin.

  Tarin had been listening to their whole conversation. He turned his gaze to Arix and asked, “What are you looking at?”

  “We have to find a way to kill that monster, or we’ll never be able to escape this forest,” Arix said—but he was interrupted.

  “I guess that small creature is connected to the monster somehow,” Lyra said, leaning forward a little to catch everyone’s attention.

  “And how is that?” Elena turned toward Lyra.

  “When that creatu—” Lyra was interrupted by Tarin.

  “Let’s call it a bird. Vaelor said those flying creatures are birds.”

  “So when that bird is sitting near us, only then does the monster attack us. I think it’s some kind of eye for that monster,” Lyra continued.

  Arix bit his nail and said, “Yes, that makes sense.

  “And how is this information useful to us in this situation?” Tarin leaned back against the cave wall and crossed his arms.

  “We need a plan to kill that monster,” Elena said, looking at Tarin, then at Arix.

  “I guess I have one,” Arix replied. “We will use bait. Someone from our group will walk alone in the forest while the others hide in the trees or bushes. When the monster decides to attack that person, we jump on it. If we work together, we can kill it.” Arix looked at everyone, waiting for their answers.

  Tarin nodded.

  “Elena, you should be in a tree, ready to jump on the monster from above. Tarin and Lyra will hide in the bushes, and I will be the bait,” Arix added.

  “Okay… I hope this works,” Lyra said, nodding slowly.

  “Let’s go then,” Elena said and stood up.

  “Not right now. At night,” Arix said. “We don’t have the energy right now, and it will be easy for that monster to spot us in the sunlight.” He grabbed Elena’s hand and pulled her back down to sit.

  The sun began to set, and the chirping of crickets started again. They left the cave carefully, making sure the raven or the monster wasn’t nearby.

  When they reached a spot surrounded by trees and bushes, with a clear space in the middle, Arix stood in the center. Elena climbed a tree above him, while Tarin and Lyra hid in the bushes, just as Arix had planned.