Burning Soul

And there, he appeared!

In the forest, Theodore was running hurriedly. 

Something big was chasing him. 

"Damn these beasts, 

weren't they supposedly dead? 

How the hell…?" 

.

As he complained the creature that was chasing him was closing in. Its roar trembled the forest with fear. 

That creature was none other than an 'Astral Beast'. 

.

As it suggests, the 'Astral Beasts' were life-forms from another plane. Encountering one into one battle was no joke as the creature was extremely powerful. Life beyond the mortal realm was really twisted and no one had a clear idea about anything. 

At the fall of the third era, these beasts were supposedly suppressed by a high level of magical barrier. Theodore was irritated due to the fact that such a creature was tailing him moreover, it was supposed not to exist in the first place.

.

Due to his low constitution, he got tired pretty quickly in this run. 

As he saw his end nearing, his eyes caught a view of a big trunk lying around. 

‘This might be my chance…’ 

Saying this he tucked himself in that trunk and rushed towards the depth. 

As he went deeper, he felt the presence of that beast somehow suppressed. 

.

…

"That was close. 

How can such a beast be here? 

Didn't they die?” He let out a sigh, 

God, I'm lost again. 

There must be an exit further, I should keep going" 

Thinking this to himself he continued walking deeper in the trunk. It was like a tunnel, ‘Must have been a big tree back in the days’ he thought.

.

After a while, he somehow managed to exit. 

'Now that I'm safe and sound, 

I should see where I am and should plan the further journey,’ was his first thought but the day was about to come to an end as it was already getting dark. 

He had been running through the forest and through that tunnel-like trunk throughout the day! 

Without any rest. It was tiring.

He gave up on travelling any further for now and decided to stay in the trunk for the night.

It was like a tunnel or let’s say cave, safe from any harm of the open sky.

He gathered some firewood and lit it in order to stay warm and cook, he even set traps to catch food. 

.

The traps he set allowed him to catch a small rabbit. Along with some herbs and water, he was able to cook rabbit stew. 

After eating and relaxing a bit he took out the map to see where he was and where he was to go next. 

The map was so outdated yet it showed a giant fallen tree, 

'Seems like this tree has been here for quite a while he thought to himself.

As he had a clue about the tree, planning a further route wasn't a big deal. 

After setting a few alarm traps, he went to sleep, one can simply not stay unguarded in the wild.

.

.

…

Here in the castle, dinner was over and everyone was already in their rooms. 

Continuous footsteps could be heard in the hallway as Vivian was walking by the doors with a worried expression. 

She must have wanted to talk to Merida about going after him as she tried suggesting the idea to her while dinner, to which she didn't reply well. 

Merida was still angry at what happened in the morning. 

.

...

"You really are something” She finally stepped out of her room to confront Vivian, 

“I can't even sleep now, thanks to you!" 

Her sudden appearance and such cold talk startled Vivian making her squeak. 

"I still can't get used to these tricks of yours sis." 

She replied while trying to catch her breath. 

"They aren't to get used to Vivi," Merida replied with a smirk. 

"You are worried about him, right?

Why! DIdn’t he leave you behind to go on his own?" she asked Vivi out of nowhere to which she got silent for a while. 

"It's… It's not like that.

It's just… Well… How should I put this?”? She tried replying with a flustered look.

This time, I really wanted to go with him there." She sounded low,

“Gosh, it was like a date I planned” She murmured in a sad tone to which Merida grabbed her hands and said, 

"You worry a lot, I believe he won't get himself killed.

Not before I give him a beating.” 

She took a deep breath and continued looking at her, “If you insist we'll go looking for him tomorrow, 

only on one condition though." 

Her request sparked a hint of hope in the eyes of Vivian yet she agreed and asked in return about the condition. 

"You'll tell him” 

Herding this Vivian had a confusing look! 

“You know what I mean…." Saying this she disappeared from Vivian's view leaving her speechless. 

.

'Tell him? 

What does she mean?

Don’t tell me!' 

all sorts of questions were going on her mind. With just the thoughts, her expressions were about to blow her up. 

.

After settling down a bit, with a heavy heart, she turned around to head towards her room after glancing at Theo's room for a brief moment. 

"Please be safe" Saying it to her mind she left her room with a blush on her face. 

.

"That idiot, 

if something happens…" Merida angrily thought to herself while leaning on the door and looking distantly.

.

The next morning, 

As Theo kept on walking through the forest looking for the clues, he found the region of the forest a bit odd. 

It was dense and was giving off a bit of a creepy aura, moreover, he could sense no living animal nearby. 

It was strange in the forest to not see any animal, yet he had to move as he believed the beast he encountered must be on his back and that could be the reason why there were no animals nearby. 

.

After thinking for a while and coming to a conclusion that he must go on, he went further hesitantly into the dense forest region. 

After a while, he saw some movement, 

‘Finally some life huh…’ Just as he thought that he saw a few people walking by. 

He went closer to take a look at what was going on. 

Only to his surprise, he saw soldiers. 

"How…? 

Wait! 

They aren't our troops…" He was shocked as he saw the crest on one of the soldiers. 

It was of 'Etherblade', the neighbouring kingdom. 

…

"Aye, who's there?" One of the soldiers shouted at where Theodore was hiding. 

"Get him." Another one ordered to which everyone started to run towards him. 

‘Crap!’ He turned and started running frantically. 

For a while, he tried running away from them but got surrounded at a point. He was agile and fast but the opponents were quite trained especially for this kind of terrain.

He had no chance escaping more than one such trained people with his low stamina.

.

"You think you can run huh?" one of the soldiers tried intimidating him but was interrupted by another one, "Wait! Isn't he royal?

Look at the crest on his coat." 

'Damn I shouldn't have put it on, Theodore cursed to himself. 

"We should just cut his head and gift it to his father then, shouldn't we? Or should we just pack him back to our homeland?" 

The one of them who seemed like their commander spoke to which Theodore almost fell down on the ground.

.

…

Just as everyone got close to him to snatch the poor kid, they heard someone walking through the bushes. 

There was a guy holding a basket full of berries, with a long cape and hood covering his face, 

it was difficult to figure out who he was. 

He looked at the mob briefly before turning away and minding his business. 

‘Man, just help me already’ Theo glared at him in hopes he’d notice.

.

Before he could take a step, one of the soldiers grabbed his arm and pulled in a way he lost his grip on the basket making it fall on the ground.

"Where the hell do you think you are going? 

You can't just walk away like that!" 

The soldier was trying to intimidate him by putting his sword on his neck. 

There was a moment of silence before the unknown person spoke. 

He looked briefly at the soldier under his hood and said, 

"Basket, my basket” He had a neutral expression, 

“Huh! I didn’t hear that!” The guy next to him stepped on the basket crushing the berries inside, 

Everyone was laughing at the scene but Theo could feel something was awfully off! 

“I was hungry you see." The guy in the hood continued. 

All of the soldiers burst into laughter, "Hungry, 

you idiot. 

Let me relieve you of your hunger then." 

Saying this the guy next to him raised his sword.

"That's not a way to hold a sword” He was interrupted by a cold voice, it wasn’t sad neither it was angry, just plain cold! 

“And since you insulted these berries I must teach you a lesson." The guy in the hood continued.

"What lesson? 

We are royal arms, what can a peasant teach us?" The guy next to him was still dumb enough to provoke,

He received a reply with a cold look from the former guy under his hood,

.

"Death!"