Turning Over a New Leaf

The forest was dark. Immense trees kept the sunlight from reaching the ground. The only sound to be heard were the sounds of Luc's screams and the howl of the wolves in the distance. He did what he could. Lucian was crawling through the Leaves and broken twigs. The blood from the wounds he had acquired in the fight were severe. He was exhausted, sweating and bleeding. The dirt and leaves were sticking to his wounds. He knew if he was going to live, He would need to make it out of the forest. The Howls were getting louder, and it seemed he kept passing the same tree. It was getting hard to breath and his vision was fading. He turned over on his back and closed his eyes to take a little rest. He started to relive the duel with the king of thieves.

"When I joined the guild. We were only stealing food and supplies from criminals. Distributing to the poor in the slums who couldn't afford it, the ones the government in Aven didn't care about. That raid on the caravan , " Luc shouted " We killed innocent people!"

"Did you call me out here to talk? Or should we get this battle over with ?" The king asked.

Luc sprang forward thrusting his dagger at the king. He had never killed anyone before, but this man deserved it. He was never more sure of that than now. He was a few feet from the king when it started. The wind around him started to whistle. It picked up speed, and started to sting. It kept getting faster. He was immobilized, the wind took the shape of transparent swords and daggers. They were cutting, stabbing, and slicing at his flesh. Luc never even reached him. The Difference in power was too great. He collapsed.

"Hahahaha," He heard the kings laughter getting further and further away." I'll let the animals finish you off."

"Allright folks nothing to see here," lucian said as he shooed the crowd away from the town drunk. He wore a urine stained burlap potato sack, all his money was spent on alcohol. He even sold the clothes off his back.

"I use... use..used to be the head templar," Skythunder slurred and stumbled to get up. "I'll kill you lucian."
He hiccuped a few times while he lunged at luc.

"Aahhhh, Get out of here!" Lucian gave sky a kick to his rear and sent him on his way. It was a nice dream.

Lucian started to regain consciousness. His senses we're returning and he could hear a voice. He jumped up, not knowing whether this was a friend or foe. As he got up his forehead crashed and he met a pair of warm, moist lips with his own.

"Ha ha, Sorry about that, " he laughed, displaying a big smile, He still remembered his dream. This time very slowly, wincing at the pain he still had, He got up . Having just regained consciousness, he didn't even notice he had stolen a kiss. His eyes finally focused on the young girl in front of him. She looked worse than he did, She had scratches all over her and her dress was in pieces.

"Wait? Did you nurse me back to health? You're amazing, I thought I was a goner. My injuries were...ummm..severe. Thank you. My name's Lucian.I'm from Aven. What's your name?"

Meanwhile elsewhere in the forest the king was having some trouble himself.

"I'm f****n lost!" he screamed "GAAAAHHHH!"

Little did he know his screams were attracting the attention of a few predators. He sat down on a rock in a clearing, and rummaged through his backpack. He found what he was looking for. A large futuristic looking, pump action rifle. The DPNizer the ability to create an event horizon around the exterior reproductive parts of an organism, bending subatomic particles into a tight curve and completely replacing those cells with those of another. He could hold the world hostage with such a powerful artifact. Controlling if a species could reproduce or maybe even making himself the only man in the world. He continued to daydream of the possibilities until he heard the snap of some twigs. A pack of wolves had marked him as their prey. Once he realized it, it was too late. The wolves swept in simultaneously. They lunged at him biting his arms, legs and at his throat. He put the DPNizer safely away in his backpack while the wolves continued to rip away parts of his flesh. He threw the bag several feet away from himself, and the wind started to whistle.

Lucian felt a chill go through his spine. He remembered the howls of the wolves and decided it would be best to get out of the forest while he could.

"No no, me and a few buddies were drinking too much and took a hot air balloon to...uhmm... eyebloom. You shouldn't drink and drive! I fell off the darn thing and thats how I ended up with these wounds." Luc explained. He was afraid to tell her the real reason, to show him his real self. Being in a band of thieves and attempting to murder another human being ,but losing the fight. Being a drunk would be better than being a thief and a murderer he thought.

"Anyways we should get out of here," he told her.

"But of course I know where to go," Luc said confidently. "Its this.....way....."
Lucian pointed into the forest and turned a full 360 degrees.
"This way!"
He started walking in a random direction, sham following closely behind. He was not going to admit he was lost. Men had a sixth sense for direction since the dawn of time. Being a manly man, there was no way he was lost.
"I'm so lost," he whispered to himself.
After what seemed like 10 minutes of walking they came upon a small creek. Foliage was drifting down the creek in the opposite direction he had been heading. Remembering a pond near the entrance of the forest in which similar leaves had collected, an idea struck Lucian.
"Sham," Luc said as they stopped near the creek. "I'm going to need you to close your eyes."
He placed his hands on her shoulders, a mischievous smile was forming.
"Trust me"

There was absolutely no way he would ever admit he had been lost! As soon as sham had closed her eyes he started to spin her. Around and around she spun until she became dizzy and fell. It was Lucian's master plan. Dizzied, she would not notice him switching directions. He would take this secret to the grave. Lucian started walking downstream following the creak.
"Come on slowpoke," Lucian joked, "stop playing around, we're almost out of the forest."

They continued to walk downstream. Then it hit him, he had home to go back to. The duel had been a fight to the death, he had lost. The king would have made it out by now and be on his way to Aven. He couldn't just walk into headquarters like it was nothing. The king would surely finish him off If he returned. Fear swept over him, and he started tormenting himself with his thoughts.
"F***!" He screamed. Trying to clear his mind of worries and doubts. He would just challenge him again. He took a large step and tried to kick a pebble by the creak, missing after pain flooded his senses.He fell to the ground and stared straight up. Who was he kidding? He couldn't even scratch the man when he was uninjured.

"No, nothing at all," Lucian said as he stood up slowly, "Let's keep going I don't we've got far to go since the trees are further apart now."
No use worrying now, I owe this woman my life. I'll have to find a way to repay her, he thought. After a few more minutes of walking, he saw the light from beyond the trees.
It was the edge of the forest.

The sunlight was blinding, but it bathed them in warmth. Lucian raised his arm to block the light while his eyes adjusted to it. He looked over at sham and smiled, they were out of the forest.
FWEEEEETTTTT! It was the sound of someone whistling. He lowered his arm to try to catch sight of the source, a half-kin and an Ursun running at them.
"Luc!!" the half-kin yelled as they stopped in front of them, "You made it! the whole thieves guild was betting on who would return, and since neither of you came back yesterday, I asked Bearmurai to come help me dig some graves."
"ha ha, glad to see you too micro," Lucian said as raised his hand and formed a fist. They shared a bro-pound so grandiose, so heartwarming, that they seemed to gleam and glisten even more brightly than the noon sun. Micro and Luc shared a stare a smile for several minutes in silence.
Ahem! Bearmurai coughed.
"Oh! sham," Lucian said as he turned to her, "this is micro, my best bud from the thieves guild. He's a half-kin mage though. That huge guy over there is Bearmurai, an Ursun samurai, who is also part of the guild."
"Guy's this is shamrock. She found me in the forest and saved my life."
"That's still amazing Luc. you look like hell, but not a single person in the guild thought you would beat the king," micro added. "Nice to meet you shamrock, will you be going back to aven with us? Ha, I still can't believe it, my bro, the new king!"
Luc's eyes widened as he started to realize the situation. A duel to the death. Neither of them returned yesterday.

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