Limits

I walked mindlessly through the forest. Lost in my thought, I took one step after the other. I didn't know for how long was I walking when I finally woke up from all that was on my mind and noticed it was night time already.

I stopped and looked around. There were no animals or beasts around me but I could see a faint light further up north. I then looked at myself. My clothes were damaged all over, I couldn't call them clothes anymore, they were rags at this point. I touched my face and the mask was half broken. Only one half was left. The vision improvement that it provided was no longer there.

I touched my back and there was no bag on me. 'I don't recall seeing it at the place we encountered that massive black boar either' I thought. I knew I dropped that bag in order to fight but now, I could do nothing about that anymore. My possessions were lost or maybe even destroyed. I thought about going back and searching for my bag but there was no guarantee I would find that place again.

I don't know how long I walked for nor did I see the cliff that should be on my right hand side. I was hungry as well but there was nothing to hunt. Nothing attacked me along the way and even now, I couldn't see any animals. The only lead I had, would be the light further up north.

I searched my clothes and I found that I still had couple of my daggers left but not many. Only around 13 were left, I also had the Beast Scriptures on me 'So the book didn't vanish together with my bag' I thought. I decided to check out what that light further up north could be but I had a guess as to what I could expect.

I walked forwards and after about 20 minutes of walking, I could faintly see what the light was. It was a fire or to be more precise a campfire. 'Someone is making camp up there but what type of humans could camp in these parts of the forest? I should watch out and probably avoid that light' I thought and changed my direction a bit.

I wanted to avoid that location and just move on further to find some food. I was about 20 minutes away from that campsite, I thought 'No one will be able to see me just passing by from that distance'. I didn't run either and my ragged clothes although destroyed, they were still black… and red from blood but in the dead of night, I wasn't sticking out like a sore thumb.

When I passed the distant campsite located on my left, I heard some rustling coming from its direction. I thought 'How did they found out?' and took out my daggers. A while later, robust male with a large sword attached to his back came into view. He wore a set of hardened leather armour or at least that was what it looked like. The sword was very big, I thought 'How can someone possibly wield that huge thing? it's as impractical as it can get'.

The man also saw me and sighted, he then spoke "I thought it was a monster trying to sneak up on me. Friend, why don't you join me? You seem quite worn out".

I thought 'Why would I join you? So you can kill me more easily?' I replied "I will not take your offer. I shall leave now". The man stood there for a while as I walked further towards the north and then shouted "Wait!". I turned around and looked at him, my daggers still in my hands. He said "I don't know what happened to you and I'm not going to ask. I'm alone as well and just wanted the company of someone". He then continued but with a slightly different tone "if I wanted to kill you boy, you would be dead already".

I could see a sharp glint in his eyes as he said this. I looked at him and kind of believed him, he had to be strong in order to live and travel through this part of the forest. He was no pushover but to assume he could kill me was laughable. He didn't even know my skills.

I said to him "Want to try?". The man seemed to be a bit surprised about my response. He looked at me for a while and then smiled. "I will take you up on that offer" then "BOOM!" he speed towards me. He was as fast as me at my peak. No, he was faster, much faster than that.

I quickly evaded the fist that flew towards my face. "BOOM!" the sound of air exploding sounded behind my body. 'This guy...' I thought but I had no time to think more because he attacked again. I evaded everything I could and sometimes barely made it.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" the fists exploded one after the other. I was shocked, I knew he would have skills but this is beyond what I imagined. I was evading all the time, when I finally got a chance to attack, I threw my daggers at a tricky angle thinking that I got him. I thought "Take this bastard!'.

I don't know when but he got out his sword and deflected all my daggers. He then jumped back and said "You went quite far with those toys. You can stop now. If I use my sword, you will die" and I stopped. I believed him, if his fists had that kind of power then what type of skills and power would he possess with that sword.

He then continued "So, Hidden Weapons?". I wasn't shocked. 'This guy is more powerful than me so he probably saw and experienced a lot more than me' I thought. When the man saw that I didn't respond he said "Your skills are not bad, your strength, reaction isn't bad either but I'm sure you can see the difference between us. Although I must say, you look quite young".

I looked at him and said "I know you are stronger and with that sword of yours, you would be able to kill me. I also saw none of your sword skills so you have another advantage but are you certain you saw all my skills?". When I finished saying that it occurred to me that I didn't have my possessions. No strings, no poisons or medicines, nothing.

He looked at me and said "As I already said. It's an invitation for a meal and a chat, nothing else. If you really wish to leave, I will not stop you anymore". I looked at him and replied "I shall take your offer then" and walked towards the campsite. I thought, if he really wanted to kill me, he wouldn't have to act so sneakily. I had no stuff on me either. My book? which had couple of animal and beast entries? This guy probably saw many more of them and knew much more than I could've had. He wouldn't be interested in my book nor in my daggers. He had a sword which was probably much better quality than my daggers.

I picked up my daggers along the way and noticed the guy smile a bit then follow after me, back to the campsite.