TWBFHA 07

Chapter 7: Good Dreams and Bad Luck

Teresa watched him for a moment, then sighed quietly and looked away.

“I have dreams too, Alex.”

For an instant, her expression faltered. It was so brief Alex barely registered it.
“Well, of course. That’s what gets people out of bed in the morning. Well, that and the crushing reality of having to work.”

Alex continued, smiling.
“But you’ve never told me your dreams before. What are they?”

The young huntress’s gaze slowly tracked across the fields. Her eyes held a thoughtful softness. Soon, her gaze drifted beyond the southern horizon, where small clumps of forest, grassland, and farmland shimmered faintly in the firelight before being swallowed again by the dark.
“Arik is my home, and I love it. But it’s not a place for big dreams, is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just… too comfortable.”

Teresa hesitated, choosing her words.
“Safe, I mean. People are mostly well-fed. Neighbors look out for each other. You can be born here, work here, raise a family, live happily. But… that’s it.”

She gave him a sharp look.
“I’ve been through the Coil Woods as far as I can go. I’ve walked south, east, and west as far as I could and still get home before dark with Brutus. And then… that’s it.”

She shrugged.
“There’s nothing new, or interesting, or dangerous anymore.”
“Dangerous?”

Alex raised an eyebrow.
“Isn’t this situation dangerous enough?”
“This is too dangerous.”

Teresa sighed, continuing.
“Do you remember Grandpa telling us stories about his grandfather?”
“Oh, yeah! The most feared man in the Tarimlong navy, Lu of the Twin Blades!”

Alex chuckled, remembering sitting with his parents and the Lu family around the inn’s hearth listening to those tales.
“Retired after serving in the naval fleet, took down a hundred pirate ships… then traveled to Tameland, fell in love with the place, and brought his family here.”

Teresa smiled.
“I loved those stories.”
“I know, you—”
“No, I didn’t just love them. I wanted to be in them.”

She held out her hands as if framing a scene.
“The adventure, stepping on lands never seen before, the battles, the fear… all of it. That’s why I kept dodging knitting lessons to go into the woods. Thankfully, my brothers were terrible with a bow.”
“Hmm… but for your great-grandfather, those adventures probably weren’t all happiness. Exhilarating, sure, but…”
“I know.”

She said it low, almost through gritted teeth.
“When no one else was around, Grandpa would tell the bad parts, too. Hearing those helped curb my impulsive desire to leave. Too many of his friends were buried at sea.”

Teresa was quiet for a long moment, then let out a small breath.
“I still thought about leaving sometimes. Maybe I would have if things had stayed the same. But then your parents…”

She trailed off, bowing her head.
“I’m sorry, Alex.”
“Thank you.”

Alex nodded, his brow furrowed.
“That changed things for me, too. There was Selina, there was the future to think of…”

His voice faded. Teresa watched him for a long moment.
“Right. The future. I started thinking about that, too. Mom, Dad, my brothers… and you. What would you all think of me if something went wrong? Thinking about that… I figured I should just grow up.”

She gave a light shake of her head.
“I had a lot to be thankful for in Arik. Family, friends…”

Alex said with a smile,
“But hearing Ravener was coming made you think, ‘What the hell?’”
“Yeah.”

Teresa swept her black hair back.
“And, more than anything, I found out you were preparing to sneak off to Genera Without telling anyone.”
“Ah, that… I’m sorry.”

Alex scratched the back of his head.
“I just… didn’t think I’d actually get in, didn’t want to raise hopes. I got the acceptance letter two days ago. I was going to tell everyone last night when we were all together. Make a grand birthday announcement.”
“I wouldn’t have been disappointed.”

Teresa murmured.
“If anything, I might have started thinking about my own path sooner. I was staying here out of a sense of duty, and you were planning to take Selina into a new world you’d never seen. So, when people started talking about leaving Tameland, I thought, ‘Why not me?’”

She shifted her posture slightly.
“And I get to be with you. You, me, Selina, Brutus.”

Her eyes met his, careful but sure. Alex’s heart began to beat faster. There was a subtle nuance in her gaze. It could have been a trick of the hopeful firelight, but no, it was there. Something definite.
“I…”
“Shh!”

She suddenly raised a hand. Alex flinched, looking around.
“What? What is it?”
“Shh!”

Teresa was on her feet in an instant, her sharp eyes scanning the darkness. Alex shut his mouth, holding his breath. And then he noticed.

The wind had died. The crickets had fallen silent. Only the eerie whistle from the south drifted alone in the void, sounding even more ominous now.
“I don’t hear anything…”
“That’s the problem. This forest is never this quiet.”

She moved cautiously toward her bedroll, rummaging for something. When she stood again, she held her bow. A quiver hung at one hip; at the other, her hunting knife and one of her great-grandfather’s swords gleamed.

While Teresa went to quietly rouse Brutus, Alex moved closer to Selina. He turned his gaze to the forest opposite Teresa—broadening their watch. Alex sent his force ball forward. Red light began to illuminate the brush the firelight couldn’t reach. He pushed a little more mana into the circuit, and the light brightened.

The sphere hummed a low, sinister drone. In the silence, it sounded deafening.

Brutus’s three heads rose as one, growling in unison. At that moment, Selina whimpered in her sleep.
“Alex, see anything?”
“No.”

Alex floated the force ball higher. The airborne sphere cast a red glow over the underbrush and the lower branches. But there was no movement, no shape.

Alex swallowed with dread.
“Teresa, do you?”

Brutus turned in the grass, growling again. Grass rustled.
“No. But something’s wrong.”

Alex agreed. It felt like ice cubes were crawling up his spine. But no matter how wide he stared, he saw nothing between the trees. He turned to glance back.
“Teresa, are you maybe—”

He stopped mid-sentence. She couldn’t see it. Brutus hadn’t smelled it yet.

Between the branches illuminated by the red force ball, a dark silhouette stood out. The shadow of a blade, sliding slowly, fluidly, down the trunk of an oak tree right next to Teresa.

Alex’s gaze slowly traveled upward. Between the branches, faintly illuminated by fire and orb, a shape was revealed.

It was a monster that looked like a cross between a giant spider and a lobster.

Eight legs ended in sickle-like blades, and a long, armored tail was wrapped around the tree. It hung there, tapping lightly on the bark with its fore claws. The front claws were long and sharp like pruning shears, and its jaw was wolf-like but lacked lips, exposing everything. Encased in thick chitin, it began descending the trunk without a sound.

And the moment its eight death-black eyes met Alex’s, it froze. Its jaw opened, viscous drool dripping toward Alex.

The monster twitched, about to leap. Alex grabbed a startled Selina and rolled.

THUD.

Eight bladed legs stabbed the ground where they had been, digging deep. The massive creature landed without a sound. The only noise was the crunch of Selina’s ‘Champion doll’ shattering.
“Alex!”

On Selina’s scream, the monster reared up on its hind legs, mouth gaping wide as if to scream, but no sound came. Teresa shouted,
“Here! Over here!”

THWACK!

An arrow bounced harmlessly off the monster’s carapace.

The monster charged toward Alex and Selina. The bladed rear legs silently tore the soil; the front claws clicked together rapidly. Alex gritted his teeth, gripping the mental connection to the red sphere and shoving it toward the monster’s head.

That’s when the Mark overwhelmed him.

Memories of fumbling a coin toss, missing a thrown rock, failing to aim a stick. His mind flooded with confusion, but one thought pierced through:
Protect Selina!

He fired the magic through sheer will, but his aim was already skewed.

BANG!

The sphere glanced off the monster’s head but thankfully smashed hard into its torso, twisting its center of balance.

CRUNCH!

Three sets of jaws clamped down on the monster simultaneously. Brutus. Using all three heads, he rammed into the creature, and it stumbled again, off-balance.

The monster fell sideways, and Brutus drove underneath its belly. The monster’s legs were at an awkward angle to strike back.

RIP—GRIND.

Brutus’s powerful jaws clamped down, shattering chitin and bursting the flesh beneath. The monster thrashed, trying to throw him off, but Brutus held on.

Meanwhile, two more of Teresa’s support shots struck the staggering monster’s legs and bounced off again.

Teresa’s arrows aren’t penetrating.

Teresa immediately grabbed a nearby rock, leapt onto the monster’s tail section, pinning its whole body down, and began smashing the rock into a joint. Alex, holding a screaming Selina, seized the flickering force ball. He pushed mana back into it, reactivating the spell. But he knew his mana was running low.

Swish!
Yelp!

Brutus cried out as a bladed leg grazed him. Thankfully, his thick hide prevented bleeding.
“Dammit!”

This wasn’t working. Brutus couldn’t keep blocking those blades. Teresa had only made a single crack in the shell, and he couldn’t even aim his spell properly. If he fired again now, he might hit an ally.

Think. Adapt.
Think. Adapt.

Then, a thought flashed in Alex’s mind.
It doesn’t show me memories of magical failure.

The Mark only showed failures related to combat. So?

He focused on the monster’s open maw.
Don’t try to wound. Try something else.

He lifted the sphere from the ground, moving it gently. As he concentrated, no flood of memories came this time. He slowly guided the sphere into the monster’s mouth.

The monster snapped at it instinctively, but the sphere slipped between its teeth. Alex pushed harder. The sphere slid deeper down the monster’s gullet. The red light dimmed, the forest darkened. The sphere was being swallowed inside the monster.

And the monster convulsed. It thrashed, beginning to gasp soundlessly. Alex pushed the sphere all the way down. But suddenly, it stopped, lodged on something internal. He gritted his teeth, seizing the spell as if gripping the sphere itself.

The flood of memories returned. But this time, it didn’t matter. The sphere was already inside the monster. Confusion or not, he wouldn’t miss this time. Alex began to vibrate the sphere with all his might, pushing it hard, pounding it against the monster’s organs and guts.

THUMP.

A wet, bursting sound came from inside the creature.
“Skeaaa!!!”

The monster screamed. A death-keen leaked from its mouth. Its claws flailed wildly, slashing at the air. Alex shoved the force ball harder, and a spray of pale gray blood gushed from the monster’s maw.

CRACK!

Finally, Teresa created a fissure in the monster’s tail plate. She threw the rock aside, jammed her hunting knife into the gap, and twisted. The monster’s blood spattered her face and hands. As its legs slowed, Brutus attacked again. Two of his heads clamped onto the monster’s armored shoulders, while the middle head drove deep into its neck, clamping down on its windpipe. Then he wrenched, pulling back.

RIP. RIP. RIP.

The monster’s neck tore. The gasping creature went limp, collapsing under Brutus. A pool of its blood spread on the ground.

The camp was silent. The heartbeat pounding in Alex’s ears began to fade.

Then, shouts came from across the field.
“Hello over there! Are you alright? Stay put, we’re coming!”
“There’s a monster in the woods!”

Someone else shouted from elsewhere.
“Break camp! Move out, now!”

Alex gasped, painfully retrieving the force ball lodged in the dead monster. Brutus slumped beside it, panting heavily. Selina sobbed into Alex’s shirt.
“Brother, what was that? What was it?!”
“I don’t know…”

Alex answered, breathing hard.
“Selina. Are you hurt?”

Selina shook her head, trying to stifle her sobs.
“Were you scared?”

She nodded, face buried in his shirt.
“Me too.”

Alex stroked Selina’s back, his eyes full of concern as he looked at Teresa.
“Teresa, are you okay? Brutus will be alright?”

Teresa was running toward them, her face pale.
“I’m fine! What about you two? Anyone hurt?”
“Yeah.”

Teresa immediately ran to Brutus, her eyes widening at the gashes on his flank. She cursed and began rummaging through her pack.

And behind Alex, a group of people burst into the campsite. They carried an assortment of weapons and torches. A bearded man said cautiously,
“We heard shouts about a monster.”
“Here…”

The man, finally spotting the battlefield with the monster and Alex’s group, uttered a prayer.
“By Uldar’s beard!”

He was speechless, and the others gasped.
“By the heavens… what is that thing?!”

Just as Alex was about to speak—
“Silence Spider.”

A strong voice came from the other side of the camp.
“One of Ravener’s get.”

All eyes turned toward the voice. The grass parted violently, and a young man pushed through the brush into the firelight. The glow of torches and his own red force ball illuminated him.

Alex’s breath caught.

The youth was about Alex’s age but built like a warrior, with hard, defined muscles and red hair that fell to his shoulders, tousled by the wind. In one hand, he held a strange, gleaming spear of pale white metal; in the other, the head of a massive Silence Spider—at least twice the size of the one they’d just killed.

He appeared shirtless, covered in intricate blue tattoos of knots and swirls across his chest and arms. He smelled of old pine.

But what truly captured Alex’s gaze was another mark on the young man’s chest.

A golden, glowing Scales.

The Mark of the Chosen One.

The leader of Tameland’s legendary champions had just walked into their camp.

He looked directly at Alex and smiled warmly, as if greeting a long-lost brother.

“You have a very interesting gift, friend.”

He said,
“I’m very glad I found you.”