The sun's golden rays pierced through the forest canopy, painting the ground with a mosaic of light and shadow. The silence was serene, calming, and soothing, the gentle breeze weaving through trees and leaves.
Beneath the shade of a tree was a man in silver armor, holding a book with his two hands, reading it. His trusty sword sheathed in its scabbard was beside him.
Beside the man in silver armor was a grayish-white wolf, its breathing slow and calm, as though it was in a deep sleep.
The man was reading a book titled, "The Legend of the Secret Order."
Suddenly, he heard a faint rustling in the bushes in front of him. He calmly put down the book, stood up, and approached the bushes. As he approached, he saw a small rabbit come out of the bushes.
But this rabbit's eyes were dark red, and its mouth was dripping with blood. On the tip of the rabbit's ears were floating eyeballs that were lit in flames and constantly dripping with blood.
Then suddenly, the rabbit lunged at the man in silver armor. The man dodged to the side, and the rabbit was now headed towards the sleeping wolf.
But at that moment, the man whistled, and the wolf's eyes immediately opened. Upon seeing the rabbit with bloodshot eyes, it dodged to the side.
The rabbit fled as the wolf landed on the ground. Right on the heels of that, the man in silver armor rushed to his sword, and chased after the fleeing rabbit. The wolf followed behind him.
Suddenly, the man heard a manly voice coming from the wolf: "Sebastian, was that the rabbit we need to hunt?"
The man, or rather, Sebastian, only responded with a nod as the two chased down the rabbit.
The floating eyeballs on the tip of the rabbit's ears suddenly locked eyes with Sebastian. At that moment, flames started to form right above the fleeing rabbit. The flames got bigger and bigger, until it turned into a fireball.
The fireball headed straight towards Sebastian at an incredible speed, but as the fireball was about to hit his face, he grabbed the fireball with his free hand!
Then, he launched it straight towards the rabbit, hitting the ground in front and stopping it in its tracks.
The rabbit let out a "screech" of some sort, and lunged towards Sebastian, who had also stopped as well.
Sebastian unsheathed his sword at lightning speed, and slashed at the lunging rabbit. But instead of the rabbit getting sliced in two, it was launched on the ground instead. Its body was like hard steel.
Before it could get back up, Sebastian thrust his sword on the rabbit. It immediately went through, a pool of blood starting to form underneath it. The floating eyeballs on the rabbit's ears faded away.
"You did it. Finally, after hours of waiting!" said the wolf. Sebastian picked up the dead rabbit, and walked away.
Weaving through bushes and trees, the two finally got out of the forest. In the far distance was a small village.
"Wonder what kind of reward we'll get this time," said the wolf.
After entering the village, the two headed towards the church. The church was small and modest-looking, but a church is a church. Inside was a bald man wearing a white clergyman robe. Upon seeing the man in armor and the wolf beside him, the bald man said, "Well done, Sir Sebastian and Varkas. Because of your contributions, the work of this church will continue."
Then, Sebastian handed over the dead rabbit.
The bald man continued, "Here is your promised reward, Sir Sebastian. We will make sure your name will not be forgotten."
The bald man reached out his right hand, offering a small pouch, likely containing silver coins.
Sebastian nodded, and walked away. The wolf, or rather, Varkas, followed behind him.
"Just coins, huh? Shame," said Varkas with a sigh.
Sebastian didn't respond as he kept walking towards the tavern. Upon entering, he walked towards the counter.
When Sebastian sat down on a chair at the counter, the barkeep suddenly asked, "The usual, Sir Sebastian?"
The barkeep had a gray beard, his head balding. He was wearing a white shirt with a tattered, worn out brown apron.
Sebastian nodded, resting his sword sheathed in its scabbard on a chair to his left. Meanwhile, Varkas sat on the chair to Sebastian's right.
As the barkeep handed a glass of beer to Sebastian, Sebastian removed his helm.
He had long brown hair, his eyes blue like the ocean. His face was riddled with scars, and his closed left eye had a large scar over it.
Sebastian grabbed the glass, and began drinking. Meanwhile, the barkeep gave Varkas a large piece of bread as well as some meat.
Suddenly, Sebastian heard some murmuring and whispers behind him:
"Hey, that's him, isn't it? He's the guy who once kidnapped the princess!"
"Keep your voice down!"
"He has a large bounty on his head. There's five of us, we can take him down, right?"
"Don't be stupid. Have you seen what he can do?"
"I'm going for it."
"Stop, you fool!"
The next moment, a man with a dagger and a hood on his head lunged straight towards Sebastian. The man swung his dagger, but before it could reach Sebastian's back, he was suddenly launched backwards, ending up outside.
"Sebastian," said Varkas.
Sebastian didn't respond as he continued to drink his glass of beer.
"Fine. I'll deal with these buffoons." Varkas got out of the chair, growling at the people who were about to launch an attack.
The next moment, the inside of the tavern was in chaos. Five, seven, ten men struggled to kill a single wolf. Meanwhile, Sebastian was already paying the barkeep for the beer, meat, bread, as well as the damages done to the chairs and tables.
Sebastian put his helm back on, and after a while, Varkas followed Sebastian as they exited the tavern in a calm manner. Behind them were chairs and tables overturned, as well as ten unconscious men.
The sun had begun to set. "Sebastian, why don't we stay here for the night?" asked Varkas.
But once again, as though he was mute, Sebastian didn't respond. He was heading towards the outskirts of the village.
With a sigh, Varkas followed behind him.
After a while, as the two were walking, a lady and a bearded man approached him in distress. "Sir Sebastian, please, save my daughter! She was taken by an ogre and was headed towards the forest! Please, please, we beg you, save my daughter!" the woman begged as tears flowed down her cheeks.
The man beside her said after that, "Please, Sir Sebastian…"
"No problem. Leave it to us," replied Varkas.
After the couple told Sebastian the direction where their daughter was taken, Sebastian immediately ran at an incredible speed.
Varkas followed him, running beside him.
"There! I see some light coming from a cave!" shouted Varkas.
Sebastian headed straight towards the cave. Then, as he stopped right in front of the cave, he saw a young girl tied up on a stick, and beneath her was a large pot filled with boiling water. Beside the large pot was a green ogre.
"Give us back the girl, and we'll do no harm," said the wolf Varkas with a growl.
"Humans are delicious. I am hungry. The animals in this area have already fled," replied the ogre in a deep, rough voice.
"We'll—" Suddenly, before Varkas could even finish speaking, Sebastian had already lunged forward, his sword unsheathed.
The ogre was immediately split vertically in two, a pool of green blood forming underneath it.
With a sigh, Varkas lunged towards the young girl who was tied up, bit at the stick, and removed her from above the cauldron.
"Thank you, thank you…!" The girl had tears flowing on her cheeks, repeatedly saying words of gratitude towards the two.
"Don't worry, you're safe now. We'll take you back home." Varkas licked her tears.
Meanwhile, Sebastian was rummaging around on the ogre's pile of treasures.
"Hey, Sebastian, let's go," said Varkas.
Once again, like always, Sebastian didn't respond.
"Fine, I'll take her there myself." After saying that, Varkas' body suddenly grew larger until he was big enough for someone to ride on.
The young girl's eyes widened in awe, and Varkas ordered her to get on. Then, the two rushed out of the cave, leaving Sebastian alone.
After a while, Sebastian exited the cave with a necklace made of gold as well as a bag full of silver coins.
He wondered why an ogre would have a bag of coins and very valuable stuff. Ogres had no need for these, he thought.
As he lifted his helm and was about to bring his fingers to his lips to whistle for Varkas to come back, he suddenly saw a bright flash of blue light.
He saw a man appear after the flash of light. The man had brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing an attire unfamiliar to Sebastian. He was clad in an odd type of armor, not metal, but soft dark material. A thin strip of material draped down his chest, tied into a precise knot.
In the mysterious man's right hand was a stick, or some sort of cane. It was black in color, and it seemed important to the man in Sebatian's eyes.
Sebastian saw the mysterious man's eyes widen upon seeing him. Then, the mysterious man suddenly spoke in a language very familiar to Sebastian, "Sh*t!"
And in the next moment, the brown-haired man tapped his stick, or rather, cane, on the ground, and his figure instantly vanished.