Chapter 5 - A spark of love in the Dark Forest.

No man dared to enter the Dark Forest. Bandits, wild animals, and even so-called killers lived here. But William is not deterred! He will need to push thru the Dark Forest to reach the foot of the mountain where the hunters lived.

During his week-long trek, he was using the most out of his Sense; always moving to keep him safe from predators. What felt like an eternity; William emerged from the Dark Forest and into the foot of the mountain. There he met an old woman who was part of the hunter tribe he was looking for.

The woman noticed his arrival but was too busy throwing runes stones on the ground. William approached the woman and asked for directions to reach their village but the woman held up her hands as she read the runes, "Child who escaped death is here to learn the ways of the wild?”

The woman examined William closely and found nothing out of the ordinary. She isn’t impressed with him and throws the rune again. William found this familiar as this is the same way that Ingrid showed her thanks.

The runes showed ‘ᚪᚢ ᚷ ᚾᚷ’. Understanding the runes, the woman smiled and said “Destiny has brought you here. The runes say that a warrior will save my granddaughter from the beast that captured her.”

“If I bring her back, will you teach me your ways of the hunter?” William asked.

“We will. Our tribe will be grateful if you manage to save her. But be warned, the beast is a large snake that is the size of a log. It will eat anything that moves and take anything shiny and beautiful as its prize. For weeks our best hunters were unable to pierce its scales with their swords, spears, and arrows. Worst of all, it kept moving around the Dark Forest, making it difficult for us to track the beast. This granted the snake its name, Shadow Scale.” 

William agreed to the task and immediately returned to the Dark forest. He felt confident that his Sense should help him track the beast, and he was so sure that his weapons of a bow, a dagger, and a sharp sword would pierce the snake. “The hunters’ weapons won't work? It could be that they are using iron weapons. Well, my weapons were made from steel and will surely make short work of it! “Confident in his armaments, he activates his Sense and begins his search.

William scans ground to another as he runs across the Dark Forest but to no avail. He ran for hours and saw no snake or traces of it. While searching, William tries to remember the path he took in the forest and tries to remember any clues he might have missed. There, he remembers one thing he missed, the sound of the forest. With his Sense, he can detect and hear almost everything as he travels. A few days ago, there was one spot in the forest devoid of any sound. No birds chirping, no frogs hopping, no bandits singing. He thought that it might just be a place with spooky vibes, thus he didn’t enter that part and took a different towards the mountain, but it looks like he got his answer: the snake might eat everything in that part of the forest.

Another day has passed and, William finally made it back to the place where he detected no sound. As he entered this region, he began to look for clues for the beast's whereabouts. He looked high and low but found no clues. The forest was so quiet that it was deafening and to top it off, there was a thick fog that obstruct the largest tree from sight. 

If there is anything that William learned from The Princess teaching, it is to use his head. Other than being taught how to be a socialite, they learned some basic alchemic tricks. William grabs a stick and wraps a piece of clothing on top of it, then he grabs a bottle full of tar from the trees on Tarwood and lathers the cloth with it. Finally, he grabbed two stones near him and sparked them to light the cloth. Viola! A torch was made. The heat from the torch dissipates the fog; allowing William to navigate the forest. 

After a few hours of searching, his eye detects something flashing from a distance. He slowly approached it and arrived dense part of the forest. The area is full of tall trees, with heavy vines atop their branches. And in the middle of it, William found a cave with a trove of treasures! Silver cups, diamonds, and a mountain of gold can make any man mad with greed but not William. He does want to get these to help Tarwood and its people but his goal right is to search for the granddaughter from the snake.

He paused and thought to himself, “What was Shadow Scale fond of again? ‘Beautiful things’ was it?”

Instinctively, his Sense picked up movement. The large vines above him began to move with a slow and faint rumble of a stomach can be heard. William dodges and avoids the attack. 

There he finally encounters Shadow Scale. There were no vines on the trees but rather the body snake itself. That was why William didn't find any tracks of Shadow Scale on the ground as it was traveling via the branches. And the snake was mighty and terrifying as he imagined. Dark scales, its body can snake a tree like a twig. Its mouth was massive that William estimated that it could swallow a crocodile whole.

William shoots his arrows but with the snake's thick scale, his arrows bounce off. William maneuvered around the snake and tried to stab with his dagger and sword to no avail. Just like what the old woman said, no weapons can pierce its scale. 

“Wait, I just need to escape with the girl. I don’t need to kill this monster!” William thought to himself while running towards the cave to look for the girl. He glanced over the cave see no girl inside.

“Hey! I am from the tribe to rescue you! Where are you?” William shouted. He got a response from a distance! A girl was screaming somewhere far from him. It was faint but with William's Sense he was able to make out what was the girl saying “The tail! It carries me always on its tail!”

William makes haste toward the tail and the head of the snake follows. William dodges and weaves thru the forest while following the sound of the girl. And during the chase, he was bewildered at how long the beast is. It feels like he is running for almost a mile and he hasn’t seen the end of it. Maybe the reason the forest was quiet was due to the snake eating all of the animals in this region. And with that eating, the snake managed to grow in size.

Finally, he reached the end of the tail he saw a familiar girl being held up by the snake by an apple tree. 

“Ingrid?! You’re the princess of the hunter tribe?” William says in disbelief. 

“And here I thought I will be rescued by a real hunter or a warrior. Not a scared kid like you!” Ingrid replied.

The snake finally caught up with William and lunges at him. William moves out of the way and the snake bites the tree off the ground. 

It easily crushes the tree with its huge jaw. It turns its head toward William as it wiggles its tail away from William as if a kid hiding its favorite toy. The snake looked at William, intimidating him to make a mistake so it can have its fill.

William didn’t expect Ingrid was the girl he needs to save but that won’t change his goal. She is his ticket to the hunter tribe. William won’t back down and activates his Sense and looked directly at the snake’s eyes to see if this can scare the snake away from him and maybe drop Ingrid. 

Suddenly, the snake quivered and began to coil itself as if it remembered something frightening. The snake shakes its head and bares its fang. Ingrid shouts for help as she can feel the grip on her tightens asking for William to stop whatever he is doing.

A bottle of tar was thrown from a nearby bush and crashed on the tail of the snake filling it with tar. Then a voice of another boy emerges from a distance “The tar will allow you to be more slippery, my lady. Slide towards the apple tree and I will catch you from there.”

This voice is unfamiliar with Ingrid, but it is with William. He smiled that he got a backup, it's John! 

The snake attacks with all of its fury on William. While its attention is away, Ingrid manages to squeeze out of its tail and John rushes to the apple tree and catches Ingrid.

And for a moment, Ingrid’s world stops once she lays her eyes upon John. Ingrid might not know what love is but she is sure she can feel her heart fluttering away. 

“Are you alright, my lady?” John says as he places his hand on Ingrid’s face to remove any dust and dirt off her.

Ingrid’s face began to blush to a full red and. She fell silent and can’t utter any word. She can even say thanks or nod. She was enthralled by her savior.

John placed his hand on her forehead. “A fever? Once we get out of here, we will make sure that you’re healed up!” John says as he rushes her away from the snake. 

As this is happening, William doing his best to distance the snake away from John. William can also detect the snake’s anger and fear increased as it looked on his red eyes. William can feel it and use this to his advantage to predict the snake’s movements. And one attack, as the snake slammed its body on the ground, William uses the opportunity to lodge an arrow on its left eye.

The snake wriggles in pain and thrashes around. 

If it cannot damage on its scales then William will attack it where its body is softest. 

John rushed to William's side and sniped the snake's right eye. Rendering the snake blind but it can still sense their movements from their sound. The snake is still looking for and kept attacking wherever it sensed them.

“John! How did you find me?!” William asked as they ran away from the snake.

“You never bother to cover your tracks. I mean, look at that torch you’re carrying. I can spot you in this fog with it!” John laughs as they both try to escape the rampaging beast.

“Any ideas how to we kill this thing? Iron and steel one make a dent on its scales.” William asked his friend. 

“Aside from its eyes, do you see any weak spot with your eyes?” John asked. He was aware of William’s ability ever since they are being trained by the Princess. Sadly, William says he didn’t see any weakness. William replied that it only knows it hates his red eyes, it is impenetrable and it’s hungry for food.

John then hatched a plan. “Throw your torch at my tar!” John then grabs a bottle of tar he got on his bag and throws it to the gaping mouth of the snake. William then throws his torch at it.

The snake’s mouth began to be covered by a burning tar. The snake wriggled in pain as it tried to stop the fire in its mouth. William and John stopped and turned. They both open their backpack throws all their bottles of tar to the snake’s burning mouth to finish the job.

The snake continued to burn as the two returned to Ingrid. She stands in awe at the two. They manage to defeat Shadow Scale, the snake that had killed most of the creatures in the Dark Forest. Her ancestors feared this creature and even stayed away from it. And these two just arrived and managed to kill it with ease.

“Come on Ingrid, let us talk you home!” William says as he reaches his hand.

“Ingrid eh? Well, my name is John! Glad to meet you!” John politely says as he too extends his hand.

Ingrid accepts the hands of these two boys. Little did she know, she set her tribe to be doomed by the same forces that killed Eldric. Pentalium is coming for them.