Living Dreams

Chapter 4

Dustin

"Keep your guard up!" A man named Aiden shouted from the front, his voice strained as he struggled to holding his footing against the large bull ramming his shield. Ford stood beside him with a few others on the other side of Aiden.

"Stand together!" Ford yelled, and the knights quickly followed him as they crowded the boar.

"Spearmen! Archers! Your up!" My voice rang over the bull clanging against the shield. The bows twang behind me and I watched as each one buried themselves into the boar's hide. The small red bar that hung above the beast's health depleted slowly as its health diminished. The spearmen were doing their jobs as well, quickly prodding it in between the small spaces of the shields. After a minute, the red bar disappeared and the boar let out a final squeal and collapsed. A soft bell rung in my ears as the words "congratulations! You leveled!" appeared in front of me. With a grunt, I waved the words away and saw the others do the same. I shook my head and turned back towards the beast's body before disappearing and leaving a large wad of meat and bones.

"That's still disgusting." Ford grunted and I nodded in agreement.

"None the less, that's probably one of the only ways to get food around here." Aiden stated again as he prodded the meat with his sword. "We'll take this back to town and see what we can do with it."

"And the bones?"

"Bury them?" A lanky teen named James suggested. He stared at the bones with a green face and I nodded.

"They're no use to us and there's no reason to leave them out in the open." I sighed and watched as one of the archers took a few steps away from the rest of the group.

"Hey!" Ford shouted after him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I just- I thought I heard something in the bushes." The archer stated as he pointed into the bushes behind him. Sure enough, as he said that, the bushes started to move again. The leaves swished violently and my stomach tightened in fear.

"Get away from there!" I shouted, but it was to late. Another boar shot out from the bushes, head-butting the archer from behind and sending him flying face first into the ground.

Chaos ensued as we stood there petrified as the boar trampled on the unconscious archer, his health bar loosing large chunks as we stared at it in horror.

"Knights!" I finally shouted, but it was to late. A large cracking noise echoed across the clearing when the last remnants of the red bar disappeared and, a moment later, the archer's body exploded into dust.

Then the boar turned towards another one. James took a step back, a silent scream etched on his face and I swore, knowing full well that the boy wouldn't be able to defend himself.

Without thinking, I bounded forward, slashing at the boar's hide and grabbing its attention. Its eyes focused on me and I could see how bloody thirsty it was and I wondered if we had just killed its partner or child.

It charged forward and I jumped out of the way, happy that I forgoed the usual armor that the knights wore for a lighter, more comfortable cloth, but that also made me more vulnerable to a hit. It charged again and I rolled behind it, slashing at its hide which only made it angrier.

"I got you." Ford grunted as he jumped in between the boar and me, his shield catching it off guard. The others quickly followed suit, but the boar recovered from its shock and barreled over a couple of the knights and their health bars took a massive plunge.

"Heals!" I shouted and James and a young girl named Mija nodded and started to chant something in a foreign language. "Angelic Kiss!" The two shouted and the effects were immediate as the small cuts and bruises disappeared.