Ciclico: Your beggining, hero ~ Past

Plojem words had spun around in Ases head, in circles, while he tried to decide what to make of them and what to do now.

Herm, Raz and him were under the care of a neighbor lady that doted a lot on them when they were kids. Plojem had asked her to keep an eye on them, but in reality, what she had done was let Raz and Ases in the living room while she took Herm to the kitchen to peel potatoes. She probably had reasoned that as he was the most impulsive of the three, he was the one she had to keep an eye on, and trusted Raz and Ases to act rationally and stay put.

Herm had complained, but ended up following her there. He did want to go outside and follow them into the forest, and probably took the kitchen task as a way to distract himself from his worries and not bolt out the door at that exact moment.

‘Maybe he is finally growing up’ thought Ases, following it with a thought of how strange it is to think that of one’s older brother.

Raz and Ases stood there in an awkward silence, until finally the idea that had been going around his head stopped and he decided to do something very, very rash.

“Don’t even think about it.” Said Raz, as soon as Ases stood. She said with a low voice. “If you try, I’ll scream and the lady will bring you back here pulling you by your ear.”

“What am I, a kid?” He said, still refusing to sit back down.

“You are if you want to do something so incredibly stupid as following them in there.” She retorted, looking at him, raising his voice slightly more than before.

“I can help. My father went there to help and get everyone out if the boar appeared. I can help him do that.”

“Or maybe you’ll simply get yourself killed, trying to play hero.”

Ases refused to look her in the eye. He feared that if he did, he would probably back down.

“I’m not trying to play the hero.” He said, after a long pause.

“Then why are you not back in your chair already? There’s nothing that you can do if you go” She said, standing up, ready to pull him back into his place.

“Because I still must go. I don’t want to, but I can’t let my father carry it all alone.”

“He’s doing so precisely for you to get out of danger. If you go you are ruining the whole reason he is doing this for.”

“Raz. I don’t want my father to die. It's that simple. If you scream, I’ll run. I’m sure I can reach the forest before the lady can reach me.” He sentenced, going forward, opening the front door slowly so as to not make any noise.

Surprisingly for him, Raz did not stop him this time.

“Then… At the very least, please look out for my father too. Please.” She said, sitting back down, her voice deflating as she gave up.

Ases crossed the door, closed it, and immediately sprinted into the forest without grabbing any weapon. It was useless. He was sure that nothing he could bring would be able to hurt that thing in the first place. He concentrated on the sounds around him, in the chirping of the bids, the buzzing of every bug that ran away as soon as he got near. He knew that the group was going to the cave from last time, expecting to ambush the creature there. If he was quick enough, he may be able to reach them before they find the boar.

And then, absolute silence.

Fear went through every fiber of his being as he stopped abruptly, just before crashing with a tree in front of him. He didn’t even dare to move, barely breathing as shallowly as he could. He had closed his eyes, but as seconds passed, he dared to open them and look around.

Walking with a brisk pace, the enormous boar was passing between the trees ten meters ahead of him. Now that it was not running, he could finally see the animal more clearly. Before he could only distinguish its enormous size, but now he could also see that it was very clearly a very ancient being.

The tusks had grown to the point that they had completed almost full circle and they were starting to encrust themselves back into its head. In its hide, dozens of axes, spears and arrows stood out. The wounds seemed very old, but the animal did not seem to mind them. Why would it, if its skin seemed to be made of rock? It’s fur falling apart, revealing some very stiff muscles under it, almost falling apart at this point.

And that’s when he finally understood why the boar attacked as he did. Its eyes were completely clear, vacant, unseeing. Old age has taken its toll, leaving him only the sense of hearing to guide itself.

In that moment, something changed in the beast. It let out a guttural roar, as its skin suddenly seemed to fall apart once again, the tusks growing again, embedding themselves slightly more in its skin. To try to escape the sudden onset of aging, the monster started running blindly. Fortunately, in the opposite direction from Ases.

“There it is!”

But the others were not as lucky, as the boar started running in their general direction. The unfortunate scream of one of the youngest members alerted the beast, that furious, trying to free itself from its pain, started rushing towards them.

All the plans they made last night were useless. Bringing every tool they had on the city as a weapon was too, as in that moment the beast started running towards them, everyone scattered in different directions.

The only person who remained where they were was Urgo standing in the path of the boar with full confidence, as something in his back started to shine and when he brought his hand to the light, a spear materialized in it.

“Come to me, foul beast! Let me show you what humankind’s magic can do!” He screamed. He was standing right in the path of the boar, but at the last second, as if his mind had cleared at that moment, he jumped aside. The spear cut the beast through the side, doing a shallow cut in its stone hide.

The boar went through, changing direction towards whatever was the closest sound around, chasing the runaways with far more speed than they could escape with.

“Come here, you monster!”

Plojem screamed, getting the attention of the animal over those of the people who were running. He had scaled a tree and as soon as the beast started running towards it he prepared. When the boar was close, he jumped to another tree out of the way. The boar destroyed everything in its path, bringing down the tree he was in, but Plojem managed to avoid the falling log and fall safely into the ground.

Plojem and Urgo looked at each other, both surprised at each other’s actions. Plojem remained silent, not daring to say a word for it would attract the beast again. Unfortunately, that was precisely what Urgo wanted.

“You shouldn’t have done that. If everyone manages to escape, it can only target us, you know?” He said, shouting in the end. Again, the ground started to shake, as the boar had turned around to run back towards them.

Plojem ran to the side, trying to climb on another tree as quickly as he could, but Urgo remained in the boar’s path again.

“Come here, monster, give me your blessing at once!” Screamed Urgo, this time remaining in the path, the spear pointing onward, to impale the enormous animal with it.

But in that moment, when the enormous boar was nearing him again, a scream came from above.

“This is enough!”

And in that moment, an aura enveloped everyone. Plojem, Urgo, Ases and the boar all started trembling, enveloped in an aura that spelled death to all living things.