The Forest of Monsters

“Come on, don’t waste any more time, get ready, we’ll start after…”

“3..”

The two boys quickly prepared, for Julie, she pulled a hair band and gathered her pink hair so it wouldn't get in the way.

“2..”

The three of them took one step forward and one step back in order to assist the push, with the starting position..

“1.” Alexander exclaimed.

Immediately the sounds of friction against the ground with a small dust cloud, the three rushed at full speed, as if they were being chased away by a wild dog. At a glance their image disappeared into the horizon on the mud road ahead.

“…” Alexander had lost his words from this scene. All he did is ordering them to run, what was the reason for them to turn into behaving like wild horses all of a sudden.

“Hmph… looks like this will take a while.” He couldn’t help but clutch his head and sigh.

After a while, he took the gold watch from the inner pocket of his jacket and checked the time: “Three minutes...it seems like it’s time.”

At the same time, he suddenly disappeared from his place and appeared fantastically next to Julie, who was slightly lagging behind.

She had started to slow down a long time ago, and she couldn’t take it anymore. She raised her head with difficulty and stared at Alexander. She was panting and breathing heavily. She could barely get out the words: “U..uncle...”

Before she fell, Alexander caught her and carried her with his right hand. She had fainted.

He kept following the others.

After a minute later Gray collapse too. As for Elyan, he had a little better stamina, but it didn’t take long before he falls as well.

Alexander was not surprised by this result at all, he had expected it. He allowed himself to smoke a pipe and enjoy watching the nature around him, until the three of them woke up.

After fifteen minutes of rest, everyone opened their eyes.

“Ugh, what happened?” Because of the hard ground, Gray’s head was hurting, he examined his body and wondered how he got into this state.

“Looks like I passed out.” Elyan quickly recalled. After that, he got up, not bothering to clean his dusty clothes, because it was still not over.

He was helping Julie, who had also woken up, to stand up, then he saw Alexander coming up to them.

“Prepare for another round, the day is not over yet.” Alexander was really strict.

No one complained, it was in vain with this cruel master.

All they could do was clear their minds and try to last longer than the first time.

“3..”

“2..”

“1”

With Alexander’s signal, they set off again.

“Hmm.. haha, not bad.” The reason for Alexander’s smile was the sudden change in the movements of the three, especially Elyan. There wasn’t that intense rush from the beginning, their steps were still quick but not with the same pace as before.

They maintained this steady progress, and as the distances increased they could feel the side effects of these actions.

Time passed quickly, ten minutes.

With the flowing sweat, a cool breeze was able to refresh one and reduce some of the effects of accumulated exhaustion.

However, there is still a long way to go. 

The three fell again.

Then the running rounds were repeated over and over throughout the day.

***

The sky had darkened, and the sound of the buzzing had stopped.

Under the moon hanging in the high space, those three corpses were lying on the mud road in a miserable state. Sweat had mixed with the dirt and mud and stained their clothes and numb bodies, yet that did not stop them from staring at the stars with smiles of relief on their faces.

With her disheveled hair and worn-out condition, that did not detract from her beauty at all, Julie smiled brightly and said with in all honesty: “It was fun.”

“You’re really weird, what’s the fun in this, all we did was running to death.” Gray stared at Julie on the other side and sneered.

He hesitated before smiling as well: “Haha, but...it was a little fun too.”

“just a little..”

The corners of Elyan’s mouth turned up into a smile after hearing his two friends, and with his hands supporting his head, he continued silently observing the lights in the sky.

Moments later, Alexander came slowly. He was carrying several paper bags full of food, who knows where he got it from.

“Eat that, that’s an order.” As he pulled out a delicious looking apple from one of the bags and took a big bite, he threw the rest towards the three and urged them hard.

There were many foods rich with protein and calories, when the smell of food wafted in, the three of them were unable to resist, swallowing a mouthful of saliva before indulging in devouring everything that was in their way. They were out of good manners.

Everyone had one idea: ‘If they were to eat such foods every day, they would not mind continuing to run throughout their lives if necessary.’

Like Elyan, grilled meat was something he had never tasted in his entire life, yet due to extreme exhaustion and hunger, he couldn’t enjoy it in a better way, his only concern was to satisfy his hunger.

With bellies full of a delicious dinner and tired bodies, the whispers of sleep were impossible to resist. They sat a little apart, and the place was quiet.

Soft and green grass covered the ground, and the sounds of crickets and nocturnal insects continued to play a relaxing symphony.

The three had no choice but to close their eyes and surrender to long dreams.

“Haaa!” The sky lit up and it was eight o’clock when Alexander shouted suddenly.

Although it was difficult, the group had no choice but to wake up. Ignoring Alexander's orders meant being denied from dinner.

“Take these, after you finish, prepare to run again.” Alexander took out small jars of water and gave each one. They did not ask where he got it from, they had become accustomed to Alexander’s strange ways.

After washing and stocking up, Elyan was the first to set off. He didn’t want to waste any more time, according to Alexander, the next place was where they would start the real training, so he wanted to seize every second he could.

With yesterday’s experiences, he was able to understand the appropriate pattern and the most effective method of movement, which allowed him to utilize his full stamina capabilities with this physic and continue for as long as his body could allow.

Fifteen minutes and Elyan showed no signs of fatigue.

He is beginning to understand the purpose of this training. He continued at a steady, low pace for the next 20 minutes.

After that, his step rate will increase in a certain way.

Alexander continued to monitor everyone, and he did not lose sight of Elyan’s development either, he was able to smile for a long time.

An hour passed, Elyan’s wet forehead was shining in the sun. He reached his limits, yet he did not faint like yesterday.

Taking the pitcher of water from his backpack, he let his head sink under the cold water before taking enough sips.

With a sigh, he turned his head and inspected his two late friends, yet he couldn't see them.

After a ten-minute break, he got up and resumed training. And his performance got better every time.

***

“Humph, humph... just another day...” After sunset, Elyan finally sighed, and lay down.

He waited there for the others to arrive.

However, not a full minute had passed, until he saw Alexander carrying the two in his arms and suddenly appear next to him.

“Uncle Alexander!” Elyan couldn’t help being worried.

“Hi.” Alexander said softly, as if nothing had happened.

“You’ve improved a little, but don’t be arrogant. Try harder tomorrow.”

Despite saying that with a stiff expression and trying to appear like a harsh teacher, Alexander was actually very satisfied with Elyan’s performance, and the boy even exceeded his expectations.

With his innocent face, Elyan smiled: “Yes!”

After waiting for Julie and Gray to wake up and eat dinner, the three fell asleep again.

The next day,

The three of them were able to spot this giant green shape in the distance, it looked like a mountain or even bigger from their distance.

As they approached, the image of the figure slowly became clearer, the wind also increased and began to howl and whistle.

As the sun rose in the middle of the sky, there was nowhere to evade, their bodies became heavier, making progress difficult, yet they had no choice but to persevere.

At the end of the day, they had completely exhausted their energy but were finally able to reach their destination.

They were small, very small in front of those trees that rose to the top of the clouds, like huge columns and as if they held the sky itself.

The word ‘giant’ was not able to do it justice.

The three had their mouths open and their heads raised, trying to comprehend the true height of these trees, yet they could not see the end of them.

They gave it up because they were able to feel dizzy.

They saw those leaves, the smallest of which were the size of an adult human, and also those branches that looked like interlaced hands. No matter how hard they try they fail to hide their surprise, even Elyan who rarely shows surprised expressions.

“Welcome to the Eastern Forest, the Forest of Monsters.” At this time Alexander spread his hands and announced with a smile.

“The forest of monsters?!” Gray’s voice immediately rang out in response. He wanted to confirm what he heard, and what exactly did Alexander meant when he said monsters, not animals?

“The Eastern Forest and Western Forest, both located respectively east and west of ’Peace’. Two of the dangerous forests in the world.” Alexander’s voice was deep.

“As its name suggests, it is home to monsters.” He added coldly.

“Good, Let’s get in to explore.” Elyan initiate while progressing towards the entrance to the forest.

“Wai...” Alexander wanted to warn him, but..

“Slap!” Suddenly Elyan collided with something and fell to the ground, but it wasn’t a hard hit. He got up and tried again but it seemed as if there was an invisible wall preventing him from entering.