The Eyes That Found Me

Morning sunlight spilled across the training grounds behind the Adventurer’s Guild. Sword dummies lined the packed dirt yard, their straw-stuffed torsos wrapped in torn cloth. Kael stood before Shin, arms crossed, dark grey eyes narrowed in silent assessment.“Grip,” he said curtly.
Shin raised his new short sword, hands trembling slightly. He curled his fingers around the black leather hilt, adjusting under Kael’s critical gaze.
“Feet,” Kael ordered.

Shin shuffled back his left foot, bent his knees, and angled his hips sideways. The breeze rustled his dark-grey cloak behind him. Sweat dripped from his brow despite the cool dawn.
“Good. Again.”
Shin exhaled shakily, focusing on his stance. Core tight. Shoulders relaxed. Blade forward. His chest burned from hours of repeated drills, each movement echoing Kael’s corrections. Strike. Guard. Parry. Stance. Again.

His arms shook with fatigue, forearms burning as though he’d been forced to knead bakery dough for hours. He remembered sitting at his apartment kotatsu late into the night, tracing anatomical diagrams of forearm muscle groups and tendon insertions, memorising them for biology quizzes. Now each muscle fibre screamed in practical reality. A quiet, bitter laugh brushed his chest.

I used to know how these parts worked… but knowing them and using them are worlds apart.
He gritted his teeth, correcting his grip once more. I can’t… fall behind. If I do… I’ll just be left behind again.
Beside them, Reina sorted herbs into clay jars under the shaded guild veranda. Rurik sharpened his twin hatchets with steady strokes, humming a low dwarven tune. Kaen practiced spear spins further down the yard, jabbing at imaginary foes with energetic grunts.
Kael’s voice cut through Shin’s haze of exhaustion. “You’re learning fast. That’s good.:”

Shin blinked up at him, surprised. “I… am?”
A faint smirk tugged Kael’s lips. “Compared to yesterday, you’re no longer swinging like a dying crow.”
Heat rushed to Shin’s cheeks. He looked down quickly, gripping his sword tighter. “Thank you… Kael-san.”

Kaen called over, spinning his spear behind his back dramatically. “Don’t praise him too much, Captain. His head might explode before we even reach the quest site.”
Rurik snorted. “Would save us food rations.”
Shin laughed softly despite his ragged breathing. The sound felt strange in his throat, unused to forming genuine laughter. Reina glanced over from her herbs, smiling warmly at the quiet joy in his eyes.
By midmorning, they gathered at the guild gates, provisions packed into leather satchels. A crisp breeze carried the scent of pine and horses from the nearby stables. Other adventurer teams trickled out, armor clinking, blades strapped to their backs, laughter and battle chants rising under the brightening sky.

As they walked down the outer road, Kaen teased Reina about her herbal pooch. “Lady Reina, you bringing extra mint leaves again? Planning to make stew taste like forest floor today?”
She flicked his forehead with a sharp tut. “Keep whining, and I’ll feed you boiled nettle roots for dinner.”
Rurik chuckled, adjusting his hatchet loops. “Pay attention, boy. Monsters ain’t killed by your tongue.”
Shin listened silently, feeling the small warmth flicker inside him again. Their banter… felt so normal. So alive. It reminded him of classmates joking in corridors between cram lectures – except here, their laughter wasn’t masked by silent loneliness.

Kael tightened his sword strap and turned to Shin. “Today’s target is a Lesser Basilisk. Dangerous for beginners. Always stay behind me.”

Shin swallowed hard. “Y-Yes.”
Kaen thumped his spear’s blunt end against the dirt. “Basilisks are lizard-like, scaly bastards with paralysing venom. Don’t get bitten unless you want Reina’s scolding to be your last memory.”
Reina rolled her eyes. “It wouldn’t kill him instantly. Only… mostly paralyse his lungs.”
Shin’s face went pale. Rurik let out a booming laugh. “Relax, cub. We’ll keep your lungs breathe today.”

They followed the winding forest path west of town. Sunlight filtered through towering cedars, dappling the mossy ground in shifting gold and green. Birds flitted overhead, calling sharp morning cries. Shin walked near the rear, sword sheathed at his side, eyes scanning every rustle of undergrowth with tense caution.
Kael led them in silent vigilance, his cloak rippling with each stride. Reina hummed softly under her breath, fingers brushing moss and ferns to gather alchemical herbs along the way. Rurik and Kaen bantered at the rear, flicking pebbles at each other when the path widened.

Halfway through their trek, they paused by a small brook to refill canteens. Shin knelt by the water, cupping icy handfuls to wash his face. His reflection wavered in the rippling surface – dirt-smudged cheeks, dark under-eyes, but… alive.
Alive. Stronger. Different than yesterday.
He clenched his fist around the cold water, letting droplets slip between his fingers. I’ll survive. I have to. 
“Stay quiet,” Kael murmured suddenly, raising a gloved fist.
They froze in the forest shade. Up ahead, in a sunlit clearing, a hulking lizard-like creature slithered between broken tree stumps. Its scales gleamed dark green edged with black ridges. Two curved horns crowned its skull above luminous amber eyes. Forked tongue flicked out, tasting the morning air.
Shin’s breath caught in his chest. The basilisk.

“Formation,” Kael whispered. Rurik moved left, Kaen right. Reina stepped back, staff in hand, chanting a faint preparatory incantation under her breath.
Kael drew his longsword with a soft metallic whisper. “Shin. Stay behind Reina. Watch. Learn.”
Shin nodded shakily, heart hammering as he gripped his short sword’s hilt.
Kaen lunged first, spear flashing as he slashed across the basilisk’s flank. Its scales screeched under the blade but didn’t break. The creature hissed violently, whipping its tail toward
him, but Rurik intercepted with a powerful axe swing, deflecting the blow with a crunch of bone and scale.
“NOW!” Kael roared. He dashed forward in a blur, sword glinting as he struck upward along the basilisk’s neck. Sparks flew as steel clashed against hardened scales. The beast screeched, rearing back, venom dripping from fanged jaws.

Reina thrust her staff forward. “Lumina Vitae!” Golden light erupted from the staff tip, enveloping Kael’s blade in searing radiance. He twisted his grip and drove the glowing sword deep between basilisk’s scale plates near its throat.
A blood-curling shriek tore through the forest as black blood sprayed across fallen leaves. The basilisk collapsed, its massive body twitching once before falling still.
Silence swallowed the clearing, broken only by Kaen’s soft exhale and Rurik wiping his axes clean against moss.
Shin’s knees trembled as he stared at the dead beast. The ground was splattered with black ichor. Steam rose faintly from its wounds.
Kael turned to him, expression unreadable. “What did you learn?”
Shin swallowed hard, forcing his voice steady. “That… no matter how strong the monster looks… it has weaknesses. And teamwork… matters more than raw strength.”

Kael’s lips curved faintly. “Good answer.”Kaen clapped Shin roughly on the back. “Don’t worry, rookie. You’ll get to stab something next time.”
Rurik grinned wide. “Or something will stab him. Either way, he learns.”
They laughed softly as Reina stepped forward, checking Shin’s trembling hands. She squeezed them gently. “You did well. You stayed calm.”
“…Thank you… Reina-san.”
For the first time that morning, Shin smiled faintly. A real, small smile. The warmth of it surprised even himself.
Kael was cleaning basilisk blood off his blade with calm precision when suddenly Rurik stiffened, nostrils flaring.

“…You smell that?” the dwarf muttered, eyes narrowing under his heavy brows.
Kaen spun his spear lightly, scanning the silent treeline. “Smell what? Just rot and lizard piss-
“Quiet,” Kael ordered, sheathing his longsword swiftly. His gaze swept across the forest shadows, grey eyes sharpening to a predator’s focus.
Shin felt his chest tighten. The birdsong had stopped.
Leaves rustled in the distance – soft, deliberate, like something massive shifting its weight through underbrush. Branches cracked under unseen limb. The air itself seemed to vibrate with each heavy step. The temperature dropped slightly, cold mist curling low to the mossy floor. Sap dripped
slowly from a gashed pine trunk, each droplet echoing in silence like a funeral bell.Reina gripped her staff tighter, her knuckles whitening. “This… aura… it’s wrong. Twisted.”
From between the darkened cedars emerged a silhouette. It stood at least four meters tall, its black scales glinting like forged obsidian under fractured sunlight. Two curved horns curled back along a wolf-like skull. Its long tail flicked lazily behind, slamming a pine truck aside with a splintering crack. Crimson eyes burned like twin coals in its hollow sockets.
Kaen sucked in a sharp breath. “… That’s… that’s no basilisk…”

“Abyss-touched demon beast,” Rurik growled, voice low and dangerous. “Been years since I saw one this close to town.”
The demon beast’s burning crimson gaze swept across the party – Kael’s battle stance, Rurik’s raised axes, Reina’s glowing staff tip. But its eyes paused longest on Shin.
A low guttural growl rumbled from its throat, rattling the branches overhead. Its massive head tilted slightly, as if recognising him.
Shin felt his knees tremble. His breath caught in his throat as that same cold pulse rippled deep within his chest – an echo of something ancient stirring awake.

Why… why is it looking at me…?
Kael stepped forward, sword raised. “It’s targeting you,” he said calmly without turning. “Stay behind Reina.”
But Shin couldn’t move. The creature’s gaze held him locked in place like a pinned insect.
> “Why… why me…?”
The demon beast bared its fangs, black mist curling from its jaws as it snarled.
Then it lunged, claws tearing up earth and moss in a thunderous charge straight toward Shin.