The Sky Is Clearing

It didn’t take long for us to find the giant boar again. As soon as Aria opened the door, its snout was peeking through the doorway.

Rather, considering that it was attracted to Aria, it was the one that sought us out and it was very quick to find where we were.

The view from the doorway caught Aria by surprise so it took a moment for her to process what she was seeing. The beast took a couple of sniffs before Aria slammed the door shut right onto its nose.

It didn’t see us, but it definitely recognized us through smell. In turn, it slammed onto the house’s walls to try to get to us.

Fortunately, the force wasn’t strong enough for it to break through, but I imagine it will try again so I grabbed Aria by the hand and led her towards the back. However, there was no back door so we had to go through a window to escape. Just in time before the boar knocked the house down.

“Can you teleport?” I asked Aria as we fled from the scene. We managed to get some distance between us and the beast. It hadn’t noticed we slipped away as it continued to stomp on the house we were in. But, it was only a matter of time before it could catch up again, hence the question.

“I can’t”, she replied, which also answered one small question at the back of my mind. Did she teleport or did she simply become invisible the other day?

The other thing might be useful, but I figured it wouldn’t fool a beast that can sense Aria with other means than sight.

“Can you make us run faster?”

“I can make us run twice as fast, but I shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“The side effects would be bad right now.”

“How bad?”

“It’s not fatal, but it will immobilize you for a day or two.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“It usually takes effect seconds after being cast. If where we’re headed is too far away, we might not make it.”

“Okay, that does sound bad”, I conceded.

Not exactly because where we’re headed was far away, but because I need to find the militia again, and I wasn’t sure if they were still at the same place before we were launched into the air by the boar. Worst case, we may still have more running to do and becoming unable to move midway would be fatal for the two of us.

Time ran out for us, however. The giant boar had already noticed we were gone from that now demolished house. It hasn't spotted us yet as the row of houses and trees hid us from its view, but we still needed a way to get to the militia before it could catch us.

“Don’t you have anything that can help us right now?” I asked Aria, sounding a little more desperate.

“Like I said, I don’t know any attacking magic!” she exclaimed, reciprocating the tone I gave her.

“Not even for running away?”

“I- I’m not sure.”

“Do you have any magic that is useful at all?!” I complained, frustrated.

That was because the boar had spotted us and started to give chase.

“Well, sorry for being useless!” she snapped at me.

Our pursuer was getting close fast. Of course, considering its size, it was not surprising that a few minutes' head start was nothing to it.

Knowing that we can’t outrun it, I decided to face it again. This time, I drew my bow. Now that Aria wasn’t hanging by its mouth, I can now feel at ease about missing my mark.

“What are you doing?!” Aria asked as she also stopped running.

Without answering her first, I let an arrow loose which hit the beast at its snout. I was aiming for an eye. I wasn’t used to firing arrows out in the open with strong winds. Generally, the trees shield the inside of the forest from the winds. The rain may not be stronger now, but the winds remained and affected my shot.

However, while it didn’t seem like it caused much damage, it made the beast stop on its tracks. It was probably irritated that something got stuck onto its nose and wanted it off.

Still, that was a good opportunity to regain some distance between us and it. I grabbed Aria by the hand again and ran.

“Next time, don’t stop running”, I told her.

“What?”

“Run towards the river, to the wharf. The militia will probably be there.”

It was only a guess. But, there were some men that were tasked to make preparations for my plan to stop the rampaging beast. Part of that plan requires a really large net, which they’re very likely procuring from the fishermen.

That is, if there is one. I wasn’t planning to have one made on the spot since I don’t know how long it will take to stitch multiple nets into an extra large one, but the sheriff told them to do it anyway.

For now, though, that’s the least of my worries as the beast seems to have given up on taking off the arrow that was lodged onto its snout. The road we were on was relatively straight so it spotted us easily. It continued its pursuit of us so I once again drew my bow with the intention of hitting an eye.

I adjusted my aim based on my previous shot, but that still ended up on the boar’s snout, only a bit higher than the previous arrow. That created the same effect of causing it to stop.

Maybe its nose is its sensitive spot? I probably will never know, but it was another opportunity to run.

Aria, however, did not follow my instructions from earlier. She only started running again after I made my shot and started to run myself.

“Why did you stop? I told you to head for the wharf!”

“I’m not leaving you for dead!”

“I’m not planning on dying!”

“You’re going to get killed if you face that beast alone!”

While we were arguing, the giant boar recovered quicker this time. I noticed it coming for us again so I was unable to argue Aria back for the moment as I prepared to make another shot.

This time, I was intentionally aiming at its snout, but I missed my target. The arrow hit its tusk, which was too hard to be pierced.

It was coming in fast and I didn’t have time to take a second shot. I could dodge it, but Aria stood by my side again and she wasn’t moving. My instincts told me to jump to my right, to safety. But, I was consciously thinking of getting Aria out of the way. That caused me to hesitate for a split second, which was costly.

When I made my decision to cover Aria, the giant boar was already on top of us.

Then, it hit me. I felt a force so strong that it launched me a few feet into the air.

However, it didn’t hurt as I thought it would.

Furthermore, the direction it took me was also unexpected. I landed on the ditch on the side of the road. Considering the course of the giant boar’s charge, I would think I would be thrown further up the road rather than to the side.

“Erik!” I heard Aria call out to me. She then appeared above me as she stood on the edge of the road. Holding a hand out to me, she asked “Are you okay?”

“I think so”, I replied as I stood up to grab her hand and climb out of the ditch. “What happened? Where’s the boar?”

I wasn’t disoriented, but the sudden turn of events had me confused.

“The boar tripped itself hitting the house at the end of the road”, Aria answered. “I used wind magic to get both of us out of its way. I’m sorry for getting you muddy.”

“Don’t mind it, I’ve been muddy for a while now.”

I spotted the boar at the direction Aria pointed at and, like us, it was recovering from falling onto the ground.

“Wind magic, you say?” I asked Aria.

“Yes. Why?” she answered as I pulled her to run towards the direction where we came from. It was the opposite direction towards the river, but we had to get away from the giant boar first.

“Can you use that to get us to the river?”

“I can’t use it to fly if that’s what you mean.”

I was hoping it could, but there was still one other option.

“Then, can you launch us towards the river? Like what you did earlier.”

“I don’t know if it will be powerful enough to launch us into the air.”

“Well, try blasting us up now”, I told her.

“Now?!”

“Yes, now!”

The boar was already closing in on us, hence the rush.

Aria managed to cast her magic just in the nick of time as a very strong gust of wind took us off our feet and launched us into the air. Some debris also came with us, but the beast was too heavy so it stayed aground.

“Don’t let go!” I said to Aria. We were holding hands so we wouldn’t get split up midair.

However, we were going the opposite direction from the river.

“The other way!” I said to Aria.

“How do I do that?”

“Blast us the other way?” I phrased it as a question because I didn't know how that particular magic worked.

Aria did as I instructed so now we were headed back where we came from. On the way, we went over the giant boar. It had given chase towards the direction where we first headed to and it doesn’t seem to have noticed us going back as it continued its run.

It took a few more strong gusts to take us near the river.

“How are we going to land?” Aria asked.

“Can’t you conjure some sort of mattress or at least some hay that we can land onto?”

“I don’t even know if that kind of magic exists!”

I could tell Aria to land us into the river, but, from our vantage point, it looks like the water is moving too fast due to the rain. No surprises there. It was no longer an option because we could drown in it, though.

Landing on another house with a thatched roof might work, so I asked “Can you guide us towards that house?”

“All I can do is what I’ve been doing so far, just blasting us in a general direction! I don’t know how to be precise with this, I didn’t even know I could use this spell this way in the first place!”

We were beginning to descend. Our path was taking us towards a small patch of trees. I was thinking maybe its branches could break our fall so I tried positioning myself in front of Aria

“Erik!” she cried, probably hoping I would come up with something for a smooth landing, but I was already out of ideas.

The most I could do right now is protect her from hitting the branches of the trees we were falling into.

However, as I peeked backwards, I realized we were going past the trees and into the ground. There wasn’t much I could do now so, resigned to my fate, I braced for impact.

But, the impact was delayed and didn’t feel as painful as I expected. In fact, it didn’t hurt as much when I fell through the roof of a house earlier. It was a minor bump.

The reason for this is Aria made a breakthrough for our landing. She conjured some wind to blow upward and slow us down so, when we hit the ground, the impact only amounted to something akin to falling out of the bed.

As soon as we were grounded, Aria grabbed me by the collar and pulled me in a sitting position. Our faces met and I could see the angry yet worried expression in her eyes as she told me “We’re never going to do that again!”

"I agree", I replied. I've had enough free falling for a lifetime.

She then helped me up and asked "What now?"

"Follow me", I said. "The wharf is just past these rows of houses."

While we were airborne, I spotted people along the wharf. I also spotted a couple piles of what looked like nets so I was hopeful they were the militia and the village fishermen. We arrived at our destination and I was relieved to see that was the case. They were busy working on stitching up the nets to make a big one that could fit the giant boar.

With Aria in tow, I looked for the sheriff, but he doesn’t appear to be around. I asked one of the militiamen who was in charge and pointed me towards the sheriff’s deputy, who seems to be given charge of the detachment.

I walked towards the deputy and called out to him.

“Hunter!” he said. “Where’s the sheriff?”

I wasn’t sure either as I was thrown quite a distance away from him so I explained that to the deputy including how Aria and I got here.

“Fly through the air?” he asked, sounding like he didn’t believe what he just heard. I couldn’t blame him, really.

But, the fact is we were already right in front of him and the giant boar all of us were fighting against will arrive soon looking for Aria. This wasn’t the time to convince him of the plausibility of such feats.

“How long until the net is ready?” I asked, getting into business.

“I don’t know, perhaps another half hour”, he replied.

That was too slow. The boar will already be here before the net is finished.

I could switch to my backup plan, which involves fighting the boar and blinding it, but we were already deep into the village. There were a lot of houses around and much more people which would become collateral damage if I fought the beast in our current location, unlike earlier when we weren’t in a densely populated area.

I turned to Aria and asked her “Can you stitch the nets together with magic?”

“I can”, she answered without hesitation.

“Then I’ll leave the nets to you. Make sure they’re sturdy enough.”

“Alright”, she said and immediately went to her task.

In the meantime, I had another problem. I was hoping to use the riverbank as the place to trap the boar. There was a bridge upstream that could provide a high ground in which we could use to throw the net over the beast. But, considering how high and fast the river is currently, it would be suicide for the person assigned to lure the boar to go near the water.

There was also only one person who could do it, and it’s not someone I want to risk losing.

The creation of the extra large net was completed so quickly that I didn’t even notice it.

Interrupting my train of thought, the deputy asked me “Where do you want this net positioned?”

I wasn’t even done thinking of how to use it now. There was nothing nearby which could be advantageous for my plan.

I then saw Aria looking at me, also waiting for my next instructions.

Then, an idea came to me.

I went to Aria and asked, “That spell you used to hang me upside-down, can you use it for the four corners of the net? Also, how high can it go? Can you make something hang from the top of a tree?”

She looked a bit confused from the sudden questions, but answered anyway. “I can lift the four corners of the net and as high as I want. In fact, a tree isn’t needed. I can lift something up in the air without support.”

My eyes widened. That was a much better scenario.

I then told the deputy to have the net spread across the ground and leave a bit of space near the river. He tried asking for my reasons, but the boar could appear at any moment so I told him to just do it.

Afterwards, I ushered Aria towards that space I requested.

“What are you planning?” she asked.

Unlike the deputy, I had time to answer her question. She was also crucial to my plan so there was a need to. I answered, “We’re going to use the net to capture the beast.”

“I assume I am to lift the large net to trap it?”

“You assume correctly.”

“So why are we standing between the trap and the river?”

Without sugarcoating it, I frankly told her “You’re the bait.”

Aria looked at me, stunned. She looked like she was about to protest, but then a loud noise could be heard nearby.

It was the sacred beast announcing its arrival by destroying some nearby houses. In fact, we could already see its body past the row houses that separated us.

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay right beside you”, I told Aria.

She responded by holding my hand tightly. I wasn’t sure if that was because she didn’t trust me not to run away.

Regardless, I shouted for the men who were spreading the net to stop what they were doing and move away.

Then, I told Aria to lift the net with her magic. “Drop it on my signal.”

The giant boar climbed on top of the roofs of the aforementioned houses with its forelegs to take a peek at us. Once the boar had confirmed our presence, it crushed the houses it was leaning on.

Meanwhile, the militiamen and the fishermen who were just with us were scattering out of the boar’s way.

It only took a few seconds for the beast to completely demolish the house. I was anticipating it to charge at us like it did earlier, but, for some reason, it took its time approaching us.

I wasn’t sure if it’s because it was aware of the net floating above. Hopefully not as it was staring straight at us.

However, its behavior works to our advantage. Timing the drop of the net would be easier compared to it rushing at us.

When it was halfway between us and the newly ruined houses, I gave the signal. The net dropped and the giant boar got caught in it.

I could hear the men cheer. Even Aria seemed ecstatic.

But, the ordeal wasn’t over yet. The giant beast was thrashing about and I wasn’t confident that the net could hold it.

I moved to the side of it while taking Aria with me. Then, I drew my bow with the intention of finally hitting its eye, but a very loud voice stopped me.

“Don’t shoot!” the voice said.

It wasn’t the boar begging for mercy. It was incapable of speech - that I was completely certain of.

The voice also made the boar stop trying to escape the net.

“Do not shoot the creature!” the voice said once more.

It came from behind me. I looked to see who it was and recognized them immediately.

“You’re late”, I told the newcomer. “Was this the boar you said you were tracking the other day?”

It was Faeleth. She was also leading a handful of other elves.

“I see you caught him for us”, she said and let out an embarrassed laugh. “Now, can you put away your bow for now?”

“I kind of have a grudge against it”, I commented. “Can I have just one shot at it?”

I was serious about wanting to shoot it. But, Faeleth’s follow-up diffused all of it.

“Oh my, I see you’ve awakened that side of you”, she said. “It’s a shame, I was hoping to train you into becoming the subservient type.”

I wasn’t sure how to react to it and I was too tired to play along so I said nothing. Still, I didn’t want to have her think I was into the same sort of play she was so I broke my stance and returned the arrow back to my quiver.

Of course, Faeleth found something else to tease.

“I see there’s still hope for me”, she cheekily said.

Meanwhile, Aria was hearing all of this and was confused about the words being used.

“Huh? Train? Subservient? What does that mean?” she asked me.

She doesn’t know of Faeleth’s tendencies yet, so I told her “You don’t want to know.”

Fortunately, she dropped the issue then and there.

Faeleth then approached the sacred beast.

“It’s time to go home now, Porky”, she said, speaking to it.

There was a brief pause before I asked out loud “Porky? That’s its name?”

“Yes, I gave him that name!” Faeleth answered enthusiastically.

I wasn’t sure whether to be surprised that it had a name or laugh that it didn’t really fit an intimidating sacred beast.

“Huh? What’s that?” Faeleth asked the boar. It seems that they were able to communicate, too.

“Uh-huh.”

“Uh-huh. ”

“I see.”

She then took a peek at our direction.

“You can’t though.”

I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, however. Their conversation took about a minute before Faeleth turned back to us.

“So, here’s the situation”, she started. “Porky seems to be attracted to Aria.”

“I had a hunch that was the case, that it was going to eat Aria because she has magical powers,” I commented.

“Oh no, it’s nothing like that”, Faeleth said, rejecting my hypothesis. “Porky doesn’t eat humans. He says he’s been told it tastes the same as his own kind so he doesn’t want to eat any of you.”

“But, sacred beasts used to require sacrifices with magical powers, didn't they?”

“What century do you think we live in?” she responded while laughing. “You read too many of those old legends. That doesn’t happen anymore.”

Embarrassed, I tried bringing the conversation back on track. “Then, if he wasn’t going to eat Aria, why did it kidnap her?”

“As I said, Porky was attracted to Aria”, Faeleth said matter-of-factly. “He wanted to bring him home as his wife. In short, marry her.”

I was shocked. I consider myself an expert on sacred beasts due to all those heroic legends I’ve read, so this has completely turned everything I knew upside-down.

I hesitated to continue, but I was curious what its entire motivation was. Bracing myself, I asked “Then why did it attack the village?”

“Porky actually intended to arrive peacefully, but then he said some men started poking him with pointy sticks.”

So, basically the militia provoked it.

Faeleth continued, “He actually came here to ask Aria’s parents for her hand in marriage.”

Even when I anticipated it, I still felt weak on my knees upon hearing something so extraordinarily dumb. I only managed to stay standing up by using my bow as a crutch.

Meanwhile, Aria reacted differently. Her face turned red as she exclaimed “Marriage?!”

“Yes”, Faeleth confirmed. “You see, back in the day, not all the human sacrifices were for the sacred beast to consume. A lot of them were actually for companionship.”

That was another thing I’ve never heard or read about in the stories. Then again, the storytellers never tell of what happens to the sacrifices after they’ve been taken by either the gods or the beasts so I had no way of knowing their exact fates.

“Five days ago, Porky disappeared from the sanctuary”, Faeleth continued. “He was only curious at first about the sudden appearance of a magical presence in the area so he went to check, but couldn’t get near the village. Then, he chanced upon you today in the forest and fell in love at first sight.”

That was when the giant boar picked her up with its mouth and the trouble started.

“So, I keep telling Porky you can’t be his wife, but he wouldn’t accept it coming from me”, Faeleth said. “You have to reject him yourself, Aria.”

“M-me??” Aria nervously asked.

“Yes, unless you’re willing to become Porky’s wife, that is”, Faeleth replied with a cheeky smile.

I wasn’t sure what that smile was for.

“H-he’s not going to get mad, is he?” Aria asked, still nervous.

“Don’t worry, he’s a good sport”, Faeleth assured with a thumbs up.

Aria slowly approached the trapped beast. Her nerves never left her despite the assurance of her safety, which is visible from her body language.

The beast grunted as if speaking to Aria, which caused her to recoil.

“Good luck!” Faeleth shouted to encourage Aria.

Or was it to Porky? I wasn’t sure.

Aria still seemed too afraid to speak. It didn’t help that the boar was trying to stand up, which was scaring her even further.

Sensing that Aria would be in danger if she continued like that, I decided to break the boar’s heart myself. I rushed towards her, grabbed her hand and declared to the boar “You can’t have her because I’m in love with this girl!”

The beast seemed to have gotten the message and laid back down.

“There, there”, Faeleth said after approaching Porky to comfort it.

Meanwhile, I was half expecting Aria to rebuke me by claiming I was lying, that if I really did love her I wouldn’t have asked other women on dates during her absence. We were still in the middle of that argument, after all. Although, to my surprise, she stayed quiet, but with a constipated look on her face for some reason.

“After this, I have something to tell you”, she said.

It was probably the continuation of the argument, but that won’t be for a while.

Then, Faeleth chimed in. “Porky wants proof.”

“What?” Both Aria and I reacted.

“Porky wants to see you two kiss”, Faeleth elaborated.

Aria and I looked at each other awkwardly. Neither of us seemed up for it.

“Right now?” Aria asked.

“Yes, right now”, Faeleth replied, looking like she’s enjoying this. “Otherwise, Porky will not believe you and will not give up taking Aria as his wife.”

“J-just a kiss right?” Aria said, looking more nervous than when she went up to the boar just earlier.

“Yes, one kiss would be enough and we’ll be on our way.”

Aria then turned to me and very nervously said “Alright, let’s do this.”

I was beginning to get nervous, too.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Don’t ask, just do it quickly”, she said with her eyes closed shut as if bracing herself to be slapped rather than kissed.

I looked at Faeleth who was watching us with a playful smile on her face. She motioned for me to get on with the task on hand.

I was beginning to get the feeling it was her idea to put Aria and I in this situation for her own amusement rather than the boar's wishes.

Regardless, I faced Aria to perform the act.

I hesitated for a moment before going in for the kiss, but then I felt something in my stomach. It groaned so loud it grabbed the attention of the two girls.

Aria no longer had her eyes shut and instead looked at my abdomen.

“I think I need to go”, I told the two.

“You can’t leave without kissing”, Faeleth said.

But, I was really starting to feel it in my stomach. I had to let it out - all that food I had consumed in the past six days wanted to be let out.

I thought it would take a week, but I had no time to ask Aria why it’s coming a day early.

“I’m sorry, but I really need the latrine!” I declared as I ran with my hands on my stomach towards the nearest house.

I then spent the rest of the day sitting on a toilet as the others dealt with the aftermath of the event.