Meanwhile, Cyrene continued to venture deeper into the thicket. The sounds of crickets and swaying shrubbery enveloped the area. The leaves above danced as the cold wind drifted by. Her body shivered but she persevered. Smaller animals and rodents fled to safer havens, making way as the little girl tread carefully across the unknown, dragging her sword across the ground. Although it was dark, the presence of multicolored fireflies provided some light so the small girl could have an idea of where she stood. 

A few meters away, she spots what appears to be a cavern. She squints to try and see it more clearly but encounters something peculiar that makes her jump and hold up her guard. A lone Tripwire was lying across the ground and breathing heavily. Cyrene planted her feet in the ground and clumsily held up her sword, waiting for it to attack, but it lay there, panting. She lowers her arm slightly, and gradually approaches it. 

Examining the monster closer, its body held onto minor cuts and scratches. Its skin appeared sickly, its skin pale and protruding a collection of green, pulsating veins. The drool from its mouth was forming a pool of saliva underneath its head. The monster couldn’t even notice the small girl standing over it.   

"A-are you okay...?"

Her analysis was halted when a group of low growls alerted her. Her eyes peer ahead, and walking out of the Silent Grotto, was a pack of three Tripwires, approaching her slowly. The girl's entire body tenses up, and she sloppily holds her blade up. Cyrene shivers, preparing for their inevitable attack. 

The frontmost Tripwire picked up speed. Cyrene’s body started to tremble, but she did not run away. The quadruped pounces into the air, but the girl runs out of the way of the attack, causing the beast to crash and stumble into some shrubbery. The Tripwire swiftly tries to rebound back to her, flailing its legs before jumping from its faltered position and back to her. In a slight panic, Cyrene throws her entire body into one swing, landing the attack and forming a deep cut on the underside of the monster. The creature's limp body glides past the little girl, spraying blood across the ground and falling flat on the floor. Cyrene was taken aback by her successful kill, only to look frightened when she saw the next two Tripwires simultaneously charging toward her. 

She did her best to evade their attacks. Her pitiful strength was barely able to fend against the monster's assaults. One of the Tripwire nicks the young girl from her neck to her cheek, tearing a thin layer of her skin like paper. Cyrene starts to bleed and cry out in pain.  

“Augh!”

Tears dance among the blood spilling from her cheek, but she chooses not to withdraw. Cyrene attempts more of a defensive approach to their attacks, but each thrust blocked by her adversaries threw her body back. She threw her weight with an additional slash, but she only managed to knock the oncoming beast away. The damaged monster uses its momentum and hook-like tail to rebound off of the opposite tree and launch right back at her. Immediately after, the other Tripwire used their tail to whip and smack the girl onto the ground. She rolled to try and break her fall but landed in an awkward position. By the time she tried to get up, she was on her knees, looking up at one Tripwire, diving several feet in front of her; and the other, swinging itself back into the fight. She became sandwiched between two incoming monsters. Her body froze. She tried to raise her sword arm, but became completely motionless. It felt as though the essence of time began to drastically slow. Her life appeared forfet. Yet from the corner of her eye, she spots a soaring hunter’s knife, inches away from the monster. It was only then she felt time resume as normal. 

The knife penetrates through the beast’s neck in front of her, sending it tumbling, and killing it instantly. Cyrene starts to turn around to eye the second monster but is immediately pushed to the ground, her sword snatched out of her hand. As Cyrene fell, her sight revealed Cyrus standing before her. He guards the monster’s bite with his bare left arm and uses his sword to pierce through its body. Cyrus slams the monster onto the ground. Its jaws attempt to pierce through his arm with great force, causing the hunter to relentlessly stab the Tripwire. With each thrust, the monster’s body jerked sporadically, until it loosened its jaw power and died. Even after it was killed, Cyrus did not stop stabbing and slashing away at its body; the beast’s blood spraying across his clothes and face. Cyrene’s relief of being saved turned into unease and further petrification. 

Several stabs later, Cyrus stops. He stands up from the ground and slowly turns to his downed sister. Cyrene examines him. His left arm was motionless with thick gashes. His shredded clothing poured blood down to his fingertips that dripped onto the ground. His sword arm and hand trembled uncontrollably. The girl's quivering eyes finally reach his face. The moonlight revealed blood splattered across his cheek; and his eyes, a maelstrom of rage. The two exchanged a brief look before Cyrus took several steps towards her. Cyrene cowers before him as attempts to stand.   

“C-C-Cyrus… I…” 

The hunter drives his sword into the ground, mere inches away from his sister. She jumps back, letting out a terror-induced screech.   

“AH!”

Her eyes began to tear up. Cyrus clenches his fist and shoots a deathly glare in her direction. 

“WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING SNEAKING OFF LIKE THAT?! YOUR STUPIDITY HAD NEARLY GOTTEN YOU KILLED! HAD I NOT SPRINTED HERE IN TIME YOU WOULD HAVE-” 

Cyrus pauses. His eyes begin to water when he sees his little sister, damaged and cowering on the ground, surrounded by three dead beasts. The glimmer in his eyes returned to him as he gently sobs to himself.    

“I-I would have lost you...!"  

Cyrene’s feeling of uneasiness gradually faded away as she watched her brother crying in front of her. He tries to turn and lower his head, but the more she looked into her brother's anguished eyes, the more she felt his pain. Cyrene sits upright on the floor.  

“Th-there was a monster outside of our home…” She stutters. 

Cyrus raises his head and turns to his sister.  

“I thought it followed you back from when you were out hunting today, so I followed it back from our home to kill it.”

Cyrene’s body trembles as she fights back crying. 

“I didn’t want to wake you up, because I knew how exhausted you were, but I also didn’t want to give it a chance to hurt you, so I just…” 

Cyrus was oddly surprised by her explanation. Her face scrunches up and she starts crying.  

“I’m sorry…!”

Cyrene whimpers on the cold hard ground. Cyrus glances at his befallen sister. His eyes peer over the three bodies lying across the field, two of which he took down, and the third being the victim of the young girl. From a distance, he examines it thoroughly. Cyrus struggles for a moment trying to regain his composure. He wipes aways his tears and approaches his sister.   

“Do you see the monster you’ve killed?” 

Confused, Cyrene looks up at her brother, then at the monster she managed to slash. 

“You may have been able to kill it in one slice, but it was likely from a lucky strike to its underside, correct? After all, the cut merely incapacitated it; a lack of blood to its system is what truly finished it off. The slit itself appears far too sloppy to be done by an expert.” 

Cyrene wipes away most of the tears from her face. 

“Wh-What are you saying…?” 

“I'm saying, perhaps with a little more training, you’ll be able to kill your target with one clean strike.”  

Cyrene stares at her brother. He bends down on one knee and places one hand around his sword’s hilt to support his weight.

“You nearly threw your life away today. You've only seen a glimpse of the struggles I undergo. And despite that, are you still desperate to aid me?” He asks calmly.

She nods without hesitation, tears still streaming down her cheeks.   

“Y-yes!”   

Cyrus takes his hand and wipes away the blood and tears off of her cheek. The moderate breeze of the wind carries dead leaves through the air, and the moonlight glistens onto the brother and sister. The hunter's stern eyes lock with his sister’s gentle stare.

“Then fret no longer, for I will teach you.”