Surprisingly, Tyura felt an overwhelming sense of calm. Perhaps it was the years he had spent facing down armies of demons, or maybe the fear was canceled out by the sheer ecstatic feeling of knowing he was alive.

“This piece of junk.”

Tyura refocused, his eyes zeroing in on the assailant at the edge of the small clearing. It was a woman and she stared in annoyance at the bow, still quivering in her hand. She didn’t seem to care that Tyura was still there or that she had almost ended the life of a child.

 That’s right. He was alive, but it wouldn’t be for long if that woman got off another shot. Luckily she didn’t seem to have much interest in him at all. Should he run? That was really the only option. He had no weapon or powers, well not that he knew of and it wasn’t like he had the time to test it out. The only problem was how frail his body was. He had trouble just getting up earlier. 

Another figure entered the small, with heavy foot steps. A man this time. He looked at the woman then to Tyura causing him to flinch.

“You're a terrible shot!” He said with laughter.

She elbows him in the arm, although the hit looked hard, it didn’t seem to faze him at all.

“Let me try.”

In that moment, Tyura felt the hairs on the back of his head stand up and he ducked on instinct, just a fraction of a second before an axe crashed into the tree where Tyura’s head had been, splintering the wood with the force.

The woman may have been a bad shot, but that man wasn’t. If Tyura hadn’t moved, his head would have been split in two.

The woman laughed, the crude sound echoing around the small clearing. The man gritted his teeth at the woman and then turned to glare at Tyura with bright green eyes. As if it was his fault for dodging certain death.

The man raised his hand and Tyura heard a cracking sound above him. He looked up just in time to see the axe, unlodge itself from the tree and shoot back in the direction it came, right into the man’s open hand.

Tyura’s mouth hung open.

So powers do exist here. Good to know. He thought.

And then he turned and ran using the trees as cover.

Tyura’s mind raced. There were only a few things Tyura knew in this moment

The gravity of the situation was finally sinking in for him. Yes, he was alive, great, but he was in a weak defenseless child’s body. He also knew that the people he just saw didn’t care about killing him.

Maybe he was calm before because he felt he could defend himself against one person, but that calm was gone. There were two of them, one of them had some mysterious power to accurately throw axes with their mind!

Who knew if the woman had powers of-

Whack!

Another arrow struck the tree next to him. Tyura stumbled in the opposite direction, peaking back. 

His breath caught in his throat. The man was frighteningly close. Enough to grab him if he wanted, but instead the man clutched the axe with both hands and swung.

Tyura raised his arms to block it, but it did nothing to protect him. He screamed as butt of the axe popped his shoulder out of place on contact. The rest of the impact sent him flying into a nearby thicket.

Tyura lay there, mouth open as he struggled to breath. 

It’s…over. He thought, his eyes burning. Oh how childish. But he could stop the tears from flowing. Either from the pain or because of the hopeless situation he was in. Probably both.

It was over before it had even begun. Then… What was the point of all this? Of giving him hope? Was he being punished?

The man stepped into view, his axe resting over his shoulder. He squatted down and tilted his head as he looked at Tyura with squinted eyes.

 The woman  came into view soon after carrying that strange bow. She looked down at him with eyes identical to the man’s. Vivid green.

They said something, but at this point Tyura’s hearing was fading and his eyes were blurred over. Was he dying again? That was the only thought on his mind as he closed his eyes to the sound of their talking.