Orion’s POV: 

I opened my eyes after countless hours of tossing and turning trying to fall asleep. I sighed and looked at the time artifact and it said four-thirty-three. I sat up and stretched. I got up and walked out of my room after putting on a shirt from the floor of my room. 

I walked into the kitchen and filled up a glass of water. My mother came around the corner. “What are you doing up, Onion?” My mother asked, I could tell she was stressing over work. 

She had beautiful crimson red eyes that had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, her long pitch black hair was tied up in a messy bun. She was still wearing her work clothes but some of the buttons on her shirt weren’t buttoned. “Oh, hey mom, I couldn’t sleep so I decided to get some water.” I said drinking some water. “And why are you still calling me Onion? I misspelled my name once when I was young.” 

“Because I think it’s cute.” she laughed. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going for a walk.” I said walking back to my room to get changed. 

“Oh, ok be safe.” my mother said as I was leaving. “Love you.” 

“Love you too.” I called back to her as I closed my door. 

I changed into some black pants and changed into a light tannish gray tunic. I grabbed my boots and put them on. I grabbed the sword and strapped it to my hip and walked into the bathroom. “Gods I’m a mess.” I said looking into the mirror.

My hair was a messy ash black with white highlights that fell just above my eyes. My eyes reflected off of the mirror and was a bright diamond blue. I washed my face with some cold water to wake myself up some more.

I left the house after grabbing the worn down journal I found recently. Our house was in the corner far away from the other houses so the walk to the center was long. I stopped and sat down on the fountain that was in the middle of the village and looked into the water. 

I didn’t really believe in wishes but I threw in a copper coin and wished to get out of this hell hole. 

I looked up hoping that any of the gods were listening and grant me my wish. I sighed and headed in the direction of the mountain. I walked the lonely path that overgrown. 

I continued up the mountain, hearing rustling in the bushes to my side, not thinking anything of it. A small rabbit hopped out of the bush when it saw me, it got startled and ran away. After about an hour of walking I finally got to my destination, it was a large tree that had its leaves in strands of vines much like a weeping willow. 

The leaves were shining a bright pink, and it was emitting a rose like scent that calmed me down whenever I was angry or anxious. This was my favorite place to go to calm down or read. Basically anything to kill time I would do it here.

I climbed the low hanging branches and near the top of the tree there was this branch that was perfect to lay on. I pulled out the journal from my small dimensional ring. It was only big enough to carry a few small items. 

I found the journal yesterday in this tree while I was reading a book from the library, it was in a small crevice near the top of the tree. I flipped to the page I was on.

Entry 7: I was close to the Black Desert, maybe a few more days of travel.  

Entry 8: I killed a man today, I don’t know how to feel about this whole situation. I was just walking down the road and some bandit tried to rob me. I tried to talk him out of it but he charged at me. What else was I supposed to do? I probably won’t write for a while.  

Entry 9: I want to go home. 

Entry 10: It’s been about a month since my last entry, so I decided to not go to the desert and go back home for a while. It turns out in the time I was gone my mother passed away and my father killed himself so now I have nothing.  

I’m writing this now a day after I figured out my parents died. I don’t know why I'm even writing this still. I guess it’s to honor my father's wish. I don’t know what to do anymore.  

Entry 11: I left the town once more after saying my final goodbye to my family and giving them a proper burial. Instead of going south I went east I heard there was a massive forest. I wanted to go there to explore the forest and maybe find more pretty elves. 

Entry 12: after a few days of travel, I ran into the dwarves again. I learned their names, Aberoth 

was shy and timid, and he had a smaller build than the other two. He spoke to the other two in a comfortable manner and the other two seemed relaxed when he was around.

Then there's Kaiser. He was very grumpy the first time I met him so that’s the nickname I decided to give him. He was taller than Aberoth and Kari, but he was still pretty short to human standards. The way he talked made him seem like a bashful person but yet outgoing at the same time.  

Then there’s Kari who is the little brother of Grumpy, he was an interesting fellow that’s for sure. He was loud and outgoing, and whenever we were at a campfire, he would sing songs from his home town and dance; it was truly a sight to see.  

We decided to travel together until they got to where they were going, which was the Elven Forest. So, I decided to go with them to hopefully meet a pretty elf girl to get with. 

Entry 14  13: After a few days we got to the massive forest and they weren't lying when they said it was massive, the trees were humongous, is that even a word? Well, it is now. The trees were about the size of a small mountain, maybe a hundred meters tall at least.  

The forest was covered in a mist that was hard to navigate and there were beasts that attacked when we least expected it, like when we were setting up camp for the night or going to the bathroom. The main mana beast was a, I think people called it an Antler Wolfs? I don’t know? But they were these big wolf-like creatures that had massive antlers and their fur was a dark forest green to blend into the surrounding area.  

They weren't hard to deal with by themselves, but they usually came in groups, mainly groups of five or more. Their teeth were sharpened to a point that could tear through flesh and armor like it was nothing and razor sharp claws.  

They finally left us alone for a while. Aberoth and Grumpy are repairing our armor and tools as I'm writing this, I don’t know how long until the wolves come back to attack.  

After struggling to decipher the handwriting for an hour or so, I heard footsteps approaching. I put the notebook down and hopped down to find three young men, Farroth who was tall and muscular, with piercing red eyes and pitch black hair, his half plated armor was shiny and looked brand new even though he’s had it since he was little. On his belt he had a long dagger and a straight sword on the left side of his hip.

 Farroth was one of those noblemen who thought that he could do whatever he wanted just because his father was the chief of the village. Even though he is the weakest of the three he still throws them around like they are garbage. On Faroths left was Kael he wore scale mail armor made from a basilisk, he has short black hair with orange eyes with a fiery red hue to them. He has a long sword strapped to his waist. 

On Farroth’s right was Kael’s twin brother Aiden, wore a dark hooded cloak most likely made from a griffon, it had white feathers around the shoulder area, it was hard to see what his weapons were but there were two daggers each with intricate runes inscribed into the blade giving it a slight glow. He had short dark brown hair that was tied into a ponytail, his eyes were a fiery red with a slight orange hue to them. 

“What were you reading, your diary?” Laughed Farroth. 

His lackeys snorted. “Little ol Orion writes in his diary every night, wait till the rest of them hear this.” Farroth nudged Aiden and he chuckled. 

I sighed at their stupidity. “You guys are idiots.” I replied putting the journal down and stretching my arms. “If you guys came here to fight, come and fight me already.”

This made Farroth flustered and put his hand on the pommel of his sword. “Don’t test me Akuma, I will kill you this time.” 

“Yeah?” I asked in a mocking tone. “If you’re ready to bet your life on it, then let's dance.” 

In a mere instant I grabbed the hilt of my sword, still in its sheath I swung downward but Aiden was fast enough to react and unsheathe his blade to block my strike towards Farroth’s skull. I looked to my right to see Kael grab the sword on his belt. Spinning on the ball of my foot I kicked his hand with my heel making him drop his sword. 

Aiden was quick with a counter attack with an upward slash aimed to blind my left eye, back stepping and dodging his blade, I grabbed his arm with my left hand and pushed him off balance. Aiden jumped back and at this point Faroth and Kael had their swords out and were in offensive positions. 

Farroth was full of openings, Aiden and Kael were different; there wasn't a single opening in their stance. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I got ready for their onslaught. Unsheathing my sword came with an explosion of mana pressure and aura making Faroth take a step back. 

Before Farroth could recover from the pressure I rushed him. With a swift motion, I swung my sword in a downward slice; he was unable to react and I slashed his chest. He stepped back and howled in pain. One down.

After striking Faroth, I turned towards the faster of the brothers Aiden but Kael rushed at me first, not expecting the attack I dodged instead of parrying and his sword hit the bottom of my blade making me drop it. Shit. 

Aiden rushed at me with the opportunity and followed up with a quick strike but I was able to parry it with my bare hand and with an explosion of pitch black flames I punched him in the solar plexus sending him into the nearest tree knocking him unconscious. Two. 

Swiftly turning around to find Kael’s blade engulfed in crimson red flames. He rushed at me and with a flurry of strikes I only managed to parry and dodge only a few before he struck me in the leg,making a gash but it cauterized immediately as the blade was searing hot. I grunted in pain as I continued to dodge waiting for the perfect moment to strike. 

I sidestepped the blade and grabbed the blunt end of it. This caught him off guard as he heard the sizzling of my skin. I pulled his sword up with force elbowing him in the nose, most likely breaking it. Blood spurted out of his nostrils as he held his nose. A quick punch to the sternum was enough to knock him unconscious. Three.

I looked at Farroth and he was just waking up, I started to walk towards him. He sat up and backed away a bit before clutching his chest. I crouched down in front of him. “Now that I’ve kicked your ass, can you leave me alone?” I asked, putting some authority behind my voice. 

He nodded. I walked past him and picked up the journal and started down the hill.