Here's my Fantasy novel. 20 episodes are already out.
Its pacing is quite slow I think, but after Chapter 5, that's where the story "technically" starts.
Enjoy!
Seth and Lynstella were finally out of the town. Both of them were running through the bushes non-stop. There were a lot of trees in the vicinity, but they weren't in a forest nor a jungle.
"Seth, you're too fast!"
"We need to hurry." Seth ignored Lynstella's complaint.
"Seth!" she shouted.
Seth slowed down his pace a bit and looked at her over his shoulder.
"Look, I'm frustrated okay? If I'm really still weak, if I barely had any improvement since last year, then I have no choice but to accept it," he said grudgingly. "But I'm being serious here. We need to hurry. I can sense a few threats heading our way. They have been following us since awhile ago"
Seth had sensed two entities. They were not as strong as the one who headed to the town, but they were still stronger than him, without a doubt.
"If you're getting tired, use the necklace that I gave you. Whenever we regenerate mana, we also regenerate a bit of our energy," added Seth.
Lynstella did not reply and began receiving mana from the necklace.
They continuously ran for like 10 minutes, but there was still no sign of giving up from the two entities. In fact, they were getting near.
Seth's mind had flashed back to what Harris told him earlier.
They're targeting young males.
He had no choice.
"Lyn, listen..." Seth said without looking at her. "I want you to continue running towards the city."
"Where are you going...? Are you also going to leave me?" Lynstella's voice was sorrowful.
"No, it's not like that. They're targeting young males. If they saw you with me, you might get caught up."
Seth did not want that to happen anymore. If being by her side would only cause her troubles, he'd rather split ways with her. He couldn't get off his mind the image of her terrible state before, that's why he had decided on impulse.
"You're plainly telling me that you're going to sacrifice yourself. Do you think I'm going to accept that?" She raised her voice, followed by a faint sob.
Seth was a bit surprised. He did not expect that response from her. He had always thought that she wasn't that aware of the situation. From the days that they had spent together, he was so sure that she was still a bit childish. Although he was glad that she finally grew up, he was still troubled by the bad timing. He had to make her get away from him or else the same thing would happen again.
"Sorry, but this is better than the two of us getting... caught."
"I just can't accept that!"
"Please," Seth begged her.
Lynstella did not answer.
"......I promise that we are going to meet again," added Seth.
She still did not answer. But after a couple of seconds, she finally spoke up with a hoarse voice.
"If you break that promise, I won't forgive you."
Lynstella finally let go of Seth's hand and quickly ran towards the city.
"Thank you..." Seth thanked her, but he wasn't sure if she heard that.
Without any delay, Seth quickly changed directions. The aura was starting to get stronger. He crossed through a river to make sure that he and Lynstella wouldn't bump into each other by accident.
And then, he heard a deep voice.
"It was a wise decision to not let the girl be with you, little imp."
Seth looked back over his shoulder, only to see two cloaked figures floating towards him with a speed faster than his running speed. The other was wearing a red cloak, while the other was black.
Seth was sure that they were humans because he caught a glimpse of their brown-colored skin. However, they were strangely taller and larger than usual, but not to the point that they could be called giant.
When Seth took his eyes out of them and looked forward once again, what he saw forced him to stop running.
He suddenly remembered. The Town of Seralim was located on the top and near the edge of a very high cliff. It was, without a doubt, very high that one could see clouds when looking down the cliff.
According to the map that he had seen before, what could be found at the bottom of the cliff was a deep forest that was full of beasts. In other words, the view right in front of him was no other than the stunning, blue horizon â a complete antithesis to his dire situation.
"Hm-hm-hm-hm-hm, the rat has been cornered," the red-cloaked spoke.
Seth quickly turned to them and unsheathed his sword, entering a defensive stance afterward.
"Futile!" exclaimed the red-cloaked. He raised his hand and aimed it at Seth. And then, in the blink of an eye, Seth's sword shattered into small pieces.
Seth's eyes had widened in surprise. As if the time had slowed down, he watched every piece that was slowly falling down to the ground. It reminded him of what happened to the right arm of the brawny man outside their house.
"This... this is not elemental magic," Seth muttered in disbelief.
"Your consciousness..." the black-cloaked said, walking towards Seth.
"M-my consciousness...?"
Seth started shaking subconsciously in fear, slowly distancing himself from them until he was near the edge of the cliff.
"Your consciousness is 161 years older than your body," the black-cloaked continued.
"What d-does that m-mean...?"
The black-cloaked ignored Seth's words.
"Because of that..." The black-cloaked fell silent for a few seconds and aimed his right hand at Seth. "I'll let fate decide for your life."
Before Seth got the chance to say something, his consciousness had left him. His body became limp as if he was a corpse. Now that there was no strength in his body, he fell onto the ground.
No. He fell off the cliff.
If he wasn't unconscious, he would scream in despair as he was falling. But even with his loudest voice, he wouldn't be heard because of the strong winds. He would only hear the ear-piercing whistling of the winds.
After a few seconds, Seth was nowhere in sight of the two cloaked figures as the clouds below the cliff enveloped him.
"Why...? WHY?! WE SHOULD HAVE TORTURED THE KID FIRST!" the red-cloaked lashed out. "I WANTED TO SEE HIM IN DESPAIR! Despair... despair... despair... despair... despaâ"
"Enough."
The black-cloaked cut him off and aimed his hand at the red-cloaked. Right away, the red-cloaked fell onto the ground, unconscious. The black-cloaked dragged the red-cloaked by the arm and flew away, leaving the area.