The Battle for Leyta

The Forest of Broken Dreams

As night fell, Dromer became more and more alert because of an eerie silence that fell upon his little campsite.

'This is weird... The wind is blowing, but... There's no sound coming from the forest... Where are the animals?'

Then, Dromer felt someone behind him.

's**t!'

Dromer quickly got away from whatever was behind him and drew his sword, but there was no reason to be so cautious. What he saw was a small child in torn rags. The child's physique showed that he was starving and dehydrated.

"Who are you? Where did you come from? Answer me, NOW!"

The boy fainted. Dromer immediately rushed to him and checked his breathing.

'Alright, he's still alive. There should be something in my bag to help him recover...'

Dromer looked through it and found a mana potion.

"Here, drink this."

Dromer helped the boy to sit up and slowly poured the potion into his mouth. The boy swallowed and slowly regained consciousness.

"Heya, you hungry, boy?"

The boy nodded.

"Alright, kid. I'll make something real quick, give me a moment."

Dromer took some meat he gathered from a rabbit he had hunted during the day and made the boy a small meal to sate his hunger.

Dromer proceeded to put the food into a wooden bowl and handed it to the young child.

The boy took the bowl and started to eat. As Dromer looked upon the boy, he pondered:

'Where the hell did he come from? How did I not feel his presence as he was approaching me? This doesn't make any sense!"

As soon as the boy ate, Dromer asked him:

"Who are you and where are you from?"

The boy didn't want to answer him, but, seeing as Dromer fed him and cared for him, he couldn't be that rude.

"My name is Oliver. I came from the Forest of Broken Dreams. The same forest that is behind us."

"I understood that much, Oliver. But where are you originally from? It doesn't make any sense for a child to be living in a forest all by themselves," Dromer said.

"Oh, that's what you mean... Well, I come from someplace on the other side of the forest. I can't remember the name of it. I've been in that forest for three days now."

'Well, that explains the torn rags...' Dromer thought to himself.

"Understood... Hmmm... Let's see, what we can do here. Tell me about this forest. What do you know?"

"Well, I don't know anything about it, at least, nothing too important. It is said that the Forest of Broken Dreams can make you hallucinate with visions of your past life and how it should've been, not how it is. And then destroy those visions with such violence that you go insane."

Dromer, before asking another question, looked at Oliver and then said:

"Well, Oliver? Are the rumours true or not?"

Oliver seemed surprised that Dromer asked him that

"What rumours?"

"About the Forest of Broken Dreams."

Oliver thought to himself a bit and then replied:

"To be truthfully honest, I must say that the rumours are false. Even though you do see your past life how it should've been, the visions don't get destroyed, at all. You just live in those visions until you die."

"Holy shit... That's interesting... How did you pass through the forest on your own?" Dromer became more alert than before.

"Well, I don't know. I just kept walking without paying attention to those visions," Oliver said with a devious smile on his face.

"Is that right...?" Dromer then quickly leapt backwards, pulled out his sword, and pointed it at Oliver.

"Who are you?! ANSWER ME BEFORE I TAKE YOUR HEAD!"

Oliver stood up, looked at Dromer and then said:

"Alright, alright. You got me. I'm not Oliver and I'm also not a child. I am known as the Master of the Forest. My name is Londin. I am the last survivor of the Yuritanian tribe."

"The what tribe? Anyways, it doesn't matter. Tell me, how do I get to the capital city Ytrea?" Dromer asked with his sword still pointed at Londin.

"Well, good sir, you must pass through the Forest of Broken Dreams and then head East from there," Londin said.

"Will you guide me through it, or am I gonna have to burn the whole forest down to get through it on my own?"

Londin chuckled and said:

"You can try to burn it down, but you'll fail miserably. You'll be attacked by the guardian spirit which protects this forest and everything within it. You won't survive her attack."

"The guardian spirit? What do you mean?" Dromer seemed surprised

"The spirit that created the forest. I can't guide you through it, nor can you follow me into it. The barrier encircling the forest makes all travellers lose their way immediately. That happens when they get teleported to a random location."

Dromer pondered a bit and then said:

"Alright, so, that means that as soon as I enter the forest, I have to go backwards, right?"

Londin didn't say a word, just sat there in silence.

"Am I right, or what? Tell me." Dromer commanded.

Londin nodded and then went back into the forest.

Dromer didn't want to follow Londin immediately, so he kept sitting for some time finishing his meal before standing up and going into the forest himself.

As soon as he stepped into the forest, he felt that he had been teleported. His thoughts got jumbled up for a moment. After he regained his train of thought, he continued forward to try and meet this "guardian spirit".

"Guardian spirit of the Forest of Broken Dreams! Answer my call and appear before me!"

Soon after Dromer made his demand, the ground around him started to shake violently. Then, the guardian spirit appeared.

"You must be either brave or helplessly stupid to call on me, human. I am the guardian spirit of this forest. Call me Yeria."

Dromer looked upon the guardian spirit and asked:

"Yeria. I have only two questions for you. First, how possible is it for someone to stumble upon us here?"

"It's impossible. Why do you ask?" Yeria seemed interested?

"This is why..." Dromer replied

After a short pause, Dromer turned back into an angel.

Yeria was shocked.

"Dromer of the Council of Ten? What are you doing here? Last I heard all angels were killed! How are you still alive?"

"It's easy, Yeria. About less than a month ago, two of my subordinates and I retreated to the human realm under the orders of Verdactius himself."

Yeria thought for a moment and then asked:

"Well? What's your second question?"

Dromer once again took his human form.

"How do I get to Ytrea - the capital city of the Kingdom of Frugr?"

Yeria looked at Dromer and then replied:

"Walk forward. Don't look around to either side. Just keep your head straight and walk forward. After you get out of the forest, head east."

"Thank you, Yeria. Also, inform Londin to never try to hide his presence and identity from me or I'll kill him."

Yeria nodded and disappeared.

Dromer started his journey through the Forest of Broken Dreams. Soon, night fell. He pitched a tent right where he was standing and went to sleep.

When the morning came, he went outside the tent, put a stick on the ground to show which way he had to go, put away the tent and continued.

Two hours later, he was at the centre of the forest. There, he felt someone watching him. Dromer stopped and in a loud voice commanded:

"Show yourself! I can feel you watching me. There's no reason for you to hide from me!"

Then, people appeared from the bushes around him. Dromer felt that he was in danger, so he pulled out his sword and prepared for the worst.

One of the people spoke up:

"No need to be so cautious, my friend. We came into this forest together and wanted to know if you'd be willing to join us."

Dromer looked at the lady speaking to him.

"Really? You came into this forest together as a group and have been as a group ever since entering?"

"Well, yes. Isn't it obvious?"

Dromer, after a minute, replied:

"It should be impossible, lady. This is the Forest of Broken Dreams. Everyone who enters gets teleported to a random location within the forest. Since your men are blocking my way, I can only assume that you want to either rob me, kill me or both."

The lady spoke up once again.

"My name is Valentina. I hope you understand, that those rumours aren't true."

Dromer laughed and said:

"Valentina, huh? You know, as soon as I entered this forest, I felt that I got teleported. Since it seems like this is the centre of it, I know that in about two hours I'll get back out. You lot, seem to think that you can go ahead and ambush someone here. Maybe you could do that with any other person, except for me."

Valentina c****d her head to the side and asked:

"What do you mean? Who are you?"

"I am known as Dorian of the Sacred Sword. I don't think you've heard of me. I am an S-rank adventurer from the Great Empire."

Valentina shook her head and said:

"Never heard of you. Now. Give us all of your belongings and you'll get to get out of here with your arms and legs in place."

Dromer started to laugh uncontrollably. After about a minute of continuous laughter, he stopped and then, with a menacing look on his face, warned the group.

"Leave. If you don't, no one will see you all ever again..."

Valentina scoffed and replied:

"We are a group known as the Killer Fangs! We don't bow down to anyone but ourselves! WE ARE THE ONES WHO RULE OVER THIS REGION AND THOSE WHO KILL ANYONE WHO DARES TO STEP FOOT ON OUR LAND!!!"

Dromer stood in silence. Everything around them became quiet. Then, a loud female voice boomed over the area.

"Bandits who have gone into hiding from me. Hear my words and burn them into your memories! I am Yeria, the guardian spirit of this forest! You will not harm anyone who has entered my domain and has presented themselves as a friend! Such threats will NOT go unpunished! Every single one of you is going to pay for your insolence! NOW DIE!!!"

After the last two words, the tree roots started to move with incredible speed. Twenty out of the thirty people there were instantly skewered by the tree roots and pulled into the ground leaving no trace of them.

Then, Yeria's voice could be heard again.

"Dromer of the Council of Ten, the rest of these vermin are yours to kill!"

"Thank you, Yeria. I'll never forget the kindness you've shown me." Dromer thanked her.

Dromer then appeared right behind Valentina with his sword at her nape. The nine others who were left alive by Yeria were already made into lumps of guts, brains and torn rags that smelled like a cow had s**t, pissed and vomited all in the same place.

Valentina, with visible and audible fear, spoke to Dromer:

"Y-you don't h-have to do t-this, y-y-you know? I am just an i-innocent b-bystander!"

"Don't f*****g lie to me, you b***h. All who dare to be hostile towards me get killed. No questions asked."

Then, Dromer pushed his sword into her neck, and pulled the sword down, cutting Valentina almost in two. All that held her corpse together was the skull. Blood dripped down and all her intestines fell to the ground.

Dromer sheathed his sword and kept walking until Yeria appeared before him once again.

"I thank you, Dromer. I'll teleport you outside the forest as compensation. Once again, thank you."

"No need to thank me, Yeria. I did what the situation made me do. May the Gods protect you."

Yeria then teleported Dromer outside of the forest and pointed him in the direction of Ytrea, the capital of the Kingdom of Frugr.