Chapter 3:Fateful Encounter
Immediately after hearing the clang of the weapon, Peter quickly moved towards it, leaving the path so as not to be so easily visible.
After a dozen or so seconds, he stopped a few meters from the end of the tree line, beyond which lay an open area without trees.
The only exception was a huge oak-like tree standing in the middle of the clearing, under whose sprawling branches the following scene was unfolding.
Three armed men, who looked like typical robbers, were trying to capture a younger girl of average height with brown hair reaching slightly behind her ears.
She wore a white hoodie and was swinging her sword, trying to keep the attackers at bay. From the way she gripped the sword and swung it, it was easy to tell that she had no experience with this type of weapon.
The only reason she had not yet been defeated was the greater reach of her sword compared to those of her attackers.
It was certain that within a minute the fight would end with an obvious result.
Peter was faced with a choice—intervene in the fight or take the opportunity to avoid the strangers and head further south. Then, in a split second, he made his decision.
***
Selene was terrified. Less than an hour ago, fate had cast her into the Ether, and now, with only a sword given to her as a starting weapon and no skill in using it, she was desperately fighting against three heavily armed bandits.
They had the advantage in numbers, strength, weight, and, above all, combat experience. The situation was hopeless. Only immense luck had kept her alive this long, but the first mistake she made would surely be her end.
And the attackers weren't stupid. They didn't take any risk of a lucky strike from Selene's sword and waited for her to grow tired, carefully attacking from time to time, waiting for the perfect moment. Selene knew that she was running out of time.
Desperately, she scanned the clearing for anything that could help her and then—she tripped over a tree root, sticking out of the ground. A basic mistake. Her luck had run out. One of the bandits stepped forward, sword raised, ready to deliver the final blow.
'Hah, they don't even want me alive. They just want to kill me right away.'
The last thought flashed through Selene's mind as she watched the descending blade. But the sword never reached its target.
The sound of steel clashing against steel rang through the clearing as the attacker's weapon was torn off its path.
Another man stepped into view—silent, sudden, as if carved from the shadows themselves. He wore a travel-worn black cloak, the kind meant to endure the worst corners of the Ether.
Beneath it, loose layers of dark clothes concealed his body, making it look unremarkable. Only his broad shoulders hinted that he was stronger than he looked.
His hair — almost perfectly black, clipped short in a style as practical as it was severe — framed a face stripped of warmth.
A faint, well-kept stubble shadowed his jaw, the kind that made him look less like a wanderer and more like a man who simply had more pressing matters than appearance.
But it was his eyes that froze Selene in place. Dark gray, nearly indistinguishable from black, yet devoid of the feral intensity she expected.
There was no uncertainty there. No fear. No spark of anything human.
Just a quiet, disciplined emptiness — the gaze of someone who had learned to bury every emotion deep enough that even monsters would fail to dig it out.
He projected nothing. No anger, no heroism, not even the satisfaction of saving her. Only a cold, unreadable stillness.
The calm of a man who trusted no one — and didn't need to.
After deflecting the blow, he stepped between her and the bandits, preparing his sword with stoic calm, disregarding even how dire the situation was. Everything was done with a measured precision that sent a shiver down her spine.
Not dramatic. Not reckless. Just inevitable.
Selene still couldn't believe her eyes. A stranger had intervened on her behalf, despite joining what was clearly a losing fight.
'Who the hell is this guy?'
She barely had time to finish the thought before, in the next moment, the stranger moved — and the clearing erupted into motion once more.
***
Peter lunged at the nearest bandit, then suddenly changed the direction of his strike, turning it into a horizontal slash that cut through the chest of the opponent on the left.
It wasn't a fatal wound, but it temporarily took the opponent out of the fight.
Turning to his right, he now faced the two remaining men.
His greatest advantage was the element of surprise, which left his enemies too shocked to even think of using their aspects and elemental powers—abilities that could introduce dangerous unpredictability into the fight.
Peter, who still had no idea how to use his own element, relied instead on his aspect, which enhanced his reaction time enough to shift the odds of victory in his favor.
An experienced swordsman observing the fight would notice Peter's highly aggressive and unpredictable style—one that focused more on attacking than defending.
It was clear he had practiced this style for years.
But the same observer would also recognize that he had never killed a man using a sword.
And each of his opponents had different aspects and unknown abilities. Soon, the element of surprise had faded, and one of the bandits finally had the presence of mind to use his skills.
Peter's instincts screamed of impending danger. At the last moment, he leaped backward, barely avoiding the roots that shot up from the ground where he had stood just a fraction of a second earlier.
'Control over plants? An inconvenient opponent, especially in a place like a forest,'
Peter thought, already planning to end the fight as quickly as possible. But his problem wasn't just the plant-wielding bandit—there was also the third attacker, who had yet to reveal his abilities—not to mention the first bandit, who was already getting back on his feet.
The plant-controlling bandit, stunned that his opponent had avoided such a perfect ambush, hesitated for just a second.
And a second was all Peter needed. Lunging forward, he drove his sword straight into the bandit's chest, piercing his heart and killing him instantly.
Without sparing the corpse a glance, he turned to face the last of his enemies. But now the roles were reversed, Peter was exposed, and the bandit took advantage of the opportunity.
His sword swung toward Peter's ribs—and in that moment, he revealed his own skills. And they were very dangerous.