The entire cave came alive for a few moments as the shattered crystal pieces descended towards the floor. Some were big enough to crush him, while the others were small enough to penetrate his eyes. Hal pulled back and covered his face with his hand, blocking out the falling crystals.
The beautiful chaos soon died down and so did his adrenaline as Hal felt a pulsating pain and warmth of blood in his hands. He got with a pained groan and made his way to the edge of the ledge he was standing on and looked down.
The abomination was dead skewered and battered by the pieces of crystal that fell upon it. Hal sighed as his attention now shifted to something else, where Tai was. His eyes darted from one point to another until, suddenly, one of the large pieces of crystal was nudged out of position.
His eyes moved to the position as he witnessed the handsome swordsman climb out of the rubble and stare up at him with a thumbs up. Hal fell back as he finally let his body rest his bloodied hand falling upon his chest.
Tai soon joined him on top of the cliff. The two boys rested their bodies before coming to their next plan of action. Hal heard Tai groan from pain, yet he was unwilling to leave the weirdly comfortable spot he had just found himself on the cave floor.
"So, what's next" Hal had gathered his weak voice just to produce this one statement, he may not have done as much as Tai but at the same time his body was not as strong as Tai's body, he was used to the easy life of a rich kid not the life of slaying monsters so who would blame him for being this tired.
Tai took his time to answer before finally saying, "Well, I guess we should head to the capital, but I don't feel like it just yet". Hal sighed, and truly, he was in no rush to move, so he joined the handsome boy as they both lay on the cold floor of the cave, letting their sleep overwhelm their bodies.
***
The two boys finally gathered enough strength to leave the cave, the warm radiance falling upon their faces. The opening they came out of was unfamiliar to Tai, it was surrounded by green grass that was taller than either one of them, closing them in from all sides.
Hal scouted the area until his eyes came across a huge rock that rose above the grass itself "Hey Tai, I'm going to use that rock to scout around a bit". He made his way to the rock, climbing it with relative ease, compared to the wall in the cave, climbing this was a breeze.
Hesoon found himself towering above it all his eyes scouting the terrain until they came across a road in the distance "Hey I see a road" Tai's face brightened as he raised his voice to allow Half to hear him "That must be the road leading to Ortario" Half stroked his chin for a while before shouting out to Tai "Ortario, what's that?" Tai seemed confused by the question as he answered "It's one of the mabort cities of Haverfield" Half felt a little awkward as he proceeded to ask "And what is Haverfield" Tai was taken aback as he answered with a higher volume than he was previously using "Wait you don't know that either" Tai smacked his face with his palm as he know sounded disappointed instead "Just get down and then I'll explain".
Hal sighed as he prepared to descend from the rock but then suddenly felt a strong gaze upon him he looked around but could not see a thing "Hey, Hal is everything alright" he turned to look at Tai after hearing the handsome swordsman's concerned voice he smiled at him assuring him that there was nothing wrong but he still could shake the feeling that something was watching him but from where.
Hal soon descended down the rock forcing himself to ignore the gaze of whatever being it was looking at him. He joined Tai, who gave him a weird look, "I know you said you don't remember anything, but I didn't expect it to be this bad".
The two boys began moving as Hal found himself taken in by Tai's explanation "Well the kingdom you are standing in is known as Haverfield and within in lie multiple cities, towns and villages but among those are the four major cities" Tai's face turned prideful for a bit as the young swordsman continued "My home Ortario just happens to be the most beautiful of these great cities"
Haverfield and its four great cities, there was no way he was still home, but how did he get here? Was it that lookalike? He bit his lips as a flurry of thoughts swept through his head, but suddenly his ears twitched as he heard the grass rustle, not once or twice, but a multitude of times. He turned to Tai and shouted, "RUNNNN!!".
The two of them rushed forward as the grass around them began to rustle uncontrolably sending terror through Hal's heart the grass seemed to thicken infront of them slowing down their already slow and injured bodies Tai drew his blade and struck out at the grass causing the grass to release a low roar as the grass pulled back as if pushed by the wind.
Tai was frozen as if hypnotised by it, but Hal thought fast and grabbed the swordsman and shook him out of it as the two resumed their escape from the beast, as something began to pursue, causing the grass behind them to rustle violently. Both of them were unwilling to give up their lives to the creature.
The boys pushed harder and harder as the creature came closer and closer until the grass parted for the last time, letting the two boys fall out of its terrifying embrace, with a carriage stopping right next to them.
Tai got up and smiled at the carriage but Hal was concerned with the yellow eyes that stared at them from the grass before disappearing without a trace.
"Hal, he said he's heading to Ortario come on" he got up at the sound of Tai's relieved voice but was that the thing that was watching him earlier or was there something else he shook the thought out of head and joined Tai in the carriage that was supposed to take them to this so called city "Ortario I wonder what it will be like".
The carriage set off with a jolt pushing the two boys back into their seats. Hal was happy to finally be somewhere other than that cave or the grass he could finally let his guard down at least for a minute but then he heard Tai's voice he spoke with a bit of relief mixed with intrigue and curiosity "Back in the cave I told you that if I survived you wouldtell me your reason to live so did you find it".
Hal's lips widened slightly before turning to a smile as he said, "My reason is to find a purpose, something to show my worth " Tai smiled before he spoke in a sombre tone as he said, "My reason is to become something people can hope in." He drew out his sword and presented it to Hal "This was my father's sword he was a hero to me the light I always followed but at some point, he changed he lost his will to live and soon he killed himself"
Hal could see the pain in Tai's eyes and voice as each word left his mouth but then the young swordsman smiled as he rose his blade to his face and said "That's why I want to be a beacon of hope so that no one experiences what I did so that people can contour their lives wanting to see another day thats my reason".
Hal found Tai's reason far superior to his, but then did he even care that the people he thought cared turned out not to, so why would he go out of his way to do all this for people hoping to use him? So in the end, he found his reason much more satisfying.
Hal found himself frozen for a minute before turning his gaze upward to the brightest star that stood out from the rest in the sky but from it came a gaze that made Hal quake as a soothing entered his eats it was calling him to get closer to it to get away from all these hypocrites and towards it.
His eyes darkened as his hands moved to the handle of the carriage door ready to fling him off. "I must jump off it calls to me" but then Tai touched his shoulder knocking him out of his trance as he turned to the handsome swordsman who pointed forward and said "Look Hal, We made it".