The next morning came with the scent of damp earth and the low groan of clouds drifting across the sky. A quest notice had come in at dawn—urgent, posted by a terrified logging foreman in the northern woods. Bears. Two of them, abnormally large and unusually aggressive. Timber harvesters had fled after the creatures stormed their worksite, and now the area was locked down.
Knight, Amber, and Miriam were the only ones available. Titus was off dealing with guild paperwork, and Sairis was still confined to bedrest. Darryl had accompanied Titus to a border checkpoint to deliver materials recovered from the bandits. That left the three of them to handle the bears.
The walk to the northern forest was quiet. Not tense—but muted, the way things often were between people still learning how to walk beside each other.
Amber walked with her staff hugged close to her chest, her white hair tied back with a black ribbon today. Miriam walked ahead, occasionally slashing at branches or tall grass with one of her knives. Knight walked behind them, helmet as always concealing his face, but his gaze often shifted to Amber. After the shopping trip, something had shifted. It didn't feel like a revelation—just a warmth that hadn't faded.
The forest thickened as they neared the clearing marked on the job map. Broken trees. Claw marks like gouged lines through bark. Blood on moss.
They didn't speak once they reached the site. They only spread out, quietly falling into formation—Knight at the front, Miriam flanking from the right, Amber staying further back, her staff ready.
The first bear came crashing through the undergrowth without warning. It was massive—easily twelve feet long, its fur matted and blackened, eyes bloodshot and rolling. The force of its charge shook the ground.
Knight surged forward. He was the shield now. He knew that. Even without armor, even with his sword still not as refined as Titus's or Miriam's knives, he had to hold the line.
He met the bear head-on, blade slashing upward—only for the bear to slam into him with its entire body weight. The impact knocked him off his feet and into a tree.
Amber gasped. "Knight—!"
But he was already moving again, blood dripping from under his helmet as he rose and charged. He ducked under a claw swipe and slashed at the bear's shoulder—his blade digging in but not deep enough. The creature howled and struck again, this time catching him full in the chest and hurling him across the clearing.
Miriam darted in, both daggers gleaming. She struck the bear's exposed flank, drawing blood, then flipped away just as it turned on her. "Amber! Now!"
A bolt of white light fired from Amber's staff. A flash spell—brief, blinding. The bear recoiled, giving Knight time to stagger up again.
Pain seared through his side. His ribs—at least one was cracked. Maybe more. But he gripped the hilt of his sword and didn't let go.
The second bear burst out from the opposite side of the clearing.
Amber's eyes widened. "There's two—!"
Miriam swore and spun around. "I'll handle the new one! Just don't die!"
The battle split into two fronts. Miriam versus the fresh bear—circling, cutting, using her agility to her advantage.
Knight faced the injured one again, now frothing and enraged. He braced himself. Every breath stabbed like fire through his lungs.
He was the one who knew best that his combat capabilities were behind every member of his party except maybe saris. So to make up for it, he always fought desperately.
But now that he had a person backing him up, it felt weird.
Amber's spells came steadily—bursts of slowing frost, magical pressure to keep the bear from charging. But the bear adjusted. It was adapting. And then, in a single reckless burst, it lunged—
Knight brought his blade up.
Too slow.
The paw hit him full force, smashing against his shoulder, breaking something. His helmet cracked against the ground, pain exploding across his vision. The bear loomed above him.
Amber screamed, sprinting forward now. "Don't—!"
The next spell she cast wasn't clean. It was raw emotion—ice and light blasting the creature point-blank. It stumbled back with a furious roar, giving Knight the second he needed.
He rolled backwards to create distance from himself and the bear which was now smashing into trees due to the pain it was feeling.
It was too dangerous to approach the rogue bear now but knight didn't care. All he had to make sure was that he didn't die.
He dashed towards the bear, barely avoiding its random slashes and drove his sword into it.
Right beneath the chin, into the soft roof of the mouth.
With more strength applied and a sound of bone cracking, the bear went limp and fell to the ground.
Miriam came panting a minute later, covered in scratches and bruises but grinning. "Killed mine."
Then she saw Knight, sprawled in blood and leaves.
Amber was already kneeling beside him, trembling hands pressing faint light into his wounds. "He's alive—just… gods, he's hurt."
"He looks like he got folded by a wyvern," Miriam muttered.
"…Might as well have," Amber whispered, not taking her eyes off him.
Knight coughed, barely conscious, voice hoarse. "Still… killed it."
"You're an idiot," Miriam said, kneeling next to him. "A big, reckless, dramatic idiot."
But her voice shook, just a little.
Amber leaned over him, eyes soft but terrified. "Don't move. Just let me work."
Knight blinked slowly. Through the blur of pain and blood and trees swaying above, he saw her face. The worry in her eyes. The way her hands never stopped glowing.
His vision faded, but not into darkness.
Just sleep.