Chase

Terran was running. He always ended up running. His tiny feet were scratched constantly as he ran down the path but he knew he’d be hurt worse if he went back for his shoes.

He exhaled harshly, his lungs burning from the excess running. 

‘Home- I just have to make it home- just a little more.’ He repeated over and over in his mind.

The sound of footsteps was getting louder and louder, and with each second his anxiety grew. Suddenly, he felt something hard hit his leg and he fell over. He was stunned and looked at his leg, a large bruise was already beginning to appear on his calf. 

Looking up, he saw Yem smiling cruelly at him from a distance. His chubby body, unconventional for an elf, made him look all the more arrogant. It only took one look from Arlo to wipe the smirk off his face, after all, Yem was a coward.

Yerra, Yem’s sister, stood silently at the side. Though quiet, she definitely wasn’t any less of a bully.

I quietly looked at them before getting off the ground, there was no point in running now, the moment I fell down I knew there was no hope of getting away. Might as well face ‘em like a man. Arlo was the first to approach, the other two following in tow.

 You could say Arlo was perfect, his hair was a golden colour. As the colour of the sun, it was a favourite among elves- only second to green- and his eyes were a beautiful, piercing orange, like a sunset over a big, blue ocean. He had grades, magic, everything, yet he still had such a fierce desire to bully me. Maybe he had a crush? I almost laughed out loud until I remembered my situation. I was about to get the crap beaten out of me.

Arlo looked down at me with his superior height and smiled mockingly. “Oh I guess you’re not going to hide behind your sister today? What, is the forest going to burn down?” 

I just quietly looked at him. After all, what was the point in antagonizing him? He’d be unhappy, I’d end up worse than I would’ve and it wouldn’t have been worth it. Although, maybe it’s that attitude that made me his victim in the first place.

I sighed before feeling the wind get knocked out of me. Arlo’s fist connected perfectly with my stomach. My body hit the ground like a fallen leaf. Then the pain in my gut finally set in. 

‘God, did they have to hit so hard? I wasn’t even fighting back!’

His stomach twisted in knots as he felt a foot hit his shoulder, he looked up, of course it was Yerra. Her face was twisted in a disgusting grin that sent shivers down his spine. For some reason Yerra had always been the worst abuser, it almost seemed like she had a personal hatred against him.

Terran took a quick breath in. He tried to remember what his mom had said, that every person had a story, that every action had a reason, he bit his lip as they pummeled him, not saying a word.

“What are you doing!” An enraged voice sounded from behind his line of sight that was obstructed by the bodies of the people currently trouncing him. He knew immediately who it was.

Althi.

It only took a second before he saw Yem get smacked to the ground with a firm foot implanted in his back. Although he was against violence, he had to say that Yem’s cowering expression was immensely pleasing. Arlo looked at her angrily while Yerra cowered behind him.

“What do you think you’re doing, Althea,” although his voice seemed calm, his eyes were unnaturally fierce. 

“I should be asking you that!” She yelled back at him with a ferocity that only seemed to come out when it involved her family, her face was contorted in rage, her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips were so puckered they almost looked like a prune.

“Fighting in Occton is illegal without express permission from the chief!” She pointed her finger at him accusingly.

“Well, it wasn’t really a fight,” Arlo said with a chuckle, “And have you already forgotten who my father is? I don’t need to go through such tedious matters.” He said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

I slowly got off the ground and immediately cringed. ‘Holy crap, I feel like I’ve been trampled by a herd of Lain Deer!’ Immediately I fell back onto the ground, which gave Arlo a good chuckle. I grit my teeth and pulled my body off the ground. I wouldn’t give him a reason to laugh at me.

Althi immediately ran to my side to help me up. I quietly leaned on her, hoping to somehow quell the pain. Taking a deep breath, I pulled myself away and managed to stand on my own- although a little wobbly. I knew Arlo would make fun of me if I still couldn’t stand up on my own.

Somehow, me doing this had made Althi even more enraged, she glared at Arlo chillingly before yelling, “I’m going to tell everyone what you did today, and all the other times as well!”

Arlo wasn’t worried by this at all, he just dug his ear out before responding with a smirk on his face, “That’s what you said last time as well, but did you forget that my dad’s the chief and that you only have two witnesses, while I have three?” He gestured to Yem, who at some point had managed to escape from my sister’s foot to behind Arlo, along with Yerra who hadn’t moved an inch since the beginning.

I sighed before looking at my sister. “Let’s just go.” 

“But they!”

“I know,” I said with a chuckle, “I’m the one who got beaten up, remember?” I said with a chuckle.

‘After all, who’re the people gonna believe, two siblings who are overall pretty average, or the all star A+ student who couldn’t do wrong even if he tried? It was stupid to even compare. They’d rather believe that I’d beaten myself up than that he had done it. Plus, elves heal quickly so as long as they don’t break my bones or something, no one will go to the trouble of picking a fight to try and resolve this.’

Yerra had her palms clenched so hard that they were turning white and was biting her lip so hard I was getting worried. I didn’t want her to hurt herself after all.

“At least you have something of a brain; the universe couldn’t be too hard on you after all.” Arlo smiled as he turned around, “I’d suggest you stick by your sister, we wouldn’t want this to happen again now would we?”

He waved his hand as he left. Yem looked back at my sister with a vengeful glare and Yerra somehow still looked pristine and gloomy, as if the bullying had never taken place.

After they had finally gone out of view, Althi immediately ran up to me and grabbed my hand angrily. “Why do you keep letting them do this to you,” she yelled as she shook her head sadly, “look at how hurt you are, even if they didn’t break bones…”

Althi bit her lip, her emerald eyes glittered with tears as she stared at me sadly. Quickly, she grit her teeth and wiped her eyes while I looked at her quizzically.

She gave an enormous smile, warm and gentle, “Big sisters don’t cry.”

I rolled my eyes at her and she chuckled before flicking my head. “Don’t tell mom and dad what I did,” she said with a serious expression.

“Of course not.” I said while nodding seriously. After all she’d get in big trouble if they knew she’d used violence against the bullies.

Suddenly, I felt my hand get grabbed and I was pulled onto the grass. “Ow, ow, ow! What the hell?!” 

“Oh, stop being a baby, I’m gonna heal you, so stop fussing.” She said as she flicked my forehead again.

I scratched my forehead in annoyance as I watched her, she placed one of her hands close to my forehead. “Humi, I need your help,” she whispered. Suddenly, there was a wisp of green light that came from her forearm. It flew towards my face at lightning speed before stopping just in front of my eyes. In front of me was a familiar face, a small green creature with big black eyes, a bushy squirrel-like tail and long antenna ears was staring at me in disapproval. It looked at me in annoyance and flicked its tail lightly before reaching out its tiny black nose and lightly pressing it against my forehead. 

It felt tingly, like an electric shock being sent through my whole body. I shuddered before suddenly a feeling of weightlessness overcame me. 

“Humi’s healing powers have gotten better I see.” I looked at the tiny humprin in surprise. Before, all Humi could do was slightly numb the pain but now I felt nothing.

Althi looked at me with pride, sticking her nose into the sky with a big grin. “Ohoh look at the greatness of your sister.”

“Humi’s the one who did it.” I said mockingly.

Almost instantly I was met with a slap to the head. “Well I’m the one who trained him!” She said huffily while I rubbed my head and chuckled. I knew she was trying to cheer me up like the great sister she was, so of course I couldn’t let her efforts go to waste.

She looked at me in concern and gave a sigh before speaking, “after about a minute you should be completely numb, I’ll be able to carry you home then, you’ll be healed in about an hour with the help of Humi’s magic.”

I nodded heavily. In order to cast healing magic, one should always first cast a numbing spell. The feeling of your body being stitched back together without anesthesia would be terribly painful after all. Of course, the worse the wound the more magic needed to heal it, so in emergency situations where no magic could be wasted as anesthesia than people may use no numbing spell, but in that situation it’s debatable whether the patient would rather just die or not.

Athi gave a wide smile as I felt my eyes becoming harder and harder to keep open. “Don’t you worry bro, after all, your spirit ceremony is coming up, with your luck you’ll get a warrior spirit and then those bullies won’t be able to hurt you any longer.

“A… warrior?” My mind felt groggy, I could barely think, but on this one thing my mind stayed very clear. “I… don’t want something that hurts anyone…”

I heard my sister say with a sigh, “You definitely take after mom.”

I smiled happily before feeling the effects of the numbing spell become too much to resist and fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Author's Note

Criticism where ever possible. Thank you.