Heavy in both mind and body, Rowan somehow made his back to his dwellings. The battle had taken its toll and he instantly collapsed on the floor once he made it past the barrier of thorns. His wounds ached and his chest burned with every breath, but the pain wasn’t important in the teenage boy's mind. No, what currently preoccupied his mind was a sense of guilt and one question.

  Why?

  Why couldn’t he kill the dragon?

  Why couldn’t he exact his vengeance?

  Why did his arm refuse to listen?

  Why did he retreat?

  Why didn’t he stay and finish the dragon?

  Why didn’t he stay and help fight it off with Grandpa?

  WHY?

  Rowan’s mind was so unfocused that at this point memories and thoughts began to mix. Emotions that he had kept bottled away and buried deep down in his heart began to resurface.

  What had kept him alive all these years without going crazy?

  Determination. His sole belief that he could survive and leave the Forest of Death. It was a daunting and seemingly impossible task, but he made small improvements along the way. Sure, they were baby steps and looked like it wouldn't change the outcome of his fate, but the steps slowly added up. Now what seemed like an impossible goal has been changed to a very highly difficult mission. At least that was how he personally rated the goal of leaving the forest. This was his judgment after traversing the forest depth for two months now.

  Not impossible, but just extremely difficult.

  Most people would laugh and call him crazy, but that did not matter to Rowan.

  What mattered was his own judgment. What help him make that judgment was the sole focus and belief and in himself that he could one leave. That was what kept him sane to this day.

  However that determination was spit in the face today.

  Determination had more than carried him through the battle with the red dragon, along with his long years of training. That all proved fruitless in the end as the dragon still lived.

  What was he supposed to say to Grandpa Rodan? The images of the dragons began to mix as the blackness of night and blood red began to fuse together in Rowans mind.

  So lost in thought Rowan hadn’t noticed one single solitary tear forming in his eyes. It slowly dripped down as he began to confuse memories and reality.

  “Grandpa…” The last words uttered by Rowan as sleep finally overtook him

  ***

  Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

  Sounds of birds made their way into Rowan’s weary mind as he slowly regained his senses. Then his mind snapped awake immediately as he tried to right himself, only to feel pain erupting from what felt like every part of his body.

  The memories flashed back to Rowan as he tried to recall how he ended up on the ground lying face down. Sleep had done wonders on his mind as his thoughts were much clearer than compared to when he returned. On the hand, his body felt like it still needed much rest to recover. That would certainly explain the pain. He hasn't even addressed the numerous cuts on his body and slept on the cold hard ground floor.

  Wait, how long did he sleep? It was hard to tell time when he only had the sun to rely on as a clock. The skies were still bright when he returned. He wasn't even sure when exactly he returned, except the sky had not become dark yet. Counting days was a difficult task since he could only rely on the sun, and he had been unconscious when the sun set and rose.

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  There wasn't much Rowan could do. If his body needed to rest, then he could only let it sleep to recover. Besides, he was already feeling much better. Sure, his body may still hurt all over, but fortunately most of the cuts have already closed.

  Why do I hear birds all of a sudden?

  Birds were an unfamiliar sound. In fact, after staying in the abandoned elf village for these past years, he had never heard the sounds of birds before.

  Howling and roars were something Rowan had grown accustomed to listening to in the forest. Peaceful chirping? That was new. All animals struggle in the Forest of Death and birds are no different. In fact, the only flying beast Rowan had seen was the dragon. A shudder ran down his body as it didn't take a genius to figure out the reason why the presence of avian creatures were absent.

  Yet, for some strange reason, he could hear the melodious chirping today. He thought he was dreaming when he heard the sound.

  Rowan slowly got up and looked for the source. It didn’t take long to locate the origin of the chirping.

  A lone solitary sparrow had somehow made its way into the depths and was now perching on the Mother Tree. The presence of an animal that wasn't trying to kill Rowan seemed so strange that he had no choice, but to stop and stare for a bit.

  The sparrow didn't seem to care about Rowan’s presence and joyfully twittered away. What could the bird be so happy about that it had somehow ended up here?

  That was when Rowan noticed the golden color fruit that was hanging from one of the branches of the Mother Tree. A faint sweet smell emitted from the fruit. Was that what had drawn in the bird?

  Rowan knew right away that the fruit was almost ready. Without a logical explanation, he just knew, even though he had never handled Mother Tree Fruit before. It was odd, but Rowan didn't put too much thought into it. What was important was that the fruit would become ripe soon. He had promised Almar he would stay until the Mother Tree had produced its first fruit. Now that the fruit was about to mature, what was Rowan supposed to do? He had never thought what would happen after he kept his promise.

  There had been a few times that Rowan had thought of just picking the fruit, ripe or not. The tree was what kept him here, so if it was gone, then he would be able to leave. Dark thoughts that always came up. However those thoughts were always brought to a swift end as he remembered learning what was sacrificed in order to bring him to full health.

  Rowan may be stuck in the wilds, but that did not mean he was a savage. He still had the integrity to keep his promise. Otherwise what kind of knight would he be if he couldn't keep his word?

  Rowan decided that he’ll leave the thoughts of what to do after to when it actually happens. For now his focus was on the bird. If he caught it now, he wondered how the bird would taste.

  Sensing the bloodlust in Rowan's thoughts, the sparrow stopped chirping and immediately took off.

  Rowan could only look in disappointment as he had no choice but to let the bird go. His body wasn't in the best shape so he couldn't run up and catch the bird. Arrows were not the best choice as one shot would destroy the bird’s body and he would be left with nothing but feathers. There were also no arrows for him to use. The quivers he originally had bought with him had scattered somewhere in the forest from the chaos of the battle. All the rest of his arrows were nowhere near him as he had stored them away in his little cave den which were safe from natural elements for the most part.

  Was there actually no arrows?

  Rowan recalled what he did yesterday and wondered if he reproduced the same feat. He would need to first fix his left hand though as it was still transformed into a spike. He had left his left hand in its transformed state and hadn't brother to fix it when he returned.

  While Rowan could return his left hand to normal right away, Rowan first wanted to check something else.

  Rowan circulated mana into his left arm and inspected it, The bones in his left hand, or rather his fingers, were completely gone.

  It made sense in a way since the bones were still in his fingers when he transformed them into arrows and shot them away. Rowan had completely forgotten about the bones when the idea of transforming his fingers into arrows hit him.

  Now he was faced with the reality that his finger bones were completely gone.

  It wasn't too big a deal, but it just hurt Rowan’s heart a bit. Bones were what left of his arms that felt normal. Right now, the arms were made of wood with bones embedded deep inside as the single part that could not change.

  It wasn't a major problem. It was much better to sacrifice a few bones instead of being in a dragon's belly.

  Rowan slowly transformed his left hand back to normal. The sharp edge had been cut off and five fingers were slowly beginning to form. Rowan observed his handiwork and checked if his newly formed left hand would work properly. One question popped up as he observed the inner parts of his hand.

  Do I actually need the bones?