What Do You Mean I'm The King Now??

"Are you sure about this, King Ash? I'm almost out of arrows."

We're currently weaving through the thick, green underbrush, running east towards the source of the footsteps. I jump in time to avoid tripping over a gnarled tree root arcing out of the ground, then duck under a mass of hanging vines before turning to my elf companion, waving her off with a free hand. "It's fine, it's fine. We're just going to take a quick peek." I split from Candy, darting to the left to avoid running into a cl.u.s.ter of trees, and she momentarily disappears from view. "And besides," I continue as she emerges on the other end, "if things get dangerous, we'll employ the secret strategy."

"Secret strategy, King Ash?"

"Tactical retreat."

Candy puts a finger to her chin, and her eyes roll upwards, as if deep in thought. Then, I see the light bulb go off. "Oh!" she says, pointing to me with a grin, "Like that time with the snails in the Panther Woods."

I give her a nodding smile and point back. "Precisely, Candy."

"And that time with the mushrooms in the Emerald Grove."

"Exactly."

"And that time with the slimes in the Foxland Forest."

"Er, right," I say, the smile on my face slowly fading.

"Didn't we also use it on the pigs in the Shadow Willow Marsh?"

My running gait slows down to a trot. Candy notices and stops ahead, waiting for me to catch up. As I approach her, I look up and say, "We did run away an awful lot back then, didn't we?"

She offers a giggle and replies, "Well, you were pathetically weak, King Ash."

The brutal sincerity of her statement, so lacking in malice and so casually made, strikes through my ego like a hot poker. I clutch at my c.h.e.s.t, grimacing, but alas, I cannot do much but admit Candy is right. When I had first arrived in this world, I had been pathetically weak. And to some extent, I still am. I know this, better than anyone else, that I still have a long journey ahead, filled with many struggles and challenges, if I am to become strong enough to live up to my namesake. But that doesn't mean I haven't come a long way from the sniveling, cowardly, perverted high school teenager that I was when I first arrived.

Okay, that last part might still be true.

My eyes soften for a moment as I turn to my elf companion and say, "It's been a crazy year, hasn't it Candy?" She gives me a curious look, and I continue, "Sorry, I was just remembering all that we've been through together." I walk forward, grabbing ahold of Candy's hands with my own. Then I look up into her round, golden eyes. "You'll stay with me, right? Until the very end?"

Candy's face adopts a rare, solemn expression, and she replies, "As the promise I made to you. I am yours, King Ash. Forever and ever."

I nod with a smile, then tug on Candy's arm, pulling her into a run with me. "Come on, let's go see what's making all that noise."

****

As we approach the source of the footsteps, I hold up my hand and gesture for Candy to stop. "Over here," I whisper. I pull her towards me so that we are both hidden behind the reddish-brown trunk of a giant sequoia. Then carefully, I peek out from the edge of the tree to survey the situation ahead.

Immediately, I spot the humanoid forms of three large creatures, each standing about eight feet tall. They look like oversized orangutans, with their coats of orange fur. While two have their backs to me, I can see the face of the third. Its features somewhat resemble that of a goblin, housing the same flat snout and two large ears that each curve sharply to a point. Unlike the typical goblin however, its monkey-like face is covered with a dark-brown beard that stretches from cheek to cheek as well as two large, bushy eyebrows that curve up menacingly like horns.

Looking at the creature before me, I see that its mouth hangs slightly open, revealing rows of jagged teeth and four extremely large canines. Then I look to the creature's powerful, clawed hands, spotting the massive, spiked club, made of wood and steel and covered with blood. I turn to Candy and whisper, "What is that? A super goblin?"

Candy shakes her head in reply. "I think it's called a 'bugbear'."

"Bugbear?" I turn my gaze back to the creatures, noticing that they have ceased walking. Instead, they are gathered in a small circle beside a tree. "What are they doing?" I whisper rhetorically. As I focus my eyes, I catch sight of something on the ground- a pair of hoofed legs.

Is that some kind of animal? A deer maybe? Are the bugbears hunting?

Suddenly curious, I move from our hiding place, trying to get a better look.

"King Ash, where are you going?" Candy whispers after me, but I don't reply. I quickly dart between trees, careful to avoid making any excessive noises. Before long, I am squatting in cover, no more than ten feet away from the bugbears. Peeking over the bush I'm hiding behind, I see the bugbears aggressively gesturing to each other, as if arguing about something. I don't understand the goblin language however, so it just sounds to me like a series of grunts. Then I spot one of the bugbears starting to undress its pants armor, while another is pointing emphatically to the ground. I follow where its pointing, and I see the the hoofed creature from before. From my new vantage point however, I realize that it's not a deer as I had initially thought, but some kind of humanoid creature with a head, torso and arms. As I stare at the back of the strange creature, it suddenly hits me.

It's a centaur.