keeper of the realms

The dou walked in silence until they reached the outer limits of the black abbysal forest.

"The only way I can assist you is to let you tap into your hidden potential"Essex said as he started to unstrap the gigantic axe on his back.

William thought that this was just going to be a sparing match, what he did not know was that Essex had other plans for him.

"I will give you a head start now ,run for your life for you are now my prey" Essex continued to mind his business.

" Do you mean run into the forest , i am not crazy to go in there it's suicide " William protested but Essex didn't seem to hear him .Now Essex had started examining his axe as if he was about to undertaker an important task with it .

The silence was very unsettling to William,he did not think Essex was serious but he didn't like this one bit.

Suddenly Essex looked in William's direction and William's heart xould help but beat wildly.His eyes looked like that of a wild animal sizing its prey ready to pounce on it.

"Run"

This was the last thing William heard since he had already turned around and started running inside the forest at full speed.

William had not even reached far when he suddenly heard a whooshing sound from behind .His instincts were telling him to move and he did just that.

William side-stepped and a moment later Essex's axe passed him and sliced a tree until it reached halfway through.

The axe almost went through the whole tree was Essex trying to kill him.

William had no time to stop since immediately after an arrow followed and it almost pierced through his leg .

William dashed deeper into the forest,he didn't even question where the arrow came from.

Essex on the other hand was very impressed by the way William evaded his attacks considering that he still at the level of a normal human being.

. . . . .

William had been running for a long time and judging from the little light that could penetrate the black abbysal forest it was almost sun down .

He decided to take a break but suddenly something shot towards him at lightning speed , without any delay William swang his rusty sword towards the projectile and cut through it with ease .

It was a snake and its head had been severed.William was not even shocked by this revelation since he had been dealing with this kind of attacks all day :both from Essex and the creatures present in the forest .

Without warning Essex appeared infront of William and this startled him greatly .

"It is almost nightfall , we will camp together tonight but from tomorrow you will be relying on yourself even at night" Essex said then removed a huge oak that he had killed on his way here.

"Are we not going back home " William was surprised.

"We cannot go back until you become a real warrior,the fact that you came out unscratched today does not mean that you are ready"

William let out a small sigh but said nothing else.

Essex swang his axe at a nearby tree and it was immediately cut in half causing it to fall

"William cut the branches so that we can use it to start a fire"

William obliged.

Essex thrusted his palm forward and fire bursted out from his palm immediately lighting up the firewood that William had collected.

Essex was a type of warrior who used his ability to compliment his weapon fighting style.This was because his fire ability was weak and could not be of much significance in battle if it was used alone.

A few moments later a sweet aroma filled the air .the oak meat was ready to be consumed.

"Eat up we have a lot of work to do tomorrow" Essex said as he sliced up a huge chunk of meat from the oak.

William also helped himself.The meat was so good that he couldn't help but think of how he would manage tomorrow on his own when he was sure that he did not have a way of lighting a fire.But that was a matter that he would deal with tomorrow.

"We are so deep in the black abbysal forest and yet no creatures dare to attack us ,why is that?" William couldn't help but notice .

" That is because this creatures having being left to survive on their own in the wild ,they have unknowningly trained their instincts to a point that they can sense other creatures which are stronger than them and thus avoid trouble "

This was very scary , wasn't he implying that he was stronger than this creatures so they would naturally avoid him.

"Also I made sure that we did not go too deep into the forest " Essex added seemingly knowing what William was thinking.

The next morning William was still on the run but his movements seemed more fluid than before .His trusty rusty sword had become his powerful ally against the relentless attacks he got from Essex and the predictors that lurked in the shadows ready to pounce on him.

Like this six months passed by quickly.

At the moment William was standing infront of a black stripped tiger .This type of creatures relied heavily on their speed and quick succession in their attacks.

The black stripped tiger pounced towards William and had closed the distance in a split second .At the right moment William tilted his body and the tiger passed him only missing him by a small margin

William didn't miss this opportunity and immediately thrusted his rusty sword stabbing the tiger at the side of its body ,this was a fatal strike.

The tiger was relentless and immediately when it landed ,it pounced back with open jaws,a moment later its jaws snapped at where William.

MISS

William was no where to be seen , he had leaped upwards ,a second later William's sword passed through the head of the black stripped tiger , ending its life.

If anyone was to witness this fight they would have been shocked since William who was no different from a normal person had managed to kill this tiger and he made it seem so easy.

"I better hurry or I'll be late" Essex had told him that he would be making the journey back on his own and he should not be late since this was also a test for him.