“Cla-Clank!”

  “What the? Get the hell off me!”

  A worm-like creature had wrapped the knight’s ankle like a kebab and roughly tugged it. From the shock of it all, the knight grabbed his sword and swiftly used a downward grip to thrust it into the tentacle with spectacular reflexes, keeping his balance. It pierced halfway through its body, but the grip on his ankle tightened.

  “AUHHHGA!” The knight yelled in pain.

  The concussed boy lifted his head off the ground, looking straight at the knight’s ankle. He saw eggs rattling and vibrating, sending dirt throughout the air.

  “Popp!”

  The eggs began to be pried open from the inside, and a head the size of a thumb popped out. Covered in crimson slime, many green dots began appearing on its white furry body, and it began to slither out. Once it got loosened from its cracked shell, it came to be about half a foot long. One look reveals these as white bloodworms, with their mother clinging to the knight’s leg.

  ‘If I run now, he’ll just find me again with that strange sword; if I stay, I’ll get butchered.’

  With running being out of the question, he could only think of two ways out, and that would be attacking now or dying later. His injured arm had a light feeling to it, and the gash was slowly closing; he wasn’t at full strength just yet. He didn’t need to worry about bleeding out, at least not yet.

  While the knight was trying to recover his sword from the Bloodworm, he failed to notice the boy regaining his footing. The boy had no time to recollect his thoughts. All he could think about was death; would this be a run to his death, or would he claim victory over fate!?

  The boy’s legs began to sway in the air with every graze of the ground, only brushing his toes. With one desperate leap, the boy reached out his hand to grab the knight’s muscular leg.

  “Damn! Piece of shit!”

  The knight took his aggression off the dead bloodworm and stomped to regain his footing from the push. He directed his attention to the boy hanging on his left thigh.

  “I’ll be damned if I let the son of a witch attack me!”

  He began swinging his fist and moving his core to grab out his sword, but something felt off as he went for his sword. The knight’s eyes glowed golden, and his hand felt the hilt of his sword. Right as he glanced over at the boy, he realized his fatal mistake. With one hopeless frantic, he swung his legs, twisting them.

  “Wait! Please, piece of shit…”

  It was already too late; red blood began to spill, and he felt his soul diminishing. By the time the knight had his sword unclogged, his eyes had already dimmed and shuttered.

  Sinking into the knight like a chicken thigh, the boy’s blue fangs pierced the man’s leather pants. The fangs emitted a radiant coral-blue light that made sparkles in the moonlight from a white aura covering it. The boy released his grip and spat out a mouthful of blood and grime.

  “My name’s not shit, bastard.”

  His tearful eyes flickered and his body shook; he then heard a deep whisper echo in his ear.

  ~|"You have gained your Moniker. Born to be slaughtered, unfavored by many, welcome to Elgin… Lilk The Unfavored"|~

  The boy listened to the echo closely, and his tired muck eyes widened, making his teeth radiate light blue waves. For the first time in a while, the boy had a smirk on his face.

  ‘May be a small step, but it’s a small step away from hell, and my biggest step away from death.’

  Lilk gazed at the lifeless knight lying on the ground; He looked like he’d climbed out of hell, just to crumble into dust after escaping. Luckily, from his witchling blood, his body could mostly recover, mostly after passing out for hours. Although it did leave battle scars on his shoulder, bicep, and throat, the most devastating one that couldn’t be healed or compared to the others had to be his.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Mind.”

  Lilk grabbed a piece of the knight’s blue tunic and ripped it off, creating a makeshift bandana to cover his mouth with. He then scavenged through the knights’ stuff, taking whatever he needed while breaking down his clothes. After looting his corpse, the bloodworms feasted on it.

  He now looked more like a hunter than the ragged beggar look he had before. He had a makeshift cloak, which was made by cutting out the front of the knight’s tunic and plumping a hole in it. The knight’s pants were too sturdy for Lilk to customize to his size, so instead, he turned it into a makeshift shoulder bag.

  Lilk took one last despairing look at the village as he stood on a hill in the forest. When the dark blue moon’s light left his face, he faded deep into the forest.

  ~|Elgin’s Dictionary.|~

  Monikers—Given to those who’ve slain an adversary of much greater power or multiple of smaller power. Granting them the power to use Elgin, the realm of Essence, which opens their soul core. Well, for Lilk, unlocking his soul’s spirit in the blue fangs.

  ~|Some Time Later.|~

  ‘I just don’t…understand this bullshit.’

  Lilk’s eyes rolled back as he watched his teeth lightly glow in the reflection of the dark blue pond. With his eye bags blackening, you should know the pain he felt when the sun reflected back in his eyes, dazzling him.

  “It’s already morning again. Ugh!” Lilk sighed.

  Lilk sat in a tree right above the pond, his weak and delicate body swaying on a branch. Although he wasn’t as skinny after gaining a moniker, he even gained a little muscle; you still can’t say he looked like an Elgin user. From the way his body had been completely malnourished, he, of course, wasn’t in a great mood.

  He squinted at dots on the shore as he squeezed his wet bandanna over the pond. The tree was wide as an ogre, yet only sat about twenty feet above the water. The pond was vast, and the tree rested right in the middle of it.

  Lilk’s restless eyes gleamed at the black dots in the distance, and undoubtedly his eyesight wasn’t very good; he still noticed something strange. The grassy, polka-dotted shore was moving? Actually, it seemed like the black dots were tossing around like pepper sizzling on steak.

  ‘I need to drink some more water; I’m seeing things again.’

  The black dots began fading from the shore and into the pond. As the black dots got closer, they began becoming infested with multiple red dots on them. Lilk rubbed his eyes, preparing to jump down the tree for some water.

  “Oh… holy shit.”

  When Lilk shifted his unburdened eyes towards the shore of dots, what he saw was not just one of his hallucinations, although he wished it was…

  Wretched Black, Squirrel Sized, Red eyes, and Sharp Fangs, they were Insectaur Spiders.

  One of the most cannibalistic and catastrophic species was swimming in the pond. Lilk crawled swiftly to a thicker branch so his body was less visible.

  ‘Guess I’m not eating again today.’

  Lilk’s energy had dropped even further down; he felt like a sloth hanging on a tree, hoping a jaguar wouldn’t run up and end it. He questioned whether a curse or his own idiocy explained his inability to survive in the forest. It had already been a week of traveling, and he would have already been dead if he hadn’t found this tree.

  Mysterious creatures hadn’t been a threat to Lilk, mostly because he hides from branches falling. And besides, the only thing Lilk accomplished was poisoning himself on green berries. He was starving with the only substance he got, which was grossly fulfilling, was when he… diminished the knight’s soul core, which killed him yet kept Lilk full for about four days.

  Lilk pinched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth tightly; Then, in a new moment, the light became smaller while quickly and quietly dying out.

  “It must be impossible to learn Elgin on your own… Probably.,” Lilk sighed while tapping one of his large fangs.

  Before “The Incident,” Lilk had studied in his town library since he turned four and was told stories of people who traveled by themselves, mastering Elgin and learning to control their essence in caves. Lilk may seem a little mature from his vocabulary, but he isn’t even a decade old yet and wholeheartedly believes those stories are truthful.

  “I guess those were just witch tales after all, damn wretched miscreants.”

  Lilk’s hot breath gushed out as he stared at his reflection before wrapping the bandanna around his mouth.

  He looked at the hideous spiders cooling themselves in the water and felt unsettling jealousy. Not surprisingly, Lilk hasn’t been around someone who didn’t want to kill him in weeks.

  All he could do now was watch the Insectaurs bathe; it may be risky if they spot him, but it’s better to know when instead of hoping not. After they leave, he’ll have a lot to worry about and even more problems, food, shelter, and most importantly, how to use his essence. Better to rest while I can, hungry or not. Lilk didn’t mind being hungry, except he wished for at least some form of entertainment.

  As if Elgin itself answered him, an abrupt shockwave sent heavy waves in the water.

  And in the next second, ice droplets fell from the sky…