The Transparent Rabbit

Arc 1: Evilus (Side Story III)

Side Story I: Fate & The Birth of a Hero

'It's cold...' A cool breath became visible from underneath a hood. 'This isn't as easy as I thought...' One hit, then another, then another. One after the other Bell hit flint on iron trying to create a spark, it was essential that he create this fire right now, it was his first night on his own after all. One more hit, then another, a small spark, but it died out. 

Frustration began to bubble in his stomach, or maybe it was just the hunger that had begun to gnaw at his small frame. "Guh..." Grimacing at the amount of effort it was taking to start the fire Bell felt that he may end up never getting the fire going. He looked around as the final rays of the sun began to disappear and the heat along with it. 

As his breaths became more and more visible he felt his fingers curl in pain. 'Am I seriously going to freeze to death on the first day I'm alone?' He dropped to his knees and curled himself in his blanket trying to regain any sort of warmth. 'Argonaut was able to do it, and it sounded so easy too...' 

Bell recalled the story of the fool who everyone mocked, it was his favorite story even now after his Grandpa threw him out. In it he had created fires on multiple occasions from being thrown out for his idiocy, of course, it had turned out he was right and every time he would help those who turned their back on him. 

That was the reason that Bell couldn't say he hated his Grandpa, maybe he had done it so that just as Argonaut had, Bell could too, grow from suffering. Of course, it didn't stop the stinging one bit, it hurt all the same for Bell, no mother, no father, and now no grandpa. He honestly felt like crying, it would have been normal to do it. Yet, he never did, it was as if something was stopping him from crying. 

That force seemed to keep pushing him forward, telling him that he needed to move forward no matter what. 'One more time...' Feeling some heat on his back Bell stood back up and began to strike again, one hit, then another, then another, until finally a spark erupted onto the dry weeds and a flame began to ignite. 

'I did it...?' For a moment he was confused before he realized he did it and scrambled to put it with the rest of the firewood. 'I did it!' Watching the way those flames licked their way through the air spreading their warmth unknown to Bell the heat on his back dissipated and he once again reached for the blanket for extra comfort. 'Always have a fire to protect against natural predators...' 

It was one of the biggest rules of basic survival in the wild. 'I couldn't afford a carriage so this is the best I can do.' Eventually, Bell's eyes fell on the blade that had been left behind for him by his Grandpa, it was a blade that made his eyes shine with excitement. The shine of the blade, the curve, the sharpness; it all screamed the desire for adventure. Little did he know he would be getting into one that very night. 

About 2 hours after sunset and once the fire began to die down that's when the noises began. Bell who had somehow fallen asleep was woken to the sounds of the thickets rustling. "H-Hello?" Innocently he called out hoping it was just a person, it was not. Stepping out of the thickets was a creature with a branch in hand. 'A goblin?!' Fumbling through the blanket sweat began to roll down Bell's back. 

"Where there's one goblin there's another hundred waiting."  It was a saying he had read about in the book, a warning to those who misjudged the weakest monsters on the surface. It smiled sickly as it used its tongue to lick its lips. "Gege" Making what sounded like a laugh erupt from its mouth it ran forward toward Bell who in a panic swung his sword clumsily. 

'Ah!' It struck the tree on his side and he felt the reverberation come back to his body. "Ngh!" He dropped the blade and was immediately tackled by the green-skinned monster. "Ngege!" Now it was truly laughing, as it began to beat down on Bells' arms with its stick Bell felt fear, 'It's a goblin... It's a goblin...' His mind was racing wondering how it was that he was so weak that he was about to lose to this branch-wielding monster.