Fear is quite a curious emotion. One moment, you could be playing around alone, chasing your dreams, hidden from others because it felt like too much of a burden on those near and dear to you.
The next moment, one could be quivering dreadfully at the bleak future that has entangled its ropes around you.
It doesn't take much for a person to shift emotions in an instant. A trigger is all that's needed.
The village chief is usually a rather outgoing and jovial middle-aged man. He works hard and ensures the villagers have their needs met to the best of his ability. While he could be a bit much at times, with how many times he's retold his stories of glory from days of old, he is generally a positive person to be around.
However, when a group of kids, 5 or so years my senior, entered the forest late in the dark a while ago, the village chief erupted in fury. It was a starless night where the moon was the sole radiance by which all relied on its grace, but even that seemed less significant once you're lost in those pitch-black and giant woods.
By the time they managed to be located and brought back by the adults, the Sun had long since awoken.
The village chief always encouraged the kids to play actively. However, that only referred to the outskirts of the forest. He often warned us, especially the boys, not to venture too far into the woods lest the monsters of the night take hold of you forever.
While we followed his advice for the most part, it's given that we became curious and wanted to brave the danger. With what little we could do in this village, perhaps that spark of uncertainty, that rush of adrenaline when you're well aware of the consequences behind your actions, but do so anyway, was what we needed to be content.
I don't completely agree with what they did, even though I feel the same way about some sort of change within this mundane life. They could've gone about it in a more secretive manner. Frankly, they shouldn't have gotten caught in the act.
What managed to catch my attention was the hint of relief in the village chief's expression amidst his fury as he reprimanded them severely. He had been one of the most anxious and alarmed adults when he heard the news of their disappearance. It might've been because his son was one of the ones missing.
Thinking back on it, that was likely the greatest contributing factor to how frightened he became.
It is only now, at this very moment, that I have truly begun to grasp the severity of his warning.
You'd think I would've learned better by now after such a memorable incident had occurred.
Perhaps it was the wishful thinking that practicing with a wooden sword would get me anywhere closer to becoming a knight that put me in this situation.
A part of me, though, was hoping for something, anything to happen, to give me a reason to chase a dream that seems so far out of reach.
Be careful for what you wish for
I've only realized just how foolish I am now that it's occurred right in front of me. I understand how the village chief must've felt now that I'm face to face with imminent danger.
Whatever is out there is certainly much stronger than what I've got in my hands, which is just a flimsy wooden sword I got for free. Even now, I couldn't stop the trembling of my hands, or my body for that matter, as I shakily held the sword out in front of me.
I could feel the sweat dripping, streaming down my face and ultimately onto my hands held close to my body. I never knew you sweat so much from just standing still, and so instantly at that.
The only time I've ever sweated this much before from just being tens was when I followed my father to go hunting. Even then, I had someone by my side.
The rustling of the trees from some strong wind and the eerie hush of the woods that seemed deafeningly resounding brought me out of my thoughts and back to reality.
I let out a long breath of air I unconsciously held in, as if I feared my breath causing any form of disruption.
I had been lost in my thoughts for too long, denying the inevitable, which was the confrontation I must make with the wild beast hidden in the bushes.
This is the time to make use of the hunting skills my father has taught me.
I had been too distracted in my daydream to notice it approaching me in time. However, even if I wasn't, it's unlikely I would've been aware much earlier that I already am now.
I had been careful to ensure that my secretive practice had been within the outskirts of the forest. The bounds of the inner depths had been marked by the adults keenly with a drawing of danger on a large sign by the path inwards.
The village is within running distance, but not close enough that I would make it within a few minutes.
One of the worst things you could do facing a predator within the woods, especially while it's dark and getting lost should be expected for a novice hunter, is turning your back on them.
From the low growls and its careful approach, even against a child like me, it seems like a wolf. I couldn't be certain yet, but as if in tune with my thought, the unknown presence beyond the dark revealed itself.
Tensing up, I watched intently as a large light grey wolf made itself known with careful and steady movements, circling itself around me.
The prey is made dreadfully aware of their situation by the steadily enclosing grounds of which I can move.
Maintaining eye contact is important, if only to ensure I don't lose it and find myself attacked before I know it.
The wolf bore its fangs before me. Those sharp, curved fangs could easily tear me apart. Dodging was out of the question, and so was taking it head-on.
I considered running numerous times throughout our brief exchange. Even though I knew my chances of survival would become even lower should I resort to such, I couldn't help but think so when faced with imminent death.
I regretted everything. Trying to become a knight was a thought I shouldn't have entertained to begin with. A commoner such as myself, with no notable features, has a lower chance of becoming a knight than I returning alive today uninjured.
I didn't even have the time to wonder why a wolf would be hunting alone, or why it was on the outskirts to begin with, when they were apex predators for villagers like us.
Courage is exclusive to knights. It wasn't something I had in me to begin with.
As if sensing my lack of will to live on top of my fear from the constant shaking, the wolf launched its attack, opening those jaws to death wide enough to swallow me whole.
By sheer luck, my body moved instinctively out of fear of death, dodging to the side, abandoning the wooden sword, my only source of protection beyond my own body.
It narrowly missed my body, but perhaps because of my belated response, its fangs grazed my shoulder, lightly compared to my fate had stayed still, but enough so that a cry of pain emerged almost instantly, causing me to stumble and roll across a bit.
Holding my injured shoulder, I tried to get up but my legs, usually capable of besting even kids older than me in a race, failed me at such a decisive moment.
Hope was bleak, practically nonexistent. I felt weak and powerless, cowardly and spineless, nothing like the knights I admired so greatly.
They had shown such admirable qualities from a young age, their rise to fame and beyond knighthood, maintaining their brave righteousness till death. I wanted to emulate even just a fraction of that.
But, reality showed me otherwise, that I could never be something greater than a common farmer.
As I held my eyes shut tight, hoping to ease the pain that would follow just the slightest bit more, the whimper of the wolf reached my ears instead of my cries of suffering.
Even after seconds had passed, nothing happened, and I smelled the iron of blood as well as the clear sheathing of a blade echoing decisively right in front of me.
Opening my eyes hesitantly but with faint hope that I had just lost, I saw a deeply defined, calloused hand reach out before me.
The moonlight revealed its intensity, highlighting this encounter forever.
It was a moment I would never forget for the rest of my life. A meeting with the knight I had envisioned from my dreams, the hero I aspired desperately to become. A knight in shining silver armor, with the dead wolf where I last saw it, its head cut off cleanly from the rest of its body.
Meeting the eyes of my savior, I saw the grace of god that bestowed upon me a 2nd chance at life.
"Thankfully, I made it in time. Are you alright, child?"