Forced to be a Hero - Chapter 5

Instructions

!! TW: contains mentions of bl.00.d (once, but I thought I’d tell you anyway :’3) !! I am capable of handling myself, okay? If I wasn’t, my parents wouldn’t have let me go without 10 guards. They made me prove I could handle myself. As soon as I had seen a monster though, I froze and let out a small scream. Don’t blame me, it was way taller than me with dull orange skin, long gray horns, and a tail. It grabbed me, hurting me with it’s sharp claws. I shut my eyes. This was it. I probably should have read more about monsters. Then suddenly, I fell. The monster had let me go. My entire body hurt and my heart was pounding as I slowly opened my eyes. The monster was bleeding and a random boy with light brown hair was standing next to it with a sword. For a second I thought maybe my parents had sent him to follow me and keep me safe (which made me a bit mad) but I didn’t recognize him. I was kind of embarrassed that I had to be saved (especially by a guy) but I guess my life was more important than my pride. Once the monster was dead, the guy came over and held out his hand to me. “Are you okay, ma’am?” I took his hand, my face hot. “I’m fine.” He helped me up and I tried to wipe the dirt off my pale pink dress. A short girl with blond hair ran after him and gave me a look. She seemed to hate me. I left quickly, but they seemed to be following me. “You don’t need to follow me.” I smiled as I turned to them. The blond girl glared at me. “I’m perfectly fine.” “We’re not.” The guy informed me with a frown. “We just need to go this way.” “Oh.” I replied, trying my best not to drop my smile. “Also,” he looked at me, “you have a lot of bruises. I don’t think you’re ’perfectly fine’.” I rubbed my arm and sighed. “No, I’m fine.” We kind of stood there for a second. “Do you…” I looked at the ground. “Do you want to come with me? Until we have to go our separate ways?” “Why?” Blond girl scowled. “Can’t you handle yourself?” “Yes!” My face was red, I knew it. “I know how to do archery!” The blond girl rolled her eyes. “If you can use a bow and arrow, why would you get that close to a monster?” “Stop it, Nayla…” The guy with brown hair muttered. “We can go with you, I guess.” I smiled again. “Great! My name is Arielle.” “I’m Alex.” He told me. “This is Nayla.” Blond girl glared at me. “It’s very nice to meet you, Alex.” I curtsied. “You too, Nayla. May I ask how you got so good with a sword?” Nayla put her hand on Alex’s mouth. “No. No, you may not.” Alex grabbed her arm and took her hand off of his mouth. “I was trained.” I nodded and looked at the monster, who had collapsed by now. Who trained this guy? Nayla started to leave, making Alex seeming annoyed. Alex and I followed her (which she didn’t seem too pleased about) as he said something under his breath. “So…” I twirled my hair for a second but stopped immediately. “How did you meet Nayla?” “I don’t really remember.” He answered. “It was a long time ago.” There was no further explanation. He should’ve tried to explain. Alex met my eyes for a second and quickly looked away. “She doesn’t like you very much.” I kind of stared at him. Nayla, who had stopped, let out a groan. “Let me guess, everybody likes you.” Kind of, or at the very least they pretend to like me. My parents were an exception, as they criticized me constantly. My silence earned me another eye roll. I was quickly regretting asking these people to accompany me.