Two days had passed.
During that time, I experienced a life I never imagined I would lead: that of a simple woodcutter. I spent my mornings cutting wood in the forest, smelling the fresh scent of sap, feeling the roughness of the axe in my hands, and listening to the comforting sound of leaves rustling in the wind. Meanwhile, Evelyn took care of the house—she cleaned, cooked, and did the laundry. At night, we would eat dinner together in silence, and for some reason, that silence filled me. I didn't need to talk or even think. It was just... peace.
On that last day, I was returning with a bundle of firewood tied to my back. I was sweating, but I was smiling. I was wearing ordinary clothes, suitable for hunting: reinforced pants, leather boots, and a thick shirt with the sleeves rolled up. An axe swung from my belt, and there was a smile—perhaps even a little silly—on my face. All I could think about was that she was probably at the creek right now, washing our clothes.
I can't explain why, but just imagining that woman taking care of my clothes... it brought me a happiness I had never felt before. Something genuine. Simple.
For a moment, I allowed myself to imagine: what if I could stay here forever?
But before that thought could take shape, a sound cut through the air.
A scream. High-pitched. Shrill. Feminine.
My feet froze. My heart raced.
It was her voice.
Evelyn.
Without thinking, I dropped the wood with a thud and grabbed the axe. I sprinted down the trail as if my life depended on it. As if her life depended on it.
And maybe it did.
The distance between us must have been about a hundred meters, but I had never run so fast before. The world around me became a blur: trees, rocks, branches... everything disappeared. There was only the sound of my heart, the sound of my footsteps, and the thought hammering in my mind: get there, get there now, get there now.
When I finally crossed the last row of trees and saw the stream, my blood boiled.
Evelyn was limping toward me, stumbling and trying to lean on her cane. She was trying hard to run, but her leg wouldn't obey her. The desperation on her face hit me like a knife.
And then I saw what was making her run.
A huge creature with thick brown fur was running after her. It was just over a meter tall, but it was long and fierce. Its ears were large, its eyes glowed a menacing green—and what struck me most: two saber teeth, sharp and cruel, protruded from its jaw like blades ready to tear everything in its path.
A Wood Tiger.
My fingers gripped the axe handle so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Blood burned in my veins. And a roar rose in my chest, fierce and wild:
"Get away from her!" I shouted as I ran toward the beast.
The world slowed down around me. As if the seconds were stretching out, as if time were granting me—cruelly and generously—the exact moment when everything could end.
Evelyn's face... was covered with fear.
The tiger had already pounced. Its front paws were in the air, claws extended, mouth open in a silent roar.
Its fangs were like blades of war—sharp, deadly, ready to tear apart everything in their path.
And she was there, so small, so fragile. There would be no resistance, no shield, nothing between her and death. My heart tightened cruelly, as if it were being crushed inside my chest. Just the image of her body being pierced was enough to drive me mad.
If he reached her...
"EVELYN!!!" I roared with everything I had.
My throat burned. My feet moved before my brain could think. Twenty meters. Just twenty meters... But it felt like a thousand.
My blood exploded inside my body, as if it had left my pelvis and incinerated every vein and muscle it passed through. I felt my bones crack, tendons pulling like strings about to snap. The pain was absurd, unbearable... and I ignored it.
Because she looked at me.
And smiled.
On the brink of death, Evelyn looked at me... and smiled. A soft smile. Loving. As if, upon seeing me, all fear had simply disappeared.
I grabbed the axe with both hands, my whole body roaring with effort, and threw it.
It was at that moment that time shattered into a thousand fragments. Everything slowed down. The air grew thick. My mind expanded and every detail of the world became clear—painfully clear.
I saw saliva dripping from the tiger's open fangs.
I saw the bristling hairs on the creature's back, each one reflecting the evening light.
I saw the cracked stones beneath my feet fly high into the air, mud being thrown like paint on a distorted canvas. Even the wind, touching the weeds around me, seemed to guide me.
And then I saw it.
The spot.
A space between the tiger's eyes, where the skull was thinnest. A fatal point.
I saw it. And more than that — I felt it.
There was something between me and that spot. An invisible connection, like a thread of iron stretched across the air. A channel. The axe in my hand was just an extension of my instinct.
Everything in me screamed: Hit it there. Or she'll die.
I gathered everything I was in that moment. All the pain. All the anger. All the faith.
And then...
The channel in front of me looked like a funnel, narrowing to the sharpest point — right on the forehead of that damn animal. And for some reason I couldn't explain, everything inside me screamed that this was the moment.
It wasn't confidence.
It was certainty.
My hands gripped the axe handle as if it were an extension of my own body. I felt my strength condense into a single point, every muscle, every beat of my heart converging on that throw.
Every muscle in my body screamed as I made the move. Every beat of my heart seemed to push the world forward with me.
And then I threw.
The axe left my hand with a brutal momentum, but in that exact second — when it was already too late — I saw Evelyn.
She was running. Running towards me.
She didn't turn around. She didn't hesitate. She didn't look back. She just came at me with everything she had, even limping, even panicking. And the damn tiger was just a few feet behind her, like an inevitable shadow, its green eyes shining with hunger, its fangs ready to pierce.
And there, in the middle of the race... my axe passed.
I had thrown it at the monster, but even with the right angle, even knowing that I hadn't aimed at her, even having calculated every detail... at that moment, my heart almost stopped.
My breath failed me.
My soul screamed.
(Was it a mistake?) I thought, my eyes wide.
The axe flew twenty meters, describing a perfect curve in the air. The wind tore through the distance between us and passed by Evelyn's ear — a strand of hair, just one, moved with the air current.
Then I heard the sound.
A dry, brutal sound.
The tiger had its mouth open, ready to tear her neck apart. But my axe found the creature's forehead first. Spinning at high speed, the blade sank into its head, splitting its skull like wet clay. A shock wave ran through the animal's body, which was thrown backwards like a rag doll.
It died without even understanding what had happened.
I didn't wait.
I ran.
In a few steps I was in front of Evelyn, and I hugged her so tightly that I felt my whole body shake. She was shaking too. Her breathing came in gasps, as if her soul had left her body and returned only halfway.
At that moment, a sharp pain shot through my forehead. I instinctively brought my hand up to it. The mark... the damn centipede-shaped mark. It burned. It burned like a live ember. It glowed for a brief moment—a warm, almost blood-red glow—and then disappeared.
I felt something different. A weight lifting. A presence emerging.
It was on that day, at that exact moment, that I became a Combat Master.