『A Fire In The Forest』

'Can you shut up and start walking.' Nanabe whined.

'I have an idea.'

'Anything would be nice.' Nanabe screamed as he heard the roaring and the large steps creeping ever so closer.

'Give me your lighter.' Sam said.

Nanabe unclipped the lighter on his bag and handed it to Sam.

'I hope this works.' Sam said as he clicked on it, starting a small blue flame on the top.

'Oh! Don't tell me you're planning to start a fire. Mud is a bad conductor, the only thing in the forest that could catch fire is――'

Sam threw the lighter high up into the air and onto a tree as Nanabe was completing his sentence. It's leaves became brick red and it's branches turned into ashes. It cracked and crippled, falling over to the force of gravity and burning another tree.

The air felt hot, as the birds flew from their nest and the insects fled from their holes. It was as if the forest itself was crying. Tree after tree fell to the might of fire. The bear monster looked in horror, it was no longer interested in chasing the youths.

'What have you done?' The bear screamed as it ran over to blow out the fire. It used it's very own paws to press out the fire, roaring in pain and anguish as it did so.

Sam took out his own lighter and threw it like he did before. He threw it to the part of the forest where it was silent and calm, turning in into a hellhole.

The bear didn't even need to look to feel the burning of the forest, as if he was connected to it all. He looked as if a heavy burden fell upon him, and sadness grew from his eyes to his limbs. He stopped putting out the fire and just sat down.

Nanabe looked angry as he saw the burning forest. He felt pity for the bear who was mourning for nature. He paid his respects by clapping his hand twice, a tradition of people from his country.

The duo sneaked away from the scene quietly as the bear was distracted.

'Don't ever do something like that again.' Nanabe whispered angrily to Sam, trying as hard as possible to keep his voice down.

'What's wrong with that? I saved your life.' Sam complained to his partner's irritance towards him.

'It's just that――' Nanabe felt a heavy breath on his face, it reeked of disgust and anger.

The bear stood closely in front of them. Its face was much more detailed in the light of the flames and the closer distance. Its eyes no longer were red, but were green enveloped by blue, his pupil was bright purple. Its fur was brown, under its fur, there were worm-like creatures crawling all over his bare skin, making its fur seem to be brushed by gentle gusts of wind. It was truly a monster.

Sam took a slight step back. He tried to put up a tough front, resisting with all his might to scream and cry.

'My fight is not with you.' The bear monster said to Nanabe. it diverted its sight towards Nanabe, staring at him with the most ferocious of anger.

'You.' He said gently, yet sounded so powerful.

Sam backed away. His body shaking and his legs wobbling. Tears flowed from his eyes, showing his cowardness.

'You are the forest guardian aren't you.' Nanabe asked to buy time as he took pity on Sam.

'Are you trying to start a fight you can't win, human?' the bear monster asked, trembling the air around him.

Nanabe looked at the monster without a flicker.

'You don't need to kill my friend here, he was only trying to save our lives.'

'You would have done the same if you were in our situation.'

The monster looked at him with a sense of confusion, it could not comprehend what Nanabe just said.

It began laughing historically, as if pitying the human's lack of knowledge.

'You humans and your sense of justice.'

'I am not trying to kill you. If I wanted to, you would be dead the second I laid eyes upon you.'

――Huh?

'And the fact you think having a noble cause rids you of any crimes.' The monster said teasingly.

'You caused me to suffer.' The monster said with a drastic change of tone.

'Which is why you have to suffer.' It turned again to walk towards Sam.

'Please!' Sam begged for mercy as it kneeled down to all fours. He was sniffing tears and looked pathetic.

Nanabe in the heat of the moment took out his swiss knife from his pocket and stabbed the bear's behind. The bugs on it's skin swarmed onto this hand, biting his flesh and pulling out his veins.

'Ah!' He yelled in vain as he kept hitting his own arm, trying to shoo away the bugs in a fruitless attempt.

The bear monster crashed onto the floor, causing the wind to slice through in all directions. It roared in pain and anger as the bugs began flying out of his skin in swarms, destroying the trees and plants like locusts.

The bugs on Nanabe's hand were attracted to the fat, oily flesh of the bear and stopped feeding on his hand.

Sam saw this as an opportunity and ran for his life, finding a path which looked as if it was leading to an opening. Nanabe saw him and followed behind him, leaving behind the dying monster lying on the ground, the bugs manifesting on it's flesh. It's eyes staring at the escaping humans in exasperation and rage, disappointed with it's final sight as he lost it's life.

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