Through the dead of night, through the rain, and snow Bane and Theon have been trekking. In their search for the creator of the hit that resulted not in the death of Bane but of Lana. The conditions have been gruesome, but determined and fueled by rage, Bane keeps on pushing forward. Having encounters with average bandits and thieves, they feel nothing can stand in their way. Nearing their destination with every step they're determined no matter who gets in their way to make it to Angross town. Nothing can get in their way, or so they thought.
"How much further do you think we have Bane?" questioned Theon. "I can't say much longer." replied Bane. They have walked almost non-stop, only stopping every other day or so to sleep. Even when they sleep it is not for long. Dreams, no nightmares of Lana haunt their sleep. Even when awake they can't help but feel like they've made a horrible mistake somewhere in their journey. "Do you think we should've let Alrond leave alive?" questioned Theon. "I can't see him causing too much trouble for us." answered Bane. "I'm getting hungry, let's hunt," said Bane to Theon. And so their hunt began.
They were deep in the forest surrounded by beautiful trees. Trees so wide and tall you knew they were over thousands of years old. It was the middle of fall so all the leaves were vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows. A rustling could be heard coming from nearby bushes. No longer than a quarter of a second later could the sound of an arrow whooshing through the air be heard. The arrow sunk into the bushes, and the rustling stopped. Theon rushed over to see if had caught his prey, and sure enough he did. By human standards, Theon was an archery prodigy, but to his elven standards they were subpar. Theon was from a branch family of wood elves, his ears are rounded so he is often mistaken for human when he is definitely not. Being a branch family of wood elves he has excellent woodland survival skills. Bane knew this, that was one of the many reasons why he took Theon with him.
Having lived his entire life in the wilderness, Bane's survival instincts were also sharpened to their natural limits. Having developed keen senses Bane could smell an animal nearby, he could feel the vibrations in the ground as well. With a clean sweeping motion of his sword Bane had killed a groundhog. Bane didn't like killing animals like that, but when on the brink of starvation he didn't have much of a choice. Having both caught squirrel and groundhog, Theon and Bane were going to have quite a feast tonight.
The smoke clouded Bane's keen sense of smell, the exhaustion dulled his keen sense of touch. Though his hearing had nothing dulling it, Bane could hear that he and Theon were surrounded. As Theon was going to take another bite of groundhog arrows went flying. Seeing how most of the bandits have terrible aim, most of the arrows completely missed Bane and Theon. Though a couple of the arrows hit Theon, nothing vital, and nothing Theon couldn't easily heal. Bandits emerging from everywhere Bane could see. There are easily 53 bandits surrounding them. Nothing Bane and Theon couldn't handle, though this time was different. "Well Well Well" exclaimed a familiar voice. From behind a couple of bandits, Alrond appeared. "Alrond, I knew we shouldn't have left you alive!" yelled out Theon. "Hmph, this isn't that big of a deal." exclaimed Bane as he activated his area of effect skill "Skill negate". Though Bane activated his skill another skill took effect regardless. "What's happening, why isn't your skill working Bane?" asked Theon as everything around Bane and Theon went black. "There is only one way this could happen. Someone with a skill that has an area of effect larger than Skill Negate could do this." proclaimed Bane. "Skill Negate only negates skills if the user is in the area of effect" said Bane. As Bane explained that to Theon all went quiet.
It was as if the bandits, Bane, and wilderness had all disappeared around Theon. Suddenly Theon could hear a familiar sound, the sound of his home. His home was long destroyed, he knew it couldn't be his home. Despite knowing it couldn't be true, Theon wanted it to be true. Though he was the outcast of his village for having rounded ears instead of long pointed ones, he missed it. "Theon! Where are you hiding now?" exclaimed a mysterious figure. Though Theon couldn't see the figure he was well acquainted with the voice. "MOM!" Theon yelled out. "You're supposed to be dead. How are you here?" questioned Theon. "What do you mean I'm supposed to be dead? I've never been more alive." said Anarose. Anarose is the name of Theon's mom, despite his ears she loved and accepted him regardless. The only other person to do this was Lana, no one else accepted him because he was an elf. Because of his ears he was able to pass off as a human, he did this to get by. "Come on inside and get some dinner," said Anarose to Theon. Dinner had passed and Theon was sleeping soundly in his bed. Unbeknownst to Theon as he was sleeping, a group of marauding humans came and surrounded his small village. The small group took torches and Molotov cocktails and started burning down Theon's village.
"Theon, wake up. Come on wake up Theon!" yelled Anarose to Theon. Theon groggily opened his eyes, "What's so important that you have to wake me up in the middle of the night?" asked Theon to his mother. "Humans are attacking our village, we need to get you out of here." said Anarose. "Why are they attacking us, we didn't do anything to them. This is an unprovoked attack." said Theon. "We aren't made in the image of their god Theon. Most Humans are pure evil, they will kill you for simply looking different. They do that to their own kind because they look different." explained Anarose. After this Anarose and Theon made their way to the exit of the village. Only a few steps from escape Anarose was snatched up. "Well, looks like we've got ourselves some fleeing rats!" yelled one of the humans. "What should we do with this one?" asked another human. "I propose a little game, how abouts we set're on fire and have her continue trying to escape as we take turns trying to shoot're with arrows. Whoever kills her wins. " proposed the human leader. "I sure like that ideas boss!" exclaimed the humans who originally asked what to do. "THEON RUN!!" screamed Anarose. Upon hearing this Theon began to take off running, after a minute of running Theon disappeared from the sight of the humans. "Should we go after em?" asked a human. "Nah, it's just a kid. He won't last a week in the wild." said the leader. As he finished his sentence he threw his torch down on Anarose. Theon hadn't run far before turning around to watch the fate of his mother. "Run you elvish whore" screamed one of the humans. Anarose began to run in the direction Theon had ran in. Being a wood elf herself Anarose was able to avoid the arrows with ease for a little. Pain started to cloud her mind. Soon she was hit in an arm, that was nothing compared to the pain of never seeing Theon again. She was then hit in the leg, then the back. No matter where she was hit she powered on since it meant getting to be with Theon. As Anarose was steps away from Theon, she was hit in directly through the neck. Seeing this, Theon let out an inhuman scream. Anarose used the little life she had left to crawl over to Theon. "No mom, don't go, you can't go!" cried out Theon as he held his mom. At that moment Theon had awakened his skill. He began to heal her wounds, but it was too late. Anarose had already lost too much blood. She had died bleeding out in her son's arms. It all went black again and Theon just sat there weeping.
This was all the doing of Saru, leader of the bandits skill "Relieving Fear". He casts his skill from a distance and lets his victims relieve their trauma over and over, again and again. Then after what feels like an eternity for his victims he undoes his skill, leaving his victims an emotional wreck. Saru uses this opportunity to kill and rob his victims. This is what's happening to Bane and Theon. But he is in for an unexpected surprise soon.