NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

The arrow landed on the boar, making it squeal in agony. Those two boars who saw the aftermath of their friend glared in my direction. Instead of becoming afraid, the swine wanted to fight me.

And that was what the mammals did. Those pigs heeded their instinct and charged straight towards me. It was a desperate attempt to kill me.

I charged up my bow and attempted to replace a shaft in my quiver. I discharged one bolt and hit one swine, but there was still another one coming after me. My hands snatched the arrow from my quiver and replaced the shaft I had hurled, but I was too late.

That pig was quick enough to deal damage to my body and tossed me backwards, whilst shielding my arm from the fall. My body flew from the sky and hit the bark, disrupting my consciousness. My right arm became temporarily numb, since I used it to cushion my plummet.

That arm was my good arm, the one I use for battle. I also needed two appendages to wield to bow and charge up another one for the swine. But because of my stunned extremity, I could not wield my arrow.

The boar thought it had finished me. That animal averted its gaze and locked its eyes over the little girl huddling in the corner. Match's face shivered in fright as she noticed the swine dusting out the ground, preparing to leap at any second.

"Run away, Match!" I shouted, and flailed my left hand, hoping to listen to my instructions.

However, Match couldn't follow my words. She was too shocked about what was happening in front of her. I tried forcing my body to stand up and protect her, but my legs would not listen. Every time I picked myself, my legs slammed themselves on the ground like noodles.

"Please listen to me, Match! Get out of here!" I shouted, with added volume to my voice.

Despite my roar, Match stood still like a statue, with the boar sprinting in her direction. Match's eyes never blinked or moved a muscle. She held her ground and took a quick series of breaths from her lungs. It was as if Match accepted her fate to die in the hands of the beast.

That was what I had thought, not until Match lifted her arms.

Something crawled into Match's hands. Vermillion flames covered her arms while the heat rose over to the roofs. Unlike before, the temperature that Match unleashed turned into a heatwave, which I also felt coursing through my skin. A bright light enveloped the girl, with Match's left eye glowing like the stars in the sky. It was the same as mine, with the colourless glimmer on my right eye. Her arcane clouded her body, painting the ground with the crimson blaze.

"No, Match! You will burn yourself!"

I needed to stop her. I did not want Match to use her powers and burn her hands because of them. But my body still refused to move on its own.

I gritted my teeth and pushed myself off the ground, using my left arm. Regardless of the pain surging through my torn muscle, I stood and rushed towards Match. Every step I took sent electrical shocks to my brain, begging for me to rest and to stop moving.

But I must stop Match before it is too late. I had to do it before the flames devoured her.

Within the nick of time, I went between the boar and Match. I raised my penitent's dagger with my left hand and hurled it onto the boar before Match could unleash her powers.

The dagger hovered in mid-air and hit the swine's head. That animal was staring at the Match, so it did not notice the blade thrown behind its back. With a slashing sound, the knife pierced through the boar's skin. It ultimately brought the animal to its doom within seconds of the dagger sticking itself inside the swine.

I did not celebrate my victory and headed straight forward to Match. My arms latched around her and gave her a warm embrace. However, the heat scorched my skin, and it almost burned my clothes. There was even smoke coming out from my skin that came into contact with the crazed Match.

But I ignored all that pain surfacing through my skin and kept my arms wrapped around Match. I rested my head close to hers and caressed her already twisted hair.

"Match, release this power. You don't have to do this. You'll just burn yourself, Match! Snap out of it!" I gave a light shake to the girl's body, hoping to wake her up.

Although Match's eyes were wide awake, she could not hear my voice. If she did, that girl would immediately apologise to me with a smile on her face. But that did not happen at all.

Match groaned in pain. Her hands changed in colour from peach to pinkish red, telling me that the fire had already burnt a part of her body. The little girl knelt on the ground and tried to shut her eyes. But her efforts rendered Match useless, as the system tried taking full control over her body.

I had seen nothing like this before. Despite having the same ability as Match, my body never experienced such a thing from the past. I wondered if I would also overuse my powers, would I share the same experience as Match?

I brushed those ideas away and focused more on what was in front of me.

My hands gripped Match's body tighter. I did not want to lose her, and I knew that Match did not want to lose me too. I promised myself to stay by her side, so Match should also fulfil that promise for me.

"I will always be here for you, Match! I will never leave you! So please, be back to normal!"

A gush of energy blasted from Match's body, which even made the trees from the forest uprooted from the ground. It was enough to pull out the weeds from the ground and startle the other beasts lurking within our vicinity. The boar's corpses lying on the ground also flew a few miles away from our direction, with the campfire we prepared a while back.

I did not flutter from the wave, despite facing it head-on beside Match. My hands still took a tight grip on her clothes, refusing to let go of Match. After a few seconds, Match's glowing left eye turned dim. I suspected that the system's effects that took control over her body wore off. The flames that surrounded both of her arms and feet vanished like vapour.

The scene almost felt like a dream come true.

The burns from her hands were still visible in the naked eye. But compared to last time Match used her fiery powers, these wounds were nothing. With sprinkles of water and a wet cloth, I believed that Match's injuries would heal in no time.

Match fell on the ground, but I was quick enough to catch her body. Despite my wobbling hands, I used my left arm as Match's pillow, while the other was just lying on the side. I could not use my right arm for now, given that the strike broke my elbow. I might need a healing ability to fix this part of me.

I teared up after witnessing Match's lips twitching. It only meant that the little girl was waking up from her nightmare.

Match peered into her eyes open and saw my face returning her gaze. But the exhaustion coming from the stream of magic she used was enough to put her in a spell to sleep. With the last ounce of strength left in her body, she flashed me a smile and rested her head on my shoulder.

It was the most adorable scene I had ever seen with Match. I almost wondered how Clementine would look if she were the one nestling in my arms.

"I thought I lost you! Don't you dare leave me, Match! I don't want to lose you too."

The sorrowful cries became tears of joy overflowing from my eyelids. That stream drenched both Match and my body, but the two of us paid it no mind. I took out the make-shift blanket-which was made of leaves, and covered Match's freezing body. After the fire that burned her skin, her body reacted and gave off steam that sent cold temperature over her body.

It was the side effect of Match's system. Her system was the same as mine. Instead of experiencing the cold sensation, hatred would blind my eye, forcing me to kill my enemies without turning back.

Match's magic was beyond my expectations. Her fire alone could crisp anything in its way. She could even release a blast strong enough to push everything back within a radius of twenty feet surrounding us.

I had two options to do right now after Match woke up soon.. I could train her body to use that fire element or tell her to avoid using that ability at any cost.