Even when Riven could no longer hear the footsteps chasing him, he continued running as though his life depended on it, as he sprinted as far away from Ashfang Village as he possibly could until exhaustion finally forced him to stop.
By then, he had already crossed the southern training grounds where Garron had trained the children of Ashfang Village every day, before following the fresh trail leading deeper into the wilderness until he eventually found himself standing upon a narrow mud path that disappeared into the darkness beneath the trees.
*Pant* *Pant*
Riven breathed heavily, as his lungs burned from the relentless sprint while every muscle throughout his body begged him to stop moving, as only then did he finally pause and turn around.
From where he stood, Ashfang Village itself could no longer be seen, as all that remained visible in the distance was a faint orange glow illuminating the night sky where the settlement continued burning.
For several long moments, Riven quietly stared at that distant light, as countless emotions slowly surfaced inside his mind while he struggled to understand exactly what he was feeling.
Ever since arriving in Ashfang Village, he had prayed almost every single day for the settlement to burn to the ground, however now that it was actually happening before his eyes, the satisfaction he had always imagined never truly came, as although he sincerely hoped that most of the villagers perished during the raid, he still found himself silently praying for a handful of them to survive.
Kell.
Brakk.
The Spider.
Chief Torak.
Those four names quietly surfaced inside his mind one after another, as after getting his first true taste of revenge tonight, Riven suddenly found himself hoping that fate would spare them for just a little longer, because although he had no idea when he might ever return to Ashfang Village again, nor whether those men would even still be alive by then, he still hoped that one day he would have the opportunity to settle those debts with his own hands.
"Please Minerva... please let the most wicked survive..."
Riven muttered, before eventually letting out a long weary sigh as he turned around and continued walking south in the hope of catching up to Garron.
’I can’t rest until I find Garron. If I stop now, I might never catch up to him...’
Riven thought, as the countless fresh footprints pressed into the soft mud ahead reassured him that the recruiter and the surviving children could not have passed along this trail very long ago.
"Damn it... I should’ve brought a lantern too..."
Riven muttered, as he resumed walking down the narrow forest path and realized that he could not see much of what lay ahead.
Although it was a full moon night, the thick canopy stretching high above the trail swallowed most of the moonlight before it could ever reach the ground, leaving only scattered patches of pale silver to illuminate the winding path ahead while the endless wilderness surrounding him slowly disappeared into an ocean of shadows.
Even so, Riven never stopped walking, as with Garron’s footprints still clearly visible along the narrow mud trail, he pushed himself to maintain the fastest pace his exhausted body could manage while refusing to waste even a single moment resting.
For the first hour, his determination never once faltered.
As long as the footprints remained fresh beneath his feet, Riven convinced himself that Garron and the other children could not possibly be too far ahead, as he believed that if he simply kept moving without stopping, eventually he would hear voices somewhere up the trail and finally catch up to them.
However, as one hour gradually turned into two, and two slowly gave way to three, the confidence he had carried with him ever since leaving Ashfang Village gradually began to waver, because despite walking for what felt like an eternity, the trail ahead remained just as silent as before, while no voices, no campfire, and no signs of Garron’s group ever appeared before him.
’...Did I already lose them?’
Riven wondered, as the thought quietly surfaced inside his mind for the very first time.
Almost immediately afterwards, Garron’s final warning resurfaced within his memory.
"If you go back now, there’s a good chance you’ll never see me again, boy."
Garron had warned, however, back then, Riven had dismissed those words without giving them much thought, because he had been too focused on killing Hagrid to properly consider what they truly meant.
Now, however, with every passing minute that the wilderness remained empty before him, those same words began echoing inside his mind over and over again, while the possibility that Garron had already disappeared beyond his reach slowly became more and more difficult to ignore.
’No...’
Riven thought, as he instinctively shook his head.
’He’s still ahead... I just have to keep walking.’
Riven convinced himself, as he continued onwards, however somewhere around the third hour, a new sound gradually began joining the silence surrounding him.
"Grrrr..."
A low growl echoed faintly from somewhere deep within the forest, causing Riven’s footsteps to immediately slow down.
"PRRRR"
Another growl followed several moments later, this time from a different direction, as the distant cries of unfamiliar creatures gradually began drifting through the trees until every few minutes another strange sound reached his ears, causing the hairs along the back of his neck to slowly stand on end.
Without saying a word, Riven quietly reached toward the wooden sword tucked inside his satchel, as although he knew full well that the weapon offered little protection against anything truly dangerous, simply holding it in his hand brought him a small sense of comfort while he continued making his way through the forest.
"AWOOOOO—!"
"KLK KLK KLK!"
The deeper he ventured into the wilderness, the more the forest seemed to come alive around him.
Some of the sounds resembled wolves howling somewhere far away, while others were far deeper and entirely unfamiliar, echoing through the trees with a weight that made his chest tighten despite never having encountered such creatures before.
As one unsettling cry followed another, fear of being eaten by a wild beast settled properly into Riven’s bones, as he recalled a tale about how even the most experienced hunters of Ashfang never entered these woods alone.
It was said that whenever hunting parties ventured into the wilderness, they always travelled in groups of four to six, because only by watching each other’s backs could they reasonably expect to return alive, and despite taking those precautions, accidents still happened far more often than anyone cared to admit.
Knowing that, Riven could not help but feel the weight of his own situation, as compared to those seasoned hunters, he possessed almost no experience whatsoever.
He had never travelled beyond the borders of Ashfang Village before tonight, knew almost nothing about surviving inside the wilderness, and could barely distinguish one animal track from another, making his chances of safely crossing these forests alone frighteningly small.
However, despite understanding the dangers, Riven simply lowered his head and continued following the muddy trail left behind by Garron and the other children blindly, simply hoping that he would meet them before meeting with an accident.
However, unfortunately for him, what he did not understand as of yet, was that somewhere beyond the darkness surrounding the path, a pair of watchful eyes had already settled upon him.
A pair of predatory eyes that were patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.