How To Avoid Doom Flags? : A Guide By Lee Felix

First Flag - Don't Get Hit By An Arrow

"Hello!!!" he called, as loudly as he could manage. "Excuse me!!!"

The man was closer now, and Felix noticed he was wearing a mask that covered the lower half of his face. He looked out of breath, and he came to an abrupt halt upon hearing Felix's calls. His eyes went almost comically wide, and he threw a panicked glance over his shoulder – but he'd seen Felix, and that was enough to give the freckled man hope again.

"Oh, thank God I found someone!" he started jogging up to him, relieved. "Do you have any idea of how long I've been walking? This forest is crazy big! Who—hey!"

"Shut up and run!"

Felix could only gawk as the unknown man suddenly grabbed his arm and started running again, now dragging him along. His grip was tight, almost bruising, and Felix was forced to follow if he didn't want to fall and eat dirt. He was too stunned to say anything, simply following as the man dragged him off the road and behind a small, rocky mount.

Felix let out a startled yelp as the man suddenly pushed him to the ground, and practically straddled him when he tried to get up.

"What the hell do you think—"

Felix's protests were cut as the man slapped a hand over his mouth, his grip tight and not letting a single noise out, while his other hand moved to pin Felix's wrist to the ground. He didn't seem all that phased by his struggles, not even looking at the freckled man as he kept an eye out for whoever he was hiding from.

Felix tried to use his inattention to his advantage by kicking his leg up, but the man merely glared down at him, his hold tightening even more.

"Stop!" he hissed under his breath. "If they find us, we'll both get killed!"

That effectively made Felix freeze, the urgency in the man's voice betraying his genuine worry. The freckled man shut his mouth and stopped moving, no longer making a single noise as he kept an ear out for the pursuers the mysterious man had been running from.

After a few seconds of stillness, he heard them – the muted footsteps hitting the forest's floor. The only reason Felix noticed was the growing vibrations in the ground because he couldn't even hear a single leaf or twig crack. He held his breath as he felt the pursuers grow closer, and he could feel how tense the man's body had gotten...

After minutes that felt like hours, though, the vibrations vanished, and the man relaxed, at last. He released Felix's mouth with a heavy sigh and, without wasting a second, Felix roughly pushed him off. The man fell on his side with a small yelp while Felix pushed himself back to his feet, dusting himself with a scowl.

"What the hell was that?" he huffed. "You can't just throw people on the ground like that!"

"Aa? I just saved your life, ungrateful boy," scoffed the man, also rising back to his feet. "I could have used you as bait to escape them, but I took a risk and decided to save you, instead. Had you stayed on this road, they would have killed you!"

Felix's scowl deepened. "So what, you want me to thank you for doing the decent thing? Oh, wow, thank you so much for not knowingly letting me die – is that what you want to hear?"

The man clicked his tongue. "You certainly have a loose tongue for a commoner. You ought to keep it in check, less you'd want to lose it."

"A commoner? Aren't you taking the whole cosplay thing a bit far?" snorted Felix, placing a hand on his hip. "What, do you think you're some sort of prince or something?"

"I am a Prince," retorted the man, now visibly miffed. "I could have you beaten to death for speaking to me in such a way!"

"Oh, a thousand apologies, your mightiness," drawled Felix, offering a mocking bow. "I wasn't aware I was talking with a royal brat."