Chapter 36: A Sandy Situation
... .....
I blinked groggyly as I opened my eyes. I was laying in a strange place, everywhere was white and cloudy.
"Where am I?" I looked forward to see a figure in front of me, although I couldn't make them out well.
"Greetings..." A woman's voice spoke
"Where am I and who are you?!" I demanded as I looked around for mochi, Chris and Oliver.
"You would know soon, my child but for now you have to wake up..."
She vanished into the mist
"Wait..." I woke up with a heavy migraine, clenching my head in discomfort. I looked around my surroundings I was in a cave faintly lit with Magnus crystals
Chris was out cold as mochi was swashed from under him, I yanked mochi free before making sure both were ok.
"Hello Ryu, something went wrong..." I spoke over transmission
No response
"Ryu?" I said again, panic raising in.
No response
"Ryu?! Kuro? Haru?! Anyone there?!" I yell but no one answered
"What's going on with my telepathy?!" Then I tried some spells
"Mist portal!" Nothing happened
"What's going on?!"
I try using my skills, everything seemed normal aside my communication and summoning skills.
Meaning I can't communicate with my followers nor open any mist portals out of this place.
"It must still be night time, right..." I said trembling in the cold breeze. I used fire magic to lit a small camp fire, Using scrapes of my dress as fuel as i took out my wolf pelt from my inventory before putting it on Chris's body to keep him warm.
{Foxy form activated}
I snuggle him on the pelt in my smaller form, hoping all this was just some freaky dream...
....
The next morning I woke up to Chris's screaming.
It's way too early for this 🙄
"Where are we?! Where Oliver?!" He yelled as he demanded answers.
"Shut it with the interrogations, I don't know where we are but I'm sure Oliver and everyone else is safe..." I assured, ripping out the crystals and stashing them in my clothes
"What the hell are you doing?!" He pointed at me with confusion
"I'm collecting crystal in case we need a form of money. I can also shift forms from human to fox as I please, it's really convenient for survival life..."
"So what now?" He asked
"First we look for the closest village, get some supplies and then plan from there..." I said changing back.
"Let's go!" I grabbed mochi and We went outside the cave, our jaws dropped.
We were just in tarnation?!
HOW THE HELL ARE WE IN A FREAKING DESERT???!!!
"This is to be harder than I thought, think you can handle the no princely life?" I turned to him with a knowing look
"It's not like I have a choice..." He huffed
"Well said, onwards!"
{Radar activated}
No one's pov
"What do you mean you can't reach her?!" Kuro questioned furiously
"I lost the signal of our telepathy..." Ryu replied, equally worried.
"Do you think it has something to do with the beam from earlier?" Kyokota spoke, addressing the massive light that showed up a few days ago
"What do you mean?" Yamada queried.
"As I went to baurheld to get the master. , I heard from the second prince Oliver that her and his brother had vanished under a powerful beam of mana, luckily, master quarantine the whole thing with her mist portal. If she didn't who knows what disaster could have happened..." Kyokota explained
"That would explain why her portals aren't working, if that wasn't the case she would have come straight here" dayama added
"So what now?" Haru asked
"We wait...." Ryu said staring at a star in the sky.
Shiori's pov
We stood at the top of a rocky cliff, tired and sweaty.
"Land!" Chris yelled as I turned to where he was staring. My eyes widened as I smiled
"Yes!..." I smiled brightly as we made our way over. As we stepped inside, a notification popped up.
[Welcome to the Demi human kingdom of Nalam]
So we must still be in the beast human nation. judging by the biome, we must be in the northern part.
"Wow so cool!" Chris yelled
"Don't shout you idiot!" I whacked him with my fist as he clutched his head.
"First we'll need new clothes to avoid attention, then we look for the guild to take missions to earn money, let's settled that before thinking anything else..."
We went to the nearest fabric shop, I got us clothes that suited with the locals.
"You said blend in" he mocked as people kept staring at us.
"It's not My fault I'm born with good genes..." I shot back, clutching mochi in my arms protectively...
"How did you even pay for these?" He asked
"I traded them for the crystals on me" I stated bluntly.
He clicked his tongue, before looking away with pink dusting his cheeks
"Well anyway thanks for the clothes, I'll treasure them..." He said tugging on his cloak.
"Then don't ruin them by acting reckless "I said flatly
"That's your new favorite word isn't it..." He smirked but shut up when I glared at him.
We soon reached the guild...
Fortunately, our guild cards were acceptable despite being foreign. I set mochi down as I chatted we the receptionist there...
"Sit, stay quiet and if anything happens to him you'll be sorry " I ordered, handing mochi over to Chris who was taken aback by my change of tone.
I looked through the mission but none caught my eye, they were all too weird.
We ended up leaving the guild without choosing any missions
"Hey what gives?!" Chris asked
"It's late plus the missions where suspicious, it's not a good idea to be just taking anything to make money.." I replied bluntly
[Location: inn]
I was speaking to the clerk there for a room...
"Hey dude, new adventure?" A guy asked Chris who was already pissed as it is. Chris being Chris casually ignored him.
"Hey don't ignore me!" The guy reach to touch Chris's shoulder when Chris smacked his hand away.
"Don't touch me?" He kick the guy into a wall
"Christopher!" Punched the back of his head.
"You're going to get us kicked out!" I added before healing the blonde boy.
"wow, you can use advanced healing magic, so cool " he smiled
"Sorry about him, his more on the annoy me and I punch your face side..." I giggled, gesturing to Chris was was being consoled by mochi
"I'm zik, and those are my party members, glia and dun, what's your name" he said gesturing to the rest by the corner
"I'm shiori, that's Christopher and that's mochi"
"So what's a noble woman like you doing a city like this,?"
"Trying to find a way back to the buarheld " I said
They were dumbfounded
"That's so far away!" They said in unison .
"It is?!" I paled as they nodded.
"It would take at least two months to make it back without a map" glia said
😭
. ....
We sat in our room thinking...
"So we need a plan asap"
"What we need is to get a map and leave " Chris scoffed
"And how do you suppose we do that with such little money, no supplies and not guide" I glared at him
That shut him up
[Location: unknown]
I opened my eyes to the cloudy surroundings.
"Again? Where is this place?" I looked around but saw endless clouds
"hello again my child" I turned to the source of the voice as a woman stood before me.
"Where am I ?"
"Your in a dream state, it's the only way I can communicate with you" she anwered.
"And you are?" I narrowed my eyes
"You may call me Aurora"
"Tell me is everyone safe?! Back a baurheld?!" I asked
"Everyone is fine, thanks to your quick thinking and quarantining the beam, only you and prince Christopher disappeared, however everyone else is extremely worried and are searching everywhere for you" she answered
I sigh in relief.
"My advice for you now, is to take it is and pick a quest that suits your desire..." She said before everything hazed.
I woke up slowly opening my eyes, surprisingly It was still night time, I turned to Chris's bed only to see that he was still awake.
"Your still awake?" I quired
"Yeah..." He said in a soft voice...
I got up and sat beside him.
"Do you think we'll ever make it home?" He asked, looking scared
"We will..." I assured
"And what about mom, and dad and Oliver? Are they going to be okay?"
"They'll be fine, for now we should just focus on getting through this"
I flinched for a second as he laid his head on my shoulder. I moved a bit before placing it on my lap as I caress his hair. He relax in my touch as he soon drifted to sleep.
The next day
I stared at the various quests laid out.
"Honestly, this is a hassle" I sighed picking a random quest.
"Lost cat?" I stared at the drawing of a white tiger.
"Let's go!" I said.
.......
"Here kitty kitty!..." I called out.
"This is stupid, I what to slay dragons and strike monsters, not look for some idiot's pet" Chris grumbled
"Like hell, are you planning on getting yourself killed, now use those vocal cords to call for the cat instead of complaining.."
How strange , a cat that large should be easy to find
[Radar activated]
"I sense something, this way!" We ran down a few blocks and outside the city, stopping at a cave
"It reakes..." He commented
We went in as the stench of animals filled the area.
"Is this the cat?" He asked pointing to a dirty tiger
"Yep that's the one"
"It's strange though, there are a lot of pets here..." Chris said looking around
Just then we heard footsteps approaching,
"Hide!" I said. We hide behind a wall as some beast humans entered
"This little kitty is going to make us rich!" One of them cackled
[Webber activated]
They were confused, being suddenly tied up and hanging from the ceiling
"What the hell?!" One growled at us.
"Care to explain..." I narrowed my eyes dangerously as I gripped the webs tighter
"What are you?!" They panicked
"I'm the one's asking questions here now answer!..."
The shreaked
"Okay okay! We kidnapped them" one panicked
"Why?"
"So we can return them for reward money!" The other one answered
", what do you think, should we kill them?" Chris asked
"No, their not worth it, listen up you'll return all these animals back and give us 50% of the reward you get..." I said coldly
The two beasts nodded there head quickly.
"Good, Chris make sure they don't run away..." I said heading deeper into the cave
"And where are you going?"
"There's something here that has my attention..."
I sensed something earlier and headed towards it. Near the ending of the cave was a large cell containing a strange beast. It was a large wolf with black fur, beaming with mana as it's eyes pierced through my soul.
"Can you understand me.." I asked the creature
"A mortal?, why do you speak to me?"
"I sensed your mana presence so I came to check it out..." I answered
"is that so?" It narrowed it's eyes
"Where you're master, I didn't see any posters for you?..."
" I've been here for quite some time, it's likely that his no more..." He replied
"I see, why not come with me..."
It laughed
"no mortal can acquire me so easily, not much less a woman like yourself..." It laughed
"You have two options, stay here and die or follow me.." I said bluntly
"I rather choose death than be a pet for some mortal..." He scoffed
"Then what do I have to do to have you?" I queried
"Why so eager?" It asked starting to get annoyed
"Because I need to get back home and my only companions are a stuffed bear and a Tsundere " I deadpanned
It laughed
"How amusing, very well, in order to form a contract with me, I'll first have to measure your mana level " it said
"So I just touch you? Alright " I placed my hand on it's forehead as the spot glowed. After a minute or two it froze and stumbled back
"What's wrong?"
"So much mana?!" It said with disbelief
"I'm sorry for doubting you! Master!" It bowed.
I rose a brow
"You're worthy, let's begin...."
We performed a contract, my eyes widened at the figure before me.
Christopher's pov
AHHHHHH!!!
I ran back inside the cave quickly as I heard her screams
"What's wrong?!" I asked only to see she was unconscious as a man held her In his arms. He looked young with long bluish green hair and teal eyes.
"What did you do to her?!" I yelled out with anger
"Relax, she only fainted although I'm not sure why?" He said unbothered, carrying her out of the cave with him
"Hey what's your name?!"
He turned to me with no Expression
"Yuishiro..."