Freud was having a bad day.
Traveling, he figured, was actually quite tiring for somebody like him. Being a scholar that decides to travel is like being a fish and deciding to walk on land. It's just not possible, and thus, that makes him all the more keen on proving all those bigoted council members back at home just how much he could…. politely to say, fuck up their world views.
But that, of course, doesn't change his current predicament.
To put frankly, this is Freud's first time, ever, on getting lost. Oh, he knows which continent he is, what part of the said continent, what section, the coordinates, heck, even the country and town and house. But to get lost in the metaphorical labyrinth of the modern century was just plain ridiculous. cursing under his breath, Freud ducked under a low tree, his satchel hung over his shoulder as his cerulean eyes flickered left. The forest, he decided, was cliche. Fog, dark scary shadows, and trees that were probably going to shift and move as soon as he's out of earshot and evil creatures waiting in the dusk, just planning to eat the juicy little scholar that strolled too far down the street.
Flipping creatures, flipping snot nosed so called philosophers, screw his superiors... Freud grumbled as he made his way pass, idly setting fire to teh scenery behind him, ignoring the screams of agony and pain as he relished the power he had over the possibly most likely weapon that will lead to teh end of civilization.
And there's the reason on how he got lost. The strawberry blonde's cheeks colored as he figured that yes, he's most likely going to spend the next twenty or so years wandering the 'unplottable forest' since that's just how his luck goes. Grumbling to himself, he winced as he remembered just what happened. It, afterall, from his problems to his current situation is all solidly his fault. Not that he'll say it outloud, never, since his pride won't allow such a thing to occur, but…
You see, it all started with a hunt.
Freud has never been handed a staff before, willingly, without supervision. Back at home, the seventeen year old was treated with the same caution of a live grenade, especially with dangerous magical or non magical weapons. So when the unsuspecting nobel gave the staff to Freud in thanks for getting rid of the rat infestations in his house(which is nothing, really, since Freud was actually one of the causes) and the retrieval of a very rare, powerful dark artifact (which, for that one, Freud says he's sincerely sorry for borrowing it), he took the chance to use the powerful fire elemental staff almost immediately.
It was chaotic. It was fire. And Freud fell in love. His aim is off sometimes, sure, but that's fine, since the sheer power that he gained was totally worth it.
With insight that he does not normally posses, Freud decided to exercise using the new weapon outside of town so he doesn't cause an all out firefight which leads to burning towns and screaming people. This, of course, led to him working it all out in the forest, ignoring how he probably could have started a fire there and burned down the historical sites and caused a full out forest fire that would have taken years to burn down and would have then caused the Gobi Desert formation. But, of course, he didn't, so no problems were made.
And then, he saw that...thing.
At first, he ignored it. It was just a passing animal, after all. Nothing to be worried about. He could make out the discernable shape of some kind of rabbit, but that's about it. But when the creature made a sarcastic remark on Freud's magic abilities, insulted his mother, and then proceeded to act as if Freud was going crazy because oh my gosh that was a talking rabbit, somehow in just a span of thirty seconds, Freud decides that screw staying with the rules, that rabbit is going down.
Then, there's the problem.
Being a part of a giant kick ass organization could do that, with war on your head. If Freud were to ever go missing, well, there will be hell to pay. Of course, Freud knew that. It only made him all the more determined to stay out of trouble, thus causing more trouble within. Confused? Welcome to Freud's life.
Anyways. After at least two hours of chasing the stupid creature, forgetting the whole concept of 'staying out of trouble', internal screeching, and lots of screaming, he's lost, and he hasn't even set his quarry on fire even once. Running into the forest, past the shocked guards, he found, shouldn't be as surprising as it looks. The fact they just sat and stared at the 'esteemed guest' and the screaming rabbit just makes Freud wonder what they do in their free time. How the rabbit (Rabbit, right?Whatever. It's a rabbit) managed to survive his ambuscade of overpowered fire magic that turned bones to ashes, he doesn't know. With a sinking suspicion, he finally figured that the rabbit just might be magical and a spirit that ate human souls and lured its prey into the forest by insulting their mothers, but with at least three hours of wandering around after getting hopelessly lost, he could kind of safely rule out the probability. Idly setting fire to one of the fairies in the glade, he trecked across a fallen log, accidently squishing what appears to be a mushroom with very humanoid looking eyes. Shuddering, he made note to kill any harrying fairies and ignore the rest of the mushrooms, because they were actually quite creepy. He then decided to all but shove the idea of the mushrooms out of his head when he caught sight of one which looked all but an sick palpitant eyeball that appears to be connected on an optic nerve, where it blinked at him, several times, and them made this high pitched giggling noise.
He made note to move on just a bit faster after that.
Then, again, the fairies. One would expect the fairies to be beautiful sprites or something, but they look like a sick love child between a giant mantis and some kind of tree. Add steroids, an aggressive personality (they were dive bombing him nonstop, it was ridiculous!), sprinkle with a few eeries humanized traits, and you have fairies that taste like burnt toast. He knew they taste like burnt toast, because noon has all gone and past, and he's still hasn't caught anything that's edible yet. Making a mental note to never eat fairies because he's not all that desperate, Freud trecked on. He sighed, wishing that he could at least stop at some water body, where he could refill his water and slake off a second or two, maybe even catch some fish. The thought was immediately silenced in reply when he wondered just what could be living in the water.
Oh, how he wished that that cursed rabbit decided to bounce by again. Freud grumbled as he set fire to another fairy that tried to attack him, hitting the small voracious creature head on. Having a strange craving for roast rabbit meat for some reason, he looked forward, keen on getting back to town. Gritting his teeth, he all but snapped when another of those bug monstrosities tried to attack him.
"Will you bloody stop! I will use you all as target practice if you don't back off!"
His voice rang out in the clearing, and there was a temporary lull as all the faeries looked up, small beady eyes looking at him. Of course, Freud knew that they were only surprised he made a loud noise, but it would do him justice if they were to just listen to him! He swears,if one more fairy decides to kamikaze him he, he will-
A snicker rolled out from the undergrowth.
Freud froze, and without a second thought, set fire to the bush. A brown blur shot out with speeds unequal to any normal creature, narrowly missing another shot from the staff, careening past the started Freud and off into the glade. Despite that, the blonde saw enough.
"You!" He all but roared as he set off after the rabbit with the sly smile, incinerating everything near he galloped past the startled fairies, the confused mushrooms, and who knows what. The rabbit bounded up ahead, too far for Freud to make out properly but close enough to know that it's there. Added with how he could hear it's high pitched, frustrating laughter akin to a strange 'Kesesese', Freud is sure, with all the certitude in the world, that this annoying creature is the creature he's going to eradicate, eat, and skin before wearing its pelt like a trophy because it has wronged him one too many times.
The small brown animal replied with his snarling with a cackle as it bounded across the forest, toward the more foggy parts of the forest, its long ears pressed against its head and its strong hind legs helping it gain ground ahead the rampaging mage. Jumping over a rock and ducking under a branch, Freud followed, eyes trained on the bounding quarry as he took aim with the staff and fired.
The rabbit made a startled yelp as the ground in front of it suddenly caught aflame. Obviously, Freud noticed smugly, it never had been attacked and hit before by a spell. The rabbit slowed considerably, tumbling left as it attempts to gain ground, but it was enough for Freud to give it another burst, the fire scorching the animal's fur. The advantage of momentum lost, Freud slowly but surely began gaining on the smoking creature. Jumping over a rock and ducking under several boughs, Freud cackled like an angry but vengefully satisfied goose as he let his much longer legs bring him closer to the no longer snickering rabbit.
At this point, Freud could make out that yes, it's a rabbit. Taking a closer look, he blinked, trying to make sense just what he saw. The rabbit, from what he could tell, has a branch tangled with its head. Stumbling, he blinked to make sure he didn't start hallucinating as the rabbit (is it even a rabbit, because everything's messed up!?) made a desperate turn right, straight toward the suddenly slack jawed man. Shooting right past the mage, it gave Freud an ample view of the long, blackened flat palmate antlers that adorned its head. Without pausing, it started to run toward a clearing, causing Freud to stumble after it, still trying to compute just what the heck he just saw, because he was eighty percent sure that was a normal rabbit.
Well, he reasoned. A rabbit and a rabbit with antlers are two things, yes, but considering both are roughly the equivalent of a rabbit, they should have the same physique despite the antler change. That roughly equals to them tasting the same, and he's never tried a roast rabbit deer whatever before-
He looked up.
Sad to say, Freud never got to sample antlered rabbit. The thing shot right under a fallen tree so superiously vast that Freud thought at first it was a stone wall. The blonde paused, before the words 'stone wall' caught up with his mind with is still high from the adrenaline.
Freud made a high pitched shrieking noise akin to a pterodactyl as he skidded and crashed into the fallen tree, shoulder cracking painfully on the side as he slams into the tree, cursing under his breath as he hears that annoying high pitched laughter fade into the distance.
"Ow," he muttered, holding his head. Grumbling to himself, he almost fell flat on his face as he stumbled, muttering to himself.
"Ow ow ow ow."
With just one more very punctuated 'ow' to emphasize everything, Freud got up. No broken bones- he could feel that, thank you very much- but his pride is certainly bruised.
And what the fuck is with an antlered rabbit?
Exhaling, Freud grumbled to himself as he observed the fallen tree. Grimacing, he took note of the vastness and size. Despite it being an obstruction to what may be a future of fame and whatnot, Freud let out a low whistle as he stared at the tree's impressive girth.
"That's one big tree."
No kidding. The tree's almost as big as the trees that Freud once went to, called Chimney tree or something. Of course, he was forcefully thrown out when his guide found him trying to set fire to the branches. Freud would like to point out that the tree's persevered for such a long time, and overall moisture content wouldn't allow the tree to just…. you know, catch on fire, but it didn't stop some pretty nasty glares shot in his direction. Oops, but it was in the name of science.
Or, well, legal and humane science, although Freud can't say the same for legal, unlike that creep Arkarium. The old guy was certainly a spry fellow, dressed in the mandatory robes during the Orbis meeting that Freud detested with all his heart. Creepy old man tried to lure Freud into a room by himself, and that was enough to load a giant alarm in the blonde's head.
Added with his certain fetish with snakes?
No thanks, passing on.
As said, the tree was old. If Freud didn't know any better, he would have thrown caution to the wind and say that this tree might have been preserved and actually dragged here, to forcefully block the travelers from entering.
But that's mad, right?
Freud sighed, scratching his head.
Whelp. This is Freud, extraordinary mage, ready to get kicked out of yet another secret society. And just by his luck, he might end up in something like cannibal territory. Grumbling, he hooked his staff under the loop on his coat and started to climb, forcing magic through his fingertips as he scaled the wall.
He never notices as gold eyes study him from afar, as the great visage of a truly enormous entity hum under its breath, its darkened blue hide seemingly meld with the fog as without a single sound, it retreats, its silhouette no longer noticeable as it wings north.
The human has arrived.