CHAPTER 33
Throne Room, Aandhi Royal Palace
20 hours…
Just 20 hours, and I'm now in another country, was what in Ryan's mind now while looking at the side-striped jackal in Arabian royal costume who clapped his paws together in glee.
"Mr. Ryan Young!" Sultan exclaimed happily, setting off from his throne and walking towards Ryan with open arms. "I'm so glad to see you! And, welcome to my country, the Kingdom of Aandhi."
Oh, great… I'm officially kidnapped, Ryan continued his thoughts, rolling his eyes. He wanted to speak up, ask questions or maybe bellowed some swears if he did not get his mouth tied. All he could do was expressing with his look and some body language.
"Let me introduce our majesty, human," Uthman stated, walking up next to Sultan and gesturing at him. "This is Sultan Mullet Wamkulu, the ruler of the Kingdom of Aandhi, the true claim of the Jariza throne. Because of his wish, you're here appearing before our glorified and generous majesty."
Really? Ryan raised a brow in questioning.
[Hmm… He seems he want to speak something,] Sultan muttered, rubbing his chin and ordered, [Bishara, cut that piece of cloth off his mouth.]
[Yes, your highness,] Uthman bow to him then walked towards Ryan, picking out his knife.
The buck bent down, stuck his knife in between Ryan's cheek and a cloth gag. "You see… How the generosity of our Sultan has…" he whispered in Ryan's ear and cut the cloth. "He just allows you to speak, so don't forget to thank his majesty."
Ryan inhaled deeply with his mouth and sighed, looking at Uthman who was walking back to Sultan's side. However, the taste in the air was strange, so unique and spice-ish that his throat felt bitter. He coughed on it as if the air was unbreathable.
Seconds later as he was getting used to the foreign environment, Ryan looked up at the mammals before him who seemingly was waiting for him to speak. "Oh! Thank you," he exclaimed, apparently sounded mockingly appreciative. "Thank you very much, your highness, for allowing me to convey my messages. I'm so profoundly appreciated of your kindliness."
"I sensed your innuendo in those words, human. Please, watch your mouth and don't forget that he is the ruler of this kingdom to whom you're talking," Uthman warned with a threatening look.
"Noted…" Ryan nodded, giving a submissive look. "But, I didn't intend to harden my voice in such that manner, Mr. Deer." Then, he turned to Sultan and continued, "Your Majesty, I would like to ask you some questions, regarding my situation here."
"My dear human, how many questions you're going to ask?" Sultan asked with a smile, pacing a step closer and leaning towards the human. "I don't have much time. I have a meeting to attend soon."
"It depends on your answers, my lord," he replied in a sardonic tone."If they're clearly understandable, there won't be more questions afterward."
"You filthy human!" was a familiar deep voice sternly said from his behind. "How dare you speak with that tone-"
[Easy there, Safar. Don't forget that we're in front of his Majesty,] Uthman quickly interjected, looking at the direction of the voice.
Ryan turned his head, following Uthman's gaze only to see the golden jackal bearing his teeth at him. "Oh, isn't that Captain Nabhan Safar?" Ryan uttered in false joy. "How was your nose? I hope I didn't hit it hard enough, right?"
"That's it. I'm gonna teach you some lesson," Nabhan snarled, pacing towards Ryan along with cracking his knuckles.
[Stand down!] Uthman gave his subordinate a warn, but Nabhan seemed to ignore and continued forward. Uthman had to block his way, restraining him from going further. Using much strength to stop this golden jackal, Uthman surprised that for a smaller mammal like Nabhan had so much power that he barely to restrain him.
Seeing a little commotion that he caused, Ryan could not help but let out a satisfied laugh and said in a taunting manner, "That's right, Mr. Deer, restrain your disobedient dog… Oh! And, don't forget to put a leash on him next time, so he won't bite anyone."
[Hmm… a leash?] muttered Sultan, seeming like something popped in his head. Then, he clapped his paws again, to catch everyone's attention. "Alright, simmer down everyone," he announced calmly, looking at his two agents then Ryan. "Ryan Young, you seem likely to be a troublemaker, right?"
"Well, it's up to what I get, sire," Ryan replied with a daring smile.
"Okay, my dear human. Since you've satisfied with your little commotion and cost your own time to ask me a question, I'll only allow you to ask me only one question before I head out to the meeting."
"Alright then, let's me think for a sec… What do you want from me?" Ryan quietly asked, looking straight into his eyes.
"Oh, you should've known…" Sultan shook his head and paced another step towards Ryan, only a few feet between them. He grabbed Ryan by the collar of his shirt, gently yet firmly pulled him closer and whispered in his ear, "I want you to be in my… possession."
Ryan's eyes widened after he heard that, it was irrational. It was just Sultan's selfishness and ownership of him, that was all. Questions began to pop more and more into his head trying to make sense of this kidnapping.
"Y-you know it's against my rights, right?" Ryan asked back, only to hear a deep chuckle in return.
"I'm well aware of that," Sultan replied, and they parted as Sultan pushed Ryan away and gave him a smile that meant 'so what?' before saying, "but who's gonna know that you're here?"
[Guard!] Sultan called out, pointing at Ryan. [Take him to the dungeon.]
For Ryan, it seemed like Sultan was ordering someone to take him away, and he was right. He saw two canines marching towards him, one was a buff wolf, and another was a rather old jackal. They wore dark blue, royal guard uniforms, and each of them had a sheathed sword hanging on their side. The buff one picked Ryan up first by his left upper arm, while another guard took Ryan's right. Despite the age, the old guard still managed to rise Ryan's right arm up to the same level of his left, and they began to drag him.
Before he was being transported to whatever next place, he looked at the Sultan again who was handed a small key to Uthman and said, [Bishara, take this… You know where to find it, right?]
[Of course, your highness,] Uthman replied and bow to him. [I'll see it on him right away.]
[Good…] Sultan nodded and left the room.
I have a bad feeling about this… was the last thought, before Ryan was carried away.
A moment later, Ryan now was outside the throne room, dragged down the hallway. It seemed quiet and no one except them, it was a perfect time for him to resist, he supposed. He was sure he could fight these guards by tackling, bumping or whatever he could. He knew that the weakest one here was the old guard, if he wanted to start his attack, he would target him first. But, the problem was how to get out of their grips.
Recalling back when he was training, if he was being carried by two people and was in the middle of them, he only needed to overbalance one of them. So tilting his body, he leaned his weight to the right where the old guard was holding his arm. As the old jackal felt the gaining in weight, he began to stumble and fall, which caused Ryan to fall upon him too.
Ryan quickly rolled on his back facing the other guard who was stunned and reaching out his paw towards him. He pulled his tied feet and shot them at the wolf guard's muzzle, making him fall on his back. To finish his combo, Ryan sprung himself up to his feet and tossed his body onto the fallen wolf, aiming his shoulder to its chest to make sure that wolf was out cold for some time. Then, he got up again and looked at the old guard who was still on the ground. He prepared to jump on that guard, but fortunately, he was already unconscious.
Ryan hopped slightly back to look at two guards lying on the floor, but due to his feet still tied, he fell backward onto the floor too. "Offt… Okay, they're out," he mumbled. Then, he rolled over and crept like a caterpillar towards them.
"Is there any sharp thing here?" He sat up and looked around until he saw their swords next to them, "Ah, there. I hope it's not just a decoration." He continued creeping towards one of it and tried to the rope that tied around his ankles by rubbing it against the blade. It took some time to set the sword's sharp edge up and cut the cord, but in the end, he managed to get his ankles loose.
"Now, my legs are free… Next, the rope around my wrists." Ryan turned around and was about to cut another rope around his wrist. But, he could sense a faint vibration in the ground, surmising that other guards had heard the commotion and were on the way here. He quickly rubbed the rope against the blade, but it seemed a bit late as one of the royal guards spotted him and called others.
Okay, time out.
Ryan then got up and ran down the hallway. He turned to the corner and dashed through the arched of the doorway, only to see a spiral staircase leading to the upper level. Without hesitation, the human went up the stairs and reached the wooden door that he assumed it would lead him to the outside of the palace. He ran to the door and forcefully bumped it with his shoulder, hoping to force it open. But, it seemed stronger than he thought.
"Offt… Oww…" Ryan whined with his face stuck on the door. "This door is hard. Let's try again…"
He went back away from the door and ran towards it again, jumping up and using his both feet to burst it open. "Aha! Let's see what the city looks like." Then, he ran down the walkway on the red sandstone wall. Taking a glimpse around while running, he could see this massive high wall bordered a large ivory-white marble palace where he left and a small pond beside it. On the other side of the wall, he could see the city, crowded and congested with the mud houses and buildings.
He stopped running and looked down to the ground on the outer side of the wall. He was at least 20 feet away from the ground level, and it would not be a good idea if he jumped off.
He complained, "Jeez, I can be dead or at least having a broken leg if I jump down-" His voice was cut off as something wrapped around his neck tightly and elevated him. "ACK! M-my neck!"
Ryan glanced down to see what strangled him, it was a trunk, an elephant trunk around his neck. He was brought down from the wall, and his wide open eyes now saw two giant sized royal guards, who he could guess their names.
"Y-you must be Alim and Alai, no?" He looked at two identical elephants with a sheepish smile. "Now, I have no doubt why you guys could carry me easily."
[Like the Sultan said, he's a troublemaker,] was one who strangled Ryan with his trunk said.
[Yeah, let me put him into sleep,] was another one said, and he drew back his fisted right hoof.
"What are you saying? Oh no… no, no, no, No, NO!" Then, the fist caught into Ryan's face wholly, and he was blacked out.
12.00 pm, Jariza International Airport
Passing the immigration process without any suspicion and heading towards a baggage reclaim area, the trio and plus one had finally arrived at Aandhi. 14-hour of being in the airplane was bored and tired, but fortunately, taking a night flight had one good thing which they could sleep all the way to the destination. Maybe, it was only good for the lion, namely Carl Heron. He had been sleeping for the whole flight as it was his nature.
With a fresh look on him, Heron stretched his arms over his head and announced, "Here we are, the Kingdom of Aandhi. Guys, let's get our bags and go to the hotel."
Before heading to one of the baggage carousels, he looked at the trio who gave him their exhausted looks in return, seeing that they did not have a good sleep or did not sleep at all. For a reason, he knew that it was him.
"Heh… I really hate him," Star, with a lack of sleep look, grumbled, glaring at the lion.
"Chill now, Star," Nick warned softly, his look too was not different from hers. "We need him to save Ryan, remember? Just play along with it until then."
"It's still hard to believe that we have to use that criminal's help," Judy complained then yawned.
Nick turned to Judy, seeing that her eyes were nearly closed for slumber. He knew these two girls and himself had been taking a turn every hour watching over Heron during the flight. So, they sure did not have a good sleep.
"I'm too, Carrots…" he sighed tiredly, looking at the now brown doe. "But, it's the only way to help Ryan."
"Come on, guys! What's the holdup?!" shouted the lion who went ahead of them, waving his paw in the air like a cub who wanted his parents to quicken their move.
Following up to him and waiting for their luggage at the carousel, they quickly retrieved their stuff and headed out to the taxi waiting area in front of the building. Ever since they have stepped in this country, the first thing welcomed them was the scent in this foreign air. It was peculiar and intense, yet at the outside of the airport, it was more concentrated and irritated that this white dyed fox could not bear.
"Jeez! How can locals get used to this smell? Are they anosmia?" Nick grumbled, covering his high sensitive nose with his paw.
"Hush, Nick. You'll get used to it," said Judy then walked up to a taxi driver who was a wolf leaning his back against his old taxi.
"Excuse me, sir?" She asked politely.
"Ah, tourists!" the wolf exclaimed happily as he saw his new four customers. "How can I assist you, sirs, madams?"
"Actually, we're a field report team," Judy quickly corrected him, "and we would like to go to Shannti Hotel, sir."
"Shannti Hotel, one of the luxury and expensive hotel in Jariza." Then, he jerked his thumb at his car and offered, "Get in the car, I'll handle your luggage."
"Thanks."
Almost half an hour passed after they had taken a journey from the airport outside the city to the heart of the capital. During the way, no conversation was made, they just watched out the windows, studying the new scenery of the city named Jariza. As the captain of ZSF had said, the locals were mostly canine species from a small desert fox like Finnick to a fully grown gray wolf. Also, there were some deer, tigers, leopards, and elephants on the sidewalk too. The buildings were mainly built from mud and sand, which naturally prevented heat from the sun and kept warm in the night. They knew this city was crowded and congested, but another new thing these four just learned about this capital was its poor traffic.
Now as they stuck in traffic, the wolf driver turned his head to the right only to see the lion who rode shotgun, staring out the window absentmindedly. It seemed too quiet as if his customers did not exist at all, so he began a friendly conversation.
"Where you guys come from?" the wolf asked, his eyes now were trained on the road in front.
"Animalia, sir," Heron plainly answered.
"Wow, you came half of the world here to get news?" the driver surprised, looking at his passenger beside him.
"Yeah, that right." The lion glanced at him and gave a nod.
"Well, all the news you can get here is the protest." The wolf shrugged his shoulders.
Then, something arose in Judy's mind. For these past hours, they did not act like they were field reporters. They were just sitting and waiting to arrive at their destination, which was wasting time and was not a nature of reporter, she assumed. So, she asked the driver, "Can I ask you something about the protest, Mr …?"
"Razin, Razin Bashir Doggan at your service." Razin looked at her in the rear mirror and nodded.
"I'm Ju-" She quickly stopped, clearing her throat and corrected, "Becky."
She pointed to her left and right. "This is Randy, Carla, and…"
"Aaron," Heron added.
"Alright, nice to meet you guys," the wolf chuckled, looking at Judy with a smile in the rear mirror again before asking back, "what you want to ask, Becky?"
"How it started?"
His face turning from smiling to neutral, Razin slightly shook his head as if it was a painful memory, and he did not want to remember it at all. However now, it was not only her eager look pressured him, but everyone too was relentlessly curious about it. "Oh… well," he sighed, sounded somewhat defeated. "It's kinda long story, and your hotel is about 15 minutes away. So, I'll tell a short version."
He let out another sigh before beginning, "Aandhi once was one of the most visited countries. It welcomed millions of visitors every year. Most of them came to enjoy the foods, culture, atmosphere, natural beauty, and historic sites. Even we had a greedy and stubborn Sultan at that time, we still lived with the issue in peace. Until 3 years ago, when the first princess was lost, and that's where it all began. Grief overwhelmed him and made him do cruel things. He became greedier and started ordering his men to obtain things he wanted as to use them fulfilling his lost. And, there was a rumor that Sultan ordered his services to kidnap mammal too. Due to this, the tourists were afraid to come to Aandhi, and that made the income of this country drop. Normal became poor, poor became poorer, the firm economy entered a downturn, and the conflict between the mammals of Aandhi and the leader of the country began."
And, the story was stopped as he gently stepped on the brake pedal, making the car softly stop in front of the destination, Shannti Hotel. He looked at the rear mirror again to see his three customers in the back and announced, "And, we have to end the story here, because we reach your hotel."
No needed to add more word, they got out of the taxi and were greeted by a cheetah bellhop who quickly came to them with a luggage cart. Opening the trunk lid of the taxi, the bellhop automatically retrieved their luggage, set them in the cart and closed the trunk. Then, he hauled the cart into the lobby area of the hotel.
Before hopping off the seat, Judy picked out her wallet and paid up the fare. "Thanks for the ride, sir."
"You're welcome, ma'am," Razin took the fare and gave her a small piece of paper consisting a set of number. "Here's my number if you guys want to take a tour around Jariza or need a ride. Just call me, alright?"
"Thank again, bye."
Seeing the taxi drove off, the four began to walk into the lobby.
"Okay, what's next, Randy?" asked Heron.
Nick glanced at him before saying, "Check in the hotel, set our luggage in our rooms, and prepare one of our rooms to be the operating base… which is gonna be men's room, isn't it?" Looking at two girls, he only got back their nodding in affirmative.
…W-who are you?…
…Vision!? Are you saying that you're some psychic, right?…
…Every mammal will be dead nonetheless…
…I hope your forecast is as accurate as you said… DOG…
…Don't you agree, Rawa?…
Meanwhile, Dungeon of Aandhi Royal Palace
*WUMP!* "WAKE UP!" a loud shout rang out after Nabhan punched Ryan in the face.
"Gah!" Ryan exclaimed in agony. "That's hurt! Damn it!"
His drowsiness now was gone, replaced by soreness on his face. His eyes opened wide and gazed up at the mammal before him, Nabhan, who was standing and giving back a threatening look. Then glancing around, to see that he was in a dark room filling with torture devices, an only light source was an old lightbulb that shone down on him. Looking down again, he saw himself being bound to the chair completely, only his head could be moved.
Damn…
It was a kind of situation that he hated most, if it was some kind of spy movie, the hero would get tortured to spit out the secret. So, as of now, he sure would get tortured. Whether as a punishment or just for their satisfaction, if he was going to be hurt, at least he wanted to get on his punisher's nerves. And, his punisher must be Nabhan himself.
"You know there are other ways to wake me up nicely, Safar…" Ryan teased with a daring smile, glancing up at the golden jackal. "Well, do whatever you want while you can, 'cause there will be blood after I get out of this."
"Grrrr… You filthy human…" Nabhan snarled, cracking his knuckles before giving a set of nice and hard punches in his face. Each punch was too powerful that he could be knocked out, but he did not want to go easy on this jackal. He smiled in return then grinned then laughed each time he got the jackal's fist on his face. Taunting Nabhan even his face was bloody and full of bruises, he still laughed with his mouth bleeding out.
"Is that all you get, DOG!" the human shouted aloud, spitting out the blood. "I can take this all day!" Then, he filled the dark dungeon with his laughter.
Nabhan could not hold back his anger anymore. He picked out his knife and pointed it at Ryan's neck, preparing to cut his throat, but only to be stopped by another voice behind the shadow.
[Stop it, Safar. Or, he'll be dead,] Uthman ordered, walking into the light, his both hooves behind his back.
Nabhan obliged and stepped back away to let his superior getting closer to Ryan. Uthman stepped closer, towered over the human and glanced down at him. "You seem to get along so well with him, eh?" he said sarcastically. "I haven't seen him so pissed off before."
Spitting his blood on the ground before the stag, Ryan then looked up at him and said, "How can I say this… In my world, dogs and humans are best companions." Then, he looked at Nabhan and scoffed, "Right, bow-wow?" earning another growl from the jackal.
"Such a big mouth you have…" Uthman smiled, then his look changed into seriousness and continued, "Let's stop sarcasm and hear this. Right now, you're owned by our majesty, and since you're so aggressive and contumacious, his Majesty then orders me to put this thing on you." And, he reached out one of his hooves towards Ryan, showing a Nylon strap with a small black box. It had some kind of secured buckle on its end.
"A… collar?" Ryan looked it with a skeptical look.
"Yes, it is," was an answer, plainly replied by the mammal who held it.
"Are you trying to humiliate me?" Ryan breathed, looking up at Uthman, giving him the most disbelieving look ever. Then, he squirmed in protest and shouted, "Don't be ridiculous! I'm not gonna let you put that this on me! It's against my rights. It's against my freedom! I'm not someone's pet! You reprobate! Argh!"
Using his other hoof to grab Ryan's forehead and slam him down against the floor, Uthman slowly put the strap around his neck. "Be still… I'm putting this collar on you."
"Get off me! Get your dirty hoof off my face!" Ryan tried to resist, squirming as hard as he could even his whole body was bound, hoping that he would get loose.
But, his hope was gone when a sharp sound rang *Click*, and the light on the small box now emitted green. He stopped, no more resisting, no moving afterward, only breathing and eyes dilated in shock.
Seeing the human's face showing despair, a sinister grin drew on Uthman's face along with a dark self-satisfied laugh. He outreached his hoof towards his subordinate and ordered, [Give me your knife, Nabhan.]
With his eyes still on Ryan, the deer could feel a knife grip on his hoof as Nabhan handed it to him carefully. He clenched and cut off the ropes that tied around the human. As he finished, he stood up and walked back to Nabhan to return his knife. Glancing over his shoulder to the human, he announced, "Okay… Now, as the Tame Collar was put on, you're now his majesty's… pet."
Ryan quickly rolled onto his front and pushed him up sitting on his knees. He grabbed the collar around his neck and started to yank. "Get this thing off me… Get… it… Off!" He pulled as hard as he could, trying to rip the strap.
But, the only thing that he got in return were warning beeps and an electric shock from the collar. *Beep Beep Beep… BZZT!*
"GAAAAAH!" His body became weak immediately and collapsed onto the ground again. His eyes now were madly staring at the stag who let out a chuckle. "I-It shocked me… W-what the heck?" mumbled Ryan, pushing himself up again weakly and rubbed his neck.
"It's a Tame Collar," Uthman stated. "It was designed to keep predators from acting out of aggression and potentially hurting prey animals. It'd shock them when they became enraged or overly emotional. But, its cons were more than its pros, so this project had to be canceled. And, the one on you is a prototype, that we retrieved from Zootopia as well."
"You stole it!" Ryan yelled back.
"I'd suggest you keep calm, human. Right now, the light is yellow, and you don't want it to turn orange or red."
"Why- *Bzzt* Ah!" Another small shock sparked at his neck.
"That's why. This collar has four levels of measure indicating by light. Green for neutral, yellow for warning, orange for the mild countermeasure, and red for severe countermeasure. It depends on your temperament. Also, it can shock you manually by this remote too…" Then, he picked out a small device with a red button and pressed it, "…like this."
"GAAAAAH! Stop it!"
"Oh! My favorite part, we just add a new feature into it. In the case of attempting to run away while this thing still on you, you'll be shocked to death or until coming back in the remote's range, which radius is approximately 150 feet. Any doubt?"
And, the silence befell upon them as the dungeon now was filled only Ryan's breathing noise. More seconds passed, and it seemed they were not going to speak more word. Then, the two mammals began to pace away, walking to the door. However, as Nabhan opened the door for his superior, and they were about to leave, Ryan lifted his head up and asked them, "How can I get this thing off?"
"Only his Majesty can take this collar off," Uthman replied, stepping out the room. Before the door closed, he gave Ryan his last advice, "Oh! If you try to break it or cut its strap, it'll shock you as well and severe too. Okay, I'll let guards take care of your clothes. You need to be dressed in something worth calling you a 'pet'."
The door finally shut, leaving the human alone in the middle of the room. Ryan glanced down at the floor with a despairing expression as if his life was done. With this collar on him, any freedom he had now was gone, only replaced by anger and humiliation that boiled up inside him. To vent his wrath, he would rage at anyone or destroy anything, even the small thing. But he had to stop when a sound of an electronic beeped, and the yellow light brightened, warning him.
Taking a deep breath and counting to three, he forced himself to calm down his mood until the light on the collar was green again. Closing his eyes and beginning to meditate, he let his anger vanishing away through steady and consistent breath.
It depends on my mood, huh… he thought. Just control my feelings then. Heh, how ironic, in my world, dogs are humans pets. But here, I'm theirs.
A moment passed as he was doing nothing, the door opened again. The same two guards walked in and to the human. They stopped before him, hesitating that the human could attack them by surprise again. However, Ryan did nothing, just sitting on his knees, his chest rising and falling as he was breathing normally. Staring at him intensely, they began to believe that Ryan capitulated and approached him.
But little did they know, Ryan was waiting for them or just one of them to get closer to him. And, his first victim seemed to be the wolf guard as he stepped forward and reached out his paw to take Ryan's arm. A smile drew on his face, making the first guard slightly flinch and begin to feel that it was a bad idea to approach him alone. He paced his one of his feet back and was about to draw out his sword.
However, it was too late. Ryan quickly grabbed his wrist and yanked him down, bumping his head against its nose causing the wolf stumbling backward with his paws now covering his hurt nose. The sharp whimper of pain howled from the wolf, and blood spilled out of his nose. The wolf tried to recover his balance, but Ryan did not give him a chance. He quickly shot himself up and punched his victim in the face.
His first unfortunate victim now was out cold and lied on the floor. And, his next victim would be no one else but, the old jackal guard. It could be easy for him, but Ryan was not going to neglect the fact that more age meant more experience. Looking at the jackal who was in fighting stance with a sword readied in his paw, Ryan had to give him credit that he was brave to fight with him despite his shaky legs and droopy ears.
They began a staring contest, glaring at each other to see who was going to make the first move. And, the human chose to break their eye contacts first and dashed towards the jackal. With a wince, the jackal swung his blade across, slashing nothing but air as his target had crouched down before it could strike him. Glancing down at the human in front of him, he began to regret that he should have run away instead of fighting him. Even he had forged his skills and been experienced for a long time serving as a royal guard, he should have known that sometimes retreating was the best tactic when he had to face a skilled opponent like this human alone.
Now as it was too late for him to defend himself, the jackal closed his eyes and clenched his teeth tightly, preparing for the impact. In a split second, Ryan launched his fist upward to the jackal's chin, sending him sprawling to the ground several feet away.
Panting in tired, even for a short moment, he had used up most of his strength to make these two unlucky guards unconscious. At least, he could lit a smile on as he was free for now, and his next mission was to take that remote from that stag. Then, a beep sounded from his neck, quickly dragging his mind back before he could carry out a plan. He rose his hand next to the small device on the collar to see the yellow light reflected on his palm.
Even positive feelings were counted! Ryan internally complained. Well, it's kinda hard to conceal my feelings while fighting. Need to train on being insensitive, eh?
Inhaling deeply and letting out a sigh, he had to calm himself down again, letting go all of his emotions for now, and then the light on the device turned green again.
As he noticed it, he walked out of the dungeon through the open door and began to find out where Uthman was. Walking down the hallway, he knew that he got lost. It could not help that he had to walk on the path that he had never passed before as well as he had to hide from the other guards who patrolling around the palace too. He kept on walking and hiding until he found himself in some kind of the botanical garden, where were flowers everywhere, with an incredible variety of types and colors.
Now, as he began to feel frustrated by being lost the way, he shouted out in irritation despite a warning beep from his collar, "Jeez… Where am I NOW!" But to his surprise, there was a voice sounding in response.
"Nán krai na? [Who's there?]" a feminine voice asked in a foreign language, sounded from his behind.
Ryan was startled by that and slowly turned to the direction of that sound. His eyes opened wide as the mammal before him was a female side-striped jackal, wearing a maroon long sleeve chiffon top and pantaloons. She was so familiar that he could not even dare to forget her name or her face. He began stammering and turning pale as his mind began to recall her name.
"Rawa…?" he uttered out the name, without knowing that he let his emotions running wild inside unnoticed. Until…
*Beep Beep Beep… BZZT!* "ARGHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh…" His scream trailed off as he collapsed onto the grass below, and the world around him slowly went black again.
'Scent'
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