crunch, thump, rustle, crinkle, rustle, crunch...
Iris tiredly walked along, luckily she had packed their stuff before going after Varian, but much against their good fortune, they had lost the path. "You sure you're alright?" She asked her companion for the millionth time. Varian nodded, now sitting cross legged atop her head. "What if we climbed a tree? we wouldn't necessarily have to take the path but we could see the mountains ans at least start heading in the right direction!" He proposed as the idea came to him.
"Genius!...well gosh i wish we had thought of that sooner!" She laughed as Varian climbed from her head, to her shoulder, then to her hand. Gently setting him down by a thick tree trunk, Iris placed the bags down near him as well. "I'll be right back!" She told him, climbing into a smaller tree near by and jumping from its thin, frail frame into the high limbs of the thicker oak Varian waited beneath. "Sheeeeeee's awesome..." Varian concluded to himself with a love sick grin. Looking down he jumped. Ruddiger was staring at him with knowing eyes. "What?!" The boy glared, feeling embarrassed. The raccoon replied with a chattery smirk and a nudge to the shoulder from his nose. "Pffft-! No!...Shoo! Its none of your business anyways!" Varian pouted back, shoving Ruddiger's face away, all the while the smug critter laughed.
Iris climbed higher. Glancing down she could see the alchemist messing around with his raccoon on the ground, and she must admit it made her smile. Pulling herself up every branch and stable foothold, she reached the top of the tree after a little while. Sure enough they had been going the wrong way. Luckily not backtracking any progress as far as the girl could tell, but still, no new progress. Iris looked over the slowly darkening forests below. Trees seemed to extended as far as the eye could see, though there were some large grasslands, the forest still kept on, even inching up parts of the mountain. What she did not notice was the strange purple and black sickly looking patches of trees that peppered the further out woodlands.
Now with a sense of the best path to take, having it hopefully meet up with another road, that slithered through the trees toward the horizon, Iris began her decent toward the grassy, mossy ground below where the alchemist tussled with his pet in anticipation of her return.
With a soft thump, the siren landed by the two where she was greeted by Ruddiger having Varian half way crammed into his mouth. 'Ruddiger... spit him out... now." She pursed her lips, not entirely impressed with how much of the boy the raccoon had somehow managed to fit into his mouth in the first place.
Ruddiger promptly spat him out, varian tumbling out and landing in the odd position of his legs above his head. "Ha! See? I win! I'm the-..." varian coughed and pointed at Ruddiger trailing off as he realized why Ruddiger had really yielded. "Oh..." Varian went limp, dropping his hand as his legs fell to the ground, leaving him on his back to look up at Iris. "Ahem... uhhhh Yeah- me and Ruddiger weren't doing anythi-"
"So you're really gonna pretend I didn't just see you and your raccoon having some sort of eating competition..." She cut him off, only able to raise a brow to display her opinion. Varian uncomfortably cleared his throat again, standing up and trying to wipe the spit off. "You two are nut heads..." She gave a sort of confused laugh, still unsure how to feel about what she had just witnessed. "Also that isn't coming out anytime soon... And I ain't carrying you till you're clean." She told him, pulling out her water and a cloth. Varian eyed her, "Whats that supposed to mean," He glared at her suspiciously.
"It means I'm rinsing you off!" The girl announced, abruptly ripping off the cap, and pouring some water on him. Varian tensed up when the cold liquid was dumped on him, sputtering and coughing. "hey-!" He croaked, drenched and startled. Iris snickered and handed him the cloth. "Sorry, but I'm not gonna smell raccoon spit all day long, plus, have you bathed once since we've been out here?" She asked, Varian not daring to answer, but climbing on Ruddiger, wrapped in his make shift towel, in spite. "That answers that then..." she half smirked, allowing the subject to go.
"You realize that after that whole incident we're gonna have to be so much more careful right?" iris asked him after giving the events on the day before some thought. Varian nodded, slight goosebumps spreading across their arms at the meer thought. "Think we'll see that thing again?" he asked. Iris thought for a moment. "maybe... I don't know... I'd like to think not though." She responded, to which Varian nodded again. "We should probably keep watch at night huh..." he asked, already knowing the answer.
"I guess we did get a little too comfortable with eachother's company..." The siren gave a sheepish chuckle. "heh, a little?" The alchemist asked with a quirked brow. Iris grinned more, "Yeah... just a tad." The two chuckled at the joke, a feeling of relief and gratitude coming over them, still feeling a little shaken up.
The woods seemed to hold less of an innocence now that the knowledge of what really lurked within was aware to them. Both the travelers crept through the forest, footsteps more careful, eyes more open, and ears more couldn't let themselves be caught off guard like they had last time.
Dusk began to fall now and the sky became ever more purple as the sun retreated from its place in the sky. Coming to a particularly dense spot of thick trees they stopped. "Here looks good, I think we were too visible in the clearings as before." Iris chimed, the hoots and howls of animals around them filling the air slowly more and more. "That's a good idea, but our tents won't fit..." Varian told her dismounting his raccoon. She shrugged, pulling out just their sleeping bags, "I guess we'll sleep under the stars then!"
"Should we make a fire?"
"I donno... i think we should give it a day or two just in case that dynnbukido is really looking for us..."
"What about wild animals?"
"Good point, i can keep watch for the first while..."
"You sure? Because i really wouldn't mind doing it... Plus you've been caring both our stuff all day and must be exhausted after rescuing me!"
"Sure you can handle it?...I am rather tired but if you need sleep then i'll be fine!" Iris yawned, only just remembering her fatigue. "I may not be my normal size, but I can still handle it." Varian smirked as his companion slowly nodded off. Ruddiger chattered to Varian, curling around the small stone he sat on. The alchemist smiled to himself stroking his animal's silky fur, listening to the crickets and frogs, fighting his own drowsiness, till accidentally falling asleep himself.
"Iris! Iris wake up!..." Iris's eyes fluttered open to Varian's face practically against hers. Suddenly more awake she realized that he was normal sized again... but what made Varian blush was the fact that they both had their arms wrapped around each other, Varian on his back, Iris on her side. "Shh, don't move..."Varian quietly warned her as the girl also came to be aware of the sounds around them. Ever so slightly leaning up, she caught a glimpse of the pack of wolfs passively snuffling the area around them.
Only the wolves were much larger than any other dog either had ever seen, almost as big as a grizzly bear. Not only this but they were covered in a bristly black and grey fur, that had scaly bald patches and a glowing cyan mold growing from them among the occasional black or blue vine or plant. The large wolves drooled a blue goo at ridiculous amounts, the slobber and inner parts of their mouths and throats were aglow as well. Some had long dagger-like black tongues that were long enough to drag along the grass.
"What are those things!?" Iris starledly whispered back, both not daring to move. "I don't know but I fell asleep last night while on watch... I'm so sorry!" The boy looked truly regretful and sincere. "It's ok... let's just pray these things go awaaayyyyyyy-" Iris's voice faded to a squeak, squeezing her eyes shut as one of the monstrous beings came up to them, drooling madly and huffing hot air in their faces. it sniffed both of their faces, a low growl erupting in its throat. Iris almost let out a terrified yelp as something furry pressed into her stomach.
Iris peaked her eyes open to see the creature's maw full of razor sharp fangs, coated in the goop. Alarmed and horrified, she couldn't look away from what she assumed would be their death. Without warning a loud thunderous bark ripped the dog's muzzle away from them, the pallid siren could now see behind Varian was what she for sure thought to be the alpha. The wolf was one and a half times the size of the others and had two twisted branching off its skull. The demon let out a deep, deafening howl, throwing its head back and galloping the opposite way the two were heading. The dog standing over them began to whimper and lower its head repeatedly at them, let out small yappy barks.
Iris had to refrain from covering her ears, and could see Varian's eyes and face scrunched up as the loud noises were clearly making his ears ring as well.
Another wolf with nubs for horns, most likely the next in command cut it off with a louder abrupt bark and growl, sending the demon that stood over them's tail between its legs. The rest of the pack then began to thunder off into the woods after their alpha. The final one hesitantly following, throwing glances back at them, furry brows knitted together.
They waited in silence. Both Iris and Varian became aware of their own and each other's quick breathing and position. "A-A-are th-they go-one?" Varian shakily squeaked after some time, Iris nodded, sitting up, pulling her numb arm out from under Varian. "y-yeah,,, I-I thin-nk so," She replied, her own voice trembling. "Was I the only one who saw that!"
"What the giant DEMON WOLVES!?.. heheheh... no unfortunately not!"
"No, I mean, did you see how they seemed to be looking for us?"
"Looking for us!? Heh, luckily not many animals possess that level of intelligence, I've done research."
"Ok, I know that, but they were clearly communicating and something was definitely going on!.. plus, didn't you see how that last one got antsy after it sniffed me?"
"Well, it may have been able to tell that we're alive, and they may have been searching for food... that's what animals do..."
"Ok i know that! But that seemed way too... I don't know... But they were definitely not looking for food..."
"Ok then... Why would they be looking for us specifically...?" Varian asked, nervous sass melting out of his tone as he sat up beside her. Ruddiger popped up, having been inbetween them and what had been pressing itself against Iris.
The shaken siren stood, shaking her head, unsure. "I don't know but we need to get moving for sure!"