Even though Ezra's perception was heightened he was surprised at how fast the speed of Northern Goshawk was charging at him, he did not have time react and just quickly threw the stone he was holding. It zoomed at a speed of 326 km/h, this was a speed more than double of the maximum throw on earth. Ezra even added spin to his throw, it hit the hawk squarely one the beak, but to his surprise, it only slightly impeded the hawk's advance.
'What the fuck is that beak made of?' he thought as he leapt up. He sighed as he was almost taken by the hawk, but he was still confident in his abilities. It even gave him an adrenaline rush of sorts.
'This is my first actual battle, I don't know but I think I get the feeling people feel when they are tense, you can really get addicted to this,'
The hawk did not change direction and still went the same path, Ezra's leap just dodged the hawk barely.
Ezra was flying ten metres vertically from the branch and drew his dagger and threw it as he aimed for the left wing.
The dagger lodged on the branch as impaled the hawk and tore his wing due to the momentum, the bird attempted to flap its wings to gain altitude but it just kept plummeting.
Ezra's jump upward slowed down as gravity pulled him toward the branch, he attempted a graceful landing but he stepped on a rouge feather and he slipped.
"MAMA," Ezra roared as he fell, he endeavoured to grab the dagger as he fell but it dislodged as he kept on falling.
The forest echoed with his cry as the sound reverberated throughout the canopy.
. . .
"What is that eerie sound?" Rycharde asked as everyone's attention was suddenly drawn toward the noise.
They could not see clearly with the dim lighting from the shade.
"It seems to be a bear cub falling from a tree," Galwell replied as he squinted.
"That does not sound like a bear cub though," added Evered.
"Goes to show you that Irriton is really mysterious," interjected Oswyn.
"Let's move forward then, the show's over," Dynaham said as he beckoned to the others.
Deimos was unfazed as he begun to skin the bear he just killed.
"I'm getting choice cuts from the meat then we leave with what we can carry, this part of Irriton is not that dangerous yet. There are stray felbeasts, though like this bear. It'll get harder to get food further inside, but once we get to the meeting place we set-up camp, from there, we are going to charge through Irriton for around fourteen hours straight`, we won't get to sleep once we get to the inner grove, it would be too dangerous for that," Deimos explained.
"But why so much bear meat? We'll probably arrive at Anticourt in a fairly short time and we can restock supplies there" asked Rycharde.
"The meat is for bait, I know these woods like the back of my hand, I've been here many times. The order uses these woods as training grounds," replied Deimos.
"I see," replied Rycharde, "We will do as you say then."
. . .
Ezra managed to land on a branch, he was lucky that he could strengthen his body otherwise his insides would have been mashed into a pulp. He landed fairly close to the ground and could not see the party of knights. Ezra only suffered light injuries which healed fairly fast due to him using magic, he was panting although he did not lack oxygen.
'I should stop getting into a habit of screaming Mama when I am in danger.' Ezra thought. He did not know when had gotten this quirk and was both amused and irritated by it.
'Hmm, indeed that was a bit stimulating, plus with being able to control my body perfectly is actually fantastic, now this is freedom,' Ezra thought as he remembered the past two years.
'Hmm, those knights heard me though, I wonder if they are suspicious that I am tailing them, they should still be in the vicinity though, I got to get higher up, to get a better vantage point. '
Ezra climbed up again, as he kicked himself upward from trunk to trunk as the trees were fairly close to each other.
'Looks like they have stopped for a while, good that gives me time to ponder and explore,' Ezra smiled as he was elated to explore the new environment.
'The animals I saw were huge, how could they have grown so big? A goshawk with a four-meter wingspan is astounding, also that bear looked like it was the size of an elephant,' reviewed Ezra as he thought of the animals he encountered.
'It reminds me of a theory that increased oxygen in the environment could allow some invertebrates to get bigger, but this does not answer the question why only species in this forest seem to be affected? I have seen animals in Bren but they are not that big in size, well except maybe for the horses which are quite exceptional here but the horses here are just slightly bigger not exactly the crazily huge animals in this forest.'
'It's weird, other than their enormity it seems that they still are regular animals, physically I don't see a difference in the outward appearance of brown bear here than the one on earth.
'Hmm, this tree does not seem like a tree I have seen on earth, I wonder what it's called. Better get a leaf sample, too bad I can't fit a lot on my backpack, I'd love to study these new species of flora and fauna.
For now, I have to document everything I see in my mind and just write it when I return.
What? Ants here have mandibles that look like beaks? That's new. '
Ezra inspected the surrounding area for a while, then he noticed the knights were on the move again due to Deimos' quick processing of the bear.
'Quick, I got to go.'
Ezra tailed them again once more and jumped around branch by branch. There was a peculiar rock pillar that caught his attention, it had odd runic carvings. There was no grass surrounding in a 5-meter radius and overall the patch looked artificial as it was perfectly round. Ezra tried to check with AMP and found out that it was actually a perfect circle!
The knights halted their advanced as they approached the rune.
A man dressed in similar attire to Deimos suddenly jumped down from a tree branch landing on the spot where there was no grass. He was holding a whip and looked ready to strike.
"The creed," the man bellowed.
[By night we are darkness, by day we are light, and though we tread both darkness and light, the shadowy evil shall feel our might] Deimos said with an outstretched palm. A dark light flickered on his palm oscillating from white to dark.
'What was that a spell?' Ezra thought as he raised his eyebrows,' it does not look like any of the four schools of magic, that's so bizarre.'
The knights wore perplexed gazes.
The man spoke after the magical display.
"Deimos, I have been waiting, I see you have brought help," the man said as he looked at the Blackfyre Guard, examining them as he stared.