"Haa... Hu...Hu..."
Running through the forest with heavy breathing, a petite girl moved so as to not get caught. She ran and ran, her short legs were beginning to feel sore and heavy.
"I can't stop here, I can't stop here...Haa."
The girl ran non stop, even though her body was tired and her heart racing. She could easily collapse at any moment but still she struggled on. From time to time this girl would quickly glance behind her with frightened eyes. She could see from the corner her eye two beings giving chase.
"WAH!"
The run away girl fumbled over a step, nearly planting her body on the ground. Luckily there was a tree right by her side at this time, who knows what the chasers would do if they caught her. Quickly, she raised a delicate hand to catch hold of the trunk of the tree, thus she was able to prevent herself from falling.
"Ow!" The girl painfully gasped, she was able to save herself at the cost of scraping her soft flesh on the hard bark of the tree.
She was thankful though, this much damage to the body was enough for her to handle. It could've really been worse, to her good fortune she had not run into any danger beasts that the forest was famous for inhabiting.
"COME BACK! I PROMISE, WE WON'T EAT YOU... HAHA!"
"MOUNTAIN ELVES HAVE MORE MEAT, HAHAHA!"
Two humanoids that yelled at the petite girl, who apparently is an elf as well, trying to coax her to stop running away.
These rogues weren't elves themselves neither were they human, rather, they were in the beast kin category. One appeared to be more human with animal features and the other was more animal with human features. Why were they chasing the small elven girl? Obviously these rogues had some use for her.
The little elven girl attempted to force her small body to move faster, grinding her teeth she chided herself. "Run faster, run faster."
There was no way she would believe the bandits that are after her. Not after what they had done to her company. Sad to say, after running for some time she was not able to shake them off. They were still hot on her tail.
"Oh no!"
The elf was afraid, she ran out of the forest into the open field. The probability of getting caught increased tenfold. To scared to be caught, the girl turned back to see how far those beast-men were from her. To concerned about her chasers, she had not noticed the ravine right in front of her.
"WUAAH!"
The petite elven girl screamed, falling right into the opening in the earth.
"DAMN IT. WE NEED THAT GIRL TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE SWAMP CHIEF."
One of the bandits yelled. Capturing that girl was an order from the boss. If they failed, the boss will have their head. The two split up to find a decent way to climb down the ravine.
Meanwhile the swamp chief's daughter, the elven girl had been falling into the dark pit. Her hair which was originally black began to give a shimmer of blue and unexpectedly a mist started to expel from her body.
As if it was alive, the mist began to circulate and gather beneath her falling self. Eventually, the mist thickened to a fluffy platform catching the petite elf.
"Thank you cloud." Said the elf girl, unfortunately, she was still sinking deeper into the darkness. The cloud platform only slowed her fall. But she was glad to safe for the time being.
After a few moments she reached a place of solid ground. She was to tired to care about exploring. Very tired, she didn't dare to even step off the cloud like substance. It was like a comfy bed.
"I'll just rest here for a little while...just a little whil..." The elf couldn't resist the comfort of the bed under her and began to drift to the land of nod. Little did she know that the beast kin were still determined to find her. They already found a way to climb down.
After a while the small elf girl started to wake up. The blue hue that shone from her black hair was able to give of a dim light that enabled the girl to somewhat see. She struggled to lift herself up from the soft bed but managed somehow, recalling that she was still in danger, she motivated herself.
"What?! Wasn't there solid ground here before? Cloud, did you move?" The petite girl oddly questioned the the fluffy bed. She could make out that beneath the cloud bed was not land but a body of water instead. She knew all to well that her familiar wouldn't move unless something was up.
"What's that over there? Glow stones?"
The swamp chief's daughter could clearly hear the speech that was just spoken and unconsciously turned her head to look at the direction where the voice came from, she could see orange red like light, torch light. More so, she could recognize that voice. Fear caused her body to shiver.
"Hoho, look what we found here."
Said the beast kin, he was the one that was more animal than man. Showing his canine like teeth, the bandit steadily made his way to girl.
"You made us worried there, do you know how long we've been looking for you?" Asked the beast-man.
PLOP!
The beast-man did not see the difference with the land and the water. Unexpectedly he fell right in the water. The torch that was in his hand had also been extinguished, leaving the only source of light in the area being the glow of the elf's hair.
"Fuck!" The bandit swore, immediately he got on his feet, he was able to stand in the water as it was shallow in his vicinity.
"You going to pay for that, bitch." He blamed the little elven girl for his own carelessness.
He started for the girl, unsheathing his sword.
"N-No... don't come closer. Cloud, s-save me... Goddess Minerva, save m-me..."
Cried the petite elven girl, she clutched the crest on a chain that hung on her neck. The crest looked like the letter 'U', only it was tilted to one side and a rod that looked like a harpoon pierced through the letter from the bottom, making it appear like a trident. That was the symbol that represents Minerva, Goddess of fertility.
*****
"Save me, Clau..."
Miguel somehow could hear a cry for help. It felt like he was the one being called upon. "Claud? That name sounds so familiar like I've been hearing it my whole life."
Before he knew it, an image flashed in his mind. There, he saw an amazingly beautiful woman. She was underwater, drowning, and continued to sink deeper in it. The woman struggled to push against the force pulling her but it was to no avail. Her pleading eyes looked to Miguel for help.
Miguel was planning to go and save, however, he was already approaching the drowning woman.
"This? Are these, memories of mine?" Miguel couldn't help ponder as he saw himself save the woman, only to have himself take her place. Something had hit his head then all went black.
When vision returned to him, another image appeared in his mind. For some reason he felt small, really, really small. The reason for that was right in front of him. A huge woman sat on a coral bed. Trying to take the whole picture of the woman in, Miguel could identify that this gigantic woman was naked. Her only covering happened to be her enormously long hair, it seductively covered the important parts. The pink hair greatly complimented the fair skin of her body.
With her legs folded back behind her thighs and her glistening wet body that could be seen, Miguel couldn't help but drool. The sight of this beautiful giant was too captivating. Even those bouncing balls of joy couldn't be hidden by the thick long hair that covered it, Miguel was definitely feeling hungry. Unfortunately, he was not able to move.
"Naughty... child."
Miguel became attracted to the mesmerising voice that resonated throughout his being. His vision reluctantly left the lady's chest and rose to meet her face.... breathtaking!
"What a beautifully shaped nose." Miguel silently muttered, admiring the youthful face of the woman. Even the blue pupils of her half closed eyes allured him.
"Naughty... child. This... one has admired... your... bravery... in your last... moments of life. Your name... is Claud?" The giant woman smiled at the enamoured Miguel.
"Wait... what? Claud is me!" Miguel muttered, realizing that these flashes of images are of his memories but not of this lifetime.
"Claud... you... have traveled through an underwater... spatial portal that connects... worlds. Your... former body... has long since... perished. With my blessing... you will... reincarnate. I will leave my symbol... on your body... do good." The huge lady smiled. "Naughty... child."
Before he knew it, the image vanished and memories of his life as Miguel filled his mind. Miguel remembered his mother and father, his sister and the fun times he had at the village. He remembered registering as an adventurer in his later years until he became victim to a plot.
Anger began swelling in Miguel. After being given another chance at life by the goddess, only to be killed again. How could Miguel not get angry?
Feeling in all his limbs started to stir, it was literally an awakening. Miguel could feel the heaviness of his body, like there was no energy in it. More so, he could feel energy entering his body, recharging it.
In a matter of moments, Miguel finally opened his eyes. Violet pupils shone off the black eyeballs. He was now able to perceive things more accurately even in the space of darkness.
"What is that?" He pondered, above, floating on the water. A snow like bed was seen, it was giving off life energy but it wasn't the source that was fueling him. He noticed another life energy on top of the white bed but like before, the life energy was not the source that he was absorbing.
"Wait... I'm under the water." Miguel came to a realisation. Immediately he began to force his weak body off the floor in the waters depth.
While he got to his feet, he noticed a third party giving of life energy. Now he really was paying attention because he understood where his body was sucking energy from. He didn't know how this power came to be nor how it worked. What he figured out was that the closer he approached the third source of energy, the lighter his body started to feel.
"I-I pray, Goddess Minerva, please protect us." The elven girl pleaded, scared of the bandit that was making his way to her.
Hearing the pleading of the girl, calling to the goddess. The one that gave him a second chance at life. He would use this as a means to repay a debt to Minerva, even if it is just a little.
Miguel got closer to the third source of energy, only now he thought about the energy sources as living entities.
"These two must be connected to the Goddess Minerva, that's why I wasn't able to absorb any energy from them. But this guy... your life's about to end, buddy."
Miguel put all his effort to get closer to the bandit. By the time he was closer enough, he felt that his body was more comfortable to move about with.
Miguel began surfacing from the water which startled all other persons present. Placing himself between the beast kin and the elf, Miguel made his stand.
The petite girl couldn't react to this development, on the other hand the bandit slashed his sword without thinking, frightened by the sudden appearance of this man.
Miguel didn't mind at all. He felt strong, thus he received the blade with both hands. The blade of the sword did cut into his palms, instead of the feeling of pain. He was rejoicing. Having direct contact with the blade, he started to feel a different kind of life energy from it. Miguel began absorbing what little energy it had. The blade began rusting at the point of contact with his palms.
The bandit tried to use a fist to assault Miguel. It failed, Miguel simply used an elbow to directly counterattack the on coming fist causing the beast-man to stumble back.
"I've gotten a lot stronger."
Miguel smiled sinisterly. then attempted to have direct contact with the beast-man.
"Just as I thought, this is great." Miguel started to absorb the life force of the victim, holding the bandit's head in his palms. He felt strong enough to hold victim in place or rather, the beast-man was getting weaker and weaker and couldn't move. Soon the beast kin's fur started to fall off, his flesh began to whither... In a matter of minutes, the only thing left covering the victim's body was the sagging skin.
PSSSSSST!!!!
Miguel felt more alive than he had ever been, with more acute sense perception he was able to hear a squirt of water in this darkened area, He turned to the direction of the sound. There, he saw the elven girl and the weird cloud entity. The girl was still holding onto the crest with the symbol of Minerva, the same symbol that is marked on his body. Although he noticed it he ignored it.
Miguel noticed that the girl was deeply frightened, she was so traumatized by what happened to the beast-man that her bladder went on full release. Miguel looked away from her and said, "Filthy!"