Villith led Kailen through a particularly dark section of the forest, the sun covered by the mountain creating a dark shadow covering a section of around 50 miles later in the day. The surrounding forest gave Kailen the creeps as he marched through thick mud and forestry.
Eventually, they reached a large tree that overtowered the others by a fair distance, the sun was starting to set he could faintly see by the color of the sky above. Kailen looked towards Villith in question as she turned and spoke.
"Tonight you will stay here in the forest, I'll be returning to the cave. Have a good night, Kailen."
Villith then transformed into her majestic dragon form before flapping her wings blowing Kailen backward, before flying off into the distance. Kailen knew from his past week with her that this overnight stay in the jungle would be no picnic. Everything Villith did over the past few days was increasing the pressure and stress he faced in different situations.
Kailen looked at his surroundings, he struggled to see through the thickly overgrown forestry around him in the dim light even with his strong senses. He could hear a few scuttling sounds in the surroundings, from the different animals here he had no doubt. The past week with Villith they mainly returned to the cavern every night, so this would be his first night alone in camping in this part of the forest. They mainly hunted other humans in his training, though he did hear the occasional fearsome roar of the local wildlife, maybe because the might of Villith they never approached.
Kailen had a particularly bad feeling about staying where he was, after all, Villith liked to throw him into the fire. He had no real experience of surviving in the forest at night, he assumed it would be a long night ahead.
Kailen picked a random direction before marching slowly through the mud, he wasn't sure if a fire was a good idea. It could potentially attract predators, the temperatures of the night weren't too cold yet so he refrained. He walked aimlessly for a while before getting bored and decided to try and sleep, he jumped up on a large thick tree branch and closed his eyes.
***
Kailen's instincts awoke him suddenly as his eyes opened wide as he viewed a huge black figure flying through the sky towards him with its mouth wide open and long sharp teeth on full display.
"Fucking shit!"
Kailen screamed as he threw himself off the branch avoiding the gaping jaws aiming for his head. He fell ungracefully to the floor below in the thick mud, springing to his feet he looked around for the figure that had seemed to vanish in the dark forest.
Kailen's heart pounded in anticipation as his head swiveled trying to identify his target, the creature appeared to be smart as it stayed hidden in the shadows. Kailen grew to hate the feeling of being hunted and observed, the dread of not knowing where and when a strike was coming slowly clawing at his thoughts.
His head swiveled behind him as he heard a low rough growling somewhere behind him, his eyes couldn't pick out the creature through the thick brambles. The air behind him seemed to sway as a creature leaped towards him jaws agape, he narrowly avoided the beast as he rolled through the mud.
His head rose as he caught sight of the beast. It was a large black dog-like creature with thick sharp teeth, it had four pitch-black eyes that stared at him warily. The creature must have been 1.5 meters tall and two meters long, with large compact muscles.
"A serious predator..."
Kailen thought as he saw it in all its glory, though his impression only increased as another leaped and attacked him from behind. With his feet stuck in the thick mud, he was a second too slow to avoid his arm being bitten. The creature clamped onto his arm giving a swift shake of its head before releasing its grip and scurrying away.
His left arm dripping blood onto the floor, Kailen's face scrunched in pain. His mood had grown abruptly worse with the increasing pain present in his arm. Kailen clutched his saber in his left hand and awaited their next move patiently.
They attacked simultaneously from both sides, Kailen learned his lesson about fighting on uneven ground. Holding his ground he delivered a swift chop aiming to behead the approaching figure on his right while striking the left with a swift kick.
His actions didn't go as intended as the beast dodged his blow biting his standing leg on the calf, his kick did connect as he saw the other beast fly through the air into a nearby tree. Kailen quickly stabbed downward with the saber piercing through its brain, before hobbling over to the nearby injured beast and ending its misery.
His injured arm and leg giving him grief he walked over to a nearby tree before collapsing onto the ground and he looked above into the sky. Noticing the overhanging branches he smacked himself in the head, leaping up there would probably have solved his footing problems.
Kailen sat in the mud resting against the tree for a few quiet moments, the pain preventing him from falling asleep. It wasn't long, however, before he could hear more growling from the surroundings. Kailen sighed deeply in exhaustion as he thought to himself.
" A long night indeed...."