I wandered off the road and headed straight to the small lake. It was easy to find given that it was close enough for me to smell the water.
When I eventually stumbled upon the lake, I met a beautiful scenery. The trees hung over the Christal clear mirror like lake. Some of the plants were still green, while others displayed vibrant red, orange and yellow colours. All in all, it made an interesting contrast
On the shore of the lake were some giant stone plates that were warm due to the light of the sun tat had shone on it for hours.
I walked over to the shore and stood on one of the stones that were nearly hovering over the water. There I saw a small grey fish swiftly swimming away from the shadow that fell upon it.
I stretched out my hand to touch the cold water. The wrinkles that appeared distorted the view of the bottom of the lake.
I stepped back and took of my clothes. After this I jumped in the lake.
In the lake I washed the remaining bits of blood from my back. The water also helped me relax the muscles in my wings and on my back that still hurt from forming.
When I was completely clean, I stepped out of the lake and dried a little in the sun before took my clothes back on.
("I should probably find a shirt with holes in the back. I hate looking at my red skin.")
I was sitting on one of the stone slabs dangling my right foot in the water. A little annoyed I turned my head to the direction where the others were supposed to come from.
("How long will it take until they get back?")
Due to boredom I decided to practice some magic. Since there was water nearby, I would be able too see the illusion I made.
I leaned a bit forward so I could look at my reflection in the water. Then I started to make the illusion. As usual the air started to tremble before the image of my face chanced.
I looked at my now more humanlike reflection. It looked like my old self, only my hair was still grey because I didn't want to waste as much magic. I also still had my horns, for some reason it was a lot harder to just make something disappear that only changing the colour and structure. But that didn't matter that much since I will be wearing my hood wen people are nearby.
The only problem was, even tough my pupil was now round instead of slit like, the colour of my eyes was still orange. I tried to change it, only I had to actively focus on it. And even then, the chance wasn't drastically. Eventually I gave up.
Slowly I let the magic go and my appearance changed back. Like the last time I used magic I was hit with a great fatigue and hunger, but it was bearable.
Still staring at my reflection in the water, I noticed something that was off. At first, I couldn't exactly pinpoint wat it was, but then I realised it. It was my horns. They had grown a few centimetres longer.
("If they continue to grow at this speed it will be really hard to hide them in the near future.")
With nothing left to do I decided to try to bounce flat rocks in the water until the others got back.
I snapped out of my concentration by the sound of footsteps approaching. They were still far away but from the sent that was carried by the wind that blew in my direction I could tell that I didn't know the person.
I pulled the hood from my cloak over my head and hid in one of the trees that were surrounding the lake. Of course, I chose one that still had a lot of leaves to further hide my presence.
A man who was also wearing a cloak with a hood entered the small open field surrounding the lake.
I held still. I didn't want to notify him of my presence.
The man was carrying a long sword on his hip and had a bow with arrows on his back. He kneeled down on the grass, as if inspecting it. Then he stood up and slowly backed away with much cation.
I wanted to enter his head; however, he was too far away, and his mental barrier was too thick.
The way the man was staring in my direction disturbed me. The fact that he was wearing a mask only made it worse since I couldn't see his face.
As the man slowly walked back with his hand ready to grasp his sword, two things were certain. One he knew exactly where I was. Two he wasn't human.
I could tell by the cent. Yes, it really resembled that of a human, but it was slightly off. Something about it was just different.
I wanted to follow the man, but it didn't seem like a good idea. ("He could immediately tell where I was, and I have no idea who or wat he is. I simply don't have enough information to take him on should things go south.")
For nearly two hours I stayed in the tree. The sky had long gone dark and the forest was asleep. In the distance I could hear the group approaching. I let out a sigh in relive that they didn't encounter the strange man.
I climbed down the tree. Alex and Allenya immediately ran towards me and started to describe the scenery of the monastery. Yohan showed a calm loving smile. However, Gert and Elisa stayed quiet.
When Alex and Allenya were done with their story I walked over to Yohan to tell Him about the strange man I encountered.
Yohan was deep in thought. "could it be that he was a hunter? And that when he found your tracks that he probably didn't recognise, he went back to find more information?"
I crossed my arms and straightened my posture. "I told you, he wasn't human. And how could he know exactly where I was when he only inspected the ground?"
"do you have any idea what he was?"
I closed my eyes to search through my memory. The shook my head.
"He did run away. didn't he? Do you think that there is any chance that he would come back?"
"I don't know."
I was nervously tapping my tail on the ground. I didn't like that I had no idea what that man was or what he wanted. Inwardly I cured my own ignorance.
Yohan looked around as if searching for something. Then he looked back at me. "I think it will be best if you keep watch tonight."
I nodded. I turned around and waked back to the stone slabs where I had been waiting for the group until that man showed up.
From there I had a good view over the open field.
The others didn't make a campfire given that they had already eaten at the monastery and it wasn't that cold tonight.
When I few hours passed and everyone was asleep I got bored. Given that the pain in my wings and back had mostly faded away, I tried to move them.
(Weird. It's like I gained a extra set of arms on my back.")
I flapped them a few times. This cased a strong wind to appear, nevertheless it barely made a sound.
I didn't want to try out flying yet. My failed attempts would probably wake the others up. Plus If I were to fly above the trees, even when most people are asleep there is always the chance that someone will notice especially that man since he seemed to be very skilled at tracking things.