The sounds of birds chirping wakes Iris up. Yawning, she sees Oberon still sleeping. Iris gets up slowly so she wouldn't wake him up. "Achoo!", Iris sneezes, waking Oberon. "Well, shit. Great Iris.", She mumbles to herself. "Did you say something Iris?", Oberon asks while scratching his arm. "Nothing! Let's wash our face, eat, drink and move quickly.", Iris walks to the waterfall to wash her face. "This hair is annoying me… Should I just cut it short? If only I tied my hair yesterday…", her long hair getting in the way of washing her face.
While Iris contemplating whether or not she should cut her hair, Oberon uses his mana to catch another two fishes. "Iris, I caught two fishes. Let's cook it!", Iris stops talking to herself, "Alright, I will be right there!". While waiting for the fishes to cook, Iris asks Oberon, "Oberon, have you been outside the Elf Village?". Oberon who was playing with the water stops, "No… Mom said that it is too dangerous. But she did tell me about the outside worlds.". Curious, Iris asks, "Can you tell me what your mom told you? I'm very curious.". "Mom told me, it's hard for elves to go to other places with a lot of humans like the city without disguising one's self. Humans still hate the elves, so it would be hard to live among the humans. Though, mom also told me that there are some humans who are kind with elves, like you Iris…", Iris smiles. Oberon continues, "Oh, and our country ruled by this one kingdom. I heard that the king and queen have three sons and they are currently choosing who's going to be on the next throne. Hmm… I don't know much… I guess that's it?". Iris figures, Oberon is still a child, so he must not know much about how the system works. "Hmm… The sons must be fighting on who is the better candidate. Most Manhwas that I read are always like that.", she said. Oberon who doesn't know what manhwas is, asks, "What's manh...wos?". Iris who forgot that she is from another world panics, "Uhm… Nothing! Look, the fishes are done cooking. Let's eat and go from this place quickly.".
After done eating, they drink enough water to not be thirsty since they might not see other waterfall or any water body. "Oberon, let's drink a lot of water now. We don't know if we even going to find another water. Plus, we don't have anything that we can carry water with.". Oberon nods and drinks some water. Getting reading to move, Iris put one of her stakes in her pocket and another one in her hands, "Oberon don't forget your stake. Holds it or put it in your pocket. Be ready if you need to use it. Now then, let's go and stay close to me.". Oberon walks behind her, holding the stake that she gave to him. They couldn't hear the waterfall sounds anymore, seems like they already traveled far from it. "Isn't weird Oberon?", Iris asks while still walking carefully. Oberon tilts his head in confusion, "What do you mean?". "Well… Aren't there supposed to be a lot of dangerous creatures in this forest? Your mom and that man we met said so. So, I wonder why we haven't met them yet… Are we just lucky or is this what we called… calm before the storm…?". Both of them shivers, "I, I hope we are just lucky…", Oberon says quietly.
Just then, they both hear something's moving in the bushes behind them. Surprised, Iris pushes Oberon behind her and holding her stake in a fight position at the same time. In the meantime, Oberon holds his amulet in his left hand and a stake in his right hand. "Be ready…", Iris whispers to Oberon.
Whatever the thing that is in the bushes stops moving momentarily, both of them start to sweat. Suddenly 'it' comes out of the bushes. Iris without thinking, starts to stab just about anywhere with the stakes, "I'm gonna kill ya!". "Iris! stop, it's just a rabbit.", Oberon says while holding the rabbit. "What…?", Iris stops. "Well, it was scared when you were stabbing the ground, so it went to my arms.", Oberon continues to pet the rabbit. Iris sighs in relief. She had thought it was going to be a dangerous creatures coming from the bushes. "I'm glad it was just a rabbit.". Iris sees Oberon looking bright, petting the rabbit. Sure, there's no harm liking them, but Iris is afraid that he would growing attach to it. Knowing the fact that the rabbit will soon die in the forest alone, since it is a prey. Or maybe, Iris is just being too negative. "Well, let the rabbit go, and we need to move now.", Iris gets up. "Are we not going to eat it?", Iris didn't expect he would say that. "You want to eat it? I thought you like it enough to be a pet?". "Well… we are trying to survive in the forest. Who knows, if we ever able to hunt any animal soon.", Oberon shrugs.
"If, if you says so… But you need to kill it. I don't have the heart to kill it, let alone eating it. So, you can have that rabbit all by yourself.", Iris covers her mouth, feeling like vomiting, imagining a dead rabbit with blood all over it. Oberon who doesn't mind killing the rabbit, keeps holding it while they continue to walk.
An hour passes by, Iris starts to feel a little tired. "You know what, let's climb the tree. Maybe we could see something.", Iris points to a tall tree. Climbing the tree is tough for Iris, as this is her first time actually climbing a tree. But at last, she manages to get to the top of the tree. Not like Iris, Oberon could climb the tree easily, even with his tiny hands. At the top, Iris's mouth is wide open, she is speechless of seeing at the view. "There are only trees… Seems like we are far from getting out of this forest…", Oberon said, looking at their surroundings. Iris rests her body, leaning to the tree, still at the top. "Sigh… well, let's just rest for now. The day is getting hotter, and I'm getting more tired.". Oberon who agrees also sits down.
All of a sudden, they see a whole tree shakes from far away. "What is that…", Oberon asks. After some time, another tree shakes. "I… don't know…". Soon enough, the trees shake from one to another, slowly coming near them. "It seems like, whatever that is, is coming toward us. We better hide in this tree, and not make any sound.", Iris whispers, holding Oberon close to her. As Iris said, they hide in the tree that they climbed earlier. The steps are now approaching closer every minutes. The creature finally, reveals itself, grunting, just below their tree. "Is… is that a giant?!", Iris whispers, shocked seeing a giant for the very first time. She couldn't believe she would actually see one in her life. "Yes, apparently, they don't like any creatures except for themselves.", Oberon whispers back. "I think we will be fine, as long as we stay hidden in this tree.", Iris says.
Out of nowhere, the rabbit that was in Oberon's arms, jumps out from his arms. "Oh no!", Oberon says. It lands itself on the ground, right below the tree. Needless to say, the giant notices the rabbit. Smirking, the giant picks up the rabbit, "Mmm… A treat!". The giant then, holds the rabbit right above his mouth which is already wide opened. He drops the rabbit in his mouth and then savoring it. Iris and Oberon who are hiding in the tree saw everything. Iris finds the giant eating the rabbit to be nauseating, she then starts to gag. Without knowing, the giant hears the sound of a person gagging in the tree. "It seems like, there are more treats in this tree for me…", the giant smiles while holding the tree. Iris quickly covers her mouth, refraining herself from letting out any sounds. "What should I do… What should I do…", Iris thinks to herself while facing Oberon? The giant sniffs towards the tree, "Smell delicious… Are there… a human… and…", he sniffs once more, "and… ooh… an elf! What a treat for me!", the giant burst out laughing. "Don't worry, I'm going to get you guys out of there!", he holds the tree. Oberon saw the look of Iris's face. He knows, Iris is paralyses with fears. So, he holds Iris's hand and his amulet simultaneously. Wishing that the amulet will keep them safe.
Just as he is about to grab the tree out of its roots, a person knocks him down. The tree stops shaking, both Iris and Oberon look down, "What, what happened?", Iris says. Oberon shakes his head, then looks at the giant, "Iris, look! There's someone down there with a sword.", Oberon points at a person. "Is he… going to kill the, the giant?", Iris says. Her legs give up, she is still terrified with the situation. She closes her eyes, sighs in relief.
"Iris! The giant is dead now! That man killed it. Do you think, we can ask him for help?", Oberon says with high hopes. Iris worries, "I don't think he would. He is strong, and we aren't. He might think us as burdens…". "We should just give it a try! We haven't met anyone till now. He might help us! Please Iris!", Oberon says, facing down. Iris gets up, "Sighs… Fine, but you stay up here. Don't come down until I say so. If he turns out to be one of those man that captured the elves, at least, you are safe. Alright?". Oberon took a second to reply, "…Alright.".
Iris gets down from the tree. As the man is about to walk away, Iris quickly calls out, "He- Hey! You, you there! Don't go!", she stutters. The man stops, turning his whole body towards Iris. The man's face is covered with a black mask, showing only his eyes which are deep red. His body is muscular and his height seems to reach 180cm. Shocks to see a man towering her, Iris forgets what she was about to say. Silences fill the air; they stare at each other. The man then faces towards the woods, walking away from her. Startles, Iris yells, "Wait! You can't leave me here! Help me please!". The man ignores her, continuing to walk away.
Don't know what to do, Iris begs the man, "Please, please stay... I don't know how I could survive...", tears start to fall down from her face. "That's your problem, not mine.", the man says while walking away. Desperate, she hugs one of his legs tightly, "I will do anything, please... There are men coming to hunt us down... please...". Shocked by the sudden act, he sighs, "Let go.". Iris tightens her grips and shaking her head, "No! I'm not letting you leave until you say you will help me!". "I said, let go.", "No! I'm desperate! So… So please don't leave me alone!", they seem to do this for quite some time. The man finally gives in, "Fine.". Surprised, Iris looks up, still hugging his leg, "Really?". "Yes, so let go of my leg. Or I will change my mind.". Iris slowly let go of his leg and stands up. All of the sudden, she hugs his body tightly. But because of the sizes differences, she couldn't fully hug his waist. "What, what are you doing!", the man yells. He didn't expect she would act this bold. "I'm, I'm just making sure you won't suddenly run away from me!", she shouts, buries her face on his body. The man then says, "I won't run away. You can let go now.". "How can I trust your words?", still not letting him go. The man sighs, he reaches his hands in his pocket, grabbing an object. "Here, holds this locket. I will definitely stay with you until you give it back to me.", he hands the locket to Iris. Iris looks up, grabs the locket and slowly let him go from her arms. "Is this something you treasure?", Iris ask while looking at it. "Yes, so don't loose it. And don't look inside it.", he says. Iris wears the locket on her neck straight away thinking she shouldn't loose it. "Is there a picture of his girlfriend or something?", she mumbles to herself.
"Are you done yet? We need to keep going. It's almost night now.", he says, looking at her putting the locket. After she finish putting on the locket, she says, "Wait. Before we go. I have a question…", Iris smiles. Feeling suspicious, the man asks, "What is it?". Iris then continues, "Do you like elf?".