"What luck." Kai murmured, pulling out his sword as he felt a cold liquid dripped on his shoulders. He slowly moved despite the situation.
He held his breath and tried to minimize the noise he made to a zero.
Just by watching, Claude felt his knees getting jelly but he held back a scream while he fought the wind that came straight at him. What could he do?
Chant a spell? One that would be able to blast that monster away? But Kai would be caught up in the blast too.
Claude raised his void ring and summoned his bow and arrow. He raised it and gulped. What was he thinking? He hit it last time but it didn't mean he'll hit it this time by luck.
He prayed to whatever was the god or goddess of archery with all the things he could promise currently. A fruit platter possibly?
He let go and could immediately feel something had indeed gone terribly wrong. The arrow didn't feel right at the release. It was not going to make it far in this wind. He forced it forward with wind magic.
"Don't!" Kai mouthed in panic, but he knew Claude wasn't looking. He cursed his slowness and took one leap forward and felt a chill crawl up his spine.
It had all gone wrong from there.
The arrow hit the bird right above it's large red beady eyes. But it bounced right off, as if it's feathers were made of steel. It turned it's head back slowly as he let out a horrifying cry of fury.
Kai stumbled backwards as he got a closer look at the bird after the air cleared up.
The calm eagle-like monster that was just inspecting it's potential prey or predator had been agitated.
Kai's fight-flight response kicked in. He steadied himself and located Claude quickly.
Using a burst of energy, Kai rushed towards Claude with urgency and with no hesitation, he grabbed the boy by his sleeve and with all his strength, he pulled.
Claude fell and got up, watching the distress on Kai'a face grew with every passing second. He felt extremely clumsy, his body tipping over multiple times by the brute fast that was applied on one side of his body. He was running the fastest speed he could ever manage.
The slippery grass didn't help either and neither did the loud squeals that sent tremors through the ground.
"I..can't..breathe!" Claude yelled.
"Run. Run to the forest ahead." Kai said calmly, letting go of Claude's sleeve and catapulting him across.
He didn't have any proper plans in the first place. He had counted on the monster to not get close to them due to the two of them staying together glued like a magnet the whole time.
It was a mistake to anger Claude, which resulted in them splitting and creating a weak spot for the monster to infiltrate.
Kai wanted to grasp onto the feeling of being calm but he couldn't. Not without a plan.
That thing was more than quadruple the size of him. And it was agile and strong despite staying at such a distance.
The Eagle monster flew high in the sky, diving down and upwards ever so often. With each wing flap, a string wave of wind exploded. It started circling around Kai as if it found it's dinner for the day.
Kai hadn't thought this through at all. His mind overflowed with thoughts. He glanced back and to his surprise, Claude was still standing there, watching him closely.
"I told you to go." Kai said, pointing to the forest.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? It's up there we might as well go together." Claude insisted, his voice cracking. His hand was shaking.
Kai clicked his tongue and started running towards Claude but the moment his shoes left the ground for a new destination, he felt a chill run down his spine
"קללה פון טויזנט ווינ" Claude yelled in a foreign tongue. His eyes seemed to be glowing with fear but his stance remained strong.
A soft 'ting' sound echoed in the air. And soon from the ground rose a barrier that was swirling with magic. Every line could be seen clearly.
The lines that creased in the barrier seemed to merge together and flash forward with immense speed and clashed with the Eagle in the sky. Blowing it back ever so slightly.
By the time the spell had vanished, so did the two boys.
Multiple breaths in and out, Claude still felt exhausted. His body bent slightly as he held onto his knees for some stability of his own while he glanced at Kai who was still looking behind, regret prominent in his eyes.
It seemed as if Kai was someone who couldn't leave things behind, unfinished.
"It's not going to be able to find us in this type of shelter." Claude said quickly with heavy breaths. "Isn't that why you told me to run inside here?"
Kai nodded. "I did. But this is only temporary. We should get moving."
"I saved your life back there! Give me a break and stop trying to make things difficult for yourself. I'm here for a reason. And are you suicidal or something?" Claude seemed to have recovered from the peak of his exhaustion.
Nonchalantly, Kai walked away and cursed himself for not remembering the route or direction they had entered from. He lit up a small fire and pointed it towards the small compass he had in his pocket.
Rotating and turning around while waiting for the arrow to stay still and point east, Kai felt uneasy. He kept glancing back to make sure he could still hear and see Claude.
"Stay close to me." Kai murmured, seeing the small dried up leaves on the ground shake a little.
"Yes sir." Claude murmured in a low pitch tone, dragging his feet.
Despite all the worries, nothing seemed to have happened along the way. It seemed all too peaceful.
They finally saw a man-made sign inside the forest as the path opened up. On the sign it was written in bold fonts with a single arrow pointing forward, 'Clematite.'
"Can you pass me the pouch of coins?" Kai asked, pulling the good over his hair. He felt a heavy weight entered the palm of his hands.
"Can we rest, I'll take it back. I'm tired." Claude admitted, yawning for the sixth time already.
Fulfilling Claude's wishes, Kai booked a room at an Inn by the side of the dark road.
The single room consisted of two small beds, a cabinet and a table with a set of chairs. It wasn't cozy nor was it lavish. But it did Claude well for the night.
Claude jumped onto the bed and within a few grumbles of complaints, he fell asleep like a child.
Meanwhile, Kai was more stressed than ever. Having torn off the multiple posters off the signboard and trees. But he knew it was useless.
He leaned his head back and felt like he had reached a dead end even if he had found one of the keys to his plans.
Encountering her was more terrifying than he had recognised it to be. He hadn't met her yet, but he couldn't shake off the feeling of fear.
Instead of dwelling on useless thoughts, Kai trained his core for the night. Waiting for the sun to come up.