Lily gave Reina the iciest glare she could muster, yet the girl seemed to fail to notice it at all, happily staring back into her eyes. If she had known the type of transformation Reina would take when she offered to help hide her identity she would have tried to repay her in a different way. She figured they would separate after leaving the forest and go their respective ways, Reina only needed a new identity after all, they didn't need to be together after this. But she could already feel the regret seeping in, this girl was planning to genuinely treat her as a sister, and family was the last thing she wanted now.
"Sister? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Lily couldn't stand her bright eyes anymore and looked away. "I was just thinking of what path I -"
"I?"
Lily clicked her tongue, as she expected, this girl really wanted to stick to her. "We, should take. From where we ran away from that bear, I still have an idea of where we are in the forest. If we head west from here, we would be avoiding a big part of that roundabout way others travel to avoid this place. It'll take a couple days, but it should save us a week or so of travel."
"Oh, alright big sister. I'll follow you then." Lily's eye twitched at this as she turned around and began to walk through the forest at a brisk pace. 'It doesn't matter if she wants to follow you, just abandon her when you enter the city.' Lily thought to herself as she nursed the headache that had sprouted from her "little sister's" enthusiasm.
The pair continued this pace for a couple hours, the sun had set as Lily pressed on, using the moonlight to guide her path. The forest was silent except for the howling of the wind that caused the trees to sway and fill the air with the sound of rustling leaves. She wanted to get as far as she could in these conditions, there were no spiritual beasts around for the moment. They could likely feel the same thing as her, a storm was coming. A big one. She did not want to get stuck here when it came, as she continued to walk, Lily felt her sleeve being tugged.
"Haah..... sister.... please..... let me rest." Reina pleaded with her as she doubled over in exhaustion. Lily looked at her pale face and trembling limbs and felt a trace of pity for her, enough to swallow the urge to kick her in the ass to keep moving. Instead she dragged the girl over to a fallen tree and pressed her body to sit down against it. Reina sat there in a daze as her head hung down, trying to recover her breath. The lack of any beasts was a stroke of luck, she still had very little spiritual energy in her body, which further added to her exhaustion. Suddenly dried meat and water were thrust into her hands, she dully looked up at Lily's expressionless face.
"Eat and drink, then go to sleep. I'll keep watch." Reina looked around nervously, thinking back to when her caravan was attacked. "It's a little open...." in fact the only cover she had was the tree she was using to prop herself up. Lily glanced at her, once again taking in her pitiful state as she huddled against the tree, sighing she began to pour spiritual energy into the ground. "Then I'll hide you." Reina jumped as a variety of flowers and grass began to sprout up from the ground around her and surrounded her, leaving her just enough space to stretch her body if necessary. 'So she is attuned to the wood element...'
Lily walked away as the muffled "Thank you" came from the large patch of flowers she created and briefly contemplated just leaving the girl behind. Yet as she thought about doing so, her feet were planted firmly on the ground. Sighing for what was surely the hundredth time that day, she climbed up a nearby tree and quietly observed the spot Reina rested in.
The night passed by peacefully as Lily counted the hours passing by until the sun began to climb into the sky. Jumping down, she moved with such grace that nobody would believe that she hadn't slept the previous night at all! Though she hadn't slept for half a week at this point...
Pulling away the flowers covering Reina's body, Lily watched as her face scrunched up as the sunlight hit her. Instead of waking, she simply turned her face into the ground while softly whining in annoyance. Amazed at her ability to sleep so peacefully in such a place, Lily bent down and pinched the sleeping girls nose. Reina's eyes flickered open as she whined again, this time much louder.
Lily began to feel her head pound in annoyance as she pinched the girls cheeks, "Foolish girl, if you insist to keep sleeping I'm going to leave you behind." Reina finally woke up at these words, hurriedly grabbing onto Lily's sleeves "I'm up! I'm up! so don't leave me ok?"
Lily pulled away in response and stuffed another portion of dried meat into her hands "Eat, we're leaving once you finish."
Reina looked down at the food in her hands, and thought back to the arrangements made for her last night and thought to herself 'Eheheheh, my sister is so nice~"
After finishing her meal, the pair once again set off in their chosen direction. Unlike the night prior, they did come across spiritual beasts along the way today. However the majority of them were those dastardly wolves that attacked her caravan the other day. Lily met all of them head on and efficiently killed them each time they came, Reina did what she could to help, though using Flow meant that she could only get rid of 2 or 3 wolves at a time before needing to take an hour rest.
The two spent the day like this: marching through the forest, killing any wolves that attacked, and Lily keeping watch while the other rested. Once night came, Lily once again covered the other girl in flowers to allow her to sleep and took up a spot in a tree to keep watch. When morning came Lily once again pinched the other girl awake and they set off on their way.
After killing the most recent set of wolves Reina promptly collapsed onto the ground, sucking in deep breaths of air. 'Shadow, I managed to deal 4 blows with Flow this time, praise meeeee'
[Idiot]
'Wah, you're alive!'
[You're rarely alone, unless you want to tell your new friend about me?]
'Hmph!' Reina turned to look at Lily, who was standing over one of the wolf's corpses. "Strange...." Lily muttered, prompting Reina to walk over to her side.
"What is?"
"Many things, but right now two things are weighing on my mind. One: Where are all the other beasts in this forest?" Lily glanced up at the grey, cloud covered sky. "You could say that they are sheltering from the coming storm, but that should only apply to the weaker ones. Yet these wolves are running around freely despite being fodder for most of the things that reside here. But aside from the bear from yesterday, the only things we've met are these wolves, not even the famous man eating plants have come our way. Though thanks to that we've been able to keep a smooth pace through the forest, but it's too strange.... where did everything go?"
Lily kicked one of the wolves corpses away, a small cloud of spores erupting out of its body when it landed. "The second thing is what's inside of these things, they are cannon fodder to the rest of the beasts that live here. Yet they're so strong, and the reason is the fungus that is residing in their bodies. They fight through any wound dealt to them, no matter how fatal it should be. The only way to kill them is decapitation, I've studied on all the beasts and flora that reside here. There was absolutely nothing written in any book that described what we're seeing right now. I don't like it..."
Lily paused as the sound of thunder rolled through the forest, through the trees she noted the clouds becoming pitch black. "Come on, we're getting out of this forest today."
Reina nodded and began walking alongside Lily, absorbing what she just told her. She thought back to the wolves she originally chased into this forest, 'I didn't think much of that fungus before, but learning that it might not be natural makes me wonder....'
Boom.....
Reina glanced up at the sky as the thunder interrupted her thoughts
Boom.....
Reina began to feel a sinking pit in her stomach, she a Spiritual Apprentice of both water and lightning, meaning she was close to their nature. She knew when and where lightning struck during storms, that thunder just now didn't come from the sky...
Boom....
Reina jumped, grabbing hold of Lily's sleeve as she turned her head and spotted a hulking figure approaching from the distance. Her eyes widened as it got closer, it was a familiar sight, it had only been 2 days since she kicked it away. Her eyes locked onto the beasts and saw recognition flash through as its eyes began to turn red with anger. It let loose a roar, loud and powerful as it began to charge towards her location.
Reina had a thought as Lily drew her sword in preparation
'Don't tell me this thing followed us all the way here?!'
Roots came up from the ground as they tried to trip the beast up, all being torn away as it aimed its body towards the two girls. Leaping away as the bear crashed through the trees, Reina stood on shaky legs as she watched the bear use some hidden agility to quickly change it's course right back towards herself. "Fuck! Mr. Bear are you really this mad over a little kick?!" Reina once again threw herself to the side as the bear swung down, denting the ground on impact.
BOOM!
Reina's body was picked up and thrown by a wave of force, her ears ringing from the sound of thunder created moments before. She felt water pelting her face as a flash of lightning arced across the sky, looking up at the bear stalking towards her she grimly picked herself up and prepared to endure its assault once again.
The bears steps were halted as thick, thorned vines erupted from the ground and began to wrap around its body. As it struggled to break free, Lily descended from the air, and swung her sword at the base of the bears neck.