Kelsey blinked a few times rapidly as though she was in a deep long sleep except for some aching pain from her head she couldn't remember getting. Noticing she was laying on the dirt of the forest with little comfort, she felt her body almost immovable making her finally wake up with her body being sore.
After finally shaking herself awake, she felt her hands tied behind her back in a tightly made knot as her mouth was gagged making her squirm with fright wondering if that man had finally caught a hold of her. She remembered his black soulless eyes and just the thought of him finally capturing her made tears fall down her cheeks.
"Shut up you stupid human!" Something mumbled harshly close by making her turn her head in confusion since she didn't notice anything before. The voice wasn't friendly and was somewhat quiet making her wonder if she had imagined it. But she kept searching not able to locate the source of the sound.
Although the forest wasn't as dark as usual, the sun was barely rising and she could tell the night wasn't completely over at this time which meant it was still not the safest place to be. And the fact she was unable to move only made her temper worsen. The man was probably going to feed her to one of those notorious monsters.
"If she doesn't stop squirming, it's going to hear us!" Something else complained with annoyance making Kelsey once again look around in question. But once again, she was not able to locate anyone near her. "Perhaps we should just feed her to the beast! She's just making things harder for the rest of us!"
"Quiet! All of you!" Another voice commanded making everything go silent. This voice however was different since it was deeper than the others.
Kelsey couldn't see anything clearly, but her head kept turning as she tried to find the source of sound making a headache start to form. She couldn't be imagining it since she was somehow tied up. Yet nothing surfaced making her narrow her eyes. She could almost hear the words like they were spoken right next to her, but the person had to be invisible or she was stuck in some sick twisted dream which she desperately wished to wake up from.
"Earth child." The same deep voice said closer to her ear making Kelsey jump a bit with the distance not sure how it could be so clear. There was no way she could be making these voices up. "You just be quiet until the sun rises. Or else you will kill us all. Please trust me."
Kelsey froze for a moment heeding to the soft kind words spoken making her breathe out slowly. Whoever this was had tied her up like some kind of animal, but it seemed as though the person wasn't too keen on hurting her with the way he spoke. Yet, the girl was still on edge knowing she would have to escape from these lunatics.
As minutes of silence stretched, Kelsey noticed she was hidden in some kind of half-cave like scene where bushes covered her making her realize she hadn't noticed this on her run away from the black haired man. It was completely a cave, but was a small indent on the side of a mountain which was well kept.
She looked in between the gaps of the branches curious on where she had ended up. But she almost lost her senses when she heard heavy footsteps approaching on the other side in a slow kind of motion making her heart drop and sweat begin to form.
Suddenly her eyes saw a blackish paw like hand walking across the trees slowly as though searching for some kind of food. The bush branches covered most her vision so she couldn't make out the creatures appearance for the first moment.
Suddenly, A low growl emerged making Kelsey realize it was the same exact animal she had recently encountered making her heart beat loudly. She could never forget the sound the monster makes as though it was now indebted into her soul.
She held her breath hoping it wouldn't smell her since she definitely had a unique smell according to Erin, but after a second, she noticed she was now covered in a mud like substance making her furrow her brows in confusion.
Luckily for her, the animal didn't hear any of her movements as it continued on its way not noticing anything hidden behind the bush he was closely next to.
"I still think we should have given her to the beast!" A familiar feminine voice grumbled making Kelsey once again tilt her head to find the source. "Good riddance if you ask me! Lousy thing made too much of a noise last night attracting them all to us!"
"No one asked you anything Nala. You sure have a bad attitude this morning!" Another said quickly.
Something suddenly zipped past Kelsey making her jerk back roughly toward the stone like cave while hitting her head against the boulder.
"Hahaha! Stupid human girl!" The voice continued to taunt as another colorful thing flew by making Kelsey feel like she was experiencing whiplash trying to follow the flying sources.
"Stop making her dizzy Xiadra!"
"ENOUGH!" A the loud commanding voice said making even Kelsey freeze not expecting the kind soft spoken one to sound so terrifying.
A small little bug like man appeared in front of Kelsey's already foggy vision making her widen her eyes in surprise. He was probably as big as her entire hand with similar features to a human. It was almost the image of an old man, but his ears were long and he had a more oval kind of face. In fact, he looked more like a drawing of something she had seen once, but she couldn't quite remember what.
"Earth child, you are very lucky we were the ones to find you. But I fear even we can't protect you for long within these woods. My children are correct. You can not stay with us for long since I have a duty to watch for their safety as well."
As the older one spoke, Kelsey felt the gag around her mouth loosen until it finally hit the floor. Another little person flew from behind her hair giving her a small smile as she shyly glanced at the human.
"You are very lucky Norl found you. You could have seriously gotten hurt!" The little thing buzzed to the other side of Kelsey face looking at the human with some sympathy. "I'm sorry we had to gag you. We just didn't feel like you would quite understand to stay still and to stay quiet. Humans aren't known to be too bright."
The little girl-like creature looked the friendliest in Kelsey's eyes which for a moment, made Kelsey not feel any fear. Kelsey also kept her eyes alert following the flying creatures anytime they moved as she was so curious. They were beautiful in Kelseys' eyes.
"What-" Kelsey began to say before the ties on her hands were loosened as well.
Taking this as a moment to flee, she jumped up quickly only to hear the words of another creature.
"I guess she really wants to be the Darklings dinner. She hasn't even let the sun rise the whole way."
Kelsey's steps faltered as she remembered she was still being hunted by the black monsters that also occupied the woods. She then stopped in her steps remembering the creatures told her to wait till sun up. And by the looks of it, there was still some time before that happened.
She turned around slowly noticing eight flying figures all watching her with much curiosity.
"And she didn't even thank you Norl! This is why we don't help the humans! Stupid and ungrateful-"
But the older like man raised his hand silencing one of the redheaded creatures. Kelsey kept her mouth shut watching the whole scene noticing the other creatures, except two, watching her with disgust.
Slowly and quite magnificently, the leader flew over toward Kelsey who really hadnt moved too far looking at her with a serious expression.
"What is your name?" He asked slowly almost like he couldn't tell if she understood.
Kelsey looked at him while trying to study everything she could. She was scared and felt very worried she may have hit her head too hard…
"Kelsey." She said quietly.
The older creature nodded before frowning.
"Well Kelsey." He said with a pause looking rather guilty. "We have helped you today by saving your life even though we do not owe you anything. But I can not give you anymore aid since I must protect my children. You will now have to be on your own. I will have my daughter direct you to the town, but that is where we end our friendship."
Kelsey kept quiet as the man turned and flew away with six of the others following him. They zipped past the girl so quickly, she once again started to get a headache not able to follow them with her eyesight.
"Ummm. I think you should know that even if I lead you to the town, you most likely won't fit in. They also might throw you out just like we are."
Kelsey ignored the words looking around with a questionable face instead.
"Where are we exactly?"
The little fairy frowned at the question the human asked titling her head. "Riveria of course!"
Kelsey froze knowing she had heard of this land once before. In fact, she was just reading about it last night!