The next morning came and Sydney rolled around in the animal skin to keep warm. It was exceptionally cold but she remembered the rain from the previous night. She needed to light some fire to warm up or better have tea for the morning!
Reluctantly, she got out of her bed but kept the animal skin tightly wrapped around herself. She got off the bed but hissed when her feet came into contact with ice cold water!
Her drowsiness vanished instantly and she opened her green eyes wide enough as though that would make things appear any better but nope! She realised she wasn't surrounded by the fine walls of her room but rough and uneven walls! She looked around and noted that she was in a cave but the most important question was...how the hell was she here?!
She took a deep breath to calm her racong heart and tentatively let go of the blanket, she placed it on her stone bed and walked out of the cave, she didn't even have her shoes! Slowly and carefully, she walked till she was close to the entrance of the cave. She picked up a rock that was twice the side of her palm to use as a weapon and continued to walk to the entrance of the cave.
Peeping outside, she scanned her environment with her sharp eyes but all she saw was a vast forest before her! Her heart dropped to her stomach and a lump stuck into her throat. She wasn't home! By the thickness of the trees, she could tell she was still in the beast world but where exactly was she? What had happened?!
She walked back into the cave and looked at the items that were in the bed. Besides her blanket and the two piece clothes she was wearing yesterday, she had nothing useful with her! Not even her stone knife! She was torn between leaving this cave and staying here to wait for help. She chose the latter, she was going to wait here today and see if Shawn and the others would come looking for her...if they didn't, she'd go and look for them!
In the beast city.
When the four excited men woke up the next morning, their lives plunged into ice when they found Sydney's room empty and she wasn't there. It'd have been a different guess if only she wasn't there but even the stone bed was missing which meant that something or someone had taken her!
For the matter of an intruder, it was impossible as they had been awake the whole of last night!!
"Maybe she has gone back to her previous home?" Shawn asked no one in particular. He was restless and torn, a feeling he was familiar with.
His words were like sharp claws of an enemy slashing through their chests! They knew she was the female the gods had sent down to them! It'd be reasonable if the beast god chose to take her back but did that mean that they were just going to accept it just like that?!
"If the gods have taken her back then I'm going to find them and take my female back!" Ash spoke through clenched teeth. Did they take him for some toy?! This was the second time something like this was happening!
"I'll come with you!" Caden said looking at Ash with equal determination. He didn't plan on giving up just because of a speculation of her having returned to her previous home! If need be, he was going to confirm it with his own eyes but if not that, he vowed to look for her even if it meant he had to flip the beast world over!
Ken was silent and didn't know what he was feeling. He had just spent the whole night building plans for their future only to wake up the next morning with nothing! There wasn't a single trace of her...it....like she had just vanished into thin air!
In the cave.
Sydney calmed herself down. Her bedding was that the end of the cave and thanks to the rain, she was sure her scent wouldn't be traced by wild animals. But she was really hungry now but she dared not go out to collect food.
By midday, her stomach was growling loudly and the outside was bright. She knew she couldn't stay here hungry since she'd need her energy to find her way home the next day. She looked at the damp ground and collected the mud then sneered it all over herself. Her hair, face, arms and legs till she was completely a mud man now. This was a tactic to fend off by hiding the scent. This was a really crucial point for her since there was a risk of her running into stray beasts.
After covering herself with another layer of mud, Sydney stopped out of the cave with her two kilogramme stone as a weapon. Meat was off the grid and she hoped to find some fruits which hopefully wouldn't turn out to be poisonous.
Being her first time out in the wild of the beast world on her own, she dared not to be reckless and put her military service techniques to use though she felt stupid after a while. As she walked further, she came across a banana plant, it was the only food she recognized and only God knows how happy she was, the banana was equally ripe and ready to eat! She was blessed!
Scanning her surroundings one more time and assuring that no wild beast was in the vicinity, she went ahead to pull the banana plant down! It was tug of war on its self as the plant was firmly rooted in the ground. Sydney resorted to climbing the banana plant but unfortunately, it couldn't take her weight and they went tumbling to the ground pitifully!
Unknown to Sydney, she was being watched. This territory belonged to two beast brothers and for a decade and a half now, this was the first time they were seeing a female. It was without a doubt a female from her petite frame.
The previous night when a storm hit, they had headed off to inspect their territory and returned in the day. They planned to hunt and go back to their cave to rest when they realised something was off with their territory. They agreed to do another round check and only found the abnormality when they noticed a lump of mud walking around. They were shocked at first and even planned to move out of this place but upon closer inspection, it came to their notice that it was a female. And she was hungry!
She climbed up the banana plant and fell down with the whole plant. She looked pitiful! Who dared to hurt a female and leave her to fend for herself! It hurt their hearts so much that they cried on her behalf. Poor female!
After eating a whole bunch of bananas, Sydney finally regained some strength. She pulled the whole banana fruit off its stem and carried it on her back. It wasn't a hard thing for her since she was used to harsh trainings in the military. After stuffing her stomach, somehow her guard had fallen and she was estatic! With enough food supplies, she'd be able to fend off till Ash and the others arrived and if not, she'd have enough safe food for her journey back to the beast city!