Dan poked half of his body out of the base of the humongous tree and waved his hands wildly, trying to draw the attention of the fleeing girl.
As the girl ran wildly, Dan watched her with a concerned face. But a bit later, Dan got another surprise as a small boy with almost no muscles on his body emerged from the thick smoke just like the girl.
Dan was surprised but guessed him to be another survivor. But even after the boy, another man came into Dan's view.
And this time, it sent alarm bells ringing in his head. The newly emerged man was wearing a blue uniform and had some stars on his shoulder like he was some military official and maybe he was, considering that only important people were able to ride on an airship and he did not look like he was kidnapped like the other people here.
This posed a problem as the man could very well be their kidnapper.
Dan wanted to enter inside and talk to the boy but held himself back. First, he had to get these people's attention.
"Screeeech. " A cry so sharp and loud that Dan nearly fell unconscious resounded across the forest.
And then a monster emerged from the smoke, following closely behind the fleeing man in uniform. That was only 20 to 30 metres away from the monster while the skinny boy and the girl with pink hair had already noticed Dan.
Both of them entered the hole as Dan gave them space but he again poked his body out and started waving his hand. Whoever the man was, Dan did not want to leave him to die. Even if he was the kidnapper, right now he was nothing more than a man on the brink of death.
The man in uniform ran wildly, running zig zag and dodging the large leaves that impeded his path.
And the heavy steps of the humongous monster followed behind him.
Dan's eyes widened as the monster finally emerged fully from the smoke. Saying it was big would be an understatement. It stood at least twenty metres tall and looked like a bird or rather a bat as it had leathery wings that would probably cover around fifty metres if stretched out. Its whole body was yellow with spotty furs and a pointed beak like some prehistoric dinosaur.
It was running on all fours, its wings acting as legs. It took two steps and covered the distance between it and the man in uniform who had now finally noticed the hole.
Dan wanted to ask Lang for its information but held himself back as Lang was busy healing him.
Dan got away from the entrance not willing to take the risk of attracting the monster's attention to save the life of the man who might be their kidnapper.
But he didn't need to save his life as the man managed to enter the hole.
The monster stood outside the tree and clawed at the hole.
"Garhhhhhh. "The monster's roar nearly burst everyone's eardrum but that was all it could do.
Yes, the monster was big but the tree was bigger, at least 40 metres wide. As for how tall it was, that was out of Dan's imagination. So the monster couldn't do anything other than roar at them in frustration.
After a bit of roaring, the monster realized that its prey was now out of its reach, it walked away with heavy steps and a final roar filled with frustration.
"Why the fuck is it trying to eat us? We wouldn't even fill 1 per cent of its belly. "The girl with short hair said as she clutched her stomach while breathing heavily drawing everyone's attention.
Dan looked at her just as everyone there did. An awkward silence followed as nobody talked for a few seconds.
And then everybody backed away from each other and maintained a distance, not willing to trust strangers.
Everybody silently sat down, maintaining a distance from each other.
"My name is Aiden Clauss, Lieutenant Officer of the Acacia Military. " Suddenly the man in uniform introduced himself, drawing everyone's attention to him. The attention and the stares didn't faze him and he looked at everyone, one by one as if evaluating them.
But the man didn't get the reaction he was hoping for from others. He expected awe but all he got was blank stares and then a stare filled with anger which came from the muscular boy who was sitting beside him around two metres away.
"First, you tell me are you the one responsible for kidnapping me? "The boy asked as he slowly stood up. His gaze was furious as he connected the dots just like Dan had done.
This man looked like he was the owner of the airship or at least in control of the airship which told him enough to realize that he might be the one responsible for ruining their lives and possibly killing them.
Everyone's eyes brightened as they too stood up, surrounding Aiden who was now shaking his head. "No, I didn't kidnap you guys. We recruited you into the army. You were going to be soldiers. "
But his reasoning didn't sit right with anyone there. They hadn't asked to be a soldier.
"It don't matter. "The muscular boy said as he brandished his fists, surprising everyone but no one came forward to stop him, not even Dan who hesitated, hoping that the boy wouldn't resort to violence.
"No, you can't do this. Do you know who my father is? He is General Albert Clauss. He will save us. But if you kill me, He will find you and kill you guys. I have already sent the report of you guys. " Aiden said his voice getting louder causing the muscular boy to stop.
But only for a second. He shook his head and said, "Do you think I care about who your father is? We now in the wild, you dipshit. And you die for your mistakes. "
"Bang"
Aiden's head rotated a full circle, his neck snapped and his spine was broken. He was dead before the situation had even registered in his brain.
The boy shook his hand as he stood up after killing Aiden with a nonchalant look on his face like this wasn't the first time he had killed someone. And it might not be. Who knew what everyone's past was like?
Dan stood there frozen, his brain not really comprehending the fact that someone had just been killed in front of him. He hadn't even had the time to try and stop him.
"Why? "He uttered, his voice confused just as his face.
The boy turned to him and tilted his head like he was asking some kind of absurd question. And it probably was an absurd question to the boy when he realized that Aiden had just sentenced them to death by kidnapping them and now they were here in the wild with almost zero chance of survival.
So killing the kidnapper at least gave them the sweet taste of revenge before they were killed by some monster looking for a snack.
But Dan didn't think like that. He wasn't born in this world so the dangers of the wild and people dying wasn't something he had grown up with. He was an alien in a world which was out to kill everyone living in it. And this was his first taste of that killer tendency of the world he had now found himself in.
Dan shook his head as the reality set in. If he questioned more then the boy might just punch him in the head too. He shouldn't be mourning the death of the one responsible for ruining his dream and life. His second life was on the verge of being wasted.
He sat back down trying not to groan due to the flaring pain in his chest and trying to convince himself that this was all real and not some dream.
***
Thank you guys for all the support. Hope the story's been to your liking. I am writing this note to inform you that this will be a kingdom-building and adventure type book and I have made major changes to the story. So you might want to check the tags which have been updated and the synopsis to know about the criteria for bonus chapters. Thank you again and happy reading.