Like the earlier message, it too, repeated thrice before disappearing.
Arella sat blankly on the bank of the pond- wet, cold, and clueless. She took a long breath and sprawled on the ground, letting the sun's rays dry her. She played with pebbles listlessly.
After a while, she repeated the message in her mind. Rabbit King. The pearl was in the hands of the Rabbit King. But the problem was: where to find it? And was it an animal or a beast? Even the mermaids couldn't beat it! Was the King too ferocious?
Unfortunately, she did not have any clue. The mission won't let her out if she fails to get the pearl. Just in case she died, she would be resurrected and have to find the pearl. It was a non ending loop till she found the pearl.
'Huh! Let's find the Rabbit King!' After she got sun-dried, Arella stood up and started climbing the tallest tree in her vicinity. Curiosity bubbled in her core. She was genuinely curious about the Rabbit King and wanted to find it soon! As for the pearl, she could have it after accessing the powers of her enemy.
Rabbits, they lived in burrows. When Arella lay down, she tried listening and picking up any sound, but the forest was eerily quiet. So, she decided to climb a tree and look at the situation on the ground clearly.
As she climbed, her breaths became heavier. True to its words, this mission tested one's physical limits. First, the walk from the land to the pond, then swimming and facing the underwater current and now climbing.
Fortunately, she had already improved her stamina. Whether to give the credit to her job as a herb collector, or the nights spent with Adrian, she knew not, but her stamina had indeed become better.
She, with some effort, reached a stable branch. Balancing, she looked afar. For Rabbits, she had to find holes or loose soil. She also searched for an area where the Rabbits could have enough to eat. The forest was too dense, so she crossed it out. Then, looking afar, other than the forest cover, there was only one hilly area.
"Bingo." She happily exclaimed. In her excitement, she put a foot on the weak branch.
Snap, the branch broke!
Arella's eyes widened in alarm and her hands started clutching something, anything, but failed.
Swish, she fell from the tree.
Thud, she fell to the ground.
"Damn," she couldn't help but mumble. The height wasn't too much, so, she didn't fall to her death. But it hurt! Her eyes narrowed with pain. Her ankle twisted, and her hands were full of shallow cuts from all the branches.
She wasn't familiar with the pain. Because every time, her healing powers would deal with her wounds within a few minutes. This time, she could even feel her bones hurting. She clutched her ankle and ruthlessly twisted it again, correcting the bump.
Cold sweat formed on her head. With the support of the trees, she tried getting up. It was painful, but bearable now. She hopped with her broken frame of a body in the direction of the hilly area.
After hopping for a few meters, her ankle became swollen and a few cuts on her hands had imprints of blood. But she became use to the numbing pain. She kept on moving toward the hilly area.
The dense forest canopy subsided and fresh green grassland welcomed her. The hill was in the middle of a meadow. There were no flowers, only grass. The soil was loose. Large footprints appeared as she stepped on the meadow.
As she walked and walked, her ears eventually picked up on a sound. But she could not see anything but the grass. As she walked, she stepped on a bump. She thought that the area was bumpy and was about to ignore it when the cold mechanical sound congratulated her.
"Ding. Congratulations on killing one rabbit pawn. 1 point earned."
The voice appeared abruptly, taking her by surprise. She hurriedly looked at the area under her foot. There, lay the cold body of the said rabbit pawn.
Arella pursed her lips. This, wasn't this rabbit too small? It couldn't even reach her ankle! No wonder she couldn't see any rabbit. To these rabbits, the grasses were their forest!
She was deep in thought when a rattling sound attracted her attention. She looked in the direction of the sound and could only see the grasses swaying. Then, she felt a prick on her foot. She looked down and found a half palm sized rabbit attacking her!
Startled, she stepped back.
"Ding. Another rabbit pawn killed. 1 point earned."
Arella pursed her lips, under her foot, was another dead body. She stepped aside.
"Ding. Another rabbit pawn killed. 1 point earned."
All around her, the rabbit pawns stood in circles, waiting for their chance to attack her. No matter where she stepped, another dead body appeared.
The continuous dings made her a little dizzy. Inside her, she felt very reluctant. What kind of task was this? Why were these rabbits so small? She literally had to squint her eyes to see them! How was she supposed to fight them?
It looked more like a one sided massacre to her!
With pursed lips, she ignored the attacks of the rabbit pawns and kept moving toward the hill. As she walked, dings rang continuously, announcing the death of unfortunate rabbit pawns.
As she walked closer and closer, she noticed that the size of the rabbits was increasing. But even then, they could only reach half her knees. As long as she stepped hard, even the tallest would meet their demise.
As she reached the hill, she had earned around 50 points. A sense of discomfort arose in her core. What kind of physical training was this? Leg training? She felt that like Andrew, even Princess Anna was too, casual in training her.
Gloominess fogged her eyes.
"Halt Witch! You have killed my pawns and knights. But I, the Queen, won't let you take any more step closer to my King! Before you face him, you have to face me!" A roaring voice appeared in her head.
She looked ahead, and in front of her stood a pure white rabbit with black eyes. Surprisingly, it could reach her knees. Was this the so called Queen? Arella had to admit, this rabbit was the most beautiful among all the rat like brown rabbits.
For a moment, she even wanted to pick it up and pat it gently. But looking at the scepter in the white rabbit's hand, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind.
On the scepter was a shiny pearl. If she wasn't wrong, this was her mission's target.
"Found the pearl!" She spoke gloomily.
Her mission was to 'find the pearl.' Technically, she had completed the mission. There was no need to fight this Rabbit Queen.