Rial and Rylla both woke up after a long night of talking, they set the small tent like shelter back up just in case rainfall made its way again. Soaked next to the fire they were both questioning what to do next. Rylla gets up with force and confidence and lets out her hand for Rial to grab. After a full night of talking they at least have a ounce of trust in each other, It was obvious the state they were both in.
"Get up, come with me" Rylla takes her hand back after he was getting ready to grab it trying to get help standing up. She signals for him to come with her. Looking back she see's the boulder and bows to it in thanks. Rylla turns around and starts walking away. Rial getting up was a little confused in seeing her bow to a rock but he decided to do the same. Bowing to the boulder than following Rylla into the woods he came from. Leaving behind the view and into danger.
Walking in the woods there was many different type of weird plants neither of them have seen. Not a lot of people have traveled this far into the Zylak woods. Purple and orange plants and animals, along with the different sub species of wolfs and deer. The tall pine tree's reaching over head still blocking some sunlight from the day. Branches and huge tree trunks in there way made it hard to navigate.
Rylla was still hurting and sore from everything but she noticed Rial was in a worst shape, still holding his side and limping a little from what injury's he has received the past 30 hours. Slowing down she looked back up in the sky and saw the sun still rising which means they are still going east. Remembering the night she got abandoned they were on there way out of a bunker not to far into the Zylak woods. She knew to go east getting closer to civilization each step they took. The smell of the pine forest was a calming scent though along with the crunching of the fall leaves. Looking back at Rial making sure he was there every couple seconds relieved her...she did not want to be left alone again.
Rial looks forward with the pain coming back finally. Whatever helped him healed his most serious injury's but the minor ones stayed. He could tell the elf girl was hurting to by the way she is walking on her right leg, almost limping. He knew they could not stop but thinking about the creatures they have already seen kept him going. Nervous his hands try to wrap around his waist where a weapon would be but there was nothing. Still the crunching on the leaf's and cool breeze in the woods was calming though, the tall pine tree's all around them and the animals natural noises...whatever they were.
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Three hours later they were still walking in the middle of the woods. The sun now close to ist highest point they were inclined to stop and take a break.
"We have to wait until the sun is out of its highest position." Rylla pointed at the sun and moved her pointing finger along the sky. Stopping and sitting to breathe she saw him stop and lay down in the leaves. Her mind wanting her to sit and start talking again, she ultimately just sat alone on the log while her mind wonders in a sea of thoughts. What was going to happen? What about food? hat about water? She wanted to mana fish but did not have even close to enough mana to do that simple trick. Then her stomach growls loudly and embarrassment fills her face.
Hearing a stomach growl that's not his Rial looked up at Rylla and saw her look away the moment he looked at her. Smiling he walks up to her and signals to follow him. She slowly gets up and walks with him. Mind flooding with ideas on all of these new type of weirdly grown plants he finds skinny brown colored weeds. Now he needed a stick which was not so hard to find looking right under his leg to pick up a long normal stick. Then he just needed a home made hook which might prove its self difficult to find something that can be used as one. Looking at Rylla he takes the stick and starts drawing in the ground. Groaning a little bit as he has to put pressure on his hands, figures start to appear in the dirt. Drawing the fishing pole made with the stick and weeds he draws the hook part. Next to the hook he draws his best image of a fish leading to the hook. Going back to the hook he circled it then put a X over it to signal he did not have it. Mind still flooding with idea's he put the weirdly made pole down on the colorful leaves and sat down to think for a second.
Looking at the images Rylla understood him, he wants to make a mana pole but physically there. Remembering back into time her grandpa talked about making one once. She remembered the process which he mostly completed but one part. Grabbing a skinny stick she broke it until she managed to snap a stronger twig from it and got to work. she grabbed a second smaller part and found a sharp rock to sharpen the edge. Struggling and wincing doing it she finally did it and smiled for the first time since that night. "Look!!" saying that out loud seemed to startle Rial making him jolt up. Hands up Rylla pointed at her other hand to the sketchy hook. Proudly showing it like it was some rare material worth millions of coins.
Looking at it Rials face lit up with happiness, mostly because they would have food secured and ready by nightfall. Running over to Rylla he grabbed her hands but she pushed him away with force knocking him on the ground. Frightened she backs up and hands it to him slowly. Looking up he see's the elf handing him the hook but with a terrified looked. He stands up and takes it to turn back around and connect it with his makeshift pole. He knew what went wrong in that interaction, she is shy and still does not trust him fully yet. Her hands were shaking the moment he started to even look her direction...still a long road of trust to build up before he knew she would completely trust him. He knew the elf thought that he was not going to hurt her or in any way is dangerous. If that was the case she could of left him in the woods by now all alone. "To the river!" he thought loudly in his head with a smile pointing in a random direction. He was trying to lighten the mood at least a little bit but came to no prevail. The elf even gave him a pitiful look his way and pointed the opposite direction then started to walk that way. Disappointed he followed her closely so he didn't get lost.
Confused and weird out by the boy pointing with his legs up acting all high and mighty she looked at him and pointed the right way toward the river. Since elf's ear are longer than others, they can hear more from longer distances. She heard water running nearby and kept it in mind in case they needed to back track a little bit for it. Not expecting the trip to be so long back into normal territory saddened her slowly. Rylla then went into though thinking about where she lived in the Elf's capital. Its not that missing it would even sadden her, she just wants to find somewhere warm and nice to stay for once instead of sleeping in another crappy tent with some dude who she though of to be a little weird. If back then given the choice, she was sleeping outside a hundred percent of the time in the slight rain that happened over night. "look the creek!" The shining blue water finally showed its self stopping the bad thoughts and putting a smile on her face.
With the fishing pole in hand Rial puts a worm on it as the blazing yellow suns beats down on them like getting thrown into a volcano. Taking turns switching back and forth trying to just get one or two edible fish from the river so they can continue the journey closer to civilization. He knew nothing about the journey anyway and this elf seems to know the general direction so putting his trust in her is all he can do at this...and it does feel better to be near someone even if they cant understand them. The fishing pole tugs and starts to pull on Rials arm.
"YES WE GOT ONE!" Excitement rings through the air as he springs up and yanks on the pole throwing the fish on land. The squirmy fish looked like nothing he has ever seen, it reminded him of a colorful lion fish but in the rivers and streams.
Rylla looks at the fish and nods at him with a bright smile knowing it was edible, she would eat it all the time back at home. Setting up the bright small fire she started to pick at the fish and cook it on a stick...They had to use the sharp stick hook to roughly gut it and get the meat off to put on even more sticks to cook around the fire. Several minutes later the fish started to turn brown and black indicating the fresh tender meat wanting to be ate. It tasted flavorless but at the time the smell of perfectly cooked fish meat just prevailed everything, along with her stomach being fed energy for the first time in a whole day. She could tell the boy was enjoying it until he suddenly got up startling her by grabbing a long stick. This caused her to scoot back even more not trusting him fully.
Rial grabbing the stick started to spell out his name in the dirt, it was very messy but easily readable as he took another bite out of the fish meat. It spelled "Rial" and pointed at him to signify that's his name. Dropping the stick he sat and nodded at Rylla turning around to take the last bite and savor what was left. He was planning on catching more anyway before they start walking again.
"Rial." Rylla looked at the words and then the arrow pointed to him then figured out what he was doing. It was his name and she pronounced it. Grabbing the same stick she spelled out her name and pronounced it with a playful smile "Rylla."
"Thank you for everything Rylla." Walking closer and bowing to her hoping it would increase even the slightest of trust a little bit. He just wanted to sleep in a warm nice spot and find housing. He is getting tired of the outdoors even though he always loved it more than other people.
Bowing back down to him she laughed a little bit because she knew he was gambling with the bow...he did not know what it meant and just assumed. Then the craziest thing happened. This boy ripped off his shirt and jumped in the river...she cant blame him but hopes he does not expect her to get in with him. Sitting and eating what's left she turned around and ignored him.
"WELP, I'm dirty I don't care any more. Rial takes off his shirt and jumps in the water to start relaxing. Closing his eyes he started to float and embrace everything. Thinking about what all has happened and what to do once he gets back to civilization. Wondering how life is in this world in civilization. He has never been fond of people at all and always played outdoors by himself practicing some smaller forms of magic by harnessing earths brown earth mana. Then darkness came about him when he got to thinking about his family...nothing will ever stop this feeling of sadness and dread...he know they are dead.
Rylla sitting and eating alone and Rial sitting in the water alone...both wondering what's next when they find civilization.
"TIME FOR ANOTHER HUNT BOYS. THAT MONSTER IS OURS TONIGHT." Loud footsteps started to rumble the area.
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Authors note: College is back in full swing but don't worry I am trying my best and will never give up on this novel. REMEMBER I'm new so please give me tips on ANYTHING to improve my writing. I love the world I have planned and am always excited when I write.