I wake up feeling a bit sore from using muscles I haven't really used before. I get up and start my fire back up to make some breakfast although it's only boar meat again.
"I have a good feeling about today!"
I summon Aurora for company and once I finish my breakfast I go and continue on my tree house.
(3rd POV)
15 hours ago…
"Kayde!!"
Steph, Kaydes father, and Madeline are all looking for Kayde. Madeline looks to his father.
"Alexander, do you worry for him?"
He looks at his wife and without worry nods his head.
"I trust my son, he's smarter than you would expect. He'll think of something."
Off a ways from them is Steph still screaming his name, hoping he could hear her calls.
Madeline runs to her daughter to calm her and figure out their next steps.
"Sweetheart, take a moment to breath. We will find him."
"How?! My ring can't sense him which means either something is interfering with the rings effect or he could be dead. I do not have the luxury to breath knowing he's by himself!"
Madeline slaps her daughter to bring her to her senses.
"Stop right now young lady, he can survive. We need to do the same so we can see him again, understood?"
Steph nods her head and sobs as her mother holds her.
"We will all be fine, you'll see him again."
Alexander starts looking for a nearby river by listening to the surrounding area air signs of running water.
As he discovers the direction of where some could be they hear some rustling in the nearby brush. Out comes two young men who seem innocent but Alexander can see lust in their eyes.
He then wonders why men always target the women of his family. He chuckles realizing why and steps forward to block them off.
"Stop where you are, why are you here?"
The youngest looking of the 2 gets pushed forward. Looking nervous he clears his throat.
"We heard some screaming and came to see if we could help."
Alexander knew they were lying but played along.
"We are looking for my son."
"Oh? What does he look-"
He shuts up as Alexander body slams him after he saw him slowly pulling out a dagger.
Madeline understood what was happening and pulled out her bow and immediately put down the other boy with an arrow to his temple.
"Can't people think with anything else to their than their lower half?"
Madeline and Alexander burn the bodies after taking what money and other valuable items they had, which wasn't much. Steph starts to throw up and struggles with how easily they dispatched those two boys.
Alexander walks up to Madeline and Steph to let them know of the general direction he heard water. They began their trip to find and secure a source of water for their survival.
Along the way they came across some boars and wolves. They skinned the boars and took the meat. After they cleaned up they left and continued to search for the water.
Along the way Steph became excited.
"My ring has a reaction! He's alive and I have the direction, it's the same as the water source!"
All of them became happy and started to push harder for the river.
4 hours later…
At the river they finally reached they started to set up camp. Alexander was on shelter, Steph on firewood, and Madeline was cooking.
Off into the distance Steph was getting fustrated. Mumbling to herself about Kayde, wanting to hurry, needing no rest, and so on as she gathers fire wood.
"I want to leave now! Mom says I have to wait though…"
Then after she picks up the rest of the firewood as she's mocking her mother for making her wait, she freezes.
She feels a chill down her spine and sees a pair of eyes staring at her from the direction of the camp.
"Mom…"
Madeline has this sweet looking smile while staring at her daughter. It's anything but sweet as she starts to yell at her daughter.
Off into the camp Alexander is wincing as her hears his wife's yelling.
"I have to finish the shelter."
As he finishes Madeline comes dragging her daughter with the firewood back to the camp.
Once she puts her down she grabs the wood and begins to make a fire for cooking while Steph is told to help Alexander finish up.
"Let me guess, you pissed her off bad?"
"You couldn't tell from her yells that I am sure was heard for miles?"
Alexander laughs but then shuts up as he feels the same chill on his spine.
"Let's keep working before both of us make her volcanic."
The rest of the night passes like what used to be normal with a few interruptions of Steph and her mom arguing over Kayde. Not in a weird way of course, get rid of those nasty thoughts.
(POV End)
"Kayde, I think you need to add some more support along the branches you put. It won't last long otherwise."
I nod my head to her an get to work making sure my structure is much more stable. Once finished with the support I smile and look to Aurora.
"This good enough?"
"Yes, it'll last longer like this till it ends and we can go back to Concord."
I agree with her statement and get ready to start working on the roof of my structure till I realize something, I'm incredibly thirsty and can't remember when I last had water.
I open up the map and see a nearby river and mark my site on the map.
'It looks like I'll have to create a channel from the river to here, it'll be too annoying otherwise.'
I then get out my staff so I can be ready to fight at a moment's notice. I start my little journey coming across no monsters surprisingly so far.
After 40 minutes I get to the river and start to drink.
"So satisfying!"
I never realized how important water was till now, which is funny considering I practically lived in a desert.
I get up satiated and ask Aurora for help on my channel. As we are digging my ring gets a stronger reaction.
'They are close… but still very far.'
Aurora called on earth spirits to harden the channel into rock so it wouldn't absorb the water running through it. By the time we finished we had a channel from the river to a man made pond by my structure.
'Where are the monsters? None have come by as we made this… what's going on?'
Despite feeling uneasy about the situation I go about my day finishing up my new (time-limited) home.
I finish putting up my roof and get started on my walls till my stomachs grumbles.
"I guess it's time to eat…"
I cook what I made yesterday and give a bit to Aurora. After I finish up I put out the fire and get back to my current project.
As I continue to work on my temporary home I keep getting chills running down my spine. I then step out and look around finding nothing out of place but choose to keep an ear out for anything as I continue.
Then as I'm about to finish my wall I feel the connection with my ring getting closer and closer at a fast pace.
'Did Madeline get a mount? This is the only thing I can think of.'
I then hear birds chirping madly as they fly off and I hear a loud pounding noise along the forest floor.
'Is that?'
I get down from my structure and all of a sudden I'm tackled to the ground before I can even look to see what's happening.
"I finally found you!"
I look up after my head clears and see Steph rubbing her head onto my chest. I see Madeline and Father coming off what looks like a black silver spotted leopard.
"So you finally got a mount, did you capture it or summon it?"
"Captured, I couldn't bear fighting my daughter daily to go to you so we headed out after we woke up to find one."
I laugh at her statement and try to get up with Steph still clinging to me. After what feels like 20 minutes I managed to get her off me as I walked towards my father to ask some questions.
"So have you guys seen any monster on the way?"
"No, not a rabbit or wolf."
"Something's about to happen, whatever it is I have no clue and I hate that."
My father pats my shoulder as I show him what I've been building along with the pond and channel I built.
"I was wondering about that, we saw it on the way here. That's pretty amazing son."
Off in the distance I see Steph and Madeline arguing with one another.
This lighthearted atmosphere didn't last however as a large roar resounded through the forest and large flocks of birds took flight.