Alden shot up, completely spilling the food. His eyes went first to the spot where he had sat.
The place was just as he had found it. Only the leaves were a little beaten where he had sat. He then checked around the small clearing, hoping to spot the person behind that voice.
No one!
What the hell?
He was certain he had heard someone speak. But now, looking around the small clearing, it looked like he was the only living thing around.
Alden felt restless now.
He wanted to believe that this was nothing and that it had all been his imagination; he, however, knew better.
It couldn't be — the voice had been clear, the exact words were still echoing in his head. It had said, "Get your buttocks off me, wish hunter."
I mean, even if it were his imagination, where could he come up with words like that? And why would he ask himself to get his butt off someone?
Thinking about that statement made him focus his look more on the spot he had sat, but even after a closer look, there was still nothing visible to justify his reaction.
After a restless search, however, Alden forced himself to believe he must have been daydreaming.
His eyes instead fell regretfully on the scattered salted meat.
The taste was still in his mouth, and for a moment, he wanted to gather the tiny pieces but decided not to.
Most were soiled, and he did not like the idea of eating something right off the Edge Of Bray.
He instead went back to sitting down, making sure it was a good distance from where he had previously been sitting.
Reaching into his rucksack, he retrieved his loaf of bread and the waterskin.
He hadn't expected this day to be one of his best, and true to that, it looked like it would live up to his expectation.
Alden found himself wondering whether the rest of his age-mates were having any luck.
Maybe Ina had found some parrot to mock her wishes because the gods knew she wouldn't find any phoenix here.
This damn forest probably wished it was in Darhon. I mean, compared to what kids were doing there, this... this looked like a joke.
Imagine an eight-year-old entering a dragon-infested forest to find a beast, which had to be a dragon no less.
Alden pictured himself staring at some monstrous eyes, probably doing something stupid and getting a glimpse of the fiery back of the beast's throat.
He flinched.
Suddenly, he did not feel so envious of those kids anymore. He would rather stay with their dragonflies.
'Haha! I like that, it sounds like a perfect trick wish. Imagine someone wishing to be a dragon tamer and poof, a tiny, tiny fly appears before them — gotcha!'
This time, Alden did not shoot up despite clearly hearing the voice once again.
He was now sure he was starting to go mad; the voice was definitely coming out of his own head.
What was happening to him, and why would he keep thinking of these wish things?
First time, he had called himself a wish hunter; now he was thinking of trick wishes.
What was he, a genie or something?
'Puh, you wish... you a genie?... so what would that make me.'
Alden grabbed his head like he was trying to shake that stupid voice out. Was it the forest? Was it something he had eaten? Or was it just paranoia?
Why was he beginning to act like a madman?
"I really wish I was out of here... this place is full of crap."
The words had barely left his mouth when the ground seemed to disappear completely.
Alden felt himself shooting upwards like he was being hauled by the wind.
He tried to scream, but the sound was useless, wiped and scattered by the violent air whistling past him.
When he reached for the amulet that had been dangling from his neck, he was shocked to realize nothing was there.
Suddenly, he found himself being flipped upward and lowered slowly onto the ground.
The moment his feet touched the solid surface, Alden broke out in a run.
There was no way he was spending any extra second in this forest.
His intended escape was, however, abruptly ended as he recoiled back in fear.
He was not in the same spot he had sat a short while ago. Hell, he wasn't even in the forest at all.
Looking below him, Alden was shocked to see everything appeared to be like a tiny drop all around him... and above... well, the clouds seemed to be dangling just an arm's reach away.
There was a deathly silence all around him, like there was no life for miles and miles around.
It took him some time for it to sink, but when it did, it was with alarming clarity.
It looked... it looked like he was at the top of a mountain... the Bray Mountains.
"Ho... ow?" Alden felt like the words he was speaking had suddenly gotten a weight his tongue could not lift.
The shock he had experienced, coupled with the fear, had perhaps been stopping him from feeling the change in his environment, but now that change could not be ignored anymore.
His teeth were rattling in his mouth, and everything in his body, including his hands, had suddenly grown stiff.
The cold he was feeling was nothing like anything he had experienced in his life. At the moment, the only thing that was functioning in his body was probably just his eyes and ears.
Alden knew he was about to die.
'How could he have gotten up here?'
He hadn't seen his attacker... heck, he hadn't felt any physical touch; he had just all of a sudden found himself flying through the air like he was some damn feather.
'Well, you wanted to get away from the forest.'
If Alden's limbs had not been frozen in place, he would have jumped from the peak he was perched on in fear.
But then again, where would he be running to? The voice had clearly come from inside his head; he would just tumble down with it.
This time around, Alden did not think it had anything to do with him losing his sanity.
No.
The voice had one thing right; he had been hauled off his feet the moment he had made the wish.
He wanted to ignore the voice; maybe he had been feeding it too much. He should just await his end since he had lost the only thing that he could have used to summon for help.
But his desperate heart would not contend to that. It was not ready to die yet.
"Please take me back."