Chapter 4
As Areon and mister Puff Puff raced throughout the forest, the sun got closer and closer to setting. The orcs were in a relentless, heated pursuit of the child, and his body was still barely holding on due to the strain of today's hunt.
"If I don't get these guys off my back I'm dead meat!"
Woof! Woof!
Mister Puff Puff had a passionate bark almost to signify his disapproval of the situation as well as his acquiescence of helping.
They continued to go throughout the treeline and were fiercely chased by the orcs.
Eventually they came near the forest's main river. It was just a few strides away from him and mister Puff Puff. Areon calculated the distance of the river's width.
The river was lively and chaotic, the currents enough to sway whole trees into the whims of the stream. If anyone had fallen into that body of water they would have been as good as dead.
"Damn it! I know this is against the rules too, but I don't have much of a choice right now."
The river was large, but not an impossible distance to clear with the wolf. And if they somehow managed to get past it, the orcs would not stand a chance in order to be able to catch them after that.
In short, it was high risk, high reward.
"Mister Puff Puff! We need to get past that river!"
Areon yelled at the top of his lungs, with all the power his throat could muster at the time, whilst pointing towards the river. Mister Puff Puff nodded as he made an aggressive effort to dash towards it.
"He's heading towards the river! Stop him!"
The orcs ran harder as well, pushing through their fatigue as they struggled to keep up with a fully grown wolf. Both parties were on the brink of nearing the end of their stamina, whoever could make it to the river first would have been the winner. The orcs knew they couldn't make it in time.
Then mister Puff Puff made a large leap as he hurled the two of them into the air. The duo were well on their way to passing the river. Areon could see the other edge of the land coming closer to his sights and the orcs could no longer follow with the amount of momentum they had just built.
"Phew! I did it!"
He thought, before he heard a distinctly loud thud, and then a ringing from in-between his ears, before losing control of his balance. The weight of his body shifted right off of mister Puff Puff and he was on the course for heading straight into the raging waters of the forbidden river.
"What...But how?"
From his peripheral view, Areon barely caught a glimpse of a rock that was smeared with a modicum of his blood. The boy quickly made sense of the scene. He spun his head back to see the orc who had thrown the rock with a sly grin on his face as he plummeted towards the face of the river. The other orcs cheering him on, but their celebrating would not last forever.
Splash!
The little boy was bobbing his head above and below water, struggling to even make the effort to breathe, as he was moved by the strong currents of the river. Mister Puff Puff barked anxiously and chased after him while the orcs looked on in horror.
None of them had expected this to go as far as it did, they were convinced that he was going to drown.
"Let's get out of here."
"Y-yeah, I don't wanna see what happens next."
Areon wrestled against the water, fighting for his life. Catching brief glimpses of his wolf companion chasing after him along the river side, before being plunged back into the waters where he kicked and fought to stay afloat for what felt like hours.
In the middle of his struggling he bumped into a firm and hard object of something.
He instinctively grabbed onto it, as the currents stopped moving him. The boy felt a sturdy, unmoving body with large scales. The thoughts began to race through Areon's head as he realized this was not something, but rather someone.
"I was hoping that pops wouldn't find out about this, but this is better than dying."
As he opened his weary eyes which were previously tightly sealed shut to prevent the water from coming in.
Areon saw something was different.
He realized that unlike Krieus' dark black scales, the color of the ones before him, were a rich shade of blue that transitioned into a lighter shade of turquoise. Not only that, they were not in the same shape as his father's. Whoever Areon was grabbing onto, he was sorely mistaken for their identity.
"What is a puny human doing in my river…?"
The voice bellowed from above him.
Completely awe-struck Areon looked in the direction of the voice to find two beaming glowing white eyes staring daggers into his being. There was a gigantic snake the length of at least three grown men stacked on top of one another.
"Well…? Do you have anything to say for yourself, human?"
The beast glared at him scornfully.
"I-I'm sorry! I'm not even supposed to be here!"
"Clearly… Look at you, all beaten and dirty. Your scent is terrible!"
"My scent…?"
"Ke ke ke! Yes, your scent! It's going to make eating you a total chore. But it's not like I'd complain about having a free snack!"
"...What?"
Shivers went down Areon's spine as he watched the ginormous snake begin to attack him. Fangs brandished, mouth wide agape and moving with enough speed to swallow Areon whole.
But before the beast managed to take a bite out of the boy, mister Puff Puff barked to his alert. Snapping Areon out of the brief sense of fear before he impulsively grabbed his blade and swung it directly in from of him. Stabbing the beast in the right eye.
"Kyahhhh!"
The snake recoiled in pain and agony before, wriggling around the lake erratically. Mister Puff Puff had now finally caught up to Areon and used his teeth to catch the little boy from the collar of his shirt and pull him onto the shore.
Water and saliva came out of the boy's throat as he coughed relentlessly while holding onto his furry ally.
"Thanks mister Puff Puff…"
But the intermission for gathering himself was brief as the snake of the water was only more irritated than ever.
"That's interesting that a blade like your's managed to cut me. Where'd you get it?"
Areon looked at the titanic sized beast that erected themselves before him. The absolutely livid snake bared his fangs again with an malicious smile, as well as his now wounded face, his right eye closed firmly, as the blood covered half of their head.
"No response? I suppose that's what I get for playing with my food."
A unnaturally sized bulge began to form in the snake's upper body and ballooned in size as it reaching his mouth.
"This can't be good!"
Areon shouted before hopping on his wolf's back and attempting to retreat.
But it was too late.
"Raging Sea Tornado!"
The snake released an inexplicable amount of water that shot right past Areon and mister Puff Puff, moving them with a current, almost as strong and fast as the river Areon was just removed from. The snake had produced a tornado of water that spun the two in a spiral motion upwards, before plunging them deeper into the forest until they chaotically landed.
"Just what the hell is happening…!?"
Like a raging sea tide, it soon shot them out and sent them tumbling down a hill.
The snake began looking around, curiously to find out where his supposed meal had went.
"Shucks, I got carried away again… Now I have to find him."
From the bottom of the hill, Areon viewed the snake and knew he was dangerous, too dangerous. He saw a tree nearby and decided to start climbing it. Whilst he was hoisting himself up one of the branches, he looked down at mister Puff Puff and gave the wolf some instructions.
"That thing is too fast and too strong, we can't fight it alone. I don't think we have long before it notices us either, we need pops here. Carrying me is only going to slow you down. I need you to go get him, mister Puff Puff. I'll try to hide out over here and wait for you guys until you come to get me."
This situation was far beyond what Areon was willing to handle, he figured that at least if he could get Krieus over here. There would be someone who could actually match this monster in power and this nightmare would be over. But for now his job is to buy time, totally trusting his furry companion he met yesterday, with his life.
They heard the snake's voice from afar.
"You can run but you can't hide! My nose is the most sensitive thing in this forest! Now that I've got your scent there's nowhere that you can conceal yourself!"
Mister Puff Puff nodded his head and sprinted as fast as he could, while Areon continued to climb the top of the tree. He fidgeted and adjusted himself with the branches in the tree, as he tried to think of a strategy.
"I need to stay in his blindspot just like I did with the pheasants. If I could just-"
"Found you…!"
His thoughts were short lived as he witnessed the snake dashing full speed ahead in his direction, clearly enjoying each rush of this exhilarating chase.
"How does it feel human? To be the hunted instead of the hunter!"
A bead of sweat rolled down Areon's face as he watched the beast speed ahead, much to his horror.
Crack!
The snake slammed his head against the trunk of the tree causing the parts of the bark to shoot forward.
Crack!
"You can't hide up there forever!"
The snake was preparing for another attack before he saw something from the corner of his one working eye. It was the wolf making a hasty retreat for Krieus.
"Oh well, would you look at that? Your wolf friend is running away. It'd be a shame if the two of you didn't get to be together... in my stomach!"
The snake prepared to chase after mister Puff Puff before he felt a slight pound on the back of his head, then another, then a couple more.
"Get away from him!"
"..."
The snake glanced at Areon to find the boy passionately throwing rocks at him. Shouting at the top of his lungs.
"I don't care what you wanna do to me, but I'm not gonna let you hurt my friend! You big meanie! It's me you're after right? So don't be a wuss and fight someone who's turned their back against you, you big coward!"
His face was blushing red and he was hyperventilating with aggression. This left the snake perplexed.
"You're such an odd meal to have today, but I guess I won't be picky."
The snake then returned his attention to Areon and continued to bang his head against the tree. With each strike getting closer and closer to bringing the entire thing down. Areon's mind was racing.
"Damn it, he's almost done! I'm not gonna have enough time before Krieus gets here, there's no way! I might actually… die?"
As he watched the snake manically cackle to himself and mister Puff Puff on his way to retrieve his dad he slapped his face and steeled his resolve again. Whilst gripping the blade that Krieus gifted him.
"No, there's no way I'm about to die. If mister Puff Puff can't make it back here in time with Krieus… then it's no big deal, I'll just have to defeat this monster by myself!"