19 Arriving At Randle Forest

The morning had come. Anwen and Odette were preparing everything they needed for their trip to Randle Forest. Food, water, some change of clothes, and weapons were all ready. Anwen spent five silver coins to pay for the inn and bought all the provisions.

Honestly, Odette felt very bad because Anwen paid for everything, but she really had no money with her to offer to pay some of the expenses. There might be money tucked away in her shirt pocket that was left at Green Castle, but that money was useless because it didn't apply here.

"Well, it's done!" said Anwen as soon as they finished arranging the things in a brown duffel bag.

Odette carried the bag on her back because she would be sitting in the back of the horse.

"Okay, are you ready for an amazing adventure?"

"Yes!"

Anwen and Odette did a high five then started climbing Dan. This morning, Anwen and Odette looked more intimate, as they were now friends. Perhaps, it would be very difficult for them to part later on.

Dan galloped away from the City of Vibes. Meanwhile, Rion and Trish were still in pursuit.

Days turned into night, and nights turned into days. Dan continued to gallop through villages, towns, bridges, and slowly, they started to enter a foggy area. They had arrived at the entrance of the Randle Forest.

When they got there, Odette was flabbergasted. She felt goosebumps. The atmosphere in the forest was horrible.

“Anwen, is this the Randle Forest?” Odette whispered lowly and swallowed hard. Her throat suddenly felt sticky.

"Um. Yes."

"I don't know, Anwen, but this forest looks very unsafe." Odette looked at the trees in front of her.

The trees looked very large, their size was much larger than the trees in the previous forest.

Not just the trees, but all the vines and bushes looked unnaturally large in size.

Now Odette tried to look deep into the forest, but she couldn't see much because it was very dark inside. The scorching sunlight could not penetrate the dense leaves of the intertwined trees, and it not only made the forest dark but cold, damp, and foggy.

ROARR!

"AAH! What's that?!" Odette stared at the forest in shock and immediately hugged Anwen when she heard a loud roar from within the forest.

"Miss Ody, calm down. It's just a monster," Anwen said lightly.

'JUST a monster she said.' Odette's forehead turned blue.

The sun was shining so brightly, and not a single cloud dared to block its rays. The sky above was completely clear blue.

"Miss Ody, we have come this far, but if you change your mind, it's fine. I'll be happy if you stay here in Panthera, Miss Ody," Anwen said in a happy tone.

Odette was silent. She seemed to be considering it. Previously, she had a lot of guts because she thought Randle Forest was like those in Panthera. However, upon seeing Randle Forest in person, her guts immediately shrunk like crackers dipped in water.

Anwen had indeed said that in the forest there were monsters, but perhaps because she had never met or seen a monster in person, she had the guts to decide to go to the Randle Forest.

The roar of the creature she had heard from within the forest sounded very frightening. The sound of the creature was so great that it felt like it shook the land. The size of the creature must also be very large.

She really wanted to cancel her intention to enter the forest and meet Aathreya the wizard, but at the last moment, she remembered Mia and her promise to her patient.

"So what do we do now?" Anwen asked.

Odette finally let out a shaky breath and made up her mind and nodded.

"Um. Let's go," she decided.

***

Meanwhile, at the top of Mount Randle, Aathreya was sitting on a rock.

"Catch every little lice you can find, don't let a single one escape," Aathreya said to the little fairy who was currently crouching above her head.

If you ask what the little fairy was doing, then Narine would reply that she was looking for fleas, or rather, was forced to look for lices.

Since deciding to live in the mountains, Aathreya's head had become a nest of lice, and unfortunately, Narine would always be asked to look for lice every day.

"Aathreya, this is hopeless. You better get your head shaved bald," said Narine, who was tired of finding lice, one by one, in Aathreya's hair, but the number of lice was too many.

"Stop complaining and keep looking. You're unemployed anyway, so just think of it as your job."

"But you're not paying me for this," Narine grumbled.

"I'll pay you with thanks."

"That's useless."

Aathreya didn't say anything else. He had previously looked down, but now he raised his head and looked at the forest below. Then three seconds later, he smiled.

"Looks like we will have guests soon," he said, which made Narine stop her activities.

"Huh? Who?"

"That girl."

Narine flew and perched on Aathreya's broad shoulders. "You mean the girl you sent from the future to help the king of Panthera?"

Aathreya reached into the pocket of the black coat he was wearing and took out a gold-colored smartphone.

"What is that?" asked Narine curiously.

"A mobile phone," Aathreya said, then turned on the smartphone, which made Narine gasp.

"H-how come? Is this some kind of magic box? Where did you get it?"

Aathreya didn't answer. His ruby eyes were focused on the image of a woman with black hair and blue eyes, holding a little brown-haired girl, who had the same blue eyes.

'I just found out that you're dead,' he thought, looking intently at the woman who was holding the little girl.

Meanwhile, Narine was seen flying about, checking every corner of the smartphone. She looked so interested, especially when she saw the sparkling flower image on the smartphone's casing. "Aathreya, where did you get this beautiful flat box from?"

"It belongs to the girl."

"Huh?" Narine turned to look at the handsome man behind her. "How can you have this thing? Did you steal it?"

"No. I just took it secretly," replied Aathreya lightly and Narine could only stare strangely at him.

After that pointless conversation, Aathreya stood up and looked at the forest that spread out in front of him.

"What is that girl doing in this forest?" asked Narine while flying over Aathreya's broad shoulders.

"To meet me."

"Then I'll go to help her," Narine was about to fly towards the jungle, but Aathreya told her that she didn't need to.

"But Aathreya, there are so many monsters in this forest. What if she is eaten by those monsters? Or what if she's killed by a beast attack?"

"Well, then just bury her. There's still a lot of lands here," Aathreya's super clear answer made Narine speechless.

***

Back to the forest entrance.

Dan's neighs echoed around the place.

"Dan, come on!"

Anwen was trying to get Dan to move forward, but the horse didn't want to leave at all. Dan's instincts must have told him about the dangers that lay ahead in the forest.

Anwen kept trying, but because Dan didn't want to move, Anwen finally gave up.

"Miss Ody, it looks like we have to go on foot," Anwen said.

She and Odette got off the horse to enter the forest. But before leaving, Anwen turned to face Dan.

"Stay here until we get back! Do you understand?" she said, to which Dan nodded his head and made Odette gasp to see it.