Chapter 2: Bastra of the Wind

In the Garden of Oria...

The Altar in the Crater.

As Days passed by, Ignis continued to look and examine the Altar in the crater until on this day the skies turned dark and it started to rain while the gust of the wind gets stronger by each minute.

"Crap, I gotta take cover" Ignis said before he took cover into the thicket of the forest away from the crater.

The rain continued and eventually turned into a storm. It rained all night until another morning passed by, and it was windy. When Ignis woke up, he immediately got up and checked the crater. Before he went off, the sun flashed into his view. Ignis shielded his face with his hands from the sunlight. Suddenly, the skies turned dark again, and the altar began to emit a ray of light that reached into the sky. The light was surrounded by gloomy clouds as loud thunder was heard. Ignis immediately backed off as the wind started blowing through the trees. He covered himself from the wind with both hands until it finally stopped.

A huge dragon appeared in the crater. It was bigger than the entire crater itself, with blue eyes and enormous wings that had stopped flapping. It was directly looking at him. Ignis was shaking and couldn't even respond to himself anymore. This huge beast without a doubt was the Bastra of the Wind and it had made its arrival.

"W-What the..." Ignis says with a terrified tone while looking at the Bastra.

The Bastra lowers its head and looked directly at Ignis who was frightened

Hhhrrkkkk...

"A human...?" The Bastra said in a calm tone.

Ignis backs off a little as The Bastras mouth was clearly close to him that he could even feel its breath.

"Ack!! Hiyagh! D-DONT EAT ME!" Ignis says in a frightened tone.

The Bastra exhales at Ignis, swaying his hair backwards.

"Calm down kid.. I don't eat your kind." The Bastra responds with a assuring tone.

Despite Vera's reassurance, Ignis still followed his beliefs on what Bastra's are supposed to be.

"B-But chieftess Aurora told me... You're evil and you liked eating humans.."

Says Ignis in a concerned tone while also shielding himself with his other hand.

Vera's eyes widened until she gasped. She couldn't believe that woman had ruined her reputation and portrayed her as evil. As she says.

"Tsk... That woman.." Vera says in a pissed tone.

She lowered her head and looked at Ignis even closer. Although she knew it was a threat to the kid, she had to prove she wasn't evil. After all she had to protect her territory as a Bastra.

"Do you really expect that foolish woman to say such truth?" Says by Vera once again as her claws stepped in the ground besides Ignis.

Ignis who was terrified by the sudden action, Then looked back to Vera.

"But chieftess Aurora would never lie to us!" Ignis responded with a shout.

Vera then raises her head, And looks down to him.

"If so, Do you think you would make it alive in my hands until now?" Vera says with a serious tone.

Ignis then looks down as he realized that Vera was right if Aurora says shes evil she could have been eaten just now.

"N-No i guess.." Ignis responded with a guilt while he looks down at the ground.

Vera nodded and gasped. It doesn't really matter to her how people see her; she only wants to teach the kid some respect for her. After all, she had been observing him since he stepped into the Garden, and she knows that this kid has already broken many of its rules.

"Hey kid, Why did you ran away from your place?" Vera asked in a confused tone.

Ignis was surprised from the sudden bring of the topic how come did Bastra of the Wind knows this? He then responded.

"I just think I'm being a burden for everyone..." Ignis looks down with a sad smile. Admitting of the fact that hes a burden, However Vera thinks the opposite it seems like this kid had more reasons than just running from his homeland.

"I see..." Vera gasped, And she responded.

"I only have two options for you choose wisely kid." Vera says once again.

Ignis who didnt expect to get such choices, But his willing to know them as he nod.

"Either I can instantly get you back to your homeland, or I will give you a way out of this garden in Two days. However, you must get through something first. But I tell you, it's not an easy task." Vera says in a serious tone.

Ignis makes an awkward face, Its technically obvious what he would choose here.

"Isnt it obvious, what i wanted to choose?" Ignis said in a sarcastic tone.

Vera then explained to him, The things that he must do and a route for him to exit.

"Well then.. Go at the east, the landmark you should consider is a path of rocks with beautiful blue gemstones on it. Then you will see a waterfall right after it and that place should have a few rabbits but if there was nothing on it you arrived the wrong place."

Ignis listens until at the part that Vera mentioned those gemstones Ignis, heard of them before as back in the day Julius used to take them and sell them to pay off the debt of the village. Before snapping back when Vera said something again.

"And also a warning for you.." Vera said in a serious tone.

"Those gemstones may be worth a lot, but it's not something you should touch. And if you did, find a way to solve the problem yourself."

"Once you arrived that place, there will be an elven knight waiting for you there to lead your way out. I can only provide you two days. Exceeding further isn't an excuse; therefore, if you plan to fail, then you will fail."

Vera looks at Ignis while the skies suddenly opened a portal through with the winds getting stronger.

"Lastly kid, Dont lose your way here. Sometimes the Garden itself could trick you with the landmarks."

And finally, Vera starts flapping its wings as the wind blows in Ignis as well as in the oak trees at an intense speed. Then eventually, Vera disappeared, and what's left is Ignis and the huge crater that Vera was in earlier.

After the encounter, Ignis stayed in the dense thicket of the forest again for the night.

The next day...

Ignis immediately started his journey to the exact landmark that Vera had told him about. He traveled for a few miles but got lost countless times. Finally, as the sun was about to set, he slowly walked along a path where he began to see some stones bound with blue gemstones, just as Vera had described.

Ignis gasped.

"Hah... This should be it" Ignis said in an exhausted tone as he continued to walk straight along the path.

After a few steps, Ignis arrived at a spot where he finally heard the roaring sound of water falling and crashing below. He went to investigate and stumbled across a beautiful view. The oak trees were different; their leaves were blue, and the rocks were bound with blue gemstones, and there were many of them. Admiring the view, Ignis forgot that Vera had told him not to touch the stones.

"Woah... It looks cool! I've never seen this kind of place before!" Ignis immediately approached one of the rocks with a huge blue gemstone and mindlessly collected one.

"Maybe a single piece won't hurt..." Ignis said as he quickly took it and hid it in his pocket.

Ignis continued to explore the waterfall, realizing there were no signs of bunnies, which made him doubt. However, he couldn't recall what Vera had said about there being no animals, which made him think this was the right place.

"Man... Whatever, I'm pretty sure this is it" Ignis said to himself, scratching his head as he sat on one of the rocks.

Ignis waited for the knight's arrival. While he was waiting, one of the huge rocks behind him suddenly started forming into a golem until its eyes glowed blue. It raised its hands, preparing to slam Ignis, but before it could, Ignis quickly reacted and dodged away.

"The hell...?" Ignis said in a surprised tone as he rolled sideways.

Ignis looked up and saw a huge golem made of rocks with blue gemstones. He finally understood and remembered what Vera had told him.

"So its true that my actions have consequences, hahaha..." Ignis said in a sarcastic yet scared tone.

The golem then roared as it swung its hand to hit Ignis once again, but Ignis immediately dodged. As he did, he fought back by simply throwing rocks at it, even though it was completely useless.

"Damn... What should I do now?" Ignis said to his mind, gritting his teeth as he tried to find a way to solve the problem.