Different World?

Athena had run towards the man but who knew, she was pulled in by an invisible gravitational pull straight into the portal! Athena felt herself falling but she couldn't see anything. Her body became numb all over and her consciousness slowly faded….

~Later~

"Mm..."Athena muttered as she fluttered her eyes open and woke up. She slowly sat up, her mind still muddled. She looked around dazedly and only after seeing her surroundings did she become fully clear-headed.

She was sitting on a flat black rock in the middle of a dense dark forest. The surrounding trees were pitch black and seemed burnt. Not a single leaf was present on them. The ground was cracked and crumbled. The entire area seemed haunted as if this place harbored the souls of the dead. And worst of all, it was incredibly cold.

Athena hugged her arms and trembled in the cold. Then she got up from the rock and looked around. The place was as silent as a grave. She looked up at the sky and found that there were no moon or stars. It was just like a plain black cloth.

She recalled what had happened before. The bus, the tattoo, the pendant and…..that unfathomable man.

Oh, she remembered he said something about this Acknologia place.

[Could this be the place he was talking about? If that's the case then he must be nearby! We went into the same portal after all] (Athena's thoughts)

Though that man seemed extremely dangerous AND he tried to kill her, he may have a way to take her back to her hometown. Though he attempted her murder, he stopped after the pendant incident. Oh, and she wanted to ask him about the tattoo as well. So she decided to search for him.

"Umm… Mr. White hair! Mr. Blue eyes! Or maybe the lunatic with supernatural powers? No, the assassin who failed assassination?" Athena spoke to herself.

As for why she was not panicking madly, it was because Athena had always been clear-headed. Her survival instincts as well as sharp sixth sense really lived up to her high IQ. But the events that took place before, she really didn't know how to respond to them.

She searched around for about an hour to no avail. No change in the environment or surrounding. The forest was never ending.

She was really hungry as well as cold. Just as she was about to move forward again, she heard a faint tapping. It was….the sound of footsteps!

Athena both rejoiced and felt worried at the approaching steps. Her first instinct was to hide in case of danger. She hid behind a huge rock and grabbed a small sharp-edged rock for self-defense. She leaned to the side and looked at the approaching shadow.

It got closer and closer and finally began to take form. It looked something like a big dog or a small lion…. She couldn't understand its shape. Until it came really close, Athena slid to the side of the rock to avoid being seen, her hand still clutching the smaller rock.

When the creature finally came really near, she saw what it was and that was terrifying. It was….. a wolf!

Athena covered her mouth with her hand and slowed down her breathing and heart-beat, not daring to make a sound. She looked around hastily and contemplated her escape.

The wolf when seen clearly, had a white body with black face, paws and tail and white ears. Its body had majestic spirals all over it. It was stunningly beautiful and unlike any wolf she had ever seen(Not that she'd seen many). But it seemed that it was not fully grown yet because of it's size.

The wolf then stopped in its tracks, leaned against a tree and began to pant and whimper in pain. Then all of a sudden, it began to transform as it's body bathed in a blinding white light and turned into a little boy!

The little child suddenly collapsed on the ground and fainted.

Noticing that the movement had stopped, Athena slowly got up from her position and stretched out her neck beside the rock to see what was going on. This sudden transformation was scary. The wolf-boy was not showing any signs of movement so she slowly tip-toed to the lifeless child.

The boy wore pretty brown clothes and had a loose neck collar and surprisingly had a pair of black ears on his head! What's more, also a black and white tail! Athena didn't know what to think. He seemed really cute and seemed to be about 13 years old. His eyes were closed and his whole being trembled from the cold.

Such a cute and helpless child aroused sympathy from the depth of Athena's heart, though she felt a little scared. She wanted to help the child but unfortunately, she herself had nothing to keep her warm. She looked around to see if anything would be wearable. However as expected there was nothing. Finally, she sacrificed her own thin coat and put it on the child who seemed to be about to freeze.

Upon closer speculation, the child had a long cut on his right leg and it was bleeding dreadfully.

Seeing all this, Athena remembered what would happen at a time like this in movies. You saved the animal and he is loyal to you and serves you for the rest of your life.

Oh, or there was also that….scenario.

You save the snake and he bites you in return. She fought within herself.

[Should I ignore the child? That would help me avoid the snake scenario. But the child is…..sooo cute. So should I help him? No no he might eat me or bite my flesh off when he wakes up…. But he is so cute…..]

In the end, His cuteness won her over and she tore a piece of fabric from her long dress and tied it around his wound. The bleeding stopped and the child looked more comfortable…

~ 1 hour later ~

"Mm…" The child slowly opened his eyes. Athena was sitting beside him. He had crystal blue eyes. They had a different shade of blue compared to the man with white hair. He turned his head to look at her.

"Hello" She said in a low voice.

When the boy saw her, he stiffened immediately and tried to get up but Athena held him down by his shoulder.

"You shouldn't get up so soon y'know?" She said lightly. When the boy heard her, he acted scared and said

"D-d-don't…don'…eat….eat…me…please"

"…"

Athena was speechless.

[Yes, I am hungry. But not to the point of eating people! Plus if I wanted to eat you would I have waited for you to wake up and resist?]

"Ahem… No I won't eat you. No…..wait….Maybe I will eat you if you don't answer my questions. She threatened him. She saved the little boy for this reason too. She wanted answers.

"No, I'm sure you won't eat me anyway but I'll answer your questions as long as I can answer them" The boy said in a leveled tone as he very calmly looked at her; a complete contrast to his fearful appearance a second ago.

"…"

Athena was startled by this sudden change in his tone and facial expression. But she quickly calmed herself.

"Anyhow first of all, tell me. Where is this place?" Athena questioned.

"You don't even know where this is? Dumb girl" the child spat out very rudely as he looked at her in contempt.

Witnessing this sudden change again, Athena didn't know what to say.

"You're not answering? Fine, I may not eat you but I can afford to break an arm or two y'know?" Athena said, enticing each word slowly with a smile. But this smile had a threatening aura to it. The boy flinched slightly before saying:

"This is the Nether District. The most avoided place in all of Acknologia"

Acknologia? She thought. So it really is this place…