Maen

With arms crossed, A black long haired robed woman with black wings that's seemingly connected with her hair and a curled horns over her head is gazing upon two corpses:

One is of a Digstran, A Large-Sized Beetle-like creature that likes to be beneath of the ground to hunt its prey with its wormlike mouth.

The other is an one-armed Beastkin with wolfen head and features, blue fur, naked on top with a simple ragged pants below, and a fluffy tail on his lumbar backbone; formerly known as Kes in his living life. But she didn't care about that. Nobody in House Erons cared about that. What this woman care is to do her duty she was assigned to the House she serves, and today, she commands:

"Clean this up."

A Knightly Hume by her side, who is rotund and had a silver armor encapsulating his body from head to toe, put his fist on his chest and replied "As you wish!" with gusto, then barked at the beastkins behind him to follow his orders, in which they happily(?) obliged; unsheathing their blades to cut the Digstran corpse into pieces.

They had also three mages as a companion for this 'clean up' operation, who are facing one of the holes the Digstran made. At the same moment, two of the beastkins dragged the corpse of Kes by his feet, and threw him unto this hole like a heavy sack of wheat. After doing the deed, the two backed off. And thus, the mages, together in a chorus, they raised their staves and in a loud voice, they cast a spell:

"[Zakryt!]"

The debris surrounding the hole moves in a shaky momentum. Then, in a slow and steady movement, it went back to the holes, filling it up as if time rewinds itself to put the debris into where it belongs. The corpse of the one-armed beastkin was slowly dampened by the rocky soils of the debris, which makes him just another food for the nature.

Overseeing this, the woman with back wings stood silently in a quiet observance. That is until a raven flew and land over her shoulder, repeatedly cawing and pausing, as if speaking in some kind of a code. After its done, The woman turns her eyes unto the raven and murmured something, then it flew away from her shoulder. She then approached the rotund knightly hume, who is busy barking order to the beastkins, and made an eye contact with him and speaks in an nonchalant way,

"I must go. Take the lead. Don't take too long and too loud with this noise, or," she directed his gaze with a slight jolt of her head at the corpse of a Digstran being ripped off, "you'll know what will happen right?"

The rotund knightly hume gulps his own saliva and replies with a nod "Yes."

"Good." Then she turns around and as she walks, her shape transformed into a raven and flew above the trees. The rotund knightly hume sees her off before returning to barking orders.

***

*Munch*

The Trio, Ishnaia, Alister, and Pan: a cub they just managed to meet, are sitting side by side beside one of the tree trunks in these deepwoods. Together, they had a pear-shaped fruit in hand called Maen; it is said that it is one of the sweetest fruits that can be found in these woods according to Pan. Seeing this fruit and hearing what it is called, Ishnaia commented,

"Maen? What? Isn't this… mango?"

"Mango?" Alister replied grinningly, "No Milady, It's Maen. Is Mango a term I do not know from far away land?"

"You know what?…Nevermind."

They got lucky when they are moving about earlier. Pan managed to find a tree, blooming with ripe fruits. He wanted to go up to get those fruits, but Alister presented himself to do the task, in which Ishnaia jokingly wooed him being a prince and all,

"You will climb!? I thought a prince-type is always a spoiled brat! No wonder my heart races more when I'm with you!"

"S-Stop it…" Alister blushes.

It did not took too long until he successfully completed that task. The trio did not wait further to taste the fruits of labour Alister made. Pan, who is beaming with joy, munches the fruit with sweet enjoyment. Alister as well took a bite, and was also satisfied with his hard work. However, to Ishnaia…

"Egh! Pft! pft! Pweeh! Too sour!" Ishnaia rants with a bitter face, "Hey Prince!" she held her bitten mango on Alister's face, "The fuck is this?"

"Hey! Don't curse in front of a child!" Alister beratingly said, pointing at Pan,"

"Ack!" Ishnaia bit her teeth, "Sorry…But he'll eventually learn such language you know-"

"No!" Alister instantly replied in censure, "Milady, I suggest to just enjoy the fruits."

"Enjoy!? How can I enjoy this sh-fruit when I can't even eat it to begin with!?"

"Mine is sweet!" Pan said happily.

"So is mine." Alister nodded.

"Well, mine is sour as f-fart!" Ishnaia fumingly said, but came out weird. She continued anyway, "You know what," she looks at the bitten fruit on her hand and glances at the prince, "Let's swap Alister."

"As much as it hurts me to say, *munch* I refuse."

Ishnaia frowned, "What the!"

"Ha ha!" Alister laughed, "Just in a mood for jest. Here," He handed her another Maen, "there's more than I pluck of remember?"

"Haha, very funny." Ishnaia replied dryly as she accepted another Maen after throwing the sour one behind her like a trash, "Of course, I remember it you f-punk, I just wanted to yap on how lucky I got the sour thing!"

"Punk?" *munch*

"Punk! Punk is…" Ishnaia moves her eyes upward, but she saw no information on her mind, so she responded, "Er…nevermind! Just give me water to flush this sourness in my mouth!"

Alister smiles wryly as he handed a small leather water bottle from the bag lying beside him, "…you say funny things sometimes milady."

"Punk!" Pan says happily.

"Don't say that!" Ishnaia scolded Pan, "You're years too short to say that stuff!" Ishnaia opens the cap of the water bottle and drinks.

"Ehhh?" Pan protested, "Then, I wanted to grow fast!"

*gulp* "Ahh...Alright then," Ishnaia nods and stood up, "Get up." She raises and shakes her bottle-occupied hand, "Water's out! You got one kid?"

Pan shakes his head from side-to-side.

"Then let's go now! chop-chop!" then she ate the fruit on her hand,

*munch*

"Mhm!" she nodded, "This fruit's really sweet huh."

"But I haven't finished my fruit yet!" Pan protested.

"We eat while we search. Experience is growth! And the more we search, the more you grow. Know that!" Ishnaia proclaims to Pan as she closes and threw the empty water bottle to Alister, in which the latter clumsily caught it with his empty hand.

Pan nodded "Oooh! Ok!" and then he stood up.

"I…don't think that's how it really works…" Alister muttered as he also follows suit.

"Know any place with water here? Hydration is important!"

"Oh, I know! Not far from here, there is- "

"Lead the way boy! Wherever that is!" Ishnaia interrupted Pan energetically.

"Milady, What about-"

"Just leave all of it here O Sir Prince Charming! Do you know that over 70% of our body is made up of water!? Besides, I got this big hunch that nobody will touch those fruits. Shit'll just slow us up than help!"

"Huh…"

And thus, they resumed their journey in these Deepwoods. This time, they are in a search for water. Alister and Ishnaia follows Pan, in the direction of somewhere there is water. Ishnaia doesn't care as long as it is drinkable as she did not bother asking. Alister, however after a long while, has become curious enough to ask,

"Pan, what exactly is this place of water?"

"Spring! Pop's favorite spot!"

"Is that so?" Alister smiles and nods, "That's good to hear, your pop might be in there waiting for you, right Ishnaia?"

"Hm? Oh yes." Ishnaia answered, blatantly bored.

And they walked and wade through the woods that does not seem to end. They ate their fruit as they went on. But once it's done, every footstep they cast off adds up to Ishnaia's boredom. She yawned hard and finally opens her mouth.

"Kid, what's your dad's name again?"

"Pop?"

Ishnaia nods,

"Tul…" Pan's eyes rolls as he search his memory, then had his eyes wide in eureka, "Tulfar!"

"Right. Tulfar huh?" Ishnaia nods twice, "Here's what I think, how about we shout his name?"

"Milady," Alister glances at Ishnaia, furrowing his eyebrows, I don't think that's a good idea."

"What? It's not like he's a criminal or something right? And you've been doing it earlier!"

"Even so, we don't know-"

"Oh shut it, you going coward now? Together we're unstoppable! Right Pan? If you could just see us how we-"

"Lady Ishnaia!" Alister censures angrily at Ishnaia.

"Alright! Alright! I understand! sheesh," Ishnaia then turns her sight to Pan, "So kid, you shout Pop as loud as you can, while we shout your dad's name, deal?"

"Deal!" Pan replied.

"Oh, and uhm, how about we also shout the names... 'Harvey' and 'Kessy?'," She glances at Alister, who was silently pouting, and he corrected,

"It's Hardy and Kes."

"Yeah! Right!" Ishnaia nodded twice and her eyes returns to Pan, "So you shout out loud also those names, ok?"

"Ok." Pan nods in agreement.

"What're the names again?"

"Hardy and Kes! Also, Pop!"

Ishnaia pats and rubs Pan's head, "Nice! So, here's the game, we call them out loud to lure them over to us, right?"

"Right."

"And, whoever spotted someone we knew is a winner, got it?"

"Uhm…" Pan fidget "I don't know who Hardy and Kes is."

"Ah! Sorry, well, one is shorter than this guy," she pointed at Alister by her thumb, "and maybe the shortest you'll ever see! And-"

"The one with a blue fur!"

"Yes!"

"The friends!"

"Super right!" Ishnaia nods and grinned happily, "You remembered what the handsome big brother told you! Now that's smart!"

"Ehe!"

she rubbed Pan's head again and turned her eyes to Alister, "C'mon, join us, If you won, you get a kiss from me!"

"Wha-" Alister blushed,

"Eeeeh?" Pan protested, "I don't want a kiss!"

"Then," Ishnaia scratches her head, "you'll get a ride over the big brother's back whenever you want! That good?"

"Ok!"

"Let's go! Now in a count of three! 1…2…3!"

And they Shouted the names of Hardy, Kes, and Tulfar…or Pop for as loud as they can as they journey through the woods sloping upward. A short pause, then a loud call, then a pause, and a call. It was repeated, until,

*Rumble…*

The ground shook in a second, then it's gone. Alister stops his tracks and said,

"Lady Ishnaia, Pan, did you two felt that?"

"Yeah" Ishnaia breaths in and out replied with slight husky voice, "We felt your feelings for us, right kid?"

Alister shakes his head, "No Milady, I felt like the ground just shook!"

Ishnaia slightly tilts her head, "You're tired? Me too, Shit my throat's sore as fuck."

"There!" Pan, whose voice sounds normal than ever, pointed at some direction. Alister and Ishnaia glance at where that is.

"Spring!" Pan exclaimed and ran towards it.

A clearing. the end of the woods is already visible to their naked eyes,

"We're here?" Ishnaia then, also ran with gusto, "Shit yeah! Water! Finally!"

"Hey wait!" Alister, without any choice, ran as well after the two of them.

As they entered the clearing. The waters welcome them with sparkle as the sun almost reach its zenith. The spring location may be accurately described as spots of waters in this clearing. A multitude of ponds of different sizes where its water streams through layers of land, streaming in jagged directions downward towards the bottommost pond. This bottommost pond is a shallow one, but ends no further than the clearing of woods. Everything is silent, but the echoes of water reverberate with the trio's ears with no foreign noise bombarding it, only at the time when they've started to speak,

"Damn, the scene's beautiful." Ishnaia said, staying still in awe as she views the scenery beneath her.

"True," Alister replies in agreement as he walk and stood beside her. "I hope Hardy saw this too."

Ishnaia quickly stares at Alister, her face in a disgust, "I…don't know you swing that way."

"What?" Alister looks back at her, "Swing? What do you mean?"

Ishnaia closes her eyes and smiles, shaking her head, she answers, "Nothing," and she glared back at him, and pointing, "I will not fucking lose you hear!"

Alister raises his eyebrows and replies in clear confusion, "Al…right...?"

"…Pop?".

"Hmm?" Alister and Ishnaia both heard Pan and glanced at him. He was staring at the distance on the other side, and over there, is a beastkin that of the same race as Pan; a white one with a doglike brown face and long ears. Its appearance is akin to that of a beagle dog.

To be precise, this beastkin looks like Pan, but older. And that said individual, is sitting at the shore at one of the ponds. Its ear twitched when he heard the word 'Pop'. Quickly, he looked where that voice came from and stood up,

"Pan?" He said with his eyes open wide.

"Pop!" Pan shouted loudly and smiles with his mouth open wide as he ran towards his pop. The beastkin who is apparently Tulfar held his arms open wide, smiling until it reaches his ears.

"PAN!"

The Ground shook.

"POP! POP!" Pan repeatedly yelled with joy.

And in just a matter of a secondary moment.

"PAN!"

Something came from beneath at where Pan is that moment.

And.

*CHOMP*

A gigantic round mouth, wormlike shaped with sharp teeth surrounding it appeared instantly from the ground. In an instant,

It ate Pan in one single swoop from the ground and burrowed.

"Pa…"

Everyone was speechless. Everyone present was horrified with what had just happened. In single moment, Pan was not there anymore.

"PAAAAAAAAAN!"