Chapter 2: Off to Another World!

     CAW!! CAWW!!

     An irritating sound entered Reika's ears after minutes of deafening silence. She tried to open her eyes to see the source of the noise, but the blinding lights prevented her from doing so.

     Ow...!

     Even with her eyes closed, she noticed the dimming in her vision, as if she were covered with a veil or something. Followed by a flapping sound and a gust of wind hitting her cheeks, Reika opened her eyes once more. Curious about the thing above her, she finally saw the object that covered her face.

     A bird...?

     Reika stared on the bird as it flew past her and glided gracefully in the air. Reika squinted her eyes a little bit when the bird uncovered her vision. She opened her eyes slowly, forcing her eyes to adapt to the surrounding light.

     In the process, Reika looked around, even though her vision seemed blurry and unclear. She noticed that the sky seemed a little bit different compared to earlier.

     Is it just me, or did the night sky seem a little too bright?

     Reika blinked her eyes and couldn't believe what she saw: out of nowhere, she was floating in the sky in broad daylight.

     EHHHHHHHHHH!?

     The bright rays from the sun, along with the light-blue sky with the thick clouds that were scattered around, the strong breeze of the air as it fell from the sky, and the vast horizon that stretched in all directions filled her eyes.

     Reika gasped upon witnessing the spectacular view in front of her, which immediately caught her attention.

     The green scenery of luscious forests as far as her eyes could see, combined with the vast sky above, left her stunned and filled her mind with tranquility. 

      Am I in heaven?      

     After all that amazement she felt upon gazing at the staggering scenery, she noticed something unusual about her situation.

     Wait a minute...

     She looked below and finally realized that she was freefalling to the ground.

     "GAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

     This ain't heaven at aaaaaaaaall!!

     Reika began to panic as she saw how high she was from the ground. The height on where she is now to the ground pales in comparison to the height of the building she fell before. In her mind, this height would definitely kill her once she reached the ground.

     Where am I? Why a-a-am I falling for the second time? I-I thought I was in school just now?

     She looked around in panic, still in disbelief and confusion. In her peripheral vision, she noticed someone familiar.

     A white shirt? From whom?

     Reika turned around and was shocked at what she saw. It turns out that the owner of the shirt she saw before was his classmate, Shin Soru, who was in the same situation as her.

     "Shin-kun!? Why are you here? W-Where are we!?" Reika exclaimed while she was panicking.

     Reika noticed that Soru was too calm about the problem they were currently facing. But no matter how unusual his reaction was, Reika didn't pursue the matter further upon realizing that there's no time for small and irrelevant conversations. She must take action on the current problem in front of her.

     To regain her composure, Reika suddenly slapped her cheeks.

     There's no time for this. I have to do something...

     She calmed her mind and thought of a way to survive. At such a high altitude, it is nearly impossible to survive this fall. 

     "What should I do..."

     As she looked down at what she would fall into, she saw a vast, thick, green forest. She planned that she would land on one of those trees, hoping that it will lessen the impact and damage caused by the fall from a high altitude.

     "Shin-kun, after you've seen a clear view of the forest below us, look for a tree to land on. M-Maybe we could survive the fall if we landed on one..."

     Soru, with a calm expression on his face, looked towards Reika.

     "Sure..."

     Reika ignored him and continued to look at which tree she'd land on. While she was choosing, she spotted something on the ground.

     She saw a large lizard-like animal, along with a wolf-like beast, surrounding the large lizard-like animal. They weren't visible when Reika was far from the forest's ground, but as they were getting closer and closer to the ground, she saw these beasts clearer than before. Witnessing these strange animals, Reika began to panic once again.

     "W-What was that? What are those things? H-Hey Shin-kun, are you seeing those strange creatures?"

     Soru heard her and looked below their feet. Reika was surprised when Soru simply nods at her in response.

     What the...!? Did he just nod? He's not surprised by it?

     Due to her being distracted from the creatures below them, Reika forgot her plan for a brief moment, which is to land on a tree. When she remembered it, it was already too late. The speed of her descent was so fast that there's no time to reach the nearest tree. Their slamming on the bare ground is inevitable.

     Fearing for the worst outcome, Reika closed her eyes slowly.

     Damn... Am I going to die for the second time?

     She imagined what her state would look like when she died from the long fall. She thought that she would be lying on the ground as her entire guts, flesh, and body were splattered like a balloon filled with water and dropped to the ground. Even though her imagination seems exaggerated, it's still the same. No matter how gruesome or not, she couldn't do anything about it.

     THUD!!

     In a split second, Reika felt the warm grass touched her skin before her body slammed to the ground. But to her surprise, she doesn't feel any pain at all.

     That's it? I thought dying from a fall would be painful...

     I-I guess the pain is too great for my brain to catch up and died instant... ly?

     Reika was surprised when the warm rays of the sun kissed her gentle skin. The warmth was quickly followed by a strong stench of odor, which entered her nostrils. The odor made her sense of smell go haywire.

     Reika tried to puke as a response to the foul odor she smelt, but was baffled upon realizing that she could move freely.

     Wait, I can move? I... I survived!?

     Reika opened her eyes immediately to assess her situation, but she was greeted by Soru's presence. He extended his right hand in front of her.

     "Get up."

     Reika was left wondering why she's not dead and has survived. Still confused, she reached for his hand and stood up, still covering her nose.

     "Thank you...?"

     As she slowly gained her composure, she checked her body to look for injuries. To her surprise, she didn't suffer any injuries at all. From head to toe, no blood can be seen gushing out, and none of her bones seem to be broken.

     "What the...? How!?"

     Reika remembered those peculiar monsters and immediately looked around, fearing that they might attack them at any moment. But what she found left her horrified.

     The large, lizard-like beasts were squashed down, as if they were being pressed down by a strong force. The other small wolf-like creatures were squashed as well, similar to the lizard-like beast.

     While she's still weirded out by the situation, she noticed that Soru was quietly gazing at their grotesque corpses. He wasn't afraid at all, unlike hers. He remained quiet all this time, seemingly unaware of the potential danger if those creatures were still alive.

     Baffled by his calm demeanor, Reika tried to approach him. But she was surprised when a loud and strange howl suddenly echoed through the entire forest. She paused for a moment.

     ROOOARRR!

     "What the hell was that?" Reika asked in confusion.

     She immediately turned her head to the right, where she believed the frightening howl originated from. Suddenly, the ground starts to shake lightly, and the crackling noises of the trees can be heard ahead.

     Reika looked up at the sky and saw the birds fleeing in the opposite direction of where the strange howl originated, followed by the loud footsteps that shook the ground, as if something were running towards them. As time goes by, the shaking becomes more violent and the footsteps become louder, indicating that the mysterious being is drawing closer to them. Suddenly, the loud footsteps and the tremors on the ground stopped. 

     She looked around her, looking at the trees and the dark shade deep within the trees. The stench of the deceased beast was still lingering around, but Reika didn't heed it. While she was looking around, she noticed that a shadow was cast on the ground, as if something huge blocked the sun from above.

     SWOOSH!

     Reika looked up in the sky to check on the unknown entity. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind burst forth. The fierce gale reached them quickly, which immediately made the dust scatter in all directions.

     "Cough! Cough! What is happening!?"

      Reika couldn't see the surroundings due to those annoying dust particles. She covered her eyes to prevent dust from entering her eyes. She checked on Soru, who she also saw was covering his eyes from the dust. After a while, the dust began to settle. As the view became clearer, she finally saw the humongous and terrifying creature above them.

     The large creature had wings and two hind legs on its lower body. On its wings, there are huge claws that are embedded at the tips of them. The mysterious beast's skin was ash gray. It slightly resembles the lizard-like creature back then, but it was menacing compared to the previous one.

     While Reika was observing its elongated neck, she noticed its glowing crimson eyes, as if they were staring deeply into her soul, which made her legs tremble. She didn't know that the monster above them was a "Wyvern".

     Before Reika and Soru's arrival, the wyvern was quietly flying when it sensed the lizard-like creature, called "Basilisk", and the pack of wolf-like creatures, called "Rabid Wolves" fighting ahead. To satiate its hunger, the wyvern decides to land on the ground far from where these creatures, who were still fighting, take place.

      Known to be one of the intelligent monsters of this forest, the wyvern used its brain and decided to wait for the fight to subside to prevent itself from getting exhausted pointlessly. The monster will wait until one or both parties die or become exhausted, and then it will pounce on them by surprise for consumption.

     After a while, using its heightened sense of smell, the wyvern immediately knew that both of the parties had died. It was about to head towards their corpses and consume it while it's still warm, but the wyvern felt that something was off.

     Its nose picked up another two unfamiliar scents in the area. The wyvern became vigilant and quietly crept to the depths of the woods to observe those individuals. Using its unique eyesight, the wyvern saw two humanoid figures standing between the disgorged bodies of the Basilisk and the pack of Rabid Wolves. Seeing that there were harmful people who interfered with him, the wyvern got furious and angrily rushed over to kill them. Because the Wyvern was a picky eater, it found those disgorged corpses distasteful and blamed those humans, assuming that they're the ones who messed up their bodies.

     Still petrified after seeing the enormous wyvern, Reika didn't move a single inch. While observing the monster, she noticed that its wings flapped faster. Then, the wyvern suddenly opened its mouth, and a glowing, yellowish-red orb appeared inside it. Without a chance to react, the wyvern instantly spit its fiery breath onto them.

     Reika quickly flinched as the flame reached them in an instant. But to her surprise, she doesn't feel any signs of discomfort or pain.

     When she opened her eyes, she couldn't believe what she saw.

     Instead of them being burned alive, the fiery flames didn't have any effects on them. There are no traces of burns around her body; even her clothes are unscathed as well. She was confused and looked towards Soru, whom she saw staring at the wyvern, also unscathed from the wyvern's fiery breath.

     What happened just now? Reika wondered.

     Adding to her confusion, she saw that the trees around them were burning, even though the wyvern's fiery breath didn't manage to reach those trees, considering the distance between them, the target, and the trees that surround them.

     Suddenly, a raging gust of wind blew again. Reika looked above and saw that the flap of the wyvern's wings became more violent. The wyvern opened its mouth once again, indicating that the wyvern was about to unleash another round of its fiery breath. Without any second to waste, she tried to run in order to avoid the second breath, but it was already late.

     The breath managed to reach them quickly, leaving her no chance to escape. But as the fiery breath continued, Reika noticed that she was unscathed once again, even though the flames were fiercer than before.

     When the flames subsided afterwards, she expected that the outcome would be the same as before. But her assumptions weren't right because the outcome of its attack was slightly different compared to the previous one.

     For some unknown reason, the wyvern was set ablaze. Its entire body was burning, as if someone had attacked the monster using a flame.

     As a response, the wyvern flew around them, wailing and roaring in agony as the flames continued to burn its body. Due to that reason, the wyvern was slowly losing altitude as its wings were burned badly. Reika could see the wyvern set ablaze in the sky.

     Moments later, the wyvern fell to the ground, followed by intense tremors. Reika tried to get closer to check on the monster. Upon inspection, she saw that the wyvern was twitching in pain as the flames were still burning its body. The flame continued to burn the wyvern's body intensely. After that, the wyvern stopped moving.

     Reika was shocked by the sudden demise of the wyvern because it had been burned brutally and died. She looked around, wondering if there were other monsters attacking the wyvern. But only she, the splattered monsters, the dead wyvern, and Soru are on the scene. Unable to come up with an explanation for its death, she didn't utter even a single word.

     Just then, she remembered Soru was with her. She looked beside her and found him. Similar to her situation, he was also fine and unharmed as well. Instead of panicking, Soru just watched the wyvern that was burning, even though it was already dead.

     After a while, Soru looked around the place. He looked in all directions, until he spotted a long, thin twig right at the bottom of a tree trunk ahead. Reika tried to ask him what he's doing.

     "Hey, what are you doing—"

     "Ah, I found it."

     Soru didn't respond to her. Instead, he walked to where he saw the twig and picked it up. Then he went back to where he was standing before. Soru was trying to place the twig upright.

     When the twig was completely upright on the ground, Soru immediately released it. The upper end of the stick, where Soru touched before, pointed to his right side.

     "Let's go, Mitsuha-san."