Chapter 8

Coal's POV.

"Wake up, we're leaving," I heard a voice say.

I rolled over, groaning. "Let me get my beauty sleep," I moaned.

"Beauty sleep? What beauty sleep?" The person snorted. "You're going to need a lot of sleep."

"Do you need help?" another voice asked.

"Who are you? How dare you bother me," I mumbled.

"Uh, the person that woke you up is Lionark, I'm Sirena and the girl that's still asleep is Breezie. And get up before I splash freezing cold water on you."

After that threat, I jolted up. "I'm up! I'm up!" I exclaimed stretching.

"Good," Lionark laughed.

"Aw, I was hoping to see you drench him," Breezie said sitting up.

"Why'd you wake us up this early? It's not even dawn yet," I asked.

"And where are our animals?" Breezie asked looking around the clearing.

"Minbor and Sactom are hunting, Ezera is somewhere, and Zalop is grazing," replied Lionark. "It was my turn to go on watch and Minbor was flying above with these other Griffins he met but then noticed that the Centruy soldiers didn't stop to rest and tried to tell us but couldn't because, well, he can't speak. So I sent Sirena to go check out what he was trying to say and saw that they're very close to us, so we need to leave. now." Lionark explained.

He did a very complex whistle. A few minutes later, I heard a crash, and Sactom and Minbor ran into the clearing covered in blood. Zalop emerged from behind a few trees and Ezera... isn't here yet.

"What! Ew!" Breezie exclaimed, eyeing the 2 blood-covered beasts.

"What did you expect? Flowers and honey? They were hunting, not grazing," I remarked.

Ezera finally arrived. She flew down to perch on a branch in a large tree and mewed happily.

"Hurry! The Century soldiers are very close," Lionark said urgently.

"Okay okay! I'm creating an illusion of ourselves and a cover. We'll move behind those trees now," Breezie said as purple mist appeared around her clenched hands. "And put your animals into passive state, they're too big to hide, I'm still not very good at this." She gazed at Ezera, "She's okay, she's already in the trees anyways." She told Sirena.

We all walked silently away towards the trees and looked on with amazement as an illusion of ourselves appeared. They moved around like they're packing. And stood together and spoke to each other. Or at least I think they spoke to each other, we can't hear illusions. I gazed up at the enemy birds who're circling above.

The illusion of Lionark waved with hand in a circular motion on the ground and a tunnel appeared. Our illusions jumped into the hole and then the ground closed up above them, making it look like nothing was ever there.

"Okay, the eagles are moving away," Sirena said leaping down from the tree that she climbed.

"That was awesome!" I said, "It looked so realistic!"

"Thanks," replied Breezie "I didn't know the motion that earth elements use to create tunnels so I just made it up."

"It was close," replied Lionark. He made a circular motion towards the ground but then stomped one foot. The ground fell away creating a dark tunnel.

"Come on," He said leaping inside.

Breezie lept in after him, then Ezera lept in before Sirena. I went in last. The earth moved above me, closing the entrance. We crawled on our hands and knees because the tunnel is very small and narrow.

"Ugh!" I said flicking dirt off of my hands.

"My thoughts exactly," Sirena and Breezie said at the same time.

I heard grumbling from up ahead. "Yeah sure," Sirena replied to the grumbler and a flash of light lite up the cave for a moment.

"It's so dark!" complained Breezie.

"Stop being mean to the earth!" Lionark said laughing.

"I would give you light if I can use my hands, but I don't want to crawl while holding a flame, and I might accidentally set something on fire," I replied.

"I'll help," a voice replied.

Then a black fog appeared in front of me causing me to stop in terror. "Uh! Guys! There's a black fog in front of me!" I exclaimed.

"What?" Lionark asked trying to turn around.

"Calm down, it's only me," Sirena's voice was heard. "I'm trying to find a glowing light animal."

"Oh," I replied, sighing in relief.

A glowing blue wolf appeared in front of me. The wolf has ocean blue fur and glowing sky blue eyes. There are swirls and designs that covered the wolf. The wolf've fur glowed a beautiful light blue and the swirls created an icy blue light.

"Great. At least we have light, but it doesn't make me comfortable to be in a tight and cramped space with a mysterious wolf," I muttered.

"Who is also your friend," The wolf replied smiling, showing off the sharp fangs.

"Great," I muttered.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　TIME SKIP　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"How long have we been traveling?" Breezie asked.

"A long time," Lionark replied.

"Are we still going the right direction?" I asked.

"Well, according to the compass, yes we are," Lionark said.

"According to the compass, we are," I mimicked.

"Shut up," Breezie snapped.

"Shut up!" I copied.

"Stop!" Lionark said to me.

"Stop!" I smirked, but then cursed in firetounge as my hand scraped against a rock, causing me to stumble.

"I know being underground, and not being able to move freely is causing everyone to get into a bad mood, but try to stay positive," Sirena said as she ducked her furry head to dodge some roots.

"Says you, you're not the one who is working their back off pushing earth," Lionark snapped angrily.

We all stopped suddenly. I almost crashed into wolf Sirena.

"Guys, lets just rest for a bit," sighed Breezie.

"Great! Finally!" Lionark remarked, "Now you finally realize how tired I am!"

"Well, why didn't you just go out and say something?!" Breezie exclaimed.

"Yeah! You should've said something!" I shouted.

A ferocious growl echoed through our small tunnel. "Guys! Cut it out! Lionark, spit us back onto the surface!" Sirena growled.

"Who put you in charge?" I asked angrily. We were all about to start arguing but the glowing wolf's furious gaze and growl silenced us all. Lionark sighed and then suddenly, we were flung onto the surface of the planet.

"Oh, the sky! I missed you!" Yelped Breezie as she stared through the treetops to the sky. "We've been traveling for a while now, it's almost sundown." She called out Zalop and hugged his neck.

Lionark just laid on the ground drinking from his canteen while Minbor zoomed into the air. A few other wild Griffins are flying above us. A few hawks and eagles flew by but didn't stop, fearing the large griffins.

I pulled out some of my food and called out Sactom, allowing him to stretch.

"Where are we?" I asked through a mouthful of dried jerky.

"Well, there are a lot of forests on our way to Lilith's house," Breezie scanning the map "But looking at our speed of our traveling, we're either at Mythic Forest or," She stopped and gulped "Forest Of The Wolves."

"That sounds familiar," Lionark said sitting up.

Sirena trotted up to us and shook out her fur, sending the dirt that got caught inside of it flying through the air. She called out Ezera and touched her nose to her partner's cheek. The great tiger stretched, and spread her soft white wings and then scampered into the woods. Sirena sniffed the air and perked up her ears.

"Well, if its the same forest that I'm thinking of... we're in great danger," She said shifting back into human form.

"What do you mean?" I asked the 2 girls who exchanged a knowing glance.

Breezie looked back at us "Well, the Forest Of The Wolves is a very dangerous place. Not many make it out alive."

"The wolves are very dangerous. They are very big, the size of a horse or something. They terrorize and kill creatures. And its almost impossible to know where they are, despite their big size. They cover their scents with the smells of the forest and their paws are like cat paws, so when they move, they don't make sounds. Almost impossible to find, and their fur is very unique. It's reflective so they look invisible in the forest." Sirena continued.

"And notice these trees?" Asked Breezie, waving her arms around.

"How can we miss them?" I sarcastically remarked as Lionark nodded.

"Both the Mythic Forest and the Forest Of The Wolves what these mega big trees like these," Breezie whispered, stilling.

"Well, we can camp underground today," suggested Lionark.

Sirena shook her head solemnly and Breezie stared at him in disbelief. "They have excellent senses. They can smell the bones of a million-year-old fossil 1 mile under the ground, and 4 humans and their partners would just make the smell stronger. And anyway, it'll be a lot of trouble getting in and out and the pressure of the earth above will be suffocating. And there is no use hiding in trees, they have enough power to knock down one of these trees and they have claws that can help them climb trees and mountains easily." She explained.

"But then there's a chance that we're in the Mythic Forest," I said shuddering, glancing around us. Trees towered of us like... well, towers.

"Yes, there is a chance that we are," Sirena smiled softly.

"There's nowhere that's safe in the forest, but our best bet is on the surface, near a base of the trees. If you can find a hole in the roots or bark, it should keep us safe and give us shelter," Breezie explained. She levitated flying around the trees.

"We should have 1 person on watch at all times during the night," I said turning to my 2 remaining friends who are still on the ground.

"Lionark should rest first, I can go first," I volunteered. "Me and Sactom," I patted my dragon who just returned from his small flight.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　TIME SKIP　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

I huddled against the foods of Sactom's wings. I stared out into the darkness. I can hear the sounds of the others sleeping in the tree hollow behind me. Breezie had managed to find a hallow that's big enough to make camp in with our animals out.

I quickly looked towards the right of the tree as I heard a snap of a twig. Then another sound came from directly in front of us.

"Sactom... Did you hear that?" I mumbled. He raised his head and stared into the darkness. We both looked at each other as a rustling sound came from our left.

"I'm getting scared," I whispered. Sactom rolled his eyes dismissively.

"What?! It's like we're being surrounded by- nevermind, it was probably nothing," I said, glaring at my red dragon.

"Surrounded by what? Don't be afraid, go on," A voice said making me jump.

I whipped my head around and gazed at 6 pairs of eyes looking at me.

"Turn a little faster and your head will pop off," the owner of the dark brown eyes said.

"Shut up, Lionark," I mumbled, "Why are you still up?"

"Well, I woke up because I heard you talking," Breezie replied. "Anyways, can we get a little light? It's so dark in here."

"Sorry," I mumbled and lite my hands on fire.

"Be careful, you're going to end up burning down this tree," Lionark said patting the wood.

"I'll be careful," I replied.

"Don't you feel lie somethings out there? Watching us?" Asked Lionark as he gazed into the darkness.

"Well duh, we're in a forest," Sirena replied, rolling her blueish eyes. I flinched as another sound of a twig breaking echoed through the still forest.

"What do you expect us to do about it? Scream at the person thing to come out?" Lionark commented.

"Ooh! Someone do that! I really want to see that!" Breezie yelped.

"How do you know it's a person?" I asked at the same time.

"I don't know, I'll say creature instead," Lionark replied.

"Idiots," I said loudly.

"Coward," Breezie smirked.

"Fools," I replied.

"Moron," Lionark remarked.

"Nincompoop," I shot back.

We all looked at Sirena. "What?" She asked "I don't know any! They don't teach us how to insult people in the castle. Should I just say loser?" she asked.

We burst into laughter after we noticed her confused expression.

A long and wild howl cut through the silence of the forest, making us freeze.

We all turned towards the darkness of the forest. Ezera's fur pricked up as Zalop and Minbor moved around nervously and Sactom rolled, squinting his eyes, struggling to see in the darkness.

"Move over," Sirena said, walking towards the entrance of our hollow.

"Excuse me!" She said when I didn't move.

"Why should I?" I asked. Sactom huffed a puff of smoke at her face. She coughed before replying.

"Because us, water elements have better night vision than almost all the elements, well except for the dark element... Because the deep blue sea is dark, mysterious and scary." She replied waving her hand in front of her face, clearing the smoke. I blinked and moved to the side to let her by.

She squinted into the distance and turned around.

"I have good news and bad news, which one would you like first?" She asked.

"The bad news," we said at the same time.

"We're definitely in the Forest Of The Wolves," She said nodding.

"And, the good news?" Breezie asked.

"Well, I can always try to communicate with them, and they aren't hunting right now, I know that for a fact because, well, they have decided to take a nap under our tree, and there's a lot of wolves," Sirena said pointing down towards the ground.

She backed away as we all moved forward and squinted towards the ground. "I can't see anything," I complained after a long minute.

"I think our bag has telescopes," Lionark rummaged through his bag before pulling out a small extendable telescope.

He appeared through it and gasped. "They're huge!"

"Let me see!" Breezie said holding out her hand. Lionark handed her his telescope and she looked through it.

"What about me?" I whined.

"Get your own," She replied, "Wait, oh wow, they are huge!"

"Give me it!" I said reaching for the telescope.

"Calm down!" Whispered Sirena.

I tugged on one end of the telescope while Breezie tugged on the other side.

"Ha!" I laughed when I managed to pull it out of her grasp, but I lost my grip on them and they fell to the ground.

We all froze as it made a loud thump when it landed on the ground.

Suddenly, an angry and loud growl came from down below, and more joined the first growl. Soon, it sounded like we're surrounded by many angry creatures. Zalop reared in fright and backed into a corner of the tree.

Minbor and Sactom crouched, ready for a fight. As Ezera crouched on the ground, ears pricked in anticipation.

"Oops," I mouthed.

"The fire! Turn it off!" Lionark whispered quickly.

"How do I turn off a fire!?" I whispered back.

"Extinguish it! It might draw attention!" Breezie whispered furiously.

"Too late..." Sirena replied as a loud thump came and we looked down to see something big and large climbing up the tree quickly, more large shapes moved on the ground and the growls echoed from below.