Hunting In The Woods

Vy pondered for a moment, would she choose to go back?

"I would love to see what it was like and find out who I was. But I doubt I would stay there for long."

"Why's that?"

"Who knows? There might not be a place for me there anymore. So why should I continue to stay there?"

Both of them continued their meal in silence for a while before Lycster spoke up again.

"Would you bring me with you," he asked.

"Well, if you would like to go too, sure, why not?"

That brought a smile to Lycster's face. They both continued their meal while chatting on other topics. It had been quite some time since either of them got to be in their animal forms. Vy was eager to give her animal form some freedom to roam and move. She missed the rush of adrenaline as she made her way through the forest.

After consulting a map of the Prism Sector and the surrounding areas they could visit, she realised that there were many locations to choose from. However, most of the places were very far from their current location and would take atleast an hour or more just to get there.

"Why not let's just go to the forest outside the portal? Wouldn't that be closer," Lycster suggested.

He was right, it was closer, big enough for them to roam around and good forest cover. Without a second thought, they gathered some necessities and headed out.

Once in the forest, Vy immediately took her wolf form. When she turned to Lycster, she realised that he was now in the form of a mountain goat with silky soft white fur, the horns on the top of his head were not fully formed yet, but she was sure they would grow as Lycster grew older.

-Lycster, you mastered your form?-

Lycster nodded.

Together, they moved through the forest. They stretched their legs and followed where their hearts wanted to go. Lycster noticed a nearby hill and decided to explore the area. With his newly heightened senses, he was able to sense the smell of herbs that grew on the hill.

He had also learnt to isolate the scents he wanted and searched for the source.

On the other hand, Vy was having a wonderful time exploring the forest floor. She hunted for prey and had a quick meal before she took her raven form and flew high up into the sky. Feeling the wind ruffling her feathers were one of the best feelings she had ever experienced.

She flew high up above the clouds before taking a deep dive down. Just before she was about to hit the canopy layer of the forest, she spread open her wings and rode on the wind.

Vy had not felt this sense of freedom in a long time. A part of her wished she could do this forever, and there was another part of her that knew she could. In this world, she had almost nothing to ground her. If she were to just take what money she had and move to a different place, she could do that.

-Vy! I found something!-

Lycster's message drew her out of her own mind and she went to his location immediately. Upon landing on the hillside, she transformed back into her wolf form as she approached Lycster. Seeing her arrival, he moved aside and used one of his cloven hooves to point out the item he had found. Vy went up closer and looked at the direction he was pointing at.

It was a cluster of black lumpy potato-like fungus. At first look, most people would disregard it for rocks, but having been dug out, you could smell its pungent fragrance. Dotty flew down from Vy's shoulder and touched the fungus. The soft glow of light she emits allowed Vy to get a clearer look at the fungus. This smell, she felt as if she had smelt it before.

-Dotty, do you know what this is?-

<It's truffles, Vy! These are black truffles. Oh and they smell sooo goood!>

"Dotty said these are truffles, black truffles," Vy said as she transformed into her human form and so did Lycster.

"Truffles? Truffles!" Lycster exclaimed with glee.

He quickly bent down and used his hands to dig a little deeper into the soil to reveal another two clusters for truffles.

"Truffles are rare ingredients that are used in cooking! Usually only the rich would be able to afford it. I can't believe I found some, we could sell them and make some money," Lycster exclaimed as he dusted the dirt off the truffles.

-Dotty, how much are these truffles worth?-

Dotty took a quick sniff of the truffles and flew around each cluster, assessing it's general appearance and freshness. She came to a conclusion and whispered the answer in Vy's right ear.

Her eyes widened in shock.