Torturing Storm

After the storm worsened, the sun became nearly impossible to see behind the grey clouds as the rain continued to soak the "Evergreed Forest" with multiple splashes slipping down its leaves.

"It's rare that I get lost in a new area," he muttered. Having to keep trying to find his way out of the forest was getting on his nerves until finally he gave up in silence and stumbled forward slowly. Suddenly, a bird swooped down from the sky and aimed its large beak in hopes of biting off his hair, but the duck was quicker than expected.

"You damn bird, what the hell was that for?!"

Despite Tim's complaints, the bird avoided them. At a certain point, dust blew before his face, covering Tim's vision and making him cough. In the moment that the bird vanished, he noticed Elliott's running body waving its arm wildly in anger at capturing it.

"Why is he in such a rush?"

Tim raised his head and instantly reacted with a fury mark popping up on his head.

"It stole the meat! That bird's about to get roasted!"

After the realization of the stolen meat, Tim immediately accelerated through the forest in the same direction as Elliott. He held the meat he had gathered and quickly began catching up.

"And here we are, current meal has been finished! We may eat as soon as Tim and Elliott show up, we wouldn't want to keep them hungry."

Even if it seemed that Ayuka was lively and very intrigued there were splashes of worry hidden deep inside. The repeated process of uncertain thoughts brought forth some rather relaxed thoughts. However, the truth was too much for Ayuka to notice. Instead of looking for it as soon as possible in the quiet of the exam, she watched the dish.

"Miss. Ayuka, is something the matter, you don't seem too happy, are you worried about your friends?"

Her gaze was quickly fixed on Jaro. He grasped a bowl and gently set it on the table while also watching the weather outside, a storm that didn't appear to be very normal.

"The storm...such a storm had never been seen in our dimension, and our friends, seeing how awful it is, are out there trying to grab some meat, and neither of us had even expected it to occur. The winds are wild and the rain is loud, soaking wells and so many other facilities that stand in your town."

"Yes, "The Vast Expanse" is known for its random heavy storms, which are said to be caused by our Ocean God, "Endis." He's been described as the sea's manipulator, causing more intense storms that not even a weathercaster could predict, and his immortality is far beyond our power, so getting rid of him would likely cost us all of our men, and if we killed such a God, the sea that we're surrounded by would vanish."

"You're telling me there is an entire God hidden in the ocean's bottom? That's insane. I bet encountering him would be risky."

Nina expressed shock and curiosity about the room with Ayuka trying to remind herself of knowing a god named "Endis", yet nothing came to her mind.

"That's right, he is also known as the "creator" of this ocean's monsters called the "Sea Lords". There's over hundreds of these creatures spread across the ocean while some of them are located near each other. They're also known to be massive and incredibly tough to get by not to mention defeat them."

"Excuse this sudden interruption but could I ask you of a favor? We've been sent here by accident and we've heard that reaching the "Outer-Sea Barrier" is an extremely long journey and a tricky one to pass by on foot. That's why we would like to ask if it's possible for us to borrow a ship for the course. This may seem a difficult request but it would benefit our road a lot and speed up the process."

She made sure to be as polite as possible, hiding the stress and fear of what was to come during their time on the boat.

"But of course, traversing on foot is impossible unless you plan on swimming the entire time, that is why we'll gladly give you a ship on which you can settle in. Not to worry, we'll show you our most impressive ship that we managed to construct. That's the least we can do to thank you for your help in eliminating those pirates."

"Thank you very much, Jaro!"

Both girls smiled and clapped their hands together with Codey resting in the corner drinking water, while playing with a swirl of wind.

"For once in my life I'd like some free time from any traveling, besides I hate ships I get seasick very quick..."

He yawned and crossed his arms behind his neck then leaned back to distribute energy throughout his body. "Well, goodnight, I'll take a nap!"

Running through the puddles and dirt of the forest, Elliott lost all patience and was infuriated by the bird's flight. He lifted his right arm up and pulled out his pen, which extended a sharp blade.

"You've been feeding my nerves this entire time, I've had enough so I recommend you to resist or you're doomed you meat thief!"

His body was seemingly engulfed in silver electricity whose voltage increased to the point that Elliott's hair spiked up. A yellow glow continued to drift away. Also, after Elliott took a single step forward, a powerful clap of thunder flashed through the air behind the bird who reeled in fear.

The sharp and long blade curled out from behind Elliott's back and in a simple swoop of the blade, the silver lightning decapitated the gigantic bird's neck, for it to instantly drop the meat and crash down on the floor, which was also enough time for Elliott to catch the meat in the air and then smiled with his yellow jacket and hair waving in the swift wind of the storm, however that was not ignored by the weather, instead it reacted on his high-voltage electricity enough for a ginormous thunder to clap into the forest's grounds, spreading up the massive and warm fire that began burning through the leaves unable to be put out by the rain or wind.

Flames from the burning blaze were reaching corners of the forest with Tim trapped between them and smoke visible in his view as tense breathing intensified. To protect himself from getting caught up in the flames, Tim insisted to raise his own arm and covered the forehead while the powerful wind continued to rage out and sweep through the leaves and grass of the forest, lifting dirt and dust while at the same time nearly blowing Tim away.

"What the hell happened?! This sudden increase of pressure of the storm came out of nowhere! It's so strong that I can't even keep still, it's gonna push me into a fatal accident if it keeps up! Just how harsh are the conditions in this dimension?!"

As he screamed one of the rocks crashed into his forehead with wooden log smashing right after for him to be pushed back while getting scratched by the pebbles while another powerful thunder clapped the ground right before him, blowing him away and increasing the flames beyond his imagination.

"This is like an assault from the weather, it's impossible to calm it down unless it's an occurrence of nature!"

Despite his wobbly stance, Tim clung to his stance and turned and ran in the opposite direction. He called out to Elliott for help, who accepted after landing on a rock and disappearing in thunder, appearing next to Tim.

"There's nothing we can do about this weather, so what's the plan, chief?"

"It is unlikely that we can stop the storm, but at least we can try to bring the meat back while trying to protect ourselves from this natural disaster! Keep a careful watch on the road ahead, we can never be certain that something will attack or attempt to obstruct our path."

"Understandable, but are you sure we'll arrive at Padstow in time?"

"While I can't promise anything and I am not certain if we will make it, at least we should try to get started! I may seem very reliable sometimes, but this is one of those times when I am totally clueless. I must also mention how faulty my sense of direction is on this island.

"What will we do when we reach the others?"

"I'm not sure either, but I think we'll need another night to rest, then in the morning we'll leave Padstow and continue to try to reach the Outer-Sea Barrier?"

Elliott nodded in confirmation as the two dodged a massive tree that had collapsed before their feet. One jumped over while the other ran around it.

"Okay, let's do this!"

To be continued...