Twelve Guardians - The Gathering

011 - In The Forest

As the group headed back through the forest, the temperature slowly returned back to normal. Astrid took off Daehyun's jacket and returned it to him. She thanked him before running off to chat with Zelo.

Soon, they arrived at the same land which they camped at yesterday. In less than half an hour, the tents were pitched and Zelo took first watch. As the sky steadily got darker, the animals around the forest started to make their presence known. Owls could be heard hooting from the trees while crickets chirped from the ground.

Astrid snuggled into her sleeping bag and prepared to fall into a deep sleep when suddenly her senses heightened. She could tell something was wrong and that it was too quiet. All the animals and insects have stopped making their sounds which meant that something has disturbed the forest.

She silently crept out of her tent only to see the others have all gathered outside as well. Yongguk placed a finger on his lips and everybody spread themselves out to cover more ground. With Kai and Daehyun beside her, Astrid stared out into the dark forest but could not see anything out of the usual.

Suddenly she saw a shadow ran out from one of the large trees to another one that was nearer to their camp. She pointed her fingers at the tree while nudging the both of them. Kai nodded his head and disappeared from her sight. When he came back, he smirked at her and gave her an OK sign with his fingers. She nodded her head and continued to keep an eye on her surroundings.

Soon, whispers could be heard from the forest. "Are you sure there are people camping here?" A man with a deep, rough voice questioned harshly.

"Yes, I'm sure. I saw them leaving this morning and coming back again just now." Another man replied shakily.

"If you're lying, you know I will burn your village down to the ground, right?"

"Yes, yes I know. I'm not lying, please leave my village alone. There are young children and elderly living there."

"You'll wait here while I check it out."

As the footsteps came nearer to the tent, the temperature started to drop until every time she breathed, Astrid could see a puff of air coming out of her mouth. What is Xiumin doing? She wondered as she looked around. That's when she noticed the ground around them was frozen as well.

"What the heck, why is it suddenly so cold? You, go and take a look?" The first man said.

"Yes, si-" A loud crash sounded like the man who spoke slipped on the ice and fell onto the floor.

Good job Xiumin! Astrid thought as she laughed silently to herself.

From the other side of the camp, a growl of a bear was heard, and Astrid's heart skipped a beat before she heard the screams of the other radicals. As they ran away from the forest, Astrid snickered as she realised what had happened.

Hearing the screams of their peers, the group in front of them started to panic and ran off into the forest as well, leaving their leader behind. "Oi, where are you cowards going? It is just a bear. We can just burn the bear as well. Oi, come back here."

Hearing such cruel words made Astrid very angry. Gathering all her senses, she expanded it to the trees that were around the man. She controlled one of the trees and made it wrap its branches around the leader. As he felt something snaking around him, the man started to scream in fright but to no avail. The branches tightened around him and lifted him up into the crown of the trees. Soon, his shrieks softened, and Astrid relaxed again.

With all the radicals gone, everybody gathered around the entrance of the tents. "I hope this stops them from creating havoc around the villages again," Xiumin said.

"Good job Astrid. You are improving a lot. I have never seen you control such a big tree before." Daehyun commended while patting Astrid's head.

"Nah, it is thanks to Youngjae's great teaching." Astrid smiled and said.

"Alright, now that everything is settled. I'm going back to bed." Himchan yawned as he returned to his tent.

"Yes, everybody goes back to bed. I'll take over the watch from you Zelo." Yongguk said as he pushed Zelo towards his tent and sat down to keep watch.

Soon, the tents were quiet again and the forest regained its sounds.

The next morning, after packing up their tents, the group decided to head back to the Dimensional Doors after a breakfast of water and the remaining of their bread.

As they sat around the forest grounds and ate their food, Jongup heard noises coming from the top of their heads. As he looked up, his eyes widened in surprise. "Ya Astrid, what did you do yesterday?" He asked.

"What do you mean what did I do?" Astrid questioned back in puzzlement as she took a gulp of water from her bottle.

Jongup kept quiet but pointed his finger up. As they slowly tilted their head upwards, Zelo burst out laughing at what he saw.

Stuck up in the tree was a short petite man, with a small face and a thin goatee growing out from his chin. His mouth was covered loosely with a branch and his eyes were closed as if he had fallen asleep while stuck in the branch and he was snoring.

"Oh no, I forgot all about him." Astrid snickered as she gathered all her energy into the branches of the tree again, controlling them to release the man. As the man felt the pressure around him releasing, he slowly opened his eyes only to realise that he was slowly getting closer to the forest floor. His eyes opened wide. A few inches off the ground, the branch released the man fully and he failed around as he hit the ground with a loud sound. He wailed in pain as he tried to pull himself back onto his feet. However, his body was sore from the ordeal and he was tired from trying to release himself the entire night.

As he looked up, he noticed nine pairs of eyes staring at him. "I hope you learnt your lesson and never come back here again." Astrid sternly said to the man.

"Not only that, if I hear any of the villages around here are being burnt down, it will not be as simple as dangling from the tree for the night. Do you understand me?" Xiumin demanded in a harsh voice.

The man frantically nodded and promised never to do any of these actions again. With that, he slowly wobbled away from the group without looking back.

The group slowly descended across the forest to head back to the Dimensional Doors. "Which Dimension are we heading to next?" Astrid asked Yongguk.

"I think we will go through ring by ring. Since we have started from the Huhe Ring, we will drop by each of the points before moving on to the next ring." He replied.

"So, the next Dimension will be the Gold Dimension?" Zelo questioned.

"Yes, that's right. The coordinates have been entered into the system. Let's go." Himchan stated before entering the Dimensional Doors.

Xiumin who was new to this stared peculiarly at this foreign object of swirling colours. "Just follow through the door, when the room stops shaking, you open the door and you'll see us there," Youngjae stated before he stepped through the doors as well.

The others soon followed, leaving only Astrid, Xiumin and Kai behind. Kai patted Xiumin on the back and said, "you'll most probably feel like crap afterwards, but it'll be fine after a while." With that, he took a deep breath and stepped through the doors.

Astrid smiled encouragingly at Xiumin, "go on, the others will be waiting for you on the other side. I'll come in once you step through."

Xiumin nodded his head and took a step through the swirling colours.

Author's Note: 2 down and how many more to go?? Hehe. Looking forward to your comments! See yall in the next chapter 😀