Uninvited Guest

Chapter 2

Ziel dashed towards the cottage slamming open the door, disturbing the peaceful silence. Her eyes scanned through the room, looking for the items she needed, quickly opening one of the cabinets in the kitchen and laying her eyes on the two empty jars. Swiftly, she grabbed one of them and dipped it into a bowl of saltwater she had ready on the counter. Rinsing it with tap water and pouring salt crystals inside the jar. The clattering of the salt echoed in the cottage. Then gently, she put the Saphire petals inside the jar and poured the rest of the salt on top to cover it up.

She sighed with relief, sliding down against the kitchen counter and sitting on the wooden floor. She stared at the jar for a second, carefully tracing her eyes on the blue petals covered in salt.

Suddenly she remembered about the fishing pole and stood up. Going back to the front door and cocked her head up to the sky, trying to get a confirmation of the current time. The once orange sky now had a slightly blue hue. She nodded to herself, satisfied with the verification she had received, and immediately ran back to her fishing spot.

It was a perfect start for her. She had the most uncanny luck to find those herbs. She's filled with joy, still a bit of disbelief and a bit of tiredness. Who wouldn't be tired after running through a forest? Well, I guess there is the exception of people who are more fit and can actually run miles. Even so, she wasn't one of those people. Though, after five years of exploring the forests, she did gain some endurance.

Upon arriving, she scanned the field to look for her fishing pole. However, she couldn't find it anywhere. She swore that she had put it against a large rock, did she forget? No, she didn't. She didn't forget. Something must've happened to it.

She searched the field, checking every nook and cranny. She had become more frustrated as the sun rose higher, fingers slightly twitching. That is until she noticed what looked like a missing patch of grass. No, it wasn't missing. It's just squished and there were footprints, the grass had been flattened down by something or someone. She traced her hands on the dirt below and saw the trail of footprints that had been ingrained into the earth. They certainly didn't look like human footprints, "Must have been a creature from the woods" she thought to herself. She felt a sense of deja vu as she looked at the footprints but brushed it off as herself imagining things.

At first, she was hesitant to follow the footprints but ultimately decided that she would follow them out of curiosity.