Waiting For My Mate

Chapter 17

Darkness had landed in the forest hours ago when Freed finally had to stop. He had to find something to eat or he wouldn't possibly be able to keep this big trap on all night. He didn't even have enough magic left to fly. Flying wouldn't really help him anyway since the foliage in this forest was too thick so he wouldn't see anything.

The Rune Mage sighed. He couldn't find anything edible that he recognized. Plants, mushrooms and fruits in this forest were strange so obviously he wouldn't even think about eating them. He didn't even see any animals he could hunt and cook.

It was actually really strange. Usually in forests like this one there were lots of critters. It was also strange that he hadn't yet encountered any of the animals they said lived here. He had not seen Laxus either and that made his heart sank. Maybe Laxus was not here in this island after all?

Freed yelped when suddenly the ground under his feet disappeared and he fell down a small hill. Luckily it wasn't steep fall and there were lots of plants to soften his landing, but it did startle him for sure.

He slowly sat up, carefully inspecting if he had any broken bones or cuts. His head hurt and he could feel a little bump on the side of his head but there was only slightly blood so it wasn't probably anything more than just a scratch. Freed sighed and stood up dusting his pants and coat.

Where was he now? It seemed like some kind of large excavation...

Freed started walking carefully. He studied his surroundings and tried to figure out how far the shore might be.

Suddenly he heard rustles. In a second Freed prepared himself, unsheathing his sword and looked around. For now he didn't see anything. He walked carefully forward and tried to sharpen his hearing as much as he could. Rustling got louder the more he moved on and it sounded like there were more than one creature causing it. It was creepy and made Freed shiver.

Finally he stopped next to a stone wall and narrowed his eyes. He was tired but it was more than possible that now he had to fight so he could get out of here. Who knows, maybe he could even get something to eat? That thought in his mind he took a strengthening breath and stepped out. But nothing could have prepared him for the sight that was now right in front of him.

Big, ugly, fat beetles crawled around and Freed's legs suddenly felt like jelly. W-what?! Where on Earth did he fall into?! Those beetles were in the size of a dog!

Quickly Freed pulled himself back behind the cliff. No, no, no! He couldn't do this! He absolutely could not do this! He could fight against dragons, he could protect Magnolia against a whole army and there were tons of missions he had accomplished and they required strength, wisdom and courage.

But this? Hell no. He too had his limits and this went over the line so fast the line got blown away like a kite!

He had to find another way out of this hellhole. Freed swiftly turned around and started running back. He took another turn just to find more of those horrible creatures that walked around lazily. He could hear how their hard shells let out noises as they hit against each other, how some of them were fighting using their big horns.

Freed felt sick. He hated those creatures no matter what size or what they looked like! He had to get out of here!

Finally after freaking out for a while and running around he found a passage that lead up. He didn't stop when he was up and he just kept running away from that place as fast as he could.

After maybe five minutes he finally stopped, panting heavily. Oh god, that was awful... But he wasn't drowsy anymore. How could he possibly sleep in this forest when he knew those monsters were walking around?