Forest Guardians || Straykids ff

t h i r t e e n

yeona

It has been 2 hours since we left grandma's house. And the little ones were already exhausted from nonstop walking.

We decided to stop under a huge tree. I formed 8 bowls with my Earth spell, poured water in it and let them drink as they rested. I also gave them some of their food as it was still not the time for them to eat.

I laid back on the tree and stared at its tall features and huge branches. It was a tree that I haven't seen before. As I was staring above, a thought suddenly popped up in my mind.

'Now I'm on my journey to defeat the evil witch, what should I do first?'

Grandma didn't tell me anything about what I should do first. She just told me to go on my journey and defeat that witch. But how? Where is she? What should I do first? Well I guess I'm all alone now.

It was not like I could go back to grandma just to ask her what I should do. This time, I needed to do all the decision makings. Both for me and for the little ones. For our safety.

I closed my eyes just to rest for a bit, then I felt the little ones gathered around me and sat around my legs. They were all talking at me with their eyes, especially Chan. He has that worried look in his eyes.

"Guys, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me." I said as I patted their heads one by one. But when I touched Chan's head, I heard a faint voice. 'The waterfalls.' I quickly removed my hand from his head.

It must have been my imagination. Oh no, I don't want to go insane.

I wanted to check again if I really heard it right. I looked at Chan and slowly put my hand over his head. I closed my eyes, then there's that faint voice again. 'Let's go to the waterfalls.' The voice was so calming and I felt like it was Chan's real voice. But who am I kidding? They can't talk.

I've been with them for a whole year and I never heard them talk. Not even once. But today, let's say they managed to surprise me. Not only did they know how to write, but they also knew how to speak, with their minds of course.

I looked at him and smiled. "Okay guys, are you done taking a rest? Because our destination would be to the waterfalls." They all stood up and hopped around like little kids.

We headed all to the waterfall and Chan was leading the way as I didn't have any idea where the waterfall he was talking about.

As we walked further in the forest, I felt a sudden change in the temperature of the wind. I stopped slowly and the little ones noticed that immediately. They all looked at me with worried expressions.

I pulled out my wand from my dimensional ring and readied myself from what could happen.

The little ones decided to hide behind me and I covered them with my arm, telling them to stay behind me.

The surroundings started to dim and it felt like it was almost nighttime. The wind blew strongly as minutes passed by. Then the surroundings became as dark as midnight.

I cast a Light Barrier around us so it won't be too dark. I could feel the fear from the little ones due to the situation.

I tried to cast a wind spell to remove the strong wind current around us, but it couldn't do anything. I instead caved us with my earth magic and the wind current didn't enter the cave.

I checked on them and they seemed fine, except for the fact that they're so afraid of the situation. "You guys stay here, I'll go outside for a bit." I told them, put a separate wall between us and removed the remaining cave above me.

I looked around, cautiously walking as I might be blown away by the wind. Step by step, I studied my surroundings. I tried to sense if someone was around, but all I could sense was a dark aura in the middle of this wind current.

I walked to its position and there I saw an Umbralfeather, it was a type of harpy that could control the wind and darkness.

I slowly approached it and cast water magic. I surrounded the harpy with water and dropped its temperature to negative to turn the water into ice. The wind stopped and the darkness slowly faded as I captured the harpy.

'I wonder where this came from? Harpies can only be seen on floating bastions according to books.'

Grandma also told me that I could encounter creatures and spirits, but not a harpy. Something must have been going on. Either this guy was lost, or someone summoned him.

I decided to put the harpy onto my ring and went back to the little ones. I removed the cave that protected them and saw them all sleeping. Exhaustion and fear might have made them sleepy.

I made a mini floating carpet with earth magic to carry them as they slept. I continued to walk to the waterfalls, but remembered something.

I didn't know the way to the place. If only I had a map to help me. Or if only Chan is awake.

While I was walking, I heard a cute yawn from behind me, and when I turned around, I saw Jeongin sitting up as he wiped his face with his paws. I smiled at him and told him to go back to sleep.

Instead of following what I said, he stood up so I stopped walking. He went to my feet, so I carried him up like a baby.

"Yes, is there anything you want, Jeongin?" I asked him, but he just put his hand onto my forehead and I had a sudden flash of memory on my mind.

I saw Mom and Dad carrying a baby. Ohh, it must be me. They were walking in a forest, and when they reached the end, there was a waterfalls as beautiful as seen in TVs and videos on the internet.

As I was too stunned to speak, Jeongin moved around my arms, asking to be put down, and so I did. He then went to the floating carpet and went back to sleep.

What was that? Have Jeongin seen me before?