Yuxuan (REMASTERED)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hansel and I ran.

Yuxuan told us to.

As my feet carried me away from the elephant habitat, my worry for Yuxuan's well-being increased. I had seen him kill a leopard and a bear before, with a spear. He had no weapons to defend himself.

The chance of his survival was low. Perhaps that is why he commanded us to leave, to sacrifice himself.

I continued sprinting for a while until I realized that I had become separated from Hansel. I stopped in my tracks and looked around. "Hansel? Hansel, where are you?"

The only response I heard was from the birds in the trees above me. "Hansel?"

I looked around. The trees looked very different but all the same. I didn't even remember which direction I came from.

"Hansel!" I shouted. My voice echoed, but I didn't hear anything in return.

Was I lost? "No, no, no, I can't be lost. The sun will set soon... Hold it together, Alexandrea..." I paced back and forth.

I needed to think of a way out of this. What could I do to find my way back?

Whenever I had gotten lost in the city as a child, my father would always find me. But this wasn't the city. This was a forest. And my father wasn't here.

I couldn't just stand here. No doubt there were plenty of other vicious beasts lurking. Without Yuxuan's help, I couldn't navigate.

"Alright," I took a deep breath and came to a conclusion. I had to keep moving.

It was a stupid idea, I know. But I didn't want to wait for any more wild cats or bears to attack me.

I chose to start in a random direction.

I wandered in that same direction for a long time. I lost track. Every twig that snapped along the way alerted me. "Hansel!" I called.

"Hansel! Where are you?"

Still Nothing.

I started to feel the effects of the weather. The sunlight started to dim and I was growing exhausted. "Oh, Hansel, please... I hope you're safe wherever you ran off to."

I tripped over a fallen tree. My head smacked into the ground and I grunted. The throbbing began right above my left ear. My fingers glazed across the swollen area.

That probably earned me a nasty bruise.

"Blasted feet," I gritted my teeth when I tried to stand up, only to fall onto my knees. My feet were sore. How long had I been walking?

I didn't know.

I couldn't stay here. No matter what, I had to keep on moving. I was relying on Yuxuan this entire time. It only made me realize how protected I was before I came here. But heavily relying on him didn't make me any better, it only stunted my improvement.

In London, I had my father to take care of everything. That included my meals, my transportation, and my attire.

Here, I had Yuxuan. He protected me from the animals, and always provided me with things I needed.

"Come on..." I dragged my feet forward. I forced myself to stand. Of course, every step I took from them hurt excruciatingly. I felt like this was god punishing me for every disobedient remark or gesture toward anyone I'd ever wronged.

I fell again. I couldn't stand back up.

Rather than standing, I decided to crawl. But we all know that didn't last much longer.