Fight To Live Another Day

Countless beasts were running. There were all kinds of beasts, ranging from mortal to true energy stage, from little mouses to large lizards, even an odd looking tiger with a striped elephant head was among the crowd.

As the wolf pack was moving fast they quickly left most of the beasts behind them.

Hours later, they did sense, that quite a few beasts stopped running.

'Thal, go back and check the situation.' Agacie ordered while continuing to run.

Thal vanished just to join them after a short while.

'The darkness stopped moving, so the fatigued beasts took the chance to rest. I think the shadows are gone.' He reported.

Agacie nodded, looking slightly relieved, but only a bit. The fear and terror she felt were still very present. She had never felt such fear in her entire life up until now.

'Thal, Asik and Kaede, you go ahead as far as you can and keep moving northwest.'

She swiftly touched their snouts, transmitting them the route they should take.

'We will follow you as quick as we can, but don't expect us before evening. Watch out and use your senses, so that you won't enrage any beast you shouldn't enrage, Kaede will know what beasts I mean. Follow her lead! When you reach the main pack, they will ask for your origins. Tell them that you are the sons and daughter of Agacie, daughter of Agape. They will know if you tell them.'

They blinked their eyes in approval and transformed again into their true energy forms, instantly moving ahead.

'Shall we go to, son?' she asked rhetorically.

He still nodded.

Almost before he could react to her 'Then cling on tight!' she started leaping in big darts without holding herself back.

While riding on Agacie, Renn was fascinated by the passing landscapes. Even the forest part, which he depicted as the whole world, was only a tiny point of a much bigger forest, bigger than he ever imagined. Leaving the familiar boreal forest behind him, he saw more and more deciduous trees. There were a lot more plants which he didn't recognise and some even looked dangerous, alarming his sharpened senses.

He also saw the silhouette of a gigantic tree in the distance, but he wasn't sure since it could also be a weird shaped mountain.

'Ma, is that a tree there on the left side?'

'Which tree do you mean?' she asked smilingly.

'The tree in the distance. Or is it even a tree?'

'Ah, you mean Ogham, the Giant tree. It is home to many beasts and also home to a folk of faes. An odd folk, you would have a hard time understanding their rituals and rules.' she mentioned casually, picking his interest. 'You're a free wolf after all.'

'I have to go there at least once' he thought for himself, although his curiosity and determination

didn't slip from his mother's perception.

Leaving the forest completely behind them, they reached a barren land, with no vegetation at all, spreading as far as his eyes reached.

'Don't let it fool you, son, below that barren land you see with your b.a.r.e eyes, there is a whole different world hidden. The entire plateau you see there is habituated underground with numerous folks and different tribes. Even kingdoms lie well hidden under it.'

Renn's fantasy was running wildly. He imagined the creatures which were living under that big barren chunk of land but turned tired soon after and finally fell asleep. After all, he was woken up midnight and had to cling tightly for hours onto his leaping mother. Feeling his grip loosening slightly, she shortly stopped to give him a bit of her energy to replenish his sore muscles, before she started to leap again.

When Renn woke up, the setting sun was hidden by grey clouds and they were currently crossing a large river by leaping from stone pillar to stone pillar, which were laid into the river as stepping stones.

He also felt uneasy discerning a big shadow in shape of a large snake under the surface.

Without any incidents, they soon reached the other side of the river, stepping into a hilly tundra.

The moss and shrubs dipped the scenery in all kinds of gorgeous colours of fall, ranging from vivid reddish violet, warm yellow to l.u.s.trous green.

Suddenly, the cloudy sky broke up and the golden sunrays made the tundra glitter, turning the scenery almost painfully beautiful.

'This, my son, is the true meaning of breathtaking!' his mother shouted, before she threw her neck back, howling joyfully up to the sky.

Excitedly he also put his head back and howled overjoyed up to the sky.

Still elated, his mother pointed her snout to the distance.

'Renn, do you see those mountain slopes far ahead? Up there, the high plains of Xanten begin.'