146 The Boundary

At White-Fire's words, Astrid looked up to see the majestic sight in front of her. Rather than the magnificent sight she thought she'd see, she came face to face with…

"Nothing!"

It was all nothing but an endless supply of trees. This was definitely not the sight she'd hoped for. Unknown to her, everything wasn't as it seemed. 

Several emotions were displayed on her face at once, shock, confusion, disappointment, curiosity, as she stared blankly at the awesome wonder of creation in front of her… Tall trees!

White-Fire only smiled at her when it noticed the change of look on her countenance. She was out rightly disappointed, but it didn't utter a word.

No one said a word after that, save for the continuous happy faces the little White Tiger-Phoenix beast was making as they ventured further.

After about another fifteen minutes of walking, Jareth stopped abruptly without any warning, making Astrid almost bump right into him. 

Luckily, she stopped in time and looked up at his figure from behind him. His eyes darted off into the distance, moving to and fro in search of something.

Astrid wasn't quite sure what it was he was searching for or what delayed him, but they needed to keep moving.

"White-Fire, what's happening, why isn't he moving?" She asked the big beast, but before it could respond to her question, Astrid's feet moved of their own accord and she went forward, ahead of Jareth. 

Almost at the same time when she moved, his hand reached out, but she was faster and then…

"Astrid, no!" White-Fire and Jareth both shouted, but it was too late, the deed had already been done.

SLAM!

Her head hit an invincible barrier and the force pushed her back, thus making her fall to the ground on her butt. 

"Ouch!"

Like a little silent rumble, the next thing she saw made her heart almost jump into her mouth.

What lay right in front of her was a sky high boundary; she couldn't really believe her eyes.

Now that was a magnificent sight! Something she'd never seen before. For a moment there, she completely forgot the pain on her butt as she gazed up into the sky at how far it went.

It looked like a semi fluid, translucent substance, somewhat of a barrier separating the outer forest from the treasures at the forest peak.

"Astrid, are you okay?" Jareth rushed up to her and asked. He finally got himself back.

He was also awestruck by the sight. Although he loved adventuring, but he never had ventured that far into the forest before and this was a wonderful and breathtaking experience.

"Umm I–I… A little warning next time?" she mumbled to herself but he heard it clearly.

"If you hadn't jumped right in on impulse without waiting for my go ahead, then this wouldn't have happened to you," he scolded. Here they were, back again as when they first met and he directed her. 

"Are you really scolding me right now?" She asked dumbfounded.

She had at least expected sympathy from him or something, for goodness sake her butt hit the ground hard and it hurt very well. Instead, all she got was a scolding from him.

Her lips came close together and her cheeks puffed in cute little pout. He wasn't buying any of it, if her mouth could move as it did, then she was alright.

"You are very much okay, there doesn't seem to be any bruise on your head, so we are good."

"Just that?"

"What were you expecting? A hug or thumbs up?" 

She stared wide eyed at him, she couldn't believe her eyes. What was he saying to her right now?

Since he got no response from her, he continued, "Okay, thumbs up Astrid, you did pretty good. Look, you found us the boundary," he said sarcastically. "Happy now?!"

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry but she was threatened to do the latter. 

White-Fire who watched from the side, couldn't help but shake its head at the two children in its front.

It really was tempted to laugh at her right now because she didn't get the response she had hoped she'd get from him, but whose fault was that?

It was no one but hers. Upon being hurt, his caring side broke forth again and he immediately rushed forward, but leave it to Astrid to blame them for not warning her beforehand, thus removing what sympathy Jareth wanted to offer.

She was ready to go ballistic on him, but unfortunately for her, White-Fire interrupted just in time.

"Can you two cut this out right now? Now's not the time for all these, we need to get going." 

As much as it would love to watch them batter away like they always did, this wasn't the time for that, and time wasn't their friend right now. They still had an impending threat and needed to cross this boundary before any more fights occurred. 

Normally it would have said its goodbyes here, but they couldn't face the onslaught of elf soldiers. They needed to rest, heal and possibly rest.

White-Fire knew the journey for both of them would be a lot harder from there on, but for the time being, it could guarantee their safety. 

Jareth extended his hand, assisting her in getting up. She gratefully took his hand and stood up.

White-Fire walked majestically past them, ignoring the obvious stares it got from them. It stood face to face with the boundary and closed its eyes for better concentration.

Before they could figure out what was happening, its body began glowing a bright light.

Immediately the boundary began opening up, creating a part for them to follow through with. Taking the lead, White-Fire opened its eyes and walked in, followed by its cub.

It took a minute, before Astrid and Jareth followed suit, one step at a time.

Astrid turned her head and took one last glance at the outer forest before the boundary closed itself behind her.

This was it... The journey to the forest peak had finally come to an end.