17 Awakening

Dudley's POV:

Aghhnn, why is everything going around in circles? Where's everyone? Which way am I facing is it left or right? Wait, why am I still suffering from this when I can cure it? Aaishh, ouch, why does my head hurt so much? No wait, I need to sit down first.

No wait, why does the bed feel so rough? Too much light mum, I want to sleep more. Did I drink something yesternight? Urrggh, I plop myself down wondering why I was standing up in the first place.

Third Person POV:

Slowly Dudley closes his eyes and put his hand on his head. He starts to concentrate on driving the drunkenness away. Feeling as if he had done a good job because it was hurting even less, Dudley fall on his back. As he is falling, Dudley moves my left arm as if he was grabbing a blanket while saying, "Mum, please close the curtains."

When he fell, he noticed something strange. One, his bed was too rough and he did not have his blanket. Two, it was too bright to come from a light in his bedroom. Alarmed, he quickly opens his eyes and he notices that there is a lot of trees surrounding him.

Dudley stands up quickly and start to really look around him from left to right, to turning full 360. He did not find anything different except trees.

He then checks himself and notices he is still wearing what he wore last night to sleep. Knowing that he could not find anything using his normal senses, he focuses his magic on his senses, winces a little from the lingering pain and he sees a signpost a few miles away from him.

Dudley then focuses the magic in his ears, he hears birds singing even more clearly along with a lots of hearts beating and growls once in a while in the forest. He stops there because he knows his senses will overload if he uses it for an extended time.

Dudley figures that heading to the signpost is his best chance of figuring out where he is. Checking from the position of the sun in the sky, he figures that it must be midday and it will take up to night to reach the signpost from the distance.

He then checks his surroundings for items he can carry with him that will not slow him down. He finds a wet stick and some dry branches in the vicinity. He also finds some vines that he can tie the dry branches with in case he needs a fire when he reaches the signpost. Dudley checks for animal traces to see what animal passed by recently for hunting purposes in case he needs to come back again for food.

When none is found, Dudley enhances his body with magic that will make him faster than an average adult sprinting. Knowing that he cannot find anything else in the area he can use, Dudley once again puts magic in his eyes to confirm his position and the distance between him and the sign. Then he starts to jog slowly warming his body into for a full speed run.

As he is running at half speed, a thought quickly popped in his head and he briefly recalls the sensation of a needle entering his skin. Dudley stops and checks his arms for any lasting damage that may help show where he was and what was used. Seeing that he could not find any, he quietly curses his bodies regeneration and continue to run again.

Another thought quickly pops in his head again and Dudley slows down playing it on exhaustion. He fully stops and focus his magic in his ears again. He hears a lot of heart beats in the forest and curses himself again for not training an ability to discern human heart beat from other mammals.

Figuring that whoever put him here is not far from here or is maybe watching him, he slows down considerably as to not alert them that he is somewhat aware that of them watching him and to also have them underestimate him.

Dudley continues running noting that the sun was coming down and was going to set soon. He activates his magic senses in short bursts every fifteen minutes to scan his surroundings and he notes that the heartbeats of the forest animals have started to calm down.

He found it strange that he was not tired from such a long run but he figures it must be magic supplying him. But just in case, he also stops every few hours to take a break and find something to eat. Usually, it was berries and leaves along with some fruits that grow in the forest.

After his last activation of his senses, Dudley sees that he is near the signpost so he slows down to a jog and relax himself somewhat. He drops his guard enough that he will notice when he is in danger as he is not dumb enough to completely relax in an area where nature reigns.

As he approaches the signpost, he sees someone who is supposed to be there because if he was there the few times he confirmed his distance, there was no way he would have missed him.

That's right, he sees his teacher waiting for him at the signpost. Dudley first shows shock because there was no way anybody could have avoided his magic senses. Then he realizes, among the heart beats he kept hearing and still hears, his teachers' is one of them among with a few others.

His shock fades away as it comes and he pushes himself even more toward his teacher, this time with angry for some answers.

As Dudley approaches, Marimo looks up with a passive face as if he did not condemn his student to a life of a hobo temporarily. When Marimo sees his student's face, his expression does not change as he knows what will be asked of him. As his student nears him, the only thing he says is "Congratulation" and continue looking at Dudley like he is expecting something from him when he approaches.

Dudley's POV:

When I enter the instructor's hearing range, he looks up and says "Congratulation." I grew even pissed at that because I did not know what was going on. I pause a little calming myself and continue jogging toward him. 'When he says congratulation, does he mean this was all some kind of test' I thought. Needing confirmation, I ask,

"What do mean by congratulation?" with anger clearly laced in my tone when I arrive in front of him

"You passed the test" Marimo says answering my question, my tone not affecting him at all.

"What test? Were you the come that stuck the needle inside my arm"

Teacher nods and says, "The test of the forest you passed it. Usually people take weeks to get here and we inform them beforehand"

"Why did you not tell me then?" Dudley asks

"You are my student, you should be able to do this much. Now come, your training begins at day break" Marimo turns around and begins walking toward a tree in front of him with Dudley in behind him.

As they pass the tree, Dudley felt like they were walking through a viscous liquid material. He tried totalk to his teacher but no sound came out when he spoke. Panicking, he turns around to walk back to the forest.When he turns, there is only darkness behind him. He turns around again and finds that his teacher is a few feet away from him.

He walks faster to catch up to him in case he knows what is going on. Finding that his conjecture is right with how calm Marimo is, with the changing circumstances, Dudley pulls on his teacher's sleeves.

Marimo turns his head and looks at Dudley. Marimo moves his finger to his lips in a shushing manner and nods his head. He then puts his palm on Dudley's shoulders and continues walking. Dudley calms down and follows after Marimo.

After three to five minutes by Dudley's rough estimate, they pop out of the area like a balloon and Dudley almost fall face down due to the change in resistance. He picks himself and looks around him. At first, he did not notice anything different from a usual forest so he looks at his teacher again.

Marimo makes a shushing motion again. Curios as to why his teacher was making a shushing motion again, he puts some magic in his eyes. When he did that, he finds out that everything in front of him was glowing.