Chapter 82 - Forest Of Belgard (1)

"Before we head in I'm going to set some ground rules, you guys may be mages but surviving in a forest full of wild magical beasts is completely different from fighting against humans. Rule number one, always stay behind me at all times, if you go missing in the forest you might never make it out alive," said Calder while looking at Arya and Marya.

"Rule number two, don't make any noise, that means keeping talking to a minimum," said Calder while looking at Marya to emphasize his point.

"And finally, the last and most important rule. If you see a Ryen run for your life, don't try playing hero. I don't know where you bought that Ryen pelt, but if you came face to face with an actual Ryen, you'd be so scared you wouldn't even be able to chant a single word before turning into its snack." said Calder, this time looking at Arya.

"Pfft, bought? Let's hope nothing bad happens to you in the forest, Ryen's aren't the only things you should worry about." thought Arya as he stared back at Calder. 

"There you go again, deciding to kill humans on a whim. Mindless destruction is good and all, but this could become one of your greatest weaknesses. If you are unable to discern potential future benefit from instant gratification, you might as well be a wild beast." said the dark figure, once again disappointed that the first thing Arya thought about doing once he was mad was killing someone.

"Whatever," replied Arya as the group entered the forest. The terrain was warm, smelly, and moist during mid-day. Insects swarmed the group as they walked past the tall trees, Calder turned around to see how the kids were faring. As expected Marya seemed very bothered by the insects that kept trying to enter her mouth, Calder turned to see how Arya was doing but found that he was rather calm.

He had used his shirt to cover his mouth and nose and continued walking as if nothing was wrong. "W-well, it's still early. I'm sure he won't be able to hold out much longer." thought Calder as he turned back to the front to focus on where he was going.

After walking non-stop for hours the group had reached the point of complete exhaustion. Marya could barely stand and Calder was breathing heavily, however to everyone's astonishment Arya seemed reasonably fine. To him it was like they were just taking a pleasant walk, of course it was due to the months he had spent in a forest when he was still four.

"Do you guys want to rest?" asked Arya, he knew that traveling while you were exhausted was like asking for a death sentence in a forest.

"S-sure." replied Calder as he began setting up camp.

"Shouldn't we set up camp on a tree? Won't the smoke attract predators leaving us sitting ducks if we make camp on the ground?" asked Arya as Calder was about to make the fire. Calder had never actually been to a forest, he was just taking the lead because as the oldest he expected to have the best survival skills amongst the group. However, it seemed as if Arya was well versed in basic survival skills, much to Calder's chagrin.

"Arya have you been to a forest before?" asked Marya before Calder shushed her.

"Keep talking to a minimum," whispered Calder, but even he wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Perhaps he really did hunt a Ryen by himself? N-no way, even with a group of mages I've heard it's difficult to hunt down fire Ryens." thought Calder as he looked at Arya's pelt.

Night came and with it came the cold as well. Calder and Marya pulled out blankets from their supplies to cover themselves, but it seemed as if the cold wind could even  penetrate their thick blankets.

Calder wondered how Arya was doing without so much as a blanket to protect himself, but found that Arya was sleeping soundly. The fire Ryen pelt that he used to cover himself was able to maintain body heat to an almost perfect degree, additionally, the fire element imbued within the pelt acted as a sort of mini heater as well.

In the morning the group ate their breakfast on a tree before quickly continuing on their journey. By now they were already past the first part of the forest. When viewing Belgard's forest from a map, it could be divided into 5 concentric rings. The first part that they had just crossed was the least dangerous, the closer one went to the center of the forest the more dangerous it would become. Of course, Belgard was located at the innermost center of the forest.

*Kwaaa* Screeched a bird.

"What was that?" asked Marya before a giant bird dived down nearly taking off her head. "A-a Roc!" shouted Marya before chanting a wind spell to interrupt the Roc's flight pattern.

Rocs were one of the many apex predators of the forest. They were mystical creatures that ruled the skies and could grow up to 7m long with a wingspan of 20m from tip to tip in adulthood. They primarily used lightning magic and were one of the only creatures that were naturally gifted with a variant element, making them even harder to deal with since they could use one of their base elements as well.

Luckily this Roc seemed to be in its adolescence stage, as it was only 4m long and had a wingspan of 11m from tip to tip. However, it was still a giant that shouldn't be messed with.

"Duck!" shouted Arya as he saw lightning sparks jumping off the Roc's feathers. *zap* Lightning bolts struck all the trees setting them aflame, creating a clearing for the Roc to accurately attack them.

"This doesn't make sense, why would a Roc actively go out of its way to catch prey on the ground when it's easier to hunt in the air?" asked Marya as she ran behind Arya and Calder.

"I don't know. Do you think we should stop to ask it?" asked Arya as he was thinking of a way to escape their predicament.

"What if I injure one of these two so that the bird focuses on them instead.." thought Arya before the dark figure stopped him.