Chapter 91 - Into the Wall!

"So what are we looking for exactly?", I asked Savina as we rode on Rakka's back through the winter side of the valley. We had finished breakfast earlier that day and were now our merry way to find Savina a second monster for her to bind. Originally, Savina was just gonna go to the academy with just Banda but she saw how I had three monsters to her one, so she convinced my parents and Lavian that I should help her get a second one.

For a girl who spent the last seven years in the stomach of a magic catbird monster, she was surprisingly devious. Which is why the two of us were now riding through a snowy forest for a little over two hours, with only a rather cryptic Savina acting as the compass.

"I could tell you Sil-Sil, but that would ruin the surprise", she told me in a teasing tone, "but with that said, make a right here and keep going straight".

"Sure thing madam", I said while rolling my eyes and turning my head back forward.

[D'awww, you two are so cute together], Voxea teased.

[Oh shut up], I replied defeated.

As we rode onward, we had passed by several wild monsters who eyed us curiously before moving on. We had passed by one I thought was a good fit for Savina, it looked like an ice blue armadillo with miss growing on it, but she replied with "Possibly, but the one I have in mind is...special".

"Okay then...". Whatever she had in mind, made me a little uneasy.

"Wait... stop the Ragnaceros. We're here", Savina said as she dismounted from Rakka. As she dismounted, I took the opportunity to see where "here" was.

Right in front of us was the valley wall, sheer rock for miles and miles, covered in ice and snow fall. Other than that, there was either a random tree or shrub growing in front of it scattered about.

"Are you sure? There's nothing here", I asked Savina, who was currently walking around like she was looking for something. She eventually stopped to pick up a rock and weigh it in her hand.

"Definitely, Sil-Sil", she said as she threw the rock straight at the valley wall. I was a little bewildered as to why Savina just chucked a rock at a wall, up until the rock disappeared.

[Oooh! An old illusion wall trick! There should be something good in there], Voxea commented all of a sudden.

"Where did the rock go?", I asked Savina.

"It went into her nest", Savina said as she walked towards the wall.

"Her"?

"The Grim Shrieker", she answered as she walked through the wall and disappeared. Taking that as my cue to follow, I recalled Rakka to his drajule and quickly chased after into the foreboding mystery cave.

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"Banda if you could".

"Coo"!

What was a initially a pitch black cave soon became illuminated by the gentle purple of Banda's tail lantern. I couldn't help but let out a whistle at the sight of everything.

The cave was made of stone of course, there were animal bones encased in what appeared to be oversized owl pellets and there were also human remains like torn clothes, random broken weapons and destroyed satchels. If I was a trained scavenger, this place would be a gold mine. As I looked through the scattered remains of the Grim Shrieker's nest, I noticed Savina looking closer at the walls of the cavern.

"Uh Savina? What are you looking for? Actually better question, how did you know about this place"?

"I'm not a hundred percent sure to be honest", Savina replied as she began searching through the remains near the walls, "To be completely honest, I knew this place existed because I was still vaguely conscious inside of the Grim Shrieker".

"What"?

"As I said, I was still conscious inside the Grim Shrieker but not totally. I could see what it saw, feel it felt and cause it pain for swallowing me up for all those years", she said as she tossed aside some random junk items and pocketed some loose suls

"That explains some things...".

"Indeed. But to answer the question of what I am looking for...", she began before trailing off as she suddenly beelined to another pile of discarded items and began digging.

"You were looking for...".

"Ah-ha"!

"Never mind, I'll just see for myself".