My Felaryan Stories.

Hey guys ! I thought I'll put my stories here on the forums for people who don't use DA to read it. I'll appreciate any kind of feedback I could get from you guys , and here we go !

Index :

-Story 1: A Fruitless Heist.
-Story 2: Art Block.
-Story 3: Yet another perilous journey.
-Story 4: Troublesome Teleportation.
-Training Day Pt1

Felaryan Short stories -Story 1: A Fruitless Heist

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"You sure this is the place? " Gaven eyed the large cave they'd reached after a long journey from Negav city.

"Yes I am sure this is the place" nodded Faas " I saw a dridder wearing these adornments go inside this place on multiple occasions"

"Can we actually do this guys? I mean, Nekos like myself are a favorable treat" Said Fami.

"Look it's simple, we go in, steal the earrings , flee using Vani's magic, present this large earring to the brotherhood and when they realize it is from a predator, they will let us join them" explained Faas.

"Remember, this teleportation spell takes time, we better do this right" explained Vani.

"Yes we shall, one brotherhood member said that we can access the cave through crack up there, let's move it" he went to a pile of rocks and started to climb his way up. the others saw him and then followed his lead.

Nevertheless the ascend was tough , the coarse rocks made it even harder for them to climb, especially for Vani who was wearing a maroon robe that hindered her progress, and the glare of the sun in their eyes didn't help the process wither. However they pulled it together and climbed to the top, it felt triumphant after the seeing how far the ground was from where they stood.

"Man that was exhausting" said Gaven.

"Alright people, don't stop now, we're almost there" said Faas.

"Just how much do we need to walk? " asked Fami.

"Not much, the entrance is just ahead"

After a brief break, they continued to follow Faas until they've reached a small crack on the wall, it was small from a predator's perspective but it looked like a passage they could use to enter the cave.

"Through here " Faas lit a lantern and went through the crack and they followed him as he did so.

Doubt begun to occupy their thoughts as the crack got tighter and tighter as they went along, they thought it might lead to a dead end or worse, a deep pit that will kill them if they fell in it. Finally they have reached a large and cavernous chamber decorated by spider silk.

"This place is huge" said Vani as she turned her head around, astonished of how big the place was.

"Yeah we could build a whole town here in here" added Fami as she scanned the place.

"Look there!" Gaven pointed down.

At the bottom of the chamber they saw a giant being, it was a dridder, it had a female human's upper body and a spider's lower body, she had a white skin, red eyes, silky white hair that had two hair buns with pigtails pointing to her back, wore two silver earrings on her pointy ears and a ring on her right hand. She was calmly reading a book near a candle which made for a surprisingly serene scene for such a voracious predator.

"She is our target" said Faas.

"So, you said you have a plan" said Gaven.

"Yes, we shall wait until she is asleep and then snatch the earrings from her"

"Wait, this is your brilliant plan?" asked Gaven.

"Yeah, you make it sound easy" said Fami.

"Hey, we have to do it if we were to be members of the brotherhood, we bring the large earrings to them and then we'll prove that we are indeed skillful thieves" explained Faas.

"You do want join them badly don't you?" said Gaven.

"And who wouldn't? think of all the privileges we'll get when we join them" he explained.

"Oralia! " called a faraway voice that interrupted their conversation.

"Yes Tasha! " she replied.

"Can you come over here please ? I need your help with those spears"

"Fine sis" with a look of discontent, she placed the marker on the page she was reading ,closed her book, placed on a rock and left the chamber.

"So what now? Even if we waited for her to fall asleep, we can't simply take those earrings without being caught, we might wake her up" said Gaven.

"We must find a way, we can't stay here until nightfall , it'll be way too dangerous" added Fami.

"I've got an idea" Vani went to the edge of the cliff and pointed at a jug near where Oralia was reading "See that jug over there? that must be where she drinks water from, I can pour my potions in it to make her fall asleep"

"But are you sure you have enough to make someone as big as her sleep" asked Gaven with a look of disbelief.

"You have no idea, one sip of my sleeping potion can make you sleep for the hours, drinking the whole bottle might kill you" she explained.

"Yikes!" commented Faas as these words startled him a bit.

"But, can you drop it all the way from here?" wondered Fami.

"I think I can do it, wait here" without a dab of reluctance, Vani carefully walked along the cave into a protruding rock to be above the cylindrical jug.

She took out a potion from her bag, enchanted it with a spell which made it glow a faint green light and then poured the contents into the jug. She then did the same procedure to three more bottles.

"Well done Vani!" said Faas.


"That should make her sleep like a -" At that moment Vani tripped over small rocks she didn't pay attention to. her body leaned forward , lost its balance and thus she fell down from where she stood. She felt air brush every bit of her body rapidly as she saw herself descend into the same jug, she embarked on the same journey her potions did. her journey ended with a splash as her body crashed with the surface and went down few feet below.

"Vani! " shrieked Fami. She sprinted towards the protruding rock as Gaven and Faas did the same, careful not to trip down themselves.

Vani on the other hand struggled to reach the surface. She has accidentally swallowed a good amount of water while she was down and that made her slightly dizzy.

She tried to cast the teleportation spell, but dizziness prevailed over her concentration, her body felt numb, her head ached and her eyes struggled to stay open. Swimming became too much of a burden for her as the potion rapidly took effect.

"Vani hang on! " Fami took out a rope and strapped it on her waist.

"Fami wait" Gaven grabbed her arms and paused without a single movement. They then heard sounds of steps, and the sounds got higher and higher as time went by.

"She is coming back!" cried Faas as he ran back to hide in the crack.

"We have to go Fami" said Gaven.

"No! we have to save-" she didn't manage to finish that sentence as Gaven grabbed her from her waist, placed her on his shoulder and sprinted away to their hideout "Hey, let go of me!" she said, but he didn't reply to her.

During that time, Oralia came back to her chamber and grabbed her book again "Tasha needs get her equipment some maintenance" these words were followed by a sigh that conveyed annoyance.

Faas, Gaven and Fami couldn't help but watch the giant dridder read through her book as their friend is trapped inside that jug, unable to get out. Oralia was completely engaged with that book's contents that her red eyes never even looked elsewhere.

"Man I never thought I'd meet a book worm predator" said Faas.

"Yeah, never imagined dridders were the reading type" added Gaven.

"Are your hearts made of stone?!" spat Fami "Vani is stuck inside that jug and all you guys can do is think of is how can a dridder read a book?!"

Then finally Oralia's eyes moved away from the book , but to their dismay her eyes are now fixed at her jug, shortly after her hand reached for it, they were filled with horror as she was going to drink Vani along with the water.

"Vani!" Fami tried to sprint to help her longtime friend but Gaven grabbed her from her shoulders.

"Calm down Fami, there is nothing we could do now!" he said.

They saw Oralia pick up the jug and drink, they saw her casually down gallons of water through her throat in mere seconds. then Oralia gave a disturbed look, coughed twice, touched her chest and gave a quick swallow.

"Was there something in there?" she eyed the jug's contents as she was sure there was something that went down with the water, but she saw nothing abnormal in it . She shrugged nonchalantly ,put down the jug and continued to read.

They were at awe, they've just witnessed their friend being swallowed alive by a giant predator and they couldn't do anything, they couldn't stop her even if they want to.

"And there she goes" said Faas.

"And there she goes ?!" Fami was infuriated with his cold comment "she was your comrade and this is all you can say?!"

"No heist without expected loses" he explained.

"Expected losses? is that how you view your friends?!" she went to him and assaulted his neck with her hands, she pressed hard on it in hope of choking him , Faas couldn't breathe or talk, the pressure was so hard he felt his head might pop out of his body.

"You don't care about any of us! your selfish deeds brought doom upon her!"Fami persisted on her act like her life depended on it, she was filled with fury that nothing else mattered. However she felt a knock on her head that made her tumble on the floor. She then saw Gaven as he towered above her.

"Are you out of your mind?" he said.

"Out of my mind? he brought us all the way here from home, wanted us to steal the earrings so he could join that brotherhood of his and as a result, Vani died!"

"We're all sad for her death, but there is nothing we can do now"

"You are as cold as him" she unwrapped the rope from her waist and took out her knives "I am going to cut you both" she charged at him but he quickly grabbed her wrists.

"Fami you must understand-"

"No! you are the one who must understand" She tried harder to push her knives towards him and as a result she pushed him to the wall "She was my best friend and she died because we didn't do anything !"

Gaven looked into her eyes and it was devoid of any kind of compassion , she wanted to kill him and Faas more than anything. Slowly the knives forced their way in and they almost reached his chest.

However, before she could stab him, Faas came into view, grabbed her shoulders and forcefully dragged her away from Gaven. His arms pressed on her hard so she won't get away.

She floundered but Faas never lost his grip, he was still a little dizzy after her attempt to chock him however focused on getting her away from Gaven.

"let go of me" she quivered in an attempt to free herself but his grip was too strong for her to prevail.

He continued to drag her away, not sure to where but far enough so she won't hurt Gaven anymore. But he went back too far, way outside the crack and into the open. Then he accidentally stepped into an empty space, he was at the edge of the cliff, her movements made him lose his balance and as a result they fell down.

They fell into a big rock, bounced and then rolled through a series of rocks that scratched their bodies as they drift. Then they reached another edge that they slid through rapidly and then finally fell down to a series of spider silk.

They were trapped, the viscid threads prevented them from moving a muscle, they saw series of rocks that moved along with them rain on their location, but to their fortune , none of these rocks fell on them.

However the coin of fortune has flipped against them as the sounds of falling rocks grabbed the attention of Oralia, she closed her book, placed it on the floor and walked to them.

"Well, well" her head now towered above them "I never saw snacks coming right into my chamber before, I am pleased you've decided to just give yourselves to me" she gave a wide grin.

"You monster" said Fami "get Vani out now!"

"Vani? Oh you mean she was the... " touch her neck as she realized that what went down with the water was actually a friend of the neko.

"Get her out right now or I'll cut my way inside of you and get her out myself" she tried to move but the silk prevented her from doing anything.

Oralia laughed at the neko's weightless threat and the futile attempt of moving "Shame she had to go like that " she caressed her belly "I would have loved to savor her taste"

"You make me sick... " she muttered.

Oralia didn't reply to her, but instead she picked Fami up and elevated her tiny body to her face " I haven't tasted a neko in a long time and your pink hair make you look even more tasty " Her tongue slowly licked Fami's body from top to bottom.


"Time to go little neko" Oralia opened her mouth wide, Fami got paranoid at the sight of the cavernous mouth, deleterious fangs and welcoming throat.

"Faas! Gaven! Help me! " She cried. And then the mouth completely engulfed her, Fami is now in a place where there is no light and space. Unfortunately for her and her knives were left on the silk so she didn't have any method to attack Oralia. she hit the surface of the mouth hard be there was no response.

Oralia on the other hand was in heaven, nekos are the tastiest preys in Felarya second to elves, she rarely encounters one and even if she did he sisters usually take it before her and Fami's clean and healthy state made her even tastier.

However the taste made her stomach call for her in the form of a growl. Oralia responded to that call by an audible swallow that pushed the neko down to her gullet.

Faas watch in horror as a bulge formed on Oralia neck and went down her chest. That was Fami inside that bulge, his friend has been ravenously devoured by that giant dridder and he is soon to follow.

Gaven in the meantime couldn't help but watch his poor friend meet her unfortunate fate. Now not one but two of his friends are inside Oralia's belly.

"That was a fine treat" her fingers drummed her belly in satisfaction. Her sight then switched to Faas who was as still as a rock.

She reached for him, grabbed him and lifted him to her face. Unlike Fami however, he didn't give any resistance to Oralia, he looked pretty content of what is happening to him.

"You don't look very afraid human" She said.

"I.... accept.... my fate" his voice is still slightly hoarse after what Fami did to him.

"A willing prey huh? It's rare to witness such thing, wise choice" She giggled.

Gaven saw Oralia open her mouth and shove Faas into it ,she then slowly got her finger away from her lips and savored Faas ' taste, she didn't look as joyful as she was when she ate Fami but she enjoyed him nonetheless.

she then tilted her head back and swallowed her prey as Gaven saw a bulge forming on her neck and travel down to her chest.

However she coughed and tapped her chest, clearly he was stuck in her esophagus. She then took the jug and drank whatever water left in it ,she drank so fast that some amount of water has flown down her skin instead of going inside her maw.

She then placed the jug down, let out a long sigh and rubbed her lips with her arm "I thought he was all willing. Oh well, back to reading"

She then picked up her book again, went near the candle and continued to calmly breez through the words it contained.

Gaven couldn't believe it, or more accurately didn't want to believe it, three of his friends were eaten by that dridder, but she just continued to read like nothing happened. But yet again, why would she care?

To her it was just an everyday routine, they were no different than any other prey she encountered in her life, it is the equivalent of him if he cared about eating a specific fish among all the fish he ate in his life.


After a while, Oralia yawned and scratched her eyes "Why do I feel dizzy all of a sudden?" she said.

Gaven knew it, the potion finally took effect and made Oralia feel drowsy, however it was far too late, their plan has failed and nothing can change that.

Oralia leaned her upper body on the floor and lazily placed the book in front of her, however she couldn't read anymore, it didn't take long for drowsiness to prevail over her. she then crossed her arms around her face and closed her eyes. She didn't even bother to close her book.

"Well, no point of being here anymore, damn you Faas what have you done to us" he muttered.

Gaven then tried to open his flashlight, but he forgot to put batteries in it , so it didn't work. He relied on his friends to lit the road for him, a decision he now regretted making, he cannot simply walk blindly into the crack with multiple paths inside because he might go the wrong way and go to where another predator might be waiting.

"Fantastic" he threw the flashlight down. He looked around for a few moments and saw that Fami's flashlight is down on a rock not too far to away, he could use it to at least get out of this cave.

So he slowly went descended from his location, walked along the rocks, stopped when he reached the location, went down to another set of rocks and then leaned to reach the flashlight but he couldn't grab it, so he leaned as far as he could and then successfully grasped it .

"Gotcha.. whoa !" unfortunately for him, he lost his balance, fell down and rolled all the way to the floor. luckily, he didn't fell on any piece of silk.

"Ouch..." that drop was indeed painful to him, he got up and rubbed his back. He then looked back and he saw that he couldn't climb back up "Damn it !I must find another way".

He looked around but his eyes eventfully stopped at Oralia, thankfully she was still asleep, the potion seemed to have made her sleep like a rock.

He walked towards her and then stopped in front of her face , she looked so innocent and peaceful , she looked like a little girl who has just reached adulthood, he couldn't possible blame her for his friends, blaming her is like blaming a lioness for hunting a gazelle, it's her nature.

"Well well, we have ourselves a little stalker here" said an effeminate voice, he looked back and saw another dridder, she was larger than Oralia. she had braided white hair and blue eyes.

"Oh crap" he tried to run away but her hand swiftly grasped his body and lifted him from the ground.

"Don't you know that you shouldn't peek on girls while they're asleep? especially when her big sister is around" she sneered and dangled him upside down "But I must ask, why would a human courageously approach a dridder like this? usually they get scared and run away at every opportune moment"

"It's none of your business monster!" he replied.

"Oh, courageous and harsh tongued, but if you were to sneak a peek" she distanced him from her so he could have a better view of her body "Why not look here? my upper half has everything a human being can desire from a woman, plus I am bigger"

"Don't flatter yourself, I was here to take those earrings" he confessed.

She looked at him for a moment and then giggled, she wanted it to be as faint as possible not to awaken Oralia, unaware that she was under the effect of Vani's potion.

"This is original, I've never seen a human steal from a predator before, it is reckless to steal from us, you should have stolen something from those clumsy nagas " she said.

"We've faced dangers more fearful than you dridder!" he replied.

"Really? then face this" she flung him up in the air, he felt the air rapidly brush his body and sensed a slight chilliness as a result, and then he started to descend down. He was filled with dread when he saw he was falling right into Tasha's open mouth.

"Oh shi-" he directly fell into her throat and she immediately swallowed him. she sent a bulge down her neck into her body , she touched her belly as she felt Gaven drop in it.

"Ah that hit the spot, enjoy your stay" she chortled.

Tasha then looked back at Oralia, approached her and then took the book from underneath her arms.

"You still read through father's writings huh? it's sad that you can't remember him, you were too young when he first disappeared" she placed it on her bench and picked up her candle.

However before she could blow the candle. she looked at Oralia one last time and this time she stared at her earrings. she leaned down and caressed Oralia's right earring.

"Even after all these years, you still remind me of her, her earrings on you are just..." she shed a single tear. But then she rubbed her cheek with her arm.

"Going through her stuff today made me think about her a lot, but like what sis says, life is for the living" she blew the on the candle and let her sleep in comfortably in the dark "Sleep well Oralia, I'll tell Alanis you won't be hunting with us tonight".

Felaryan Short stories: Story 2: Art Block.

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Two zigzags of blue lightning lit the darkened sky as rain wailed like bullets on Negav city. While the citizens of Negav were sleeping through this stormy night. That wasn't the case for Inari.

The elf laid on her bed looking away from her window,unable to sleep. Despite being in a comfortable and warm bed covered in a silky smooth blanket, she couldn't fall asleep. Her mind was too busy and disturbed. This weather had always brought memories, bad memories that couldn't let her rest.

Inari then stood up, went to her living room and she took a look at her old paintings on the wall. She had done quite a few in the past but she only ever hung four of them. All four were colorful landscape portraits. A lot of people had praised her artwork but she never gave herself credit. Especially when she has had an art block for eight months now. She thought about it and figured that since she could not sleep, she might try and draw something for a change.

She walked across her living room and then stopped at the door of her balcony. There, she opened her curtains and saw a better view of the storm; it was raining so heavily that her balcony's drain could barely keep up with draining the water from it.

She went to her desk and took out her sketchbook, a pencil and an eraser. She then sat down on her couch facing the balcony and placed the pen on the paper ,but she stopped. She eyed the scenery in front of her and then eyed the blank paper. She did this act for several times until she finally moved the pencil to make a vertical line.

However, she kept moving it down and pressing hard until the pencil finally broke. In anger, she took the paper, scrambled it, and threw it away. She rubbed her face several times, baffled; why couldn't she just draw? Why can't these thoughts inside of her just go away? Her sight went to the balcony that watched the chaotic weather and the dark sky occasionally being lit by blue zigzags.

Inari then stood up, went across the living room, opened the door and stepped into the drenched balcony. She felt a strong chill as the cold wind embraced her body and the rain dropped on her bald head. She wished that the rain could wash away her troubling memories.

Some time later, her train of thoughts was interrupted by a sneeze, her body had enough cold for now so she went inside, closed the door, and since she couldn't sleep she decided to go and take a warm shower.
Soaked with water, she went across her living room and headed towards her bathroom. On her way she caught sight of a frame with picture, that picture was of her when she was young and her older sister Theresa hugging her from the back.

Inari picked up the picture and stared at it for a bit. After a while Inari couldn't help but smile at the picture right before she felt the chill again, which made her put the picture back and go to the bathroom.

She dropped the drenched clothes on the floor of the bathroom, went into the shower, opened the tap and let the water massage her body. She rubbed her hands over her neck, breasts, stomach and hips.

However, her mind was still busy, she simply couldn't rest because it was Theresa's birthday. Inari only gets troubled like this on two occasions. The date of Theresa's birth and the date of her death.
"Theresa... I am sorry..." She whispered as she tilted her head down. "If it wasn't for me... We would still see you again..."

Inari stood still like a rock as the water hit her head and went down her body. The bathroom was now covered in shrouds of white mist as vapor filled the place. It gave her warmth and comfort, so she decided to stay here for a little longer.

***
The next morning, Inari watched the light streaking out of the vanishing clouds as she drank her morning cup of coffee. She didn't get enough sleep last night but she felt fully awake and in no need for extra sleep.

Inari wanted to set back and enjoy the view all day long but she remembered that she had agreed to meet with her best friend, Ramina, outside the city in the mooring for a hike out into the Felaryan jungle.

When Inari stood up, went to her bedroom and opened her closet, she was greeted by a crowd of dresses, pants and shirts. In the middle, however, was her police uniform. She always wore this uniform with pride, fighting crime across Negav and its surrounding area.

But she was on a leave for one week so she won't wear it today, So she instead wore a casual blue robe. She then strapped a belt that she placed her staff in and she finally took her messenger bag. However before she could get out, she took one last look at her sketchbook and pencil; she kept staring at it until she eventually took them with her and went outside.

She went downstairs and then outside her building. She looked into the sky to the clouds slowly disappearing and the sun rays getting stronger. She wore her hood to cover her head and then went into the road.

After a while she reached the gates of Negav which were guarded by heavily armed men and big artillery. She slowly ambled towards the gate as a guard came to her.

"Miss Naymore," He said as he aimed his weapon down. "please don't tell me you want to get out."

"Yes if you don't mind," She nodded. "I am on leave and I need a change in scenery."

"You sure about this? I mean, you don't look heavily armed."

"I only need my staff. I may not be the strongest mage but I am pretty confident of my skills."

"Yeah but-"

"She is with me Rorik!" Said a voice that cut him off.

They looked back to another elf; she had long blond hair, purple eyes, wore a black shirt and brown leather pants.

"Rami!" Inari went to her and both of them hugged each other briefly.

"Miss Highwing." Rorik walked to her. "You don't look heavily armed either."

"Rorik, you don't have to worry. Mages can still cast spells without robes you know."

"It's not about that, you know Felarya has no mercy. Not to mention the fact that you're elves."

"What do you mean by that?!" Cried Ramina.

"Well... Ugh..." Rorik halted his words, clearly his choice of them was poor. "I've heard that you guys are... More... Ugh... tasty."

"Listen you short eared idiot." Ramina flounced toward him as the tone of her voice became more stern. "Both of us are more powerful than you'll ever be. Now, will you let her pass or shall I release my wrath upon you?" She glared at him.

"Yikes!" He backed by one step. "Y-y-you can pass." Rorik and a lot of people do fear Ramina's anger. They fear her more than any predator in Felarya.

"Good." She gestured Inari with her head and the two went on their way.

"You know Rorik, you are truly a master wordsmith." Scoffed one of the guards.

"Shut up!" He said and returned to his post.

The elven pair walked away from the gate, looked at each other and then laughed.

"You know Rami, you should have been actress." Said Inari.

"I know." She took a breath after laughing hard. "Did you see the look on his face? It was priceless."

"It sure was."

Both of them extended their arms and punched each other's fist.

"Now Rami, what's the plan?"

"Come here, I'll show you something." Ramina gestured her with her fingers as she went into a large thicket. Inari, not knowing what she was up to, followed her steps.

Behind the thicket, Inari saw a large dome made of mud. Ramina gestured with her hand and removed the mud to reveal a convertible light-utility vehicle.

"A car?" Inari walked near it and examined the exterior of the vehicle. "Where did you get it?"

"My uncle gave it to me, it was his old car and he knew I love driving and I don't get to drive much. Come on, hop in." Ramina jumped above the door and sat on the driver's seat.

"You always love to show off." Inari, more demurely walked around, opened the door and sat near her friend.

"You're just overly civil Inari. And why are you wearing a robe when we are going into the jungle?" She started the car and then looked back at her friend.

"Robes are more comfortable to me Rami. You know I rarely wear pants other than our uniform's."

"Alright, as you wish." She steered the steering wheel, pressed on the pedal and then drove into the jungle.

"So where are we going?" Said Inari as she saw the lush views of the jungle rush beside her.

"A place with a spectacular view! You're gonna love it! I know you love nature."

"You sure it's safe?"

"I haven't seen a predator if that's what you mean. Nothing we can't handle." She smiled.

"Rami ,I swear, if this is one of your tricks , I am gonna electrify you until you're as bald as me!"

"Hey hey, don't worry everything is fine, I planned this whole vacation up so we could have fun. I noticed how you were down lately."

"I am fine Rami, I just had few troubling nights."

"Oh." Ramina knew what was bothering her, but she didn't want to talk with her about it so she won't get back to sadness.

"Really Rami, I am okay. I just feel somewhat inactive and I need to pump blood into my brain."

Ramina looked at her for a moment, smiled and then pressed hard on the pedal so the car darted forward in a dashing speed. Inari looked around rapidly, surprised at this sudden act.

"W-w-what are you doing Rami?!" She cried as her shaking hands quickly reached for the seatbelt and struggled to fasten it.

"Do you have enough blood pumping into your brain now?!" She laughed.

"More than I ever wanted to!"

"Woohoo!" Shrieked Ramina as she felt the wind brush her hair. "Come on Inari, scream as loud as you can!"

"I'd rather you slowed down Rami. This is hazardous!"

"Oh don't be such a wuss!" She said. Then, suddenly, the car started to decelerate until it finally came to a halt. Ramina looked around and saw that the car was stuck in a pool of greasy mud.

"Oh just fucking great." Said Ramina. "Inari, would you push the car from the back?"

"But I am wearing a robe." She replied.

"Fine." She groaned. "Take my seat and push the pedal when I tell you." She opened the door and went out.

"Roger." She switched her seat and held the wheel firmly.

Ramina went to the back and pushed her body against the car.

"Okay Inari, let's -" Suddenly the earth shook and a large mouth appeared not too far away from them. Ramina saw it and instantly got terrified at the sight.

"Earth mouth!" Cried Ramina.

"Oh shit." Inari quickly pressed hard on the pedal and then the wheels rolled hard. Ramina, in the midst of all that mud, pushed the car forward but it wouldn't move.

"Damn it, Inari don't stop! We've gotta-" Ramina felt something embracing her legs. She looked down and saw green tendrils wrapped around her, then the tendrils pulled her away from the car.

"Rami!" Inari jumped out of the car, put her hand in a puddle of muddy water, enchanted it, and after that she pulled a solidified piece of ice shaped like a dagger out of it.

She ran to Ramina, grabbed her legs and rapidly cut the tendrils around it. She also made a few cuts on Ramina's pants but this wasn't the time to care for garments. After that, she grabbed Ramina's arms and helped her be on her feet again.

"Are you alright Rami?"

"Been better, but thanks."

"Don't menti-" At that moment the earth shook again and this time both of them fell down and saw themselves being drawn to the centre where the mouth was.

"You think you can eat me that easily?!" Ramina neared both of her hands together and then an orb made of fire appeared between them. The orb got larger and larger until it doubled the size of her head.

"Eat this!" She launched the orb into the mouth and the mouth was engulfed in yellow flames. The earth shook harder for a while and then everything stopped.

"Is-is it dead?" Inari panted as she got up again.

"I certainly hope so." Ramina got up on her knees and then Inari helped her getting back on her feet. "Come on, I have an idea of how we can move the car."

"What idea?"

"Well, I've been practicing this new technique of using earth elemental magic, I've been successful in a small scale, I'll try it on a big scale this time."

"Let's see what you've got Rami."

Ramina breathed twice and gestured with both of her hands, then the earth shook and a large pillar made of stone came from beneath. The pillar turned to face the car, extended itself until it reached it and finally pushed the car until it was away from the mud.

Ramina collapsed on her knees panting and sweating. Inari came to her and gave her a pat on the back.

"Good job Rami! That was amazing."

"Thanks." She extended her hand to Inari and she helped her get back on her feet. "I need more practice in order to master this element."

"You were fantastic, never mind that for now. Are you alright? Can you drive?"

"I am fine, now let's get out of here before that thing comes back to us again."

"Agreed." She nodded. "You can't be sure something is dead in this world."

They both returned to the car and drove away from the earth mouth, wishing not to see it ever again.

"So, since when were you practicing with the earth element?"

"For a few months, lady Cynthia has taught me few techniques. I've been trying to master as many new techniques as possible lately."

"It's always good to try something new, I was surprised myself of how well I used the freezing spell. I've only recently mastered the water element and learned how to freeze and reshape it."

"You were always talented with magic Inari, you're better than me in many aspects of it. I am pretty sure you can master everything."

"Stop buttering me up like that Rami, I am not that good."

"I am serious! Be proud, you're an elf, The embodiment of both power and beauty!"

"Well, I wouldn't call myself beautiful." She placed her hand on her bald head.

"Come on Inari, you are beautiful. Hell your ears are longer than mine!"

"You really want me to smile don't you?"

"Inari, I know this day is hard on you." The tone of her voice became calmer. "I know you don't like going through it, I arranged this vacation so I could give you some levity."

"I am fine Rami, really I am." She lied, but she didn't want to make her friend feel concerned about her.

"Then come on, give me a smile, your smile is always g-" Then a loud shriek interfered with her sentence. She looked behind as a large harpy erupted from behind the trees and it headed towards them.

"Come here you pointy eared morsels! I've got the right place for you two!" Bellowed the harpy.

"Rami, step on it!" Cried Inari.

"You don't need to tell me that." She gritted her teeth, pressed hard on the pedal and they darted through the landscape.

Despite the insane speed, the harpy was behind them; in fact, she was closing in on them. Ramina then steered to the right in between the trees in an attempt to lose her.

However, The harpy still followed them, gracefully avoiding all the branches and obstacles around her. She was no mere hunter, she was a skillful one. She wanted to eat them more than anything at that moment of time.

Then Inari got an idea. "Keep the car in straight line." She removed her seatbelt and went back.

"What are you doing?!"

Inari sat on the back seat and eyed the ravenous predator. She charged a large magic orb made of lightning. She continued to charge it until the orb was thrice the size of her head and then threw it at the ravenous harpy. The harpy shrieked in pain as she was hit and fell to the ground spasming erratically.

"Phew!" Inari tilted her head down in relief as she felt the car slowing down and eventually stop.

"Is she dead?" Asked Ramina as she looked back at the winged predator. Then the harpy moved her wings, answering Ramina's question in the worst way possible.

"Y-y-you... p-p-pathetic nitwits are going to pay for this!" Her face is now angrier than before.

"Shit!" Ramina pressed on the pedal and drove again in between the trees. She looked around for a good place to hide from the predator, and saw a tree with a large opening in its trunk that was big enough for their car so she drove right into it. She put the parking brake as both elves sighed in relief.

"That was a close one." Said Inari is she titled he head back on the headrest.

"Yeah, let's take a break shall we?" Ramina reclined her seat. "We'll wait for a while until she is gone."

"Okay." Inari nodded.

The elven pair sat down and did not move a bit, the trunk gave them ample amount of shade and protection from predators.

Inari looked at her friend and saw her falling asleep, she inhaled and exhaled in a slow and peaceful manner. That spell must've drained her strength.

Inari couldn't help but feel guilty, Ramina did all of this to please her on this wretched day. And her attitude could've been more cheerful. She had always been a good friend to her since she knew her. She always wanted to cheer her up.

She quietly got out of the car and enjoyed the serene sights and the dulcet sounds of the jungle. She had always loved nature, it always amazed her how a place like Felarya could be both peaceful and perilous at the same time.

Then something caught her attention not too far away; it was a dryad, in slumber among a crowd of trees. She looked so innocent and harmless in her sleep that it might fool Felaryan outsiders into believing that she was not a predator. Inari kept looking at her for a while until she got an idea.

She reached for her bag and took her sketchbook and pencil, she opened it and put the pencil on it. She eyed the dryad once more and thought to herself; can I do it? Can I draw again?

She then turned her sight back to her companion. Ramina wanted her to be happy in this day, she wanted her to move on and forget her dreadful past. And she did not want to disappoint.

She looked at the dryad and started draw; she drew light scrambled lines at first to make the dryad's shape as accurate to reality as it can be. After that, she drew harder lines above them to define the shape.

She continued to draw lines and circles until the drawing started to look like the dryad, she then shaded some part to define the shadows and the colors of the giant predator.

"Holy shit you're drawing again?!" Ramina startled Inari with her cry so much that she almost drew a straight line across her drawing.

"It's just a doodle." She replied looking back at her.

"Just a doodle?!" She quickly snatched the sketchbook from her. "This looks amazing! As if you didn't have a block at all!"

"You don't need to butter me up like that Rami, I know the level of my skills, I still need to improve."

"I don't butter up anyone."

"Rami!" She looked at her solemnly.

"Okay, it is to butter you up, a bit... But I am serious, this looks really good."

"Yeah, but I am not finished yet." She took the sketchbook from her. "There is still a lot to add, like the background."

"Yeah but-" Suddenly, something caught Ramina's attention and made her stop her flow of words.

"What? What is-" She stopped her sentence as well when she saw what Ramina had seen. It was a group of armed men led by a single woman. "You know those people?"

"You're kidding, right Inari? She is a highly wanted criminal."

"Wait, you don't mean..." Inari now remembered who she was; Amarie Valmet, a highly dangerous thief that always managed to escape the authorities. So far she is accused of theft and the murder of several Negavian merchants to steal their goods.

"Come on, let's get a closer look." Ramina got out of the car.

"Alright you lead." Inari followed her friend.

They both stealthily went behind the fuzzy bushes, careful not to make a sound to attract the group's attention. They hid themselves in a bush close enough to the group so they could hear them.

"Alright boys, are you ready?" Said Amarie.

"Yes ma'am!" Replied one of them.

"Okay, here we go." She took a megaphone and then pressed the red button at the handle. "Hey! Dryad! Wake up!"

The dryad twitched her eyes and tilted her head upwards. A yawning sound came from her as she scratched her eyes and then looked down upon the crowd of humans. She couldn't help but to smile.

"Oh my, breakfast!" She started to move her roots to catch them.

"Nuh uh uh!" said Amarie as she waved her index finger. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"What do y-" She saw several of the humans carried large and ominous weapons and were pointing them at her. She had a bad feeling about this so she stood still.

"I know you dryads hate fire. These are rocket launchers filled with devastating missiles, a few shots from my men and you're ashes!"

The dryad was startled at the human's relentless threat. Those weapons looked scary to her; she had heard from her dryad friends about human weapons and how some of them can cause lots of fire, and fire is the last thing she wanted.

"W-what do you need from me?"

"I am glad you're willing to cooperate." She walked closer to the dryad. "Tell me dryad, there were a couple of heavily armed people with a carriage passing through this area. They're very important to me and I need to know if you saw them in the last three days or so."

"Oh, you mean two men wearing brown armor with a carriage that carried fruit?"

"Yes, those are exactly the ones I am looking for!"

"I am afraid you can't find them anymore."

"Why not?"

"I ate them." Her index finger touched her lips.
"What?!" She yelled as loud as she could.

"Yes." The dryad caressed her belly. "I couldn't resist the fruit they carried. So I ate them along with the carriage."

"You monster..." She went back to her men filled with rage. "Kill her! I wanna see her turn to ashes!"

"Yes ma'am." Three men pointed their rocket launchers and then fired them at her.

The dryad gasped in horror at the flying rockets. She took a handful of her leaves and threw them at the rockets. However, since she threw them in fear, she didn't have time to aim so she threw them blindly. The leaves cut through two rockets, making them explode in the air, and left one, which hit her on her abdomen.

The dryad screamed in pain as the fire started to eat her body. She moved her extremities desperately trying to put the fire out.

Inari watched this horrible scene in horror. Sure they hit a man eating dryad but even a Felaryan monster don't deserve to die like this.

"Hit her one more time boys!" called Amarie.

"No!" Inari dashed forward towards the group, carrying her staff with her. As soon as she was close enough she hit the ground with her staff and streams of ice erupted from this point and reached the group, freezing their feet in the process.

"What the...?" said Amarie. "Who are you?"

Inari ignored Amarie and ran towards the dryad. She hit the ground hard and then massive amounts of water came from underneath the staff, spraying it on the dryad in hope in extinguishing the fire. Soon after that; the dryad was covered in steam so thick it obscured her from Inari.

Inari fell down on her knees panting as she saw the dryad cloaked in white steam. She hadn't done a spell in this magnitude in a long time so she felt she was out of practice.

"Hey you!" Called Amarie. Inari turned back to see her aiming a gun at her along with the rest of her gang. "You dare interfere with my business elf? I don't know who you are and quite frankly I don't even care, you're dead meat." She loaded her weapon.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Ramina came into the scene with both of her hands blazing in flames.

Amarie looked back and forth between the elven pair confused as of who they are and why did they interfere with her.

"Who are you?" she asked Amarie.

"My name is Ramina Highwind, and this is Inari Naymore. Negavian Police."
"What?" Said one the men. "Why would the Negavian police follow us all they here from Negav?!"

"Oh we are on vacation. However..." She slowly ambled towards them. "When we saw that we could capture Amarie and her gang, which would earn us a promotion, we couldn't help but spring into action. Now, unless you guys want to be grilled by me, drop all of your weapons right now!"

The gag were startled by Ramina's threat. She was a police officer and they didn't kill people like that.

"Wait, you can't do that! You're a police officer, you have rules."

"You're right, but like I said, I am not on duty, thus I am not bound by rules. Besides, you guys are charged with theft, burglary and worse of all; murder. You're lucky I wouldn't just engulf you in flames and leave your bodies here."

They flinched and whispered among themselves right before turning to their leader, who looked back and forth between her men and Ramina.

"Do as she says." She ordered.

"But-"

"Now!" She interrupted him.

Inari watched as the gang dropped their weapons down on the floor. She looked back at the dryad to check on her condition and she was shocked; the dryad's skin was heavily burnt and she was not moving a single muscle.

"No... " She ran to one the dryad's hands and rubbed it. "Please wake up!" She tried to shake the hand but it was too heavy for her to move.

Amarie was disgusted by the scene she just saw and couldn't help but to feel angry about it. "You really care for this monstrosity?! She is a fiend, just like every other predator in this jungle. She deserves to be burned to death!"

"You have no right to call her a monster!" Inari turned back at Amarie. "You have killed a lot of innocent people yourself, you are now more monstrous than her!" She clenched her hands.

"You are really a fool aren't you? You think those ideals that you were taught back at Negav apply here? Or anywhere in fact? Listen to me elf, there is one rule in Felarya; eat or be eaten!"

"Then why would you ask the dryad for your fallen comrades?" Asked Ramina.

"Who said I care about them? All I cared for was my carriage, they can go to hell as far as I care. They were for hire anyway so we were not bound by any means except by money."

Inari was enraged by Amarie's comments; she had no remorse for her fallen men and thought of nobody but herself. She was the kind of person she got into the police to get rid of.

"You're not just a monster... you're an abomination... you're far worse than any monster in Felarya. I am gonna get rid of you once and for all!" Inari pointed her staff at Amarie and her gang and then a blizzard came from the tip and hit the gang as the place was covered in fog. After that, Inari fell on her knees and grasped her staff as hard as she could so she wouldn't fall down completely.

"Inari!" Ramina ran to her friend, grabbed her hand, placed her arm above her own shoulders and then helped her to get up again. "Are you alright? You've used way too much magic today."

"I am fine." She said as the words were interrupted by the occasional panting. "They should be frozen by now, maybe we could carry her body and deliver her to the force."

"Right." Nodded Ramina.

As the fog of Inari's blizzard disappeared, they indeed saw all the bodies frozen in their place, except for Amarie's which had an oval shaped ice around her. Suddenly, it shattered as a swirling fire surrounded her and she came out unharmed.

"I see." Said Ramina. "You're a mage as well."

"Yes, I am. You elves think you're the best species in this world that can use magic, and I shall prove you wrong!" She charged a large orb of lighting and then threw it at them. But a large wall made of soil blocked it.

"What the... ?!" She cried.

"Never underestimate your enemy Amarie." Ramina jumped to be above the wall. "I am an expert in both fire and earth magic, plus a few other things."

"And I am an expert in both water and lightning." Inari came from behind the wall. "We're not like those poor merchants and thugs, so surrender now and we shall make sure you get a fair trial."

"Over my dead body elves." She took out two daggers. "I've killed mightier than you!"

"Then feel the wrath of Ramina!" She fired a fireball at her but Amarie swiftly leaped to the right, dodging her fireball. "What the...?"

"What is it? Can't you aim?" Chaffed Amarie.

Ramina raged at her comment and the fire on her hand became more intense. She then shot another fireball at her but Amarie dodged it again. After that, Ramina shot several fireballs but Amarie kept dodging them with incredible agility. After a few more attacks, Amarie disappeared into the jungle, leaving a trail of burned holes producing black smoke.

"Wow..." Inari was at awe, she had never seen someone whith such an incredible speed before. Not even her elven brethren were as fast as Amarie was. "How can she do that?"

"I don't know." Replied Ramina while panting. "But we mustn't let ou-" With the corner of her eye she saw a glaring glint that caught her attention, so she turned her head and saw a large orb of fire heading towards them.

"Oh shit, get out of the way!" Cried Ramina as both of them leaped to the side, avoiding the large fireball.

Inari got back on her feet but as soon as she did, she saw Amarie charging at her with her daggers. She used her staff to defend herself and the daggers slammed it, the power of the charge so strong it pushed Inari's body backwards.

Inari then took this chance and channeled a chain of lightning at her, but she went out of the way at the last second.

Ramina ran towards her with a fire orb in her hand, but Amarie saw her and flipped to the side, dodging just in the right time. As she did so, she spun and stabbed Ramina's right arm. She screamed in pain as Amarie stabbed her again in the abdomen and the knees, the movements so fast she didn't have time to react. She fell on the ground as blood covered most of her clothes.

"Rami!" Inari ran towards her friend but Amarie dashed to her and cut through her staff, stabbing her in the stomach. She then blew her with a strong wind she casted, which threw Inari into the air and made her hit the root of the dryad head first. She tumbled on the ground feeling dizzy.

"Not so tough, huh elf?" She walked slowly to the numb Inari, towering above her. "I said you can't defeat me. I've managed to kill a dridder once, what chance do you have to defeat me?"

She gestured with her hand and Inari rose in the air, before Amarie threw her to another tree. Inari cried as the pain was unbearable. She struggled to open her eyes and saw that Amarie was walking to her.

"Now look at you guys." She continued walking towards her. "Your friend is dead and you're soon to follow. Oh, and believe me, I'll pro-" At that moment, a spike formed behind Amarie, stabbing her in her back and lifting her up. She cried out loud as pain coursed through her body.

This sudden turn of events surprised Inari as the spike seemed to come from nowhere. However, she looked far behind Amarie to see Ramina lying face down, looking at them with her hands on the ground. She tried to get up but the pain on her knees was simply too much, so she collapsed on the ground as she kept bleeding.

Inari wanted to help her friend but her body couldn't move. Soon dizziness overcame her and she closed her eyes despite her efforts of keeping them open.

Amarie on the other hand was in an immense pain. She tried to move but she was filled with shock as she realized that she could not feel her legs. "No... " She couldn't believe it. She had lost her greatest asset, the source of her strength, she could walk no longer.

Then the spike that held her started to crack as it couldn't withstand her weight. When it broke, she fell down and hit the ground hard as she let out a loud groan. She looked at her abdomen and realized that she still had a piece of the spike inside of her but she didn't want to remove it or it would worsen the wound.

She looked around and saw Inari lying next to her, so she thought this was her chance to take revenge for her legs. She picked up her daggers and crawled to the motionless elf.

She moved slowly until she reached her. "Time to die elf, its sad that I-" Amarie then noticed a shadow covering both her and Inari. She looked up and saw giant hand approaching her, so she tried to crawl away but the hand caught her and its fingers enveloped her body. Amarie was trapped in a fleshy prison and she felt an immense pressure on her body as she felt herself ascend.

Then the hand opened and the other hand came and grabbed Amarie, elevating her up. Amarie was shocked to discover that these hands belonged to the dryad, she was still alive and she lifted Amarie to her damaged face.

"No... No way you're still alive after all of that!" Cried Amarie. Then she felt a lot of pain as the dryad pressed her fingers on Amarie's hands until they broke and started to bleed. "You... Are... A... Fucking monster, you know that?"

The dryad didn't say a word, instead she opened her mouth and moved her prey towards it with an amazing speed. Amarie didn't even have time to scream and before she knew it, she was inside the dryad's mouth, deposited on her wet tongue.

Because of her condition she couldn't move, she didn't know what to do. Her body was trapped inside this gate of death and it was only a matter of time before she swallowed. Just after she thought that, the worst happened. The tongue underneath her started to tilt and the wet surface made her slide downwards.

In desperation, she crawled up as fast as she could but the movements of the tongue made her body drift back to the throat. She saw her last glimpse of the jungle from the back of the mouth. All the sights of the trees, the blue sky and the white clouds never looked precious to her as they did now. Then, the dryad closed her lips and pushed the agile human down her throat in an audible swallow that muffled Amarie's scream of distress as she went down.

Amarie felt how the throat closed behind her body, pushing her forward as she descended the esophagus. She couldn't scream or even breath; she felt like this pain would never end until she reached the end of the conduct and eventually fell into the pit of the dryad's stomach.

Amarie looked around the darkness in horror, everywhere she looked was black and the sounds of the dryad's body were all around her. She crawled on the soggy surface until she reached the walls that had a fluid that burned her skin. Now reality came crushing on her as if she was hit by lightning, she was going to die here, and there was nothing she could do about it.

"No..." She hit the walls with her injured hands as hard as she could. "I cannot simply die here... This isn't how my life ends..." Tears poured out of her eyes as she said these words, realizing she would no longer see her home, her friends and associates anymore. She was now nothing more than food to this dryad.

***

Inari felt that her strength was starting to get back to her, and she felt an unusual warmth that gave her a sense of security that she had never felt before. She opened her eyes to see that she was on a brown surface with Ramina laying near her. She sensed something fondling her body and thus she looked up and saw that it was the other hand of the dryad, lovingly rubbing her fingers on her. However, she stopped when she noticed Inari's movements.

"You're awake!" She lifted her hand to her face to get a closer look at them. "Are you alright? Are your pains gone?"

Inari looked at her abdomen to check her wound but it had disappeared, and the hole in her robe made by Amarie's blade only exposed a sound piece of skin like the wound was never there.

"I am... I am fine..." She said. She looked at her elven friend and saw that her wounds were gone too.

"That's great! I healed you guys myself, I don't do it much but I managed to succeed."

"Y-y-y-you can heal wounds?" Asked Inari.

"Why yes, my saliva can in fact heal wounds, I've used a lot of it to heal myself. Tell me elf..." She neared them to her eyes. "What is your name?"

"C-c-call me Inari."

"Inari. Nice to meet you, my name is Mami. And let me tell that I am in your debt for eternity, never thought a small elf like you would save my life from these monsters."

"Yeah, what happened to them?"

"Well." She drummed her elegant belly with the fingers of her free hand. "Let's just say I took care of them."

"Oh, I see..."

"But I must ask Inari, why did you save me? Your kind hates giant predators and wishes that we never existed."

"It's..." She tilted her head down a bit. "Because I once lost someone dear to me because of fire..."

"Oh no..." She gasped.

"Yes... She saved my life to get me out of a place erupting with fire, and she died because of it. I really do not want to talk about."

"It's okay Inari." She carefully rubbed her bald head with her index finger. "And who is she?" She pointed at Ramina.

"Oh, her name is Ramina Highwind. She is my best friend, she has been with me since I was a little child."

"I see, nice to meet you two. I am in your debt for saving my life, and as a start, me and my friends won't eat you or any of your friends. And my dryad network is under your command."

When Inari heard a moan coming from Ramina, she turned her face to her and saw her waking up. Ramina rubbed her face and then looked around. She flinched at the sight of her location, she was high in the air on a giant hand.

"Hello Ramina!" Said Mami with a warm smile.

"Oh no..." Ramina went closer to her friend. "She is not gonna eat us, isn't she?"

"Don't worry Rami, she is a friend of ours now, she even healed our wounds."

"What in the...?" She lifted her shirt and revealed her athletic belly to see that all of her wounds were gone before covering it back again. "Well, thanks Dryad."

"Call me Mami. Do you feel alright now?"

"I-I am fine." Ramina was still startled by the fact that a predator was in front of her and didn't want to eat her.

Inari laughed at her and then she looked up and realized the sun was setting and it was going to be dark soon, so they would have to go back to Negav before the jungle became more dangerous.

"Mami." Inari neared herself to Mami's face. "It was nice meeting you, but we need get back home now. It's starting to get late."

"Aww, already?" She frowned. "But you'll come here and visit me again, won't you?" She widened her eyes to look as innocent as she could.

"Of course we will. You saved our lives too, we will come again." Said Inari.

"Awesome! Now let me get you down." She slowly lowered her hand down.

"Before you do that." Said Ramina as she raised her hand. "I have a question that haunted me this whole day and I want you to answer it."

"Well." She raised her hand up again. "What is it?"

"Is it true that elves are one of the tastiest preys in whole Felarya?"

Mami listened to her words and then a smile appeared across her face. "You have no idea how tasty you guys are." She licked her lips.

"Eeek!" Ramina went behind her friend to hide herself.

"It's okay, I said I won't eat you." She giggled.

Mami lowered them down and they said their goodbyes before walking away from the dryad as she used her camouflage to hide herself from strangers this time around. Inari and Ramina looked back and noticed that she now looked like an ordinary tree among a crowd of them. If they didn't know which tree was Mami, they wouldn't have known she was there.

They walked to their car and both of them sat comfortably on their seats.

"Oh my, this day was tiring." Said Ramina as she started the engine.

"Rami." Called Inari. "Thank you. For today I mean, it was fantastic."

"Don't say that Inari, you're not just a friend, you're my sister. A great one in fact, I just don't like seeing you sad." She released the brakes and drove out of the grove.

"Heh, this day certainly made me happier. And we gained a new friend too."

"Will you visit her again though?"

"I don't know, we'll see."

***

A couple of hours later, Inari opened her apartment door, placed her bag on the floor and then collapsed on her couch. After arriving to the city, she and Ramina went to the nearest police station and reported that Amarie was around no more and she wouldn't be threat to anyone from now on. She never thought she'd do this during her leave.

She felt tired. She wanted to change her damaged robe for a more comfortable piece of garment, but she was too lazy to do it so she laid back and enjoyed the peace she was having after a long day of fighting. She idly moved her eyes around her apartment until something caught her attention so much that made her turn her head.

She stood up, went back to her bag, opened it and took the drawing she did of Mami. It was almost a complete drawing of her body with a bit of shading here and there.

She thought to herself, could she complete it? She suffered a block ever since her sister's last birthday and never brought herself to draw anything after then because of guilt. She then went to see her picture with Theresa, and remembered how her older sister died to save her life, for her to be happy. She didn't want her to be sad and brooding.

So, Inari went to her table and took her pencil and started to draw again. She drew lines, shades and wavy traces, and kept doing that for about an hour, trying to perfect the whole piece.

Then, she took her watercolors, her brush and a bowl of water. She stroked a color with her brush and then placed it on another plank, repeating the process with another color to mix them and make a new one. Now that she got what she wanted, she took her brush and carefully placed it on her drawing. She didn't want to ruin her hard work after all the time she invested in it.

She kept coloring it for several hours, trying to get the perfect tone and balance to her piece, and then, after hours of coloring layers over layers, she finally completed it. The painting was now perfect, her first painting in eight months.

"Oh boy." She reclined on her couch and panted, this was one tiring activity. She glanced at her window to notice the first streaks of dawn in the cloudless sky.

Inari, simply tilted her head back and closed her eyes, she felt comfort she missed feeling in a long time. She saved a predator's life today, her sister had always loved dryads and thought of them as the most beautiful beings in all Felarya. She would have been proud of her if she was alive. With these happy thoughts, Inari drifted to a peaceful sleep.

A sweet story
the characters are attaching and they work well together. And lot of things happening. You can't really have a dull day while walking into Felarya XD
Just a small remark but maybe they befriended the dryad a bit too fast ? I mean I could see Ramina urging caution and being a bit more unsettled by Inari's action when she jumps out to help the dryad ^^

Karbo wrote:

A sweet story
the characters are attaching and they work well together. And lot of things happening. You can't really have a dull day while walking into Felarya XD
Just a small remark but maybe they befriended the dryad a bit too fast ? I mean I could see Ramina urging caution and being a bit more unsettled by Inari's action when she jumps out to help the dryad ^^

I am glad you think so mon ami

Yeah not just that, the whole prose may feel a bit rushed at times, I shall do better next time

Story 3: Yet another perilous Journey .

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Inari hummed a dulcet melody as she arranged her bed sheets and made them neat and tidy. She smiled as the tender odor of the new sheets tickled her nose. Unable to resist, she collapsed on the bed and decided to take a rest. She had been doing chores all day: cleaning, grocery shopping, and ironing her uniform in preparation to return to service in two days. She thought this was a rest well earned.

She had enjoyed her vacation despite its lasting for only one week. It had an unforgettable start, with a trip into the Felryan jungle with her best friend Ramina Highwind, where they were caught in perilous situations including encountering an Earth Mouth, being chased by a harpy, and saving a dryad from a highly wanted thief (that encounter had almost led them to their death before the dryad saved their lives at the last moment).

However, ever since that day, an unnerving thought had been gnawing at her mind, stuck in it like a bug in a sticky spider web - she and Ramina having almost died that day at the hands of Amarie Valemt, despite the fact that Ramina had been the one to cripple Amarie with her magic; Inari hadn't done anything.

Inari had always wanted to help innocent people since she was young. Ever since the death of her sister, she had a goal set for herself that she would be a person that made other lives better, such that Theresa's death wouldn't be in vain. In addition she had always despised those who took pleasure from the suffering of others.

But she had failed to defeat Amarie that day; she even lost her staff because of it. What if she hypothetically encountered Amarie again during her time on duty? Would she be able to protect the people of Negav from Amarie's evildoings ?

Presently she heard clicking sounds coming from her door and turned her head toward the sound. As she heard the door open, she saw Ramina walking into her living room, wearing her jogging wear: black shorts that revealed most of her thighs and a sleeveless white top that occasionally revealed her midriff.

"Inari!" she called, hopping in place and waving her arms in a precise rhythm.
Inari sighed at her friend; even though she trusted her with her life, she sometimes regretted giving her a copy of her apartment keys.

"Right here!" she stood up and went to her friend, who was still hoping in place, "So, you've been jogging, huh?"

"Yeah, nothing like a good jog in the morning," she replied, walking over to and sitting on the couch. "I've jogged through the entire middle tier - it took me about two hours, taking breaks every now and then."

"Impressive," said Inari. Ramina had always been athletically superior to her and to many of her coworkers at the force. On occasion a fellow officer would challenge her for a race off duty, but she rarely ever lost, even against her elven cohorts.

Inari thought that Ramina's arrival was perfect: she had to consult someone about the dilemma that had been haunting her for the past two days.

"Rami," she addressed and sat near her friend, "you've known me for a long time - we knew each other ever since we were kids, I know you're going to be honest with me so..."

"You're not gonna propose, are you?" said Ramina.

"W-w-what? No, silly!" She got up and faced her. "I was gonna ask, do you think I am weak?"

"Weak?" Ramina got up on her feet as well. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean magically weak, we're police officers and we're supposed to be as powerful as we could to protect this city, and we almost died when we fought Amarie."

"Inari," Ramina held her friend's arms and looked directly into her cyan-colored eyes. "Don't worry, you're not weak, you're a very talented hydromancer and a pretty intelligent elf, you care for your job and everyone around you."

"And as for Amarie," she went on, "she was one of the most powerful and devious wanted criminals in our city, anyone would have a hard time fighting her, Hell, I couldn't have attacked her if she hadn't let her guard down and thought I was dead at that time."

"You mean..."

"Listen, Inari," she held her friend's hands and both of them sat on the couch. "Don't you ever be down on yourself, you're an elf, be proud!"

"Huh, you're saying that to the elf whom left the elven district for years by now," she replied.

"That still doesn't change who you are."

"I know," Inari said with a soft giggle, "thanks Rami, I appreciate your help."

"Hey that's what friends for!" she replied, and lightly punched her shoulder. "So now after all of that, tell me, what are your plans for today?"

"Okay, check this out." Inari stood from her couch and went to her storeroom. Ramina, oblivious of what she was up to, followed her.

Inari opened the door and pulled out a large piece of paper; it was her latest painting of Mami the dryad, a beautiful watercolor with vibrant shades of green, blue, brown, and white, coupled with excellent composition of lush life that fully realized the scene without making it look cluttered.

"Inari, it's wonderful." Ramina took the painting and looked at it thoroughly, further letting her eyes enjoy the beautiful scene her friend had brought to life. "Are you going to take to the gallery as usual?"

"I have a ... more unusual plan this time." Inari gently took the painting from her friend.

"What do you have in mind?"

Inari had a rather atypical idea in her mind. She hesitated to tell her friend about it, but she eventually found the courage to spill her plan: "I want to give this painting to the dryad."

"What?! And what would a dryad do with a painting ?

"I don't know." Inari seemed confused, she hadn't befriended a predator before and didn't know what to give her. "I just feel that I should give something back to Mami."

"Tell you what," Ramina answered, "Let's pay her a visit, we left her abruptly the last time we were there. Then we could chit-chat and get to know her more, then we shall know what she really likes and give her a proper gift."

"Oh Rami you would do that?"

"Of course! We could leave now if you want to, I've got nothing to do today and my car is ready!"

"Fantastic! I'll meet you at the gates as usual."

***

Inari readied herself for her trip to the jungle; she thought it might be better if she were more heavily armed this time around. It was pitiful that she had lost her staff during her fight with Amarie, but luckily she still had the old staff she had received back when she was at the University of Magic. It would have to do until she got another one.

In addition to her staff, she brought a handgun along with some extra bullets. At first she thought of using her standard-issue gun that she used for her job, but it didn't feel right for her to use it for a personal use, so she left it and took a gun she had bought from a store in the lower tier.

So, having packed everything she needed for her trip, she stepped outside, not knowing what to expect in her second journey into the jungle this week.

As she stepped outside her building, she saw a familiar face. There was a man walking towards her building - it was Rorik, wearing casual clothes, which indicated that his shift was not until later in the day.

"Miss Naymore," he said as he stepped toward her, "what a surprise! I was going to visit you just now."

"Would you drop the formality, Rorik? We're both off duty," she said.

"I know, it's just you elves like formality when talking to humans like me."

"You're saying that to the elf who no longer lives in the elven district." Indeed Inari had left the place where she grew up a long time ago. It was true that she was an elf, but she didn't share the pride and ego that her brethren shared among themselves; she thought of herself as equal to any other race in Negav, though the words "short-eared" might slip her tongue if she were high-tempered. "So what brings you here?"

"I just wanted to see how you're doing Inari, my job has chomped so much of my time that I barely see my family and friends, however I see you're already going somewhere."

"Yeah I am going to hang out with Ramina, you're welcome to keep me company until I reach her though," she proposed.

"That would be great." He gave her a wide smile as they walked together.

"So, do you like your new job?" she asked as she pulled up her hood to cover her head. "Everybody misses you back at the station."

"Well, tell them I don't miss them, I won't forget all those pranks they did to me, especially the ones plotted by Ramina." He shuddered slightly as he uttered these words.

Inari giggled and said, "Is that you real reason for leaving us? Just for a few pranks?"

"I won't lie and say it wasn't a factor , but it's not my main reason for leaving, I'd rather keep that to myself if you don't mind."

"As you wish, just know that you're always welcome there, and we are always gonna protect your back."

"Yeah, just like how you protect this city's back?" His tone became stern, and Inari didn't like it.

"What d-"

"Look, Inari," he interrupted her, as both of them stopped in their tracks, "The Negavian police is corrupt, you know that, I know that, and everybody knows that, they don't do their best to protect this city, they do their best to protect their personal interests if you know what I mean."

Inari carefully listened to his words. It was a widespread idea that the Negavian police was corrupt and inefficient - while this notion was not entirely false, it was unfair to her and various other members of the force who actually did their job honorably.

"Listen, Rorik, I know some of the force may not be the most sincere ones, but if people like you leave, none of the good guys will be left."

"Inari, I know you're a sincere officer, but believe me, no matter how powerful you are, corruption in our force is stronger, I learned that the hard way." He sighed as he stopped walking.

"Rorik, is something bothering you?" She stepped closer to him.

"No, it's just I remembered there is something I've to do." He smiled to her, but it was obvious that it was forced.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, please tell Ramina I said hi." With these words he departed onto another road.

Inari wasn't entirely sure what was upsetting him, but she knew that she wasn't the only one who had had problems in their past. For Rorik, talking about the times when he was an officer must've triggered an unpleasant memory related to his departure from the force.

After a while, Inari reached the gates of Negav and went beyond it's great walls. She saw Ramina waiting for her, leaning her body on the exterior of her car and crossing her arms.

"You're a bit late," Ramina said.

"Sorry, stumbled upon Rorik on my way here," Inari answered.

"Oh, how is he?"

"He seemed a bit troubled, but I think he'll be alright."

"Troubled?" She raised an eyebrow.

"He seems to still have bad memories of when he used to be an officer, at least that's I what think it is."

"Well, maybe we can see him when we get back. Hop in!" She opened her door and sat on her seat, and Inari placed her bag in the back seat and sat next to her.

They drove through the lush jungle as Inari sank into her own thoughts about what kind of questions she'd have for the dryad. Having never befriended a predator before, she had so many questions running through her head about what it felt like to be a dryad.

However, anxiety started to creep into her mind as she saw the green leaves obscure the blue sky and the jungle start to be more dim as result. Inari didn't remember being in this part of the jungle the last time she was out.

"Rami, are you sure you remember the place?" she asked, hoping for an answer to take away her unease.

"Yes I do, but I think I missed a turn back there," her friend replied.

"Damn it, Ramina! We're lost, aren't we?"

"No, we're not! I am telling you, I just missed a turn and I-" Suddenly she saw a figure running in front of her. Ramina pressed hard on the brake pedal, hoping that she wouldn't crash into it, but she heard an effeminate shriek coming from the front of the car as it finally stopped.

Hastily, the elven pair got out of their car to see what had intercepted their path. They saw another elf, a young, dark-haired girl with green leather pants and a brown shirt. She was sitting on the ground with her arms extended backwards, implying that she had fallen down when she saw the car heading towards her. She glanced between Inari and Ramina, her breath heavy.

" Awww,you poor thing." Ramina approached her, but the girl crawled away from her on all fours.

"It's alright, we won't hurt you." Ramina walked slowly over to the terrified elf. "We're here to help you."

She continued looking back and forth between the elven pair, still panting and shaking as if she had just escaped certain death.

"It's... It's coming... He is after me," she finally spoke.

" Who is comi-" Inari couldn't finish her sentence as a large creature came into her view. It was a mobile plant that consisted of a large pod with a big mouth hanging over a sac with large tendrils supporting it.

"Him!" cried the girl, as she grabbed onto Inari.

" Gravedigger," said Ramina as she charged an orb of fire, and then she threw it at the carnivorous plant. The tendrils moved in a chaotic rhythm as the flames engulfed its entire body, and then the creature finally tilted to the right and fell down.

The girl stood still as the fire danced over the corpse of the Gravedigger. She never thought that a monster like that could be taken down so easily. She jumped as she felt hands caressing her. She looked up to see Inari looking back at her and smiling.

"It's okay." Inari kneeled down to her eye level. "That monster is no more, nothing can harm you now."


"Hey," Ramina ambled towards the little girl and bent over to look at her. "It's alright, you're safe with us."

The girl slowly started to calm down, and her breath started to get slower. She looked back and forth between her saviors until she finally spoke. "Thank you... "

"No need to thank us, tell me little girl, what's your name?"

"P-P-Precia," she answered. "P-please, I need your help."

"What's wrong?" asked Inari.

"My brother and I, we were surrounded by Gravediggers until he killed one and made a distraction for me to escape, please..." She hugged Inari and looked directly into her cyan eyes. "I need you to save him, he is the only family I had left."

Inari stared at the poor little elf and then eyed her friend. Ramina nodded in approval of the little Precia's call.

" Alright, take us to him."

"Oh, thank you! Follow me..." She let loose of her grip on Inari and went into the jungle.

The elven pair followed Precia's footsteps through the jungle. She jogged in order to reach her brother as soon as possible, and Inari had some trouble keeping up with her because of her robe, which made her slightly regret not having pants at the moment. They ran under a large, moss covered root, and then she stopped.

"There he is!" She pointed with her index finger.

Inari and Ramina saw another dark-haired elf, not much older than Precia, surrounded by two gravediggers. Ramina ran to them and engulfed the carnivorous plants in blazing flames. They started heading towards her but the flames consumed both of them before they could reach her.

The elf looked surprised at the sudden appearance of the fire that had killed the flesh-eating plants. He looked at Ramina and once again drew his sword.

"Who are you?" he asked in stern voice.

"Friends," answered Ramina, "We came here by the request of your sister."

"My sister?" He lowered his sword.

"Malakay!" Precia ran and to her brother and wrapped her arms around him.

"Precia? I thought I told you to run away so you won't die."

"I know, but I ran into these elves and asked them for help, thanks to them I didn't lose you."

Malakay moved his gaze to the elven pair in front of him, his unfriendly look sending an uncomfortable vibe.

"I don't know who you are, but thank you for saving my sister. Now if you'll excuse us we must leave." He took his sister's hand and walked away from them.

"Wait!" Inari paced towards them, "Do you have a place to live? Do you have someone to go to?"

"I won't bother explaining something like that to strangers," he elaborated, "But long story short, we're on our own."

"But it's dangerous for kids like you to wander around the jungle like that," said Ramina. "And don't say strangers, we're elves just like you."

"Our tribe doesn't trust strangers, even if they are elves, now be gone. " He took his sister and started to climb a nearby tree.

Inari didn't know what to do - she knew it was dangerous to wander the jungle without help, especially with nowhere to go for shelter, but she couldn't force them to go with her and Ramina if they didn't wish it.

Ramina turned to her as if she wanted her to say something to stop them, or encourage her to stop them. But it wasn't in her to say so. Finally, though, Ramina decided she had to break the silence.

"We can't leave them here," she said.

Inari sighed and placed her palm on Ramina's shoulder. "Rami, I know how much you love children, but if they -"

"I am sorry, Inari," she cut off, "I am afraid I cannot simply stand here and do nothing while they face Felarya alone."

"But -"

"Look, just wait for me in the car and I'll convince them to come with us to Negav." With these words, she left her friend and went to follow the young elves.

"Rami!" Inari followed her, not knowing what else she could do.

"Hey!" Ramina called out to Malakay, who was up on a tree branch at this point with his sister, "Do you guys even have a place for you to stay?"

"I told you it's none of your business!" replied Malakay.

"Don't make me come up there!"

As they argued, Precia smelled a sweet smell that delighted her nose. She was quite hungry since she hadn't eaten anything since morning, so she got up and walked along the branch in search of the source of the smell. She looked up and saw a big, green fruit hanging up in a tree above her. Nearby were other fruits, in a bunch so huge it might feed her and Malakay for weeks.

However her eyes widened when she saw the fruit split open, revealing a maw inside of it. Suddenly, writhing tentacles shot out of it, grabbed her tightly, plucked her from her place, and lifted her body towards the welcoming maw.

Malakay heard the sounds of distress and turned to see the tentacles clinging to his sister's body and taking her away to her doom. Inari and Ramina looked at her with dismay; the leaves of the tree obscured the podmaw and she hadn't noticed it.

"Precia!" Malakay drew his sword and rushed to rescue her, but it was way too far a height to reach her.

"Precia, hang on!" He started to climb toward the branch from which the podmaw was hanging.

"I am coming!" Ramina yelled as she climbed the tree herself.

As Inari tried to follow her friend, she sensed the earth rumble beneath her feet and looked behind her to see some of the trees in the distance moving and their movements getting closer. There was no doubt about it: danger was approaching them.

"Rami!" Inari cried as Ramina reached the first branch. "Hide yourself, a predator is approaching!"

Ramina looked back at her friend and then saw the trees moving. She cursed that her day couldn't get any worse.

"Malakay, try to hide somewhere, a predator is coming!"

"No way! I am gonna -" then he saw a shadow forming underneath him. He looked up and saw that tentacles from another podmaw had grabbed him. He was surprised as to where it came from until he noticed that the tree contained dozens of them.He rapidly cut through the tentacles, but his sword wasn't sharp enough to cut through all of them.

"I am coming!" Ramina climbed to the branch near him and shot a fireball at the tentacles; within a short time, the tentacles couldn't support Malakay's weight and eventually broke. He fell down with some of the remaining parts still wrapped around him.

Ramina ran towards Malakay and removed the severed tentacles from his body. "You alright?" she asked.

He shook his head."My legs..." he muttered.

"It's okay, I am here for you. Now we must hide."

She carried him on her shoulders and went toward a hole in the tree's trunk.

Inari sighed in relief as she saw them go inside. She herself hid inside a hole among the roots and stayed alert.

From behind the trees, a dridder appeared. She had tanned skin, short dark hair, and a maroon bandana, and she carried a spear which had strange emblems engraved on it.

"Latisha, wait for me!" called a feminine voice. A few moments later, another dridder appeared - she was smaller than the first and looked to be more agile.

"Well, it's been a long day and we couldn't find something to eat," said Latisha.

"Tell me about it, I am starving. " said the smaller dridder as she caressed her belly.

"Patience Sheree, it's a virtue every hunter should have."

Sheree sighed and looked around the area they had just entered. The sight of green trees was a breath of fresh air compared to the white trunks and web-covered canopies of the dridder forest. Then her eyes caught something that made her belly rumble.

"Podmaws!" she pointed at the tree Inari and the rest occupied.

"My my, nice catch, this should sustain our hunger for a while. "

"Let's go fetch some!"

The dridder pair went to the podmaw filled tree and started to pluck them one by one. Malakay watched in horror as Sheree plucked the podmaw that contained his sister.

"No! Precia!" He tried to move despite his broken leg, but Ramina grasped both of his arms hard and held him back.

"Do you want to get yourself killed?" she said with a hushed but stern voice.

"But Precia will-"

"I know how much Precia means to you, I promise you that I'll save her," she assured him.

"H-how are you-"

"Shhhh." She shushed him and slowly reclined his body against the wall, "Don't worry, me and Inari are Negavian police, I am not sure you understand it, but it means it's our job to help people. Keep calm and leave it to us."

Malakay was hesitant to trust her, he was raised to not trust strangers, he was told that all strangers were evil and only wanted to use him to get what they want. However, Ramina was an elf just like him, and she had just saved his life; that contradicted what his father had told him. Maybe he should trust her to save his sister.

"A-a-alright." He nodded.

"Great, now wait for me." She went to see what was happening outside - she saw that the eight-legged predators had taken all the padmaws and gone to lay down near the tree. They had placed the podmaws between them and started to chat.

"I am so tired, it's been three days since we left the tribe and we haven't seen a good thing to hunt yet," said Sheree as she picked at a podmaw.

"I know, but remember that it's a trial, if we succeed we will be renowned as master hunters and we shall be in charge of hunting expeditions," replied Latisha as she took a bite.

"I can't wait to that to happen!" She shoved the entire podmaw in her mouth, her cheek feeling slightly bloated as she did so.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Latisha.

Sheree lifted her index finger for a moment and then swallowed her mouth's contents - a bulge went down her neck and into her body, and she breathed heavily and looked at her friend. "This was a challenge I used to do with my friends of who can swallow a whole podmaw. I usually win this contest, it's pretty fun!"

"That's pretty stupid, what if you choked?" Latisha argued.

"I won't choke, I am a professional!"

Inari watched in trepidation as they ate the podmaws one by one, she didn't know what to do, there were not one but two dridders in front of her, against whom she wouldn't stand a chance. But then she thought of something, a plan that might get her killed, but would save the life of that innocent child.

"Inari!" She heard the voice of her friend calling from above, and she turned her face to see Ramina in an opening in-between two of the complex roots.

"Rami?" She went to closer to her elven friend.

"Inari, we gotta save her, we can't stand like this and do nothing."

"I know, I have a plan," she proposed.

"I am all ears."

"I am going head on to face them, I am gonna distract them and try to make them follow me into the jungle, while they're away , you go and find Precia and bring her to safety."

Ramina went silent for two whole seconds before saying, "That's crazy."

"Well, that's Felarya for you. Let's do this." She readied her staff and went toward a large opening in the roots.

"Inari wait!" Ramina jumped through the hole. "I'll go and distract them."

"Wait what?!"

"You know I am a faster runner, come on, there is no time to argue!" she pleaded.

"Alright, fine," groaned Inari.

"Great, I promise you I'll be back." With that sentence, she stormed outside to face the eight-legged predators on her own.

Ramina's heartbeat was in rhythm with her footsteps as she slowly got closer to the predators. She didn't want to get too close, as she needed time to run into the jungle. Then she froze when Latisha's eye turned to look at her, and then her face, Sheree's face soon to follow.

"An elf!" Latisha got up and then helped her friend to get back up too.

"Yeah but this one is mine!" Sheree reached for her bag and threw a net at Ramina, but she leapt to her left and dodged it.

"Damn it!" cursed Sheree as she started to run towards the elf.

Ramina ran away as fast as she could, constantly glancing between her heading and the predators that followed her. Sheree extended her hand to catch Ramina, but the elf blindly cast a fireball behind her and she was thankful to discover that it hit her.

"Ouch!" Sheree caressed her hand and then followed Ramina again with an angrier look.

Ramina finally hid herself inside a hole in a tree trunk, went through it, and came out on the other side.

"Hey bimbos!" she called as they looked for her, "come and catch me you oh-so-formidable hunters!"

Latisha gritted her teeth and followed the agile elf, but Ramina went into another root. Inside, she panted for a bit and then ran away as giant hands started to storm the place.

"Come on Inari, go save her!" she said to herself.

Inari watched as the predators disappeared into the jungle. She feared for her friend - it was her plan, and she didn't want her friend to die for it. However, she had more important matters to address at the moment.

She went outside of her sanctuary and went to the pile of podmaws. When she reached them, she scanned them piece by piece, trying to figure out where the poor little girl was.

"Precia!" she called, but got no response. She ran in between the podaws as anxiety started to get the better of her - what if they had already eaten her? What if she now lay within the depths of a dridder's gut?

"Precia!" she screamed louder, then her heart almost flew when she saw a podmaw shaking in response to her calling.

She ran towards the podmaw, drew her knife, and made a large cut through it; after a few more cuts she reached her hand inside and felt another hand, which grasped hers tightly.

"Precia!" she pulled and Precia's soaked body came out of its carnivorous prison.

"Th-th-thank you..." she muttered.

"No need to thank me, now let's get back in and wait for Ramina to get back."

Precia nodded as Inari carried her, but as she did, something horrible happened - Sheree emerged from the jungle, smiling and caressing her belly.

"That elf sure was tasty, and poor Latisha is still looking," she giggled.

Inari froze in her place as she heard the dreadful news, her friend had been eaten, she had been eaten because of her plan, because she let her friend go instead of herself.

Sheree then noticed the elven pair. Inari gasped and tried to run towards the roots.

"Oh no you don't!" Sheree reached for her bag and threw a net at them, which spread open and eventually caught them.

Inari and Precia were trapped - the net was made of spider silk and wouldn't let them move. She looked up to see Sheree hovering over her and Precia.

"Well well, looks like I am having three elves today." She extended her arms to grab them. However, she heard a grunt and saw another elf swinging on a vine towards her, and with swift finality the elf swung his sword at her hand and made a cut in her tanned skin. Sheree screamed as she caressed her injured hand.

Inari and Precia looked up and saw that it was Malakay. He clung to the vine with his life with one hand and he held his sword in the other.

"I will not let you eat them!" cried Malakay.

"Oh, another one, this is my lucky day! More elves!" said Sheree.

"Dare to touch any of them, and I shall continue to cut you!" challenged Malakay.

"Yea right, like you can defeat me, elf. Look at me, I am giant and you're little." She laughed.

Inari wanted to move but the net was tight and her movements hard. She forced herself to make her body face upwards, to see Malakay landing painfully on his legs.

"Malakay..." whispered Precia.

"Now, time for you to die, elves." Sheree reached for them but Malakay slashed with his sword again and made her impulsively retract it.

"I told you I won't let you eat them."

"Alright, now you made me angry, bad move!" She went to catch him, but then a brilliant light came from behind him, and she saw Inari charging a large blue orb made of lighting. She was surprised and wondered how she could do that.

"That's for Ramina, you monster!" She threw the lighting ball at her, Sheree cried out loud in pain, and eventually hthe dridder's colossal body collapsed in front of them.

Malakay was in awe of what he saw - Inari had taken down this dridder with only an orb of lightning, hard as it was to believe. Then he came back to his senses and went back to cut the net to free the others.

"Brother..." said Precia.

"Precia!" He kneeled down to her. "I am sorry, if I wasn't so arrogant, you wouldn't be in such danger."

"It's okay." She placed her delicate palm on his cheek. "It was all thanks to Inari we're all safe."

He looked back at the elven mage that had saved his life, stood up, and extended his hand. "Thank you Inari, and I am deeply sorry for your loss."

"It's alright." She shook his hands. "Rami died to save our lives, like a true police officer. The news of her death will be devastating to her family, but enough of that, let's get going before she wakes up."

"You mean she isn't dead?!"

"It takes more than that to kill a dridder, I bet she-" She stopped in mid-sentence as she saw Latisha emerging from behind the trees.

"Latisha!" she started to get closer to them.

"Oh no, Inari, take Precia and get away!"

"But your leg!"

"There is-"

At that moment, they were shocked to see a car appear behind them, in it none other than Ramina at the wheel. "Jump in, quickly!"

They didn't argue; Inari carried Precia and sat next to her friend while Malakay dropped himself on the back seat, and together they drove away from the dridder.

Latisha went to her friend, leaned Sheree's body upright, lifted her arm, and rested it above her shoulders. "Sheree, Sheree, wake up! "

Sheree's eyes twitched before they finally opened. She looked at her friend and said, "I am sorry... I disappointed you... Latisha..."

"It's alright, right now let's take you somewhere discreet so you can rest."

"But -"

"You live and learn Sheree, forget about it."

Sheree nodded and followed her friend into the thick jungle.

***

"Oh Rami, you've no idea how glad I am to see you alive," said Inari.

"Of course I am! I don't jog every day for nothing," replied Ramina.

"But I don't get it, that dridder said she ate an elf-"

"She ate another one, poor little thing couldn't stand a chance. She was some sort of scout, and she met her fate."

"I see, how unfortunate."

"Where are we going?" asked Malakay, whom Ramina had almost forgotten was with them.

"We're going to see a friend who is going to treat your wounds." She smirked.

They drove through the busy jungle and rough landscape until they reached their destination.

Inari - with Precia on her arms - got out. Ramina opened her door and went back to help Malakay get on his feet. Malakay and Precia didn't know why they were here, but then one tree transformed its upper half into the shape of a human body.

"Inari! Ramina!" squealed the dryad, "You brought friends with you, too!"

"Yeah, it's to see you again Mami," said Inari. "We need your help, our friend here is injured and I think your saliva might be handy."

"Oh, just that? No problem, come here." She lowered her hand for them to climb.

Malakay was reluctant to let Ramina lead him to the hand, but he was taken by surprise when Ramina lifted him and carried his body all the way to the hand. Inari then did the same for Precia.When they were all on the hand, they ascended all the way up to the dryad's face, where Malakay and Precia were amazed at how big the dryad looked up close.

"Now first things first, what is your name?" asked Mami as she fixed her blue eyes on him.

"M-Malakay of the Dati tribe," he answered.

"Nice to meet you Malakay, you can call me Mami, now tell me, where does it hurt?" Her voice was calm and soothing.

"Well..." He lifted his garments and showed her his maimed leg.

"Awww, poor little thing, don't worry."

Malakay flinched when she opened her mouth wide and dangled her tongue - by this point he trusted she was friendly, but she was still a predator, and who knew how many lives went through that mouth and never saw daylight again.

With her wet tongue, she licked the index finger of her free hand and then neared it to him.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure I won't press hard."

Her finger then only lightly contacted his leg as she applied the saliva to it. He felt a strange, yet soothing feeling creeping into his body. Slowly the pain started to get weaker and the wounds slowly disappeared from his leg. Within a few moments, his leg was fully healed as if nothing had happened.

"Wow," said Precia, amazed by the effect of the saliva.

Then Mami licked her pinky and coated Precia's petite body. Precia felt her body getting its power back as she was soaked with the saliva.

After that, Precia got up and tested her extremities - she felt restored as if she was reborn.
"Thank you, dryad! " said Precia.

"No need to thank me, little elf."

"My name is Precia, and don't try to be humble, you're awesome!"

"Stop it, you're making me blush!"

"Now then," said Inari as they turned their attention to her. "Can you tell me what happened to you guys, and why are you on your own?"

Several moments of silence followed Inari's question as Malakay and Precia exchanged stares. At last Malakay sighed and decided to talk.

"Me and Precia are part of Dati tribe, we used to reside in the dridder forest and lived deep underground. We were not the biggest tribe but we were strong and proud. However, one day a hole appeared in our sanctuary and we were raided by Tonorions; needless to say it was a bloodbath."

"Oh my..." said Ramina, placing her hands on her mouth.

"Must've been horrible!" added Mami.

"And then what happened?" asked Inari .

"Me, Precia, and my mother were the only ones who survived, and she died trying to protect us from a dridder on our way here."

"I am sorry for your loss, Malakay, your tribe sure raised you and your sister well." She placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Listen, Inari, I know you and Ramina want to take me and my sister to live in your city. I've heard of Negav from many travelers, I am sorry but city life isn't for us, we can't simply go there and expect us to cope with it immediately."

"But you can't stay without home either, Malakay," argued Ramina, "you need a home to hold you, Felarya is no place for the homeless."

"They could stay here with me!" offered Mami.

"What?" Malakay turned to her.

"Yes, I could build you a place to live in and my camouflage will provide the ultimate protection for you from predators, you can also go and hunt for food, there is plenty to hunt here."

"Are you sure about this, Mami?" asked Inari, not sure why she offered that in the first place.

"Yes, sometimes I can feel really lonely and want a little company to talk to, plus my dryad friends are kind of boring - all they do is talk about the weather all day," she admitted.

"Well?" asked Ramina as she eyed Malakay.

"Come on brother, please? We have nowhere else to go," said Precia, giving her brother an innocent look.

Malakay looked at the dryad. She had healed him and said that she would protect them from the perils of Felarya - he used to fear predators, and now a predator was swearing to protect them.

"Alright, fine, I am going to trust you, dryad."

"Yay!" Precia wrapped her arms around her brother, giving him a tight hug.

"Very well, then." Mami lifted them and placed Malakay and Precia on her left shoulder and Inari and Ramina on her right shoulder. "Enjoy the view."

"Wow!" Precia's face glowed with awe when she saw Felarya from above - the crowd of green trees, the mountains, and the sky were spectacular to her, and she even saw a couple of harpies flying far away.

"You know, I think I am gonna like it here," said Malakay.

Inari giggled and kept looking at the amazing view. She had managed to save two innocent lives today from a dridder, using her powers alone without any help. She still wanted to be more powerful, so she could be more independent and protect those whom she loved, but today she was glad to have accomplished what she did - a happy ending.

Venom Agato wrote:

Hot damn this story is awesome. XD Well they all are but those paticular series of yours. *Sigh* I really have to get started on my own.

Glad you've enjoyed my work Venom, and what are you waiting for? do it and start your own stories! You can PM me if you need help.

I've finished ^^ hahaaha All three were awesome! XD But of course the last two were my favorite because they had the same main characters ^^ it was like tuning into the second episode of a show, and feelings all sorts of nostalgia! XD hahaha but definitely keep it up! I'll be waiting for the next installment with much bated breath! XD

The color white has never been frightening, white have always seemed like a peaceful color, associated with harmless things such as clouds and snow, however it was not the color you want to see in the Dridder Forest. White was the color of the webbings that covered the canopies everywhere, white was the color of most tree trunks that made the dridder forest their home, where dangling webs have replaced leaves, swaying as the wind blew through the dead branches, it all sent a chill down Claudia’s spine.

The frail, red haired human was just a mage from the impervious metropolis of Negav, despite practicing magic ever since she was a child she always wanted to know more about magic, she tried hard to impress her mentors with her various techniques, even if her experiments weren't always a success, that's why she always visit libraries to learn more.

As she studied more books she wanted to try some teleporting techniques because this magic field was new to her,so after borrowing some books, she decided to try teleporting from inside the library to the courtyard near it, but something went horribly wrong,after conducting the spell, she found herself further away from home than she ever wanted to, she cursed her luck several times as of all the places she could teleport to, she went here.


Claudia's nerves couldn’t rest, she walked slowly through the haunting forest hoping to stumble upon someone who wasn't willing to eat her or cause her harm, she looked right and left as her heartbeat couldn’t get any faster, never she had been so afraid her entire life.


Eventually, she decided to sit down under a web decorated tree and take a few moments to rest, the only thing she had with her along with her clothes and shoes was her bag, which only contained the two books she borrowed along with a water bottle which was already half empty.


She took the bottle and drank a few sips of water from it, she didn’t want to drink all of it to reserve it as much as she could, she didn’t know how much longer she would stay in this wretched place nor if she is going to stumble upon somebody to help her, wishful thinking alone couldn't solve her predicament.


As she placed the bottle back to her bag,she pondered about her foolish act, she knew that teleporting can be quite dangerous for an experienced mage like herself, she should have asked one of her mentors to help her out with it, however she thought that a teleporting to areas that were not very far shouldn't be hard, but it turned out she was wrong.

Claudia missed her home, her family, friends, mentors and everything back at Negav, it had been three hours since her teleportation and she already was in a state of terror, she couldn't comprehend what kind of monstrosities that will wait for her in this ghastly forest.

she heard rumbling noises coming from behind her, she got up, went around the decrepit tree to see someone whom she didn't want to meet, a being she dreaded her whole life, a dridder, she had always heard stories of how these half human, half spider predators are vile and not friendly to anyone, and they even hunt for large creatures to feed on.

The dridder she saw had an umber colored lower body, a peachy human body, silky white hair, with two hair buns, and each bun had a lock of hair that pointed towards her back. The giant dridder looked around the place until her red eyes were fixed on a hole in the ground, her plump lips twirled to form a smile and then her right arm reached for the hole , from it she pulled two web covered humans that tried to squirm their way out of her titanic palm.


"My trap worked!" she said as she almost jumped out of excitement, she brought them to her face and licked her lips.


"You know what you are? You're the first prey that my traps ever caught, oh sis is gonna be so proud!" she then picked one of them and dangled him from his feet.


"You look the yummiest of the two, I hope you'll like your new home." the dridder parted her large lips and extended her wet tongue, the human prey tried to squirm hard and eventually, her fingers removed the pressure on his feet and he fell into her tongue, he tried to get up and run but hastily the predator brought her tongue back to her mouth and closed her lips, trapping him inside the fleshy cavern for good.

The dridder seemed to enjoy his presence inside her mouth, as she played around with him inside, however she didn't want to waste her time playing with her food and thus she swallowed him, sending the hopeless prey down her body. After a long sigh of satisfaction, she looked upon her other prey, her large grin not leaving her face.


"You know, my older sister told me not to do this, but my other older sister encouraged me to do it!" She flung him up in the air and opened her mouth the human then fell into her gaping maw, and stright into her welcoming throat, after that, she closed her mouth and with swift finality swallowed the helpless human ,sending him into the dungeon below to join his friend.


Claudia didn’t know if she was supposed to be impressed or scared at the scene she saw, she had not known that those predators even play with their preys before eating them, she didn't fancy the idea of being played with like a doll, soon after enjoying her rather small snack , the dridder started looking around for her other traps, Claudia, not wanting to be captured, decided to try her luck with the teleportation spell again, hoping it would work this time around.


She extended her arms and focused, tried to think of the safe walls of her home, and the warm feeling of her room, she chanted few mystical chants as a circle of light ,she focused more and more on getting out of here and then the light flashed with such high intensity that she had to close her eyes, she felt herself suspended in the air and then suddenly she bumped into a solid ground.


She opened her eyes hoping to find herself back in her comfy home, but unfortunately, that was not where she was, to her dismay, she was right in front of the giant predator, the one place she didn’t want to be, the white haired dridder stared with bewilderment at the human that just appeared out of thin air, but soon the look of surprise turned into a look of joy.


Claudia tried to run but the dridder's hand was faster than what her frail legs could ever output, she lifted her up to her face and Claudia’s body has frozen in fear after she realized how close she was to the predator’s gargantuan face.


“Well, we seem to have an unlucky magic user here, teleporting right in front of me wasn’t the wisest of moves you know, you must be one novice mage to do that.” Said the dridder as she licked her lips.


“I-I-I am not a novice! I’ve practiced magic ever since I was a little child!” said Claudia.


“Sure sure, I imagine that yo-” she stopped her flow of words when she saw the two books sticking out of the Claudia’s bag, her intrigue has spiked as to what they're about, enticing her to know more about that contents of them “What are these books?”

“Oh these ?” Claudia picked up the ragged old books, “These are poetry books, I got them my city’s library before well, accidentally teleporting to here.” she explained.


“That’s interesting, what's your name?” she asked.


“C-C-Claudia”


“Good, my name is Oralia, and I am going to make a deal with you, are you all ears?” she said.


“I-I am listening.” She nodded.

“Alright listen, I am willing to let you go, if you tell me a poem I like, fail three times, and I’ll eat you, you have to impress me at least once ,you understand that?” she told her.


“Y-Yes, I do.” She replied, still trembling in fear.


“Right, now tell me your first poem.”


“O-Okay” replied Claudia, not sure why would a dridder fancy a poem, seeing how they lived an uncivil life in such a dire forest.


She opened one her books and looked for something that could impress the white haired predator, she looked for several minutes, flipping in between these old yellow pages trying to find the best poem that could get her out of her misery, she looked back at Oralia, she was growing impatient, she decided to choose the nearest poem to the page she was one and then she stood up to say it.


“In all of my life, across the landscapes and across the seas
Never have I see such beauty that made me freeze
Eyes more dark than the underseas
And green hair more lifeful than trees
To you and your beauty I bend my knees
For my heart was locked and you’ve found the keys
Come with me and don’t be such a tease “


Oralia frowned and had the look of disgust in her eyes , clearly the poem was not of her liking and that amplified Claudia's fears.


"Bland, badly worded and clichéd, who can a poet have such an inept skill in writing? You have two chances left Claudia." she said, as her tone became less cheerful.


"R-r-right," she said as she flipped through few pages trying to not pick something unlike the previous poem to increases the likelihood of her escaping and her no ending up inside the belly of that dridder.


She flipped the pages several times until she found a poem she was familiar with, she stood up again with the book in her hand.


"I saw her petite body sitting under a humble tree
Her beauteous eyes looking into the ominous sea
Wondering where her dear beloved might be
Oh how I wish to run to her and be on me knee
Staring into her eyes and begging her to hear my plea
I'll tell her that for her eyes only, I would go on a killing spree
But my feelings are nothing but a caged bird and only she has the key"


Claudia took her eyes away from her book and looked into Oralia's face, her lips slowly formed a smile that brought relief to Claudia.


"Well that's more like it, it has a theme and a sad meaning contained in its words, I read once that platonic love can be quite painful ." she said


"Does that mean you'll let me go now?" She asked, almost pleading.


Oralia looked at her and let out a melodic laugh, but it was loud and bombastic from Claudia’s perspective, naturally she didn’t like the sound of it.


“While this poem wasn’t that bad, you need to try harder to defeat my hunger, and it's growing as we speak.” she once again licked her large lips.


Not wanting to be on the other side of Oralia’s lips, she once again looked into her book, she was more paranoid than ever before, however, she took a look at Oralia then looked back again at her book, she then closed it and put it down, Oralia looked baffled and wondered why would she drop the book, then Claudia looked straight at Oralia and said :


“Don’t look at me as if I am a man who conspire
For I can’t stand against such a spire
How can I look up in anger when in your look there is so much to admire
Eyes deep red like shimmering fire
Looking down at me with a look filled with ire
Long white hair that does nothing but inspire
Inspire me to write words I want to turn into choir
A choir of how even if they strapped my by barbed wire
You shall always be my desire
My love for can only ever grow higher
And from it I assure you I won’t retire
Because a life without you is something truly dire”

Oralia was stunned, she looked at Claudia without saying a word, she didn’t like the giant predator’s silence, but then she finally spoke her mind.

“That... that was wonderful, really I am shocked.” she said as she neared Claudia to her face so quickly that Claudia fell on her back.

“Who wrote this poem? I assume it wasn’t in your books since you closed them.”


“Actually, the man who wrote it is my father, he wrote this poem for my mom long time ago, like you she had white hair and red eyes, and the spire mention is because she was tall, so tall in fact people sometimes mistook her for an elf.” she explained.


“I see, well, a promise is a promise,” she slowly lowered her hand down and Claudia quickly jumped into the ground.


“Thank you Oralia, I never thought you predators like poetry.”


“I do, not sure about others, I know my sisters are indifferent towards it and other writings.”


“Alright well, gotta go!” Claudia ran away from Oralia and disappeared into the forest, Oralia shrugged and continued to look through her traps, hoping to find more prey to feed on.


Claudia went inside of a tree trunk and tried to focus on getting home by teleporting, clearly walking in a place like the dridder forest isn’t viable option with all the dridders walking around.


She focused hard on getting home, she thought of her family, and loved ones and tried her best to focus all of her energy on getting home, she chanted the magical words and once again the circle of light appeared underneath her, and then everything flashed as she closed her eyes, hoping to see home again.

Words, lots of words, hundreds of words, Oralia liked them, adored them, her mind has always loved to devour them just like her mouth loves to devour tiny morsels. Words had always ignited her imagination, it made her mind teleport to places she wouldn't get to herself whether it was fictional or real, even for a Dridder, exploring a place like Felarya can be extremely perilous.


She was reading her father's journal about his journey to the Jungle of Perils, his vivid descriptions of that place had always sucked her in and the more she reads about the red vegetation that shrouds the jungle, and the stunning beauty of the bramble dryads and variety of different creatures living in it, the more she got intrigued. However the jungle does live up to its name, it's extremely dangerous , he described how his encounters with the creatures such as the bloodclaw apes almost killed him and though he felt triumphant when he defeated a scarlet elf that wanted to end his life for good, he defeated her but needless to say it was a hard battle.


Oralia closed the old journal and placed it back in her collection where it belonged, along with her other books, she crossed her arms as she pondered that her father sure had many travels, she was sure he was searching for something but she never knew what it was, he was very vague when he tried to explain the reason for his perilous journeys across many landscapes, but she never knew what exactly he was looking for and why was it worth travelling all these jeopardous lands. She sighed because she knew no matter how hard she tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together, she'll never find an answer, all she knew was, she wanted to know more about the world and she wished her father had more words to share.


She wanted to lighten up her mood so she decided to read a novel this time, her delicate hand reached to one of her favorites “The dridder with the golden Silk.” , it was also written by her father who used to write and tell stories as a hobby, words to her can be both a way of gaining knowledge as well as a way escapism.


“Oralia!” someone called, interrupting her cheerful train of thoughts.


She turned her face and saw a tall figure entering her chamber, with short white hair and a scarred face, it was her eldest sister Alanis, "Come on, Oralia, it's time for your training." She said .


"Oh..." Oralia had completely forgotten about her training session for today, she was so engrossed in reading it completely escaped her mind "Could we wait for just a little while? Please?" She pleaded.


"Oh, I can wait, " Alanis went closer to her little sister and gently placed a marker on the book with her index finger," but the sun won't wait for you to finish reading, and we need sunlight especially for today's training. "

" Fine, sis" she groaned and returned her book back to its shelf, hoping to get back to it once she is done "alright, let's go."


"Aren't you forgetting something? " She crossed her arms.


“What? Oh yes, it totally slipped my mind.” she reached for her left ear and removed her shiny earring, and then she did the same for the right ear, she then placed them inside a delicate box, she also removed her ring from her index finger and put with the earrings and closed the box.


"Alright, it seems like you're ready, come on let's go, I am sure you'll like today's training." She said as she led Oralia out of the chamber.


"Why? What is it?"


“Archery” she replied with a smile across her face.


"Oh boy... " Oralia stopped and placed her palm on her frowning face, she always had been bad at archery, she trained hard to master its technique, but she never succeeded and often got herself hurt, she thought the art of archery was far beyond her feeble skills "I am sorry sis, but I don't think I can do it. "


"Didn't you say the same thing about trap-making? You said you will never do it well but look at you now, you make traps like never before!" She placed her masculine right hand on her sister's more frail shoulder.


"Well I...”


“Oralia, listen, I know this ain't easy, but you won't get better unless you challenge yourself, you understand me?"


Oralia looked at her sister's eyes which were as red as hers and then at the scar right under her right eye, Alanis had a bit of a muscular look to her body unlike the more curvaceous look she had, Alanis had always been a plucky and an assiduous dridder, she took care of her and Tasha and fend them from all dangers ever since they lost their mother when she was just a little girl, Alanis did her best to protect them and Oralia thought she might need to try a little harder , nodded to her sister, signifying assertion.


"Great! Now let's go." She gestured with her fingers and Oralia followed her.

As they went outside their lair, Oralia placed her hand above her face. The gleaming sunlight, passing through the canopies of the forest, attacked her eyes. It was a bright day with no clouds to be seen anywhere.


"Come on Ora, take this." Alanis handed her a wooden bow with one hand a quiver filled with arrows on the other. She took the quiver first, wore it and then took the bow.


"Okay, today's training is as follows, look at this tree." She pointed at a large tree that had a white disc painted on its trunk, the disc had evenly paced concentric black circles, with the middle circle being filled with the color red. “I want you to hit that red spot.”

“I-l’ll try.” she stuttered.


“Don’t try, do it!” Oralia recoiled as she heard this sentence coming from her elder sister. "Tasha spent the whole night preparing those arrows for you , you should do your best.”


"By the way, where is she? I haven't seen her this morning."


"She went to check out her traps, she should be back soon , now to your position young lady.” She ordered.

Oralia walked to her shooting position and faced the tree, she arranged her eight legs to be slightly spread to be more comfortable to shoot and took an arrow from her quiver.


“Now remember what I told you last time, have your bow facing the ground with your arrow notched, and then draw it slowly as your bring it up to your face.” she explained and coupled it with a handful of gestures to make things clearer for her apprentice.


Oralia listened to her sister, she was nervous because she almost skinned her arm because of how wrong the process went the last time she was trained, but she learned her lesson and then did as she was told, she pulled the arrow with the string as she brought the bow up so the tip of the arrow would align with her eyesight.

"Now focus, you need the arrow to hit the red circle." instructed Alanis as she crossed her arms.


Oralia focused her eyes to align the arrow with the dot, as much as she wanted to focus, she felt her arm being strained as she held the string of the bow tensed so she let go of the arrow and the string flung it towards the target, the sharp edged projectile flew through the air in an incredible speed, but eventually it hit the tree right below the white disc, missing its target.


"Damn it!" cursed Oralia.

" Hey hey, don't be down on yourself just yet, at least you hit the tree this time instead of missing it entirely. " She chortled.


"Very funny Alanis." muttered Oralia.


"I am serious! You're getting better, now take another arrow and try again."


Oralia sighed as she took another arrow from behind and placed it on her bow, reluctant to try again, she didn’t move a muscle for few moments before giving her sister a quick glance, she stared back at with a sharp look and thus Oralia knew her sister wouldn't give up, so she looked at her target and drew her bow again.


Alanis felt a little comfort that her sister was trying, however anxiety started to creep into her when she took a look at the white dressed forest, she wondered what was taking Tasha so long.

***

Tasha ambled through the forest as her blue colored eyes scanned the area carefully, looking out for any monsters, hostile dridders and more importantly food, she was met with disappointment this morning when she found out that her traps had failed to catch anything today, and she wouldn't stand her irking belly rumbling, so the best she could do is to hunt for preys herself.


She looked in-between the tree roots, tree branches, holes and even on some well made cobwebs, but she found nothing to feast upon, her rumbling insides wouldn't let her mind come to a rest not her senses to calm down.

Luckily, her eyes caught movement, there were three humans with luggage walking not too far away from her, this was her chance to get some well earned breakfast, she spread her eight legs and bent down behind web covered thicket and waited for them to get closer, they slowly walked closer until she could overhear their conversation.

"Flik, are you sure we're heading to the right direction? I have a feeling we're going in circles." Said the big bearded man who was carrying the biggest bag.


"I am not sure Marcus," said Flik, the frail bodied one with unkempt brown hair, who held a map in his hands." I am sure this is the dridder forest, but it seems like some of the locations of the map are inaccurate or we went off track."


"So basically you're telling me that we're lost.“ said the one with the long black hair who carried a handgun.


"We're not lost Darlus!” snapped Flik, who got so tensed that he almost tore the map he held "we just need to find the—"


"Gimme that!" Darlus clutched the map from Flik’s hand and started to read through it.


" Hey that's mine!” Flik tried to grab it but Darlus slammed his weapon on Flik’s chest which made him tumble on the ground with pain coursing through him.


“What have you done to us ever since we left left Negav huh? We almost got ourselves killed several times because of how—"


"Silence!” Said Marcus, who dropped his bag and went closer to them. “This is not the time to act like children, Darlus that was uncalled for, you owe Flik an apology.”


“Apology? You seriously think that it's wasn't his fault that we're in this place? We should have hired another man for the job."


"He is a tech expert, not a guide, our guide got himself killed remember? Now calm down and let us talk through this."


Tasha thought this was her chance, she'd grab them while they're busy arguing.However she saw an object was flung from the bushes behind them and land just in between them, the object exploded and released a cloud of white smoke shrouded them, she heard them cough wildly as they tried to utter words but to no avail, few moments later, the cloud became less dense and she found them collapsed on the ground coughing hard.


From behind the bushes, a figure appeared and approached the downed humans. To Tasha's surprise, the figure was a naga, a human sized naga. She had heard that nagas came in different sizes but she had never actually seen a human sized one before. This one had green scales and a brown leather vest and was holding a pair of knives.

She eyed the downed humans, they all seemed vulnerable and docile, unable to comprehend what happened to them, she smiled, placed her knives in her sheath and then gestured with her hand to the bushes.


Three other nagas emerged from the fuzzy vegetation they hid in, one had red scales and the other two had blue scales. They crawled closer to their friend and surrounded the humans.


"Well well," said the red scaled naga,"You've outdone yourself Nisha." She praised, giving away a wide grin.

"I told you those bombs will be handy." she replied.


"I should have never doubted you, come on ladies, tie them up!" said the red scaled naga.


Nisha grabbed a rough rope handed to her by one of the blue scaled nagas,went closer to Flik's numb body and tied both his hands and legs, she tied him so tightly that Flik felt the blood was not reaching his veins, after she was sure he was tight she went to tie Darlus, she moved his pistol away from him before he would have the chance to grab it and wrapped the rope around his hands and legs.


The two blue scaled nagas tied Marcus who had shown a slight resistance but his attempts were fruitless, finally they were all tied up, after that, the three went to search through their bags and equipment and sorting them out.


"Listen to me," said the red scaled naga as she got their attention," my name is Corana, the blue scaled nagas are Mira and Kira, and finally the green scaled one is Nisha, you’re now under our mercy, your stuff and your lives now belong to us."


“So what? You want me to plead for my freedom?” said Marcus who was slowly getting conscious back.


“Oh while I fancy the idea,” she crawled to Marcus and lifted his face up by grabbing his chin “We will look through your stuff first, and then we’ll decide which are the ones to die now and the ones to be eaten.”


“Oh no,” said Darlus hearing this sentence made the adrenaline rush through him “being eaten by a giant predator is one thing but eaten by a small one? This is even more dreadful!"

Corana couldn’t help but to let out a bombastic laugh that filled the air like a melody, “Oh don’t worry, I am pretty sure you’ll enjoy it.” she turned her gaze to her friends and yelled “Did you guys find anything useful!?"


“We found some coins, but other than that nothing that is of use to us.” said Nisha.


“That can’t be right, they must have something we could use or sell.” she paced towards her comrades to look help them look through the good they just stole.


Tasha -who was watching the whole time- thought this was her chance, all four nagas were together in one place, if she timed it right, she could grab them all at once without them noticing until it was too late for them to realize it.

She readied her right hand and then, with a dazzling speed, her hand rushed through the air and captured the four nagas at once, her attempt was a huge success, all four nagas were under her mercy.

she then emerged from behind the large thicket and all of them, humans and nagas alike, were shocked to see the titanic dridder that appeared before them, white hair, peachy human part and an umber colored spider part, the humans specially thought their day couldn’t get any worse, they were in the danger of being eaten by a large predator instead of a small one.


Tasha opened her prodigious hand, and grabbed Nisha and Kira in one hand, and left Corana and Mira on the other, she pressed on them and lifted them to her face as they stared into her large blue eyes that looked upon them.



“My my, I’ve never seen tiny Nagas before, I’ve always wondered what you guys taste like” she sneered.


“Put me down, you eight-legged bimbo!” cried Corana as she struggled to move because of the huge pressure on her body coming from the predator’s palm.


Tasha didn’t reply to her, instead she eyed each and every one of them, trying to decide which one to eat first, she was so eager to know what they taste like she couldn’t choose, wondering if different scale color meant a different taste, since nagas are usually bonded to magical elements, but her eyes finally stopped at Nisha, the green scaled Naga whose eyes almost produced tears as soon as she knew that she’ll be first.


“I’ll taste you first,” said Tasha as she lifted her hand up, and grabbed the green tail with her plump lips. Nisha’s heart almost stopped when she felt her tail being pressured by the colossal, fleshy gates, Tasha relieved some of the pressure on her preys and Nisha felt herself being dragged backwards as Tasha moved her hand away from her face while grabbing the naga with her lips.


Nisha slid through the skin made tunnel that was Tasha’s palm, in a desperate attempt she tried to grab her comrade’s tail but Kira moved it away as soon as she felt Nisha touch it and thus her last effort to cling for her life has failed, she felt herself being dangled by her tail as Tasha’s curvaceous lips held it, her eyes looked down and It was a long distance to the ground, even if she got away the fall would certainly end her life.


A few seconds later, she felt her tail being sucked into a wet cavern that lay beyond the curvy gates that held her. She could even feel the texture of the predator’s tongue as she slid inside. Nisha screamed in fear and floundered but her petite body couldn’t possibly overpower Tasha’s enormous force. She was sucked in up to her waist. In desperation she tried to pull herself out by pressing her arms against the gargantuan lips as hard as she could, but Tasha’s mouth prevailed over her prey and eventually, Nisha’s whole body was sucked in.


Nisha found herself in complete darkness; she felt the soft tongue of Tasha move her body around this fleshy cavern and as a result her entire body got soaked in saliva. She tried hitting the wet walls and the rigid roof of the mouth with both her hands and her tail, but it didn’t do anything.


The Nagas -and the humans too- watched in horror as the giant dridder played with poor Nisha in her mouth, Tasha loved the exotic taste of the naga, it was unlike anything she had tasted before, it was as good as a neko and better than a human, though it wasn't not quite as tasty as elves, hardly anything could top that taste.


Tasha then tilted her head back and sent that naga down her throat, the nagas recoiled at the sight of a bulge traveling down Tasha neck and disappearing into her chest, the nagas had witnessed their friend travel into her doom and they couldn’t do anything.


“She was so yummy!” she said as her face shone with glee, she turned her sight to Kira, and her smile grew even wider before brushing her wet tongue against her glistening lips, “It’s your turn now."


“No!” yelled Mira as she knew she was going to eat her sister, “ Don’t you dare touch her you monster!"


Tasha did what she always did and ignored the yelling of her prey, this time she slurped the naga head first, she sucked her and only Kira’s tail was left outside lips wiggling frantically, she then slowly sucked the rest of naga inside of her mouth until her tail disappeared in between her lips, her taste wasn't very different from Nisha's but it was still tasty, And then Tasha swallowed her prey, sending another bulge into her body.


“No, Kira!” cried Mira as she saw the bulge going down into Tasha’s chest, that was her sister that became a prisoner inside this giant predator.


“Oh don’t worry, you’re gonna follow her soon enough, and this time, I think I am gonna slurp you both at once.” she grinned.


The half serpent pair panicked as Tasha lifted her hand up and opened her mouth to drop them, they floundered in a hopeless attempt of escaping the pit that awaited them that would surely send them to their doom, however they felt the hand descend as they saw themselves in front of Tasha’s face again.


“You know what? I am gonna save you for my sisters, they need to get a taste of what I’ve found.”


“Wait, you have sisters too?!” said Corana.


“Yep, and I am sure you’ll like them, but I need to tie you first.” she looked around and saw silk webs in a tree near her she walked to it, took one thread and then started to tie them together.


“One of the best things about the dridder forest is that you could always use someone else’s unused or leftover ‘resources’ if you don’t like using yours.” she wrapped both of them in silk and then put them in her bag.


Her vision switched to the empty bags and all the tools, clothes, sacks, food and paper littered around them, she looked at them and searched intently before picking up a single paper, she stared at it for a while, before starting back at the humans, she paced towards them and then her giant hand reached for them and picked them up, she brought them to her face as they their hearts nearly stopped as they got closer to her face which meant closer to the gates of doom that were her lips.


"Is this a blueprint?” she asked, as she showed them the paper.


They were bewildered with her unexpected question, they knew predators aren’t dumb, but how can she know what a blueprint print is? Especially when they live an uncivilized life.


"Yes it is," answered Flik," It's my blueprint for a machine I am supposed to assemble."


"Oh, you can read this blueprint ? can you also understand how machines work?"


"Y-yes, I am a tech expert for hire it's my job." He answered while carefully picking his words.

"Great! What is yourname?"

"F-Flik."


"Alright, my name is Tasha, and I think I found a use for you, I could use your expertise to help me understand the Blueprints and even maybe duplicate what's on them." She explained, not removing her smile from her face which still gave them chills.


"So... You won't eat me?" he said, hoping for a specific answer.

"If you agree to help me I won't."


He sighed as he heard the answer he wanted to hear but then another question popped into his head “But how are even gonna gather resources and build part that look exactly like what we have in those prints?"


“Let me worry about that, now is your answer?"


"Do I even have a choice in this matter ?"


"Well, if you say no” she rubbed her belly that contained the poor nagas she just ate, "My belly has room for more morsels and I am sure you'll fit right in, either way I've got a use for you." She licked her lips again while intently look at him.


Flik recoiled this sight, it seemed like there was no other way out of this, he wouldn't want to join those nagas in that fleshy dungeon below "Alright, I'll do my best to help you."


"Splendid!" she said, then switched she her sight to his other friends, "Do you guys know how to read blueprints too?"

"Well." Flik paused as he played with the idea of telling her the truth.


"Your assistants huh?" Tasha stared at them for a moment with a doubtful look in her eyes, they didn't want her to know that Flik was lying to her in order to save them "They don't look like the assisting type."

"Yes we are" cried Darlus as he crawled on his knees towards the giant face, "We shall do what you ask just please don't do anything to us!"


"Alright alright, you don't have to beg, sheesh" She said, as she reached for her bag and grabbed a knife, she carefully neared it and cut the ropes that tied their extremities, she then lowered her hand towards their scattered belongings on the ground, “Go and collect your stuff, but don’t try to run away, if you do you’ll follow the nagas to my belly.”

Hastily, they hopped off the giant hand and went to collect their stuff, she took her sight off them for a second to look at the forest, she just realized that she was further away from home than she used is to, she cursed the fact that she didn’t bring a weapon along with her aside from a puny knife, she didn’t expect to go that far in search for food, but her hunger had affected her judgment. She looked back at the humans and she noticed that they’re ready, she plucked them from the ground and then walked into the forest hoping she won’t get lost or meet an unwelcome face.

***

Oralia once again drew her bow and shot at her target, the arrow flew crossing the area between her and the tree and hit the white disc to join the other arrows, Oralia hit the disc but the arrows were nowhere near the red circle in the center. She groaned and looked at her sister's expressionless face, she stood still having her arms crossed the whole time and not a single word came from her mouth. However a wide smile slowly formed on her face as she let loose of her arms.


“Giving up already?" She said as she slowly ambled to her little sister

”I am sorry Alanis, I don't think I've got what it takes to be an archer." She said as put her bow down.


"Oralia, both you and me know that's not true, honing skills takes time and patience, I am pretty sure one day, you'll be able to hit that podmaw." She pointed at a curvaceous podmaw hanging on a branch high up on a large tree.


Oralia recoiled as she saw it and gave her sister a doubtful look, clearly she didn’t believe her. "No way! Nobody can do it."


"Oh really?" Alanis Extended her arm and picked an arrow out from Oralia's quiver, then she took the bow from her sister's hand and went in front of her.

Alanis placed the arrow on the bow and drew it, she eyed the podmaw for only a handful of seconds before letting the arrow go, the arrow flew through the air, hit the podmaw from the top cutting it's stalk and then it fell down on the ground, Oralia's jaw dropped as she witnessed this event, she knew her sister was skilled archer but not as much as hitting a such a distant target.



"Well,” Alanis turned to her sister with a bragging smile "What do you think?"


"Alanis, that was stupendous!” she replied.


"One day, you'll be able to do it too, so never say never, understood?"


"Yes, sis." She nodded even though she hardly believed she could be able to do it but she didn't want to disappoint her sister.


They both walked towards the fallen podmaw, Alanis picked it up She took a look at her sister, “Let’s take a break from training shall we?” she threw the podmaw at her and she caught it, “Now follow me.”


“Where are we going?” she asked, before taking a bite from the Podmaw.


“We’re going to look for your sister, she is late and this worries me, I know most of her trap locations,after that we might do some hunting, let’s go.”


Oralia nodded as she followed her sister into the forest, not knowing what made Tasha take too long.

***

Tasha traipsed through the forest warily while she held her human 'friends' in one hand and her knife at another, she never thought that she'd go as far as she went to get her snacks, but the more she walked the more she got worried that she was lost, however she saw a familiar looking tree that had a giant hole in its trunk which gave a little comfort for the time being that she was on the right track to home.


"You seem troubled,” said Marcus who looked solemnly at her.


Alarmed with his surprising question, she tried to remain content and not to show her anxiety "It's just that I am slightly unarmed, that's all, I should have known better than going into the forest like this." She replied with a calm tone.

"So does that mean we're in danger? I thought dridders are powerful and unmatched in strength.” said Darlus.


"You really think all the dridders are the same? That's amusingly naïve! We dridders are as diverse as any other race, we do have natural weapon in our bodies but I am pretty sure some have never used them in their lives, some even refuses to get out of their lair because of how cowardly they are. I myself know how to use my natural weapons plus other weapons, but I am positive there are some who more skillful than me in using them, and one of them is my elder sister" she explained .


"Well that clears the picture a bit." Said Marcus.


"But tell me," suddenly her eight feet stopped their march and she stood still looking at them closely, "What brought you all the way here to the forest? Walking this place isn't exactly ideal for humans like yourselves."


"Well." Paused Flik as he played with the idea of telling her the truth in his head, he knew that since he'll be living with her he'll have to be honest.


"Okay, me, Marcus and Darlus are all freelance workers, Darlus and Marcus are mercenaries and I am a technician, we were hired by a group that is looking for a mine filled with gems, it had been said that it was abandoned for unknown reasons, I was supposed to assemble a weighing machine there and make sure it works properly along with other machinery, we were a large group but we got attacked by dridders and got separated." He explained.


"So you for hire huh? Too ba—" she stopped talking when they all heard a loud shriek coming from the left of them.

Hastily, Tasha went to the source of the distressed sound but stopped behind a web decorated thicket and took a peek to see a horrifying scene, she saw a dridder holding a harpy and she had engraved her teeth in the harpy’s neck, there was no doubt about it, she was injecting the harpy with her deadly venom.


The winged predator fell hopelessly on the ground, barely moving and her lips fluttered as she tried to yell words of distress to her fellow harpies that might be still circling, but to no avail.


“There is no one that could help you now harpy.” the dridder leaned the winged predator on a trunk near her and then two of her legs pinned her wings so she would not move. "Time for my lunch!”

The dridder then bit the abdomen and blood started leaking from the body of the harpy, it finally let out a shriek that was hearable but nobody was coming to rescue her, eventually her head tilted to the side and never moved again.

Flik, Marcus and Darlus were in utter shock, they knew dridders have some vile ways of predation but they never imagined it to be that wretchedly painful to watch and they could one imagine what the harpy was going through during that terrible experience. Flik turned his gaze to Tasha, and to his surprise, she looked as horrified as they were, which bewildered him, isn't she a predator like that dridder, why is she afraid?


Tasha turned her sight to them and said “Look, I need to keep you in my bag until we reach my home, stay in there or else you would be in danger, you understand me?” her tone was intense and she looked more anxious than the ever saw her.


They agreed as she carefully placed them inside her bag, she looked back at the dridder and she was busy with her meal, she carefully sneaked away without her noticing.

***

"Are we there yet?" said Oralia, as she started to get tired of walking such a distance away from home "Why would Tasha make her traps that far away from home!?"


"Be patient Oralia, we'll get there soon enough." replied Alanis as she looked around to make sure of
her location.


"We've checked four traps already, none of them had any snacks to feed, I am pretty sure Tasha went to
hunt for herself." she deduced.


"That would be foolish, her weapons are back at the cave, she shouldn't wander around the forest unarmed like that." Said Alanis, who was still looking around the area while holding her knife ready to counter any surprise attack from any hostiles.

After few minutes of walking, Oralia started to get weary, she stopped and leaned herself against a tree and breathed heavily, Alanis looked back at her little sister and couldn't help but to chuckle.


"Tired already?" she said almost in a mocking tone.


"I...I just need to catch my breath." Replied Oralia as she continued to inhale and exhale heavily in a slow rhythm.

"Come on Ora," she said as she walked to her, "You're a dridder, not some lazy fairy that can teleport with her magic and use her wings, our kind can walk for days without getting tired!"


Oralia knew she was mildly exaggerating, Alanis had always been proud of being a dridder and saw it as a privilege, however she also knew it was to motivate her to work harder, as of late she spent so much time in her comfy chamber reading her much beloved books and allowed herself to be more idle than she should while her sisters work all day.


"I told you, I just need to catch my bre-" she stopped as her pointy ears caught a faint sound that resembled laughter.


Alanis also caught the sound and it was getting higher and higher, Alanis' eyes widen as she realized what was that sound "Terror hyenas!"

"Alanis, what are we going to-"


"Don't panic, here, climb this tree." she pointed.


“Right,” Oralia grabbed a tree branch, then she lifted her front four legs to embrace the trunk and then
pulled herself up with the aid of her remaining four legs, then finally climbed until she reached for the branches on top.


She then saw her sister climb the tree near her and then she and stood steadily, one the advantages of being a dridder is that the eight legs they possess makes them cling to places like no other race can and for long periods of time, Alanis looked at her younger sibling and instructed her to remain quiet while laughter started to fill the air with an eerie atmosphere.


Moments later, four legged, fur covered monsters came to their view, they slowly walked around their location sniffing and looking in between the trees, soon enough they started circling the location she and her sister were on. They were big, they’re half as tall as Oralia, one of them could easily kill an inexperienced fighter like her easily, she got frightened when two of them were directly beneath her, their laughs has gotten to her nerves and started to affect her judgment her thoughts were telling her to take an arrow and try to shoot the fiends but the sensible part of her mind took over as she lifted her hands and pressed them against her ears, thankfully the devilish chuckles had less of an effect on thoughts.


Then she felt relieved when the furry monstrosities paced away from the tree she was on, she lowered her hands down and let out a long sigh as the laughing fiends disappeared into the forest, Oralia let out a long winded sigh as she started to climb down.


“Now those were a merry folk weren't they?” Said Alanis as she climbed down too.


"Merry folk? I was scared to death of them!" she almost yelled, she knew her sister just being sarcastic but she felt it wasn't the time for such jokes.


"Relax Ora, you know I would never let anything happen to you, besides you shouldn't be too afraid of them, Terror Hyenas are only dangerous when they're in a pack, one on one battles are not hard if you use the right tactics." she said as she landed on the ground.


"Did you manage to kill one?" Asked Oralia as she placed her feet on the ground.


"Of course, though Tasha was with me at that time but that doesn't change the fact that alone, Terror Hyenas aren't the biggest threat."


"Then who is the biggest threat?"


"Hostile dridders, they have the same natural weapons as you and some might even use it better than you, this is why I need to train you on how to use your venom and legs to fend for yourself."


"My legs?" Oralia raised an eyebrow.


"Yes your legs, here let me show you."Alanis walked to her sister and took her right front leg, lifted it up and pressed on it to reveal the claws at the end of Oralia's leg.


"These claws are deadly, we use them mostly to walk and hold on to places that other races would even manage to reach, but with the right use and force these claws can be a deadly weapon."


"But how? can these claws even harm other dridders?"


Alanis dropped Oralia's leg, went to a nearby tree, lifted her front two legs and used the rest of her legs to lift her body then she slammed the trunk with her legs, leaving a deep hole on it as if it was struck by a spear, Oralia couldn’t help but to be amazed by her sister’s abilities.


"Now it's your turn" Said Alanis.


"Me? I can never do that!" she replied.


"You wouldn't know unless you try it yourself, come on Ora, give it a shot." she encouraged.


Oralia sighed, walked to a tree and readied herself to do what her sister did, she took one last glance at the damage her sister made in that trunk, wondering if she could do the same with her legs.


"Now remember, use your back legs to lift yourself and use your front two legs to attack, both forces of your weight falling and you attack should do the trick, now try it." she instructed.


Oralia listened to her older sibling and then she used her back legs to lift herself up, and then lifted her body, she felt herself ascend with the power of her back legs and then lifted her front legs high up until the tips reached as high as her head, after feeling her legs being strained, she lowered herself down while slashing the tree with her legs. Oralia was met with disappointment as her legs barely made a scratch on the old trunk, which was nothing compared to what Alanis did to the other tree.


“Well I gotta give it ya, you will surely have no problem killing pests.” mocked Alanis.


“Haha, very funny.” grumbled Oralia as she lowered herself down to massage her legs as she had felt a bit of pain when she had struck the trunk.


“Oralia it’s alright,” she giggled as she patted her sister’s back “We all were amateurs once, I wanted you to get the feeling of it, we’ll train after we finish from our archery session, I’m pretty sure one day you’ll be as good or even better than me.”


“I don’t know sis, I ju-"


“Hey hey,” she interrupted “Don’t say that! if you believe that you won’t be good then you won’t be good for real, say this, ‘I’ll do my best sis’, say it !”


“I’ll...I’ll do my best sis." she replied, she still didn’t believe but, but the last thing she wanted to do was to disappoint her mentor
.
“Great! Now let's continues searching for your sister, we might get lucky and find something to hunt in our way!” she said as she drew her knife.


“Roger!” answered Oralia, she picked up her bow, wore her quiver and followed her sister.

To be continued