A trip into the unknown - Part 2

Felarya, a place as dangerous as it is beautiful, but mostly known for all the dangers one could run into in this world. One can be as careful as possible and still be in great danger. Nontheless a lot of people came here on purpose, to become rich and famous by retrieving gold and artifacts from one of the temples that were said to hold great treasures, to enjoy its natural beauty or for its rarely know, but existing, healing proportions. The group of four humans who had just arrived were one of those, who actually knew (or rather had heared) about the latter.

Being newly arrived in an unfamiliar world, which they knew pretty much nothing about, the small group had no idea where to go. Upon Scar´s simple but yet so unsettling question, nobody knew what to answer. They had no idea where in particular they were, nor where they should go to.

Finally Adam broke the discomforting silence, mostly to set everyone a little more at ease again: "I´d say we´ll just move on in any direction and see if we can find something to orientate. We might be lucky and find some kind of civilisation so we don´t have to stay out in the wild or at least a hint on how to come back home once Andrea is alright again"

His suggestion received general appreciation, but the question where they would go to remained unanswered. However, Scar quickly answered it: "Alright, so let´s head in this direction," he decided, turning by 180° and started moving.

The small group didn´t hesitate to follow him into the unknown, foreign forest. They weren´t talking very much to each other while walking, at first because they where either too fascinated by the unknown plantlive and its immense size or just concentrating on the environment to keep them on track and to be aware of anything getting closer to them. But even after hours of stultifying walking they remained quiet or, if at all, spoke in little more than whispers, not because they knew it was the best thing to do but because they felt it was the right thing to do. They always stood close to each other, even if someone had to empty his or her bladder, they always had one of the body guards right infront of them and the rest of the group right behind the next tree, covering as much of their surroundings as they could.

**

Somewhere in the forest, close by.

Sera was slowly moving through the dense, yet light forrest she called home. Perfectly aware of her surroundings, she swiflty skulked through the trees, careful not to make any more noises than necessary. Being a giant Naga, she was naturally a huntress, knowing her hunting grounds like the back of her hand. She would usually find brave nekos out here, coming from the village located barely outside of her own territory. Humans were a rather rare treat to her, as there was hardly any reason for them to come here on purpose. Nontheless, she stumbled over lost groups of tiny morsels every now and then, she didn´t know why they came here, but as long as she got to eat them she didn´t really care.

Her hunt today was not as successful as she would have liked it to be. She had to feed on fruits and small incautious animals, still leaving enough space for a few humans. And then, by the time she was about to give up for today, something cought her eye...

**

Nearby in the forest.

The small group remained mostly silent until the sun had started its descent, they´ve already gotten quite far considering the difficult environment they had to cover and that they were traveling on foot, and were now eager to rest and get a good nights sleep to build up new strength for another day of walking. By the time they had come to rest in a small clearing they gave up being quiet as they sat around a small fire while Scar and Mel were erecting their tents. They ensured them that no small animals, which where the only ones they had seen so far, would try to get close to it and that anything bigger would be attracted by their talking just as much as by the fire. After the tents were thoroughly set up the two bodyguards joined their clients at the small campfire.

"Alright, let´s eat before we get some sleep," Mel suggested, picking up the ladle and one of the bowls they had brought along from their own world, together with the pot that was now hanging over the campfire.

The group had carried rations of food and fresh water with them, just in case they wouldn´t find enough food or water here, but it turned out that edible plants as well as berrys and luckily even a small stream were easily found, so they mixed the new unfamiliar food with their own supplies in a delicious smelling stew. Mel shared out a full bowl of stew to everyone, then she started eating herself. The foreign vegetable´s taste complemented their own, know food suprisingly well.

"So do you have any idea how long we´ll have to stay here?" Scar asked after gulping down a great load of stew.

"No, it doesn´t only depend on Andrea´s state of health, we´ll have to find a way back too after all. I was assured that there is a portal here that can bring us home, we just have to find it," Adam answered thoughtfuly, then he turned to his wife: "I know I´ve been asking a lot, but do you feel better in any way?"

"I´d say I do, considering that the pill seemed to have worn off a while ago. I´m not as healthy as I would like to be, but I feel a lot better than I would at home," Andrea answered with a slight smile.

They kept on chatting while having their lunch, paying less attention to their surroundings. They were, however, about to learn the hard way that Felarya was unforgiving when it came to lack of awareness. Suddenly there was movement close by, leafes were rustling, twigs and branches cracking and even entire trees seemed to be moving. Then everything was quiet. The group tensed, droped the bowls and got up, the mercenarys positioning themselfs infront of their clients they waited for the intruder to show him- or herself, weapons at the ready. There was something large inbetween the trees, but they could only make out a huge, yet vague shadow in the dark.

Then the huge form moved into the faint light of the small camp fire. A truly gigantic, naked, young woman stood infront of them, she had a rather slender build and long, brown hair, complemented by the fire´s redish light. But what really struck them was her tail . She had a scaly snake tail instead of legs!

"Hello there," she said cheerfuly.

There was no immediate reaction from the humans, they were stunned by her immense size. None of them had ever imagined nor seen anyone this tall. The building sized woman simply towered over them, waiting for them to react. Due to their apparent lack of awareness she already guessed that these only just arrived and wouldn´t sense the danger, so she decided to just show herself and enjoy their staring, she would get them eventually anyway. Scar was the first one to speak up, still pointing his rifle at the giantess.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked.

"I´m Sera," she answered simply "And I was just curious what you sweetys are doing here"

"We´re here because my wife has a disease that can´t be healed in our world, we came here because we´ve heared that Felarya has some kind of healing proportions and hoped she would feel better if we stay here for a while," Adam answered.

"So I guess you´re his with then?" she asked, looking at Andrea, who nodded a little shy "And do you feel better already?"

"Yes I do, thanks," Andrea answered, a little more at ease.

"Aw, I´m so glad you do! Now ... I guess you don´t need those two here then?" she didn´t wait for an answer but leaped forward and scooped Scar and Mel up before any of the humans could even realise what was going on.

She held the mercenarys up infront of her chest, one in each hand, and glanced down at them. Both started struggling to break free, but they didn´t stand a chance against the firm grip of her huge hands. Without any further hesitation she held up her right hand and lifted Scar up over her head. She used her middle and index finger to press down on Scars right arm until he dropped his rifle, then she let go, opened her mouth and welcomed him warmly with her tongue. She quickly closed her lips around him, engulfing him in absolute darkness, and sloshed him around in her mouth to enjoy his taste s little more before gulping him down.

While she was staring up in a mixture of disbelieve and sheer disgust, Mel noticed the grip on her body lessening a little and she quickly used the opportunity to grab a hold onto her pistol and shoot at the giantess´ finger.

"Ouch!" Sera exclaimed, dropping Mel rather in suprise than real pain. "You damn little pest, come back!"

Mel did a quick role to cushion her fall, got back to her feet and started firing at the woman that was just about to eat her partner. Although she did hit her target several times there was no noticable effect on her, she seemed to feel the bullets hiting her, but there wasn´t even a small wound caused by the projectiles.

Sera quickly gulped Scar down and leaped forward towards Mel again, who motioned Adam and Andrea to leave as fast as they could. She managed to avoid a first attempt to grab her by doing a jump back, then she turned around herself and made a dash for the next tree to get out of the giantess´ reach. She actually made it behind the next tree and caught up with her two clients.

"So what are ... we doing now?" Adam asked, slowing down for a moment to let Mel take the lead.

"I have no idea," she answered honestly "I suppose the forest is too dense for her to move very fast, but we can´t keep on running away like this!"

"Come back, I´ll get you anyway!" they could hear an angry Sera call from behind.

The three humans didn´t listen though, they kept on running, dashing through the dense forest, dodging branches and roots in their way, until something utterly confusing appeared infront of them. There was a dark figure standing infront of another huge tree, motioning them to come over. Adam and Andrea looked at each other, both had a questioning look on their face, but Mel had already made a decision for them; she was running towards the dark figure that started running a few moments later, leading the group now. They got a little closer to it as it was apparently slowing down a little to let them catch up. When they were almost next to each other it suddenly became clear why it only appeared as a black figure, it seemed to be human, though it was covered with fur. It seemed to be a male and was entirely covered with black fur, making him very hard to spot in the darkness.

"I´m Darow," he introduced himself, seemingly still a lot fitter than them "Follow me, I know somewhere to go to, we´re already close by"

There was no answer, the humans needed all their breath to keep their pace up, but they followed his lead blindly through the foreign forrest. Only a few moments later he dashed forward much faster, significantly increasing his pace. Around the next tree they saw him standing infront of a big tree, holding a few branches aside, revealing a natural hole inbetween it´s roots. He motioned them to get in, Mel simply let herself fall to the back right infront of it, sliding into the treehole. Adam slowed down a little, letting his wife go first. Both crawled in as fast as they could, but when they were all the way in, they couldn´t see Darow anymore!

Mel had already lit up the small hole with a glow stick so they could see each other, everyone had a bit troubled look on their faces, something was not right about that furry guy. Then they heared the giant snake woman coming closer again.

"Aw! Don´t tell me you had them all again, Cynty!" she still sounded a bit angry, but now her voice was rather the one of a disappointed little girl.

"I´m fowwi-!" Another, unfamiliar voice mumbled, apparently from right above them.

They could see Sera, or rather her tail, turn and leave slowly, through the leaves of the branch  infront of the entrance. A few moments passed and they exchanged confused, scared but also slightly confident glances, yet they didn´t know what actually happened. Who was that Cynty Sera had been talking to? What did she mean with "had them"? Was she just another predator who cought her lunch for tonight? And which role was Darow´s in all this?

All their questions were about to be answered only a few moments later, a soaked, but happy looking Darow stood inside the entrance of the treehole, holding the small branch aside and motioning them to come out. "Come out, you´re save now," the furry man said. They exchanged a few last looks, then Mel took the lead again and crawled out of the tree, Adam follow behind her, though he kept a little distance between them. Mere moments later Mel reached the end of the small tunnel, where Darow offered her his hand to help her get up. She accepted it after slight hesitation and turned around to face the tree like Darow was doing.

"Oh my ..." she only managed to whisper, then her voice was gone.

Adam hesitated at first, then he decided to get out too, getting up he faced the tree as well, followed by his wife. They just stood there, staring up at what used to be just another huge tree. But what they were facing now simply struck them with bewilderment. Right infront of them was still a normal tree, but far above them, it turned into a naked young woman with blue eyes and green hair! She was slightly blushing from their staring, but otherwise she was perfectly calm. A few moments later something struck Mel´s mind.

"Wait ... that´s just another of those man eating monsters!" Mel explaimed, already turning to run for her life, pulling at Adam and Andrea to come with her, but Darow already knew what she had been thinking. Stepping infront of her, he positioned both his hand on her shoulders to calm her down.

"Cynthia is actually the one who rescued you. She doesn´t eat humans, you´re perfectly save here," the slender, furry man seemed to be confident enough to sooth Mel, who stopped her attempt to flee and stared up at the young woman again instead.

"Thanks for rescuing us ... I guess," Mel said in an awkward tone "and sorry for calling you a monster," she added uncomfortably.

"It´s alright, I feel a little sorry for the girl, but humans are usually better company than her anyway," she replied with a melodious voice, giggling slightly.

"Yes, thanks for  rescuing us, but could somebody tell me who you are?" Adam asked, receiving questioning looks from the others, but apparently Cynthia understood what he was asking.

"I´m a Dryad, Darow is a Neko and Sera, the girl who wanted to eat you, is a Naga," she answered simply.

"Why couldn´t we see you when we came here? We were quite in a haste but we would have noticed a giant torso in a tree," Andrea asked still puzzled.

"Dryads posses magic that helps them to camouflage," Cynthia explained, disappearing only moments later. "See?" then she became visible again.

"What happens to my comrade?" Mel asked frightened "That monster ate him, how can we get him back out of her?"

"Oh dear," Cynthia said in a low, sad voice "I guess we can´t help him, you humans don´t really stand a chance against predators of her size anyway, trying to rescue someone who´s been eaten would only result in being eaten yourself"

"Why are you here at all?" Darow suddenly asked "We don´t happen to meet humans here very often, are you one of those unfortunate people who got here through one of these weird happenings? I´ve met a few people who just woke up in the middle of the felaryan forest"

"No, we´re here on purpose, my wife has a disease that can´t be healed in our world, if it weren´t for the healing proportions of this world, she might have been dead by now," Adam explained.

"Well I´m glad it helped her then, but how did you get here? And why didn´t you know about all the predators?"

"Our pool of information was very slim, we only knew that this place is said to heal people by simply being here and due to our lack of time we had to plan the entire journey over night"

"And how do you plan to come back? Is your gate still open? I can imagine you didn´t come from one of the felaryan gates, you would have lost more than just one man on your way to this forest," Darow asked serious, a grim tone mixed in his voice.

"We used an experimental mobile gate a friend of mine is working on, he only brought us to a place somewhere on Felarya and had to close the gate then, we were ensured that Felarya has its own gates though, we have to get to one and travel back through it once Andrea is alright again," Adam answered.

"Oh... That´s going to be a long journey my dear," Cynthia answered in a low voice again "There´s no portal up here, you´ll have to travel far into the center of the continent to reach the next one"

"Sounds great," Mel muttered ironicaly "Wait, how could you  know?"

"Us Dryads have a networks that connects us with each other, we can talk to any Dryad we want to, as long as she´s connected to it," Cynthia explained in a little proud voice when she saw Mel´s puzzled face.

"So what will we do now?" Adam asked.

"You can sleep here tonight, if you want to, but I suppose you would need more time to reach the gate than Andrea needs to become healthy again, so you should head out tomorrow if you don´t want to stay here longer than necessary," Cynthia suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Mel replied somewhat pleased to finally have something like a plan to hold on to.

"Let me pick you up, you can sleep in my branches, nothing´s going to get to you there," Cynthia suggested, reaching out for the humans who gave in after a few moments of uncertainty.

"And I suppose you want to get back to your tribe, Darow?" she asked the young Neko.

"Yes I´ll be on my way before it´s getting too late, was a pleasure to meet you, good luck on your journey!" He said before he turned around and vanished inbetween the trees.

"Are you all comfy up there?" Cynthia asked, trying to look up although she knew she couldn´t see them anyway.

"I´m fine," Adam replied, the others only agreed with a mere "Hm", they had already settled for the night and were almost sleeping, the busy day had clearly done its part on wearing them out.

"Good night," the friendly Dryad whispered before falling asleep herself.