Jareth scrambled away from the snake, almost tumbling, his side eyes peeking over his shoulder. He screeched to a grinding halt when he noticed the snake wasn't moving and its eyes were fixed intently on the previous spot he had fled from.
Jareth observed it from a distance.
'It's a statue? I've never seen a statue so life-like.'
It was gigantic, its thick, sooty scales growing darker and more indistinct as he watched, as if a veil of shadows were being drawn over it.
Jareth circled it, studying it with keen interest, but his face morphed from curiosity to stark perplexity when he took in the many dried, bloodied gashes that lacerated its body. The most severe of them was a horrific gash that exposed its bones.
'It's a dead beast? What rank is it? Rank 4? I can't even lift its dead body? Then what killed it? A human? These wounds look like they were from sword slashes. I shouldn't also rule out a beast; I can still remember that lizard slashing the bear with its tail… Wait! Why am I even thinking all that?'
Jareth placed his hands on the snake to send it into his badge, but felt rejection.
His face dropped.
'Too big for my badge? A pity.'
But he shook it off in a moment.
"I need to think of how to get out of here. The sun is going down, and I don't want to spend my night here," Jareth mumbled and walked to the punctured hole.
He observed the landscape, searching for a safe escape route. Thirty minutes later, his initial serious expression was now dark as the sun had disappeared from sight, but he hadn't found a single gap; the beasts were everywhere.
He walked back and growled at the snake, "Damn that tree octopus! You left this place to go hunt outside?! And captured an innocent Jareth, who just wanted to catch his rabbit?! I never knew a day would come when I would fall for the trap of a beast!"
He kicked the snake but hopped back while holding his foot and wheezing in pain.
"Why is it so hard?!"
He limped back and sat beside the hole, seeing everywhere going darker as the sun disappeared. The population of beasts was also reducing.
"Just the second day…" he lamented.
His stomach grumbled at that moment.
"I haven't eaten since morning."
Jareth withdrew the dried jerky from his badge.
Staring at it, he remembered Liana when she was vehemently pushing for him to buy his rations and things in bulk.
He munched on it.
'I never thought I would be in the same situation that sounded like the worst luck. How I wish I could call for emergency rescue. I don't know the contact for emergency…'
His thoughts trailed off as he realized he could.
'How could I forget? Although I don't have anybody's number, I still have Esta's number. Yeah. She texted me. And she should have a way to rescue me, after all, she should be pretty high rank, or at least, know who to call for rescue.'
He brought his shock bracelet to his face and retrieved his comm band, activating the mobile phone version.
Quickly finding Esta's contact, he dialed it.
A warning showed on the screen:
[Low Nexus Signal Coverage…]
Jareth's mouth stopped chewing, and he tried again, and again, and again. He even went as far as switching to the holographic version, but the same message still popped up.
He placed his comm band back into his shock bracelet and focused on his food. His heart felt chills, like the chilling wind brushing against his exposed skin was colder than usual and penetrating his pores into his heart. His face was bleak, devoid of all hope.
Like a soulless person, he finished his food and gulped a can of water.
His eyes sharpened.
'I'll wait for a person. Other people must be here to hunt, so I'll follow them and leave. Since there are higher rank beasts, higher rank arcanists should come here to hunt.'
Minutes drifted by, the night grew darker, and Jareth scanned below as he waited for a savior. Slowly, moonlight shone on the ruined city with its pale light.
Jareth squinted as his eyes trailed a beast.
He had noticed something along the line—beasts were disappearing the darker the night grew, which wasn't strange at first, until he noticed how all of them were going for locations with upper covering. It shouldn't have been weird, but they even went so far as to share a lair, like they all loved roofing; no one was seen from above, or sleeping outside. What made it worse was their sudden silence.
They all went silent, plunging the huge estate into a bizarre silence, except for distant roars, which Jareth felt sounded from the forest rather than the estate.
'Come to think of it, I never researched the ruin estate at night. The only strange thing I remembered about the ruin estate is that all the beasts here never leave, staying confined within the boundary of the estate. Some said the mage carried out some beast experiment to learn beast enslavement and control. Though I don't know if it's true since I'm new here. But why did that tree octopus leave to hunt outside? Was it craving human flesh? Could it leave because it's a high rank beast?'
Mulling over the situation, Jareth felt a new temptation spring in his chest while examining the deserted estate.
'This looks like a perfect time to escape.'
He slowly stood up, hardening his pounding heart and convincing himself over and over again that he wouldn't get swarmed the moment his foot touched the ground.
The instant he poked his head out of the hole, countless whistling shrills blared over the city. Jareth shrank back inside in fear. His eyes only peered from inside as the shrills continued.
They died down a few seconds later, before he heard flapping sounds.
The hair on his nape stood at the sight of many flying huge beasts soaring from the top of the tower, flying over the estate as they shot in different directions.
With his sharp vision and moonlight, he could see their outline. They resembled huge bats.
'I was aiming for the top…' he shivered at the thought.
Now he knew why all the beasts hid. It made sense now. His heart was still pounding from the thought of nearly going down.
'I better observe more. Any suspicious behavioral pattern from beasts should be noted!'
Suddenly, one in the far distance released a sharp shrill and dove in his direction.
'Hell! It saw me from there?!'