When Freya finally regained consciousness, she found herself leaning against a tree. She wanted to groan in pain as her body reminded her of what it had been through.
However, her mind was quick to remember she was still in a dangerous situation. As did the thick vines tied around her hands and feet. She was pretty sure she was beginning to lose circulation there.
Freya moved her body as best as her hands behind her back allowed her to to check her surroundings. As she did, the rough bark from the tree scraped against her back and thin nightgown.
Her muscles were quivering in pain from all the running she had done and her throat was begging for water. But she didn't say a word, trying to be as quiet as possible as she tried to figure out what was going on.
The sounds of talking and fire crackling soon filled her ears and Freya glanced over to the direction of the noise. A few meters away from her, Freya found the source of all the noise.
Under a bright moon a group of men sat around a large fire in a forest clearing, joking around and eating some kind of meat. Among them lay a few wolves sleeping, but that wasn't what shocked Freya.
No it was what some of the men had - furry ears and a bushy tail. They ranged from brown to silver, but Freya knew they were all the same. The men had wolf features.
Am I going crazy? Freya mused to herself. There's no way…
She paused that thought recalling what had been chasing her. That was definitely not a creature from Earth. And now seeing humans with animal features confirmed even more that she wasn't on Earth.
Is this some kind of beast world? Freya wondered silently. Or maybe it's some kind of fantasy world?
The group's clothes were wildly different from what she'd ever seen, looking almost like a mix between the Stone Age and Middle Ages. Which was a strange combination, making her wonder if it was just thrown together.
Whatever the case was, one thing Freya was sure of was that she needed to get away from the group. Because tying her up like this meant they weren't trying to help her, but rather use her.
And she didn't want to find out what for. That being said…
Could she escape right now? They weren't focused on her and if she got these vines off her, she could make a break for the forest. But where would she go from there? And did she want to face what was out there?
Freya shivered at the thought. She'd already escaped from those monsters just barely and to run back into the forest. Yeah, there was no way she wanted a round two.
But she also couldn't stick around with these guys.
Perhaps I should wait around for a bit… Freya mused to herself. They're likely to head back to some kind of civilization soon. I could make my escape then…
She'd have more luck surviving if she escaped in some village or town compared to running around in some dangerous forest. At least she hoped so…
Because right now she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
***
Xavier gazed at the scene before him with narrowed black eyes, his tongue flickering out for a second as he hissed in annoyance. He squatted down, taking a closer look at the carnage before him.
Blood was splattered everywhere, soaking the ground and covering every possible surface from plants to leaves to the trees themselves. Bits of flesh, fur and mutilated corpses were littered all over the place.
And from the look of things the corpses mostly belonged to Chimera monsters.
"Tsk…" Xavier clicked his tongue as he straightened back up.
His mission had been to clear a nearby horde of them and retrieve their cores. But it seemed someone had gotten to them first and by the looks of it, they were Wanderers. Just his luck.
Looks like I'm going to have to track those beasts and get rid of them myself now. Xavier muttered to himself, fixing his black coat. What a fucking mess…
Xavier really hated when things did not go as planned. He flickered his tongue out to get a sense of where they had gone off to when he suddenly caught an unexpected scent.
It made him pause for a moment before he turned his head off to the side. There a few meters from the gruesome scene stood a large tree with that strange scent.
But surely his senses weren't right. How could there be a female scent here? There was no way one could be outside the cities, especially this far out. It was too dangerous for them.
Unless…
Xaiver run a gloved hand through his wavy, black hair and sighed in frustration, "Well, this just got worse…"
This was meant to be a simple mission for him. Track down the horde of Chimera monsters, kill them and collect their cores for the city. Something simple and easy that he did all the time.
But now there were Wanderers involved as well as some female, making this turn into a complicated task. And it wasn't like he could call for backup.
It would take at least two days to return to the city to get backup and by then, the group would be long gone. He'd have to deal with this himself if he wanted to return with the mission a success.
Because there was no way the city would allow him back empty handed. Failure meant he was finished.
He knew those higher up bastards were looking for any excuse to get rid of him and this would be it. All because they feared his clan.
Whatever. Xavier shook his head before shifting into his beast form. Might as well get this done quickly. After all, killing them will get rid of some of this stress.