Surprise!

The forest was dark, and the atmosphere within it was heavy enough to weigh down on her shoulders. A thin layer of moist air stubbornly clung to her skin. Despite the chill, the excitement she felt in her heart keep her body warm.

She didn't know where exactly the Apostate Mage's home was, so she simply began to wonder further and further into the forest without any real direction. The only guidance she had was pure instinct, it was almost like an invisible force was pulling her towards it.

All she could do was follow her gut and follow what ever she felt calling to her deep within the forest.

There wasn't a single person out other than her, but that was to be expected considering how late in the night it was. Though there was not any people, that didn't mean she was completely alone.

Dozens of small glowing eyes poked out of the plentiful plant life surrounding her. They kept her every step within their sights, but didn't make any aggresive moves against her. They must of been waiting for the right time to strike.

[Beast's? Maya did once say that the forest had numerous beasts that roamed around. Maybe they're waiting for a chance to attack me? They look small and most likely weak, I doubt they could take me with their strength alone. They're probably waiting for a bigger and stronger beast to come and 'take care of me' so they can eat the scraps.]

She cast a cold glare to the beasts hidden around her, angry that such small creatures could be so scheming.

[No wonder Maya said the forest was dangerous. Even the weakest beasts had at least some degree of intelligence. I'll have to be careful.]

Suddenly, she recalled a book she was given by Maya that had all kinds of important information regarding beast.

In general there are four basic classes of beasts in the world: third class beasts, second class, first class, and immortal class.

Third class beasts are the smallest and weakest beasts out of the four. They are usually the easiest to hunt because of their weak constitution, and don't put up much of a fight. They have basic knowledge on how to survive, but other than that not very smart. The beasts hiding right now would fall into this class.

Second class beasts are a step above the third. They are slightly bigger, stronger, and tougher. Even a skilled hunter would have a hard time bringing one down on their own. Though they are slightly smarter, it isn't by much. The biggest difference between the two is how strong they are.

First class beasts are significantly stronger in all areas. If a hunter came across one of these bad boys, they would turn on their heels and run for their lives. Only the strongest fighters or mages would beable to fight against one with a dream of surviving. Some of them can even understand human speech, but it was rare.

Immortal Beasts were almost unheard of. They are the toughest of the tough. A scary story mothers tell their children to make them behave. Though it was much more rare to see an Immortal beast, it was easy to say that no one would go looking for one.They were strong, fast, and worse of all, incredibly intelligent.

Thinking back on what she read, her body shuddered.

[What's the chances of running into one of the more scarier beast? How would I even fight one if I had to? If I was as strong as Maya I could just pull a tree out of the ground and use it to beat it into a pulp, but I'm not. I'm nothing more than a walking snack with my current strength. ]

She let out a long sigh after thinking of Maya.

[Maybe I should of brought her along.. She's definitely going to throw a tantrum when she finds out I snuck out of the house in the middle of the night.]

Just as she was starting to sulk at her own decision to leave her bestfriend behind, she heard a familiar voice.

"Master! I finally found you!"

A small white rabbit bounced out of a nearby shrub and clung innocently to her foot, catching her completely off guard.

After walking through such a dark forest by herself while constantly being on guard that something might jump up and eat her at any moment, it was only natural to be startled. No one could blame her for what she did next.

A string of curse words spilled out of her innocent looking face. As soon as the rabbit wrapped it's tiny paws around her foot, she punted the poor thing as far as she could without hesitation.

It happened so fast that all she could see through the darkness was a small white orb flying through the sky, cursing her all the way until it landed on top of a nearby bush with a loud THUD.

" Whhhhhhyyyyyy Maaaster?" *BAM* "How can you be so cruel to me, Master? I don't deserve to be beat. Ouch! " The rabbit poked it's head out of the bush to eye his Master pitifully.

But Mariella didn't notice it's puppy dog eyes, her mind had gone into over drive from the moment the rabbit meet her foot.

[ What in the Maker's good name just happened? Where did that rabbit come from? Why am I it's master all of a sudden. Wait...] Last time she checked, rabbits didn't talk.

She tilted her head slightly at it and then hit her fist against her palm in realization. She knew something that once called her Master not too long ago.

"You're my so called Spirt animal?" She asked. "I almost forgot about you completely. So you were a rabbit? I pictured you would look like a snake or maybe even a spider. Regardless, you're still creepy to look at."

This time the white rabbit approached her with more caution. It slowly bounced its little body right in front or her, it's eyes looking at her with uneasiness. Probably scared she was going to send it flying again.

"That hurt, Master. I'm not creepy, I'm cute! Way too cute to be a spider or to be kicked like a ball!"

"I'm sorry.. It was a reflex." She almost felt bad for it. Almost. But then she remembered it called her a 'Mutt' once, and she suddenly felt the kick was justified.

The rabbit looked up at her with tears in it's eyes. She doesn't look very apologetic.. It decided it would be pointless to argue with her, after all, it did pop out of nowhere and scared her.

Before the rabbit could say anything else, Mariella asked it something that had be puzzling her since she woke up.

"Where have you been? It's almost been a month since I woke up and there wasn't so much as a word from you. I thought I dreamt you up."

Her gorgeous blue eyes narrowed down at it, making the fur on it's back twitch slightly.

"Master.. I tried to get here sooner but for some reason the forest wouldn't let me leave. I've been wondering around endlessly this whole time waiting for you to save me."

"That's strange," Mariella puzzled, "I felt something calling to me from the forest the whole time I was in the village. Maybe whatever drawed me in, also kept you trapped here."

The rabbit thought seriously for a moment. "We should be careful, Master. If something chose to bring us here, then they must have a reason for it. I doubt it is anything good."

[Great,] Mariella seethed internally, [Let me guess, now even trees are racist against half Elves! They probably think I would make good fertilizer for their roots.]