Tracking Footprints Once Again

Having reached the peak of this mountain we see a canyon deeper in the mountain range and make that the next place to look around. With no clocks around and relying only on the sun's position, I would say it's somewhere between one and three in the afternoon, so we decide to take a quick break for lunch.

Now that I think about it, Aurelia has been taking food and other items out from seemingly nowhere. Like just now, she pulled out a meat skewer all of a sudden, and it's giving off some steam, it kind of looks like the skewers I saw being sold in Maia... wait, it doesn't just look like it they are those same skewers!

"Where have you been keeping all this stuff? You keep on pulling food out from thin air."

"Not like you can't do similar things with that strange stomach of yours. But to answer your question, it's from this ring of mine. It's something called a spatial ring. I'm not too sure on the specifics behind it, it's an heirloom passed down from my Mother. Much like your stomach, it can hold pretty much anything in it as long as it's nothing alive. Now hurry up and eat your own food so we can get moving."

"This is unfair. Why can't the things in my storage retain heat?"

Coughing up some of the monster meat we picked up on our trip so far, I roast it with my flame breath, not caring to cook it properly. It tastes not awful, but when I see the well cooked sauce covered skewer in Aurelia's hand I can't help but stare.

Perhaps because she is taking pity on me, she takes out another one and throws it my way. Lunging out it grab it with my mouth and swallow it whole as my head crashes down to the ground, sending birds flying into the air from the tremours.

With our break having concluded, we move down the opposite side of the mountain and towards the canyon separating the mountains in the Albus mountain range. As we head down we come across some large footprints on the ground. The trees around them have been pushed to the side as if a large gust of wind blew them over.

"Check out these footprints, let's get a closer look, I wonder what monster made them?"

Heading Aurelia call, I swing down closer to them as Aurelia jumps off my back to get a look. From what I can tell, it was probably a four legged creature that made them. Looks similar to that paws of a large cat. Moving my gaze away from the footprints and I slither over toward the trees for a better look. They don't show any signs of being pushed down or uprooted by an animal, as they don't have any scratch marks or any markings at all that would show such actions. They look more like they were up against strong winds, having been pushed back until they were permanently bent over.

"It's a little strange," Aurelia says as she jumps back onto my back, "the prints just suddenly show up and only take a few steps before disappearing."

"If that's the case, then this might have been a flying monster. The trees have no signs of being physically pushed over by a monster and look a little more like a natural force. Perhaps the winds created by this monster knocked them down."

"Perhaps. The only thing my eyes can gather from these tracks is the general direction it went. It should be sufficiently powerful for you to get some EXP from so lets try and find it."

large monster, probably some kind of feline, can fly... why do I get the feeling this like I'm forgetting something important. Well, it should be fine as long as Aurelia is around, she's strong enough to make up for anything I can't handle.

After a couple of hours of moving in the direction Aurelia says the monster went, we actually do find another area where the trees have been pushed aside and the same footprints. With a quick inspection of the area, Aurelia points us off into another direction, saying that it went this way. Continuing to follow the maker of these footprints eventually leads us to the entrance of the canyon we originally wanted to go to.

Further into the distance, I can just barely make out what is another area where the trees have been bent over, but this time to a more severe degree, and right beyond it is a large cave. I think we may have found our target.