Chapter 38: The Travel Trial

As soon as Gwen pulled away from the protective arms of Slavica, she was pulled by another pair of arms from two persons and hugged her tightly. Gwen chuckled as she patted their backs so they could let her breathe.

"Good luck." Yui and Tucker wished her luck.

"Thanks, I need that." She chuckled at them when it was Irina's turn.

"I'll prepare something for you once you made it to the main quarters." Irina hugged her as well and even give her some motivation to keep going.

"I'll be expecting that then, Irina." Gwen told Irina and they all stepped out from the perimeter of the cabin.

Just like what Wilma said and the reminders of Slavica, Gwen was totally left alone. She could see or even feel their presence around her. She was like in another world without the existence of the people that she knew.

"Let's deal with this trial." Gwen muttered to herself as she took a deep breath before letting her first step crossed the cabin's perimeter.

"I'm so excited." She continued grinning in excitement as she was completely out of the cabin's perimeter.

Gwen was about to start on her tracks, but she halted and looked around only to see nothing but herself. She smiled and took a deep breath before releasing them with determination written over her face. She looked straight ahead and went on making her steps on her way when Wilma's firefly familiar showed up beside her. She smiled because she was not completely alone throughout her journey to the DIP's main quarters.

"Hm…somewhat…this woods feels huge and familiar." Gwen muttered to herself since the track that she was being led by the firefly was something oddly familiar to her. Her body felt so familiar to the point she knew where to turn before the firefly could lead her there.

"Interesting." She continued until she stopped in her tracks.

The firefly when on the way but Gwen could not go any further from her spot. She began on thinking about how to cross the cliff to reach the other side. She deeply sighed and decided to climb the tree near the cliff. From the top of it, she collects her energy and put them into her legs and feet before jumping from the tree onto another tree across the cliff.

"Woah! I thought it will make me fall." Gwen sighed in relief as she continued on jumping from one tree to another since she was already on the top.

But with each jump she did, she made sure that she'll do some acrobatic stunts and let her bloody strings mark her way. She used them to easily jump high in mid-air without falling. She looked like a ninja from jumping around in the air. But the more she does them, she began on feeling something was heading her way and she quickly adjusted herself to dodge it.

"Trial begins." Gwen smirked like a sinister monster because she was just excited about using her ability against those monsters.

Gwen activated her bloody strings that we're invincible to anyone's eyes apart from hers and they were all scattered around the area that she kept passing. But each time there was somebody was trying to be a hindrance on her way, she was alarmed by her bloody strings. She managed to anticipate them. She either dodge them or easily stunned them on their ground.

"I have no time on dealing with you." She muttered and went on her way leaving a few of the monsters immobilized on their spot.

As they were being left on their spot, Gwen snapped her fingertips and killed those who needed to be killed and only leave those who were already decided for a change. But that was only the easy part of her trial in the middle of her travel. Things changed when she made another cross of a cave.

"Wait, a second why I felt like there was something in here." Gwen sensed something odd inside the cave.

It was not about its darkness but the energy that was residing around the cave. It was either good or bad but they could be cunning and make anyone lose their mind. Realizing what Gwen was feeling around the cave, she began to use her white sword and let it glow. But letting it glow awakens the monster's bats living inside the cave.

"Fuck!" Gwen clocked her tongue as she went on her run because of the flipping of the wings and groaning noises surrounding the cave.

Gwen kept on running aimlessly within the cave and whenever she wings were getting close to her way, she immediately dodged them. She either rolled away from it or just ducked before crawling onto the ground. But it did not just stop there, she was still being chased and the noises that they were sending her way really irritates her hearing.

"So fucked up." Gwen groaned as she was trying to run her way while blocking them. She even decided to change the sword that she was using and released the dark sword.

"I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" She shouted at them and with one swing of her dark sword, all bats stopped in their tracks and fell down from flying randomly around her.

"Don't mess with my anger management. It's not a good side of mine." She released a sigh before she went back on her track out of the dark cave.

As soon as Gwen finally saw a glimpse of light, she began on shifting her swords to light once again, and with a swing, it began vibrating in such power. She prepared herself putting her strength over her legs and feet before dashing in such speed out of the dark cave. With one swift move, she was already outside and she did not stop there. She just went on her way until it was her time to rest.

"Alright, that was a good exercise. Let's rest." Gwen sighed and let her body rest on the grassy ground of the woods.

When Gwen took her time to rest, she looked over her satchel and smiled because of the food that Irina prepared for her. She thanked the food and went on eating. She was enjoying them and left for some since she knew that she'll be having a long journey and the food that was remaining needed to be saved.

"Hmm, I need to find something around here…" Gwen went on looking around the woods and discovered a very majestic spot where fresh water from waterfalls and flowers were around. There were butterflies and fireflies flying around. It was totally magical.

"Ahm, excuse me, can I have some water and a place to rest for a while since I've traveled far away? If you're kind enough, let me stay for a while." Gwen suddenly spoke to no one but nature seems to hear her words and there was a prepared meal with fresh water and a place to rest.

"Oh, thank you." She thanked them politely and eat the fruits to fill her remaining hunger before resting.

In the middle of her rest with nice scenery, Gwen was totally at ease as she was being welcomed by nature's spirits around the woods where she was. She was thinking about how to thank them and there was only one thing that she could do for them. She began humming a song until she started singing the song called I'm Your Angel by Celine Dion and R. Kelly. She was feeling them which made the butterflies and fireflies listen as they float around her.

"No mountain's too high for you to climb

All you have to do

Is have some climbing faith, oh yeah

No river's too wide for you to make it across

All you have to do

Is believe it when you pray…" Gwen started singing the first stanza of the song while she was enjoying the company of nature around her.

"And then you will see, the morning will come

And every day will be bright as the sun

All of your fears, cast them on me

I just want you to see…" She went on singing which made some wind play around and made some trees dance smoothly around her. It was indeed a soothing scenery.

"I'll be your cloud up in the sky

I'll be your shoulder when you cry

I hear your voices when you call me

I am your angel

And when all hope is gone, I'm here

No matter how far you are, I'm near

It makes no difference who you are

I am your angel

I'm your angel…" Gwen finished her song since she was glad that the nature spirits enjoyed her sincere gratitude.

"Sorry, to say this but I have to be on my way, and thank you for letting me rest even just for a while. Thank you again." Gwen sincerely thanked nature and went on back on her travel. She could not stay there for too long or she won't be able to leave at all.

As she went back on her travel, it was just a few minutes something suddenly changed around the air of the woods. Gwen was indeed guarded as she kept her senses on it high alert even though she was still on her way. But something suddenly charged at her and Gwen managed to block their attacks. It was a very powerful wave that made her spot to be dug up upon the contact.

"Do you think I didn't know?" Gwen coldly said that making them immediately step away from her.

"Impossible." they were confused about how strong she could be to block their attack. But what surprised them more about what she knew about them.

"Well, I know everything about you. I know why you're here. I know that I'm your only way to let your sentence be either lifted or executed by me." Gwen just coldly informed them what she managed to learn when she let her bloody strings lurk around the woods.

"How…" one of the vampires in suits reacted in confusion.

"I'm no longer a human. I'm awakened and I'll be working with the DIP later." Gwen just shrugged her shoulders as she answered them.

"NONSENSE!!!!" Another one shouted in anger.

"KILL HER!!!!!" then another one did the same thing but shouted a different word.

"Oh, old fools." Gwen sighed and just went on dodging their random attacks.

Gwen was not surprised anymore when she could easily see where their attacks were coming from. She could easily dodge and blocked them smoothly so some of the vampires began to be wary of how she fought. They were only four who were clever enough to notice something over Gwen's movement.

"C'MON LET US HIT YOU!"

"LET US KILL YOU TO SET US FREE!"

They kept shouting in anger and madness but they were not totally composed and their cleverness went from their mind. They all could see were killing Gwen to spare their crimes and Gwen was totally disappointed again. She recently felt disappointed whenever she faced vampires. She was expecting too much from them and it was just making her irritated or annoyed over their reckless attacks.

"Why being stupid?" Gwen muttered which made something in them to clicked and fueled their anger even more.

Their attacks started to get heavier than usual but Gwen felt nothing and the speed that the vampires were famous for, was totally making Gwen sigh in disappointment. She could see the moves that made it easier for her to dodge, block or even counter them.

"Wait, a second…maybe there were still the same…" Gwen muttered as she stopped moving. They took it as a cue for making their plan be executed but they didn't. They could not do it at all.

"...I just grew stronger than my first awakening." She continued what she finally concluded and it was the truth. She already matched up with Slavica which only the founders could deal with and now she was added to that.

When those vampires went on charging at her, Gwen decided to move again and she went on playing with them a little bit. She went on her run because that was her trial anyway but with each attempt on her, she managed to easily grab their arms or shoulders to dodge and escaped from them which fueled the anger among the vampires. But when she sensed something, she just snapped her fingertips and the bloody strings around the area made them immobilized. They were groaning since they could not move their body freely.

"Don't move too much you'll just going to kill yourself - well, unless you have been begging for it." Gwen flatly informed them and those vampires looked at each other as if they didn't believe that she just told them.

They tried to break free from it but they couldn't since whenever they moved or tried to break free from it, they could feel their blood has been sucked away from their body. Gwen really looked at them in her calm but cold expression that made them shiver.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO US?!" one short-tempered vampire shouted at her while trying to break from her invincible bloody strings.

"RELEASE US YOU BITCH!" another one shouted but Gwen's ears twitched when she was called bitch.

"Keep roaring, your life is in my hands now." She looked at them coldly and said those words that the remaining four cautious vampires wondered what she was talking about.

"What are you talking about?" one of the four cautious vampires asked her directly.

"There's a reason why they were being stuck on their spot while you weren't." Gwen answered briefly.

"I'm confused." the second among the four cautious vampires reacted to what Gwen said.

"At first I am too but meeting you all in the cabin, I've got the feeling something will happen on my trial. And it does, so, the four of you come with me." Gwen agreed but briefly explained what she managed to sense earlier.

"Why we would do that?" the third among the four cautious vampires curiously wondered.