The Encounter

Irianda on the other hand, was at least glad. She knew her world was entirely different from the outside and if she will fit in, she had to make sacrifices which in turn will be for her own benefit.

Getting acquitted to her new environment, she mostly stayed at home with the fear of publicly exposing herself though she found herself in a remote area – receiving home tuition from her mother and a teacher hired for her.

She no longer came in contact with neither of her school mates nor Milly; not even a phone call or message from her once best friend. She once in her free times, waits expectantly for a call or message but her expectations always hits rock bottom.

As the years slowly rolled by, Irianda became used to her much boring life which had become a routine. She buried herself more into her studies –paying less attention to the world around her. Her world simply revolved around her books, the Island and her abilities.

It was a bright and glorious afternoon with the strong forest aura and chirping sounds of the birds, coupled with the roaring waves of the ocean from afar– making the entire atmosphere peaceful.

Irianda sat on her bed, legs crossed out as she supported her back against the wall with her gaze buried in her book. She was enjoying one of her most read novels when she felt her ear edged with voices from afar. With a study gaze, she could tell it was from a group of boys– about Four in number.

She instinctively shove it off– not wanting to get involved but then, something else etched her ears; jerking her on alarm. There was something more to the voices, it felt like someone was in trouble.

Paying more attention to it, she heard heavy feet scampering through the forest– coupled with heavy breaths. Aside that, the growling noises of wild beasts. It was then that it clicked.

Her eyes instinctively flew wide opened and within a twinkle of an eye, sped out of the house with the speed of lightening– forgetting all about the promise she made to her mother. She had come to know every part of the forest like the back of her hand; given their 10years stay.

********

"Neo..! Neo..!" The voices of the three stranded boys kept echoing in the forest while their eyes searched around for any sign of him. Park Ki–young, Kim shin– Woo, Cho Dae– Hyung and Neo Kyung– Soo have been close friends since 5th grade.

The three decided for their first project work in SAMBEAK HIGH SCHOOL – to visit the Han Su Island but then they suddenly lost track of Neo after a few distance in. They didn't even realized where or when he stopped until Kim wanted his opinion on an issue they were discussing.

They had since been searching for him but to no avail. It 's been almost an hour now running helter– skelter in the forest and they were beginning to loss hope.

Neo on the hand scampered through the forest– running for his dear life as those wild hideous wolves tailed after him. His eyes instinctively darted to a bower nearby as he got to the center of the forest.

He swiftly glanced at the beasts who were fast closing up on him and without a second thought, whizzed over to it– crouching beneath it while he struggled to hold back his breath.

He could hear from behind the bower, the growling sounds of the wolves as they searched for him. His chest couldn't resist raising and falling with rapid breath but what he forgot was that their sense of smell was beyond humans. Suddenly, he felt outmost silence engulfed the forest– thinking it was over, he slammed his back against the bower, letting out a deep breath as he rested a hand on his chest.

Just then, Neo saw one of the vicious wolves chancing towards him. He instinctively frenched back– eyes deftly lurking around for an escape but was pointless as he soon saw the rest surrounding him. Instinctively, cold sweats broke through him – all he could wish for at the moment was for the ground to crack open and swallow him up.

Within a blink of an eye, one of the wolves pounced towards him. His eyes involuntarily closed, waiting for the worse to happen as he felt all his breath trapped.

A sudden loud 'Bang!' – followed by a whiz movement in the forest made him deftly opened his eyes. It spontaneously heightened on seeing the feminine figure battling with the creatures.

He swallows dryly, unable to wet his parched throat as a chill froze him to his spot.

"Ah.." A sharp groan escaped Irianda's lips as she landed heavily on the ground; following a scratch from one of the wolves. She swiftly knelt on one knee, with hands pressed to the ground – her chest resting on the other knee while she lifted her gaze to the wolves. "Are you okay? " She muttered over her shoulders.

But then, there was no time to wait for reply as the wolves pounced towards her. With a kick and whiz here and there; she sent the wolves flying against the trees. For the sake of their dear lives, they flee off on limping limbs. Irianda instinctively chuckled, dusting off her hands as she returned to Neo.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked in one breath while she crouched before him.

Neo on the other hand, just stared at her with furrowed brows as he watched the wound on Irianda 's hand automatically disappeared.

He deftly travelled his gaze to her face in awe to meet her blue narrowed pupil cat–like eyes; yet transforming to it's normal state. "Who are you?" He muttered.

Just then, Irianda heard hasty foot steps approaching from afar. She instinctively jerked her head towards that direction then back to Neo.

"Sorry, I have to go." She hastily replied– shrugging to her feet. "Your friends are coming. " She added.

Before Neo could say anymore, she whizzed off with the speed of lightening.