Chapter 22

Fares woke up the next day to a disturbance below him.

Smooka just opened its cute round eyes and was standing back on its two feet not noticing Fares lying over him.

Thud~

"Ouch!" Fares fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Standing up and rubbing his forehead, Fares looked around him at the unfamiliar place.

Right then memories of everything that happened yesterday came back to him.

He looked at Smooka and hugged his soft fur, rubbing his face in it.

The squirrel became confused by the act, but it didn't mind.

Squeak~ Squeak~

It squeaked at Fares, trying to tell him something. Fares frowned at it as he couldn't understand what it wanted.

Pouting at him for not getting it when he squeaked it, Smooka grabbed Fares under the armpits and threw him over his back.

Fares was a bit dizzy, but he still managed to grab Smooka's fur.

A second later Smooka ran towards the hole's entrance and jumped.

"Ahhhhhhhh" Fares screamed.

"He's going to get me killed. I shouldn't have trusted him. Mother, Father, if you don't see me again please know that I love you."

He continued screaming at the top of his lungs into the air currents.

But different from what he thought, Smooka spread his arms and legs, revealing the patagium. It's a membrane the Dwarf squirrels use to glide in the air.

Using the air current to lift its massive weight, the squirrel glided in the air dodging trees left and right.

Fares was amazed, it was his first time flying with the airbrushing his skin.

His amazement didn't last for long though, because soon he was at the grasslands he was at before.

"Smooka, buddy? What are you doing here? This place isn't safe." Fares said in a high enough voice for the squirrel to hear him over the air currents.

Squeak~

The squirrel made a sound trying to assure Fares who still didn't understand.

Fares was about to refute but stopped when he noticed the squirrel steering to the right after exiting the forest.

Smooka kept gliding at the edge of the forest for some time before he entered it again.

However, Fares became shocked by what he saw. The place where they re-entered the forest had beasts everywhere he looked. And all of them looked like Smooka, but with different features.

Smooka finally descended in front of an extremely large tree, that was easily three times that of the normal tree.

Each tree branch had a large hole at its beginning, with squirrels entering and leaving out of each hole.

When they finally landed, all the squirrels stopped what they were doing and turned their eyes to look at the tiny weird creature who came into their territory.

Fares became nervous, every beast around him was strong enough to one hit him. 'Will I be okay?' he thought coming down from Smooka's back.

Squeak~ Squeak~

Screamed Smooka towards the tree. Fares still didn't know what was going on, but he trusted Smooka enough, so he waited patiently beside him.

After a while, the gathered squirrels stepped backward making away towards the giant tree.

Smooka skipped towards the tree on all fours with Fares following behind closely. But before they reached the tree, a big squirrel came down from it way too fast and stood in front of them, followed by a smaller but still big squirrel and two others the same size as Smooka.

Saying that these squirrels are big was too much of an understatement. The biggest was at least 6 meters tall and the other one was 5 meters.

For a dwarf squirrel, it was humongous.

Squeak~ Squeak~

After a few squeaks between Smooka and the huge squirrel, it came towards Fares sniffing at him.

Fares stiffened and didn't dare move a muscle.

Squeak~

The huge squirrel said to Fares. He got confused and didn't know what it meant, so he looked at Smooka with pleading eyes.

Smooka understood and waved his cute little hands around confusing Fares even more.

Squeak~

The huge squirrel got impatient, pointing his nose at Fares' side.

Fares didn't have anything on him right now except for his sword and the pouch made of leaves.

'Wait, the pouch. That's it.' Fares took out his pouch and took out the last orb, the one with a red hue, and handed it to the giant squirrel.

Squeak~

The squirrel squeaked happily taking the orb off of Fares' hands and left.

Fares raised an eyebrow at the weird encounter.

'Is that something like an alpha squirrel? Do squirrels even have an alpha? Or is it because of the energy affecting their mentality?' Fares though.

He didn't mind the orb, he could always hunt more Raptors if he wanted to, but right now he needed to know why Smooka got him here.

Smooka nudged his shoulders asking him to follow it. It then drew its sharp claws again and started climbing the tree.

Fares was at a loss for words the squirrel was too quick, but he still climbed the tree using his sword as a stepping stone, and energy to pull himself up jumping a few meters at a time.

After climbing for a few minutes, Fares was out of energy. Lucky for him, he had already arrived at the top of the tree.

Astonished by the view and what was on top, Fares nearly forgot to breathe.

From the top of the tree, he could see a sea of green covering everything till the mountain in the distance. He knew that mountain well, it was his destination, his only place he could call home in this era.

But what was even more astonishing was a gigantic walnut at the top of the tree. It was about 10 meters in diameter and was emitting massive amounts of energy.

Fares put the palm of his hands on the walnut and infused his eyes with energy. He saw a condensation of energy at the center of the walnut.

Returning his vision to normal he looked at Smooka, who was sitting on the tree branch next to him looking at him with anticipation.

"What? You don't want me to…" Fares trailed off and pointed at the walnut.

The squirrel nodded repeatedly.

"If I can break it, couldn't you do the same too?" He asked.

This time Smooka shook its head.

"What do you mean no?"

Smooka went to the walnut and a bit into it with the same force that he used to bite into the smaller one yesterday.

But to Fares' astonishment, there was not a scratch.

He took his sword and infused it with even more energy than usual, causing it to vibrate violently.

Fares slashed at the walnut, but nothing happened, not even a scratch.

Fares looked at the giant walnut with wide eyes, wondering how was it this tough.

Thinking for a few seconds, Fares had an idea.

Putting a finger on his chin, Fares expressed a mischievous smile on his face as he looked at the walnut.