Ch-43 The Hooded Figure
A hooded figure moved with ease as it followed after Jasper and the Lynx . They started early in the morning and didn't stop even after an hour. As they kept rushing the terrain suddenly to a swampy marshland.
This new development was unexpected. Jasper had been to a forest before a long time back, but he didn't know about this. It was a common occurrence for a puddle of swampy water to appear but a region, he had never heard about a swampy region existing.
' Lets avoid the swampy region.' Just as Jasper had this thought, he remembered Julian's warning. ' That bastard told to keep going straight. I don't believe him but it would be prudent to listen to him. '
The Lynx also had a disgusted expression with one of its small paws on its nose, trying to block the smell. It didn't want to travel through such a bad smelling region, it tried acting pitiful to convince Jasper to take another route but alas this effort proved to be fruitless. With heavy hearts both entered the swampy region.
Julian had a hand on on his nose while the Lynx blocked its nose on his masters dress as they began travelling through the stinking and disgusting swampy region.
The hooded figure faced a very big problem now.
How was it going to follow Jasper unnoticed?
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The hooded figure was a resident of the unique ecosystem present in the Hidden Jungle.
She never went outside the prescribed perimeter set by its elders so from birth was completely oblivious about the outside world. Born to the village chieftain, the princesses of the village was given a lot of importance. She had outstanding qualities with top-notch beauty, the most talented prodigy of her village and attributed to a rare element.
The hooded figure was probably the best existence Nether Ashes had ever given birth to. As her outstanding qualities bloomed none of the other village kids were her match, so her attention shifted towards exploring the areas outside her village.
The people of Nether Ashes called it ' Beast Land '. Dangerous creatures her village couldn't handle lay outside restricting the places villagers could go through , she was the princess so they repeatedly warned her to never venture outside the village. But a warning was not enough to stop her curiosity as she fearlessly ventured outside getting to know as much as she could. Surprisingly, after years of exploration she found out something shocking and very unusual.
These years she had explored a large portion of Beast Land. She knew these places like her backyard and all the creature accepted her existence never attacking her. Similar to when her village, Nether Ashes started becoming boring she moved to the Beast Land. The these lands too had now become boring.
On her recent travels she came across a spot that wouldn't budge no matter how much she tried. Growing suspicious of it, she searched for other place similar place. The result was a barrier shaped obstruction. Moving beyond it proved to be impossible. After a lot of thinking she though of the possibility of the existence of a place outside 'Beast Land.
It was a sudden realization as ' The question did something outside Beat Land exist' popped into her mind.
The hooded figure had been born with a curious and powerful spirit which made her always look towards a bigger challenge. Then she came across Jasper, a lone human travelling through 'Beast Land'. This garnered her full attention because he was the only other human who dared to travel excluding her.
She started following after him secretly because of the change of fate she sensed by doing this. The hooded figure had a vague feeling Jasper was the key for going to the place that was outside Beast Land .
She observed Jaspers every action like a hawk waiting for the time when he leaves Beast Land. By following after him, she was sure to be able to leave. Outside, she may have to fight foes beyond her comprehension but she was never one to be scared of a battle instead it made her more excited.
Not knowing if Jasper agreed on some unknown stranger tagging along with him, she kept hiding from him.
The swampy region was one of the places she hadn't explored yet. However she knew about a dangerous creature residing in this region. Still, she was not afraid of travelling through it and her want to go outside Beast Land had increased to a level where she didn't want to even risk a small chance. What she feared the most was Jasper discovering about her and then not taking a liking to her, leaving her in the Beast Lands.
As the most talented prodigy of the Nether Ashes she was always ahead of others, this made the other kids jealous of her not daring to approach her. She lived as an outcast from the group of friends even after getting older, her experience in Nether Ashes effected her personality as she became socially awkward. It didn't change after going to Beats Land because she hid from most of the things that occurred.
Her plan was to follow Jasper so that he led her to the way outside the Beast Land without coming in contact with him, but this planed was a failure. If she continued following after him, coming in contact with him was inevitable
She had wanted to avoid it at all costs but there wasn't any other choice. Her social awkwardness was put to test as her wants and personality fought.
The hooded figure rose above the challenge as she scaled down the tree towards the swampy region.
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Jasper and Lynx started their arduous journey through the thick and sticky mud which made up the swampy region.
From the forest it appeared to be empty of any creatures leaving, but this was only when looking from a large distance. Both of them began to believe this lie as they moved ahead without encountering any creatures until they saw it, creatures resembling earthworms, deadly piranha and others usually found in swamps. Only these were different because they were not only bigger in size but very different in appearance too.
Well, he should have expected something like this when he entered a swampy region, why would any environment be empty when creatures could grow practically anywhere, even in the most unlikely places. It was the power of adaptation creatures possessed. Once he realized about their presence he immediately turned around wanting to use another path, but then he remembered Julian's warning.
' If teacher took the effort to warn me, then it means whatever I would face by going forward is much easier than what lay waiting in the other paths. As long as I do not disturb any of the creatures then I would safely pass through. All I need to do is hide myself from all the creatures while passing by them, it would require me to control my breathing, heartbeat, rate of sweat and many other parameters. Simple enough, I guess !'
NO, he was joking it was going to be one of the the most toughest and dangerous tasks he had ever undertaken. Taking care of a few creatures was nothing for him but then this would alert most of the other creatures. At the moment he did not enough strength to kill so many at once.
Still he moved forward taking the Lynx in his arms and controlling its rate of breathing as well as his. The starting moments were scary but as he successfully started proceeding forward, he gained a little confidence. This small confidence kept building up as kept moving forward. A lot of time passed without being caught making him believe that he was actually going to pass through them unscathed.
However, suddenly a shadowy aberration attacked at Jasper. The aberration seemed to something out of a child's misplaced imagination and could be associated being harmless but the pain felt after by its attack was proof enough of its danger. He was forced to counterattack to save his and Lynx's life. This made his worst nightmare come true.