Training Commences III

A guard walked into a tent far away from the portal Luke had escaped through. "Captain, we've just received an emergency message from Captain Sordein's team."

"What does it say?" Another man with a deeper voice than the guard in the tent asked. The tent was completely dark so even the guard who had entered couldn't be found.

"Apparently, someone had managed to slip past their security and entered the portal with a group of others. They didn't even see the culprit's face but they believe it was a male wearing black clothes and carrying a black backpack too." The guard who had just entered the dark tent reported.

"I see. So what does that have to do with us?" The man asked again.

"The group was reported to have been teleported around our area so he asks us to take care of the criminal." The guard answered.

"Ahh. I'm tired of cleaning the errors of that sick f**k. He just uses our team however he wants. He's quite lucky he's stronger than I am currently. We would've fought a lot." The voice was low but it sounded through the whole tent.

"Captain, what are your orders?" The guard asked.

"Gather everyone. I'll give my orders when I come out." The man replied and a flicker of light went on and off inside the tent. The guard didn't know what went on. The leader currently needed a smoke.

He walked out of the tent and walked into a small field occupied by four other tents all of which were the same size as the one he had just exited. He looked at the sky that was filled with twinkling stars and two moons that stood directly opposite each other, one shining like a white bulb and the other radiated with a very light blue color. The whole place was filled with trees, and only the venue of the tents was rocky.

*****

Luke's group appeared in a field with grass growing all around. "That was close, but I was fortunate to escape." Luke's heart had been in his throat until the group had successfully teleported.

Ugh.

Luke puked on the ground, narrowly escaping his shoe. 'I shouldn't have spoken too soon.' He complained but no one would hear him.

When he stopped vomiting, he raised his head to look at those around him. Some were unconscious from the teleportation, many were puking just like he had done but quite a few were also standing as if nothing had happened.

'No need to feel envious. They must've gone through it more than once.' Luke comforted himself when he saw those standing as if nothing had happened.

"This is pretty amazing." Luke exclaimed after seeing the landscape.

From where he stood, to where his eyes could reach, grass the height of their knees could be seen. Different flowers grew here and there and some trees even stood out among the green land. The night sky flickered with stars of different sizes and distances but the two moons SHINee brighter, even covering the light of the stars.

Remembering that they would've reported his escape to a team near this area, Luke took off his black clothes and changed into an entirely different set of clothes. A yellow shirt and a very dark blue trouser. He found a place and buried the black clothes he had been wearing.

"Training begins tomorrow morning, for now, I need a good night's rest." Luke said as he made his way towards one of the towering trees not too far from the place they had arrived a few minutes ago.

His stomach growled and Luke sighed. It hadn't been too long since he ate dinner but he had successfully puked all of it when they arrived here.

"Let's see if I can catch something tonight." He continued his walk towards the tree he had chosen.

"Hello there, friend." A voice stopped Luke in his track. He turned to look at the other of the voice. 'Hmm. A young male, probably my age mate, dark eyes and hair. He looks sleepy too. He's quite tall too.' The young newcomer was tall by average standards but Luke was someone with height too. He had only met a few people taller than him and Obed was the tallest among them so far. Luke was still analyzing him when the man spoke again. "Where are you headed to?"

"Nowhere in particular. I was just going around looking for a place to spend the night, and also something to eat. I'm hungry as hell." Luke tapped his stomach which produced a sound that suggested that he was hungry.

"I see, can I go with you then?" The boy asked Luke. He pointed towards the group. "I don't really want to stay with them. I feel like things won't end well tonight."

"Sure. If you feel like tagging along, you're welcome." Luke replied and the boy followed him walking side by side with Luke.

After walking for what seemed like two hours to the two of them, they finally arrived at the destination Luke had in mind from the start. On their way here, Luke found a small pond with fish in it. The water was very clean so Luke had taken some into his water container. He also caught a few fish so they could eat when they arrived.

"Woah, it's huge." The boy exclaimed.

"I know right? Let's go up." Luke was also excited at the tree's size. From afar, it seemed smaller than it was right now.

The tree extended about thirty meters above and spread its branches very wide. The tree trunk was almost two meters thick. The dark green leaves of the tree were so abundant that if one hid well from pursuers, he wouldn't get caught.

"Excuse me? Going up?" The young man asked.

"You heard me right. We're climbing this tree." Luke nodded his head.

"I thought we were gonna be sleeping just beneath the tree." The man argued with Luke.

"Did you come with a tent?" Luke asked.

"No." He replied.

"What about a mattress?" Luke asked again.

"I didn't come with that either."

"Then let's go up." Luke just gave him a straight suggestion. "Hey, It's safer up there except you roll a lot during your sleep." The boy's eyes widened. Luke saw this and asked. "Hey, do you? We're not going too high because that'll be dangerous too. We'll just stay in the thicker branches. If you wanna sleep on the bare floor, then be my guest but I'm going up." Luke had already started his climbing before he even finished his speech.

"I'm coming up too." The boy finally agreed, afraid he would have to sleep on the floor alone if he disagreed.

"That's settled. Then let's eat this first." Luke brought out a penknife and started cutting out the innards of the fishes.

They gathered dried sticks together and set them on fire, roasting the fish close to the burning sticks.

Soon, they were ready to eat and it didn't take long before Luke was done with the fishes. The other member of his party sat opposite Luke, blowing his fish so it would get colder.

"Hey, what's your name? Calling you 'Hey' doesn't sit well with me." Luke suddenly asked the boy.

"I'm Kyne Gadoth. Just call me Kyne." The boy replied. He had been expecting Luke to ask for his name.

"Kyne… just call me Luke. put out the fire before climbing and climb higher than me for your own safety." Luke said, climbing the tree to a thick branch not too far above.

He had never been to a place like this, but he had many experiences of such a place and many other places like this.

"Goodnight to you Kyne." Luke went to sleep leaving Kyne down below.

Soon after, Kyne put off the fire and climbed up the tree, and fell asleep too.

They both slept soundly. Kyne was higher up in the tree than Luke who couldn't afford to sleep deeply.

Crack.

Something snapped not far away. 'Must have been a falling twig.' Luke thought.

Crack.

Another snap but it sounded closer. 'Something or someone is approaching.'

Luke opened his eyes to see what was approaching and he really did see them.

About eight of them were getting closer and closer from different directions.