What have I gotten myself into. Kael kept repeating in his mind as he entered the forest.

He had agreed to Brin's stupid competition in the spur of the moment, but thinking about it—and hating to admit it—Levy was right. How was he supposed to catch a beast without any tools?

He sighed and continued deeper into the forest. The trees rose higher and the vegetation grew thicker. Wild. Untamed. The setting sun was soon shrouded and he stood in the shadow.

Just him and the forest. Its sounds resounded in his ears. He focused on the insects and birds chirping.

"This isn't so bad." Kael said.

A cloud of insects crawled and buzzed around him. Biting, stinging and pricking his skin. Swatting madly only made things worse and aggravated them. Kael stopped killing them and ran; trying to get away from the infernal stinging.

"Damn it." He cursed out loud. Suddenly he tripped over a fallen log and dived head first onto a patch of cool mud. He turned on his back drenching himself in mud.

At least the bugs stopped biting me. He thought, covering his face in frustration.

"How I'm I to do this alone." He yelled. He missed Leggy. With her he could at least capture something, anything, to get out of the forest and return to his books. Even if it meant losing the competition.

"With help." A voice said.

Kael froze at the sound of the calm voice.

Did I imagine it? He thought, quickly trying to clean the mud from his eye. No someone is there.

"Nar?" he asked. "Is that you." His eyes could only distinguish shades—still affected partly by the mud.

"Wow Kael. We just entered the forest and you already look like you've been here a week." Nar said, laughing.

"Shut up. Whose fault is it that I'm here in the first place."

"You are still mad about that? I told you I was following orders."

“You could have let me go...” he trailed off, his vision getting better. Nar sat on a stump, his long-sleeved robe tightly around his arms and a large bag at his back.

Where did he get that? Kael wondered. He didn’t have it before.

“I couldn’t do that. Here,” Nar suddenly reached into his bag and threw a bottle at him. "Clean your face and let's go."

Barely catching the bottle, he poured the contents on his hands then rubbed his face clean of mud.

"Go where?"

"Catch some beasts of course."

"I don't need your help." Kael insisted, walking away. He was mad at him for throwing him in this situation.

"Oh really? Then I’m sure you know where you are going and that you won't need this bug repelling pellet, right?" Nar said mockingly, holding up a small sphere.

He stopped. He was right. Kael didn’t know where to go he had been walking randomly. He felt the bugs stinging again and shivered.

"Just give it here." Kael said, rushing forward and swallowing the pill.

"I'll take that's a yes then." Nar said, pacing past him and into the forest.

##

Nar had led the way for the past thirty minutes. The trees started getting sparse and some clearings could be seen every few minutes.

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"How far in are we going?"

"Not much farther. We are almost to their nest."

"What kind of beast nests this far in. I can see the yellow wall already."

The forest was divided into three sections—blue, yellow and maroon. Each section was more dangerous than the last.

The blue section, which they were currently in, held only beast cubs. There wasn't any type danger. Kael didn't quite understand how, but he had read that a formation maintained it that way. Whenever a beast went beyond the threshold, it would be sent to the next section through the yellow wall.

"The Roc Fox makes its nest near the energy that is given off by the wall."

Roc foxes? Kael thought. Are you crazy. His eyes widened at Nar.

Roc foxes were known for their beauty. Their colors of their fur—usually an orange or red—remained steady but the feathers on the back of their legs varied. Some scholars believed that the species was a dormant offshoot evolution. Many experimented on them. Cross breeding in hopes of mutation and the awakening of its potential. All had failed, however, causing the foxes to lose their feathers or die quickly after.

"But that species is intelligent and incredibly fast even as cubs. How the hell are we catching one?"

Nar rummaged through his bag and took out a strange herb and a net. Kael didn't recognize the herb but it had three stalks each narrow and the size of a pen. The net, however, was something he had seen and read about.

"How did you get a Versilk net? The price is outrageous."

Nar smiled. "Elder Norman lent it to me."

"Norman? That stingy guy?" Kael asked, dumbfounded. Norman was known throughout the sect for his strict standards and prices. He never dropped his prices. Not even for elders. He had even heard Dean complain several times about his prices to Roan—the master of the Material Palace—but even he didn't manage to change Norman's mind. It was a miracle Nar had managed to borrow something.

"Yes, he is surprisingly interested in my talent for herbs." Nar said, smiling. "He says it's the best he's seen. He even hinted at taking me as his apprentice."

"What? No way. That old guy is actually planning on taking someone in?"

"Kael, you should really respect the elders...lest things like what happened earlier with Elder Dean will repeat themselves."

He winced. It was true. He was too used to just calling elders by their name. "I-I know, but it's you and me righ-"

Nar covered his mouth and quickly removed a small bottle from his belt. He removed two yellow pills, ate one and stuffed the other into Kael's mouth.

"The antidote." Nar whispered.

Antidote for what? Kael wanted to ask but Nar crouched and proceeded slowly into some bushes.

Waiting a moment, Nar lit the herd aflame with a flint and threw it between two small mounds of dirt.

Soon three red foxes came out of a hole and ran into the clearing, rolling on the floor. One fainted shortly after, but the other two still managed to stand.

Kael stared in wonder as the scene played out. How had Nar known the foxes were there? He gave Nar a suspicious look.

The smoke continued to spread forming a huge cloud that burned his eyes. The feeling of fainted spread through his body and Kael staggered.

"Nar are you sure you gave me the right antidote?" he whispered, slurring his words.

No response. He tried to open his teary eyes and look around, but that made them burn more. His throat was soon in flames as well. Suddenly, a soothing chill spread from his stomach through his body. He managed to stand noticing that Nar had been in the same situation.

"What the hell Nar. It felt like I was on fire." Kael said, his voice raspy. "I thought you gave me the antidote."

"I forgot that it took a minute or two for it to take effect. And noticing the Roc Foxes near I grew eager. Sorry."

"How did you know they were there? There's trees everywhere and there are even mounds of dirt covering the place."

Nar stayed silent for a moment. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Uh sure."

"I felt an itch on my back." He said, blushing.

"An itch? That's how you knew?"

"I know it sounds weird, but I'm telling the truth. It started about three months ago." He continued. "Whenever something approached the center of my back would itch. At first, I dismissed it as my imagination but as the days passed it persisted and grew stronger. Finally, I began testing by closing my eyes and focusing on it. To my surprise I could faintly see outlines of people or beasts and know what they were doing."

"That sounds awesome." Kael said.

"Like hell, it freaked me out. Thought I was going insane or seeing ghost. Then I realize what it actually was and I started thinking of it as a benefit."

Kael wanted to ask more but a whimper resounded. The second fox had fallen.

"Let's go catch them." Nar said, heading into the dispersing smoke.

Kael approached the foxes and stood next to Nar who had a fascinated look on his face. Following his sight, he noticed one fox still standing. Its legs wavered and the feathers on his front legs were fully extended showing a hostile posture. Pure black feathers.

"Amazing. It is still displaying so much willpower." Nar said. "That Lorh Herb should have caused even a mature Roc Fox to faint. Kael, let me have that one."

"Nar its feathers are weird. I’ve never read anything that suggested something like this. The feathers are never a single color.”

“That’s why I want it. It will be a good beast I’m sure.”

“Alright…

I'll just take one of the others. It should be enough to shut Brin up. Kael thought. Even if he ends up getting a better beast.

Nar threw the Versilk Net over the standing fox. The weight of the net caused the fox to finally give in to the herbs effect and fell into a slumber. Just as they neared Nar tackled him hard.

Before he could yell out a loud boom resounded throughout the forest. A streak of purple lightning crossed the place Kael was standing and continued breaking the air-towards the yellow wall. Following that, a strong force burst and sent them tumbling through the air.