Lien:

It was pointless.

Lien tried to push through Leppalúði's grip. She struggled, flailed, and tried to use her super breath, but nothing worked. Of course, the furry Monoke wasn't strong enough for such a feat. Though the giant needed two hands to keep her in check, for all that was worth.

Now, she was being treated like when she would hear a rat's squeak, then started chasing it until she finally caught it with her hands, clutching her paws tight to not let it escape. It was the same principle here.

Admittedly, Lien was scared at first. She heard stories about the father of the Lads, a giant that put fear in the hearts of the Monoke in the Ganvi Woods once a year. Either the Wolf was unlucky that this was the day of his yearly jog, or she ruffled enough feathers to make him exit his lair earlier.

However, this fear became... boredom. Maybe a tinge of frustration. Lien hated being forced into one place, which applied to most situations. At school, while her mother was talking to her, or when she was grounded for eating all of her uncle's meat stash for the tenth time.

The Wolf made a loud sigh. The hold on her tightened slightly more. The Ogre grunted, clearly frustrated as well. If Lien was to be bored, she would at least make that giant bully uncomfortable, too.

She bit as hard as she could into Leppalúði's fingers. Damn, his skin was thicker than a boar's hide! It was squishy yet impossible to penetrate. It felt like a chewing toy.

"Kid, that ain't gonna work..." Leppalúði's voice revealed his mutual boredom. Lien tried to bite his hand multiple times at that point. Now, it was more of entertainment for the Wolf than anything else.

Lien assumed the giant had returned to the same spot as before, waiting for his children to wake up from their beating.

Speaking of...

"How in the hell did you two defeat my sons?" The Ogre asked, incredulous. "There were twelve of them!"

The pup smirked. "Aw, it wasn't that hard! Stella beat two of those dudes, then I knocked the one with the weapon, then Stella knocked three-" She stopped, unsure how the fight went. She wasn't speaking directly to the giant any longer. "Or was it four? Then I beat three more dudes, then we knocked down the big one. And then..." She interrupted herself again, trying to jog her memory.

Leppalúði sighed. "Damn it, kid! Can't even get your story straight..."

Lien deflated. "Sorry..."

However, her boredom was interrupted by picking up on a familiar smell. It was Jólakötturinn, along with his annoying rider. However, when he approached them, he sounded... off.

"Father! You're here!" The Ogre shouted.

His father grunted. "Look who it is. Where the hell have you been, you nitwit!"

Lien's ears hurt from the giant's booming voice. The worst part was that she couldn't even use her paws to plug the sound away in her condition.

She bit the Ogre's fingers again in retaliation, but he didn't react in a way that the pup could pick up. Damn it!

Stúfur's voice approached even more. Great. As if she needed two equally grating voices clashing in her ears!

"You won't believe what I saw! You know the weird girl that I talked about... She's a Human!"

Huh. It never dawned on Lien that the Lads didn't know her friend's true identity. Made sense, all things considered.

The question was, how did Stúfur reach that conclusion?

The giant kept silent for a few seconds, then rotated his body towards his son. Either that or he had some weird articulation with his arms.

"Yeah, I met the girl," Leppalúði explained. "But I'm surprised ya knew that either!"

Stúfur didn't waste any time answering that. "I've found the girl just now! She was about to replace my toys with rocks!" He sounded genuinely terrified. Lien could somewhat relate. She loved her toys! Even though she would break most of them in a week or so.

But even his reaction was too much for her.

Leppalúði seemed to be on the same wavelength as her. "Kid, how old are you? 120?! Grow the hell up!"

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Stúfur's voice went to a more neutral yet still apprehensive tone. "S-So she can't do that?"

"Of course she-" The giant stopped his sentence. Then his voice turned to a sinister whisper. "Wait... Did ya really let that brat go because of those stupid tales?"

Lien could taste the boiling anger radiating from his words. Her mother had moments like that as well. It was weird to feel that way, but... she genuinely took pity on Stúfur.

Speaking of, he answered with a pathetic "Y-Yes...?".

Lien could feel the giant's grip tightening. He was huffing, and it sounded like Lien's super breath, only she had the impression that this was no air magic.

But the worst was yet to come.

----------------------------------------

Stella:

She was STILL. TALKING!

The only information that Stella absorbed from her ranting was her name (Kristal) and that her friends were a bunch of superficial twats who were only with her because she was the daughter of some rich dude or something like that.

Stella almost slept through a good chunk of Kristal's speech. The only interesting thing from this experience is how ironic it was that the girl was so afraid of the fox snake before. And now...

So... Sleepy...

"Shit!" Stella woke up the second after closing her eyes. She watched the river, and yeah, it was still uncrossable.

Playing therapist was a terrible fucking idea.

What was Kristal talking about now? Ah, yes, her family.

She was on the verge of tears, with her left hand on her chest and the other dramatically gesticulating. "Then I said: 'Papá! I will be a great singer someday!' Then he said-"

"YOU ABSOLUTE WASTE OF FLASH!"

A powerful voice could be heard from miles away! The trees shook with its power, and the birds fled in terror! Stella jumped back to her feet immediately. Especially since she knew the source of this phenomenon.

Leppalúði.

Kristal's reaction to this was... crying?

"Just like I remember..." She "fainted" and her head fell close to Stella.

Wait... That gave Stella an idea.

The girl took a deep breath and walked toward the Monoke. This wouldn't be pleasant.

The fox snake spoke while her eyes were still closed. "You know, you are quite the good list- Hey!"

Stella planted her two feet on top of Kristal's head. "Enough! I already heard your shit. Now let me cross!"

The Monoke became silent for a few seconds, and then she huffed. Before the girl could brace herself, Kristal swung her body like a catapult and launched the Human to the other side of the river!

As you can imagine, the landing was not smooth. Stella's face was now hurting like hell and covered in dirt. What a great day!

"Are you happy now?!" Kristal sarcastically asked with unmatched sass. Stella only grunted in response.

There was no time for that! Stella got what she wanted! In a painful way, but still!

The Human got to her feet quickly and ran away toward the mushroom forest. Not looking back once!

She could only hear Kristal's faint shouting. "Go ahead! Run away!"

Then a barely audible "Just like they did...".

Stella felt a little bad for treating the Monoke like that, but her sense of urgency was too great to dwell on.

The girl finally reached the forest of giant mushrooms. The funny thing was that she wanted to explore this place so much when she first saw it, but now that the Human was here, she didn't have the time to truly bask in its mystical majesty.

However, she could glimpse a few things amidst her hurriedness. The colorful mushrooms looked beautiful when bathed in the moonlight. Some of the tall fungi were bioluminescent even, creating natural "light poles" in different tones of purple, blue, red, orange, and green.

Stella noticed how the air felt... different to breathe. It was thicker, yet when she inhaled that air, she felt... calmer.

After realizing that running would only make her more tired and ineffective in her task, the girl decided to slow down. While walking, she noticed the blue filter which permeated the area. She also noticed that some blue particles appeared in the air with each movement she made. Was the blue filter made of these particles? That seemed to be the case.

Stella looked upwards and saw unrecognizable shapes atop the mushroom caps. She was understandably creeped out by this, but...

They could help her. Maybe they were even this "Dragon's Guard"!

"HEY! CAN ANY OF YOU HELP ME!?" Stella screamed at the top of her lungs. Under normal circumstances, she would not ask for help from creepy figures in the night. But what else could Stella do? She had no lead on this Guard's location.

Unfortunately, none of the unknown entities went for her help. In fact, they immediately went away from her. Stella didn't even bother trying to cry for help further. She was at her physical limits.

The Human needed a rest. She had no sleep, she was thirsty, her body hurt in many different places, and if the girl pushed herself further, she would pass out.

Stella sat on the ground, legs crossed like in a pseudo-meditative stance. Her shoulders were slumped, and she was heavily breathing. Whatever was in the air helped soothe the girl's pain and fatigue.

Her eyes closed. She felt at peace.

That is until a loud voice came from above.

"Who is this Monoke I see!? I do not recognize your kind at all!"

Stella's senses came back, and her eyes frantically searched for the source of the voice.

It didn't take long to find it. A humanoid figure, highlighted by the blue full moon, courtesy of the weird filter. Stella had to admit that that was badass imagery.

The only thing she could discern from the figure was something flowing. A cape?

"Could it be?! A Human! In the flesh!?"

His voice was bombastic and full of energy! Coupled with the cape, Stella came to a realization.

Did she... find a superhero? Here?!

The figure suddenly jumped from one mushroom to the other. After repeating this stunt a couple more times, he landed on a red cap next to Stella.

She still couldn't see much else from the "superhero" or whatever he was. Her eyes widened in confusion and curiosity.

"Oh, I have no doubt left!" The figure spoke.

There was only one question in Stella's mind. "Who are you?"