Lien:

They were done for.

Ever since Lien sensed that particular feline smell, she realized how arrogant she was by taking a break while still on the Lads' territory.

Now, they were face to face with quite a menace.

Since she first started making trips to the Ganvi Woods, her mother warned her about the real threat that resided in it. The Ogre children were no real threat, and their parents barely bothered to step outside their lair, but Jólakötturinn...

He served as a guardian for the Lads, usually appearing to capture anyone who would bother the Ogres too much. Lien could try to reason with him, explaining that they struck her first, but her terror repressed this desire.

Besides, her mouth was busy carrying a big-ass fish in her mouth. She wasn't scared enough to give up on her meal, though.

Suddenly, a burst of wicked laughter could be heard, so high-pitched it was painful for the poor Wolf's ears. Lien identified the sound coming from above. It was Stúfur, presumably on top of the giant feline's head.

"That's right, you freaks! Jóla will shred you to pieces!" Lien's ears instinctively lowered in response to Stúfur's voice. It felt like someone was poking them with needles.

"Get 'em!" Stúfur commanded.

Shit! Lien had to do something! Fast!

Knowing that Stella was not someone physically gifted, Lien took it upon herself to tackle her companion out of the way. She sighed with relief when the impact of Jóla's attack was felt far from them.

Stella didn't sound so pleased, though. "Ouch! Damn it, Lien!"

Lien ignored her complaints and got on all fours. "Let's go! Climb on my back!"

"What?" Stella didn't understand what she said. Of course, her voice was muffled by the fish. So she gestured with her head towards her back, hoping that she received the message now.

Stúfur mocked them. "Pitiful, little rats! You have no chance against Jóla!"

He annoyed Lien to no end, but that wasn't important. That little window for taunting allowed the human to climb on Lien's back, just like she was instructed. Thank goodness she understood what the Monoke was saying!

Stella was less heavy than she expected. That was perfect!

Lien ran with max speed in the direction of the pine trees. There's no way Jóla could catch them that easily in a terrain full of obstacles, right?

Right?

Stella started to laugh. "Woah! You're fast as shit!" The weird Monoke seemed very excited, which would be a feeling Lien could share if not for the dire circumstances. It was concerning how her companion didn't seem to be aware of the danger they were in.

Lien paid close attention to every smell and sound she could pick up from the woods. These skills were perfect for hunting, fighting, and playing chase, though this particular chase was no play.

They had not hit any tree, rock, or other Monoke, so things were going well. Until Lien heard the sounds of something running dangerously close to them. She had the feeling it wasn't a coincidence.

Stella appeared to also notice their chaser, letting out a loud gasp. "Can't we try to distract the cat with the fish?!" The desperation in her voice was palpable.

"And give them my dinner?!" Lien tried to say as well as she could with the fish in her mouth. "Nuh-uh!"

Unfortunately, her efforts were proven to be in vain. The sound of multiple broken twigs, smashed leaves, and Jólakötturinn's smell could be felt before her.

"Peekaboo!" Stúfur taunted them, then resumed his annoying laughter.

Lien growled and bared her teeth in defiance. She wouldn't give up.

She jumped in another direction, only to hear Stúfur's laughter again, getting farther from her ears with each passing second. After a minute of running and no sound or smell related to their chaser, Lien went to the closest bush she could find and hid there.

She winced when she felt sharp barbs poking her skin. Stella was more vocal about her discomfort, though. "Could you have found a less prickly spot?" She complained in a whisper.

Lien apologized in a whisper as well. "Sorry!" She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and put the fish on the ground. "Can you give me a second? I have to do something."

Stella sighed. "Sure, as long as we don't become cat food."

Lien could smell her fear. She smelled like that since they first met, yet she could be very courageous sometimes. What a weird girl.

The Monoke then cleared her mind of those thoughts and focused on herself. Well, to be more specific, her Saniya.

That old Wolf in Pantsti kept teaching her about the splendid details of the energy that coursed through every being. Most of it went over her head.

However, those boring classes did give her a pretty neat trick. When her mind was clear enough, a weird presence appeared on her mind. Somehow, she could tell that that presence was away from her location.

When she dug deeper, she could feel a smaller presence on top of the taller one. Her suspicions were correct.

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She was about to sigh with relief but held that in when she sensed the duo approaching them with abnormal speed.

Thankfully, Stella was still clinging onto her, so Lien caught the fish with her mouth again and resumed their escape.

Her companion protested. "Why did you do that?! Now we are-"

"Going to be Cat food!" Stúfur and Jóla could be seen by Stella now, judging by the girl's heartbeat going faster than ever.

Jólakötturinn's speed proved to be too much, even for Lien. She felt his presence jumping left and right, behind and before her. They were playing with her.

Desperation took control of her movements. Maybe if she turned to this fallen, rotten trunk, she would-

"Tough luck!" His damn voice, again!

No matter, she would confuse them by running in an unpredictable pattern. Yes! That must-

"Try again!"

She could not compete with his speed, could she?

"What's wrong? Cat got yer tongue?"

Lien growled with frustration. If there was no way of escape, fighting was the only option. So she unsheathed her claws and pounced on the giant feline!

Only to be met with the hard surface of a tree trunk. Ouch.

She could hear Stúfur's annoying laugh once again. He was pushing her over her limits! Frustrated, she started to climb the tree, only to get far away from that jerk and his mockery!

At that point, Lien was also reaching her physical limits. Maybe Stella had the right call in letting the fish go. The Monoke regretted her decisions deeply, but it was too late to correct that.

Slowly but surely, Lien climbed to the top. She was exhausted and lay on a tree branch, heavily breathing. The fish almost escaped her mouth and fell to become cat food, but the Monoke grabbed it at the last second.

"Lien, I don't think we-" Stella stopped her sentence and sighed. "Forget it." Lien could hear the subtle creaks in the branch her companion was sitting on.

For some reason, Stúfur was giving them some time to rest. Was Jóla not capable of climbing? Or do they want to play with the girls for a little more time? Her mind was spinning with those questions AND her fatigue.

Lien stopped lying around and sat with her head resting against the trunk, carrying her fish in her arms. It felt like bolstering a newborn pup.

Her ears perked up when she heard Stella make an audible gasp.

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Stella:

"This place is fucking beautiful..." Stella whispered.

Before her worries could overwhelm her, Stella looked at the distance. She found it gorgeous! The impressive rock formations sprinkled throughout the landscape, the forest of giant mushrooms again, and the massive wall of redwoods that blocked all of this beauty from the outside world. The girl could also see some buildings along the way, houses, and small settlements that she assumed were shops. However, the most impressive one lay beyond the fungi, a tall castle on top of a hill.

Stella wondered if she had fallen into a fairytale book. That would explain the Ogres and the talking animal next to her.

The girl's eyes sparkled with wonder, and her mouth was open wide, which she wasn't aware of. After her minute-long trance, she turned to her furry companion. "Who lives there?"

Lien was unmoving, which made her think that the Monoke was sleeping. Hard to say, thanks to the fringe.

However, the creature suddenly shuffled when she processed Stella's voice. Her groggy movements confirmed that she was indeed napping.

"Who lives where?"

Stella pointed at the castle. "That big-ass castle. See? Beyond the mushrooms?"

Lien's ears perked up. "Oh! Funny that you mentioned it!" She used her hand to get her fringe out of the way of her eyes. Now Stella could see it clearly, Lien's gray, blind eyes. "See? Totally blind!" She spoke in her cheery tone.

Though she didn't seem to mind her condition, Stella still felt like crap for not picking up on it earlier. "Oh... Sorry about that..." She spoke softly.

Lien shook her hand in dismissal. "Don't be!" Then, her tone uncharacteristically became a tad more mellow. Her eyes drifted towards... nothing. "Just... Don't think less of me because of it."

Now Stella understood the full scope of what Lien spoke about earlier. Just the fact that she thought about talking down on her problems made the girl deflate even more.

"The hell is my problem?"

Her self-loathing was interrupted by the tree suddenly shaking! Of course, there was a big-ass Cat ready to pounce on them. Stella and Lien held tight on their respective branches to not fall to their deaths.

"Sleep time is over! Jóla wants to play again!" Stúfur could be heard from below. From all the shit he made them go through, Stella clenched her fist, ready to break his teeth at any chance.

Lien was too tired to keep up with this game, and Stella couldn't do anything against the giant fucking Cat. Looking at him climbing only made Stella lose more of her resolve.

She thought. "If only there was a giant firefighter..."

"Wait a minute..."

Stella carefully traversed from one branch to the other. The shakiness of the tree really made things difficult.

The Cat was halfway through, but Stella was in position by then.

"What are you doing?" asked Lien.

The human pulled her water bottle again. "Desperate times, desperate measures."

She gulped down the whole bottle in seconds, held tight on the tree trunk, and ignored the danger of the giant black Cat. She emptied her mind of any distraction as well as she reasonably could, and sure enough, something was begging to get out between her legs.

The terrifying Jólakötturinn needed one more push to catch his prey. When he was almost grasping the top, Stella pulled down her pants and-

You know what? I refuse to narrate this. In summary, she pissed on the fucking Cat.

Disgusting.

The black Cat's nose could not take such nastiness, and he jumped away. The Ogre riding him screamed while holding tight on Jóla's fur. Stella found this guy's voice annoying, but now... it felt like an angel's chorus.

Our disgusting hero pulled her pants up again and triumphally posed while Lien laughed her ass off, so much so that she put her hands on her belly because her stomach was hurting. "That was nasty! Are you sure you're not a Wolf?"

"Nope! But I am not above doing that to survive." Stella moved to Lien's branch. "Trust me, my home can be even nastier."

Lien gradually stopped laughing, and then she tilted her head in curiosity. "Okay, where do you even come from? You don't know many common stuff here. You don't even know what a 'Monoke' is!"

Stella explained. "Well, I come from outside the forest!" That didn't seem to help her companion understand it better. "There's a whole city outside this forest named Namadi. Surely your mother or anyone else told you about that, right?"

Lien shook her head. "Nope! Only thing they tell me is that I must never step foot out of Sayama because of-" Her eyes perked up, and her body froze.

Stella's eyes widened, concerned about her companion. "Lien? Are you okay?"

Lien slowly nodded. "Yeeeaaaahhhh..." Then she tried to change the subject. "Hey, how's the sun?!"

"The sun?" Stella cocked an eyebrow, then she looked in the distance. The sun was setting behind that beautiful castle, which made for a gorgeous scene. "Other than beautiful, is setting. It's gonna get dark real quick."

Lien nodded. "Indeed. We should rest in a cave. There's plenty of those around here."

The Monoke got to her feet and grabbed the fish again. Then she pointed her furry thumb to her back.

Stella crossed her arms. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

Lien attempted to speak something while nodding. The girl had no fucking idea of what she meant.

"Okie Dokie!" She climbed on her companion's back.

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Lien:

And so, they initiated their trip down. While Lien continued her monumental task, her realization about Stella replayed in her mind many times. She had to be careful for her grip on the wood to not loosen, lest they suffer a fatal accident.

Her day was full of surprises. First, she found a monster with a fearful reputation and managed to escape and thwart such a monster... with the help of another.

A chill went through her spine.

"There's a Human on my back..."