We had just escaped and just as quickly we got caught again. I wasn’t really that mad or angry, because I didn’t expect this cat-folk to control my mind as they were easily being controlled by David.

I was just really disappointed in myself. I was the one that guided us towards water and didn’t check the surroundings nor did I get to a safer space to relax. Of course, the forest isn’t a safe space, my sister and I had already got caught in there and didn’t have the best time of our lives.

Talking about my sister, I had made some work on her, and she has started to recover, although there is still some mana left inside her head which I really can’t take out without endangering her, so I decided to leave it until I’m good enough for a safe procedure. Maybe It’ll disappear by itself, who knows.

At least the situation was stable. Stable in the meaning that we barely got fed, walked almost all day and were roped together to prevent any escapes. Although David could implant ideas on the cat-folk that captured us, he couldn’t control their actions, so we had to accept it when they forced us to be tied together.

At least we didn’t have to work, as all our food was prepared beforehand and we only needed to carry David, which also gave us the chance to communicate with each other, making plans to escape, but even though we had relatively more access to escape plans, many plans got scrapped, because they required a physical level which we hadn’t anymore, being weakened by the daily experiences.

One day, we were talking that the only real plan to escape would be by leaving someone behind, because the cat-folk always had someone on the lookout for us, so even a night escape wasn’t possible. But if someone stayed behind and made time either with words or fists, it’d be a help for the ones escaping.

We didn’t expect that as we were walking and talking, we suddenly stopped and a cat-person told us something which I didn’t understand, but as everyone else was ducking and taking cover, we did so as well.

It turns out that the cat-folk weren't the only humanoids living inside this forest, as a group of dog-kin started attacking us with lances and then rushed with swords and shields. The attacked cat-men had a more balanced composition of fighters, some of close range and some of long range, so they got into position, mostly covered by trees or carts which carried most of the things the cat-folk had and started counterattacking.

With better strategies the cat-men managed to defeat the dog-folk and captured the remaining fighters. I realized that tribes such as the dog-folk shouldn’t really exist, as with worse strategies they should have already been defeated so many times that they either went extinct or didn’t behave like that anymore.

But the reason behind their behaviour was that the elder had died, and his young son had taken over, but he hadn’t been taught anything, so he just told his people to “attack” and after those instructions they failed. These dogmen joined us in the rope, and we carried on with our journey.

We tried talking with them, but once again, they spoke a different language and we could only communicate indirectly via David. But over the span of the next few weeks not only did we manage to understand more of the catkin’s language, but also the one of the dog-folk.

This didn’t only go one way, as the leader of the dog-folk also learned the language Arabelle, David and I used to talk, which meant that we had to include him into our plans, because he had already understood them before we realized that he had understood us, and we changed our means of communication.

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With a possible plan in mind and an ever-growing suspicion of us not being the “holy” plant’s caretakers, we had to set it into action, because the cat-folk had to continue its journey and we were turning into just extra, unnecessary cargo instead of an investment to get a blessing from David and whoever he represented.

It was after dinner that we made our move. Our move being very simple and just running away as fast as we could. We thought that after eating they’d have a harder time running after us and they did, but surprisingly little, so we were quickly losing the ground we had gained by our surprise escape.

We had to do something, but we had no tools, and our hands were still tied together, making our escape harder. Still, I managed to keep David safe sandwiched between my hands and my stomach. Understanding that we were going to be captured David decided to talk.

- If you are captured, they most likely won’t let you live. But I want you to live, so throw me at them and they’ll probably catch me. – David explained - I’ll communicate with them to slow them down, hopefully for long enough for you to escape.

I didn’t really want to follow that plan, but it didn’t feel like we had a choice. Although we were inside a forest, we could easily be found by the sounds we made by running and we heard our previous captors closing in on us.

- I don’t want to leave you behind; even less take the chances of you dying if they don’t catch you. – I finally answered to David, rushing to think of another plan, but there was none.

- You and I know it has to be done. I know that they’ll catch me, I have made myself important enough for them, so they will. I want you to live long. I want you to survive, but mostly I want you to visit me later, when you do great things, because you will. Inside this forest I’ll wait for you, so please, please, come visit me.

With a tear coming down my face I did what had to be done. I threw David backwards as best as I could and escaped with my sister and the dog folk leader. Not long after we felt safe, so we drank some water, but instead of sleeping just like that, we climbed a tree and slept over the leaves, after enjoying some of the fruits the plants had to offer.

But we didn’t manage to live with the dog for long, as just three days later, while foraging, we were attacked by a bear. Now none of us had fought a bear before, but we tried our very best and managed to hurt it enough for it to leave us alone, but at a significant cost.

All of us ended up hurt, the third wheel the most, as he had lost an arm and had a scratch that went all over his face. Arabelle and I tried our best to heal him, but we had never treated amputees. We did manage to get him to heal his face and feed him for a while, but one day he stopped breathing.

We left him inside a cave, together with his broken arm and a pointy stick that he used to fend off against the bear. I knew that if we stayed behind, we wouldn’t feel any better not would we be safe, as the smell of blood would attract carnivorous animals.

And so, we traveled through the forest, just me and my sister, without any special direction, eating from plants and the casual rodent cooked on a small fireplace that usually lasted an hour or so. We didn’t get assaulted by any other animal, person, humanoid or anything else and then we reached a street.

It was quite a nice street, made of neatly placed stone blocks which had already been used for a while, as wheel markings started to show. We looked left and right, but no carriage passed. It seemed safer to follow the path than to keep wandering around the forest, so we did.

But my sister and I didn’t really know what direction to take, so we first decided to wait for someone to pass through and follow them, but it had been two days, and nothing had passed. Therefore, we decided to let chance or destiny take care of it, marking a flat rock on one side and randomly throwing it in the air. As the marked side ended up, we went west, where the sun sets.

After a few days of walking this path joined with another one and this one was even more used, we even saw a cart coming towards us. We decided to keep going and after a while we reached a city. It was very big, about three hundred times bigger than the village I was born in and it had a name; “Destin”, as it was named on the city gates.

After reaching the entrance a bored guard asked us some questions which we swiftly answered, he took a glance at us, asked to look at our stuff and said:

- Go in, don’t make trouble.

And just like that, we were in.