Repeated encounter

Chapter 14: Repeated encounter

It's been a week since Floyde had met Luis. But there was one thing Floyde was wondering. 'Why am I still with this guy?'

The days they've been spending were nothing strange. They've been eating, sleeping. Eating wild forest animals, then returning home for the entire week, that's all. But he wasn't sure if that was anything weird.

There were times Floyde wanted to leave, but something was urging him to stay. It was very confusing for him.

But today was different. The day started the same, Floyde woke up at 6 A.M, then left the hotel with Luis, where he said they had been staying at. Then upon arriving deep in the forest, Luis stopped walking, exhaled heavily, and said, "Let's start."

"Ok," Floyde seriously said. He then spotted some more of those enormous wolves, but lately, they've been different. They were dark blue, but these days, they've been encountering black ones.

The whole week, Floyde would use himself as bait for the wolves, then Luis would kill them with his Wind magic.

Floyde appeared in front of the Wolves. "Hey! Hey! Do you want some juicy meat?" Floyde waved his arms around and shouted. "Come and get me!!"

The wolves took the bait, so Floyde started running towards Luis. That was the plan. Luis would kill them, Boom! The end. But just before Floyde was close enough to Luis, he jumped to the tall tree and landed to one of it's furthest branches.

Floyde was both perplexed and shocked at the same time. "What do you think you're doing?!" Floyde yelled in panic as he continued running, now passing by Luis. The Wolves were fast, fast as a cheetah, even though they were huge in size.

Luis sat on the branch, yawned, and said, "I'm tired. It's your turn to hunt them down."

Floyde was dumbfounded by what Luis had said. 'The plan was me, a bait. You, the hunter... RIGHT?!!' Floyde fumed in his mind.

What could he now do? Two possibilities came into his mind: 1st was to keep on running and wait until he'd trail them off, and, 2nd was to fight them with magic.

"L-Let's go with magic!" Floyde shouted hesitantly. Luis, who had just been watching the whole time, finally expected long enough for this to happen.

Particles started developing around Floyde. He gathered them into his hands, and at last, it converted into a magic circle. Floyde stopped running, hastily shifted around, and then unintentionally shrieked like a girl, "FIREBALL!!"

Those gigantic Wolves eventually died—burnt from Floyde's fire magic. Luis, who had just seen everything, was laughing so hard that tears eventually had to appear from his eyes.

Floyde wiped the sweat from his forehead. He pantingly headed to the tree where Luis watched him nearly die from ravishing wolves. "Huff... Huff... Huff... Get d.. down from there, you bastard! Huff..."

Luis got down and continued laughing. "Ha ah Ha ahh Ha! Pfft. What happened there!"

"You left me there to die? HUH?!" Floyde sarcastically said angrily. After catching some deep breaths, Floyde tried punching Luis multiple times; which Luis had easily evaded.

"Hey, hey. Take it easy," Luis said gently. He first wanted to calm Floyde down.

"Okay. Explain, NOW!" Floyde yelled to Luis.

Luis ticked his tongue and wagged his index finger left and right. "Tsk. Tsk. I'm so disappointed in you. Is that how you talk to your master?" Luis said playfully.

Floyde irritatedly stomped his feet on the ground and then hastily turned around. 'It's really time to leave. I can't stand it anymore with this guy,' he concluded to himself.

He left Luis. He started walking out of the forest. Floyde remembered the way back to the town, but after minutes of walking and passing by a myriad of trees, he arrived back at Luis.

By the campfire, Luis was now eating the wolves Floyde had burnt recently. He laughed at seeing Floyde back. "What? You miss me already?"

Floyde was confused, he remembered he was exiting out the forest and he knew the way out, but the only question in his mind was, 'Why am I back here?!'

Floyde neglected what Luis had said. And now, surely he will leave him. So he continued his trail.

Now was the time for Floyde to be thoroughly confused. This is now the 4th time he came back at Luis, and time has been wasted. "What did you do?" Floyde asked Luis bitterly.

"Wat... do you mean?" Luis replied with a mouthful of meat. But he was also confused by what Floyde had said, so he stopped eating and stood up.

Floyde looked at Luis and saw his confused expression. "I mean, whenever I try to go out of the forest it brings me back here."

Luis swallowed down the food and pondered for a second. "... Let's go," Luis said with a firm tone as he wiped his dirty hands at Floyde's shirt.

Floyde was disgusted by his actions but he still nodded. 'I'll leave him when I get out of here.'

While they were walking and passing by many trees, they came back to the place where they had just been. "Huh?" Luis said. "Weren't we just here recently?"

'Nice acting buddy, I'll play along with you,' Floyde said in his mind.

"See! This is what I told you."

They walked repeatedly, but in a different direction. But then again, they came back to where they were.

Luis was extremely perplexed. Even though he was skilled in magic, he had never encountered this kind of thing. 'Maybe this was part of this forest,' Luis thought. 'No. We've been here many times and we've been out innoxious, but why is it like this.'

Floyde now doubted what he simply said in his mind earlier. When he looked at Luis, he was giving a serious vibe, and it wasn't something to fool around.

One more time, they tried walking out. Luis said to himself that if this happens again, he would just fly out of here instead, with Floyde obviously.

While they were walking, Luis started a conversation with Floyde. It was eerie being silent. "About earlier, did you notice anything different?"

"No, I simply tried to get out of this forest."

"Not that. I mean the part when you burnt down the wolves."

"Yes. You left me there to die!"

"Sigh... You really noticed nothing?" Luis face palmed and said with a defeated expression. "The fire magic you cast. It was larger and stronger, right?"

Floyde thought back and only now realized it. He snapped his fingers and with his mouth wide open, said, "Ooohhhhh..."

"Tsk... Did you think I'd only let you eat and do nothing else? Luis asked.

"Yes," Floyde replied straightforwardly.

Luis touched his heart and started acting—he bent down, both of his knees on the ground. "Ouch! That hurts to say," he said tearfully, and he continued, "I have feelings you know, at least lie about some things."

Floyde laughed when he saw what Luis did. "Hahaha. Okay, okay, I'm sorry...-"

Luis stopped his act then looked at Floyde, and said, "Why silent all of a sudden?" He then looked to where Floyde was pointing his fingers at.

They were now back to where they started. But now, they weren't alone. They saw 5 other persons in a white cloak facing at the both of them. Each of them had their hoods on—covering their faces. This encounter might have not been a coincidence; it seems they were expecting this to happen.