Separation

It has already been three hours of constant slaughtering. We began to killed and killed, but the monsters just kept coming and the curse only worsened our mood and concentration. It was annoying killing all those pestering trees trying to attack us. Each time we killed a group of those another one appeared with ever-growing size. I lost count on how many we already killed, and I was angry that it didn´t even give us any experience. The further we went into the forest the more of those expless monsters appeared.

The only good thing was that we found out that the egg was more useful than we thought it to be. It could periodically confused the walking trees to make them run in each other or just stand still emotionlessly and kept our minds sharp. The egg is a perfect support for our team, and yes we put him inside the leather bag, but just before it promised us not to eat the other monster cores without our permission.

'My mana is low and I am beat' though I as another group of those damned creatures appeared around us. We tried to run away, dodge them and even bury them, but they keep on coming.

'I think we are in some kind of infinite loop... Think Raas think, how can you escape this madness!'

Glancing at Sahra I could see her slashing and kicking monsters left and right. Her speed drastically reduced over time, but as she was stronger than me she flared far better.

Each time we clear a horde of them we start to sprint as fast as we could. So killing them we started to sprint and just as I thought that another group spawned we reached a clearing with a massive raging river.

Looking back we saw the trees encircle us and slowly creeping closer, but what surprised me was that they did not step into the clearing and stopped at the edge of the forest. 'Are they bound to the forest?'

Having no other route except crossing the river, Sahra put me inside the backpack and covered me with the inferno bear fur to keep my body temperature from dropping too quickly. Luckily I was still thin enough to fit inside the backpack. Walking inside the stream Sahra began to slowly walk across.

As the cold water touched my skin I could feel my energy dropping. One of the many disadvantages of being a reptile.

I peeked out of the bag as we slowly crossed the 20-meter wide river, but just as we reached the halfway point a dark silhouette swam at us. It was way too fast for Sahra to doge it and due to the water, she couldn´t make a sand shield.

The shadow closed in and out of the water sprung a large bone-covered fish.

Being startled Sahra slipped on the smooth stone and accidentally dodged the bone plates that nearly crushed her. With a loud gun-like sound, the jaw snapped shut just in front of Sahra. But because she lost her footing we got carried away by the river.

The bonefish chased us as we got swept away further but for some reason, it stopped and swam away. To busy from avoiding to drown we couldn´t care less why it stopped.

Gasping for air I breathed in a mouth full of air and tried to desperately stay over water, but the raging currents pulled us down. Looking behind us I spotted a large stone in the middle of the river, unable to do anything my we crashed into it at full force.

As unlucky as I was I hit my head and felt my mind slipping. The last thing I saw was the blurry sight of Sahra trying to get a few breaths of air. Blacking out I prayed that I would wake up again.

(Normal perspective)

As little Raas blacked out, the currents swept him out of the bag. Sahra who had her own problems didn´t realize that her partner was gone. Getting a grip on a stone she managed to push herself up. The stone was fairly large and somewhat close to the shore. Coughing up the water she breathed in she prepared to jump the distance. Being a tier two monster she reached the shore without much effort. Landing on the gravel bank she fell flat down and put the backpack to the side.

Looking towards the back she thought that Raas was still inside, and didn´t know that he was swept away. Catching her breath she opened the bag just to see a red drenched bear fur, some monster cores, and an orange squishy egg, but the most important thing missed.

Raas was gone.

'No no no he must be around here somewhere.' Even though she knew that he wasn´t inside the leather bag she still emptied the backpack to see if he was somehow in there. Searching surrounding without luck. Her most important person was gone. Looking back towards the river she jumped back to the stone to see if she could spot him in the water. but couldn´t find him there either. 'No no no, he can´t be still in the river. He will die of hyperthermia if he stays in the cold water too long.'

Hyperventilating she clenched her hand over her chest as her heart tightened. Falling to her knees she closed her senses. . 'Calm down Sahra, Raas must be somewhere, I can still feel the link between us. At least he is alive, and my little hero wouldn´t die so quickly, but must find him fast!'

Never in her life was she so worried about a single person, but Raas wasn´t just any person to her. At first, she just found him cute, but when the poachers attacked he was the one that saved her, he was the one that comforted her when she was alone, the person that never left her side, the person that always smiled at her and didn´t behave any differently around her like all the others. And most importantly, he was the one that gave her the name Sahra. Getting a grip of herself she slapped her cheeks with her hands leaving red prints.

'Don´t die on me Raas or I am going to personally kill you when I find you.'

Putting everything inside the bag she rushed downstream.

Meanwhile, Raas got carried further downstream till he eventually got washed ashore like an old boot.

...

"Ho, what do we have here? Quite a rare find." spoke a calm elderly voice, "I guess it is your lucky day today..." Raas was lying on the riverbank half-unconscious. 'Hmm, it must be freezing from the cold water.' The person reached down and picked up the two meters long light grey snake and wrapped him with some leaves that he was carrying inside a bag. Raas felt him being carried but couldn´t do anything and blanked out.

Being carried deep inside the forest they reached a clearing. Taking a step forward a wooden house in the middle of the clearing appeared, surrounded by all kinds of herbs and fruit trees with humming-bird-sized bees buzzing around. The house looked cozy and well kept.

Noticing that the person returned the bees swarmed around him and buzzed happily about his return. "Shhh, don´t be so noisy you all. We have a guest." whispered the person carrying the unconscious snake in his arms. The bees quieted down and looked at the snake with curious gazes. Their many eyes starred at Raas and some even tried to poke him but got swatted away by the person that carried him.

"Tell Nira that we have a guest." said the person. Getting buzzes from the bees he asked them "What, she isn´t here?"

Giving him a nod he hummed. "Hmmm, well whatever then. You all can get some rest now." before walking inside the house.

Opening the wooden door he laid Raas on a table before rummaging through his things, "Where the hell did I put this thing... No, not here... Nope not here either... How I have been searching for that for weeks now, meh not important now... Ah, there it is."

Pulling a square stone plate out of a cabin he laid it net to the unconscious snake. Snaping his finger a lot of small white fluffy balls appeared. Laying Raas on the stone slab the small fluffy creatures walked towards Raas and snuggled with him. Snapping his finger again a small plant sprouted over Raas. The plant grew a small dim glowing ball that emitted heat like a lamp.

"That should be enough."

Walking to another room he sat down on a chair and began to grind some plants into a paste. Getting thirsty he took a glass of water from the kitchen, but before going back to grinding plants he checks on the snake.

His eyes glowed in blue light as he looked at Raas beneath the fluffy creatures, who were happily sleeping with Raas. Looking at Raas he furrowed his brows but relaxed soon after. "What a lucky little snake." said the person before leaving the room again.