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This wasn't how things were supposed to go. Jellal knew this wasn't how things were supposed to go. It was just supposed to be a quick hunting trip; that was all. A quick hunting trip into the deep woods. How did it come to this? Why did it have to come to this?

~~~~~

It was well into the early season, the buds on the trees and underbrush were in full bloom but the land had yet to heat up unforgivably. Despite the land producing well, the people knew they needed fresh game to help supplement their supplies until the true harvest.

Karna Zeferino was one of the best huntresses in the town and Jellal knew it – she was his older sister after all. It was only natural that the townsfolk assumed he would also possess this natural ability, but that wasn't the case. Jellal had always been slightly ill and sickly on a good day, his lungs unable to handle the air at times. Still, that didn't stop him from trying to keep up and learn from his older sister – his only sister.

Karna was patient and dedicated, but also felt the responsibilities of being a gifted huntress. Often, she would try and give Jellal a lesson and leave him in an area near a watering hole to lie in wait for an unsuspecting creature while she hunted larger game deeper in the woods. This usually worked and yielded decent results, but everyone in the village knew who they could always rely on. Still, the forest was a dangerous place and not for the faint of heart, so no one said anything to the teen.

The forest was one of the many homes and territories ruled by large beasts that could easily end one of them, devour them whole and leave little trace of their existence. The territory was also ruled by the giants of the land. Comparatively speaking, a single townsfolk stood around the height of one of their taller fingers and could easily be enveloped in their hand if given the chance. They were typically well dressed, keeping to finer clothes rather than furs and savage leathers like the people of the town. There were even rumors that some of these larger folk possessed magical capabilities.

Despite this significant size and power differences between the two races, they kept to their own – not having many interactions and, from time to time, exchanging pleasantries if they happened along one another. Recently, however, there were whispers of people going missing and sightings of traps. Naturally, the giants were suspected. It was only recently confirmed by a couple of the hunters that they thought they saw these giants with cages at their sides, but these individuals were unreliable on their best days.

Jellal had always been hesitant at the thought of interacting with these beings but had only ever seen one a single time; and that was at a significant distance. With how finely they dressed and the stories of their grandness and cities which were rumored to be thousands of times larger than their own village, it made Jellal question why such powerful creatures would bother setting traps.

Unfortunately... having doubts did not mean that the statements were untrue.

~~~~~

Jellal now clung to metallic bars and stared into the cage that imprisoned his sister. They had only just separated when the sounds of clicking and whirring slammed down hard enough to shake the ground. He ran quickly and quietly through the underbrush to investigate the noise when he found his sister trying to pry the bars from the base, using her bow as leverage. It wasn't working.

Now, as he clung to the bars, his chest began to tighten, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe and help his sister get free.

"Jellal, you need to calm down!" Karna urged, setting aside her escape attempt to clasp her fingers around her brother's hands. "In and out with me. Ready? In. Out. Deep. Breath." Each word was accompanied by the action and Jellal desperately clung to his sister's words.