Surviving the Beastworld

Chapter 2: Animal turned human

"Wow, this is an amazing view," Jade muttered in awe. She was currently shrunk into fairy-size, sitting on the branch of the highest tree she could find. Once she was out of Aspen's scoping range, Jade wanted to see if there was any survivor settlement nearby. Which led her to see the most breathtaking view that she could ever imagine. The trees and mountains stretch on for miles, giving it more of a surreal feel to it.

She spotted a clearing in the east that was thirteen hours away, which Jade could only assume it was a settlement. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she could not help but wonder what type of people they were.

'Hopefully, they ain't insane,' Jade thought as she jumped off the branch and descended to ground level before taking off in that direction.

As she flew, she could not help but think about Aspen and his need to act like she was some type of kid who needed babysitting.

'I can't believe he's still looking down on me!' Jade thought, more than a little annoyed about Aspen's attempt to try and ruin her assignment again. Ever since Aspen joined their ranks ten months ago, he had always convinced Samuel to give her a partner or have her mission switched altogether. Each time Jade tried to confront him, Aspen would brush it off, saying he only did that with her safety in mind.

"Fortunately for me, Aspen was much more interested in convincing Diana," Jade said, laughing to herself, the fact that he thought she was willing to wait for an unfair verdict to pass down. "There is no way I will allow him to ruin my chance to explore this new land."

'There's nothing wrong with wanting to make sure a comrade is safe, but there are times when we need to do things that require some risk,' Jade mused. 'It's honestly a blessing that Diana is the one who trapped her instead of Samuel.'

Bang!!

The loud sound of something crashing onto the ground was followed by some type of animal roaring at the top of its lungs. Curious, she decided to investigate; it might be something that would be very interesting.

'Turns out that it is interesting,' Jade thought as she sat on a tree branch watching as a Jaguar was fighting with an...Komodo Dragon. 'I might not be an animal expert, but I am certain that a Komodo Dragon doesn't live anywhere near an area where Jaguars are. The Jaguar was much larger than a normal one and stronger too.'

The Jaguar was at least double the size of a regular one, with tons of battle scars all over its face and body with a short tail that looked more as if it was sliced off. There were some freshly new ones with blood leaking out; while the Komodo Dragon might be slightly bigger than average, it still has much more strength.

The color of the Komodo Dragon's skin was brownish grey, reminding her of a pebble she once found on the beach, and ruby red eyes that had glee in them. Making Jade almost think that the lizard was enjoying the battle that it was in.

Jade jumped slightly as she watched in awe as the Jaguar bit into the Komodo Dragon's tail and used it to throw the lizard's body into a large tree, causing it to break underneath the combined weight of the lizard and the force of the impact.