Forest of Secrets (CoQ)

What's the Big Deal? I Did Nothing Wrong, Man.

"There are things you do to someone you barely know. And then there are things you don't do to someone you barely know. Messing with a guy like that is definitely something only a creep would do. Creep."

-Akira Eliza

The Dwarfs have intellectual abilities and the power to create just about anything that is deemed "exceptional.". They can stand the harsh elements of the continents.

I was throwing a tantrum, like I always do when I'm mad. What was his deal, anyway? Why was he so mad?

"Sakamiya, get your ass over here!"It's not like I was teasing him. I was just . . . Ruining the moment. That was it, wasn't it? Damn, this guy's touchy. Maybe it's because his fever hasn't gone down. It amplifies motions, right? So, it's not my fault, then.

"gaa... ha aah." A sob reached my ears. It was low and deep throated. He must have been in pain. I ran toward it, slipping on the mud as I went. Ugh, I smelled.

"Mashyer! Mashter! Ga-ack!" He sounded like something was choking him. I ran towards him, And finally came to somewhere around the flower pool. It didn't take long to find him. Turns out we didn't need to find the dryad pixies. They found us. And a girl pixie, purple and pink and ugly, was biting his leaves right now. The other two were pressing down on his throat, trying to choke him to death.The fever was kicking in because he could hardly move. A dryad pixie exclusively eats dryad leaves and blood. They can eat other things, like a piece of fried chicken, for example, but it holds no nutritional value and tastes gross. They do this by using their saliva to disintegrate. The older they get the stronger their teeth, until they can just bite into them. The thing that makes them so deadly is that they lower the body temperatures of their victim when their saliva hits their bloodstream, making them so cold it takes less than five minutes to freeze them to death. Back in the capital of Kamaharia, where we just were, I heard about dryads dying all the time because of dryad Pixies.

"Werewolf saliva." The girl spat, spitting out the blood she sucked.

"Disgusting." Another hissed.

"No, it's Fenrir." The third one said. He sniffed the leaf while Sakamiya tried to find the energy to struggle.

"One has claimed him. He is protected by something we cannot fight. We must go. Hurry!" I stomped over to the three of them, where they flew off.

"You're not going anywhere." I snipped, swatting at them like flies against the tree in front of me. I cought them all. They cried out and slammed against the tree. I stuffed them in my pocket and closed the zipper. They cried and shoved, so I slapped my thigh. He was bleeding again. Stupid idiot shouldn't have ran off. He was in the body of water again, shivering and crying. A wail rang through his throat. I kneeled down and hugged him close. He didn't protest. He did nothing but move closer, holding me as close as he could. You probably think this is weird or improper. But you didn't feel how cold his body was. He was freezing, more than last time. It brung his fever down, hopefully for good, but that didn't mean he was okay.

"I know. I know. It must have hurt. but you're okay now." He continued to wail. I picked him up and carried him back to the tent. During that time, he fell asleep. He sniffled and shivered in my arms.

" You came . . . For me . . . " He whimpered. He woke up as I was putting the thick red blanket over him.

"Yup." I dug around in my DragBag, looking for food that I could make warm. I was looking for something that I could feed him without upsetting his stomach or head. He must have a head ache by now.

"Why?" He buried himself deeper under the covers, clutching the top in his hand.

"Sleep." I ignored the question. I found and started to heat up rice. I chopped the chicken and placed it in a metal bowl over the fire. I didn't have to tell him twice. He was out like a light, hopefully sleeping off that fever. I grabbed a spoon and started stirring. I managed to grab season salt before we left, but I didn't grab much else. Salt and pepper, but that was it. Food is fuel. Not like I'm not a foodie. I finished the meal soon after and spooned it in a bowl. I shook his shoulder. This time, he didn't scream at me, but he did inch away from me. All that trust a moment ago, and it's nearly back to square one. But square two is an improvement. I bit his leaves again, this time while he was awake. He waited patiently for me to let go. I ignored the rotting smell that was in his hair. After spoon feeding him, I decided to focus on the little beasts in my pocket. I don't know why, but I needed to put them through hell. I'll kill them off, one by one. They'll pay for what they put Sakamiya through. I pinched their wings and yanked them out.

"I'm that Fenrir you guys were talking about. Nice to meet you. I'll make sure we have a grand time. You showed me your way. Now it's my turn to show you mine. By the time I'm done with you, you won't be sorry. You'll be dead." The panic gears blared in their heads. I'm sure of it because I could almost see them. One tried to grow bigger and bite me, so I rammed them into the wall and stuffed them in a pouch. They can alter their size at will, although they are only the size of your forearm at full height. They are regularly the size of a teenagers hand.

"Sorry, but nice try. Now, why don't we go spend a little time looking for a nice tree so I can your hammer your heads on a wall later? You guys are going to see my version of sweet, sweet revenge. You picked on the wrong dryad." They squeaked and squirmed, as if that would help them get free and fly away. I didn't revel or enjoy their pain. As heartless as I was supposed and expected to be, how was I supposed to be heartless when all I want to do is love? Still, I pinched their wings. Not too hard. I didn't want to break them. The wings are valuable.

To them, Sakamiya wasn't.

I looked back at Sakamiya, anger rising to my throat once again. I was going to walk out of the tent and hang them as promised, but a warm hand grabbed my fingertips as I turned around. Sakamiya was watching the entire time, sick and silenced. He wasn't able to speak and was hardly able to call for help. It wasn't fair to him. I don't know why he was silenced, and I doubt that he will ever be willing to tell me. If he wants to keep quiet about it, it's his choice. I don't have a say in it, no matter how badly I wanted to dig deep and know the reasoning. But a part of me did want to know. A part of me wanted to know all about him. What makes him sad. What makes him happy. What makes him angry. What his past was. I wanted to know it all. So much that I was almost willing to pry for it. But I'm going to hold myself back for as long as I can.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling alright?" I looked at Sakamiya. Tears slowly rolled down his face. Of course, he didn't utter a single word. His face was red and his eyes looked swollen. But his fever was being shaken off, slowly. I could feel it. we'll be on the road again soon. He can pull through this.

"Why are you crying?" I dropped the bag and put my full attention in him.

"Big . . . Brudder . . . " Huh?