His Human Mate

More than a week has passed and Erick was still inside Kraken forest. Darkness still persist inside the forest, making Erick to be unaware of the time. He himself did not even realize that he had spent a week inside the forest. He spent most of the days, trying to avoid the animals that roam in the forest, at the same time, looking for the plant.

Many times, he also encountered several rogues. But as he got closer, he realized that they were just illusions. He was glad that he had kept himself calm and with the help of Dane, who constantly growled him into reality, the illusions were not working against him. In fact, it was the least of his worries in the forest. It wasn't as scary as he thought it would be.

Erick had also taken note on which areas that were infested with dangerous animals and which were not. He had encountered several animals that seem dangerous to him. It had been a nerve-wracking time for him, where at one time, he had hid in a small cave for nearly a day. After hiding, he went straight back to his safe spot. Luckily, at that time, the distance between where he was and where he had stashed his duffel bag was not that far.

A few days ago, he noticed something abnormal about the safe spot. He wondered why the animals avoided the place. He did not mention about the supernatural beings because he assumed it was probably because of the amulet he was wearing. It was then he carefully explored the area, looking through every inch of it. After much exploration, he noticed several sparkling white rock, the size of a big pebble that looked like a diamond, on the side of the stream.

Erick had noticed it when he was swimming in the stream. He had dived underwater and saw it laying on side of the stream walls. It looked out of place with all the grey rocks around. He had grabbed one of the rocks and brought it out of the stream. He wanted to test whether the rocks had something to do with the animals not coming closer to the stream.

One time, he was exploring other areas, with the rock inside his pocket. For several days, he did not encounter any dangerous animals. So, since then, he usually carried the rock with him.

At the safe spot, Erick was sitting on the ground with his duffel bag in front of him. He was getting worried. His food supplies were decreasing at an alarming rate. In another week, he would no longer have any food left.

Erick scratched his head, trying to think of a solution. This is very troubling. How could he survive without food? He gave out a long sigh. Seems like he really to find the plant as soon as possible.

He was contemplating on what to do next when he noticed some rustling at the nearby bush.

He frowned, wondering what it could be. He knew it couldn't be an animal because the rocks here helped to prevent them from entering the area.

Just then, he saw something fluffy walking out from behind one of the large bushes. Erick blinked his eyes in disbelief as he watched a little wolf struggling to walk. It was quite small, just the size of a little puppy. Its grey mane was covered with blood. It was limping but then it stopped when it saw Erick in its sight. It tried to hide back behind the bush but it seems too weak.

This made Erick more curious. How could the little wolf walked here? He assumed that it probably did not sense the rocks and it was too weak to detect it.

Erick slowly approached the little wolf. When the little wolf saw Erick approaching it, it struggled to move faster. In the end, Erick stopped in front of it, a few meters away so that it won't be scared. Erick slowly held out his hand, saying softly, "Hey there, little guy. It's OK. I won't hurt you."

The little wolf warily looked at Erick's hand. It seems to be afraid of Erick.

Just then, Dane's voice voiced out in his mind. 'Let me help,' he said.

Seconds later, Erick felt something changed in him. He looked down at his body and saw nothing physically changed. He wonders what Dane was doing.

Then, to Erick's surprise, he saw the little wolf approached his hand at its own will. It weakly licked Erick's fingers, as if to show that it trust Erick.

'What did you do?' Erick asked Dane.

'I just let out a bit of my power around your body,' Dane replied. 'It sensed that you're not a danger and is the same kind as us.'

'Same kind?' Erick repeated.

'Wolf.'

Minutes later, Erick was cleaning the blood off the little wolf and had wrapped bandages around its hind leg. 'I should bring him over to Melody when I get back,' Erick thought grimly. 'I just hope it doesn't get worse if I just leave it like this.'

'It should be OK. The injury doesn't seem to be serious. And the leg is just sprained,' Dane reassured. 'And the blood doesn't seem to be coming from it.'

'You think the blood was from something else?' Erick asked.

'More like something it was close to. Probably its parents.'

Erick's eyes widened. 'Then we should look for them. They might be in danger.'

'I believed we're too late. If we weren't, it wouldn't have run here,' Dane answered.

'Even so, at least we should give it a proper burial,' Erick insisted.

'Alright,' Dane agreed.

Erick carefully placed the little wolf inside his backpack, with its head sticking out of it. He hoisted his backpack onto his shoulder, with its compartment in front of him, on his c.h.e.s.t. He was wearing his backpack backwards so that he can see the little wolf in front of him.

Once he was done, he set off to where he had found the little wolf. He retraced back the path that the little wolf had come from. It was different from the path that Erick had taken. He became more alert, careful not to get trapped or get sneak-attacked. Even if he has the rock and amulet with him, it does not hurt to be cautious as well.

Less than an hour later, Erick found himself in another area of the forest. The trees were more thick, making the area darker than the area Erick previously went to. He had to switch on his flashlight to see his way.

He climbed several uprooted roots and dodged several vines along the way. And after passing by several trees, the little wolf let out a small whimper.

'I smell dead bodies,' Dane said.

Erick stopped and became more alert. He moved his flashlight around and finally, the light shined on two dead wolves, lying amidst the pile of leaves. Apparently, something had covered them with leaves before moving on. Something as in the little wolf. It probably tried to make a burial for its parents and it can only cover them with the leaves.

Erick moved closer to the dead wolves, cautiously stepping near, afraid that it might wake up at any moment and kill him.

Erick could sense Dane rolling his eyes and said, 'I already told you that they are dead.'

'You might never know~' Erick replied back.

'Do you not trust my instinct?' Dane snarled.

Erick winced inwardly. 'I do, I do,' he said hurriedly. He then crouched down in front of the bodies. It were frozen stiff as if it has been hours since they had died. Looking at their wounds, it seems like they had been in a really tough fight. With what, Erick did not know. But one thing for sure, he has to get out of the place before the attacker comes and kill him as well. It does not seem safe around here.

Erick stood up, his hands on his h.i.p.s. 'Wait a minute,' he suddenly thought. 'How am I going to bury them when I don't even have a shovel??'

'Find a digging stick, dumbass,' Dane scolded.

'What the feck? Why are you calling me a 'dumbass'?' Erick asked in disbelief. Sometimes he wonders whether Dane hates him or not. And even if he did, why did he chose him as his human counterpart?

'What's a digging stick?' Erick asked again, confused.

'It is what people used to use when there were no shovels and diggers around. Find the sturdiest and durable type of wood and make sure it has a flat head point,' Dane instructed.

Erick immediately went to look for one, placing his backpack with the little wolf inside on the ground. He began to search the nearby area with his flashlight. It took him more than an hour to look for one that Dane was satisfied with. Earlier, Dane had been rejecting all the woods that Erick had found, with reasons such as 'not strong enough', 'break easily' and 'are you just too lazy to look for one?'

When Erick finally found one, he went off to dig a hole big enough to bury the two wolves. It had taken him hours as well since he was alone and the ground was hard. But luckily, his strength was stronger than normal humans. Usually, digging a hole would take nearly half a day. But for Erick, it took him two to three hours.

After burying the wolves, Erick decided to return back to his safe spot.

Few minutes later, Erick was already in his safe spot, where he had already pitched a tent. He also had set up his campfire. He decided to eat some instant noodles again. This time, he had the cup noodles version. He boiled some water and once it was done boiling, he poured it into his cup noodles. He began to eat it, giving some to the little wolf, which was on his l.a.p, covered with a small towel.

After eating, he began to settle down for the night, with the little wolf beside him.