Took a really long time for Auva's heart to beat steadily. She didn't have proof, but something deep inside her told her that the bird was way stronger than the wolf.
"Can you… hm… get out of me?" She hadn't noticed, but in between her thoughts, her hand had lost its strength against Kanta, letting the boy speak.
"Yeah, sorry, I think she's gone now." As she stepped aside from the boy, a question rose in her mind. "Do you know what killed that bird?"
"Nope. I was supposed to find someone else. Them two more." Quickly, Auva ran towards him, grabbed his arm, and raised it.
"Of course." Her grip loosened. "I… hmmm… believe I'm one of those two people you have to find."
She raised her arm too, showing a cracked and barely functional watch.
"I met my partner a while ago… well, until he was kidnapped by one of those huge birds."
"I hope he is okay."
"He is." His response was fast, as if it was deep inside her head for a long time. Well, both of them had mysteriously come back from the dead, but if she was still alive, would it be possible for him to come back too? In a way, both of them had died earlier, so maybe…
Kanta slightly tilted his head to the side, watching as the girl slowly got lost in her own thoughts.
"Look, you would probably kill me in a fight, so… I say we call it a truce, okay?"
"Right." For a few seconds, Kanta scanned around, trying to find something to remove Auva from her deep state of… lostness.
"What do you say we search in that…" He stopped for a second, gulping his own saliva, "…bird dead body."
She nodded, letting Kanta lead the way. Of course, she was still skeptical about him, but having that watch changed everything.
Carefully, they walked down the crater, taking a while, of course, as the terrain was rough and any one of them could easily roll down. When they had finally met their destination, both walked in different directions, Kanta left and Auva right.
Orbiting around the corpse, there were some traces of strangeness. Innumerable thin cuts revolved the bird's neck, body, and mainly its wings. Not only that, but very easily missed, deep inside those cuts, a few golden particles could've been seen.
"This is definitely someone else's Divine Blessing." Kanta's voice echoed through the crater, reaching Auva.
Her head nodded, agreeing with his affirmation. In a sense, this was to be expected; they were supposed to be four: Her, Naevius, Kanta, and, of course, the mysterious person.
What kept hammering her head all that time was the reason Kanta was alone.
"Hey Kanta, how many days are you here?"
"I would say between two or three days." She loudly sighed.
"That would mean you came before me." Throwing his head back, he scanned her expression, only to see her again lost in her own mind. "Maybe that person was here before you?"
"Look, me and the other guy, Naevius. We came at different moments on the same day, at the same place, and there were signs of… human life there. We thought it was each other, but we were wrong."
"Uhm… a clearing?" She nodded, "Yep, me too. I saw some footsteps and followed them, fortunately it was day, later at night I heard a lot of… wolves."
She chuckled, painfully.
"Yeah, I know." She hit her hands together, leaning her head up. The sky was beautiful, showing signs of an entire day ahead. "Let's not waste any time. I still have to find my friend."
Kanta nodded and quickly matched her walking speed, walking beside her.
Auva appreciated Kanta's trust, but she had no fucking clue where she was heading. Kanta did notice it, though he too did not have a single clue where to head, not wanting to guide them to worse scenarios, both of them fought to see who would sustain that responsibility.
In the end, Auva lost the battle.
She figured out a plan fairly quickly; a battle against a creature that size couldn't leave a human being untouched, so following a trail of blood would be the best-case scenario.
It would be the best-case scenario if the blood trail took them in the same direction the other bird came and left. It was the complete opposite. That meant two things to Auva: Naevius or the Unknown person.
Of course, she was willing to run to Naevius, but the other creature was probably there, together with the fact that she was pretty sure she and Kanta wouldn't be able to kill it. Yeah, it was a dead end.
That's why searching for the mysterious person was, in a sense, probably the best choice to make. They're able to kill a creature far stronger than she would even dare fight. The only problem with that was: What if they took too long?
Yeah, Auva knew Naevius had a strong healing ability, but that didn't save him from his death, or worse, his pain. She was never someone to believe in gods, but for a brief moment, she prayed for something, someone, anything to let Naevius live, survive.
"Is everything fine, Auva?" Kanta's voice came barely as a whisper; she responded in the same tone.
"I'm. Just. Thinking." Taking a deep breath, then letting it out, she made her decision.
All those minutes that this decision was inside her head, she never stopped looking for a trail of blood, and that search finally paid off. It was small, almost invisible, but she could smell it. Maybe a trait left by the wolves' Alpha.
"Found it." Kanta seemed surprised as the blood trail was hidden between bushes and leaves, yet she saw it fairly easily — at least for him — a clear sign of… a good training perhaps?
"Nice, do you think it's a long trail?"
"I hope not." A thought that was formed against her will into words, fortunately so low that Kanta hadn't been able to hear it.
She knew Naevius wasn't the strongest fighter, but at least he had a strong will.
He would be fine, right?
She hopped so.