Two days have passed since Alix, Mo, and Trouler split from the McGregor siblings. They have been moving in a straight line nonstop yet the end seemed no closer than before.
"We shoulda just let them lead us."
"We don't need them! I know where I'm going!"
"Just like ya knew where you were going before we got lost last time?"
"Why are you being so spiteful today I just- Oh! I see something!" Alix pointed ahead where she could see a clearing past the trees. She quickened her pace excited to finally be out of this place after about a month.
"I never want to see any kind of forest again." Alix pushed past the trees finally free that torturous landscape. Once out of that never ending tree hell the first thing that she laid her eyes upon was the sea.
In the distance she could see the ocean in all of it's not green glory. She breathed deeply. The air was clear and the sky was bright. She could finally feel the sun on her skin again.
"Much better!" She pulled her eyes away from the water finally looking at the town that she was born in. They were not yet within the town but Alix already noticed some familiar sights.
"Just as I remember."
"Really? It hasn't changed at all in the nine years that ya've been gone? That's just sad." Alix ignored Mo's cry for attention and began marching to Pesinwok.
It took around an hour to actually arrive at the city. Once there Alix sighed nostalgically. Mo stared at the girl in amusment.
"Some of yer old stompin' grounds?" Alix shook her head gently.
"I never actually came up here. Our home was in closer to the ocean. The sea is a noble concept here so the upper-class built their homes as close to it as possible." Mo was slightly confused.
"Any reason that Pesins worship the water so much?" Alix cleared her throat exiting her nostalgic wonder. "I'll tell you some other time. Right now, we should get moving."
"Where to? Ya never got any location from that teacher." Alix wanted to regret not asking for any sort of information before taking her journey but it was too late.
"We'll just have to go to Marconix directly then. I think I know the way?" Mo halfheartedly agreed.
"Of course! That internal compass of yers has worked wonderfully so far! Why not use the outdated version?" Alix took Mo's sarcastic comments and locked them in the back of her mind.
'My sense of direction is impeccable!'
...
"I don't think she's gonna make it unc." Eric voiced to Winston crestfallen. Winston mirrored the boy's sadness.
"Tomorrow's the big day. If she doesn't show up today she'll miss the entrance ceremony and won't be allowed into the school." Winston and Eric were standing at the entrance of Marconix University.
Winston realized that they had not arranged a meeting place with Alix so they assume that if she arrived this is where she would go. So far they hadn't even caught a whiff of the girl.
'Maybe the rainforest was too dangerous for her after all? I hope she's okay.' Winston began to feel concerned that something may have happened to the girl.
"I told you I knew where I was going!"
...
"So what if it took two hours! This city is huge. I would say that we made good time all things considered."
Eric's eyes lit up when he heard that familiar one sided conversation. The streets were crowded so he couldn't see the speaker yet. Eric scanned the streets expectantly until he finally found her.
"Mama Wolf! She made it!" Alix sighed at the familiar nickname. "Yes, I have, Holiday." Eric wanted to run over and hug the girl but also feared the consequences of such an action. So he instead waved her over.
Alix started to move through the crowd when someone bumped into her. The person was completely covered by an old cloak so she couldn't quite identify them.
"Excuse me." The person apologized and ran off. Alix frowned but let go of the interaction. 'It was nothing worth making a fuss about.' She made contact with her companions after a long journey.
"I'm glad you made it. I started to believe the worse had happened." Winston greeted Alix. She nonchalantly nodded.
"I know my own limits professor. If I thought that the journey was too dangerous I wouldn't have taken it."
'That wasn't what you were sayin' when ya fought those wolves." Alix glared at Mo who was whistling aloofly.
"Did he say something?" Eric question the girl's sudden attention shift.
"Nothing more than his usual nonsense." Eric could not confirm or deny the information so he simply assumed that this was normal. "Alright." Alix turned back to Winston.
"When is the entrance ceremony? I am hoping that it is not today?" Inengway shook his head reassuringly.
"You have nothing to worry about. Orientation is tomorrow. We were just awaiting your arrival. I have also already confirmed that you have been accepted into the school so there should be no further problems." Alix felt a wave of relief wash over her.
Finally something that she didn't need to worry about. "I assume you two have some sort of residence that we can stay in?" Winston nodded. "We're in a rather nice inn just two streets away. We'll get you a room for the night later but we should definitely eat something first."
Alix wasn't actually very hungry but agreed to the invitation anyway. Mo was quite famished. 'I could eat an entire whale and that still wouldn't be enough to satiate my hunger!"
'You are overexaggerating."
'We'll see." Alix frowned at Mo's obscurity when she felt little Trouler nudge her leg. "What is it?" Trouler looked into Alix's eyes pleading. It was like he was asking, "Will I be able to eat too?" Alix chuckled.
"I would never forget to feed you. I'll just give you some of Mo's food."
"Wait, what?" Trouler jumped happily at Alix's assurance. Mo was quite peeved.
"You can't just decide to give him some of my food! It's MY food! That's like me giving random people on the street your clothes or something! It's just outrageous!" Alix, as always, ignored Mo's outburst.
"When'd you get that one?" Eric asked pointing to Trouler.
"I found him in a Monster Den that I entered on the way here."
"You went into a Monster Den?! What sort of monster was in there. Was it something crazy strong? Maybe a Cockatrice? A Griffon? A Dragon?" Eric's imagination raced as he imagined his tutor fighting a large dragon.
"Calm down. It was just an ogre. Honestly I couldn't even call the encounter a battle. I basically beat it while it was still half asleep." Despite Alix downplaying her experience Eric almost exploded in excitement.
"AN OGRE! I've never seen one. Was it big? I heard they tend to fight with clubs did it have a club? You said you beat it while it was half-asleep does that mean that it was fully sleep when you found it? That's soo cool, Mama Wolf!"
Alix didn't know what was more annoying. Mo's ranting, Eric's hyper personality or...
"This is a peccary correct? I've heard that they have the chance to be Cryptid category when they get older so this one must be young. Tell me, did you take it from it's mother or was it already alone?"
...Winston's deep fascination of monsters. Alix sighed to herself. 'I should have just gone to the inn.' The strange group of monsters and mortals eventually arrived at a restaurant and sat down to eat only to be immediately removed due to the monsters in their midst.
'That should have been expected.'