Present day.
Our first meeting with Alice was indeed a delightful to happen. I remember working even harder than usual for the whole next week just to meet with her on the next weekend. For me it was a moment so desirable that I wasn't able to sleep for nearly half a night the day before it. I clearly remember that night, it was quite a nightmare to overcome. Eventually, I fell asleep, though. And as the time went by, I calmed down a bit, so I could control myself. The reason for all this thing was really simple yet exceptionally important to me because at that time she was my first and the only friend.
A few years ago.
As we were riding, I was excited to the extent I almost couldn't control myself. Yet, Mum cooled my head down a bit as she talked to me.
"Oh my, you are so excited, Domi. No wonder you were working so hard this week. But do not overdo yourself, Sweetheart. I understand that you are thrilled, but you shouldn't forget what you were thought. It would be bad if you would harm Alice or yourself."
"Yes, I know, Mum. But I am really nervous as well, it's my first time meeting someone like this!"
"Don't worry, Darling. It is only natural to be so, however, as you will go through events like this more and more you will get accustomed to it and won't be nervous."
"I really hope so. And by the way, how much longer will it take to get there?"
"Haha, it won't be too long, we are already halfway there."
The rest of the way I was either looking out of the window or talking to my Mum. The time went by and we eventually arrived to the city.
This time we weren't wondering around and having fun. It was almost lunchtime and yet we went straight to the park entrance, where we agreed to meet.
After a while, I was already able to see the entrance arch not that far away. It was the same grand fancy-looking stone arch as I remember. Dozen of pillars were adorning the arch, alongside different herbal and tree-like patterns and even a few small statues.
But most importantly, I saw Alice and her Mum. Finally, the moment I've been waiting for so much, the moment I worked for the whole week.
"Alice!" I shouted, when we were not that far apart, and waved to her. The smile on my face has appeared without me knowing.
"Domi!" She shouted as well and waved. "Hi! I am so excited for today! Come on, let's go!"
"Oh. Hello, Alice's Mum." I stopped and greeted her as I was taught to do and immediately came to Alice.
We entered the park and as Alice was walking near me, our mums were behind by a few steps to keep an eye on us and not interfere. They as well spent time chatting with each other.
Thus, we continued walking like this for a fair amount of time and eventually came to less crowded part of the park. As it has been the last time, our parents took one gazebo nearby a vast meadow that stretched for more than a hundred metres along the river. As for us, we ran straight to the lawn.
The river was small, but deep and fast enough to prevent wild animals from crossing it to the other side where people were.
As we were playing hours have passed. We had already made a pause for a lunch and the sun wasn't that high. Yet we still had a few hours before the end for today.
We were playing in tag close to the river and I was the one chasing at that moment.
"I am close, Alice! Run as fast as you can, hahaha!"
"Hahaha, I am doing my best! But can you catch me?!"
As we were running, Alice probably didn't notice that she came too close to the edge of the river.
"Hey, Alice! Look out, you are too close to the river! Stop!"
"Huh, what are you talking abou… Aaaa!"
Her leg slipped from the edge while she was talking and she fell in the wild waters of the river. I wasn't really good at swimming. Dad taught me only once how to swim but it wasn't long before my leg also slipped because I didn't stop on time.
"Hewp! Hewp me swmone! Hwlp!" Alice was screaming at her full lungs but since the river was fast and uneven, she was constantly going underwater and back.
I was trying my best to stay on the surface and come as close as possible to Alice. I eventually did it, but she has already lost her consciousness and soon I joined her.
…
When I woke up I was in the forest on the river bank lying with Alice on me and hugging her. We were fortunate to be washed ashore on shallower part of the river. The sun was already setting, meaning we were unconscious for a couple of hours.
Soon Alice woke up as well.
As soon as she opened her eyes with moaning, she asked: "Uugh… Domi..? Wha-what… happened? Where… are we?"
"I have no idea." I replied shortly.
After a minute or so of coming back to our senses, Alice said:
"*Sigh* And what should we do now? I have read in a book that the first thing to do is to find a shelter or make one…" The tone of her voice was unusual, it wasn't as happy and cheerful as always.
"My teacher has taught me the same and the second step is water and food. But we are soaked and it is getting cold outside. Maybe we should go into the forest?"
"What?! Into this dark and frightening forest?!"
"I find it frightening as well, but I am quite hungry already and we need to start the fire somehow…"
"Domi… I am scared… I want to go home…" She was probably about to start crying her eyes out and I was not far away from doing it either.
"So do I… but Alice… I am here, with you. I believe that together we will make it out!"
After my genuine and cheerful words it seemed to ease and her face brightened a bit. I was also scared, but my parents always told me that I have to keep my cool and think rationally.
Honestly, I have no idea how to do that, I want to scream from fear. Mum, Dad, I want to go home so much.
I was about to start crying, all I thought about was how much I wanted my Mum or Dad to appear right now and take me home, but I knew I couldn't, I had to control myself and looking at Alice calmed me down. It is already the second time when her presence alone helped me cool my head.
After this short period of silence, Alice said: "Yes, I am ready, we should go. And, Domi, thank you for encouraging me. If it wasn't for you, I would have never been able to make up my mind to go inside the forest. So, let's go, together."
"Yeah, let's go, Alice. Here! Take my hand. That way you won't be so scared." Even in a situation like this one, Alice was able to make me smile like it's just a walk in the park and not trying to survive in a dark and terrifying forest.
And so, as we joined our hands, we entered the forest. It was dense, difficult to go through bushes and we could barely see anything as it was already night. Added to the difficulty also our soaked clothes and empty stomachs, as well as the fact, that I was going first with little to no visibility.
We have been walking for about half an hour in the forest in the direction opposite to the river flow, so we could get closer to the park, where I had fallen, meanwhile trying to find either something for food or shelter. But I had no idea what to look for, when, suddenly, I stepped on something squishy: "Stop! I stepped on something strange. Maybe it will be some edible berries!"
"Really?! If only we could eat something, I am so hungry."
After a few minutes of waving your arms in all directions, we finally found the bush with berries.
"Okay, so this is the bush, now we have to find out if they are edible. But how can we do it in such darkness?" I was thinking of how we could do this, while fighting with my stomach to give me a few minutes of thinking without disturbing me.
Then, Alice suddenly said: "Hey, Domi, look at this! There is a small ray of moonlight breaking through the dense crown of trees. We could use it to determine if we could it the berries!"
We were fortunate enough to find this hole with moonlight and to have bright moon this night in the first place.
As Alice had more knowledge in plants, berries and stuff like this, she was the one to find out if this bush was our saviour or the one to crash our hopes right now.
"Hmm, I believe it should be edible. At least I remember something similar to this berry in a book with edible ones. Maybe if I had better lighting, I would have been able to say for sure. But anyway, I would like to believe it is edible, so let's eat this, because I can't stand it anymore."
And so we ate all the berries we could find on this bush. We weren't able to find any more bushes like this nearby. Therefore, we decided to save our energy and go forth.
However, it wasn't long before we heard some noise in the bushes nearby as we walked out to a small clearing. "Aaa! D-Domi, have you heard this?!" Alice was first to notice this with her elven ears. As she screamed and jumped as close to me as was possible, she began to shake.
It scared me to death. My heart started beating faster than I thought it could possible be. "A-Alice, c-calm down. I am h-here, I will protect you."
After a few seconds of trembling in fear, the thing came out of the bushes. It was crystal wolf, I understood this due to the glare of moonlight from the crystals. My heart started racing even faster, I felt like the blood came to my brain, eyes and ears in extreme amounts. I was fully concentrated on the wolf, the only thing I saw, thought about and heard was the wolf. My instincts were telling my mind to wait until he attacks us first and then kill him, but I was thinking how in the world I was supposed to do this.
This is a crystal wolf! What should we do?! How can we escape… and even can we?! Think! Think faster!
While I was thinking, the wolf hesitated for a few moments. Suddenly, in the moment, when he rushed to us something bright flashed before my eyes so fast that I didn't even notice. It was like a bright arrow, but super fast, even more like a beam of light.
But it was too early to let our guard down, it could have been something even stronger than this wolf. In a few seconds a rather tall silhouette appeared in the shadows behind a tree to the right of where the wolf laid.
"Eh? Just kids?"
To be continued…