Naevius sat down close to the lake's edge. He watched as the smoke from their campfire rose in the air, and the stars in the sky were reflected on the lake below. Flashbacks from everything that happened seemed to pass through his mind.
And thinking about it all in a critical sense, nothing he has done so far has made sense. Why would he accept a wish from some random guy? True, that guy saved his life, but still, he wasn't that skeptical when he needed to be.
Also, he could've given up so earlier in this… torture.
Instead, he didn't; he stayed to help Auva with her objective, but what about him? Did he have an objective? From the beginning, what was he striving to achieve? So many questions, and for some reason, there was no answer to any of them.
A trail of good smell came from the smoke. Naevius looked behind to see Auva cooking a fish upon the campfire. And, for his luck, it wasn't just one, but two. The girl smiled and waved for him to come closer.
Sitting close to the campfire gave Naevius a warm feeling, one he hadn't felt for a long time now. Of course, being drowned, then killed in the bright of night, wasn't the warmest experience. Auva handed the fish over to him.
"So, what do you think about my fish?" He smiled
"It's definitely a fish." Auva chuckled, biting a little bit of the fish. "But, if you bit it, wouldn't you get… fish skin?"
"Do you mean scales? Yeah, that's why I'm just eating a little of it." She gave another little bite. "Usually I don't eat meat, but well, desperate times, desperate measures."
"That's… kinda sad."
"I know."
Naevius took a big chunk of his fish while getting uncomfortable with the silence.
"Sorry."
"It's not your fault, I… got habituated to it." She placed the fish down. "And, it's not that bad, I mean, not eating meat."
Naevius took the last piece of his fish
"Already? Damn." Auva handed over her fish to him. "Want mine? Can't eat lots."
He took it from her hand gently, eating it calmly and on his own time. "Thank you."
Auva held her words as Naevius ate. When finished, the boy stretched his arms up, thus throwing his body against the grass and dirt below him. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he gave up, letting the tiredness win over his entire body.
With his eyes closed, he opened his mouth to say one more thing before sleeping: "Wake me up when your night patrol is over… and, good night, Auva."
"Good night, Naevius." She got up and walked in circles, although quietly enough not to wake him up.
Her night shift wasn't that bad; the birds sang beautiful hums, the wind had a comfortable breeze that would always mess her hair, and the view of the lake up in the trees was amazing. Eventually, her time on the night shift ended, and even though it was almost day, a night shift wasn't technically necessary; she needed sleep, too.
She hovered until Naevius, who was lying comfortably on the ground. Carefully holding his shirt collar, she started to shake him violently.
"WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP" His eyes widened in surprise and fear, he quickly tried to get up, just to hit his forehead with hers. "OUCH!"
Quickly scanning his surroundings, he saw that everything was fine, and a sigh of relief left his mouth. "WHAT THE FUCK AUVA?"
"I thought it was funny…"
Right now, he was seeing a totally different side of her, a side more carefree and silly. A different way of acting compared to her on the past night.
"Seems like you were right…" Brushing his forehead, Naevius stood. "Well, go take your break."
"Sorry about it."
"Don't worry, for real." She smiled, getting comfy on the ground.
"Good nigh… day." A low laugh came from Naevius.
Now it was his time to inspect the ambience, and it was as safe as the last night. The only thing missing was that the birds, which seemed to move from one location to another, Auva lay down on the ground to get her well-deserved sleep, and Naevius just walked in circles around the place.
He found himself in a comfortable corner beneath a tree; the wind was weak but still carried a gentle breeze, ruffling his hair a little. He watched as the fish in the lake jumped out of it, and in a sense, everything there seemed too calm. It was strange, and now that comfortable feeling became unpleasant.
Once again, the boy stood up and walked outside the tree shadows, and with each step he took, his heart sank further. Why was that? It was as if something bad was about to happen.
And it did.
The light that came from the sun was quickly overwhelmed by an enormous shadow. Naevius immediately looked up, trying to identify what was causing that shadow, and in that regard, the only thing he could spot was a gigantic bird.
A Bird that struck its claws onto the boy's direction, clinging itself to his shoulders and easily lifting him from the ground.
There wasn't an opportunity to act or attack back; he was easily toyed with by the creature.
"AUVA, BE CAREFUL," He shouted from his lungs, even with pain that seemed way worse than the ones those wolves caused him.
Auva woke up in fright, yet she quickly grabbed anything to toss at the creature. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as she saw Naevius getting farther away with each second; she left everything behind and started following both of them through the forest.
That bird's strength was something neither of them had met before, and Naevius was scared, because he knew how much stronger that bird was than their previous enemy.
After just a while, he spotted something that — of course, was expected — and that still scared him, versions of that same bird, yet way weaker and smaller. Moreover, they looked way stronger than the boy