"Has anyone seen Kaelen? Have any of you seen him?"
Sane was nearly going crazy, knocking on every single door. His frantic demeanor made the whole tribe vaguely guess something. Could it be that Sane liked Kaelen?
"Has anyone seen my son? Has anyone seen my little Walter? My child, has anyone seen where he is?"
Besides Sane, Ronin and the people of the Avian tribe were also practically going crazy looking for Walter's whereabouts. It seemed the missing person wasn't only Kaelen, but also Walter of the Avian tribe.
If only Kaelen had gone missing, everyone in the tribe certainly wouldn't have cared, perhaps even secretly praying he'd just die in the jaws of a wild beast. But Walter of the Avian tribe was also missing, so they had to step up and search. After all, the Sixth Elder of the tribe was a member of the Avian tribe.
Orion and Mie sat in Rylan's house, the three sub-beasts huddling their heads together, whispering something. Mie said uneasily:
"Didn't you say that grass only attracts ordinary snakes and centipedes? Why is the commotion caused so big?"
Rylan let out a cold snort and said: "It is indeed only meant to attract ordinary snakes and centipedes; who told those two to be so unlucky!"
Orion twisted the corner of his animal-skin skirt, saying anxiously: "Our original intention was just to scare him, but... but now... Tell me, do you think those two got eaten by wild beasts?"
Mie's complexion paled. After all, their group of sub-beasts were the darlings of the tribe; although they were a bit arrogant usually, their minds were simple. Bullying others was only using insulting words, or putting bugs and snakes in people's hair, or at most, like with Walter, plucking a few of his wing feathers.
They had never wanted to take anyone's life!
Rylan clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as he said: "It's better if he dies. That cursed thing should have died a long time ago. As for Walter, who told him to be friends with that cursed thing? Losing his life to bad luck is his own doing!"
Saying that, he used a sharp gaze to glare at his two friends: "You two better keep your mouths shut tight, absolutely no one can know we mixed Skag grass into the mosquito-repellent grass. Things having reached this point, none of us can escape the blame. If you don't want to be kicked out of the tribe, then shut your mouths tight for me!"
Orion and Mie immediately lowered their heads, not daring to say a word. Rylan's Papa was the Fourth Elder; if the matter was exposed, Rylan would at most only be punished. But for the two of them, the outcome waiting for them was being kicked out of the tribe, becoming unprotected sub-beasts. Whether dying outside or being captured by other tribes to serve as breeding tools, neither was a good end.
No matter how scarce sub-beasts were, the tribe would not tolerate someone who harmed their own tribesmen. Therefore, Orion and Mie looked at each other and decided to grit their teeth and not say another word.
Rylan looked at the tops of his two friends' heads, the corner of his mouth lifting in a malicious smile. A little Skag grass? No way, he had also added Banshee grass in there. Banshee, just like its name, the omen of death. He explicitly wanted to borrow the claws of wild beasts to kill Kaelen!
Thinking of Sane's frantic demeanor today, the hatred in Rylan's heart grew even deeper. Kaelen, what I cannot have, don't even think about having it either. Since you tainted my possession, then go die.
Orion and Mie saw the smile on Rylan's face, felt a chill down their spines, and leaned even closer against each other.
---
Speaking of Kaelen and Walter, they were currently suspended on a net woven from vines midway up the mountain.
Last night when the two fell down, Walter used all his remaining strength to flap his wings, his hands gripping Kaelen's armpits, wanting to carry them both upward to fly. Unfortunately, he was a sub-beast, his wings usually only for decoration, and furthermore, he was a physically frail sub-beast. Let alone carrying them upward, he couldn't even hold the person up.
However, during the time Walter slowed their falling speed, Kaelen also released his ability around them, trying to urge a tree to catch them. Unfortunately, there weren't many trees on the cliff face, and they couldn't stretch out, so Kaelen had to target the vines.
By the time he wove a net to catch their bodies, Kaelen was completely exhausted, and Walter had fainted due to losing too much blood. The two of them hung precariously midway up the mountain for a night and a day.
The next night, Kaelen woke up halfway. In the pitch-black abyss, he couldn't see anything, and unable to speak, he could only rely on his meager bit of ability to find Walter's position. Walter had a very high fever and had completely lost consciousness. The vines couldn't hold them for too long. Kaelen recalled how Mages used their abilities to see in the dark. In his previous life, he had tried many times but always failed; right now, he could only use the segments of vines to grope the cliff walls on all four sides to estimate the height of the cliff.
His ability could only reach a distance of about a hundred meters; whether up or down, it was just pitch darkness. So, they were very far from the ground at the bottom of the abyss, and also very far from the ground above.
Having no other choice, he could only see if there was a spot on the surrounding cliff face where they could linger and treat Walter first.
Heaven does not seal off all paths; on the cliff face to their left, there was a crevice just big enough for two people to squeeze in. Kaelen didn't hesitate, calculated the distance, then used the vines to tightly wrap himself and Walter into a cocoon, leaving only his head exposed to sense his surroundings, and then decisively cut the net.
The two immediately lunged towards the cliff face due to inertia. Kaelen closed his eyes and focused his spirit to the utmost; right when they were about to crash into the cliff face, his eyes snapped open, green light shooting out from his eyes.
Now is the time!
The vines on the cliff face immediately spread out into a cushion, catching the two of them. However, Kaelen still twisted his body to put Walter in front of him, using his back as a flesh cushion.
"Cough!"
A metallic, sweet taste rose in his throat, and a few drops of blood sprayed from his mouth, even splashing onto Walter's face. Even with the vine cushion absorbing the shock, Kaelen's back still suffered a heavy impact, making his ribs ache sharply—he guessed they were broken.
The place where they stopped was still a distance away from the rock crevice. Kaelen tightly tied the cocoon containing Walter behind his back like a baby carrier, clung to the cliff face with his hands, and painstakingly climbed up. Halfway up, his feet slipped several times; luckily, he used his hands to grip tightly in time, so they didn't fall down.
When he managed to get Walter onto the rocky outcrop, Kaelen painstakingly crawled up. With his last bit of ability, he placed his hand on Walter's forehead, transmitting it into his body. Walter's burning forehead immediately cooled down, but he still couldn't wake up.
Kaelen was also completely exhausted and fainted.
---
[Papa, don't sleep, wake up. Papa, Papa~]
A tender, childish voice echoed in Kaelen's ear; the voice was very weak, carrying whimpering cries. His fingers twitched, trying to open his eyes but couldn't. He felt his body constantly rocking and swaying. In his ears, he could also hear heavy panting, the scraping sound of a heavy object being dragged on the ground, along with the putrid smell of necrotic flesh.
His lower abdomen kept transmitting waves of painful cramps. Subconsciously, he concentrated all his energy there, enveloping the tiny embryo inside. His child, was the child calling him?
"Kaelen... hold on... we're almost there..."
A raspy voice, hoarse like sandpaper rubbing, sounded by his ear. Kaelen was groggy, wanting to open his eyes, but his eyes seemed glued shut, unable to budge even a little. He could only twitch his fingers slightly.
Walter had woken up on the morning of the second day, but despairingly discovered they were midway up the mountain, unable to climb up or go down.
During these past few days, he constantly used the Avian tribe's distress call to cry out to the sky, then cried out to the ground, crying until now he couldn't make a sound anymore, only able to rasp out a few words.
Kaelen had been unconscious for five days, not waking up no matter how much he was called.
Last night it rained very heavily; Walter couldn't let Kaelen get soaked, so he used all his strength to drag Kaelen deep inside. Kaelen's ribs had a strange shape; one look and Walter knew his ribs were broken, so even though Kaelen wasn't very heavy, Walter still dragged him with great difficulty.
At this time, Walter discovered there was wind blowing from behind the rock crevice; if there was wind, there definitely had to be a path inside. Bearing his injuries, he crawled through the gap just big enough for one person to pass, then dragged himself forward. The further he crawled, the larger the surrounding space became, and it also sloped downwards more and more.
A glimmer of hope sparked in Walter's heart. He tried to walk very fast, wanting to see if there was an exit down there. Not knowing how long he walked, he finally saw a faint glimmer of light behind a clump of vines. Parting the vines, outside was surprisingly a valley.
Hastily scooping up a few mouthfuls of spring water to soothe the burning in his throat, he quickly plucked a few berries to replenish his stamina, then gathered branches to make a simple sled. Once done, Walter hurried back with the sled to Kaelen. Squeezing a few berries into Kaelen's mouth, he carefully placed Kaelen onto the sled and dragged him towards the valley.
When Kaelen heard Walter's voice, they were already nearing the exit.
But Kaelen's consciousness only stayed awake for a moment, then sank back into the endless darkness.
In his delirium, Kaelen seemed to see a large green snake painstakingly slithering up the cliff face, then falling down. The scales on its body were almost completely peeled off, revealing blood-red flesh, blood pouring out in streams.
Stop climbing, please, don't climb anymore...