June glances around, trying to figure out an idea. “Umm, we can. Hmm. Oh! Water. We don’t have to outrun them or guide them into someone else. We just need to escape their notice.

  “There should be some kind of river next to the city, if only to provide water and trade. We just need to keep running and hope we find it before the monsters catch up.”

  Gem nods and makes a peace sign, “Sounds like a plan! Re-up my buff and I’ll give us a direction to head.”

  June raises an eyebrow, “I don’t see how the buff will help pick out a direction, but sure, have at it. [Cat’s Paw]!”

  Gem laughs, “Oh yeah! That’s the stuff.” And they speed up, angling towards a tree a little to the side.

  With a hop and a jump, Gem flies up and barely manages to grab the lowest branch. From there, the momentum swings them up, which they use to rapidly swing from branch to branch until they get above the canopy. Their last swing with an extra dose of oomph to get some air.

  Once up there, they don’t try anything top fancy, only a bit of a spin to get a nice look around. Then their trip down is a good bit less graceful. Gem keeps their forward momentum, but mostly let themselves fall. They only grab a few branches to redirect around trunks.

  Then they hit the ground in an over the shoulder roll that goes out of control. Gem tries to pop back up on to their feet, but all that achieves is the roll turning into more of a limb flailing tumble. Until they run into a tree.

  June catches up to them and grabs Gem’s arm, pulling them to their feet. Though Gem is a bit out of it. Still, they manage to keep running until they recover some.

  June shakes her head, “What was that? Like, the climb up was impressive, but gravity beat you something fierce!”

  Gem, a little woozy, manages to get out, “The game’s messing with me! I actually can do shoulder rolls irl. There was a root or something that tripped me up.”

  June sighs, “What did you see?”

  Gem gestures slightly to the right, “The city is there, but I didn’t see anything to note the river. I guess they wouldn’t exactly be using tall, masted ships around here.”

  June, “Well, more than I expected. We’ll go straight ahead then, even if we don’t find a river, there should be some streams kicking about.”

  And they did! Well, it took a worrying amount of time with the sounds of monsters behind them getting ever closer. The duo probably wouldn’t have survived if the monsters had gotten eyes on them. It was only the fact that they had to follow their scent that slowed them down enough for the pair to run away for so long.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Gem turns to June, “So, do you know how to dive?”

  June laughs, “I don’t even know how to swim!”

  Gem shakes their head, “And you called my plans crazy! I guess there’s no better time to learn.” And Gem grabs June up into a princess carry once again, before taking a flying leap, barely making it to the center of the stream.

  A stream that was flowing at a decent clip, their heads popping up quite a distance downstream.

  June sputters, “I wasn’t ready for this!”

  Gem giggles, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you. Besides, the faster the flow, the quicker we’re out of here!”

  June, “Yes, but to where?”

  Gem, “Probably somewhere even more dangerous. We just have to keep an eye out for trouble and head to the shore the second anything looks like trouble. At least the area seems relatively flat. I do Not want to go through the waterfall trope.”

  June goes pale, well paler. The cold water did a good job of sapping her color in the first place. “I didn’t even consider waterfalls!”

  Gem shrugs it off, though not physically. That’s kind of hard to do while holding someone in a princess carry and treading water for the both of them. “Look on the bright side! My body is apparently strong enough to swim for both of us. When it comes time to get out, you’ll be rested.

  “Though we really do need to get you swimming lessons. This feels like a melt river with how cold it is. Thankfully, we must be a good distance from the source or you’d be in danger of freezing! At least if you were swimming, the exercise would help warm you up. Not that you can do much when it comes to swimming in cold water.”

  June cringes, “Now I have something else to worry about! How long do you think we should stay in here?”

  Gem looks around, “Well, probably should first get out of the forest. That way, we can see any nearby dangers. Hmm, well, I guess tall grass will block sight just as well? Meh, an open field, would at least be a new territory. Less likely to have the same monsters catch up to us!”

  June sighs, “Guess we wait.”

  Gem, “You wait, I’ll see about keeping us afloat!”

  And wait she did.

  Gem, “I see with my little eye, something brown!”

  June, “Is it the branch in front of us? Again?”

  Gem, “How’d you guess?”

  And wait.

  Gem, “So, I’m thinking of ignoring the usual way people are playing. Like, I understand staying in one place? But come on! This place practically kicked me out already.”

  June, “You mean you didn’t want to join any of their groups?”

  Gem, “Yeah, that. Anyway, a good wander feels right. Maybe I’ll find a place to settle? And it isn’t like I plan to try and find the edge of the world or anything! I’ll be sticking in the vicinity. There simply won’t be a home base, at least to start. Have you heard about the floating homes? Like, can’t take them into danger zones, but a safe place that follows you on your normal day to day?”

  And wait...

  Oh, nevermind, the forest seems to come to an end a bit in front of where they are.

  Heyo! If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider reviewing the story! It would really help it gain traction. Also, as an incentive, if we hit 500 follows I’ll release a bonus chapter!

  Oh, and if you want to ? There is at least a chapter’s worth over on right now! You can also head over to my to hang out and ask questions. While I do try to respond to comments, I don’t always catch everything.