15.EH Rainforest

Kyuhyun made an ´ew´ sound when I bent down and sipped from a puddle, after sniffing it of course. I was hot, not only Donghae was affected by the mugginess and heat. I had to watch out for myself even more since I picked up Donghae. The latter was heavier than I remembered and a llama wasn´t as strong as a deer. I had to be careful.

“Don´t worry, it will get better when we move up the mountains,” I announced but the group wasn´t very delighted to hear about high peaks.

“I´m sorry, Hyukkie,” Donghae whined into my sensitive ears. I didn´t have the energy to comfort him that it was alright.

“You will know better next time,” I only said and continued walking.

My ears began picking up heavy breathing of the two men behind me. I gave them both some baggage from the harness because I wouldn´t be able to carry them all. But now it seemed like the two people were also reaching their limit. If we keep up this tempo, we will never get to the city of gods. But what should I do?

“Hyukkie?” Donghae´s voice only woke up fear in me. What is it this time? “I´m sure we are going the right way.”

“Are we?” I felt pleased that Donghae brought good news for a change. I put the man down and straightened my back as I switched into the two-legged form.

“Yeah, look!” And as I looked in front of myself, I saw a tall stone pillar with various carvings on it. “Hyuk, you are all over that thing,” Donghae chuckled but I didn´t get the joke until I came closer and took my time examining the structure.

There were animal carvings on the pillar. Monkeys, snakes, birds, wild animals. Standing on my two human feet, I didn´t feel human at all. Donghae was next to me and watching me but I couldn´t avert my gaze from the carvings. I touched a huge bear and with my fingers caressed all the lines of the beast. Strange feeling bubbled in my chest, that was the answer. If I wanted to save the whole expedition, I needed to set it free. The beast.

“Hyukkie?” Donghae once again called my name, I finally gifted him my attention. “We can do this, I´m sure. I´m keeping proper check of the direction and our friends aren´t as weak as they complain to be. Just you wait, in a little while you will be the owner of the half of the golden city of gods.”

“Yeah,” I simply hummed, loving the precious stare in Donghae´s eyes. His determination, the power of his character that I was completely smitten by. I wasn´t aware of the meaning of his words, only of the fact that he seemed to be well off. My mind was slowly slipping into a different type of regime, more instinctive and feral. “I´m looking forward to it,” I responded blindly.

We took a break under the stone pillar. Kyuhyun made sure to compare me to all the monkeys he found on the structure and begged me to transform before saying, that oh his bad, I have transformed into a monkey long ago. This time I didn´t care about him anymore, I found new power in myself and not even Kyuhyun´s mocking could shake it. I was ready for another feat.

“What are you doing?” Zhoumi was the first one to notice that I attached to the harness most of the luggage, even Kyuhyun´s long rifle. I loosened the belt and held it against my stomach.

“I decided that we will make it to the mountain by today,” I announced. The rainforest was hard on my companions, I wanted to get above the jungle quick.

“But according to Donghae,” Zhoumi gave me a look, “we should reach the mountains by tomorrow evening.”

“Today,” I told him confidently. Before Zhoumi could ask where my confidence comes from, my body began changing its shape again. The loose harness tightened around my torso, big paws and large bones frightened the oriental man.

“What is this?” Kyuhyun´s eyes were equally wide, he hasn´t seen this form of mine. Only Donghae wasn´t awed, only suspicious.

“Wait!” Donghae jumped on his legs when I began walking forward. The whole group followed behind me as I was cutting and stomping on the bushes in front of me. Why haven´t I thought about this earlier? With brute force, I was making the way for others. Carrying the baggage and ripping the branches, I admit that it was very difficult while wearing the heavy bear fur. But I couldn´t complain, I roared loudly and continued toward the mountain.

I heard Donghae call my name silently but when I turned around, the group seemed to be in a good shape. Perfect, we should hurry while we can. Once it starts raining, it´s going to be even tougher. As an animal, when I reached the point where I couldn´t continue anymore, I simply ignored all the warnings of my body. Animals have stronger survival instincts, it´s easier to push my body more. I could feel the ground raising in a slope and with happiness quickened my pace. The higher we were, the clearer the air was because there were not as many trees and bushes. I knew that the others were also tired but as long as I heard their steps and regular breathing, I didn´t allow myself to take a break. Not until the night falls.

“Hyukkie,” Donghae called. I habitually glanced at him if he was alright and he was, no stopping then.

“Hyuk,” this time it was firmer but I could almost see the mountain path already. Our pace was very fast, we were practically flying through the forest! More, a little more!

“Eunhyuk!” I stopped abruptly. Donghae usually doesn´t call me in this tone. “Do you want to kill yourself?!”

From the high altitude, standing on my hinder legs, I was looking at Donghae bewildered. The man was in rage, with his hands clutching the belt of the harness and trying to open it. I was still confused and simply watching him fight with my wet fur. When the harness fell down, Kyuhyun and Zhoumi fearfully jumped to hold my elbows. They tried to put me down on my fours and I wasn´t liking it but struggling could injure them. What´s going on?

“Sit down and transform back, you idiot!” Donghae yelled at me. His eyes were gleaming and his teeth were clenched. I obediently did as told, and suddenly found myself sitting on the muddy ground in my black leather coat. I was looking at Donghae for any explanation but instead received only a hard slap across my face. Kyuhyun winced, stepping away from me and Donghae.

“What´s the idea?! Especially after I warned you to not do everything by yourself! Did you want to make me mad? What were you thinking?!” After the slap, I even got a serious nagging. I couldn´t but stare wordlessly at him.

“Say something!” Donghae yelled, grabbing me by the collar. For the first time, I felt his build perform the strength it had. Since when was he this strong? I was surprisingly intimidated and very intrigued.

“I´m sorry,” I finally squeezed a few words. “I´m sorry, Hae.”

“Seriously,” Donghae sighed. I must have looked pitiful because he bent over and embraced me. “Do I need to put you on leash?” Kyuhyun snorted at Donghae´s remark.

“Did I scare you?” I asked worried.

“Yeah, very,” Donghae answered and pulled away, “but I wasn´t scared of you but for you. Look at that, don´t you know what can happen if you get an infection in the jungle?”

I looked down on my arms, and indeed, there were scratches on my forearms and elbows from the furious breaking and tearing of the thick rainforest. Even small scratches can in the wet and humid surrounding get infected. I couldn´t believe my carelessness. How embarrassing, I lowered my head in shame.

“But at least we are almost at the mountains,” Zhoumi then smiled and pointed to the peak that poked out from the fog.

“Alright, let´s get a little further, it´s still some time left before the nightfall,” Kyuhyun then called energetically. I didn´t know he could be enthusiastic about anything else but messing with me. “Of course, after you put the leash on him, Donghae.”

Asa! So in the end I managed to update. I´m not very sure about what I´m writing, i hope i don´t mess up the flow. I shall make the next chapter cuter. :3 Also, I wanted to ask. i don´t really reply to every comment, only to those that seem very enthusiastic and also all those that pose a question or a guess on the story. Is it enough or do you want me to talk to you more (perhaps less too?). :) Oh, and I finally finished the story about Golem! Thank you, guys and take care! - PandaHero