Chapter 12: Whoops

A shadowy figure stalked Zell and Donovan from the tree line unaware that Zell had sensed it. In response to Zell's comment Donovan was looking around at the trees from his vantage point. [Oh no did they see me?!] The creature thought to itself. [That would be impossible, I have the skill of perfect camouflage there is no chance they have detected me. But still, it does look like they are looking for someone.] Suddenly Zell pointed in their direction and Donovan launched a fireball at the tree the creature was hiding behind. The sudden attack caused it to leap out into the open to avoid the blast.

The creature was a young inhuman woman. She belonged to the tribe of beast men that lived in this particular forest. The elder sensed an immense magical force enter this barrier in which he surrounded the forest with and sent her to investigate. He assumed he would be able to remain undetected and safe due to her skill.

She looked in horror, knowing that humans had discovered her. She knew what that meant for her. Humans had a long history of abuse and murder of her kind. She jumped to her feet and pulled a spear from her back. She bared her fangs and hissed on her would-be attackers.

"It's a feral beast man." Donovan said. "Stay behind me young master, I will protect you from this evil monster."

Donovan raised his hand and prepared to launch another fireball at the young beast girl. Zell looked on but all he saw was a young girl around his age, and aside from a fluffy tail and ears seemed human. She looked terrified.

"Wait!" Zell shouted as he pushed Donovan to stop the spell. Completely unaware that his limited skill was still at an unreasonable output level of thirty percent. The light push sent Donovan flying at a ludicrous speed into the trees. Luckily, his robe was enchanted with an auto defense barrier that activated on the push and surrounded him with a protective shield that absorbed the impact from the trees. Still, it was as if he was a cannonball mowing down the forest as he traveled a few thousand feet.

The beast girl's eyes widened as she could not believe what she had just witnessed. The shock caused both her spear and her jaw to drop.

Zell was surprised as well, meaning only to barely push Donovan. "Oh no!" He yelled. "Are you okay?! I am so sorry!" He started to run down the path of destruction that he caused, to see if Donovan survived.

"Wait!" The girl shouted out towards Zell. [Oh, why did I just do that?! This boy is not natural. Why didn't you just run-away Kaitlyn!] She thought to herself.

Zell stopped and turned to face the girl. He had forgotten all about her for a moment, due to the accident with Donovan. "Hello?" Zell responded while raising his hand in a small wave.

"What are you?!" Kaitlyn shouted.

Zell paused and scratched the back of his head while he thought of an answer. "I will tell you in a minute if you let me check on the professor really quickly. I am afraid I may have hurt him…"

"More like kill him." Kaitlyn said to herself softly. She squatted down and picked her spear back up and placed it back into the holster on her back. She then sat down on her knees. "Go check on his corpse then! I will be here when you get back!" She shouted. [Why Kaitlyn, why won't you just run away! And now you are even going to wait for him?] She thought. Her instincts however were telling her the best course of action was to wait and talk to this boy.

Zell started to run down the path, his raised stats cause him to move at an inhuman acceleration. He reached Donovan in under a minute. Running over a thousand feet in mere seconds. He found Donovan unconscious against a tree, but otherwise undamaged.

Zell reached down and felt for a heartbeat. "Good he is still alive." Zell said happily. He picked Donovan up and attempted to carry him. The weight of the elder mage was not an issue as Zell's strength was off the charts. The problem arose from Zell's short stature and small frame. He was no more than four foot tall and the man he was trying to carry was five foot eleven inches. Eventually he draped his arms over his shoulders and lifted Donovan's legs beneath his arms. It looked quite intriguing, but it was functional. Zell made haste back to the girl. He had questions for her, and he was sure she had questions for him. He only hoped that she would have a way to bring his professor back to consciousness since the sage was his only way home.

As he exited the tree line Kaitlyn saw the pair and could not help but to laugh at the sight. She then quickly covered her mouth with her hand, fearing her laughter would offend this scary boy.

Zell sat Donovan down and leaned him against a tree. He then walked over and sat on his knees in front of the beast girl. "Hello, my name is Zell Neuval." He said to her casually.

"I am Kaitlyn." She replied.

"Alright Kaitlyn, I have a question." Zell said.

"First, please answer mine from earlier." She said her curiosity was getting the better of her.

"I am just a normal everyday human being." Zell said with a smile.

"Right, just a normal human." She paused for a moment. "As if! You are not! No human is that strong, nor that nice! Humans only attack, one would never attack another to save a beast person like me."

"I really am." Zell replied. "As to why I saved you it only seemed like the right thing to do. It might be because I grew up in isolation, mainly with just my family, but really with just my mom as my dad and sister ignore me most of the time. I suppose there was the staff there as well, but I avoided them so as to not have accidents, like the one you saw today. Anyways, all I saw was a scared girl around my age. Was a cute fluffy tail and ears really enough for a death sentence?"

"Cute?!" She blushed. "Human you can't just go around calling beast girls cute!"

Zell bowed his head. "I am sorry I did not mean to offend." He said.

"You didn't offend, it was just…" Kaitlyn paused and stroked her hair. "Unexpected is all. Okay I guess I will believe you, for now, maybe…"

"Okay can I ask my question now?" Zell asked.

"Go ahead." Kaitlyn said.

Zell turned and pointed at Donovan, "do you have a way to wake him up?" Zell asked.