Two individuals traipsed through The Garden on their own. At least, if Chidi were to ignore his aunt’s senses lingering in them. He couldn’t exactly complain, since this was his first real mission, and he wasn’t even a teenager yet. More than that, despite how strong he felt, he knew that each stage between himself and Alva was a massive gap. Chidi was only in early Spirit Building, with all of Essence Collection and Life Transformation between himself and the beginning of Integration. A journey of a century or more, whereas his entire life was barely more than a decade.

His lupine companion was sniffing around, looking for something. It shouldn’t be the trail, nor did Chidi think she would mix up the various scents. “What are you looking for?” Chidi asked, his vocal chords straining to growl in the right manner. All of the wolves would understand common speech, but it just seemed polite to speak in their own language if he could.

“Assurance. I sense our opponent is not trivial. No, he should be a true test of strength…” the wolf snuffled. “We need any advantages we can get.”

“Like what?” Chidi asked. He felt the sharpness of his blade- still sheathed, but not for much longer. He also felt the fangs and claws of his companion, the only weapons she needed. Likewise, Chidi had light but durable armor to match the tough hide of the wolf, powerful due to her parentage and tested in previous battles.

“I will know when I find it,” she replied.

Chidi nodded, keeping his ears open for the sounds of other creatures. Just because they were hunting a boar didn’t mean there wouldn’t be anything else. They would avoid the trail of the larger boars similarly causing trouble, but The Gardens were still a notoriously dangerous area, intentionally set up that way by some crazy guy. Apparently, there were still some hidden treasures deep within, but Chidi wasn’t stupid enough to think he had any hope of getting them at his current strength.

The feeling of Alva’s senses withdrew, though not far. She was ultimately still tracking the two of them, but they would have some technical privacy. There was no way to pass outside the range of her encirclement. Chidi had tried in the past, but Alva was much better at catching him than his mother and father. Not that he had reason to sneak off much. He just didn’t want to be constantly looked at. Unless he couldn’t tell it was happening, then it didn’t bother him. Though he’d gotten pretty good at judging where people were looking from how their eyes felt in their head, the angle of the bumps on the front bits.

The forest floor was rough with pine needles and underbrush. They had long since gone off of what roads had been worn into the forest, and now they were simply following the path of the boar, uprooted saplings and sliced bark on the edge of trees. Plus the stench.

“Something smells bad,” Chidi said. “Not the boar,” he had to clarify.

The wolf nodded. “That is what we’re looking for, I think.”

“Are we going to stuff the boar’s snout?” Chidi asked as they approached an area where the woods thinned. Rough grasses filled the area, along with tall stalks covered in blooms of oddly shaped flowers. A clear trail was crushed through the meadow, juices leaking from the plants.

“Of course not. You will spread this plant on your blade. But don’t touch it.”

“Poison?” Chidi asked. “Won’t that make it troublesome to eat the boar?”

“Yes,” his wolf companion agreed. “It will make us sick. But we need to stop the boar from devastating the area more than we need to eat it. And if you are cautious, you can grow resistant to poisons.”

“Have you?” Chidi asked as the wolf ground her paws into the whole of the stalks and flowers. He set about doing the same- except more carefully lifting the floofy flowers with his energy and wiping them along the blade of his sword.

“Of course.”

Confident words, but perhaps not such a confident response. There was certainly some caution taken, only the front paws and primarily the tips pressed into the plant.

A snapping twig. “Something’s coming,” Chidi said. Each step was heavy, and as his senses stretched out he felt prickly fur. And of course, sharp tusks. It seemed the boar had doubled back, perhaps hearing intruders in its territory or possibly simply out of coincidence. It was taller than Chidi, and also bigger than his lupine companion. Nor was it simply a normal boar, but one that had some measure of upper energy within it. “I’ll split left!” Chidi called out.

Simply standing still in front of such a creature, especially one that was beginning its charge, was foolish. He held his blade in his hands, trembling. The anticipation was the worst part as the ground scattered apart, heavy thuds approaching and a being of pure power approaching.

Chidi leapt forward and to the side, aware that the boar would lower its tusks and try to disembowel him from beneath. That he knew from the other wolves, and his studies about various beasts.

His blade was held towards the boar, slicing towards the snout. It caught on the tusks, nearly ripping out of his hands as it was pulled back before chopping forward. He had just enough energy gathered to cut through the boar’s defensive energy, but he barely cut into its hide, leaving a bloody trail only a few fingers in length on the multiple meter stretch of its side. At least he had moved quickly enough that he’d been safe. He didn’t want to find out what happened when his own defenses had to fight against those natural spears.

On the other side, knowing his intentions, his still unnamed friend leapt forward, claws grazing the hindquarters of the boar. Neither of them managed a deep wound… but with the poison, perhaps the creature would fall quickly.

Or it would be enraged, its furious cry causing Chidi to shudder. Could he hide before it turned around? Perhaps he should duck down into the field. He tried that, uncertain of the boars senses. He felt the wet orbs of eyes, so it would rely on that first. As a wild creature, it would make frequent use of its scent, but that would hopefully not be precise enough to run down Chidi.

He was debating running for the trees once it turned and passed again. That would provide some cover, and some were thick enough to stop its charge. Hopefully. His wolf friend did the same as him, crouching low among the tall stalks of a bulbous and apparently poisonous flower.

If the poison was affecting the boar, it at least showed no signs on its next charge. More than that, its aim at first appeared to be off- but as it was nearly past Chidi it flicked its head, tusks driving for him. He was prepared for something like that, but his response was anything but perfect. His sword stabbed out, grazing the boar’s cheek as the tusk tore enchanted cloth armor, skin, and muscle from his elbow to his shoulder.

The boar’s momentum still carried it past him, but Chidi was momentarily stunned.

“Run for the trees!” the insistent barking of his friend snapped him out of it, and he stumbled forward, his feet barely finding purchase until he could stabilize his senses, feeling the plants ahead and more importantly the ground beneath. He was too used to flat and even terrain, it seemed.

As he reached the treeline, Chidi realized he didn’t hear his companion running after him. Instead, he heard some chomping and squelching sounds, a strong scent filling the air.

He couldn’t do anything but listen, behind his tree, as he heard the boar charge again. He was not close enough to sense anything. He only heard the growl of his companion, transforming into a bark.

The sounds of collision, ripping and tearing flesh- much worse sounds than he’d previously experienced in training. Chidi was astounded, and afraid. Why hadn’t Alva done something?

Why hadn’t he done something?

He clutched his sword tightly, listening. Heavy thuds, snorting. Elsewhere, ragged breathing. He crept forward, aware of every blade of grass and stalk in front of him. He couldn’t avoid them, but he could minimize how much he collided. But soon enough he couldn’t take the slow route. He felt his companion, fur matted with blood. Teeth filled with not only a few hunks of bristles and a bit of different blood, but also squished flowers and stalks and even bits of roots stuck in between. She didn’t seem able to stand, possibly from the wound- maybe from the poison. But the boar was hoofing the ground, a line of dirt being torn apart.

Chidi charged forward. The boar had some intelligence, or perhaps simply wished to finish off the wolf- angling for the same place he was. Chidi was small and quick, and closer- but they would arrive at nearly the same time. Knowing he had to do something, he tossed his sword, the blade barely nicking the boar above the eye. But that caused it to turn slightly away, and left his arms free to scoop up his companion.

Like a sack of potatoes, except this one covered in blood and grunting in pain. With a burst of speed he removed himself from the boar’s trajectory and charged towards the woods on the far side. “Alva!” He yelled, “Senior Fuzz! We need help!”

Who cares if they failed the mission by needing help? That wouldn't matter if he died. If either of them died. Chidi wasn’t going to lose a friend to something stupid like ‘proving himself’.

He felt the arrows first, then heard them. Sharp points of powerful energy, raining down around the boar. Yet strangely, they did not drive through its body as he expected. It could have been filled full of holes, instead it was trapped in a cage. Only for a moment.

Chidi lay his friend behind a tree, then moved to stand in front of another, a thick pine. He had no weapon, but he found a nice rock nearby. He hefted it, listening for the boar’s approach. Slow, plodding feet. It came towards him, squealing. Heavy steps.

Rough panting from the wolf filled Chidi’s ears.

Strained breaths from himself.

And from the boar. A snort came with a wet bubble of blood, and a pop. Chidi didn’t know what exactly that meant, but it was close enough to feel and he chucked the rock. It broke on the boar’s skull, but the boar made an awful noise and emptied its guts on the ground next to it, collapsing in pain. Not from the rock, obviously.

Chidi ran back to his friend. “Are you alright?” he asked, unable to form any sort of wolven sounds and instead just speaking normally.

A deep draw of breath. A low growl. “Told ya…. Resistant…”

Chidi didn’t really believe that. On that note, he reached into her mouth and began to remove the bits of plant matter, so that no more poison got into her.

What even was this plant, anyway? He vaguely recalled the description, though usually there were useless descriptions available to him like color and whatnot. The shape stood out though, and the poisonous properties.

“Aconite,” Chidi declared. “What do you think about that for a name? You can choose between that and Reckless Idiot.”

A snort from the wolf. And then a much bigger one from another wolf. Towering over Chidi was Fuzz. And miniscule by comparison, on his back was Chidi’s Auntie Alva. “You’re going to name her that?” Alva laughed. “Well, I suppose it is appropriate. And not as bad as the other name that plant bears in some places.”

“... Do you have medicine?” Chidi asked. “An antidote?”

“No!” growled Aconite. “I will… do it… on my own.”

“Alright,” Chidi said. “But next time, stay with me, okay?”

It was too bad he failed his first mission. His parents probably wouldn’t let him go out for a while, but he wasn’t sure he would want to anyway. Especially not if it involved a friend getting seriously hurt. And his own arm wasn’t exactly a light scratch, either.