Galen - The Untold Tales of Frelanna Forest

Chap 11: The miasma clouds

“Hmm, there is no food around here…”

“Even water is unable to drink either, the miasma clouds around are too strong that they intoxicated the water too.”

Since morning, Liana and Galen didn’t have anything to eat and drink and they began having symptoms of exhaustion after a long walking journey around the island. Literally, on this island where Galen’s homeland is being destroyed, nothing can survive in this such dead land.

The ominous miasma even covered the sun, so they couldn’t even distinguish what time it was and how long they had been wandering around.

At this rate, the only way was they had to get out of this island first. But in order to go that, Galen was afraid of how toxic those miasma clouds were, would Liana be strong enough to endure its toxicity to fly through them?

Everything was so unsure, Galen didn’t want to gamble his friend’s life so he would like to think of another way to get out of this place. Otherwise, everyone would be starved to death.

“Then how could we enter this island without being intoxicated?” Frank asked.

“I guess it was thanks to the typhoons of the Sabatorus earlier.” Galen answered Frank while thinking “The wind power caused by them were strong enough to blow the cloud miasma. That’s why we fell into this island and didn’t notice the cloud’s existence.

If that, the first solution I just thought about is baiting them here so they would attack us on this island. For sure, they would summon the typhoon again, we can use this chance to escape.”

“Aye! That actually isn’t a bad idea!” Liana was amazed by Galen’s intelligence “So now we just need to find those dragons again right?”

Liana just finished her question and looked behind. But how strange, where was Galen? Clearly, he was just behind her a second ago.

Galen kneeled on the ground and breathed heavily. He didn’t understand why he felt his body was very tired and his hands became colder and colder. His head was spinning that blurred his vision away and urged him unable to keep walking. He didn’t want to give up, but his physical body had already reached the limit…

“Is this because of the toxic effect of the miasma?” Frank panicked as he saw Galen’s face paler and paler.

“…no, worse than that…” As an experienced adventurer, after checking Galen, Liana knit her eyebrows “Frank, did Galen eat something before we met?”

“He did not eat anything, except the Egnam fruit since It was the only food he could find for him.”

“Frank, this is bad. Galen’s blood pressure was lowering due to hunger.”

Liana stood far away from Galen and Frank for a distance. As she closed her eyes, her body glowed up a white ray of light that blurred her image away. She slowly grew up, with bigger size and the dragon scale appeared on her smooth skin. Liana transformed herself into a giant fire dragon – Flamerus type with beautiful red solid scale and the Dragna crystal on her nape.

“Liana, you don’t have to do everything for me…”

“You are my friend, Galen. Please do not bother about it.” In dragon form, Liana couldn’t talk like when she was in human form. So she stared at Galen, used her aura energy to speak with him. That was how her voice could echo inside his head “Sit on my back, I’ll help you.”

Eventually, Galen gave up his pride and ended up sitting on Liana’s back to keep going, with the slight hope that they could find something for Galen.

“Galen, you feel better?” Liana and Frank asked, while worrying about Galen’s current health.

“Yeah, I feel better after a short rest.” Galen’s hand patted on Liana’s long neck “I’m sorry, Liana. As a gentleman, supposedly I have to be the one protecting you, but you ended up having to carry me.”

“Aye, what are you talking about?” Liana giggled in Galen’s head “You may be a ‘gentleman’, but like you, we both are human after all. Frank also told me that you were born weak from the start as well so let me help you.”

But isn’t she a dragon instead? Galen thought.

“Aye hehe, you should be proud that you have a dragon friend, right?” Galen completely forgot that they were using aura to communicate so of course, Liana could read his thought too “But if you feel uncomfortable, take your time to rest first. After your blood pressure stabilized, you can walk again.”

“Thank you, Liana.”

When Liana could see Galen’s smile, she immediately turned her dragon head away and disconnected her aura, leaving Galen being confused if he did something to make her angry.

***

Liana brought Galen and Frank through the intoxicated riverway. As Galen suggested, she should not fly in this rea because the miasma was thicker and thicker. They formed a purple-colored mist with less than a meter heigh, giving them an anxious feeling. What would happen to them if they accidentally inhaled those clouds?

“Uhm… Galen, I think my nose is going to explode.”

In order to avoid the direct effect of the miasma clouds, Galen and Frank had no other choice than to get off from Liana’s back and crawl on the ground by themselves. However, even if they had already dodged the clouds, they still gave Galen and Frank a super uncomfortable experience.

Frank covered his nose with his tiny kitten's front legs while quietly flapping his wings, flying beneath the clouds. Faerin was a species with a sensitive nose so to him, entering this area was like the worst t*****e in his life, even worse than being trolled eating a salty cake made by Galen at his first time entering the kitchen.

Galen also used his coat given back by Liana and covered his nose as well. The atmosphere smelled so badly indeed, like a smell of decomposed corpse being left for more than three days!

Meanwhile, like a dragon, Liana kept walking in dragon form as if nothing happened, despite her being so big that the miasma directly impacted her head.

“How strong are you actually, Liana…?” Galen was surprised by how chilling she was walking in this such miasma.

“I just checked if my health is good enough to endure it. And yes, if they aren’t thick enough, I can endure it.” Liana’s dragon head then directed at the sky where located the thick cloud of purple miasma “But those on the sky, I’m afraid I cannot endure them.”

“I think the cloud on the sky was the consequence of continuous acceleration of the miasma just up above us.”

After hearing Galen concluded, both Liana and Frank were surprised as if they just found interesting new knowledge.

“Wait so… you meant those miasma clouds come from under the ground of this island?”

“Exactly.” Galen nodded his head “But of course, I’m not sure because this is my assumption.”

Galen just finished his speech. Suddenly, the trio heard a strange voice.

“What a smart child… unexpected from the damn King Laurence 200 years ago…”

“Hate… hate… I hate him for pushing us into this…”

“Father Cirion, please save us…

…we are demanding salvation.”

Galen’s face went pale as he saw many creepy creatures floating under the ground and surrounding Liana, Frank and him. They were half-transparent and tiny like the little ghosts, but their overwhelming quantity really shivered Galen, gave him a chill to the spine. They revealed the heavily crushed body party, some got their legs being crushed, some showed their eyeballs being severely damaged that almost drop from the eye socket with just a slight shake.

Galen then noticed they also had torn fairy wings, which look so alike with Frank’s. With this detail, he went speechless when he could guess who they were.

“Everyone!! RUNNN!!!!”

Galen ignored his current health. He inhaled a deep breath then stood up and ran away with Liana. There was no doubt! He used to read in the book of Tredia Library. They were Dark Faerins, the form of Faerin upon they were killed while being innocent. An army of Dark Faerins can devour and absorb the life force of any living beings on their way!

Galen never expected he would encounter them once in his life. Compared with the dragons, they were even more dangerous. And the only way if accidentally see them… were ‘run’ and ‘pray for your life’.

Galen and Liana rushed themselves outside the thick miasma cloud area. They both thought to be safe, but at this moment, Galen couldn’t find Frank anymore.

“FRANK!! WHERE ARE YOU??!!”