The light forest zone was light and airy. Every breeze that wafted over Erlea was filled with the crispness of leaves and the hint of flowers. It tickled her senses and brought a smile to her lips.
She could almost see herself living there except for the realization that this zone was further from home and no doubt more dangerous than anything she or the others had encountered before.
Her eyes flitted from one shadow to another. She could almost imagine a horde of monsters ready to charge out at a moment's notice. Her stomach clenched with fear as they approached one corpse of trees or an outcropping of rocks. As much as the approach was terrifying, each one was free of creatures and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
With every safe spot they passed, the dread grew more. Each step felt like the next one that would spring a trap on them, a random encounter another. Each one ended up being safe but that only made the next step more terrifying.
The others weren't doing much better. Miere jumped at every cracked branch and whistle through the leaves. Billie had her sword arm out as her head snapped from side to side; her antenna bounced with her movements as a frown etched itself across her face. Tira appeared to be the calmest but her body shimmered in sun and there was a strange delay when she moved, as if her form was displaced somehow in space.
Despite the knife edge of fear, Erlea also felt a continual heat gnawing at her sex. It was the beginning of an orgasm, a ripple of pleasure, but it only smoldered inside her. Her pussy and nipples tingled with anticipation of being rushed by monsters and the potential fall when they were overwhelmed.
She hated that part of her body. Even safe, all she could think about was being bred by some faceless monster.
“Do we even know what is in this zone?” she finally asked to break the uncomfortable silence. “What are we looking for?”
Tira sighed and shook her head. “Sorry. Not a lot of breeders come back once they leave this far.”
A distant roar filled the air.
All four breeders stopped, cocking their heads and looking around.
The roar stopped.
They didn't move.
No monster came to attack them.
After a long minute, Erlea forced herself to relax. “We should get going. This isn't going to get better and we need to find a place to camp for the night.” She looked up and realized it was still morning. With her fear, it felt like they had been walking for days.
“Oh,” she said, her wings drooping. “We have a lot longer to go before we stop.”
Another roar rose up. In the far distance, a flock of birds rose up from the trees.
Erlea cringed and pointed in that direction. “And we are not going there.”
“Good idea,” Tira said with a grin. She shimmied for a moment, leaving a dusting behind her.
Billie made an exasperated sound.
Erlea wanted to say something but she didn't. Shaking her head, she lead the others down the side of a hill toward an open space between two tree lines. It seemed like the safest place.
Distance roars followed them and she stared at the tree lines. She could almost imagine the shifting leaves were actually creatures waiting for them to get closer.
Her hand buzzed before she realized she had started to bring up her RKA. She looked around sheepishly and then let the energy dissipate. She was in danger, but she couldn't be jumping at every sound. It took all of her effort to relax her hand.
Miere slipped hers into Erlea's palm. She smiled bashfully.
Erlea smiled back.
Together, they hovered a little higher in the air and headed across the knee-high grasses. Their wings buzzed quietly, adding to the breezes that rippled across the plains.
Hand-in-hand, they traveled in silence.