Agatha The Legendary Guild Master

Smelling the danger wasn't enough until I saw it. The giant and I kept looking for an entrance for an entire hour.

The course on the side of that widening river was filled with trees and mud, but there was no hole whatsoever for tens or even hundreds of miles.

Until we finally stumbled upon a deep groove caused naturally on one bank of the river.

"It's on the other side," I said while observing this long and seemingly deep depression on the other bank of the river.

"Hang tight," the giant said, "I'll carry us to the other bank in no more than three steps."

The width of the river now was extending for miles, making the task of crossing it a bit risky. I could see a swirlpool here and there, but I couldn't tell the depth of the river.

But for my giant things seemed a bit simple as he crushed heavily on the rushing waters, creating a sort of shockwave that extended for miles around.

"Let's see that groove and leave," he boringly said, "I doubt we even would find anything worthy here."

I didn't speak while catching involuntarily to his gigantic body. The innate fear of insects took over me at this moment, and I seriously considered stepping back and letting him do the scouting task.

But I wasn't sure he would be thoroughly checking the underground, especially with such underestimating nature of his towards this dangerous matter.

"It's all dark down there," he said the moment we arrived, "but I can't see anything moving and that in itself is considered a good thing…"

He didn't continue his words before I took out one precious pearl of mine and threw it like a wrecking ball towards the groove. The aura of the pearl ran wildly and when it went down the groove, it started to partially illuminate it.

However that wasn't everything.

"Rumble!"

Like a wasp's nest being triggered by some kind of move, once the pearl entered the groove the entire ground all around started to tremble.

It was as if a gigantic beast was sleeping down there and just got awakened.

"Not a word!" I whispered, "don't ever move," I added in a gratified tone and a very serious expression over my face.

I tried to give him warning, but it seemed he took this matter far lighter than I thought.

"What are you even afraid of?" he asked, "there is nothing there but mere insects!"

"Damn you!" I couldn't help but curse, "hurry… retreat back to the other side or best to the mountains we came from."

"Wh…"

"Just leave now before it's too late!"

I didn't give him the chance to even think as I even hit his shoulder with my spear and that strangely pained him.

And then he moved.

Like a race horse running with all his might I kept slashing at him to keep him speeding up.

"Can't you stop pricking me with that nasty thing of yours?" he said, "it hurts!"

"Keep running and don't think of anything else," I clenched my spear so tight that I even felt some numbness over my hand grip, "we are doomed."

I turned back to where we left the river, tens of miles back. There wasn't a clear sky like before or the amazing scene of green towering trees. All that remained there was a fast growing cloud of darkness, looming from far like a gloomy fate that awaited me and my city.

"Damn you bastard!" I couldn't help but curse.

"Why are you cursing me?"

"Not you, you idiot," I shouted at my giant, "just keep running and don't look back."

"What lies back the… holy sh*t! what the hell is that?!!"

Unfortunately my warning backfired at me as he turned to spot that giant cloud of darkness. I could even feel the faint tremble of his body like a small earthquake, yet they weren't like my inner shocking quakes at all.

"Just run," I urged, "we'll talk later but we first need to get out of here alive."

"Where can we run to?" he now realized how bitter our situation was. everywhere around was an ocean of forests and green, and behind us was another ocean, a dreadful ocean of darkness; a gigantic cloud made entirely out of large sized insects.

And these insects weren't like mosquitos, I could tell that just from the way they behaved. Even wasps wouldn't be this persistent over chasing us, and I couldn't tell from this far what those insects were looking like.

And I didn't want to even know that.

The only problem was that we delved too deep in this forest and the mountains just kept waving at us from the far horizon, seeming like an impossible place to reach.

"Damn it!" I finally couldn't control my anxiety, "screw this! Let me see if they would prefer a mere human over the pearls."

I didn't hesitate to cause a fountain of pearls out, scaring even my giant.

"What are you doing?" he screamed in panic, "why are you throwing them?"

"A bait," I bitterly said, "a hefty price for our lives, hoping it would work."

The giant kept complaining and I didn't listen to any word he said. I just kept my focus over the distance where that gigantic swarm of insects was getting closer to the pearls I threw.

"It worked!" I yelled as I watched the enormous black cloud pause before a tsunami of insects landed over the ground and started even fighting among themselves.

As they got down there I started to notice their shape. They were like a giant wasp with long peaks that resembled birds and very frightening feathers made out of sharp needles.

I was sure these insects would attack anything using their feathers, and that gave back to me the memory of those bees and their strange habit of stinging anyone that would get near their territory.

Just one sting and instead of one bee you would get tens, even hundreds of them. "This is bad," I could foresee the scene of my war against them, a brutal and bitter war that had more odds of losing than winning regardless of the price.