Two figures hastily and frantically ran through the thick vegetation and trees. One looked to be a male in his early teens, but he was fairly tall for such an age, and it was clear that he was well-built. Extremely so. The other was female, noticeably shorter, and she looked to be about 9-10ish.

And they both looked somewhat panicked, the male more so.

"I.. I... are they following us?" he asked.

"Are they chasing us?" he asked further.

"I don't want to go back there." he said, brushing some of his red hair off of his eyes. "I don't want to go back there!" he repeated, but in more of an exclamation this time.

He then shook his head once more, as they continued to run as fast as they possibly could.

The panic sweat that was pouring down his face was getting heavier by the second, and he could swear he was hearing a rushing sound around him... but his mind also seemed to be in a bit of a haze as his ears buzzed and rang, so he paid no heed to it.

Instead, he focused on getting away, as far as he could, and making sure the girl was with him, too.

Lindsay was panicking even more, now. But not for the reasons one would think. The ravine was deep and steep, but there was a raging river down below.

Now, most people would assume that Lindsay was panicking because he didn't want to fall into the river. And most people would be right. But they only knew the very tip of the iceberg as to WHY, truly.

Lindsay clamped his eyes shut tight, expecting a large splash... but what he got was a thud... and not a very graceful one, at that.

"...huh?" he mumbled, opening his eyes slowly, and seeing that many vines had broken his fall.

"....phew." he exhaled in massive relief.

"....sorry, Anna." Lindsay apologized.

"I just... I... I just... don't... want to go back..." he mumbled.

"...." he was then silent, before looking around as well.

"This is... a fine pickle..." he mumbled, looking upwards, and then looking back down towards the river.

He then followed the river up and down, but it seemed to stretch on forever.

"...can you make vines that form a sort of ladder?" he asked. "Which is to say, have them sprout out of the cliffside in such a way that we can grip them and use them as footholds?" he clarified.

"That might be the best way to get back up."

"W-w-woah!" he stammered, almost falling over, but managing to keep his balance.

"Huh?" he mumbled.

He then looked around, seeing that the platform they were on was, indeed, starting to rise up.

"Woah..." he muttered.

"Cool!" he exclaimed, looking around again.

"That's amazing, Anna!" he told her as they ascended.

"......" Lindsay was silent as Anna said what she did.

"Sorry." he apologized.

"I shouldn't have been so reckless." he said, hanging his head a bit.

"Do... do you want to rest for a bit?" he asked.

"Or keep going?" he asked further.

"I can carry you on my back if you want to keep moving." he then offered.

"................" Lindsay was silent, and sighed.

"Right." he said.

"Yeah... yeah, true..." he admitted, shaking his head slightly.

"And yeah, we need to find a town." he agreed.

"Odds are they'll have a couple of places where nobody's living." he reasoned, thinking about it.

"And depending on how active things are once the sun goes down, we might be able to stock ourselves quite well." he then added with a smaller sigh.

"Anyway, yeah... let's move." he finished, as he started to walk down the path, being more careful this time.

"Hm." Lindsay muttered.

"...question." he then said.

"What's the city really like?" he asked her.

"I mean, it's been described to me before, but... I... I've never been." he went on.

"Is it really as noisy and polluted and mean as I've been told?" he inquired.

"Because it sounds like an awful place."

"Well, that's good..." Lindsay replied.

"At least we'll be able to hide." he said further.

"I hope so, anyway." he then mumbled.

It was then that they heard a howl in the distance. This caused Lindsay to freeze up.

"What...?" he whispered.

"Was... was that a wolf?" he asked.

"Do you think we'll get... attacked by a wolf?"

"....oh yeah." Lindsay replied.

"Yeah, you could easily kill it." he said.

"Well... um, do you know where the closest city is?" he then asked.

"I mean, I'm not sure WHERE we are, exactly." he admitted.

"You'd know better than me. Any forest is like your playground."

"Hm." Lindsay mumbled.

"That's... fair." he said.

"I guess we just need to keep moving." he told her, as they heard another howl.

Lindsay just sighed again.

"If it attacks, it'll be dark before we reach the city." he muttered.

"But... it'd be nice to eat, I suppose." he went on.

"Where should we look first for a place to stay when we reach the city, anyway?" he then asked, changing the subject.

"In a very general sense. Like, any areas or whatever?"