Adrianna ran for a long time through the forest, but she couldn't find any neotides. Exasperated, she trotted off and sat under a shady tree. She wondered how the others were doing. Was trapping a neotide the only criteria for the first stage, or there was more into it? She had to find one before tomorrow night.

She must have rested for only a few minutes when, all of a sudden, she heard a rustle of leaves; it was as though someone was passing by. She became alert and wondered if she should shape shift, but the noise soon died down and she relaxed a bit. Apart from attacking werewolves in the forest, the neotides also had a tendency to attack people on the highway that stretched through the west periphery of the jungle. Although she was tempted to run a bit further in her werewolf form to find the neotides, she quickly realized that there was a paucity of time. She had to take her chances, so she turned towards the highway.

​​

Once again, there was a noise and she suspected that it was the nearby animals running away from her werewolf form. She made a low howling sound and walked away. When she reached the highway, she shape shifted back into her human form and started walking along it. She must have walked for more than an hour but she still had no luck.

She noticed a few fellow students walking inside the forest, but she could only catch a quick glimpse of them. They had looked at her and started talking to each other while glancing at her before running away.

Adrianna shook her head. These days, all the students around her behaved strangely.

"They are unable to get out of the forest since there is a spell that defines the boundaries of the competition," Adrianna heard someone say.

Shocked, she looked around to find the informer, but there was no one.

"It is me, you moron. I don't fly. Look at the ground!"

Adrianna looked down and, to her surprise, she found a little hedgehog walking a few meters ahead of her. Despite its size, it spoke in such a patronizing tone that Adrianna couldn't help but laugh at its attitude.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"What do you mean? I have been living in this forest for so many years. This competition is usually held every year!" replied the hedgehog, feeling offended.

"Oh, ok, ok," Adrianna replied with a grin.

Night was falling fast. Suddenly, she saw a flare gun in the sky. When she saw it, her reflexes kicked in. One of the students might be in danger. She shape shifted and ran towards the direction of the signal, but as she neared it, she saw many other students crowded around the area as well. Quietly, she shape shifted back into a human again and joined them. She reached the small crowd that was gathered over there.

When she reached the small crowd that had gathered, she found a student who was standing towards the back and asked, "What happened?"

He pointed at the witch who was lying unconscious and said, "It seems she found the target, but was scared when it jumped on her. Instead of using her magic, she fainted. Her friend sent up the flare to save her. "

Adrianna was taken aback. She wondered that it's not just magic that was important in life.

Suddenly, a portal was created in front of them, and a professor walked in. He picked up the fainted witch and left. All the other students dispersed.

It was already night and the students had to find a place to sleep. Adrianna knew the ways of the forest. Soon, she found a suitable cave and went inside to sleep. She chuckled as she remembered her outing with Dmitri just after they married; what a beautiful time they had spent together. She found a rocky outcrop and stretched on it. A few minutes later, as the sleep was burdening her eyes, she heard some clatter. She saw that more students had come inside the cave. It seemed they had followed her. One of them lit a torch with their wand to find a comfortable spot to sleep.

"This is so ridiculous. Why can't we create a proper and luxurious room for ourselves to sleep in at night?" lamented one of them.

"Then what is the point of having this adventure in forest?" stated another one.

They continued to talk for some time before Adrianna interrupted. "You may want to turn off the torch otherwise it will attract wild animals."

They paid heed to her words and extinguished it.

---

In the morning when Adrianna woke up, she saw that none of the students were there. She rubbed her eyes, stretched her limbs, and came out of the cave. She screamed as she saw the scene outside. A wolf's stomach was sliced open and it was hanging from a pole. Adrianna covered her eyes as a shiver ran down her spine. She opened them again, hoping that she was seeing a nightmare, but it was still there. She looked around frantically to see if any other students were around, but there was no one.

Scared, she walked towards the wolf. It looked as though it had been freshly slayed as the blood was still oozing out. She moved closer to check whether it was a wolf or a neotide. She saw that the wolf was still alive. It looked at her with dull eyes.

"Healer!"