Detour into the woods

Kieran had never been one to fall into the gossip cycle. He'd rarely check social media and avoided paying attention to baseless rumors during his travels, instead focusing on the sounds of nature to nourish his music inspiration.

This was different.

No matter which town or city he visited, regardless of how populated or remote, there was palpable tension in the air. Sure, his song helped to nurse their tired souls a little, but it was more of a band-aid on a nasty wound. 

Not that he could blame them.

While he was fairly used to seeing gruesome sights the average Polteran wasn't, and with so many leaked pics of painfully real gore and anxiety over the implications, well, it was no surprise most of his recent orders were for medical and self defense equipment. 

He himself had upgraded his lance, making it more practical and flexible. With so many aberration attacks, it was best to be safe than sorry. If luck was on his side he'd find an aberration and kill it before it found it's target.

-I wonder how Velv is doing?- His boyfriend was the reason he was in the forest of the Shadia border despite all that was going on, there wasn't a more pressing time to provide support than now. Why was he there instead of with him then? 

A screech in the distance replied for him. When he was in the terminal of the bordering city he couldn't help but hear about a couple acting strange before fleeing into this very forest. He just wanted to have a clear mind before leaving, if they made it out safely that would be good but it didn't seem like luck was on their side either.

Following the sounds of struggle as best as he could he arrived to one half of the pair, below a fairly steep fall. Oh they really jumped to shake them off? If not for the fair whimpers coming from the bottom he would have assumed they died on impact, but maybe they did have some luck left on their side. 

From someone from Ilele making it down safely was bits play, the challenge came now that they came into view with the victim, it seemed like they tried to claw at the wall to lessen the fall so besides losing those claws and many cuts the fall didn't seem to have been that bad. Heck he might even go as far as saying they were relatively unharmed. If not for a missing chunk of tail that was rapidly bleeding alongside their horn. 

Kieran didn't lose time, he applied a tourniquet To the tail as best as he could and stuffed the hole in the horn to try and minimize the bleeding. As per the other missing bot… He hoped they were ok but he was already on carrying limit and they didn't seem to be nearby. 

Looking up he quickly realized going back the way he came wouldn't be possible, he was barely strong enough to carry them, but jumping up and climbing with them? Not happening.

At least he was familiar enough with the area to know a few alternative routes to the nearest town, or maybe not… The fastest route was probably not a good idea with an injured one, the forest there was too dense to properly maneuver with the extra volume. And he was hearing some borderline beastly noises on the other side.

After a few minutes he arrived to the next best option, a guardian outpost, and apparently that was the best call because he was immediately tackled by a sobbing mess of a bob. 

Well at least now he knew the other was ok. The guardian that was attending to their wounds quickly called for help for the other one while reprimanding the one with a now undone bandage. 

-They're just unconscious- He reassured them so that the guardian could take them off the other to continue with the first aid.

Killing the aberration too would have been better, but all things considered this was a good outcome. Oh what would Velv say once he shared this with him? He couldn't wait.