He sprinted all the way to Kael's house, but Aphy hadn't returned yet.
Since Rafayel didn't know the shortcut, he couldn't go looking for Aphy either.
He wandered back and forth in front of Kael's house, feeling completely lost.
Then, from somewhere far off, he heard a faint sound: "Whimper… whimper…"—some kind of animal's cry.
He didn't think it could possibly be Elia, of course, but decided that if he followed the sound, he might figure something out.
So, he headed toward the source of the whimpering.
He carefully parted the foliage of the forest as he moved forward and slowly made his way closer to the sound.
Eventually, he reached a spot where he could see through the leaves—and what he found made his breath catch.
There, caught in a hunting trap, was a massive bear.
It's huge!!
Rafayel almost cried out in shock but quickly slapped a hand over his mouth to stay silent.
