Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Dying From Licks and Tickles

The group consisting of a human and more than fifty fluffy balls continued to walk through the forest.

Anom found various kinds of trees, some bearing fruit and some covered with fragrant and beautiful flowers. The path they took was not straight as the places they passed by were the ones where most of the fruit trees grew. Along the way, the little creatures climbed the trees and collected all kinds of fruits. Small fruits were carried in their mouths while three to four of them huddled together to carry each larger fruit. When Anom saw that, he stepped forward and collected more fruit in his bag. It was a simple cloth bag. It was given to him by Della and she had made it herself. Although it wasn’t very well made, Anom still considered it a cherished item as he thought about the blissful smile on Della’s face when she gave it to him.

He himself carried almost the same amount of fruit as they were all carrying together.

They continued forward in this manner for a few hours.

Rustle~!

Leaves of various trees moved as a small group of these fluffy creatures squeaked to greet them. The group with Anom squeaked back in reply and continued on their way.

‘They even have sentries! Looks like their home is nearby.’ Anom stared at the places where they were hidden as they also looked at the weird animal their friends had brought back.

They only had to walk for a few more minutes before they arrived at their destination.

There was a hundred-foot high hill in front of them. Near the hill was a small lake.

They kept walking and came in front of a crack that cut deep inside the hill. It was big enough to allow two people to walk side by side. Anom followed them inside the hole and just after a few meters, they arrived at the settlement where these little creatures lived.

There were many small caves, only about a foot wide in the mountain walls. There was also a cave high enough for a normal person to enter. It was also pretty wide, looking different from all the other small caves.

As soon as they stopped, the leader of the creatures squeaked. It was as if a fire alarm was triggered, all the creatures inside the caves came out as fast as possible.

Some of them were smaller than the ones in Anom’s group. Maybe they were children. Also, most of the creatures that came out of the cave had smaller legs and their tails were white at the bottom half.

According to Anom’s guess, the ones with small legs and white tails were probably females who stayed at home, taking care of the children. While the ones who were with him were all the “able-bodied men” who went out to hunt for food. Well, calling it “hunting” would be too far-fetched as he had only seen the group collecting fruit till now.

From within the crowd, two creatures came out, one male and one female. Although all of them looked the same to Anom, the female still looked different than all the others. Her sleek tail with the smooth white fur at the end looked beautiful. Her eyes also had a unique shine to them.

The male was almost the same as the others, the only difference being that he was the same as the leader with whom Anom went there. Although not as pronounced, he also had the same purple coloured hue on his fur. His black eyes also had a touch of purple to them, unlike the leader whose eyes were pure purple.

Both of them came in front of the leader and started squeaking at him. The female used her small paws to pat the leader on his head and licked his face to show her affection.

Anom guessed that they must be the leader’s parents.

The leader scuttled back as if embarrassed and squeaked at the crowd, then pointed at Anom with his paw. Sure enough, like what happened before, all the others who met Anom for the first time started clamouring. The male, who was probably the leader’s father, used his paw to pat the leader’s head. The leader was obviously very happy as he squeaked in a proud manner.

Anom was amused at this scene of cat-like creatures squeaking.

Suddenly, the leader’s father said something to the group as they made their way towards the largest cave.

Anom walked behind them as they entered the cave. This cave looked like it was naturally made. Maybe they made the small caves here due to the presence of this large cave.

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They walked for a few meters before arriving at a junction where the path forked into three. They entered the path in the middle and reached the end after a few minutes. The end of the cave was a lot broader than the entrance. In front of the cave wall was a small wooden box, placed on top of a square stone block. Inside the box was a black cloth on which rested a tree leaf. The small leaf was bright green in colour and it looked like it was plucked just recently. No, this leaf looked even better than the ones still on the trees.

Chi Chi… The leader squeaked while looking at Anom as he pointed his paw towards the box containing the leaf.

Anom thought for a second and took a step towards the box. But before he could move his arm to pick up the leaf, the leaf started floating by itself. It hovered above the box for a moment before making its way towards Anom. While Anom was still surprised, the leaf ended its short flight and landed on top of his head.

Anom turned to look at the leader with a look expecting an explanation, though he wouldn’t understand even if they told him. The crowd paid him no mind and started jumping while squeaking loudly.

Before Anom could make any sense of their behaviour, all except the old creatures in the group took a step back and jumped upon Anom.

Anom was stunned as he thought that these creatures were finally bored of eating fruit and were about to make jerky out of him.

Before he could decide upon how to react, he was pushed to the ground by the flood of black fluff-balls.

And as if they were of the same mind, they all started licking Anom.

Anom, who had been weak to tickling his whole life, felt like he was in a torture chamber. His voice sounded as if he was laughing and crying at the same time. The creatures took this as a sign of enjoyment as they included their nimble-tail in this tickle tackle. He felt like he could die of laughing right now. Anom would have preferred it if they had decided to eat him instead.

The creatures stopped after enjoying themselves enough, while Anom kept lying while taking deep breaths as he tried to suppress the horror he had just been through.

He stood up after resting there for a few more minutes and noticed that all of the creatures had already left. They left me here all alone after torturing me. What heartless creatures. Anom thought as he started walking back outside.

Anom had just taken a few steps when the team which brought him here entered the cave room. They brought Anom’s bag, still full of fruit, here with them. Some of them were carrying a mat made of dried grass. Although it was arranged roughly, it was enough for someone to sleep.

Anom understood that they wanted Anom to use this room for his rest. He took the grass mat from them and arranged it on the side. Then he took out a few fruits from the bag and gave the bag back to them.

“These are enough for me, take them back to everyone.” Anom told them.

As though they understood what he was saying, they let out a few squeaks before turning back to return.

Anom watched them go back as he moved towards the straw mat. He sat down and took a deep breath.

It was currently evening and the night was about to fall. Anom thought back to the events that happened from this morning till now and smiled. It really is an interesting world. Anom thought as he ate the fruit for dinner.

After he finished eating, Anom closed his eyes and began searching for that familiar warmth that he was missing already.

 

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