《A Journey With Gods and Monsters》


 Chapter 1: Party

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 1¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    "Cody! Hurry up man, we are going to be late!"


    "No, you are going to be late John. I wasn''t invited."


    John and I are headed to a party that he was invited to by a group of girls at school this morning. John always seemed to be popular with both girls and guys while I am just the child hood friend he keeps along probably out of pity. I''m not ungrateful to him though. It''s just after so many times of constantly getting overlooked because of a person right next to me, kind of wears on me after a while. At first I was excited the first few times John invited me in high school, and try to wear my best clothes to try and impress some girls at these parties. After it though I realized I was always going to be a side attraction compared to him, and I got less and less enthusiastic about the meet-ups and parties. The sad thing is, I can''t even blame people for completely overlooking me for him.He is the most athletic guy in our class, has jet black flowing hair, not a blemish of acne on his face, sky blue eyes, and a smile everyone swoons over. It was a stark contrast to my dirty brown curly hair, dark brown eyes, a clumsy body, and socially awkward personality. As we walked to the party, you could visibly see the difference in our personalities. With John, he had is chest out, head held high, and that ever charismatic grin on his face. While I, had a hood on, walked slowly, and an indifferent bored glare on my face. I really wasn¡¯t feeling this party, but I didn¡¯t want to come off as rude to John and completely reject his kindness. As we rounded the corner, you could see all the cars outside the house where the party was being held. Right before we got there though, John wrapped his massive arm around my head and shook it slightly. He snatched my hood off and joked, ¡°Come on man! You¡¯ll never get a girl looking like that. Lighten up, and have some fun alright! I know you¡¯ll get a girl this time!¡±


    I looked up at his priceless grin, and couldn¡¯t help but give an exasperated grin back as I told him, ¡°Sure¡­ tenth time¡¯s the charm.¡±


    We walked into the bustling array of lights and people, and all at once John was flocked. God, I hate this! It¡¯s like I don¡¯t even exist to these people because I don¡¯t fit their ideal man, or have the ideal personality traits. It feels like the only one that sees me for me is John, and he is helping the thoughts I have driven home even further by attracting all of these shallow people. I eventually made my way to the corner of the living room, and just sat down with a drink in hand. I watched as the show of lights, people, and sounds went on in my little silent cocoon. I could see small groups forming around the room, but all of them ignored me. I pulled out my phone and started looking on social media to see what was trending when a girl walked over and sat on my lap. I jumped from shock. She put her armed around me, and started running her finger down my face. She was a beauty with red hair, blue eyes, and a slender seductive body. I eventually stammered out, ¡°Hello? Do I know you?¡±


    ¡°Shut up,¡± She implored me, ¡°Just enjoy this.¡±


    She moved her hands all across my body while she laid her lips onto mine. I could feel the bulge in my pants growing as the situation continued to escalate. When she finally released her lips from mine, you could see a string of saliva between us. Breathing heavily, she grabbed my hoodie, and pulled me into an empty room in the house. What the hell is happening?! Is this how I lose my virginity? Will I lose it to a nameless beauty whose name I don¡¯t even know? She pushed me down on the twin sized bed in the room, and immediately went down on me, kissing me again. Again, the bulge in my pants grew bigger as I got more excited and worked up. I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling; however, that this isn¡¯t how I wanted my first time to go. Something about this situation didn¡¯t seem right to me. The Red-Headed Mistress stopped her sloppy kisses, and sat up while still sitting on my body. She then proceeded to start to undress. As she was taking her top off, I grabbed her arms, stopping her from her action. I looked up at her shocked eyes, and told her, ¡°Sorry for making you go this far and stopping you, but I really don¡¯t feel comfortable doing this. I mean, I don¡¯t even know your name or anything else about you. Don¡¯t you feel like this is pretty weird?¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Her look of shock on her face, slowly twisted to a look of disgust I am far too familiar with. She shoved her top down, and hurriedly got off of me. She seemed like a different person from what she was a minute ago. She started to walk off back through the door, but turned around and told me, ¡°You¡¯re so fucking weird, no wonder no one would hang out with you if you weren¡¯t friends with John. I was just doing this because John dared me to do it during truth and dare. Everyone thought you would gladly accept it like anyone else would because I¡¯m ME! Don¡¯t you realize I¡¯m the hottest girl here, and you reject me like THAT?! It doesn¡¯t matter. I knew you didn¡¯t have the balls to accept it, so I went along with the dare. You are honestly pathetic. Maybe John can finally notice me, now that I did such a huge favor for his friend. GOOD. BYE!¡±


    She left me there in the room, sitting on the bed in a void of loneliness. For some reason, I felt more alone now than ever. Should I have just accepted what that girl had to offer me? Outside the room I could hear the roar of laughter starting from what had to be the story that girl was telling about what just happened. This is so fucking stupid! Why is it, that since I don¡¯t want to have sex with a person, I met literally that night and no nothing about her, not even a name, that I am the weird one? I don¡¯t even know what John¡¯s aim for this was. Was he trying to help out and get me out there? Or was he just trying to make me look even worse in front of everyone since he knew I wouldn¡¯t go through with it? I could feel my face starting to burn with anger and embarrassment as I looked down, but just then the door started to creek. I looked up, and it was none other than John who entered the room. He sat down beside me on the bed, fingers crossed and head down like mine. I could still hear the people laughing in the other rooms, but John looked somber. Still looking down, he told me, ¡°Sorry Cody, I didn¡¯t think things would turn out this way. I just wanted to get you out there a bit, and give you some experience in the sexual field. This is all my fault.¡±


    I saw in his down-turned face, and his somber tone that he was sincere. I asked him, ¡°So how¡¯d you get away from that group of people?¡±


    ¡°I told them I was going to use the restroom.¡±


    I laughed a little bit. If they knew he was going in here then everyone would have followed him. I got up from the bed, and told him, ¡°I don¡¯t know about you, but I have had enough of this party. Want to go back home, or you still want to stay here for a bit?¡±


    He got up beside me, and gloomily and sarcastically said, ¡°Yeah, they weren¡¯t any pretty girls here anyway.¡±


    I bursted out laughing at his statement. If only that girl could hear what he said. We walked out of the bustling party, and down the rainy streets of town. We stopped at a bus stop, and waited for the bus to come, passing the time by talking about things we did when we were young. The bus finally came, and the bus driver waved to us as we entered. We barely paid attention to him, and waved back to him. We were the only ones on the bus, but we thought nothing of it. If we were paying attention though, we would have realized that the bus driver had hooves instead of legs and feet¡­


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 2: The Bus Ride

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 2¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    John and I sat down near the middle of the bus, and expected to leave right away since there wasn¡¯t anybody waiting with us. To our surprise someone else hopped onto the bus right when the doors were closing. It was that red-haired bitch from the party. What was she doing here? Wait, is she following John? I looked at John, and he was looking at her as well with a confused face. I leaned over and whispered him a question.


    ¡°Do you know who she is?¡±


    ¡°She is a friend from one of my classes. Her name is Giselle Howard. I didn¡¯t think she lived close enough to us to ride the same bus. This is probably going to get awkward.¡±


    You think? After what happened in that room and what she told me, this couldn¡¯t be any more awkward. To make the matters worse, she was making a beeline for us in our seats. She walked straight up to us and pointed her finger at John and told him a matter of factly, ¡°Just where do you think you were doing leaving the party so soon? Did you forget you still owe me a dare after that favor I did for you, and you will pay up!¡±


    Ohhh, so that was why she did what she did so easily. John promised her he¡¯d do anything for her basically. Sometimes John is too nice, it will get him in even worse trouble than this if he keeps this up. I looked at John, and he had a worried look on his face. He told her, ¡°Well, you really didn¡¯t complete the dare, so I don¡¯t have to do anything for you.¡±


    ¡°Wait just a Godd¡­¡±


    ¡°Well John, she was definitely going to.¡± I said, wanting just to see what would happen if I stirred the pot, ¡°I was the one that stopped her, but she was definitely going to do the dare completely. I think if someone wants to get in your pants that badly, why not do a dare for them if it¡¯s in reason? I never had a person want to get with me that badly, so I don¡¯t know exactly how these things go. I also think that she is a pretty shitty human being, but if she has gone to all this trouble why not just hear what she has to say then make a decision.¡±


    John looked at me with a thoughtful expression and smile as I looked at him with a slight grin. I love teasing John about his abundant love life options. This isn¡¯t the first time a girl has walked up to him asking to go out, or do something with him. I like to stir the pot sometimes to get a reaction from them sometimes, depending on what I already think of them. If I know they aren¡¯t a good human being, I make it seem like they have hope just so the rejection is even sweeter. If they seemed to be nice or okay before, I just stand by and mind my own business, contemplating where I went wrong in life. John never seems to date anyone, yet another aspect of love him and I are different on. He rather just has fun with anyone, while I just want a committed relationship with just one girl. I looked back at Giselle, and she seemed as confused as ever. John looked back at her and told her in an annoyed voice, ¡°Well what was the dare you have in mind?¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°It¡¯s not anything bad. My dare is just that you and I go on a single date together.¡±


    That response was unexpected. I thought she would have asked for sex or something. Just a date doesn¡¯t seem that bad at all. ¡°No.¡± John responded dryly.


    I looked at him with an eyebrow raised. I know he doesn¡¯t like to date anyone, but it is just a single date. Doesn¡¯t bother me though, that¡¯s what she gets for being so stuck up in the first place. Maybe it¡¯s better if they don¡¯t go on the date because John would verbally kill her if he knew what she was really like. Giselle looked confused and angry. As her face started to get red, she asked as her voice waivered, ¡°Why not? It¡¯s just a single date. That¡¯s all I ask in the dare. You don¡¯t have to enjoy it or anything.¡±


    So, this is a pouting girl huh? Never seen one before. John responded to her plea just as dryly as he said no, saying, ¡°I just don¡¯t want to, that is all.¡±


    Before she had a chance to respond, the bus jolted and started going forward. In all the commotion Giselle forgot about the bus moving, and didn¡¯t get in a seat. As a consequence, she fell forward between John and I. ¡°Well this looks familiar.¡± I retorted.


    ¡°Shut up.¡± She replied in an annoyed voice.


    John couldn¡¯t help but giggle at the situation. Giselle took a place in a seat, and we sat in silence for a couple of seconds that seemed like hours. All of a sudden, I felt really tired. I could feel my head getting heavy, and my eyelids drooping as the scenes outside got blurry. Before I knew it, I was out cold, sleeping on the bus.


    I woke up, and I could see that it was early morning from the light shining through the bus. I sat up right away, shocked that I slept the night on the bus. My foster parents are going to kill me. I looked around the bus, and I saw that John and Giselle are still asleep in silence. I stood up and decided to take a look around where we are at. I walked back through the bus, to see where the bus driver was at, and to my little surprise he wasn¡¯t. I noticed that the door was open though, and there was a slight smell of smoke travelling through the air. I walked out of the bus and into the cold damp morning air. I took a deep breath, and could automatically tell we weren¡¯t in the city anymore. The air was too fresh, and the breeze was too clean. Aside from the smoke, the air was the cleanest I have ever breathed in my life. I looked around my surroundings, and immediately understood where this air was coming from. All around me stood massive trees, and the colors on them were all more vibrant than usual. The Greens were greener, the browns were browner, and the flowers were explosive with color. I was walking around the bus in awe of the scenery around me, and I didn¡¯t realize I was subconsciously following the smell of the smoke. I turned the corner of the bus, and saw a band of¡­People? Some of them looked normal while others look different in some ways. Some had hooves, one eye, wings, and some just looked like animals. I got knocked on my ass from the shock. What was going on? ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re finally awake. I hope you had a good sleep. Sorry about that, drowsiness is usually a side effect when travelling the roots. You look a little pale, are you feeling okay?¡±


    A person with hooves stood up and asked me this like it was normal. I had my mouth wide open, trying to speak, but the only thing that came out was, ¡°Ho¡­Hoo¡­Hooves.¡±


    My introducer looked down at his feet, and bellowed out a mighty laugh that would put a normal person to shame. He looked back at me beaming, and said, ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re probably really shocked at this huh? Come near to the fire with us and I¡¯ll tell you what you are doing here. We got some grub ready to eat too, so you woke up at just the right time.¡±


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued ¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 3: A Fireside Chat

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 3¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    The hooved man walked and sat next to the large fire beside a white stag, and a cute silky black haired, blue eyed girl about my age. He motioned to the spot between him and the young girl for me to sit, and I hesitantly walked over and sat down. Everyone¡¯s eyes were on me, but when I looked back at their wandering eyes, they quickly turned away. There are about ten actual people around the fire, with about ten more animals. The only one that kept my gaze was my introducer and the girl beside me. The hooved creature looked at the burning flames in front of us and told me, ¡°I am sorry for my rude introduction, my name is Garen. You see, I brought all of you here, to the land of Gods and Monsters, because Zeus, the king of the Gods and of this land, is gravely sick and in need of a successor. Your friend in there is related by blood to him. Since he is related by blood to him, he has a direct claim to the throne of Zeus. Zeus¡¯s one wish before he dies is to hold a competition amongst all of his hears, to see which one is worthy enough for his throne. My deepest and sincerest apologies for bringing you and the girl here, but we were ordered to bring all of his successors to him as fast as possible.¡±


    ¡°So, you are telling me that John is the son of Zeus, the king of the gods?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡±


    ¡°Somehow that doesn¡¯t seem that surprising, he¡¯s so perfect. Will I have to go home, or can I stay here to see if John becomes king or not?¡±


    ¡°You see that¡¯s the thing. You can¡¯t go home for another 5 years. It takes a special type of magic to travel between worlds, and only a couple of people can do it. The couple of people who can travel between worlds, has already used up all of their magic reserves enchanting objects to travel between worlds to get Zeus¡¯s heirs to this world. It will take 5 years at least to gather enough magic again to take you back with the failed candidates.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°What!? I don¡¯t want to stay here for 5 years! And how many kids does this guy Zeus have to deplete all of these so-called magicians of their magic?¡±


    ¡°Around 250ish. Give or take a few.¡±


    ¡°What the fuck?! Did this guy not know how to wear a condom?¡±


    Everyone was staring at me now. Their icy glares were making me uncomfortable than I already was, and Garen leaned over and whispered to me once he saw my confused look saying, ¡°They don¡¯t like you talking about Lord Zeus like that.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really care. He isn¡¯t my king or lord, and I just found out that I¡¯m collateral damage because a dying king wants to finally meet all of the kids, he had by being an idiot. How do you even know that John is the son of Zeus? He has normal human strength and everything, so if he was the son of a so-called god wouldn¡¯t he have super strength or something?¡±


    ¡°Not necessarily, if the person hasn¡¯t awakened yet then he or she won¡¯t have any powers. A person is awakened when they go through an extremely stressful or traumatic event in their life, and we know that your friend, John, is one of his sons because of special type of magic tool.¡±


    Garen pulled out a compass from his satchel he carried on his side. He looked at it as he told me, ¡°These compasses all point to the person¡¯s children whose blood it bears. If you pour your blood on it, it will point to your kids. You really shouldn¡¯t talk about Lord Zeus like that either. He may not be your king or god, but he can make your 5 year stay here very uncomfortable.¡±


    I looked around the fire, and everyone was still staring daggers at me. I brushed them off. After years of being ignored and looked at the same way, I have kind of gotten used to these types of glares. I looked down at the grass and dirt I was sitting on, trying to take everything in. I asked, ¡°Do humans come here often?¡±


    I heard Garen rustle around a little uneasily, and he told me, ¡°No, you and that girl are actually the first ones I have seen. There was this other human though that came here about 1600 years ago. Humans weren¡¯t allowed to come here after that though.¡±


    I looked up and stared at him in curiosity. I asked Garen, ¡°Why, what happened to him?¡±


    ¡°No one really knows. Lord Zeus has kept quiet about it. We can only assume that it was really bad.¡±


    ¡°Then is it really okay for Giselle and I to be here? From what I¡¯m hearing, it won¡¯t matter if I talk shit about Zeus or not. I will probably have it hard here anyway because I¡¯m human.¡±


    Garen laughed and told me, ¡°No, no, no. He¡¯s very understanding, and I¡¯m sure he will be as kind to you as he is his own children.¡±


    I looked back at the glares the rest of the people were giving me. Somehow even if Zeus is nice to me, I feel like I¡¯m still going to have a tough time living here for the next 5 years.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 4: A Fireside Chat Part 2

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 4¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I looked away from the glares, and pointed my stare at the dancing fire. The fire¡¯s dance was enchanting. I asked Garen, ¡°Is there a difference between people with gods heritage and people with monster heritage in this land?¡±


    ¡°Yes, unfortunately.¡± Garen stated gloomily. ¡°People with monster heritage here are treated worse than people with god heritage. It¡¯s just like in your world. Monsters in your world are always the villains of stories, and the gods for the most part are always looked up to as being that humans worship. The same principle applies here to the hierarchy.¡±


    ¡°That seems pretty stupid to me. People like to dress up as monsters more than gods on Halloween anyway, so I don¡¯t know why the gods are acting so high and mighty for. Are there any gods here?¡±


    Garen kind of laughed a bit. I looked around, and nobody seemed to look like a god to me. Everybody had some kind of deformity about them, but the girl next to me seemed perfect though. Maybe she was a descendent of a god? Garen with a smirk on his face told me, ¡°No, no one here is descended from a god. They don¡¯t like to do dirty work. They send monsters like us to do that.¡±


    I scrunched up my face in disgust. I always had to do all the work in my foster family, and I believe a little dirty work never hurt anybody. I looked around at every icy glare and back at Garen, and I asked him, ¡°Doesn¡¯t that piss you guys off? You are basically their slaves.¡±


    Garen¡¯s stare became distant again looking at the fire. He said, ¡°Not really, this is the way it has always been, so it has just become normal here. Besides, the gods treat us well, we can¡¯t complain.¡±


    As confused as I was by this logic, I just shrugged it off. As a visitor, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s my place to try and single handedly change a culture then leave. I think my stay here will be even worse if I do that too. I attempted to change the subject and asked, ¡°So what all kind of monsters are you?¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Garen laughed, moved his hooves and said, ¡°Well I¡¯m obviously a fawn. The guy over there with the horse legs, Jerry, is descended from the centaurs. The girl with one eye next to him, Jelina, is descended from the cyclops. The three guys next with the bull¡¯s head are triplets¡ªChar, Khar, and Tsar¡ªthey are descended from the minotaur. The girl next to them with a body of a snake and the head and torso of a human, Sonya, is descended from a lamia. The girl beside her with half her hair being snakes, Serina, is descended from Medusa. The guy next to her with all the hair, Jimmy, is descended from a werewolf. The girl beside you with the jet, black hair and pale skin, Sasha, is descended from vampires. That should be all of us aside from the horses, birds, and other animals that can talk that are around here.¡±


    ¡°You seem to be a diverse group. Is there any reason that so many people are here to escort John, the demigod, back to wherever you guys came from?¡±


    ¡°Yes, My Lord Zeus is very particular about these matters, and he is very protective over his children. Besides, there are some people who wish to see his descendants dead too.¡±


    So, there are some monsters that don¡¯t like the way things are. I knew that if this was the way things were then there would be some people who wouldn¡¯t like the way things are ran here. I held my tongue at this though. I don¡¯t want to press any sensitive nerves while my life is basically in their hands. I looked back over at the bus where I came from, and turned back and asked Garen, ¡°How much longer will those two be asleep? It has been a while since I woke up, so shouldn¡¯t they get up soon?¡±


    ¡°Pretty soon probably. The magic has different effects on different people. It varies depending on several different things. Some people end up dying after they experience this. A couple of the unawakened children of Lord Zeus have already died from this.¡±


    I looked at him with a shocked face and exclaimed, ¡°I thought you said Zeus was protective over his children?!¡±


    ¡°Well, he has to get his children here somehow right? Besides, I checked all of your pulses before I got off the bus and all of you had a pulse, so that means you all survived right? Right, so you have nothing to worry about.¡±


    I¡¯m seriously starting to question this guy Zeus and his parenting skills. I asked Garen, ¡°Does Zeus not have a wife that he has kids with that he can make his heir, instead of doing all this competition stuff to decide it.¡±


    ¡°Well, he does, but no one really likes them. He is using this competition idea to make sure he can get the best candidate on the throne.¡±


    ¡°What is this competition about? Like, what is going on in the competition.¡±


    ¡°No one really knows yet. Lord Zeus will tell everyone once all of his children are gathered at his palace on Mount Olympus.¡±


    This really seems fishy now. If this competition is held here, won¡¯t his children with his wife¡ªbeing raised here¡ªhave an advantage over everyone else? They know the land, the people, and the patterns of the weather. It seems like this competition is skewed in their favor. While I was staring at the fire in thought, I heard a loud, ¡°CODY!!¡±


    I guess John is finally up. This is going to be a pain in the ass to explain to him. Hopefully Giselle can just keep quiet for the most part.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 5: A Brief History

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 5¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I called out to John saying, ¡°I¡¯m over here John! Don¡¯t freak out when you turn the corner!¡±


    I could hear John¡¯s running footsteps as he rushed around the corner of the bus. As he turned, he was asking, ¡°Why would I freak out? Did something happen to¡­you?¡±


    He paused at the sight of the scene in front of his eyes. Giselle, not far behind him, eyes grew wide, and she screamed at the sight. My introducer, Garen, got up with a sigh and walked over to them to do the same for them. While he was explaining everything to John and Giselle, who were freaking out, I just sat there, too tired mentally and physically to get up and join them. I sat there staring at the fire, listening to the noise the breeze made through the leaves of the green trees above us, and soaked in the new dramatically cleaner atmosphere of this world. I still had a lot of questions about this world, but since my talkative friend wasn¡¯t around to give them, I turned to the girl beside me, Sasha, and tried to start a conversation. I said to her, ¡°So you¡¯re a vampire huh? Does that mean you are like immortal and hate sunlight and garlic, or is that just a superstition of my world?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s rude to just ask questions about a person¡¯s race like that.¡± She told me flatly.


    Embarrassed I told her, ¡°My bad.¡±


    I guess that¡¯s one thing that doesn¡¯t change in this world from mine. She had a look of confusion on her face though, and she asked me, ¡°What do you mean your bad?¡±


    A knowing smile creeped onto my face. ¡°I guess they don¡¯t have the same figure of speeches we have in my world.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°It means I¡¯m sorry. Sorry I didn¡¯t clarify. I didn¡¯t think that people here wouldn¡¯t have the same figure of speeches as we do in my world.¡±


    Sasha¡¯s face loosened up a bit as she said, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s fine, I guess. Since you¡¯re new here, I¡¯ll let it slide this time, just don¡¯t do it in the future. Most creatures here have the same powers as they are said to have in your world, but some are more exaggerated and some are also downplayed. My weakness, for example, is a bit exaggerated. Sunlight just irritates my skin, and garlic gives me indigestion. Everything varies here. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to find some books on this kind of stuff where you are going. I¡¯m sure Lord Zeus will be good to you.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    ¡°Is Zeus really that amazing? Everyone here keeps complimenting him, but I don¡¯t see a reason why. Is he really thatgreat?¡±


    Everyone looked at me and said, ¡°Yes!¡±  all in unison.


    I was taken aback by this, and I turned around to see that Garen stopped talking and both he and the other two were looking over here too. I turned back around, and asked everyone one ¡°Why? What has he done for any of you? All I have heard is that how the gods make you do all the dirty work, they treat you worse than other gods and descendants of gods, so why do you guys support him so vehemently?¡±


    Jerry, of the centaur race, spoke up saying, ¡°You don¡¯t understand. Lord Zeus gave us everything.¡±


    One of the minotaurs spoke up after him, saying, ¡°Without Lord Zeus, we would still be in your world being persecuted.¡±


    Sonya, descending from the lamia, then said, ¡°We would all probably be extinct by now if Lord Zeus didn¡¯t bring us here. If working for Lord Zeus and the gods is the price, we have to pay then we¡¯ll gladly pay it.¡±


    Jimmy, of the werewolf clan, that told me, ¡°You humans are full of hate, and constantly hunted us. We may be stronger than you, but your people had way more numbers than us monsters. We all prayed for salvation, and Zeus gave us that. Even though some humans could access this world for a little while a long time ago, that many people couldn¡¯t destroy us all. This is our sanctuary.¡±


    While I can see where they are coming from, something just doesn¡¯t feel right. While I know some humans do hate and hate always, some naturally love everything. I think monsters, just like people of different races that were treated like slaves, would be eventually accepted by almost everyone as a part of society. They¡¯ll always be bigoted people in the world, but I think the majority would accept them. I then thought back to my experience of social life though, and how I was isolated because of my looks though and social skills. I then thought maybe that it was for the best they traveled here. I¡¯ll probably never know what would have happened if they stayed. Humans, emotions, and social relations are so complicated, it may be impossible to predict what would happen. All I could do was nod in agreement from my own experiences. I wondered though, why there are still stories of monsters like bigfoot in the modern day if every monster traveled here. I looked at them and asked them, ¡°Did every monster take Zeus¡¯s offer to come here? I hear stories about bigfoot and stuff all the time.¡±


    Sasha said in a kind of depressed tone, ¡°No sadly, they didn¡¯t believe Zeus when he offered them sanctuary. They thought it was too good to be true. Some also thought that they could handle themselves well enough off, and just rejected the offer. Those fools.¡±


    I brightened up and told them, ¡°Well you guys could have survived after all, if bigfoot is still alive and going strong.¡±


    Jeline, the cyclops, asked me, ¡°Are they though? Are they a part of your society, or are they ostracized? If they came here, they would have all of us to talk to. They also weren¡¯t the only race to stay behind. What happened to the rest?¡±


    I lowered my head and went silent in defeat. Maybe there wasn¡¯t any other way. Garen finally walked back to the fire, and told me, ¡°Sounds like you had some interesting conversations while I was away explaining a lot of the events to those two. Did you find answers? I hope so. Well everyone pack up and put out the fire. We are going to be heading back towards Mount Olympus now. We shouldn¡¯t make Lord Zeus wait any longer in his condition. I¡¯ll explain more things better on the way there. Let¡¯s head out.¡±


    Everyone got up immediately and started bustling around, leaving me there looking around. I watched as the lively, dancing fire was put out just like my thoughts about going home early. I got up and looked around, and hoped to myself, ¡°I really hope this Zeus guy is as good of a guy as they say he is.¡±


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued ¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 6: The Journey Begins

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 6¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I watched as everyone bustled about, and put food and resources onto the backs of the talking animals that were here. I looked over at John and Giselle, still standing at the spot where Garen was talking to them, and they looked shocked and in awe. I smiled knowingly and walked over to them. I stood beside John as we watched the bustling monsters run about. I said to him, ¡°It¡¯s pretty crazy isn¡¯t it? One minute you¡¯re a foster kid with everyone loving, the next you are a king¡¯s kid with no one knowing you though. Monsters, gods, I wonder if they have aliens too haha. At least the air is a lot cleaner and fresher here right?¡±


    John showed a smirk and let out a huff, but Giselle shot at angry glance at me. She scolded me saying, ¡°How can you be joking at a time like this? We are stuck here for five years!¡±


    I nonchalantly, and kind of cynically and spitefully, told her, ¡°Not everyone was loved back there Giselle. What would I be going back to? Besides, I wasn¡¯t even talking to you.¡±


    John put his hand on my shoulder and told me calmly, ¡°Hey chill out, she¡¯s just shocked is all. She does kind of deserve it though in your eyes. What were you guys talking about over by the campfire while Elle and I were getting the background from deer man there.¡±


    I explained to him what we were talking about, and he listened intently while Giselle sat down in the lush green grass. When I finished, John looked down and told me, ¡°You really need to let that thing that happened with that kid in middle school go. Everybody in a position of power isn¡¯t like him. Don¡¯t even try to tell me that you weren¡¯t thinking about that either, I know you were.¡±


    Maybe he was right? I wasn¡¯t directly thinking about that incident, but something like that may have affected my perception on people in positions of power. How can something like that not? I hate thinking about it though. I also think that there are a lot of other examples in history that get corrupt to. I still think something is up with this Zeus guy, but people are probably right maybe I¡¯m just paranoid about people using other people. I looked at the ashes of the fire and told him solemnly, ¡°Maybe your right.¡±


    Garen then ran over to us and told us, ¡°Come on let¡¯s start to head out. We need to get to the Fairy Forest before nightfall.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Fairy Forest?¡± I asked.


    Garen smiled as he said, ¡°Yeah you¡¯ll be amazed once you see it. It¡¯ll probably one of the most beautiful things you¡¯ll see in your life. Now let¡¯s hurry, it¡¯s already almost noon.¡±


    We headed out through the woods. We were shaded by the giant trees. They were at least double the size of the red woods I saw on a school trip earlier in the year. Some had normal brown bark while others had white bark. I even saw a couple that were covered in green moss. I was walking with John and Giselle and while I didn¡¯t feel comfortable around that ginger, I still felt more comfortable around John than anybody else. It was a silent and awkward walk for the most part, and eventually John turned to me and asked, ¡°Can you give me and Elle a minute? We need to talk about some things.¡±


    Confused, I told him, ¡°Uhh, sure. I have some more questions to ask Garen anyway.¡±


    When did Giselle suddenly become Elle to John, I wonder? I started to walk towards the front of the line where Garen was, and as I passed everybody on the way, they grew quiet and stared at me. This is getting annoying. I should probably man up and apologize to them about what I said about their Zeus. I¡¯ll do it when we are all gathered at the Fairy Forest tonight I suppose. I eventually caught up to Garen in the front. He looked at me and smiled as he asked, ¡°Decided to join me up front huh? I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t offer as much conversation about the trends in your world as them though.¡±


    I chuckled a bit, ¡°Trust me, there wasn¡¯t much conversating going on over there. It was extremely awkward. That girl and I aren¡¯t exactly the best of friends.¡±


    ¡°I know. I heard that conversation you guys were having on that bus before I fired up the magic again.¡±


    He heard that huh? I guess that¡¯s expected. We weren¡¯t exactly being quiet in there. I changed the subject and asked him, ¡°So how long is Mount Olympus from here?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s about a month away from here. We are at the southern end of Zeus¡¯s land, and Mount Olympus is at the northern tip of it. It could be worse though. Since Zeus¡¯s land is in like an oval shape, it would be really bad if we had to go from east to west.¡±


    A month¡¯s journey? This is going to be a killer. I asked him, ¡°Did you guys have to make the journey down here too?¡±


    ¡°Oh no, that would take way too much time. Zeus had a magician teleport us and our supplies here. He did the same with every other retrieval group too, so the transport magicians don¡¯t have enough magic to bring us back through teleportation.¡±


    They have teleportation magic too? Just what type of magic do they not have? All this talk of Zeus reminded me of apologizing though, and since I am already having a one on one conversation with him, I decided to just apologize to Garen right now. I told him with my head down, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for talking about Zeus like that. It seems like you all care a lot about him, and I shouldn¡¯t judge someone when I don¡¯t know him. I have trust issues with people in power dating back to when I was in middle school, so I hope you can understand. Can you also gather everyone else up when we get to the Fairy Forest? I¡¯d like to apologize to them too.¡±


    He laughed when I told him this. His merry outcry carried through the dense forest. He looked at me and said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. I understand why you thought that way. You aren¡¯t from here, so I don¡¯t expect you to understand everything right away. I¡¯ll gather everyone up in the Fairy Forest for you though, but you won¡¯t have to wait long for that meeting. The Fairy Forest is just over that hill.¡±


    I looked at him in disbelief. My curiosity ended taking control of my body, and I rushed up the hill. I then gazed upon the forest, and it really was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 7: Journey Through the Forest

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 7¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I gazed upon the forest in front of me. The dense trees that covered it made it to where there was a permanent darkness, but there was still light in the forest. I could see white light coming from white leaves, and little lights dancing all around the trees. It seemed everything had a glow on it actually. The plants had a light green hue, and the mushrooms and molds emanated their color. This forest was full of vibrant, yet soothing colors. If I couldn¡¯t tell that I was in another world before, I definitely could now. I looked back at Garen coming up the hill, and he had a knowing smile on his face. When he finally got to me, he asked me, ¡°It¡¯s amazing right? No matter how many times I come here, I can never get used to it. It¡¯s like I¡¯m seeing it for the first time all over again.¡±


    ¡°You weren¡¯t wrong when you said this place was beautiful. I never thought a place like this could exist anywhere. What are those lights that are glowing in the air?¡±


    He looked at what I was talking about, and observed some. He then started to walk down the hill into the forest, and he told me, ¡°Well some of them is just the natural air of the forest, but the ones that are darting places is the fairies.¡±


    As he walked forward, I stood there at the top of the hill admiring the surroundings. Some of the fairies even flew toward me and hovered in my face with a bewildered look on theirs. They probably never seen a human before. They didn¡¯t say anything, just looked and then flew away. I was mesmerized by them. They were elegant, cute creature. Like small humans, with pointed ears, and bug-like wings. They were all about the size of my hand. Eventually the others behind us caught up to me and before I knew it, Sasha was beside me. She smacked the back of my head with her hand and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go loud mouth. We can¡¯t just stand here the rest of the day. We still got several miles before we get to the Fairy Forest capital.¡±


    When she called me loud mouth, my fascination with the forest was quickly replaced by embarrassment from my comments earlier on during the day. As she ahead of me, I rushed forward to her side. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about my comments earlier.¡± I told her. ¡°It was ignorant for me to judge your leader and culture before I knew anything about it. Ever since an incident in middle school, I have had trust issues with people with power. I hope you can understand.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    She glanced at me over her shoulder and told me, ¡°It¡¯s whatever. What happened to you at this thing called middle school?¡±


    I was puzzled at first then I realized that they probably don¡¯t have a defined school system like we do in my world. I looked at her pale, graceful face and said, ¡°Oh yeah, you probably don¡¯t have middle school here. It¡¯s basically a place where you send kids to learn intermediate stuff. Not really easy but not really hard, and I really wouldn¡¯t like to talk about that incident. It¡¯s something personal, and I don¡¯t like to talk about it in general, sorry.¡±


    She seemed to shrug off the fact that I didn¡¯t tell her about the incident, and went straight into more questions about middle school. Her normally elegant and graceful demeanor changed into excited and giddy when she talked about my middle school. Her features seemed to brighten up too. She asked me excitedly, ¡°What did you learn in your school? How many subjects do you have? What was your favorite subject? Does middle school also have sports?¡±


    I was taken aback by her sudden change of character, and the amount of questions she asked at the same time. I stepped back a distance from Sasha¡¯s grasp on my arm, and told her, ¡°Well at my school, we had the subjects of English, Math, Science, Social Studies/History, Information Communication and Technology, Physical Education, Music, and Art. We also had the chance to do sports if we wanted to and did good in the tryouts for it. We had some clubs too, that we could join if we wanted to. Do you really like school or something? You seemed to get really excited once I mentioned it.¡±


    Sasha¡¯s brightened features dulled again, and she looked back off into the distance as she calmed down. She said, ¡°Well I think I would like it. I have always loved the stories my dad would tell me, but I could never read any new ones. Monsters don¡¯t have the right to school here. That¡¯s a privilege reserved for the gods.¡±


    I felt sympathy for Sasha when I heard this. People didn¡¯t really associate with me, so books were the only things I had to get out of the outside world. If I wasn¡¯t able to read¡­I may not be here right now. I looked at her downtrodden face, and I told her, ¡°Well I can teach you how to read and write if you want me to. At least I can in my language, you may not have the same language as we did in my world. At the very least I can teach you some basic math.¡±


    She looked at me with wide eyes, and she told me, ¡°No, No, you can¡¯t do that. If the gods find out that I am able to do any of that. There is no telling what they will do. I appreciate the sentiment, but I really can¡¯t. By the way, where are your friends? Shouldn¡¯t you be walking with them? They are your kind, well one of them is the other is your friend.¡±


    It was my turn to somehow look a little gloomy even in a beautiful place like this. I remembered the situation in which I was asked to leave them alone for a minute. I told Sasha, ¡°They needed some alone time. I don¡¯t really like the girl anyway, so I¡¯m fine with distance between her and I.¡±


    She nodded in understanding. Now that I looked at her real closely in the light, she seemed even prettier in the light shown by the forest than in the normal sunlight. She seemed to emanate a magical hue that could mesmerize even the most self-restrained man. All of a sudden I heard Garen from up ahead shout, ¡°Heads up guys! We are here!¡±


    I was wrapped up in Sasha¡¯s appearance, that I didn¡¯t notice my surroundings. I turned my head back forward, and what I saw was even more beautiful than the forest itself.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 8: The Grove

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 8¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I looked in awe at the scene before me. There were multiple trees in front of me that were about twenty yards in width. They all had crystals growing out of them that emitted a glow. They also had stairs, ladders, and rope bridges all across the trees. There were also small houses hanging from the limbs of the trees, and they also emitted a white-blue glow from them. The number of fairies here far exceeded the amount we have seen up until now. They flew everywhere around us with their glow. Sasha grabbed my shirt, and tugged me forward. She looked back at me and told me, ¡°Come on. If you think this is good then you need to see this.¡±


    She dragged me through the haven of trees and fairies, and then she finally stopped in front of a magnificent tree at least twice the size of the others in girth. There was one normal sized door in the center of the tree, and it had stairs going around it to the top of the trunk. At the top of the trunk there was a yellow light being emitted from it. I immediately was curious as to the cause of the yellow light being emitted from the tree. Sasha let go of my shirt, and we both stared at the portrait of light and nature in front of us. I was turning around looking at everything, just trying to imprint everything in my mind. Since we passed Garen when we rushed to the front to see this massive tree, he finally caught up to us in the grove. He told us, ¡°I guess you found where we are staying tonight huh? This also serves as the center of the fairy forest Cody. I¡¯m sure you are wondering what that yellow light is too, knowing your personality. That is the Fairy Sap. All of these trees have it, but this tree is the biggest source of it. The Fairy Sap is the main life source for the fairies. It¡¯s kind of like water to them. Without it, they would die. It doesn¡¯t benefit just fairies though. It can also give various benefits to a being, depending what species you are.¡±


    ¡°What kind of benefits does it give to humans?¡±


    I blurted out that question without thinking. There goes my curiosity getting the best of me again. Garen laughed, and Sasha had a slight smirk on her face. They must have seen my embarrassed look on my face as Garen told me, ¡°I don¡¯t really know to tell the truth. As far as I know, it hasn¡¯t been tried before. Fairies are really particular on who gets to bathe in some. Not even a lot of monsters or gods have bathed in it.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    I asked Garen out of curiosity, ¡°Does this mean that the fairies are pretty powerful? If they are able to dictate who gets to bathe in the Fairy Sap and keep it safe, they have to be pretty powerful right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, they are extremely powerful in magic. They usually like to keep to themselves though, and they don¡¯t help others a lot. They don¡¯t specialize in the spatial magic though, so Lord Zeus couldn¡¯t ask them to help with the search for his children. They are very good with psychological and elemental magic though.¡±


    I pondered this. It would make sense they have strong elemental magic. They are probably the monster that is most connected to nature that I know of. Remembering about the staying the night part, I asked Garen, ¡°Where are we going to be staying at again?¡±


    I looked around and the only thing I saw was the one door in the tree. Was that really going to be big enough to fit all of us? Garen pointed right at the door, and said, ¡°In there. Don¡¯t worry it¡¯ll fit all of us. Let¡¯s head on in there. The first ones in get to have first call on where they sleep.¡±


    Garen, Sasha, and I walked through the door, and the room was full of the yellow light from the sap. There was a green rug in the middle of the room and what seemed like a couch behind the rug. There were stairs to the right of the couch, and doors leading to bedrooms probably. I¡¯m impressed that there is a second floor honestly. It is certainly big enough, but I didn¡¯t think the fairies would need places like this. Do they have guests this often? I asked Garen, ¡°Do people visit the Fairy Forest often? I noticed a lot of ladders and bridges among the trees as I walked through them. The fairies wouldn¡¯t need those would they?¡±


    An unfamiliar voice spoke up instead of Garen¡¯s saying, ¡°Well, we need to use those bridges and ladders for the animals that help us carry resources from tree to tree, and there are also some fairies that hurt their wings. They use the ladders and bridges to travel too. This area here is specifically used to treat our guests. Don¡¯t worry, there should be plenty of room for everybody.¡±


    I looked at the person speaking, and it was a fairy. This fairy was different from the others I have seen though. She had a brighter glow and a glittery elegant dress compared to the other fairies who had more nature-based clothing but still elegant looking. She didn¡¯t fly around super-fast like the others. She flew rather slowly actually, and it just added to her elegance. She had blonde hair, orange eyes, and her skin was pearly white. ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked wide-eyed.


    ¡°I¡¯m Galathelful. You can just call me Gala.¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯m the leader of the fairies.¡±


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 9: The Missing People

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 9¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    She is the fairy leader? I guess it would make sense that a group of every species would have a leader, but the thought never crossed my mind until it was presented in front of me. I turned to Garen and asked in an annoyed and inquisitive tone, ¡°There¡¯s a fairy leader?¡±


    This was some pretty important information that didn¡¯t get to me. Garen chuckled to shrug off my gaze and told me, ¡°I must have forgot, sorry about that. Well, you know now I guess.¡±


    Sasha piped up saying, ¡°You sure seemed interested in her though. The way your eyes widen, people would think that you have seen an oracle.¡±


    Ignoring her comments about me eyeing Gala, I asked her, ¡°What¡¯s an oracle?¡±


    She rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh as she said, ¡°Never mind¡­¡±


    Gala and Garen started laughing at our interaction. ¡°Is this the child of Zeus you brought back with you? I don¡¯t sense any godly powers in him, but I do sense something in him, a lot of potential. It¡¯s weird. If I didn¡¯t sense that, I would think that he is a normal human.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what to make of what she said. Was it a compliment or an insult that she doesn¡¯t think I could possibly be a human? Garen spoke up, chuckling nervously, saying, ¡°He kind of is a human. We brought along two humans along with Lord Zeus¡¯s child here.¡±


    Gara¡¯s eyes widened. She flew over to me and looked me up and down. I was taken aback, and took a few steps backward. Eventually, she turned back to Garen and told him, ¡°I don¡¯t think Zeus will like this Garen. Besides, I didn¡¯t plan to have two extra guests here with you. I just planned to have enough rooms made for them. We were already rushed to make more rooms in the short notice Lord Zeus gave us of your arrival.¡±


    Garen stumbled on his words a bit. He started and stopped again at his attempts to talk. He looked at me and asked, ¡°Ummm you don¡¯t mind sleeping with someone do you?¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    I shrugged and told him, ¡°Depends on who with. I can probably just sleep with John, so I should be fine.¡±


    Just then, I could hear a bustling at the door. The rest of the group must have finally gotten to the door. They opened the door, and Jerry, the centaur, started to complain about how we finally got here. This was followed by everyone else agreeing with him until they saw that Gala was here. They immediately stopped talking and bowed their heads in respect to the leader of the fairies, who kindly repeated their head bow in appreciation. I leaned over to Sasha and asked her quietly, ¡°Is Gala a really important and powerful figure here or something?¡±


    ¡°Yes, she is. She is a the most powerful and oldest of all the fairies. It¡¯s said that she has been here since the monsters have moved to this land long ago. She is respected by everyone here, even the gods show some reverence to her accomplishments.¡± Sasha told me.


    I nodded my head in appreciation and understanding at what she told me. Gala really didn¡¯t show her age. She looked just as young as any other fairy I had seen today. As she was greeting everybody, I started to look around for John and Giselle. I didn¡¯t see them in the group around Gala, and they weren¡¯t by the door. Where were they? I walked over to Garen and asked, ¡°Hey, did you see John and Giselle walk in? I don¡¯t see them with the group right there.¡±


    Garen looked around in confusion. His movements getting more and more frantic the longer he looked. He went over to the big group around Gala and asked them, ¡°Guys have you seen John and Giselle? They were right behind you right?! They all looked around for them to no avail. I turned around and went for the door. I have to find my only friend in the world. He¡¯s done so much to try and help me out that I have to help him out. I am also really not comfortable staying here by myself, with no one I know from my world around. As I opened the door to go out, I felt a hand grab my arm. I turned around and saw Sasha standing there with her eyes glaring at me. She scolded me saying, ¡°What do you think yourdoing? We already have two people missing. We don¡¯t need another person to add on top of that. Do you even know your way around here?¡±


    My senses came to me then. I really didn¡¯t know my way around here at all. If I found them, I would be just as lost as them. I replied back with an unsure, ¡°Maybe¡­What do you suggest we do?¡±


    She turned to Garen and the others and told them, ¡°We should split into groups of two, and all go search in different directions. Gala can you tell some of the fairies to be on the lookout for two human looking beings and tell us if they find them?¡±


    Gala nodded her head in compliance and understanding. I thought that it would be the most logical and successful plan to go with, but I didn¡¯t really know who my partner would be. Even though I have talked with Garen and Sasha before, I still don¡¯t feel really comfortable with them. Maybe it is just my poor social skills showing? All those years of not talking and interacting with people are finally catching up to me. Garen started to split people into groups. I turned around and looked longingly at the door. I just want to get out there and help find my friend. Sasha grabbed my arm again and told me, ¡°You are with me. Don¡¯t worry I have really good eye sight in the dark, so your chances of spotting them are probably best with me around.¡±


    I nodded in thankfulness as everyone else got into their groups. I couldn¡¯t focus on anything but finding John right now. We walked out of the warm tree trunk, and into the enchanting grove of trees again. Sasha and I started to walk back the trail we walked to get here. I hope John and Giselle aren¡¯t that far off.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 10: An Attack

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 10¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    We walked through the forest of enchanting lights and fairies. I am thankful that I am partnered with someone I am familiar with, but at the same time it was as awkward as it would be as if we weren¡¯t acquainted. Sasha and I were both too focused on looking for John and Giselle to talk much at all which led to a painful air of awkwardness between us. I suddenly had an idea. Sasha was a vampire which meant, ¡°Hey, Sasha. Do you think you can transform into a bat and fly around to look for them? We could cover a lot more ground that way I think.¡±


    She looked at me with annoyance in her eyes and told me, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t assume monsters powers based off of what your world thinks they are. It¡¯s rude, but yes, I can transform into a bat. I can¡¯t transform in this forest though. The fairies won¡¯t allow anyone but the gods and themselves to fly in here. I would hate to be the one caught by the fairies disobeying their wishes. Sorry I can¡¯t do it, but I value my life.¡±


    I nodded in understanding and told her, ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m just trying to find every way possible to find them.¡±


    ¡°They seem to mean a lot to you. Were you all good friends in your world?¡± Sasha questioned me with her eyes hungry for information.


    My face scrunched up in disgust as the thought of being friends with that red-haired bitch crossed my mind, much less good friends. I corrected her saying, ¡°The girl and I are NOTfriends. I¡¯m only trying this hard because John has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. He has stuck with me through thick and thin, and he has also helped me in so many ways. I can¡¯t just not try my best to help him when he is in need.¡±


    Sasha moved her red eyes, scanning the landscape, as she said, ¡°I understand. I have also had people like that in my life. I had a friend that I would do anything for, and I also had a person who I absolutely despised. I just thought you all were fine with each other because you all walked together everywhere.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    I turned my focus from searching and turned my head toward Sasha in bewilderment. I wonder just how long she has been alive and how much she has seen? The light illuminating from the nature around us painted a light glow on Sasha¡¯s body. She had her jet-black hair tied in a simple three strand braid, and her pearly white skin glowed in the light. She looked beautiful. She caught my stare and asked annoyed, ¡°What?¡±


    Thinking of a way to save myself, I told her, ¡°Nothing, I was just thinking how this world may not be so different from mine after all.¡±


    She nodded and said, ¡°I guess every society is always going to have some similarities with others.¡±


    My muscles relaxed when I heard that she bought my excuse. Right now, I can barely have a regular conversation much less a conversation involving me staring at her. We continued our walk through the forest in search of the missing people when all of a sudden Sasha tackled me to the ground. We slid about 5 feet from where we landed on the ground, and before I could ask what was that for, I heard the thud of something large land on the ground. I looked up over Sasha¡¯s shoulder and saw what looked like a griffin. I heard about this kind of monster from a person in my history class who particularly liked ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology. Sasha rolled off of me and as she did the griffin opened it¡¯s mouth and let out an ear bursting screech. I writhed on the ground in pain from the screech as my hearing was knocked out for a couple of seconds. Sasha picked me off the ground from my shirt and screamed at me (though I could barely hear it from the griffin¡¯s screech), ¡°Go behind the tree beside us and stay there! I¡¯ll handle this okay?!¡±


    I did all I could to nod my head, and stumbled my way to the tree. I looked back at the griffin and Sasha, and I saw Sasha speed her way to the griffin. She went and punched the griffin in the side of the face, and I could feel the shockwave of the punch resonate in me and my surroundings. What the hell is going on? Sasha continued to hammer the griffin with punches, and the griffin reacted to the punches by moving away from the punches. The punches landed on the griffin, but from what I could tell, it wasn¡¯t affected at all by the barrage. Finally, the griffin made it¡¯s move. When Sasha went for another punch to the griffin¡¯s head, the griffin bit Sasha¡¯s arm and started to rag doll her. The griffin shook and shook it¡¯s head until finally, he let go of her and sent her flying. She slammed on the tree I was under, and fell down right beside me. Feeling a little better, I crawled to where she was and examined the extent of her injuries. She was out cold. I looked at her arm, and it was bleeding badly, and the bones were also shattered in it. I turned back toward the griffin, and I saw it¡¯s menacing body walk toward us slowly. It clearly realized it has won the battle, and now it is coming to claim it¡¯s prize. I was petrified. I don¡¯t want to die here. I closed my eyes just to somehow calm myself, and I reached out my arms to cover my face and body. All of a sudden, I could feel the energy in my body leave me, and I started to black out. Before my mind went out the world, I thought I could hear a faint shriek of the griffin. I then succumbed to the darkness¡­


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 11: The Aftermath

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 11¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I woke up in a bed. It felt like the softest bed I have ever slept in. I shut my eyes closed trying to get my aching head to stop spinning. My breathing was heavy, and my body was aching so much I couldn¡¯t move. I couldn¡¯t lift my body up from the bed, and I just sat there staring at the ceiling for a bit. I could see a slight yellow glow clinging to the ceiling. Am I back at the huge tree in the middle of the forest? I started to try and move again in the bed, and I managed to move my arms and legs a little bit. When I did, I felt my left-hand touch something cold next to me. Shocked, I jerked my hand back to my body. I turned my head toward the cold object I touched, and it was a body that was laid next to me. I immediately felt sick, thinking that it was a dead body because it was so cold. I got really spooked when the body moved. The arm that I touched went up to the body¡¯s head, rubbing the forehead. I heard a woman¡¯s voice call out asking, ¡°Uhhh, where am I?¡±


    I recognized the voice almost immediately as Sasha¡¯s. I called out to the voice to confirm it asking, ¡°Sasha is that you?¡±


    She turned her head, and I could notice her long, silk black hair even in the dark. Her red eyes looked at me and steadily got wider as she looked at me. I wondered why they would at first, but then I realized we were in the same bed together. I could feel my face getting redder in the dark. Sasha responded to my question saying, ¡°Who do you think I am? Why are we in the same bed?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just woke up a second ago. Can you move your body at all? Mine is aching all over.¡±


    Sasha looked back up at the ceiling and sighed. She told me, ¡°Unfortunately I can¡¯t. My body is aching all over too. How did we survive that?¡±


    I looked back up at the soothing yellow glow as well and told her, ¡°I have no idea. I went unconscious and the griffin was charging us. Maybe he decided to let us go?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°If all conflicts could be resolved that easily.¡±


    I lifted my head up as far as I could, and I saw Garen standing at the door. He walked in and sat at the foot of the bed. He looked at us and gave a guilty smile as he said, ¡°Sorry about the sleeping arrangements. Everyone else already had a room they wanted to be in, and we thought you guys wouldn¡¯t mind that much since you were both unconscious.¡±


    Sasha, not wanting to have any small talk, asked Garen, ¡°What happened to us when we were unconscious Garen?¡±


    Garen looked down with a shameful aura around him and told us, ¡°We don¡¯t really know. The fairies heard the noise and saw the battle, and they quickly reported it to Gala who told us about it. We all rushed to get there, and when we did, we saw you guys laying there unconscious with John and Giselle kneeling over you. A pile of ash was lying about five feet away from you. We assumed that John saved your lives.¡±


    ¡°So, you found him.¡± I said in a relieved tone.


    Sasha asked Garen, ¡°What are John¡¯s powers to be able to defeat that thing in one shot?¡±


    Garen shrugged and said, ¡°We don¡¯t really know. He didn¡¯t show us or talk about it afterwards. Him and the girl were quiet about the whole situation, even about how they wandered off away from the group. We will keep them surrounded for the rest of the journey to make sure they don¡¯t go off alone anywhere. Well, you two should get some more rest. We have to leave early tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Leave tomorrow morning? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to move for at least another week.¡± I retorted. My body felt horrible.


    Garen laughed as he said, ¡°Well that¡¯s to be expected. Gala used some pretty powerful magic to heal you. It drains your body of all energy, and you¡¯ll probably still feel a little sore from your injuries but nothing too bad. She said she wanted to see you two before we left tomorrow. I expect it¡¯s to ask about the incident you two had. What type of monster did you guys fight anyway? We could never tell by the pile of ash that was once it¡¯s body.¡±


    ¡°It was a griffin.¡± I said gravely. Just remembering it gave me the chills. The screech it made was the scariest part. God, the blood curdling screech it had! I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m not dead from that experience. Well, just add that to the list of things I owe John for now. I thought the griffin was so strong, but from what Garen saying it¡¯s like it wasn¡¯t even a fight between them. Was that the power of a god?


    When I said that it was a griffin, Garen¡¯s eyes went dead and distant. ¡°A griffin?¡± He said, almost to himself, ¡°He was a long way away from his home territory. What was he doing this far west? Could it be that he was after John, but then why would he come alone? Surely, he would have brought someone else to help him? Well, it¡¯s better to worry about that tomorrow. It¡¯s really late. You two get some sleep now.¡±


    ¡°Wait!¡± Sasha shouted at Garen, but it was too late. Garen had already left and shut the door behind him to go to his room. It was just the two of us left in the room staring at the dim yellow glow on the ceiling unable to move. Sasha ordered me in an annoyed voice, ¡°Stay on your side of the bed. If you touch me then I will make you have to have another healing session.¡±


    She went back to sleep, and I couldn¡¯t go back to sleep after that threat. It was a long night.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 12: A Conversation With Gala

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 12¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I got up in the morning as soon as I could move my body. I felt really uncomfortable sleeping there with her. It seemed that she could move her body before mine too, and her arms were constantly hitting me across the face. When I got up from the bed, I started to get a better look around the room. There were ledges carved out beside the bed used as a nightstand with a potted plant sitting on it. I moved slowly throughout the right side of the room because I didn¡¯t want to wake up Sasha, and I couldn¡¯t move because of my sore body. I walked along the wall on the right side of the room, and I found a door. I went into it, and it seemed to be a bathroom. There wasn¡¯t a toilet, but there was a carved-out bath made out of smooth wood. A bucket of water was standing right beside it. I assumed that it was the bath water. I looked up at the ceiling, and the glowing sap seemed to be brighter in here than in the bedroom. I took off my clothes and got into the tub and washed the water over my body. When I got done, I grabbed a towel hanging next to the bath, and I dried off. I was hesitant to put back on my dirty clothes, but in the end, I didn¡¯t have anything else to wear. When I walked out of the bathroom, I had the towel around my neck shirtless, and I had my pants on. Limping back into the room, I almost forgot that Sasha was in there. I felt a killer aura when I entered, and I looked up to find Sasha giving me the death stare with her red eyes in the dark. ¡°Is there any bath water left?¡± She asked very menacingly.


    Realizing there was only one bucket in the bathroom, I put on a guilty smile and said, ¡°Maybe there was one I didn¡¯t see?¡±


    The aura in the room got worse. Her eyes narrowed and she said sternly, ¡°You dumbass! This is why I didn¡¯t want a roommate!¡±


    Wanting to retort back to her that I didn¡¯t want one either, I thought better of it. I put the towel on the bed and quickly started to put on my shirt and sweatshirt. I hurried to the door as fast as I could in my condition and said, ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be going now! I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find some water to use!¡±


    I began to open the door in front of the bed to head out of the room, but I felt a hand grab my hood. I was stopped in my tracks. I was yanked back into the room onto the bed. I saw Sasha walk towards me saying, ¡°You¡¯re right I¡¯ll find some water. It¡¯ll be your tears.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    I was crawling backwards in the bed until I reached the very edge, and I was preparing to get hurt bad again when she eventually made her way to touching distance to me by crawling on the bed to me. Just then, Garen opened the door. He looked at us on the bed and grinned a bit. ¡°Well, I was coming to wake you guys up, but I see you are already awake. I¡¯m sorry, but we don¡¯t have time for that this morning.¡±


    Sasha immediately turned toward him and shouted, ¡°Wait, it¡¯s not what you think.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t care less about the misunderstanding though. I jumped off of the bed and ran towards Garen. I got there and gave him a hug as I told him, ¡°Thank you for showing up when you did. I would have died.¡±


    The expression on his face was full of confusion. The confusion soon turned to ignorance as he pointed out the door and too the left. He told us, ¡°Well Gala wants to see you two now. She is at the top of the tree where the great pool of sap is. When you get back, please tell me what the pool of sap looks like. I haven¡¯t seen it myself personally.¡±


    Before I had time to respond, Sasha was pulling me by my hoodie again as she said, ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with bath stealer.¡±


    She dragged me down the stairs into the main hall where we first met Gala last night. From there, I walked on my own. We walked up the stairs in single file because they weren¡¯t big enough for the two of us to walk side by side. She got to the top first, and she stopped. Not being able to see the sight, I pushed her forward saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go! I want to see it too!¡±


    When I finally pushed her out of the way, the sight I saw was amazing. The golden-yellow sap from the tree was amazing! Gala was floating in front of the magnificent pool, and she looked like she had an even brighter glow than she did last night. Gala motioned for our shocked bodies to come towards her and we happily obliged to get a closer look at the pool of glowing sap. She told us, ¡°I want to thank you for getting rid of that pesky griffin in our forest last night. I wonder what he was after though?¡±


    Wait, she knew that it was a griffin? I ripped my sight from the sap pool and towards Gala. I asked her, ¡°How do you know that it was a griffin? When Garen was asking us what happened he didn¡¯t know what monster it was.¡±


    She smiled. She told me, ¡°Well, it¡¯s my forest. You would be hard pressed to find anyone or anything that enters here without my knowing.¡±


    Sasha piped in, ¡°What about thanking us for getting rid of the griffin. We couldn¡¯t scratch the thing! It was John that stopped it with his godly powers.¡±


    Sasha showed a knowing smile. She said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t feel the normal god energy coming from him after gods use their powers. Since you two were the only ones there, I bestow the honor of my thanks upon you. Besides I sense something strange in you two. I will allow you two to bathe in the pool of sap for ten minutes.¡±


    I was shocked. Part of me didn¡¯t want to dirty the pure pool of sap. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have towels and a bathing clothes ready. Cody, I will need you to walk down the stairs while Sasha is changing though.¡±


    I nudged Sasha with my elbow and told her, ¡°Looks like you will get a bath after all.¡±


    She slapped the back of my head in response. I walked down the stairs and waited for Gala to call me back up. I wonder how the sap will feel on my body, and I wonder what she meant when she said she sensed something strange in me?


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 13: The Pool of Sap

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 13¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    After a while, Gala finally floated down the stairs and called me back up. I looked at Gala with a skeptical face and asked her, ¡°Do I not get any robes to wear like Sasha?¡±


    She glanced at me side-eyed, and she wore a sly smile as she said, ¡°Sorry, we don¡¯t really have people do this often, so we just have one robe. Besides, you can just use your underwear, right?¡±


    I felt a little disappointed. I really wanted a robe to remember the Fairy Forest by. I put my head down as I climbed back up the stairs to the enchanting pool of sap and mumbled, ¡°I guess¡­¡±


    As I walked up the stairs in a pouty manner, I could hear Gala let out a playful giggle behind me. I turned around and saw her holding one of her hands up to her mouth, covering up her smile, as she floated up behind me. My frustration immediately left when I saw her, and I continued up the stairs. When I finally got to the top of the stairs again, I saw that Sasha was already inside the pool of sap. Does this mean she is going to get more time than me in the pool? I hurriedly took my clothes off and ran into the sap with just my underwear. I want the full effects of the sap. I need all the help I can get out here with apparently things trying to kill us to get to John. The sap was thicker than water, but it was not hard to move in at the same time. The sap didn¡¯t stick to my body as well. Whenever I lifted my arm up out of it, the sap would fall down it just like it was water. It was indeed a weird substance. As I waded in the pool of sap, I could feel some sort of energy growing inside of me. It was refreshing. I looked at Sasha, and she had her head held high as she waded inside of it. The gold light of the sap bouncing off of her pearly white skin made her even more beautiful than she was with the natural light in the forest. I started to turn red when I realized she was just wearing some robes, but then I remembered the incident from this morning. A shiver went up my spine as I tried to forget it, and I asked Sasha, ¡°How are you feeling in here? I feel really refreshed.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°It¡¯s a weird feeling. I feel like my senses are peeking, and my body has become lighter. I feel like a fog has lifted from my eyes as well. It¡¯s hard to explain.¡±


    I turned back towards Gala who was floating there watching us. I asked her, ¡°I know that the sap has different benefits to different species, so what are the benefits going to be for us?¡±


    She smiled as she floated down and dipped her hand into the sap. She lifted it back out, and stared at the falling sap as she said, ¡°I don¡¯t really know. It¡¯s true that it usually gives different benefits to different species, but that isn¡¯t always the case. The sap really gives benefits based on the person¡¯s attributes. If a person has no muscle mass then they won¡¯t get ten times stronger. They will have a benefit elsewhere, like the mind or magic. Usually you can tell what benefit a person will get because every species has a certain attribute but there are exceptions to this rule though. I wouldn¡¯t know what you would get anyway Cody. We only had two humans bathe in here before, and they both got different benefits. It looks like Sasha is getting the normal vampire benefit though, of getting an increase physical-attributes. Maybe you can get an increase in mental ability since you aren¡¯t that muscular haha.¡±


    I took kind of offense to this. I looked down at my arms. I wasn¡¯t the swolest guy, but I wasn¡¯t skinny either. I like to think of myself as cut. I could hear Sasha laugh beside me, and I shot her a look which she kindly shot back to me but with her ruby eyes. I looked back at Gala and rubbed my head as I said, ¡°Well I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m getting any smarter.¡±


    Sasha retorted back, ¡°Well, even if you did, you probably would still be an idiot haha.¡±


    Gala laughed, which I didn¡¯t appreciate, and told us, ¡°Well, you two should get out now. The sap should have had enough time to do all that it¡¯s going to do now. The rest is going to be up to you in fine tuning yourselves to the best of your ability.¡±


    I reluctantly started to get out of the pool. I didn¡¯t want to leave it. The sensation that it gives me is the best feeling I have had in my life. The feeling of refreshness, energy, and life. I never want tot leave it. Sasha started to push me out though, and I eventually climbed out and put my clothes on. I glanced at Sasha putting back on her clothes over her robe, and Gala promptly hit me over the head for Sasha. ¡°That¡¯s not for you to see yet.¡±


    ¡°What does she mean by yet?¡± I thought to myself.


    Sasha asked what happened, and Gala, to my relief, told her it was nothing. We all traveled back down the stairs where the rest of the group was waiting for us, ready to go. We all shook the hand of Gala as she expressed words for us. When she got to me, I felt her put something in my hand, as she told me, ¡°I feel something more in you Cody. Will you come to achieve it I wonder?¡±


    Baffled at what she said, I looked down at my hand and saw a circular coin with a capital ¡°A¡± on it. After we had all said our goodbyes, we began to exit the Fairy Forest.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 14: The Journey to the Lake

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 14¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    After Gala went around to each of us, we headed out. I went over to John and Giselle to talk to them for the first time since yesterday morning. I walked next John, and I asked him, ¡°Sooo, you awakened your powers huh? What are your powers? They have to be pretty powerful to turn that griffin into ash, right?¡±


    John¡¯s face twisted into a guilty look, and he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. ¡°Yeah, about that,¡± He said, ¡°I haven¡¯t really awakened my powers yet. We were walking in the woods, and we saw you two laying on the ground with a pile of ash next you. I honestly didn¡¯t think anything about the ash at first and just thought that you and that vampire girl had sex haha.¡±


    I shivered at the thought of having sex with that scary woman. ¡°Never in a million years.¡± I told him. ¡°She¡¯s scary as hell. What were you two doing away from the group anyway?¡±


    Giselle piped up before John, saying, ¡°That isn¡¯t any of your business!¡±


    I looked over at her with squinted eyes and told her, ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking you, was I?¡±


    John put his hands in between Giselle and I and said, ¡°That¡¯s enough you two. We just got caught up in a conversation, Cody, and lost our way from the group.¡±


    ¡°How could you get lost in a conversation with her?¡± I thought to myself.


    Just then, one of the minataurs run up behind John and grabbed hold of him and yelled. I was shocked by this, but John was standing there smiling. I guess a lot happened in the few hours that I was out from the griffin. I noticed that he stared at me as he had a hold of John. I didn¡¯t see any malice in his eyes, but there was a curiosity in them. I could tell this situation was just going to get awkward for me. I still haven¡¯t apologized for my comments yesterday, and although his eyes don¡¯t have the same disgust as they did last time, I can tell I¡¯m probably going to end up feeling out of place again. I looked around for Garen, and he was walking near the front of the group with Sasha. I quickly escaped the soon to be awkward situation for me with the rest of the minataur brothers showing up, and I made my way to the front of the group beside Garen and Sasha. I walked up beside Garen, and he greeted me with a friendly smile. ¡°Where is our next stop going to be?¡± I asked him.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°It should be a place just outside the Fairy Forest. It¡¯s a lake that holds the ancestors of Nessie and some lake spirits. It should be a safe camp with them there for protection.¡±


    The lamia slithered up behind us and she came up beside me. I tried to hide my shock the best I could, but the half snake, half girl thing is still hard to get used to. I want to ask her so many questions about what it¡¯s like to have that body and what her powers are, but with Sasha right there to hit me if I say anything wrong, I didn¡¯t feel up to the task. Garen being his usual up-beat self, asked her, ¡°How are you doing Sonya?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m doing fine, Thanks.¡± She said with a smile, ¡°I was just wondering if we should be on the lookout for other monsters on the trail. Since we don¡¯t know if the griffin acted alone, we should stay alert right?¡±


    Garen responded, ¡°Yeah, I think so, but with John having his powers being awakened, I think we are safe from most attacks trying to kidnap him.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess. It¡¯s weird though how he won¡¯t say what his powers are. I would have thought he would be excited to show off his new found abilities.¡± She turned her attention towards Sasha and I and told us, ¡°You two are lucky that you survived that. If John didn¡¯t show up when you did, then you both wouldn¡¯t be here right now.¡±


    Remembering what John told me about him not awakening his powers, I lowered my head a bit and just responded with a solemn, ¡°Yeah, he always comes through for me.¡±


    First rule that John and I ever had with each other was to not snitch on the other one, and I¡¯m not about to break that rule here. A thought lingered in my mind though ever since I heard that he hasn¡¯t awakened his powers though. What happened to the griffin then? I felt a surge of energy deep inside me again as I was reminiscing on the events, and it brought my thoughts back to the beautiful pool of golden sap. I turned towards Sasha and asked her, ¡°Hey, are you still feeling the effects from the sap bath?¡±


    She turned her head from looking forwards to myself, and she squinted her red eyes, probably from my informal way of talking about the sap pool, and told me, ¡°Yeah, my body feels so much lighter now, and I can see ten times farther than I was able to before. I¡¯m still getting used to it. What about you?¡±


    I put my hands in my pockets and turned my head forward telling her, ¡°I don¡¯t really know. I feel different, but it¡¯s hard to explain. I feel like there is a wild and furious energy deep inside of me. It¡¯s weird.¡±


    Garen¡¯s eyes flickered when I said this, but before he could say anything, Sonya piped up asking, ¡°Oh yeah, you two were lucky enough to bathe in the Fairy¡¯s Sacred pool. I still don¡¯t know why you got too, and John didn¡¯t get the chance. What did it feel like?¡±


    Sasha answered the question saying, ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain. I think it varies for different people too, so there isn¡¯t one defined answer.¡±


    CRACK!!


    There was a loud noise that could be heard behind us. We all whirled around, and saw a little man with red hair standing there in a green suit and a grin on his face.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 15: The Leprechaun

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 15¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    The little man stood there with a huge, gleeful grin on his face, and he let out a hardy laugh when we finally saw him. Was he the cause of the boom that rang out through the forest? He spoke out with a deep Irish accent saying, ¡°Sorry ¡®bout the boom. I just wanted to see what yeh do hehehe. You should have seen your expressions! They were priceless!¡±


    I looked over at Garen, and his expression seemed to be more annoyed than scared. Sasha walked over and whispered to me, ¡°That there¡¯s a leprechaun. They aren¡¯t really a threat, but they are really annoying. They have really powerful magic, but they never really use it to harm people really bad, just cause a lot of inconviences for them. Let¡¯s hope that this one doesn¡¯t get attached to us.¡±


    Garen looked at the leprechaun with disdain in his eyes as he asked in an exasperated tone, ¡°What do you want?¡±


    The little man suddenly disappeared from the tree he was leaning on, and he reappeared on Garen¡¯s shoulder. He leaned up against Garen¡¯s head, and asked him, ¡°Awww, not even going to ask for me name first?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really care to.¡±


    ¡°Well, me name¡¯s Conor, and I just want to have some fun with yeh. I heard about a griffin over here, and I was bursting with excitement to see what it would do in the forest. Do yeh know where it is?¡±


    Garen moved his arm to shrug him off of his shoulder, but the leprechaun moved to the ground below him before he could touch him. Garen sighed and told him, ¡°Sorry to burst your bubble, but the griffin is dead. It died last night. You just missed it.¡±


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Garen turned around to start walking again, but Conor teleported quickly in front of him, and asked him, ¡°What do you mean he is dead? You don¡¯t just killa griffin. I don¡¯t think it could have gotten far enough in the forest to meet with the Fairy leader either, so what in the devil happened eh?¡±


    Garen shrugged his shoulders, and he pointed his thumb behind him. He told Conor, ¡°I don¡¯t know. You will have to ask the human back there. He is one of Lord Zeus¡¯s kids, and we are taking him to Mount Olympus. We walked up and found him standing over the ashes of the griffin¡¯s corpse. As you can see though, we are very busy, so can you please leave us alone.¡±


    Conor¡¯s eyes lit up when he heard that John killed the griffin. He teleported onto my shoulder though, and he said, ¡°I bet this one had something to do with the griffin too eh? That lady vampire seemed like she did too. Are you sure they weren¡¯t the ones to kill the griffin. The power emitting from them is immense.¡±


    I shrugged and told him, ¡°You are probably just sensing the power we got from bathing in the tree sap. We were unconscious when the griffin died. We both got our ass handed to us.¡±


    Sasha retorted back, ¡°At least Idid something to stave off the griffin.¡±


    Conor let out another loud and boisterous laugh and said, ¡°This is so interesting. I think I¡¯m going to follow yeh guys for a little bit just to see what is going to happen. Oh, I hope there will be so many funny and interesting things that will happen.¡±


    Garen¡¯s face turned pale when he heard that Conor will be travelling with us for a little bit. He turned quickly to him and told him, ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t have to stay here with us. I¡¯m sure there are a lot more interesting things and people out there besides us. We just have a boring walk ahead, so you can move on.¡±


    Conor put his hand up though to stop Garen, and he told him, ¡°Now now, I insist that I travel with yeh. I will go back there and talk to that human you were talking about being the son of Zeus. I bet he will be so much fun to play with hehehe.¡±


    And just like that, Conor disappeared again. I turned to Garen and asked him, ¡°Leprechauns can¡¯t be thatbad, can they? I mean, he just made a loud boom sound earlier to scare us. It wasn¡¯t thatbad.¡±


    Garen shook his head and told me, ¡°You have no idea what they are capable of. I wouldn¡¯t want one of those people within a two-hundred-mile radius of me. They cause nothing but trouble, and nothing but trouble follows them. Mark my words, that leprechaun is a bad omen to our trip.¡±


    ¡°Well, it can¡¯t make it worse for me. I mean, I already almost died once on this trip.¡± I retorted to him.


    Garen with a thousand-mile gaze told me, ¡°Oh it can.¡±


    Sonya chimed in, ¡°Come on Garen, maybe Cody is right? It doesn¡¯t hurt to look at things positively once in a while. My Grandad knew a leprechaun once, and he said that it wasn¡¯t that bad.¡±


    Garen didn¡¯t respond to this. He just continued his walk forward through the woods. I wonder if he has had any experiences with leprechauns before? It sure seems like it. I wonder what happened to make him so wary of leprechauns now? I mean, they can¡¯t be worse than a griffin can they?


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 16: The Phoenix

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 16¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I didn¡¯t see Conor again until the group stopped for lunch. We stopped for lunch at a grassy knoll just outside of the Fairy Forest. Even though I could see sunlight again outside of the Fairy Forest, I whole heartedly regretted leaving the forest. The top of the knoll overlooked the Fairy Forest and our path to our lake destination. I could see the fog from the lake from the top of the knoll, but my heart sunk when I thought about the long walk we had ahead of us to get there before night fall. A couple of the minotaur brothers dug up some of the grass on the hill, and they built a fire in the dirt spot they created. I sat next to Garen looking at the fire. Sasha sat down next to me which made me a little uncomfortable, but I managed to hide my awkwardness well enough to not be noticed. Sitting across from me, John and Giselle sat together looking at the flames with Conor standing on John¡¯s shoulder with a wide smile on his face. I moved my eyes from them, and I stared into the dancing orange and red flames. There was a certain peacefulness watching the dancing embers. The crackling of the fire, and the smell of the cooking meat made the mood and peacefulness of the scene very serene. I blocked out the conversations people were having around me, and I lost myself in thought and daydreams as I stared into the flames. The rhythmic and wild nature of them fascinated me. It seemed like the flames were almost begging to be free. All of a sudden, while I had my whole attention towards the flames, something began to happen to them. The flames were no longer wild in character. They became controlled, and they almost seemed to form a shape. I think I was the only one to notice the unnatural occurance while everyone else was in conversation. They flame seemed to fight it at first, but it was eventually conformed into the shape. A head of a bird seemed to form in the flames. My eyes grew wider as the form took shape in more detail, and as the bird grew a body and wings, people started to take notice of it. ¡°A Phoenix!¡± I heard Garen gasp.


    I ripped my eyes away from the scene and looked at Garen and asked, ¡°So a Phoenix is made of flames and not an actual bird?¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°It depends¡­Sometimes it is an actual bird, but if it is a spirit it¡¯s made out of flames. I have never seen a spirit Phoenix before. It looks beautiful¡­¡± Piped up Sasha.


    I turned my eyes back toward the spirit phoenix, and it was creating a massive wind surge from the flames it was giving off. The food we were cooking over the fire has been burnt to a crisp. Everyone stood in shock as the Phoenix formed it¡¯s full body. When it had formed it¡¯s legs, it spread out it¡¯s wings and dove straight at me. I could feel the heat emanating out of the flaming bird, and just when I thought I was going to get roasted, it vanished.


    I opened my eyes from bracing myself for the blow, and the Spirit Phoenix was gone. I looked around for it, as did everyone else, but I saw nothing. There was no evidence that the Phoenix was even there aside from the burnt out fire and burnt food. Out of the silence of the shocked group, a loud hardy laugh could be heard ringing out. Conor was out away from the fire, and he was laughing so hard he was rolling around on the ground. In between laughs, he managed to let out, ¡°Yeh¡­Should have¡­Seen yeh faces! HAHAHA!¡±


    Garen¡¯s look of awe from before quickly turned to disgust and disappointment when he heard Conor¡¯s words. Garen¡¯s eyes burned with fury as he exclaimed, ¡°Of course!¡±


    I didn¡¯t really mind the fact that he made the prank itself, but I was mad at the fact that he burned my food in the process. I went over to the food, and I touched them. The burnt food fell into ash as soon as my finger touched it. My heart sank as I watched the food fall to the ground in a pile of ash. Garen stood up from his seat and told everybody, ¡°Well, since the food is gone, let¡¯s start walking again. No sense in staying here for no reason. You can all blame the leprechaun for no lunch!¡±


    That remark was met with a lot of groans, and Sasha out groaned all of them saying, ¡°I¡¯m going to kill that wretched beast!¡±


    As she moved towards Conor, John stepped in front of her saying, ¡°Come on¡­ It¡¯s not thatbad. It could have been way worse. Let¡¯s just get ready and move on.¡±


    This made me admire John even more. I can¡¯t believe that he was able to stand up to Sasha when she was in that scary angry state. I don¡¯t know why exactly he would care enough to defend Conor though. It doesn¡¯t matter to me though. Even though I was looking forward to the meal, I¡¯m used to not eating a lot from my foster care days. I helped the others pack the things back up, and apologized to some while I did so. After we packed everything up, we started the long trek to the lake again. This is going to take forever¡­


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 17: The Leprechauns Prank

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 17¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    As we started the long walk to the lake, Conor teleported onto my shoulder from John¡¯s, and his weight shocked me. For being such a small person, Conor weighed a surprising amount. He put his arm on my head and leaned on me. He let out a lighthearted laugh and told me, ¡°Yeh should have seen yer face back there hehehe! Yeh too Garen! Yer eyes were wider than a pancake!¡±


    Garen didn¡¯t look back at all, and he responded to the verbal jab by letting out a sarcastic, ¡°Ha¡­Ha.¡±


    I could hear a little giggle come from Conor as he stood on my shoulder. Everyone else around me seemed to ignore him completely. I turned my head to look at him the best I could, and I asked him, ¡°Do leprechauns play pranks often?¡±


    He giggled and told me, ¡°Yep! Playing pranks is the best! The reactions yeh get to see from people are hilarious! Watch this!¡±


    Conor pointed his finger at Sasha, and he wiggled it back and forth. Sasha¡¯s body suddenly went stiff. I wondered what happened to her as she turned around stiffly and gave Conor a death stare with her ruby eyes. My whole body froze as I was struck with fear, but Conor began to giggle uncontrollably. I turned to him and asked him worriedly, ¡°Conor¡­What did you do?¡±


    ¡°Hehehe. Yeh¡¯ll see, yeh¡¯ll see¡­¡± He told to me.


    I took a few steps back away from Sasha, but she started to walk towards us. Conor¡¯s intense giggle morphed into a vehement laugh. Sasha¡¯s purposeful walk towards us escalated faster and faster, and she was eventually right beside us. I avoided eye contact with her at all cost, so I wouldn¡¯t freeze up with fear. This situation seemed eerily similar to the situation with the bath this morning. I tried to calm her down or deflect blame away from me by saying, ¡°Umm¡­What¡¯s wrong Sasha? You seem to be looking a little bit angry.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Sasha didn¡¯t say a word. All of a sudden Conor teleported of my shoulder, and as I was looking around to see where he went, I was sent flying through the air in a second. My jaw felt like it was on fire, and I easily flew ten feet from where I was standing. I eventually landed up against the tree, and my head was spinning. Did Sasha just hit me? I put my hand up to my jaw to feel it out, and I shook my head to try and get the stars to stop spinning around my head. Sasha was suddenly above me looking down on me with her hand out. ¡°Sorry.¡± She said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to hit you. I was trying to hit that little ginger menace on your shoulder.¡±


    I stumbled over my words in response to her saying, ¡°Ummm¡­Uhhhh¡­¡±


    I did so because I realized what prank Conor pulled on Sasha. When Sasha was bending over me, I had a clear view down her clothes. I could clearly see her bare breast. My face must have turned bright red, and she must have got the hint when I stumbled over my words. Her pale face turned an uncharacteristic bright red, and she used the hand that was held out to help me up to lay down another hit over my head. The stars that I had been trying to get rid of for the past minute suddenly got more intense, and the crown of my head was now burning along with my jaw. I could hear Sasha storm off as well as Conor¡¯s hysterical laugh in the background. He teleported back beside me and said, ¡°Hehehe¡­See, I told yeh pranks are hilarious! Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll set everything normal again.¡±


    Conor waved his little finger, and the stars disappeared from my head while my jaw and head stopped to hurt. I sat up straighter and took a bearing of my surroundings. It seems like I was in the back of the group now. I guess the rest of the group didn¡¯t care enough about me to even look at the spectacle that was happening right beside them. John was standing there beside Giselle with a sly grin on his face though. I stood up and dusted myself off. I looked at Conor and told him, ¡°I don¡¯t know if I like your pranks that much.¡±


    He laughed, and he did a hop, skip, and a jump onto John¡¯s shoulder. I guess it was John¡¯s turn to have the leprechaun mess with him, but they surprisingly got along quite well. They were both smiling, and it didn¡¯t seem that Conor was going to play any pranks anytime soon on John¡¯s shoulder. Giselle didn¡¯t seem to like the leprechaun¡¯s presence though. She had a continuous frown on her face as she walked with the two in the back of the large travel group. I guess being related to a god helps you get along with almost anybody. Not really wanting to talk anybody after that ¡°prank¡±, I stayed in the very back of the group away from everybody else. Not getting a lot of comfortable sleep along with not eating anything at all made me very easily annoyed at the moment. I went the rest of the way walking by myself. No one came to check on me, and no one bothered to make sure I knew the correct path to walk. This came to show its effects when we entered into the foggy land around the lake. When we got to the lake, there was a wall of fog surrounding the land around the lake. The look and thickness of the fog looked almost exactly like that in a horror movie. I still had a feeling of relief when I got there though. My feelings of relief from finally getting to the lake, quickly turned to panic when I realized that I couldn¡¯t see where anybody was. I really hope there isn¡¯t anything that can kill me easily in here.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 18: The Muddy Corridor

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 18¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    As soon as I had hoped that there wouldn¡¯t be anything that could kill me easily here, a huge reptilian monster loomed out of the fog towards me. It looked like the dinosaurs I saw on TV and coloring books as a kid. It had a super long neck, huge scales running along it¡¯s body, a tale behind it longer than even its neck, and its eyes were like polished rubies. Its huge body moved slowly but deliberately through the fog wall. I was like an ant compared to this creature¡¯s giant size. I looked up at it in horror of my inferiority. I seemed to be stuck where I stood in fear of the beast. This seemed to be way more powerful than the griffin that had tried to kill me just a day earlier. The aura around it didn¡¯t seem like it wanted to kill me, but it had a powerful aura that froze me in awe. I watched as it loomed closer and closer to my position, and I realized that it may not even know that I¡¯m here! I¡¯m so small and insignificant to it that it may just overlook me! As it walked toward me with its huge legs and feet, I came to the horrific realization that his humungous foot was headed right for my body. The foot was coming down closer and closer to my body, and I couldn¡¯t move! I was frozen! Right when I was about to be smushed by the enormous foot, I felt something slam into me. It rammed into me side, and I felt something slimy slap me across the face as well. I was sent flying into the muck of land surrounding the lake. I got covered with mud, and as I turned around to see what slammed into me, I could hear the giant foot hit the ground and splatter more mud on my back. I looked at the direction where I heard my saving grace fall, and I only saw a lizard like creature slither away in the mud and gunk.


    I got up slowly from the mud, still shaken from the near-death experience, and I looked around the dark, foggy, and muddy terrain I was in. I could still hear the huge dinosaur-like creature traversing the landscape, and I looked up into the dark-foggy sky for some sun light reaching down into this swamp like land. The thick fog made it impossible though. My body started to feel a little cold from the mud that was all over my body now, and I could feel a shiver travel through my body. I crossed my arms to keep some heat inside my body, and I continued my sluggish journey through the marsh. I stumbled and bumbled my way across the landscape, just trying my best to move in a straight line forward. ¡°The lake has to be around here somewhere!¡± I thought to myself, ¡°I can¡¯t be lost in this place forever. I mean, it¡¯s a huge lake. It has to be around here somewhere!¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Just as I thought this, I slid down a hole in the ground made lubricant from all the mud. I went down and down until I finally landed in a watery mud hole. I was at least one hundred feet down in the ground. I tried to climb back up out of the hole, but the walls of the hole were just too slick for me to get a good enough grip to climb out of the mud hole. I was stuck. The mud in the hole came up to my knees, and my body temperature was rapidly dropping. I looked around the hole to find some dry area inside of it, and I saw that the mud hole was more like a cave. The inside of the hole was much larger than I imagined it would be, and there was a long corridor with dry land going through the ground. I waded through the mud, and I made my way onto the dry land of the corridor. I got onto the dry land, and I laid there on my back for a while to gather my thoughts. ¡°Should I just stay here near the entrance of the hole in case anybody comes to find me, or should I travel down the corridor to see if I can find my way out?¡± I thought, ¡°No one is probably looking for me anyway. I¡¯m technically not even supposed to be here either.¡±


    I looked down the corridor again, and I thought to myself, ¡°Fuck it, I might as well.¡±


    I stood up off the ground, and I took one last look at the entrance of the hole to check if someone would be there to help me one last time then I left into the dark corridor. I walked down the corridor using my hands to feel my way down through the darkness. The further down I went the damper the air around me felt. The corridor seemed to be going down further and further instead of up and out of the hole, but I already travelled this far. I might as well see this out until the end. I travelled down the corridor for about ten minutes before I finally saw something in the darkness. As I was feeling my way through the darkness, I saw a faint white light in the distance. I picked up my pace, and I felt my way to the white light. As I got closer and closer, I realized that the light was being emitted from what looked like a fountain made out of the stone of the corridor. The corridor opened up into something like a room, and there was a woman standing by the lit fountain rubbing a sword. Being able to see now, I hesitantly walked towards the woman with the sword and asked, ¡°Hello?¡±


    She looked up from the sword, and she looked at me with intense, curious blue eyes. Who is she?


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 19: The Lady of the Lake

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 19¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    The woman wavy blonde hair and a flowy white dress. Her skin was almost as white as Sasha¡¯s, and her intense light blue eyes reminded me of the clear blue sky. She seemed to be a little taller than me (though I can¡¯t tell since she¡¯s sitting down), and the sword she had in her hands would probably come up to a little below my waist. She continued to stare at me intently, but for some reason I didn¡¯t feel threatened in any way. In fact, I felt calmed down a little. My muscles relaxed from being cold and sore, and I felt at ease in her presence. She had a warm aura on her, and instead of being frozen in fear or backing away, I found myself slowly walking toward her. She still hasn¡¯t said a word or responded to my call of hello in any way other than her intense glare. I asked her, ¡°What are you doing here? Did you get trapped here too?¡±


    I just wanted to get a response out of her, but she still just sat there staring at me. Eventually I made my way where I was about an inch away from her. My curiosity about her aura and her mysteriousness finally got the best of me, and I asked her, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    Finally, she responded to me, ¡°I suppose it¡¯s fine. You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago. You can call me Lady of the Lake. I protect and live in the foggy land around this lake. It is a source of great magical power that a lot of people want for themselves, but the power of the lake is meant for everybody. People can meditate and recuperate their strength here, and they don¡¯t need to be charged with anything. Many people over the years have tried to take this place for themselves, and many people have failed to take it. That being said, I ask you this. What are you doing here human?¡±


    Taken aback by what she said and her beautiful, airy voice, I was hesitant with my answer. I eventually told her, ¡°I umm¡­I¡¯m here with a group taking one of Zeus¡¯s sons to Mount Olympus. We were supposed to be staying here at the lake for tonight because it¡¯s supposed to be safe. I know the son very well. I was actually brought here because I was with him at the time. He¡¯s my best friend. Sometimes I feel like I don¡¯t even deserve his friendship because he¡¯s so much better than me in every single thing, but he still stays with me anyway. I really need to get back to them. Do you know any way to get back to the surface and to the lake¡¯s edge?¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    She gave me a puzzled look as she asked, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t they be looking for you right now? If you stayed by the entrance of the cave, I¡¯m sure they would find you eventually.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing.¡± I told her, ¡°I don¡¯t really know if they are or not. John would probably want to look for me, but the group probably wouldn¡¯t allow it because it¡¯s too dangerous for him. Apparently, there are a lot of people that want to see him and Zeus¡¯s sons dead, and the group probably wouldn¡¯t waste resources or put him in danger for someone that doesn¡¯t matter in the grand scheme of things. Is that hole in the ground the only way out of here?¡±


    She looked back down at her sword as she started to rub it again with a cloth, and she told me, ¡°Hmmm¡­There are other ways. Why do you want to go back to them so badly if they don¡¯t care much about you though?¡±


    I thought about it for a bit. She is right in a certain way though. Why would I go back to a place where I¡¯m not wanted by anybody except for one person? I then thought about John, and how he has done so many things for me in my life. He didn¡¯t have to do anything for me just because we grew up together, but he¡¯s been my best friend and looked out for me anyway. I nodded my head in understanding of my thoughts, and I told her, ¡°Because I feel like I need to be there for John. He¡¯s been there for me my entire life now I feel like I need to be there for him in this new world. Plus, I think this world is interesting in a way. I¡¯m curious about the dynamics of things, and I want to know about the people and creatures that live here even though I can die easily. I feel like the best way I can accomplish those things is to follow the escort group back to Mount Olympus.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll die as easily as you think you would.¡± She said, ¡°I sense a deeper power within you.¡±


    I heard the same thing from Gala at the Fairy Forest. I brushed it off though and told her, ¡°You are probably just sensing the extra energy and flexibility I got from bathing in the Fairy Forest¡¯s sap.¡±


    She abruptly stopped rubbing the sword and looked up at me, ¡°You bathed in the Fairy Forest¡¯s Sap? Gala let you do that?!¡± She asked.


    She seems really shocked by this. I know that people being allowed to bathe in the sap is rare, but I don¡¯t think it would be so rare that a protector of the lake would be this shocked. I told her, ¡°Yeah¡­Is it that rare?¡±


    ¡°Very¡­She usually let¡¯s only a couple of people bathe in it every hundred years.¡±


    My eyes widened when I heard this revelation. I didn¡¯t think it would be thatrare. The Lady of the Lake stood up for the first time since I arrived, and she started to walk off into the dark while putting the sword in its sheath on her side. She turned around and looked at me still standing next to the fountain. She asked me, ¡°Well, what are you doing still standing there for? You wanted out of the cave, didn¡¯t you? Follow me, and you will find your way back to your escort group.¡±


    I walked away from the fountain, and I followed her pearly body through the darkness.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 20: Escape From the Hole

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 20¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    Even though her body was almost luminescent in the darkness, I still used my hands to feel my way around the long, dark corridor of mud and rock. As we were walking down the corridor, I could hear the steady dripping of the water falling from the ceiling. The steady droplets caused a constant noise, so I couldn¡¯t hear small sounds like normally would. Small creatures crawling on the wall were now drowned out by the constant dripping noise. While we were walking down the corridor, I felt my hand suddenly touch a small slimy object. The object wiggled in my hand, and I felt a sharp pain shoot through my index finger. Did the creature just bite me?! I yanked my hand back from the wall, and I cradled it with the opposite hand. I could hear the frantic pitter patterof little feet mixed in with the water droplets falling down. I could feel my face turn pale and my blood run cold when I thought to myself, ¡°What if the thing that bit me was poisonous? Am I going to die in here after all?¡±


    The Lady of the Lake giggled at my reaction. She gazed her sky-blue eyes into mine, and she told me, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will be fine. I¡¯m sorry for my neglect. I assumed that you would be able to see in the dark considering your deep power inside you. Here, this should help.¡±


    She moved her hand towards my face, and before I could react, she touched her index finger on my forehead. All of a sudden, dozens of bright, vibrant colors flowed into my eyes. I looked around the cave, and while there was mud on the wall, it wasn¡¯t the normal dirt brown color that I am used to seeing. Instead, the mud was a vibrant purple, and there were light green crystals making up the roof of the corridor. My jaw dropped in shock of this revelation, and I looked all around me to take in the scenery. Was the whole land around the lake like this, and I just couldn¡¯t see it properly before because it was so dark and foggy? I looked back at The Lady of The Lake, and I asked her, ¡°Is all the land around the lake this colorful? Whyis it this colorful?¡±


    She didn¡¯t answer me, and she turned around and continued to walk forward through the corridor. I jogged a little to catch back up to her since I was left behind a little looking at my surroundings, and I asked her, ¡°Do you not talk a lot?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t really see other people enough to get into the habit of talking. I have gotten used to being alone, and I am just silent most of the time and observe things. It¡¯s nothing personal.¡± She explained in a calm, tranquil voice.


    Her comments brought me back to my life before I came to this world. She seems like she has the same social awkwardness I have because no one has really talked to her. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I told her in an upbeat tone, ¡°I don¡¯t exactly have the most social experience either. I mostly just copy what John has done in the past, and I ask myself what he would do in certain social situations. It seems to have done pretty well in this world so far in keeping up conversations. Maybe not so well in the picking up friends category though.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    After the comment I made, an awkward silence swept over the colorful corridor as we traveled out of it. The corridor got smaller and smaller as we went further and further into it, and instead of travelling up towards the surface, we are travelling further into the earth instead. Eventually, we were both crawling on our hands and knees down through the earth. It was hard for me to stay focused on my goal to get out of the cave instead of what was what in front of me when we were like this. Even though the Lady of the Lake is probably ten times older than me, I¡¯m still a guy, and my body was very much appreciating that big of an ass in front of me. It was really hard to keep track of my surroundings looking straight down, but I just followed her feet and hoped everything would be fine. ¡°Is everything alright back there?¡± She asked me.


    Did she sense what I was feeling? ¡°N-no. I¡¯m fine¡­Are we almost to the surface?¡±


    I could hear a giggle ahead of me, and she said, ¡°Relax¡­We are almost there. Just a few more hundred yards, and we will be free of this cave and off into the lake.¡±


    ¡°Wait¡­Intothe lake?¡± I asked, ¡°is the end of this tunnel going intothe lake?¡±


    She responded back with an enthusiastic, ¡°Yeah! Hope you are good swimmer!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, for sure¡­¡±


    I¡¯m really not that great of a swimmer. I was never properly taught how to swim, but I learned enough from some people John and I hung out with back in middle school. I really don¡¯t want to get wet anymore either. I¡¯m already freezing enough as it is from all this mud and guck on me. As we crawled further on into the corridor though, water began to seep into the ground, and we were soon crawling in water. ¡°Get ready for a drop into water!¡± She warned me.


    Next thing I know, she went straight down into the water. I was barely able to hold my breath before I got sucked down into the water too. It was a super strong current, and I couldn¡¯t do anything except flow with the current. It¡¯s treating me like a rag doll. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m in open water either. I¡¯m still in what looks like a corridor, but the current is just shooting me through it at high speeds. The vibrant colors of the walls and ceiling of the corridor started to hurt my head as I was tumbling through the current, and I eventually had to close my eyes to bear it. I only opened them when I had stopped moving from the current. I moved my arms and legs around, and I no longer felt any walls I opened my eyes again, and I saw that I was at the bottom of the lake. The bottom of the lake was just as vibrant in color as the inside of the corridor. The seaweed was a dark purple, and the grass was pink. The rocks on the lake bottom were a really dark brown. Strangely enough, I didn¡¯t see any sea creatures down here. I feel like this is what tripping on drugs would feel like. I couldn¡¯t take in the sight for long though because I started to run out of breath. I looked around for the Lady of the Lake, but I couldn¡¯t see her anywhere. I decided to swim up to the surface on my own. I started to swim as hard as I could. I flailed my arms and legs everywhere, and I wasn¡¯t really going anywhere fast. I wasn¡¯t going to make it. My lungs are already burning, and I¡¯m not even close to halfway to the surface yet. I could feel myself start to lose my consciousness when I suddenly felt my body was being carried by a strong current again. My body was felt like it had been flung to the left at an amazing speed. I felt like I¡¯m going to die in this lake, and the only solice I have in it is that I¡¯m not tumbling around like I did the corridor. Now I¡¯m just going straight across. I closed my eyes in acceptance of my fate, but just as I was about to lose consciousness, I could breathe again. I took a couple deep breaths to regain my oxygen supply in my lungs as I lay flat on my back staring up into the sky. What just happened? While I lay there, I could hear multiple voices talking around me. ¡°Wait¡­Sasha?¡±


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 21: Back at Camp

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 21 ¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I sat up off the ground, and I rubbed my eyes to get the water out of them. I looked around the now colorful marsh, and I saw a hulking creature laying to the right of me. It looked almost exactly like the dinosaur-like creature I saw earlier that almost crushed me, but this one had large fins for feet instead of the large legs. I looked up at her as my eyes grew wider. The creature moved his long neck down to me, and it gazed into my eyes. ¡°What are youstaring at?¡± She asked me.


    I looked down in submission, and I told her, ¡°Sorry, you look familiar to someone I saw earlier when I first entered the lake area.¡±


    ¡°Ahh¡­That was probably my cousin. Sorry if he was rude, he isn¡¯t the most perceptive fellow.¡±


    I let out an awkward laugh as I reminisced on my near-death experience of him crushing me. I was knocked out of the scary thought when someone punched me into the side of the humungous creature. I unstuck my face from the side of the creature and let out an annoyed, ¡°Ow¡­¡±


    I feel like it would¡¯ve hurt me a lot more when I first came to this land, but the sap bath I took helped me out a lot. The scales on the creature were a lot harder than I thought. I heard a voice cry out behind me saying, ¡°That¡¯s what you get! What were you thinking?! You just saw John and that red-haired girl get lost yesterday by staying behind the group, and you went and did the exact same thing they did today!¡±


    I turned around to see that it was Sasha speaking. Before she could finish what she was saying, that red-haired girl she was talking about piped up and said, ¡°My name is Giselle!¡±


    Sasha shot her a threatening glance with here red eyes, and Giselle quickly backed away in fear. Sasha commanded her, ¡°Shut up!¡±


    Sasha turned back toward me and said, ¡°If I hadn¡¯t asked Nessy to help look for you then you would have died! Jeez I didn¡¯t know humans could be so ignorant! How did you end up in the lake anyway?¡±


    I looked down, realizing that my story is probably unbelievable, and told her, ¡°It¡¯s a long story¡­¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Does this mean she was worried about me though? She actually tried to look for me? I wonder if the others were trying to look for me too? I didn¡¯t think that anybody would care enough to do that. Thinking about that, I was reminded of my time with the Lady of the Lake. I looked back at Nessy and asked her, ¡°Have you ever heard of the Lady of the Lake?¡±


    I was curious if she was well known around here. Since she said she hasn¡¯t talked to anybody in a long time, I wonder if the creatures around the lake know of her. Nessy gave me a confused look and said, ¡°Who is that?¡±


    This confirms that the Lady of the Lake stays hidden from other creatures of the lake. I wonder why? If she wanted to talk to someone, the creatures here seem to be nice enough. Garen made his way through the crowd of spectators around Nessy, and when he saw me, he said, ¡°Cody! What happened my friend? Why do have that sword strapped to your back?¡±


    ¡°Sword?¡± I asked out in confusion.


    What sword is Garen talking about? I reached behind to my back, and I felt a sword scabbard on my back. When did I get this on my back? Is it the same sword that the Lady of the Lake was cleaning back in the cave? Conor, the ginger leprechaun, teleported to my shoulder again to look at the blade. His weight suddenly on my shoulder almost made me lose my balance and fall, and he grabbed my hair to not fall off and told me, ¡°Woah there, lad! Keep your bearings on yeh!¡±


    I put my right hand on Nessy to keep from falling, and I annoyingly told him, ¡°No need to worry there,lad.¡±


    I¡¯m cold, wet, and tired, and I am easily agitated right now. ¡°Ohhh¡­Got some sass on yeh now, do yeh? Calm down, I¡¯m just lookin at yeh new tool. Hmm¡­It seems to have some magical power to it.¡±


    Garen walked over and waved at Conor¡ªwho teleported off of my shoulder. He said, ¡°Give the kid some space, will you? He has been lost in this dark and gloomy land for about five hours. He is probably tired, hungry, and freezing.¡±


    I was confused a little bit when he described the land as dark and gloomy, but I realized I¡¯m probably the only one that can see the true nature of this place. He was right about the tired, hungry, and freezing part though. I looked around the crowd of people around me for John, but I couldn¡¯t see him anywhere. I asked Garen, ¡°Where is John at?¡±


    Garen put his hand on my shoulder, and he told me, ¡°Don¡¯t worry he didn¡¯t get lost too. He is back at the campfire meditating to try and awaken his powers faster. Trust me, he was almost as worried as Sasha about your disappearance.¡±


    Sasha protested this remark saying, ¡°I was notthatworried.¡±


    Garen let out a lighthearted laugh, and he said, ¡°Okay, okay¡­Let¡¯s head back to the campfire to get this kid warm. You have a lot to tell us about your adventure by yourself.¡±


    We walked over to the campfire, and I saw John sitting next to it crossed-legged with one of the minotaur brothers next to him keeping an eye on him. John seemed unphased at the influx of people around the campfire. I hurriedly sat down at the camp fire to get warm. I put my hands so close to the fire that Garen told me, ¡°Careful, you¡¯ll burn yourself.¡±


    ¡°At this point, if I even feel anything it will be an improvement from my frozen hands.¡± I retorted.


    Sasha and Garen sat down on either side of me, and the rest of the group gathered around the campfire. ¡°So¡­What happened out there?¡± Sasha asked.


    I looked at her, and she seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. No one has ever really been interested in what I have had to say in my life except for John. People have always brushed me off. Then I looked around the campfire, and everyone seemed to be genuinely interested in what I had to say except for Giselle. Even Nessy followed us back to hear my story. I guess I should start to tell them my story¡­


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 22: A Vote of Confidence

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 22¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I sat in front of the fire, and I told my story of the past few hours. I told them how I got lost, how I met Nessy¡¯s cousin, the hole I fell into, the Lady of the Lake in the cave, how I can see everything clearly here, and my whole adventure to get out of the maze of corridors. It was eerily quiet after I finished my tale. Serina¡ªthe girl with snakes for hair descended from Medusa¡ªwas the first one to say something after I finished saying in a sarcastic tone, ¡°Sooo, you¡¯re saying that you can see everything clearly now because a mysterious woman touched your forehead?¡±


    ¡°Well, if you say it like that, it sounds crazy, but yeah, that¡¯s what happened.¡± I responded


    ¡°What does the area around us look like then?¡± She asked skeptically.


    I looked around at the surrounding area, and the colors were different from the underwater scenery. The surface foliage looks exactly what you would expect it to look like, but the colors are more vivid and fiery. ¡°Well¡­everything here just looks more vivid and fiery from their normal colors. There is a wall of trees surround the entire lake that seem to be a hundred feet away from the shore line, and I can see a small island in the middle of the lake that is emitting a small glow from it.¡±


    Selina¡¯s eyes widened as she listened to me, and everyone else seemed to be in awe. Nessy defused the awkwardness; however, when she said, ¡°Hahaha, it¡¯s fine everyone. He is just making that up about an island in the middle of the lake, and everyone here can see the tree line and the colors aren¡¯t vibrant at all.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± I exclaimed.


    There was clearly a small island in the middle of the lake. Everyone else seemed to loosen up and laugh it off, but Nessy seemed to be uneasy about the situation though. Why did she not want the others to know about the island in the middle of the lake? What is so special about the island? Conor seemed to give Nessy the side eye too at first, but he immediatley went back to joyfully laughing when the others started to laugh. When everyone quieted down, Garen said, ¡°That¡¯s not the important question to ask. The real question we should be asking is where he found that sword. That sword is of better quality than those forged even by the best blacksmiths in Mount Olympus. I assume that he got it from the mysterious lady, but from what we just learned about you not really being able to see and Nessy not knowing who this lady is. We really can¡¯t tell. Can you tell us the truth?¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I was taken aback by his cutting words. I didn¡¯t know that Garen could be so harsh with his words, but I understand why my story would seem unbelievable. The events that I experienced were fantastical even for this world. ¡°That is what happened as far as I remember¡­¡± I protested, ¡°I genuinely don¡¯t know where this sword came from though. I didn¡¯t feel anything attach to my back at any time. It¡¯s a mystery to me, and if the Lady of the Lake wasreal, I don¡¯t know if this is the sword she carried. She seemed to be protective of that sword. She also told me some interesting things about the lake itself, but from what you have told me, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s true or not.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­It could just be that your mind fabricated the whole situation to help cope with the fear you experienced being alone in that hole. It¡¯s still a fascinating story to tell, and you have a hell of a weapon now to be fair. It¡¯s better to have that than be an unarmed human here.¡± Garen reasoned.


    I don¡¯t know what about my story would be unbelievable to them though. Everything here just keeps getting more and more fantastical, so I would have thought that everyone here wouldn¡¯t be phased by these events. ¡°I believe him.¡± Sasha said aloud nonchalantly.


    Everyone was surprised by what she said, and even she didn¡¯t seem to believe she said it out loud. ¡°Well, I guess there is something to be said if Sasha believes you.¡± Garen said with a warm smile, ¡°She rarely trusts people, consider yourself to be blessed.¡±


    Sasha protested, ¡°It¡¯s nothing! I just have a gut feeling is all.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter now. We all need to get some sleep now. We have an early day tomorrow. We have to start heading across dwarven country. That¡¯s a lot of mountains and tunnels, so everyone rest up. We will take turns keeping an eye on John throughout the night. Sasha, would keep first watch?¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± Sasha hesitantly agreed.


    She got up and sat next to the meditating body of John. Everyone else got their blankets out, and they all laid down in the spots where they sat next to the fire. I didn¡¯t have a blanket, so I just curled up in with my sweatshirt and laid my head down on a tuff of grass. This is so much more uncomfortable than the bed in the Fairy Forest. I could hear Garen behind me getting comfortable with his blanket, and I could also hear the small conversations going on between everybody else. Garen whispered behind me, ¡°She was the onlyone who was wanting to find you, you know? I kept trying to tell her that you were probably dead by now, but she wouldn¡¯t have it. I¡¯m glad that I was wrong.¡±


    ¡°Sasha was looking for me?¡± I thought.


    I never thought that anybody other than John would want to look for me. She probably just wanted to find me, so I could teach her things about math and some of my language. She did have a fascination of learning after all. Just when I was about to fall asleep, I heard a loud screech come from the forest around the lake. My blood went cold. Was it another griffin?


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 23: Battle for the Lake

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 23¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I whirled my head behind me and looked into the depths of the forest. I heard the steady, monotonous, sound of a crunch¡­crunch¡­crunch emitting from the forest. By this time, everyone else is standing up on alert. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± I heard Garen call out to the sounds.


    No answer came¡­


    As the ominous sounds steadily grew nearer, I peered harder into the darkness. The fog, ever since the Lady of the Lake touched me, is now seemingly nonexistent. The vivid colors were dulled by the night, but they were still distinct in their nature. I felt an uneasiness spread throughout our party, for the steady crunch was maddening. I was a little relieved; however, because at least now I know it isn¡¯t a griffin.


    After about five minutes of hearing the crunch, the sound suddenly stopped, but I could finally get a glimpse of what we are dealing with. I saw shadowy humanoid heads with glowing red eyes looking at us through the vibrant foliage. What kind of creature are they? I turned to Garen and asked, ¡°What is that out there?¡±


    Puzzled, Garen asked, ¡°What do you mean? I only see fog.¡±


    ¡°You mean you don¡¯t see those humanoid heads out there with glowing red eyes? They are lined up just past the tree line seemingly staring at us.¡±


    I know that I have better vision than them, but I thought they would be able to see things just past the tree line. Garen grabbed my shoulders suddenly, and he glared into my eyes with horror. I could feel the others shift and unsheathe their weapons in uneasiness. ¡°What did you say!?¡± Garen asked in a scared tone.


    I stared back at him in confusion, and I told him, ¡°There are just things with human-like heads with glowing red eyes standing in a line past the tree line. I can¡¯t see their bodies though.¡±


    Garen quickly turned to Nessy and asked her, ¡°Do you see anything like that?¡±


    Nessy sighed for some reason and exasperatedly said, ¡°Yes, I do¡­¡±


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    Garen hurriedly turned around to our party and shouted out, ¡°Everyone hurry into the water! We will be safe there since they can¡¯t swim! Char, get John and carry him on your back into the lake! Hurry up, we need to get in there before they receive their orders!¡±


    Everyone hustled toward the lake, and as we were running to into the lake, I shouted out to Garen and asked, ¡°What do you mean ¡®they¡¯? What are they?¡±


    He shouted back as we were running to the lake, ¡°They are Golem Warriors summoned here by a Terran. You can¡¯t kill the Golems unless you destroy the core in the center of them or the Terran that summoned them. They are extremely dangerous since their core is buried deep inside of them and can¡¯t be reached by a normal blade. Only gods and powerful monsters can defeat them with ease. Our only hope is the water where they can¡¯t enter, or they will melt back into the mud they are made from.¡±


    Just as we were about to enter into the lake, Nessy moved and blocked the way. Garen looked up at the hulking creature and asked in a frightened voice, ¡°What are you doing?! Get out of the way!!¡±


    She closed her eyes and looked down in guilt as she said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry my friend, but I can¡¯t do that. I have been promised things that the gods would never allow. My family could have this lake all for themselves if I do this. My family will no longer have to share the magic life source of this place with anyoneagain. Please hand over Zeus¡¯s child quietly, and no harm will come to you or any of your allies.¡±


    Nessy was working with the resistance this whole time? Was that why she was acting so weird about the island in the middle of the lake? I turned to Garen, and he looked dumbfounded. He said in a disappointed tone, ¡°You know I can¡¯t do that Nessy¡­¡±


    Nessy looked back at Garen with new resolve in her eyes as she spat, ¡°Then you leave me no choice¡­¡±


    Nessy straightened her long neck, and she raised her head into the sky and let out a long cry. It was long, monotonous, ominous, and sent a shiver down my spine. The whole party froze in awe and shock as the cry cut through the silence of the lake¡¯s land. When her cry ended, I heard another similar distinct cry come from the woods. Then another¡­And another¡­And another! There were about ten cries throughout the lake, and after the cries finished, the screech from earlier rose out and the crunches started again. The sense of uneasiness in our party grew to a sense of fear as the crunching sounds got closer to us. Garen quickly turned around and shouted, ¡°Khar, Tsar, and Jerry, I need you to hold off those Golems as best as you can for a little bit! If it gets too dangerous call for backup! Everyone else try to get Nessy down!¡±


    Conor had begun to laugh hysterically at the situation. He probably thinks all of this is hilarious since he can just teleport out at any time. All of a sudden, another creature that looked just like Nessy rose out of the water right next to her and looked down at us. This made an already bad situation worse. Sasha jumped up in a flash next to Nessy, and she made two powerful slashes with her knives on Nessy¡¯s neck before she came down. I looked at where she struck, and there was nothing there, not even a mark. Nessy looked down at her and roared. The roar shook the ground, and I began to feel like I did with the griffin. The crippling fear, the sense of death being eminent¡­It was suffocating. I heard the clashing of metal behind me, and when I turned, I saw that the battle between Golems and Khar, Tsar, and Jerry had started. The minotaur brothers swung their huge axes into the bodies of the Golems and shattered the bodies of them instantly, but the Golems put themselves back together and rose back off the ground. I now could see the faces of the Golems clearly. Their faces looked exactly like a human skeleton skull, but their bodies were built like a normal muscular man aside from their hands. Their fingers were like daggers primed to kill.


    I heard more yelling, and the rest of the party started to attack Nessy and the creature beside her, even Garen joined the fray. I was stuck in the middle of the two battles with John on the ground and Giselle standing beside him, and the noise of the battles grew louder. More Golems began to march out of the woods along with Nessy¡¯s family rising out of the lake and the marshy woods. This isn¡¯t looking good¡­


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 24: Fighting Back

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 24¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    The sound of the ongoing battle got louder and louder, a headache started to form inside of me. Is it because of the stress and fear of the battle, or is it because of just the sheer noise of it? The screaming and clanging of metal from everyone are one of the loudest and most terrifying things I have heard in my life.


    I covered my ears to try and reduce the noise, and I looked to my side to see Giselle cowering in fear next to an unconscious John. It was a stark contrast to Sasha, Garen, and the others laying their lives on the line to save us, or even Conor standing off on the side laughing hysterically and eating some snacks.


    Deep down, I wish I could do more to help out the effort to save us. I feel completely hopeless right now. Tsar, Khar, and Jerry were slashing away at the waves of Golems flooding in our direction, trying to stave off the inevitable, and the others were fighting Nessy and her family member in a heated battle.


    Nessy and her familiar fought back by swinging their necks and tails and just blocking the way. They weren¡¯t doing that much damage, but they weren¡¯t being budged either. They are basically a glorified wall. Try to go around them, and they will whip you back in with their tail. Try to go through them, and they won¡¯t budge or feel a thing because of their scales. The minotaur brothers and centaur were finally being beaten back a little by the overwhelming numbers of Golems and Nessy¡¯s relatives now entering the battle, and I noticed a reawakened intensity among those fighting Nessy.


    They seemed to attack with a newfound strength and intensity. Jimmy, the werewolf, went to help Tsar, Khar, and Jerry hold off the Golems and creatures for a little while longer, and Garen seemed to back off the fight against Nessy for a little bit while the rest of the party intensified their attack. Garen just sat there, legs crossed and eyes closed, as the battle waged on even harder.


    After about one minute, Garen opened his eyes. His eyes were different than usual. His pupils were slits instead of the normal circles. His aura around him changed from a cheerful welcoming person to chilling, cold, murderous feeling. He pulled his sword back out and stared daggers at Nessy. Nessy, who was confident and calm earlier, is now more frantic in her motions as her eyes grew wider when she saw Garen.


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    ¡°What happened?¡± I found myself saying in awe of Garen¡¯s transformation.


    I felt a huge build-up of pressure as Garen squatted down, in a ready-to-launch stance, and gripped his sword tightly. Then with a loud boom, he launched himself at Nessy, shaking the ground when he jumped.


    He launched at Nessy with amazing speed, and my eyes could barely keep up with him. When he launched, everyone who was attacking Nessy¡¯s group at the time backed their attack off and watched Garen.


    When Garen got near to Nessy, he swung his sword so hard that it created a great backwind coming off of the scales of Nessy. The swing caused me to fall on my ass it was so powerful, and it created a loud KABOOM when it struck.


    Before I knew it Garen landed back on the ground before me, ready for another strike, but his strike didn¡¯t seem to do anything to Nessy, only make her angry. No, I caught a glimpse of a shiny red liquid dripping from the part of the neck he slashed at. He cut her! It wasn¡¯t large, but this is the first damage that has actually been dealt to one of the dinosaur-like creatures.


    Garen then went on an onslaught of attacks against Nessy causing the ground to start to shake from the power of the attacks. ¡°Where the hell did this amount of power come from?¡± I wondered.


    Nessy did her best to defend herself by swinging her tail, but she was way too slow compared to Garen¡¯s current state. Eventually, the onslaught of attacks began to work. Nessy began to wade backwards a bit in the water, but the victory was short lived.


    Nessy¡¯s familiar beside her moved behind her and stopped her retreat. He then lifted his head into the sky and let out another cry just like the ones at the beginning of the battle. Before we could take advantage of the open space to travel, another creature rose out of the water and blocked the way. Just how many of these things are there?!


    Garen focused his attacks on the lone creature now instead of Nessy, and the rest of the group started to attack Nessy again. I looked behind me at the Golem battle, and things looked bleak.


    Every single one of the people defending our flank seemed to be struggling and steadily moving back. All of them had cuts on their body from the dagger-like fingers of the golems, and they were exhausted from constantly having to dodge the massive swings and feet from the cousins of Nessy. Something drastically needs to change if we are going to survive the night.


    I took my eyes away from the battlefield for a second, and closed them in pain. The headache that started when the battle started has gotten a lot worse now. I put my hands up to my head to try and comfort it, but it continued to pound and pound. It was a constant throbbing and eventually the pain brought me to a breaking point. I felt fluid come up into my throat, and I ended up throwing up in the center of the safety circle that was created from both sides.


    I looked back up wearily at the Golem line, and it has gotten a lot worse in the minute I had my head down and eyes closed. I could now touch the line they were so close to me, and I came to the somber realization that this is where I¡¯m probably going to die. I was about to bow my head and resign myself to my fate, but I looked to my side and saw John sitting there. I thought to myself, ¡°He would get up and fight. He would do anything to help out and protect me.¡±


    I looked behind me and saw Garen and Sasha fighting viciously too, and it motivated me too how they were fighting so vehemently to survive. I want to survive too. I want to be the one protecting the things I care about now. I need to protect. I looked back up at the Golem line with a new resolve. I still had that sword on my back, so I can do something. I grabbed the sword and pulled it out of its sheath. My headache instantly went away, and I moved into a ready stance. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± I said in a determined voice.


    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UTo be Continued¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„

 Chapter 25: Parting Ways

    ¨„©¦¨€¨U¨„¨U¨„¨UChapter 25¨U¨„¨U¨„¨U¨€©¦¨„


    I started to take gravely deliberate steps in front of me toward the front line that was steadily being pushed back. ¡°If I¡¯m going to die here, I¡¯m going to do everything in my power to take some of those things out with me!¡± I told myself in my mind.


    Before I could reach the lines with most of the monsters, I heard a loud screeeechshoot through the air. A chill went down my spine as I remembered the sound from Fairy Forest the griffin made. I looked into the night sky, and instead of griffins, I saw a flock of Pegasus being rode by¡­People?


    They were in an arrow formation, and the group of people dive bombed toward us. Are they friendly with us? One of them had a chariot. They landed in the middle of the circle we created. There was five total that landed in the circle, and the person that lead the troop threw something up in the air.


    I watched as it flew into the night sky, and it exploded into a colorful dark purple. The explosion rained down from the sky, and it seemed like the whole battle stopped. The noise and yelling of everyone and the sound of clanging turned to silence. A purple barrier from the explosion formed around out circle. The golems and Nessy¡¯s family hammered against the barrier to try and break it to no avail.


    Garen, Sasha, and Char carrying John waded back onto the mainland to the Pegasus troop. As Jimmy, Tsar, Khar and Jerry were walking by me, they looked at me holding the sword and one of the asked out of spite, ¡°When were you going to use that eh?¡±


    I looked down in shame. I couldn¡¯t really blame them for being mad at me. I did nothing the entire time to help.


    Garen seemed to be having a conversation with the leader of the troop, and I walked towards them to try and hear it.


    ¡°We heard about the griffin attack earlier, and we travelled here as fast as we could. Hurry up and get on Garen, each of us can carry two people, but we brought a stronger one to carry one more. We need to hurry and leave, that magic barrier provided by the gods won¡¯t last much longer.¡± The leader of the Pegasus troop told Garen.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Garen didn¡¯t move from his position however, and he frantically waved his hands as he told him, ¡°No, that won¡¯t be enough. We have two extra people here with us. They accidently came here with us when we went and got John. We can¡¯t just leave them behind. They are my responsibility!¡±


    ¡°Your one and only responsibility is to Zeus and his family!¡± The leader barked back at him, ¡°I don¡¯t care who stays behind but two people will have to stay behind if that¡¯s the case. I will not stop this mission just because you made a mistake in the amount of people you brought here! Now get the child on here, that is an order!¡±


    One by one starting with Char with John on his back began to climb onto the backs of the multiple Pegasus. When it got to be the final one, to the person who was riding it delight, Giselle hurriedly climbed on the back of it leaving Sasha and I on the ground. I expected to be left behind, so I didn¡¯t protest me being left behind but to my surprise, Sasha didn¡¯t protest it at all either.


    I walked up to her and asked, ¡°You aren¡¯t going to tell her to get off?¡±


    Without looking away from the golems bashing against the magical barrier, she told me solemnly, ¡°I¡¯d feel disgusted with myself if I just left someone to die.¡±


    After she said this, Garen got down from the leader¡¯s Pegasus and nodded to Sasha. ¡°What are youdoing?¡±


    This sentiment was echoed by the leader when he exclaimed, ¡°What are you doing Garen? Get back on here! That is an order!¡±


    Garen looked gravely back at the leader and told him, ¡°Because he is also my responsibility. I think you can take care of John and the others right? If I have a death wish then that is on me.¡±


    The leader let out a puff of air as he brushed Garen off saying, ¡°Hmph, as you wish. Everyone, get ready to fly out!¡±


    I grabbed both Garen and Sasha¡¯s arms and exclaimed, ¡°You guys don¡¯t have to do this for me! I¡¯m just a nobody! If I die it means nothing! You guys still have things to do!¡±


    Sasha jerked her arm out of my grasp and angrily looked at the golems still while Garen turned and put his hand on his shoulder and comforted me saying, ¡°It¡¯s fine Cody. This is what we want. Now I do expect you to use that sword of yours this time though hehe.¡±


    I walked toward Char and John¡¯s Pegasus, and as I did the rider on it told me, ¡°Watch yourself kid. Wouldn¡¯t want you to die from me before you even have a chance to defend yourself. That¡¯s far enough.¡±


    I stopped my advance toward them, and aimed my words toward Char when I said, ¡°Please take care of my brother for me¡­Please?¡±


    All I got was a solemn nod from him, and that was enough for me. I turned solemnly back toward the wave of golems that had now began to climb on top of each other to lay themselves on the barrier. When the barrier falls, there will be a wall of golems in it¡¯s place.


    I turned my back from the troop of Pegasus and joined Sasha and Garen to form a defensive triangle. I didn¡¯t watch them fly off. I only heard a hyaahand a crack of a whip, and after the flapping of wings, the barrier disappeared.


    The wall of golems descended upon us, and Nessy¡¯s family moved toward us. They didn¡¯t seem to calm down now that John was gone. In fact, they seemed even angrier.


    I gripped my sword tighter preparing for the impact of the fight. Then suddenly, my surroundings went black.


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 Chapter 26: Darkness

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    In the darkness, I saw a sudden light in the distance, and I felt compelled to go towards it for some reason. I ran through the darkness to the sole light in the distance. I could feel wind passing my face as I ran, and I felt a sweat perspire from my skin.


    When I finally reached the light, I saw multiple groups lined up in a row. The first group was my foster parents and someone I didn¡¯t know. It was a little girl probably a kindergartner with black hair and blue eyes. Did they already move on from me? I always knew they were heartless, but now this only confirms they only adopted me for the government check.


    I bent down and looked at the little girl, and to my heart¡¯s dismay, I already saw bruises on her face those two sorry excuses of human beings have given her. I felt a deep hatred welp up inside of me as I thought about all those times, they beat me, all those times they locked me in an uninsulated room during winter, I hate them.


    My thought was suddenly interrupted by an Old man coughing beside them. I turned my gaze over to him and walked over to him. His skin was pale, had a white beard, and white long hair. He wore a grey cloak covering most of his body with a hood over his head. I thought that was it until I heard little whine come from a bundle of cloth in the center of his body. I looked a little closer, and when I moved the cloths apart, I saw a small baby.


    His skin was pale, had brown-black eyes, and the only noise it made was small whimpers. I could tell it was on the verge of death. Now instead of hatred, as I looked at the old man and child, I felt a deep sadness welp up inside of me. My eyes began to get teary eyed as I looked at the figures. I tore my gaze from them because I felt so weird crying about two people I have never seen before.


    I moved toward the third and last figures that was lined up in the light. There was a man standing to the left of a woman. He wore a golden crown on top of his golden hair. He had a short beard, and his eyes were sky blue. He had a strongly built body, but instead of wearing kingly robes, he had leather armor and light cloths. He had a proud and warm face, but it was definitely saddened.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    To the right of him stood a beautiful woman with long, raven-black hair and blue eyes. She wore a long, loose-fitting, light-blue dress that covered her entire body. Her face was very fair, but there was also a hint of sorrow in it as well. Her hands clasped her very clearly pregnant stomach. She had a powerful aura about her, but I could just feel that it was extremely weakened for some reason.


    As I looked at them, I felt a strong sense of longing to be with them. There was something about them that I felt that I belonged. I walked closer and closer to them to where I was almost touching them. I reached out and to touch the woman, but right when I fingers landed on her, I was shot back into reality.


    I stood near the edge of the woods, both hands on the hilt of my sword as I held it straight, as beads of sweat ran down the side of my face. I found myself breathing heavily as I stood there motionless in the silent lake front. Wait¡­Silent?


    I turned around to the biggest shock of my life. Everything was dead! The only ones still breathing were Garen and Sasha sitting down with a look of shock in the exact position they were in when the barrier opened up again.


    The golems were all crumbled, Nessy and her family is dead, and the light coming from the island in the middle of the lake had disappeared. I tried to walk toward Sasha and Garen as I asked, ¡°W-what¡­Happened?¡±


    As I uttered the last word, my legs gave out, and I went crumbling to the ground. I felt totally exhausted, and I don¡¯t know why. I heard two pairs of footsteps running over to me as I started to fade back into unconsciousness. ¡°Cody! Cody!¡± I could hear Sasha say when she finally got to me.


    She turned me on my back and lifted my head up, and I kept asking her in an exasperated voice, ¡°What happened¡­what happened?¡±


    She eventually put her hand over my mouth and my fore head. I looked through my half-closed eyes to see Garen kneel down next to me and say, ¡°We¡¯ll explain everything later, you just get some rest for now. Everything is fine right now. When you wake up, we¡¯ll be in a safe place okay?¡±


    With my last effort to hold onto consciousness I nodded my head and told them, ¡°Okay¡­¡± as I drifted off to sleep. I dreamt about the old man, king, and the lady I saw while everything was black. This time I could see them interacting with each other off in the distance in the middle of a forest with huge trees with a bright blue lake in the middle of the lush green grass. I felt at peace in this place. It was a comfort that I haven¡¯t experienced in my life up to this point.


    I started to walk towards them, but when I got to the distance to where I could be heard, my dream ended abruptly. I woke up from my sleep laying on a bed with a wet rag on my forehead. I looked around my surroundings, and it seemed like I was lying in a comfy wooden cottage. There was a fire place in front of me, and sunlight coming through two windows that a door lay in between. I sat up in bed and asked myself, ¡°Where am I, and where is Sasha and Garen?¡±


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