Chapter 2

Boris walked into the room with a few bags, chuckling when he saw that Bendy was asleep. The other must have worn himself out dancing earlier. It had been a surprise to learn that his friend had a natural talent for dancing. He started sorting through supplies, placing the large bottles of ink he had gotten in the smaller toon's supplies and keeping the rations in his bag.

Bendy was pretty spacey at times and could just start snacking without thinking if he was allowed to keep the food. Once the supplies were sorted out he turned and looked at his friend, debating waking him to go downstairs for dinner or to let him sleep longer before they got food. He didn't have to think long as the other started stirring in his sleep waking up soon after with a large yawn.

"Sleep well?" Boris chuckled, head tilting slightly as he gave the other an amused look. Bendy gave a small nod and got up, tail flicking as he yawned once more. He jumped off the bed and stretched, letting out an odd trilling noise as he did.

"Want to head down for dinner then?" The wolf was a bit happy that his friend was relaxed for now. A nervous Bendy meant a large number of pranks at times. The smaller nodded and the two headed downstairs.

/

The two were packing up the next morning, preparing to continue their journey. They went downstairs, once finished, and waved goodbye to the toon running the front desk. They continued on their way, passing the time just discussing their future plans after reaching the first temple and getting the relic there.

"Well the next closest would be the temple in the mountains... but that guardian is missing." Boris sighed, glancing over to his friend in worry.

"We're saving that one for last anyway since finding the guardian's gonna take a lot of time. What about one of the ocean ones? We could go to the furthest one and work our way back." Bendy seemed to be deep in thought as he spoke, tail flicking from time to time.

"That's actually a pretty good idea. The way straight back would probably take longer than going from temple to temple since there are more checkpoints that way." The wolf was liking that idea. Plus the path straight to the temple had a few good towns they could pass through to bypass most of the checkpoints. It was a roundabout way to go too. Since the checkpoints were mainly between their hometown and the furthest temple.

The smaller was just looking around, letting his friend plot the path. The fields they were passing through were so flat and seemed to go on until the mountains on one side and the forest up ahead. The tall grass seemed to sway like an ocean on both sides of the path, captivating him for some time. The swaying revealed that in the grass, some flowers and small animals had made their homes there. Little yellows and reds could be seen from time to time between the blades of green and it amazed him.

This was nothing like the wheat fields around the village. There, it was always just waves of yellow on windy days like this one, but here... it was so colorful and beautiful to him. He just grinned when he saw a few birds in the grass at a particularly strong gust, just a few robins looking for food it seemed.

It only took around four hours, with a few breaks to rest and rehydrate, for them to reach the forest. The trees seemed impossibly tall, towering over the two like silent sentinels for the temple. Bendy seemed to almost be bouncing in place, a wide grin on his face. "So this is it huh?"

"Yeah, once we set foot in there... we'll really be starting our journey... We should probably eat before we do though. I've got some jerky and some preserved fruits. That should be enough to give us the energy to get through part of the forest." Boris already set his pack down and was pulling out some of the food rations he had divided into meals prior to leaving. He handed one to his friend and began eating his own.

"Part of the way? How long will it take to even reach the temple?" The smaller was frowning now, having thought it wouldn't take too long to get there.

"It's a three days' journey from the inn to the temple, and there are wild animals like bears in there... so it could take longer if something dangerous lives close to the path that we need to avoid." The wolf seemed to be deep in thought. "I've got some more wild cousins that will at least keep the pack that lives in these woods away, but I don't know how they'd react to you... you know how animals get when you're too close."

Bendy just shuddered slightly. "I don't get why they don't like me. I'm always nice and trying to give them food so they won't freak out, but it never works!"

Boris just shook his head finishing up his food as his friend started on his own. It would give him time to study the map since the other always ate slowly. As he looked over it a frown crossed his face. A path he knew wasn't on the map seemed to have been drawn in, leading through an area he knew was infested with lesser demons. A shiver of fear went down his spine. The path was even designed in a way that would make it seem like a shortcut.

"Someone tampered with the map... They added a 'shortcut' through lesser demon territory."

Bendy froze at that, eyes going wide. He knew of the other's phobia of demons... and the idea that someone had tried to trick them through demon territory angered him. How dare someone try to put them into an area that would cause his best friend to panic.

"It... would take a full day off of the journey... and we do need all the time we can get to... find the missing guardian." Boris seemed terrified but determined. "You've been good at getting demons to behave... so maybe you could get them to stay out of our line of sight... I can send you ahead into the territory to talk to them. Then... I won't have to worry too much about seeing any of them."

"Boris... maybe we should stick to the normal path. It's safer and we won't have to worry about them trying to mess with you." Bendy wasn't going to stand for his friend forcing himself through a situation that terrified him.

"No. We have to save as much time as possible! The Ink Machine needs to be started soon, and finding the missing guardian's going to take who knows how long! We can't afford to not take any shortcuts!" Boris' voice sounded stronger now, and he seemed like that determination of his might be able to get him through that demon infested territory. "It's a day's walk away anyway, so I have plenty of time to prepare myself mentally for the possibility of seeing a demon."

Bendy let out a tired sigh and nodded. When it came down to it... Boris could be extremely stubborn... and he could see that this was going to be one of those times. "Alright. But if you start panicking, I'm dragging you back to the main path no matter what."