Music Choice—Kids And Chemicals—Fog

The exit was near. Yogi could smell the fresh air as he climbed higher towards the surface. He could see a faint glow of colors knowing that it belonged to the vegetation. It was night time, they had been in the lycan's cave for a while and no doubt just like Gareki had said definitely had wasted a day. He reached his arm up, grabbing onto a rock after Gareki pulled himself up all the way to the surface. He gripped onto it tightly as he pulled his upper body over the surface.

Lifting his foot, he dug the tip of his boot into a small hollowness to push himself up further but the soil beneath it broke away causing him to lose his balance and fall.

Gareki quickly dropped flat onto his stomach once more and grabbed onto both his wrists before he was out of reach and yanked him back up. He dragged him away from the hole before dropping him. Yogi's front landed on the ground in a not so gentle way but he was thankful anyway that Gareki had assisted with helping him.

There wasn't any chance he would want to go back down there where the lycans were sure to be waiting to kill him brutally with their arrows. Gareki stood back up before taking a few steps back as Yogi pushed himself up onto his feet. Dusting himself off.

"Good, we made it out of there." Yogi tucked his amulet underneath his button up. He glanced at Gareki." Now I can say thank you."

Gareki gave him a small look of confusion wondering why he said "Now I can say." But then he remembered saving him from falling down into the abyss and figured that was why. "Same goes to you." He offered back.

Between the space of Yogi's eyebrows they creased perplexedly as he wondered what Gareki could be thanking him for. Had he done anything to be given gratitude? But then he thought about saving his life and the words he had spoken to him about living onward. That had impacted him. It was good which meant that he had learned his lesson to not give in to the dilemma's they would face.

He nodded his head saying a you're welcome before looking up at their new surroundings. Although everything else was new to his eyes the only thing that was the same was the stone walls but they appeared to be more spacious and allowed more of the moss to grow into a trail leading into directions the walls led them to grow.

This part of the maze seemed to of had more beauty to it and lots more trees. Along with the first sight of animals and insects that clearly claimed this place as a habitation. They glowed translucent with the world around them as if they were ghosts but were outlined with specific color. They were all unique species but none of them surprised Yogi as much anymore. The moonlight from the sealing protruded into the large cave making the glowing vegetation and wild life glimmer against it's rays.

He found it bizarre that a place like this could be deadly but yet beautiful all at once with so many species of either mythical creatures or humans. But he supposed it went well with how this world worked considering he had seen many more outrageous things in all the days he had been here that it just seemed normal now to look at a large lizard with magenta skin and pink specks alining it's back as it matched the dark magenta leaf bushes.

Now that he examined his surroundings he noticed that over all this part of the maze sported more colors then the other section they had been in before the incident with the lycans. Dark blues, magenta's, yellows, purples, pinks and glowing greens was all neon making things brighter and . . . amazingly unique. But this was what made the Arcial Realm special and far more magical then any other realm he knew of. Which he didn't know that many so this had to be the first.

He turned around in a circle as he looked up at the cave sealing where stalactites glimmered with that same aqua bluish green color."So what part of the maze are we in now?" violate eyes found the cat.

"And why are there so many animals around here," Gareki added as he fanned away a big fiery beetle buzzing around his head. He slapped it dead but not without getting red slime on his fingers. He flicked his hand causing the slime to smack against the stone wall with a wet sound."Disgusting." He whispered as he decided to keep his glaive out just in case any more of those pests showed up.

Pastel patted forward down the trail of moss that glowed every time he took a step onto it. Both Gareki and Yogi followed from behind." We've reached the Ever Grove. Though I don't remember all these Spiritual Beasts being here." he eyed a glowing red foxen as it bounded away from their presence." he turned to looked at both Gareki and Yogi, green eyes shining from the neon glow. They must have transported themselves here from the Spiritual Ark for a new home, which isn't good because now they're going to claim this land and try to defend it from intruders."

Gareki's eyebrows furrowed troubled by this." So they're homogeneous to Nether Beasts then?"

"They do have a similarity of guarding things that they claim, so yes they are like Nether Beasts." Yogi gave Gareki a confused look." Nether Beasts?"

He nodded once averting his eyes away from Pastel to look up at him." Yeah. Remember that time when we were in lumines Forest and that giant frog attacked us?"

He nodded." Yeah. Why?"

"Well that was a Nether Beast. They're giant creatures who come in a variety of mythical species of animals. They protect the territories they live in and they'll attack any intruder who crosses through it, except each other."

Yogi acknowledged this thinking about the way that frog wanted them dead even though they hadn't done anything harmful to it that caused it to rampage. Nether Beast and Spiritual Beast were similar now that he understood what they were. But something about the spiritual beasts seemed to spark curiosity inside him. Pastel had mentioned a Spiritual Ark. He wondered if that was another realm. It had to be. He asked Pastel.

Pastel nodded." It's sort of a Heaven but for Spiritual Beasts. It's where they are born from but do not habitat in. They cross the borders of the heaven gates and come to the Arcial Realm to find permanent homes."

"They're from heaven?" Gareki asked.

Pastel nodded once more.

"Fascinating." Yogi whispered. But if these beasts were going to be a threat the thought of that was a lot more pleasant sounding then lycans. He'd rather face one of these creatures instead of those vicious half lycanthropes.

But he knew he was being ignorant about it. He didn't know what kind of abilities these Spiritual Beasts had and maybe they were stronger then lycans and could do serious damage despite their innocent looks of beauty."Do you know if they're powerful." he decided to ask Pastel.

"I do not know what abilities or physical strengths they have but it'd be best if we all stand clear of them."

Yogi agreed.

"But even though I'm saying this you two are like magnets for trouble." He said it like it was a problem. Gareki surprisingly didn't feel himself taking offense to his words as he kept his mouth shut admitting to himself that they were magnets for trouble. He silently agreed with the feline.

But suddenly thoughts occurred to him that they were just following a cat in a random direction without instruction of where they were going. Of course he knew were their next location was but he meant in direction wise. For all he knew the damn cat was taking them somewhere else that they'd end up being killed. He stopped in his tracks as Yogi walked past him before stopping giving him a look of small concern.

"Where are we headed?" His voice spoke before Yogi could ask him a self assuring question. Pastel stopped and turned around examining them both up and down slowly. "Well if you two haven't noticed you look like utter shit."

Gareki looked down at his clothes just now noticing the glimmer of blood. It was on his arms too. Yogi looked down at himself as well noticing his shirt was even more ripped and blood stained then before. He thought to himself how hadn't he noticed this sooner? He glanced at Gareki who apparently looked as if he were thinking the same thing.

He was an Avatar who drank blood to live so it was odd that he hadn't noticed sooner. But Yogi guessed he must have been too wrapped up in the moment of fighting and running away from the lycans to notice his appearance.

Gareki heaved a sigh before stretching his arms behind his neck." Whatever, it's just blood. I'm just glad we made it out of that lycan cave, alive."

"So what if it's just blood, we still need to get you two cleaned up or else you're going to be reeking of it for the rest of the trip."

Gareki sighed." I don't mind the smell of blood. I don't know about you two but it'll smell fine to me."

Pastel shook his head before turning around again." You Avatars."

Now Gareki took a slight offense to his words." It's not my fault I come from a long line of vampires. I was made this way so you're just going to have to deal with it. Be glad it's not your blood staining my shirt."

" I don't care if you came from a long line of those blood suckers. I'm leading you two where there's a river so you can clean yourselves up."

Both Gareki and Yogi froze and gave the cat wary looks." Wait Pastel," said Yogi carefully as he crossed his arms over his chest." We need to clarify some things first." the cat stopped and once again turned to face them. He saw the looks on their faces.

"You want to ask questions about it." He stated. "You two don't trust that I'm taking you to a regular river don't you?" he sounded offended.

"Well what do you expect?" Gareki shrugged, before crossing his arms over his chest as well." How are we supposed to trust you when the last time I ended up being possessed by some water lizard and nearly killed Yogi. You didn't even bother telling us that the waterfall was a dream pool let alone that it was some one else's property."

"Is it so wrong that I forgot to tell you?" he defended himself.

"Yes!" Gareki emphasized." I don't understand how it wouldn't be. We could have died and then you'd be stuck down here."

Pastel's eyes tightened before he huffed." I already said my apologizes and the only thing now I can do is lead you to the river where you can see for yourselves it's safe. I already know you two aren't going to believe me when I say it is."

Gareki kept his wary stare on him before reluctantly going through with it.

"Fine. Take us to it." He gestured with his hand in the direction they were heading in before dropping it down slapping it to his thigh. Pastel turned and led them further into the maze. The walk was quiet as they followed him, only the sound of their footsteps were heard. They didn't come across any Spiritual Beasts but they did come across more fiery beetles flying in a swarm.

They had to stop and fight all of them off. There were many of them nipping at their skin with burning bites that felt like small burns stabbing at them. The fiery beetles were persistent but were finally all killed.

Both Gareki and Yogi had small red marks where the beetles had bitten them while Pastel's fur protected him from getting bitten. Yogi asked if they would heal and if they were poisonous. Gareki insured him that they weren't and would heal in the next day if he didn't scratch them which would be hard because they were itchy like hell.

He had experience with beetles like this before so he understood how to treat them and that was with water. Now they were urging Pastel to take them to the river past the point of caring if it belonged to another water lizard or not.

Pastel gave them a cocky reply in which Gareki felt like killing him for real this time. Pastel must of caught on to the angry glare his blue eyes were giving him before quickly agreeing to hurry and take them to the river.

Gareki still felt like he couldn't trust Pastel, even if he had helped them. A small—very small part of him wanted to trust the cat but his Avatarian instincts always told him to never trust the things around him. That was how it had been ever since the day his father died. Nothing left but a cold feeling of hatred for those who deceived in the end. The stinging itch of his skin was dulled down as he no longer paid attention to the world around him. His mind being sucked into somewhere else. Some where far off. Left in his memories and emotions.

He had told himself to never show his emotions a long, long time ago. But that was what he had done with Yogi. The blonde awoke something inside of him that he hadn't thought would ever rise up in his soul. What was left of it, anyway. He had questioned it before, the emotion. The admiration he felt for the so called prince of the Sun Kingdom. Every word he said was like. . .inspiration taking a hard impact on him. What an influence he had on him to become better.

He was supposed to be cold, relentless, harsh. But that had changed. Back in Laisra he admitted to himself he cared about Yogi but care turned into admiration, so what was that going to turn into next? Trust? Did he trust him after everything they had been through? He wasn't sure if he could bring himself to trust.

The death of his father was a heavy burden on his shoulders that he could never forget even if it had been all those years ago. Trust wasn't in his vocabulary. Wasn't something that was easy to come by inside of him. He had been deceived by that very feeling and he was only afraid to be deceived again.

But he saved you. He forgave you. He cares about you. He wouldn't hurt you. . . Spoke his conscience. Gareki didn't know what to choose so instead he chose. . . "for now". For now meant he would trust Yogi until he did something that didn't deserve it. But when this journey was over then his trust could be put to rest and Yogi would be gone forever. That was his decision.

He hadn't thought he'd put that reliability on someone in a very long time but he had done it on none other than an Outsider. A human.

Yogi wasn't an evil Outsider like the ones that stole and killed. He was an Outsider who was good and was a human who was only able to have magical abilities because of the amulet around his neck. That was what Gareki had gathered after their time spent together. He had been through a lot and was still going that was what Gaareki found so admiring about him. He looked at Yogi with a quick expression of respect before turning it back into his blank look.

He stared at him from the corner of his eyes noticing under the bites his skin appeared paler then it's sun kissed tone. His eyes roamed up to his face looking at the some what weak look he gave. Concern edged itself inside his mind.

Was he okay? He looked tired. Then again he felt tired too but Yogi looked even more so. He turned back around minding himself as another moment of walking passed before they finally reached the slow moving river. It sparkled against the moonlight and neon colors of the Ever Grove.

"Here we are." Pastel neared the bank turning to them. Gareki didn't recall a time where he took off his shirt so fast. He dropped it as well as his boots to the ground before going for his pants. He caught a glimpse of Yogi and how he leaned forward lazily before dropping down to the ground face first, not moving.

"Yogi?" he asked, dropping his hands away from the hem of his black slim jeans. Quickly kneeling down next to him before placing a hand on his back shoulder. He shook him but he didn't move. He placed both his hands onto both his shoulders about to turn him around but one of his hands slid over the left of his back shoulder and felt a protrusion. It was small and firm.

Pastel came over and gave him a concerned look. "What's wrong with him?" the question floated into the air unanswered as Gareki stayed focused on Yogi. He paused as he slid his hand slowly over the bump again. He pushed Yogi onto his back and ripped his shirt open revealing his bare chest, stomach and the amulet sitting on his chest. His hands stripped him of the shirt completely before turning him onto his side so he could see the bump. It was pale purple and leaked a darker purple substance.

Gareki stared at it before a serious look crossed his face."Shit, he's been poisoned." he laid his body back onto his front side making sure his head wasn't in the ground.

"By what?" Pastel asked.

Once again Gareki left his question floating in the air as he thought hard. The protrusion had a small hole in the center which meant something had penetrated his skin. Darts. That had to be it.

"Can you answer my question so I can help him? You do want him alive , right?"

"Yes, I do. He's been poisioned by a dart. Obviously by a lycan." he paused to check his pulse before adding, " His heart is still beating so he's alive. For now."

Pastel climbed onto his shoulder and looked at the purple bump." Yes he's going to need herbs for this and luckily we have some around here but it'll take me a bit to get them."

"What if I helped you." Gareki insisted.

Pastel shook his head." No it'd be best if you stayed here with him and try to clean his clothing and body so he doesn't suffer from those fiery beetle bites. I'll go alone and retrieve them since I'm more stealthy."

Gareki lifted an eyebrow taking offense to his words again. Was this cat really telling him that he was the one who wasn't stealthy. He let it slide but only because he needed to care for Yogi." Okay, you go then and hurry up." he urged.

The cat hoped onto a wall and ran on top of it in the opposite direction getting farther and farther away until out of sight. All the while Gareki started to strip Yogi of his clothing being sure to leave his underwear on as he poured water on his skin after he had given himself a washing to stop the insane itching of his own skin. He then started to clean their clothing the water automatically washing away the blood making the fabric of their clothes look brand knew except for a few rips on the shoulder part of Yogi's shirt.

Gareki then hung them on top of the wall to dry. He sat down cross legged by Yogi. Both of them being half naked but he didn't take much notice of it he stayed focused on the important things. He eyed the purple bump on his shoulder. It was bigger then any bump he had seen in his life time and looked worse from the first sight of it.

But at least his heart was still beating. Gareki eyed his chest before slowly picking up the half amulet. He ran his thumb over half the red jewel in the center of the heavy medal. He wondered what would happen to Yogi if he didn't have this around his neck? He would probably be a regular human but with no magical ability.

Gareki dropped the amulet back down to his chest. He sat there staring at the water waiting and listening to the sound of Yogi breathing.

There had been care, admiration, and now trust so what was next?

. . . .Love. . . .

Gareki clenched the dirt beneath his hands. His conscience spoke again but unexpectedly. That word. . . love? How could he possibly have a feeling like that towards him?! It was an outrageous thought. It wasn't meant to be. But even if he denied it he was slowly feeling something swell within his chest as he stared at the blonde. He ignored the feeling but the emotion planted itself there in his heart. Growing for the future days to come.