Chapter 9
"They're down," a demon said, looking down at a forest with enormous trees. "We're too late. There's an entire colony of bloodsucker trees down there. And there's apparently some lowly organisms roaming this area recently. Whatever happens, we must not allow those humans to be eaten by anything other than our kind."
"Can you figure out which direction they went in?" The demon asked the other ones. Unlike the one who had a more humanoid figure, these ones were on four legs like a hound.
"Yes sir," one of them replied. "They are straight down and southeast of us."
"Let's pick up the pace. We must recover them, especially the premium ones, before the Tifari. We cannot afford to displease Him."
~0~0~0~0~0~
They had just reached another forest. This one however, differed drastically. The trees were abnormally large and tall and there were strange plants that no one had seen before all around them.
Emma was in the lead, a compass in her hand. The others, especially the younger ones, were starting to slow down. It made sense after all. They were hungry and tired from all the running and lack of sleep. They also had to make some fake tracks to throw off the demons. But they couldn't rest yet. Not until they found a safe space to do so.
"What is this place?" Scarlett murmured out loud. "It's nothing like I've read in the books."
"Yeah," Ray agreed. "I wanted to see if I can locate our location from the surroundings, but nothing seems recognizable."
Scarlett suddenly stilled and quickly looked back.
Ray looked at her weirdly. "What was that about?"
"I swear I saw something move," Scarlett said uncertainly. "M-maybe it was just my imagination."
"Are you sure? After all, you have the best eyes out of all of us," Ray said.
"Yeah, but I'm also hungry and tired," she sighed. "Once we rest and get some food, I'll be satisfied. And there's so many more noises here, it's making my head hurt. Don't worry about me, Pyromaniac."
"Would you stop calling me that?" Ray said, annoyed.
"What about Suicidal Maniac?" Scarlett fired back
"How about just 'Ray'," he grumbled.
"Why should I when that's exactly what you are? Did you think that setting yourself on fire was the right solution? If you wanted to help us or make up with us, maybe sacrificing yourself like a dimwitted so called noble guy is something you shouldn't do. What the hell are we supposed to do with a dead burnt body?"
"I regret that!" Ray protested.
"Then show it," Scarlett retorted, glaring at him. "Don't try to hide it. That was all I did before and I deeply regret it. If you want to atone for your mistakes, do it alive, not dead." She walked past him.
'Yep she's definitely different,' Ray deadpanned. She did have a point though, as much as he didn't want to admit it.
They had reached a giant tree with a gaping tunnel through the base of it.
"This looks like a good place to rest," Gilda commented.
"Yeah!" Emma agreed. "Everyone! Let's rest here!"
"Finally!" Thoma groaned. "My feet are about to fall off."
"And my stomach has never felt so empty before," Lannion complained.
They had all gone under the tree to rest and eat. Gilda was the one in charge of the food rations.
"Remember everyone!" Gilda called out. "We don't want to eat too much. We need to get used to rationing."
Emma had opted to keep watch outside of the tree. After Scarlett got her breakfast, she followed her.
"Here," Scarlett said, handing the ginger a loaf of bread and some cream cheese.
"Thanks," Emma replied thankfully, taking it.
They both ate their breakfast in peace, also keeping a lookout for anything dangerous or strange.
"We're at a disadvantage in that we don't know the environment," Scarlett muttered. "Our only advantage is our head start. We need to be on the move constantly. At least until we find William Minerva."
"Yeah," Emma said. "After everything that just happened, it's hard to think that was the easy part. It's only gonna get harder from here."
"But we'll endure." Scarlett closed her eyes. "There's human lives on the line. Now that we're out here…" She put down her bread and reached towards her eyes. Delicately, she took out the green contacts, revealing her ruby red eyes. "I don't have to hide these anymore."
Emma grinned. "I still can't believe you thought they look ugly."
"To be honest, I'm still not a big fan of them. Although I am more… accepting of them. There's no point in trying to hide them."
"I like your hair tied up though," Emma complimented. "It gives you a whole new look."
"It does feel nice," Scarlett admitted. It really felt like a nice fresh start.
"Heyo," Ray suddenly said, banging a water jar onto Emma's head.
"Heyo?" Scarlett repeated, raising an eyebrow while Emma was rubbing her head.
"We're safe for now," Ray said. "There's no predators in the area. I didn't find any tracks or droppings anywhere near us. You guys rest, I'll keep watch."
"I can do it-" Scarlett said indignantly.
"No," Ray interjected. "You need to rest. What if our main offence person's too tired to even do offence?"
"Thanks, Ray," Emma quickly responded before Scarlett could say anything. She dragged the ravenette away.
"Sorry," Ray said suddenly.
"Eh?" Emma stopped dragging Scarlett and looked over at him.
"If I was part of the plan from the start, maybe you wouldn't have lost your ear," Ray said somberly.
"And I still need to chew you out for that," Scarlett muttered, glaring at a sheepish Emma.
"You don't need to apologize!" Emma protested. "We chose to not involve you. We should be apologizing. (Scarlett grumbled in protest.)"
"Just now, I apologized to Anna," Ray continued, looking out into the distance. "And all she said was 'Happy Birthday'. I can't believe… I was ready to let them die. Even though everyone was so nice. I'm going to live, Emma, Scarlett. I'm going to protect my family. I promise. I won't cut them off, no matter what."
Emma grinned and Scarlett showed a small reluctant smile.
"What should we do after breakfast and resting?" Ray asked.
"Water is the first priority," Emma replied. "Remember that stream we saw from that view in the other forest? I want to see if that water is pure enough to drink."
"Smart," Ray commented. "I've read that humans die within three days without water. That's something we need to tackle first."
"Can you reach the water with your powers, Scarlett?" Emma asked her.
"Not likely. The further away something is, the more energy required to manipulate it. Although, now I can practice pretty much anytime I want, so my powers should get significantly stronger."
"That's good at least," Emma sighed.
"Once we get to a water source, that also might be a food source. The only problem is…" Ray's eyes darkened. "Our enemies will know we have to take this route sooner or later."
"Which is why we need to pick up the pace," Scarlett agreed grimly.
"Do you know which way we should head, Emma?" Ray asked.
"That's easy. South!"
"South?"
"We're gonna take a little visit to Mr. Minerva in area B 06-32," Emma grinned, holding out the pen.
"What's that pen?" Ray asked. "And what is area B 06-32?"
"Norman got the pen from Sister Krone," Scarlett explained as Emma passed him the pen. "He and I examined it together. The pen didn't have any ink in it so we took it apart. And when we did, something crazy happened."
Ray did so and saw B 06-32 engraved on the inside.
"Then twist it once more!" Emma instructed.
When Ray did so, he jumped back as a hologram appeared of the owl with another code. B 01-14.
"What in the world…?" Ray trailed off.
'The number's different,' Scarlett realized.
"Lani!" Thoma suddenly yelled.
"Thoma!" The three of them headed towards him.
"What happened?" Emma questioned.
"Lani disappeared!" Thoma yelled fearfully. "He was just here a minute ago!"
"Was he attacked? Did he get lost?" Emma bombarded him with questions.
"No, no, no!" Thoma shook his head frantically. "He vanished into thin air! We were just talking and when I looked back, he was gone!"
"Scarlett, can you hear him?" Emma asked.
Scarlett listened very closely. "... I think I hear a voice. Multiple voices. And they're… below us?"
"What?" Emma tilted her head. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Scarlett nodded. She winced slightly at the headache she was gradually getting.
"Voices?" Ray muttered. "Wait. If you heard multiple voices, then…" He raced back to the tree, the others following.
They all gasped. Everyone was gone. Except for Chris, who immediately ran to them in fear.
"WAHH!" Thoma screamed. "We're all gonna die! Something's picking us off and killing us!"
"Calm down," Scarlett said, looking sideways at him. "In situations like these, it's important to maintain your posture and mind. Stay calm and think rationally."
"Let's look for clues," Emma suggested.
As they looked around, Emma stepped on a seemingly harmless root. The ground below them suddenly sank.
"Woah!" Chris yelled, hanging onto Scarlett. Scarlett quickly used her powers to make them levitate slowly to the ground below.
Around them was pitch black. The only source of light was Scarlett's red glow.
"Can you keep your powers on?" Emma asked her.
"Yeah. Let's find the others quickly though before my powers drain out. But is everyone ok?"
"We're fine," Ray confirmed.
"We're somewhere underground for sure." Scarlett looked at their surroundings. "I'm betting the others fell down here the same way we did. That's why I heard voices underneath us."
"Hello?" Thoma called. "Lani? Don? Gilda?"
They kept walking, Scarlett being their main source of light. They stopped for a few seconds every time Thoma got scared by a bug.
"Look!" Chris pointed to a light ahead of them.
"Emma?" Gilda called. "Scarlett?"
"We're over here!" Scarlett called back. The five of them ran to the source of light.
"Glad you guys are ok!" Don grinned, holding a lantern.
Scarlett's hair turned back to raven black as she asked, "Is anyone hurt? Is everyone here?"
"Relax," Nat reassured her. "There's no serious injuries and we're all here."
"This cave is huge!" Dominic exclaimed.
"It's as though the cave were made of roots," Gilda commented.
"Ack, bugs!" Thoma waved his hands around to try and shoo them away.
"There's nothing here that I recognize," Ray said in frustration. "This is completely different from what I've seen in the books."
"Yeah," Scarlett whispered. "I wonder if it's because of the demons?"
"Why is there no light above?" Emma wondered. "Did the hole close up?"
'This world is crazier than I anticipated!' Emma thought. 'We need to get to Mr. Minerva as soon as we can. Our enemy is closing in on us and we have limited supplies.'
"Right now, we need to get out of here," Emma said out loud. She reached out for a root and it almost immediately snapped. "These roots down here are too weak to climb… Scarlett? Can you somehow break through the ceiling?"
"I'll try," Scarlett said dubiously. "I doubt it's gonna work though." She tried moving a cluster of roots apart. But she wasn't strong enough and the roots were too deeply intertwined. "No good."
"Let's see if we can find an opening somewhere else," Don suggested.
They all continued along another tunnel.
A swarm of bright butterflies flew above them.
"Wow! So pretty!" Yvette gasped.
"This place is also much warmer than outside!" Rossi added.
"Maybe we can stay here for the time being," Gilda thought out loud.
"No," Scarlett shook her head. "I don't know why… but this place feels weird. And it's a bad weird. I want to get out of here as soon as we can."
"Well, your intuition is almost never wrong, so I'm with you!" Don said.
After walking for some time, they eventually reached another cave. This one was filled with different flowers and had a large root pillar-like structure in the center.
"This place smells so nice!" Jemima gushed.
"Look!" Alicia pointed to a patch of flowers, running towards them. "They're glowing!"
'Sure, the flowers smell nice, but I also smell something… rotten?' Scarlett thought hesitantly.
"It looks like this is a dead end," Emma commented.
"No worries!" Don said happily. "It looks like we'll be able to climb from here!" He pointed at the root pillar. "I'll go first to check it out."
"Wahhh!" Nat suddenly yelled falling onto the ground.
"What's wrong, Nat?" Ray asked fiercely.
Nat pointed shakily up to the ceiling. "L-look up there!"
All of them looked up to see a horrific sight. Multiple dried animal carcasses were hanging from the roof by roots.
"We're in big trouble," Ray breathed, sweat forming on his face. "We need to-!"
"Alicia, Jemima!" Scarlett suddenly yelled. She activated her powers and quickly made them come to her before the roots grabbed them.
"The entrance!" Anna pointed to where it once was. "The roots covered it up!"
"What the hell is going on?" Don asked shakily.
Ray said his theory. "This must be where this tree feeds. The trees around here must feed on nutrients from live animals."
"L-live animals?!" Nat stuttered.
"A plant that eats animals? That's crazy! Sure, there are animals that eat bugs, but they eat bugs, not animals!" Don exclaimed.
"It dropped us down here and lured us to its feeding ground," Ray continued. "That's why there was only one tunnel."
"And all the greenery and butterflies makes the animals at ease and drop their guard," Scarlett guessed. "Especially here. If it weren't for my sensitive nose, I wouldn't have been able to smell that rotten smell because it was masked by all the floral scents."
"In other words, we've fallen for its trap," Anna said worriedly.
'Damn it!' Ray cursed. 'That's why there were no animals above!'
"Everyone, stay close to each other!" Emma yelled when the roots were closing in.
Scarlett summoned a force field and expanded it until it reached the roots. The dome held up but it wasn't gonna stay that way for long.
"At least that will stall for some time," Scarlett said, gritting her teeth as she held the dome in place.
"What should we do?" Don questioned. "Should we burn the tree?"
Ray rejected it immediately. "No! We'll probably die before the tree does!"
"Emma, what should we do?" Gilda asked her.
Emma was deep in thought.
"Emma?" Anna called.
The green eyed girl gasped. "I've read about this before!"
"Huh?" Scarlett looked at her strangely.
"Ray!" Emma frantically looked at him. "Isn't this like the 'Snake of the Something Something?'"
"Say what?" Ray gaped at her. "Are you going insane?"
"From one of Mr. Minerva's books!" Emma quickly took out her backpack and grabbed a book. "These books are our guide after all!"
Ray's eyes widened as he recognized the book that Emma was holding.
"This is it!" Emma quickly opened the book and skimmed through it. "I remember reading about it in this book! The story about those snakes! I can't remember the details… hold on…"
"Wait," Ray realized. "Are you talking about 'The Snakes of the Alvar Pinera?'"
"That's the one!" Emma replied. "Here it is!" She opened the book to a page and showed it to all of them.
She then read out loud:
"The deep sea cave known as Alvar Pinera, turned out to be the nest of terrifying poisonous snakes. The countless snakes intertwined with each other as if they were tree roots and as if they were a single organism. They surrounded the walls all around us. The terror of the snakes made the treasure by our feet all the more beautiful. Are these snakes protecting the treasure? Or did they simply use the treasure to bait us?"
"It sounds similar to our situation, right?"
"Yeah," Scarlett muttered. She gestured to the walls around them. "A cave…" Then the glowing flowers on the ground. "Treasure…" And then the roots. "Snakes…"
"This has to be it!" Emma said in a final voice. "This book really was a guide for us all along!"
"H-hold it!" Ray protested. "Sure, the story's similar, but…" He trailed off. "Well I guess it's possible."
Scarlett snorted slightly. "What was the point of protesting?" She muttered.
"Let's give it a shot," Ray said, choosing to ignore her.
"If the book is a guide for us… then the way to attack the tree is… Everyone back up a bit!" Emma said.
They did so and the force field shattered that second. Ray had a cup in his hand from his bag. He then threw it at a root, specifically the tip of it. The root immediately crushed it.
"Ack!" Thoma flinched.
"Alright, it uses touch!" Ray and Emma celebrated.
"So the roots can only find us if we touch the tip of the roots," Scarlett commented to herself.
'It makes sense if you think about it,' Ray thought. 'How those animals got attacked and how we need to get out of here. It's amazing how a clear mind makes such a big difference. Observe and analyze the enemy. Come to think of it, that's how Ugo would constantly solve his problems too in the book. Watch, think, and figure out a way. We don't know, but we can learn. That's the one good thing about being a human.'
"It's getting closer!" Lannion shouted, snapping Ray out of his thoughts.
'There's no way for us to slip through!' Don cursed. 'This is how it kills its prey!'
Emma and Ray nodded at each other and walked towards the roots.
"Eh?!" Everyone but Scarlett exclaimed. "Don't!"
Emma and Ray stopped at the roots. The roots didn't grab or touch or even move.
"See, it's fine!" Emma reassured them.
"Huh?"
"We'll be fine as long as we don't touch them," Emma clarified. "The roots that come for us are all from the walls. But they don't attack us if we don't touch them! Specifically, the tips of the roots. As long as we don't touch them, the roots won't move faster. It's not scary, so let's calm down!"
Now that it all made sense, the others calmed down, albeit still a bit wary and nervous.
"Listen up!" Ray called out. "Right now, our plan is to escape using the root pillar, same as before. We all need to make it up to the top before the roots reach us. I know we can do it. You guys have trained your climbing skills, right?"
"Yeah," Chris said hesitantly.
'But what about after we make it to the top?' Nat worried.
"So we will escape as long as we make it to the top," Gilda summarized, a determined frown on her face.
"Yep!" Emma replied.
"Then let's do it everyone!" Gilda said to the rest of them, pumping them up.
All of them started climbing. Thanks to the many grooves and holes the roots have, it's actually easier to climb than a normal tree. That was the only good thing about this situation.
Emma reached the top first. "Everyone, help me!" She pulled on some of the ceiling roots, making them sag downwards.
Everyone caught onto what she was implying and did the same thing. Some clung onto the roots, others clung to the legs of others. The main objective was to weigh down the roots so they break and make a hole.
Even with all of their weight, it wasn't quite enough to break through, so Scarlett activated her powers to pull the roots apart. Eventually, the roots gave in and broke apart, cold winter wind rushing through the hole immediately. All of them had fallen back down into the cave.
"Brr!" Thoma shivered. "It just got a lot colder!"
"But we did it!" Mark cheered.
"And look!" Don pointed at the roots. "The roots are retreating!"
"Scarlett, can you get up and bring a rope down?" Ray asked her.
She nodded. "Right!" Activating her powers, she flew up with the rope. Holding it securely with the help of her powers, she called down to them. "Come up!"
One by one, all of them had climbed up the rope. Eventually, all of them had made it up with no injuries that were worth mentioning.
"Thank god we're out of that place!" Nat sighed in relief.
Scarlett was resting on the ground, panting slightly. 'I don't know how much more strain I can take from using my powers.'
Hearing some rustling, she quickly turned around. She could have sworn for a moment, a shadow was there. Sighing inwardly, she decided to drop it. This forest was making her go insane, which is why they need to leave as soon as possible. ...After she rests.
She noticed Emma was looking in that direction as well. Maybe she wasn't just imagining it…
"I wonder why the roots stopped moving?" Mark wondered.
"It looks like the roots don't do so well with the cold!" Alicia realized.
"It is pretty cold up here," Yvette agreed. "It's even colder than the area we were in before we fell down!"
"Let's put on our scarves," Anna suggested.
They did so. All of the scarves were knitted by Gilda and with some help from Emma.
Reaching into her backpack, Scarlett also grabbed the gloves that Emma made for her and put them on.
"Why is the temperature so different here though when we're in the same forest?" Dominic wondered.
"Maybe it's because the sunlight gets blocked by the trees here," Chris suggested.
"As long as it stays this cold," Gilda said, her breath visible, "does that mean the roots won't attack us again?"
"I think it's safe to say yes," Emma replied.
"Thank god it's winter right now!" Don cheered. "I'd thought we'd be at a disadvantage, but it works in our favor!"
"Well…" Nat trailed off awkwardly. He then showed him the book. "According to this, the ground doesn't cave in unless it's winter in the first place."
Don grabbed the book from him and just stared at the pages.
"If only it weren't winter, huh?" Gilda said, patting him on the back.
"In all honesty, if we hadn't fallen into the ground, who knows when we would find out that the book was a guide?" Emma pointed out. "And it gives us a wake up call too. Now we know that we need to be more careful."
Ray was walking around the area, seeming like he was looking for something. When he finally found the thing he was looking for, he called out, "Emma! Here's what we've been looking for!"
All of them gathered around him. Nat looked at the plant Ray was talking about in confusion. "Um… what is that?"
"Water!" Ray smirked.
"Huh?" All of them said in reply.
"They're mentioned in the book," Ray explained. "Anemones that store pure water."
"Anemones?!" Don exclaimed, shuddering.
"Watch." Ray pulled out a knife and sliced open one of the bulb-like plants, a jar in front of it. As soon as he sliced it, water came pouring out and into the glass jar.
"Ooh!" The younger kids said in awe.
"These things aren't real anemones," Ray reassured Don. "If we keep on following what the book says though, this water should be drinkable. We won't have to keep on finding a clean water source. Food and water are two of the most important things we need on our blind adventure. We don't even know what's edible and what's not. So at least we have something to base our predictions on."
"This world is filled with scary and unknown things," Emma continued. "But at least we won't be flailing around in the dark. We're not alone. We got each other, and an ally. So, let's go see Mr. Minerva! Let's all survive and do our best to get out of here! Let's do our best!"
"Yeah!" Everyone cheered.
"Are you ready, Scarlett?" Anna asked her. She had been watching over her since they got up here. Scarlett was a bit worn out from using her powers. She had been resting on the ground and Anna had placed a cold and wet towel on her forehead to cool her.
"Are you ok, Scarlett?" Emma asked worriedly, feeling guilty. She hadn't even noticed how tired Scarlett was.
"I'm fine for now," Scarlett sighed. "I've rested enough to continue on."
"If you say so," Emma said slowly.
Don pointed to a direction. "We're heading this way, right?"
"Yeah," Emma replied. "We've gone a bit off course when we went underground though."
As they were walking, Ray realized he still had the pen. He opened it up and saw the coordinates changed. It now said B 00-15.
"So this code tells us our location, huh?" Ray commented.
"Eh?" Emma turned back to look at him.
"B 06-32 and B 00-15 are both coordinates. I'm betting the numbers must be some sort of indication of what direction we're heading in. Wait…"
Emma and even Scarlett looked at him in confusion while Ray muttered to himself.
"...If we were Northeast when we first left, and now we're heading south… That's it! Right now, we're at B 06-32. We're basically heading south within the eastern portion of the plane this thing is based off on."
'He actually got it…' Emma and Scarlett sweatdropped.
"You're so freaky!" Emma exclaimed. "How did you figure it out so f… oh my god!"
"It's pretty simple if you think about it," Ray said.
"For you, maybe," Scarlett muttered. "Not all of us are good at this kind of stuff."
"If you guys couldn't figure out the code, how did you figure out that this was our location? How did you even know that Minerva was there?"
Emma bit her lip while Scarlett looked away.
"Norman figured it out and told us. He didn't have time to write how he figured it out though," Emma finally responded. "Scarlett and I, mostly me since Scarlett was too busy most of the time, tried to figure it out. We couldn't though, so we hoped you'd know."
Ray smirked slightly. "How much time did you have? Almost two months, right? And I figured it out in a minute."
"We could understand it!" Emma protested. "Well… to an extent."
Ray looked at the hologram of the owl. "Touch me…" He did so and the screen Scarlett saw with Norman popped up.
"Norman and I got up to that screen, but we didn't have enough time to decipher the password," Scarlett explained. 'Although, I bet Norman did figure it out later though.'
The three of them stared at the screen for a little while.
Ray's eyes widened as he realized something. "Hm. Emma, remember that other book by Minerva? The one with no morse code?"
"Yeah?" Emma replied in confusion. She then gasped, taking out the book he was talking about. "You don't mean-!"
"That book is our key to this pen," Ray smirked.
"That's why I couldn't figure it out," Scarlett said. "I didn't even know that book existed." She glared at Emma.
"Sorry about that!" Emma apologized frantically. "I didn't think about that possibility!"
"Just give us the book," Scarlett sighed.
Ray took it and opened it up. "The code on the screen is 13-18-02. If we go through the book, we should be able to find the password. Page 13… line 18… word two…" He looked through the book until he found it. He pointed at the word.
"Human," Scarlett said out loud. "It makes sense."
Ray then typed in the word. A message then popped up.
Come to me if you need help. I am waiting in area B 06-32.
- William Minerva
"William Minerva!" Emma gasped.
"Norman must have seen this," Ray said. "Now the code's changed. So we need to input a new password…"
Scarlett stilled. "There's something coming!"
She had barely gotten the words out of her mouth before a giant monster came into view, running after them.
"Run!" Emma shouted.
All 16 of them started running and screaming.
'What the hell?!' Nat thought.
'Is it still after us?' Alicia sweated.
'Don't look back!' Chris forced himself.
Thoma did the opposite of him. 'Maybe I'll take a peek… ah!'
The monster was still hot on their trail.
'Damnit! I was too focused on the pen to actually keep a lookout!' Scarlett berated herself. 'And I thought there wouldn't be that many creatures!'
"Ray!" Gilda yelled. "Is that thing in the book?"
"No!" Ray responded. "There's nothing that describes anything like that! This must be… a demon!"
"That's a demon?!" Don exclaimed.
"Yes!" Emma said. "I'm sure of it. The skin, the claws, the face… I saw demons that day when Norman and I went to the gate!"
"But the ones you saw were intelligent, right?" Scarlett asked. "This one seems to be mindlessly chasing after us!"
Emma nodded. "The ones I saw also had horned masks and clothes! They even walked on two legs like us!"
"Emma!" Scarlett yelled. The ginger was starting to fall behind.
Ray quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her forward.
"Thanks!" Emma managed to say, gasping for breath as they ran. 'There's more than one kind? Come to think of it… the ones I saw were different sizes and shapes. What are they? What kind of world is this where these monsters rule and live?'
"So this demon came to take us back?!" Mark cried.
"No!" Nat screamed. "This one's trying to kill us right here!"
"Exactly!" Emma yelled. "If it were, it would treat us like merchandise, not prey!"
'Meaning if it catches us…' Everyone thought, 'We'll be eaten.'
"Like hell that's happening!" Don yelled, pushing forward. Immediately, he shot out his left hand.
Everyone recognized that signal and immediately split up.
'They're on a whole new level now!' Ray thought in surprise. 'They immediately recognized and followed that symbol!'
'Come to think of it, this demon really isn't that intimidating,' Don realized. 'Norman, Scarlett, and Sister were way scarier. Size and strength are important, but not everything! We can totally evade this thing!'
"Ready guys?" Don asked his group. "Keep running and don't look back! Scarlett! Can you shoot something at it?"
"I'll try!" Scarlett responded, sighing inwardly. She levitated a large rock almost as tall as her -the biggest one she's ever lifted- and threw it right at the demon's forehead.
The demon roared in agony and stumbled a bit. That was all they needed to hide away from the demon. They were safe. For now.
"All right!" They cheered.
"Ugh…" Scarlett muttered. She vaguely felt a trickle of something coming down from her nose.
"Scarlett!" Chris screamed. "You're bleeding!"
"It's just a n-nosebleed," Scarlett muttered. Her vision was blurring significantly. 'I'm so tired…' She fell to the ground.
Anna immediately rushed over. "Scarlett!" Opening her pack, she grabbed some paper to get rid of the nosebleed and a towel. "Someone damp that towel with water!"
"Right!"
Scarlett's eyes were barely open. 'Can't… rest… now…' After a few seconds, her eyes closed as she fell unconscious.
"Guys!"
The others looked to see Gilda's group come to them. Emma was being carried as she was almost unconscious.
"Oh no!" Anna cried. "Not Emma too! Where's Ray?"
"He's gone to divert the demons from the plantation!" Nat replied.
"They're here?!" Don exclaimed. "We need to get Ray and get far away from them!"
"But Emma and Scarlett are injured and unconscious! And we don't know where Ray is! We'll risk getting captured!" Gilda protested.
There was suddenly a whoosh of wind. They all looked to see someone in a blue, almost white, cloak. Their face was obscured and their sleeves went past their hands.
"This way," the figure said, revealing themselves to be a woman. She pointed to a direction.
"Huh?" Gilda managed to say out of her shock.
"Come this way."
'Are we saved? Is she on our side?' Don sweated.
As some of them were about to follow the mysterious woman, Gilda stopped them. "Wait." 'This is strangely too convenient. A woman coming into this dangerous forest alone coming for us. And the demons of the farm just happened to catch up with us. "How do we know you're gonna help us? Who are you? What are you doing in a place like this? Show your face!"
"Gilda..?" Mark trailed off. No one had ever seen Gilda act like this before, so it's a first.
The female merely smiled. "No, it's fine. You all have every right to suspect me. And I can't really prove that I am your ally. But think about your situation. Two of your comrades are unconscious and injured and another is out there, risking his life. The rest of you look like you're about to die of exhaustion. You don't have much choice if you want to live."
Gilda still looked at her suspiciously, but knew she had a point. They had no choice but to trust her and hope she was on their side.
"Don't worry about your missing comrade," the female added. "My companion is rescuing him as we speak of it. If he doesn't make it, we'll make sure those from the plantations don't recover his brain at the very least."
They all shivered at the thought of having Ray come back as a corpse. It was better than him being taken though. And if her companion was rescuing him, then they have to come to accompany him. They couldn't leave him behind, dead or not.
Gilda nodded hesitantly. "Very well."
~0~0~0~0~0~
'Ugh… where am I?' Ray groggily thought. He sat up and looked at his surroundings. He was laying in a makeshift bed out of blankets and a pillow. The room he was in appeared to be a cave. The memories before he blacked out came back to him.
'That's right… someone saved me before I was captured by them. Who were they? They couldn't possibly be Minerva, right?' He looked at the light source in the room. It was a handcrafted lantern with one of the glowing flowers they saw before in it. He picked it up and started to scan the room.
'It's really quiet. Is it safe here? It looks like we've shaken off the demons from the plantation at least, so that's good. Now I have to get to B 06-32 and meet back with Emma and the others. But how do I get out of here? Where is here? Damnit… are Emma and the others ok?'
Ray walked down a tunnel and came across another room. When he entered it, he saw Emma and Scarlett in similar makeshift beds. Scarlett woke up groggily due to Ray's light while Emma was still sleeping.
Immediately, Ray ran to Emma and shook her. "Emma?!"
"Ray…?" Emma muttered sleepily. She slowly drifted back to sleep.
"Ugh… what happened?" Scarlett asked, blinking away sleep.
"No idea. I'm in the dark about this as well," Ray replied, glad that Emma seemed to be fine. He then felt embarrassed as he didn't think about Scarlett' wellbeing. "Are you ok?"
"Fine," Scarlett muttered. "I remember losing consciousness from overuse of my powers. I think it was after I threw a big rock at that demon. What happened to you though?"
"The demons from the plantation nearly caught me after I led the wild demon away," Ray explained. "Someone saved me though. I don't know who it was though cause I lost consciousness. I told Emma to catch up with you guys while I chased the demon away, so I don't know what happened to her."
"Tch. After leaving you alone for one second, you're all about that so-called noble self-sacrificing crap," Scarlett snarked. "For someone who wants for me to stop calling them a suicidal maniac, you sure like to keep on proving me right."
"Hey!" Ray protested. "I was not trying to kill myself you know! I was planning on living this time! Besides, you overused your powers to do some noble crap as well!"
"That's different!" Scarlett denied. "You had a choice to have Emma there to help you! But you sent her away! Meanwhile, I did it because the demon was hot on our trail! If I hadn't done it, we'd all be dead now!"
"Quiet down, will you?" Emma grumbled.
"Emma!" Ray immediately looked at her, having forgotten the argument.
Scarlett felt a sort of twinge in her heart for whatever reason. What was this feeling inside of her? Jealousy? How ridiculous.
"Ray?" Emma asked. "Is that you?"
"Yeah," Ray replied. "You ok?"
"I think so. Just tired." She suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I'm so glad you're alive! Don't do that again!"
"Yeah, I'm glad you're ok too," Ray said.
"But… What is this place? Where are the others?" Emma looked around.
"We're just as clueless as you are," Scarlett shrugged. She groaned. "I need some water." She grabbed a bottle of water next to her bed and chugged it. Her skin was starting to come back to it's normal shade.
"Before I passed out, I know that the person who saved me had a black cloak around them," Ray described.
"I think I vaguely saw a white cloaked girl as well!" Emma added.
"Who are they?" Scarlett wondered, having no memory of them. "And are they on our side?"
"I think they're not hostile," Emma said slowly. "I remember that the girl seemed nice and caring. Her voice was really pretty too!"
"That's not the point." Ray and Scarlett deadpanned at her, making her sweatdrop.
"They are treating us well though…" Scarlett mused. "They've given us clean bedding and water, and even a bell to ring for help. They didn't tie us down either, giving us free reign over this place."
"If they're our enemies, I don't see why they would do this," Ray said. "I doubt they would do all of this to gain our trust and then backstab us later on."
"Could this be… William Minerva's doing?" Emma suggested. "It makes sense, right?"
"It does…" Scarlett trailed off. "And even if he's not here, maybe the two cloaked people are his allies."
"You guys up for exploring?" Ray suggested.
"Why not?" Emma agreed.
Scarlett found her red ribbon next to her makeshift bed. After tying her hair back up again, they set off.
The three of them walked down the long tunnel in silence. After a little while, Scarlett heard footsteps. But they sounded… strange. Not like how a human's footstep sounds like.
"Someone's coming," Scarlett said out loud. The other two stopped.
The footsteps grew louder until the female in the light blue cloak came into view.
"Excuse me…" Emma started.
"You're awake!" The female said, grabbing Emma's hands in joy. "How do you feel?"
"Um.. y-yeah great!" Emma stuttered in surprise.
The woman then inspected Emma's ear wound. "The bleeding's stopped and I think the fever went down too. I'm glad the healing herbs worked! But you three shouldn't push yourselves too hard. It'd be a pain if you got sick again."
Ray gave a meaningful look at Emma.
"Um… thank you for your help and hospitality," Scarlett murmured shyly. She was still shy and awkward when it comes to new people. People that are on their side that is.
"Of course!" The woman smiled. "And I saw you use some amazing powers earlier! Do you know how that is?"
"N-no," Scarlett replied. "They're a mystery."
"Anyways, you all did a great job escaping from that farm. It's all right now. You're safe here with us."
"Thank you," Emma said gratefully. "But… where are our friends?"
"Right over here," she replied, starting to walk down the tunnel. "We're just about to eat dinner. Let's go!"
The three of them followed her.
Scarlett seemed uneasy though. 'They seem genuine and nice… but why do they hide their faces? Are they wanted by the demons as well? No… even if they are, there's no reason to hide their faces in front of us, since we're clearly not with them. And not only that, but her footsteps sounded weird. And she's not showing any part of her body, not even her hands.'
"Is the man who saved me your companion?" Ray asked.
"Oh? You mean Sung-Joo?" The woman guessed. "Yes, he's my companion."
"So not Minerva then," Ray muttered.
"Minerva?" She repeated.
"William Minerva," Emma said. "Have you heard of him?"
No response.
'So, they're not Minerva, nor his allies,' Ray frowned. 'This still implies that there's another human civilization out there. There's so much I want to ask about. About the world. About the demons. About the rest of humankind.'
"Thanks. Your companion really got me out of a pinch," Ray said out loud.
"It's no problem!" She laughed, waving an arm.
No one but Scarlett would be able to see it. The quick glimpse of long fingers. Six to be exact.
Scarlett's eyes darkened. "Hey. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate your help, but I need to ask one thing. Why did you save us?"
"Scarlett?" Emma asked, trailing off slightly at the end.
"Why are you guys protecting us? So that you can eat us later? Take us back to the plantations? The reason why you won't show us any physical features of yours or why your footsteps sound strange. It's because the both of you are demons, right?" Scarlett demanded.
Emma and Ray gasped.
Scarlett narrowed her eyes, which were also glowing slightly. She could vaguely hear footsteps behind them. "Your companion's right behind us, isn't he?"
Ray and Emma quickly looked behind to see the demon that had saved Ray appear.
"You have good ears and eyes," the male demon commented.
"I have enhanced senses," Scarlett explained briefly. "Now answer my question! Why did you save us?"
'Why? If they're demons, why would they save us? Wait… she said they were just about to eat dinner. No… could it be…?' Emma thought worriedly, tensed.
The male sighed. "Musica, you always take the wrong approach." He leaned in towards them to get a better look.
Emma and Ray started sweating while Scarlett got into a cat fighting stance.
"What's the matter with them? They look awful," he commented.
"Maybe it's because you're hovering over them, Sung-Joo! The poor things are terrified!" The now named Musica scolded.
"Answer our question!" Scarlett outstretched an arm and put a red barrier between them and Sung-Joo.
"Oh? I forgot you had these strange powers… I never knew that humans might be able to develop them. They have always seemed so plain. Maybe if there are more with these powers, they'll be more interesting," Sung-Joo commented.
"Where are our friends?!" Emma demanded darkly. She suddenly raced past Musica.
"Emma!" Ray and Scarlett called out.
"Don't worry about her," Musica reassured them. "She'll find that her, or rather your, friends are just fine."
"You had that question, right? Why did we save you?" Sung-Joo repeated. "Well it's because…"
The two humans waited tensely for his answer.
"...because we don't consider ourselves demons anymore."
"What does that mean?" Ray narrowed his eyes.
"Unlike the rest of our species, we do not eat humans. We're simple travelers and hunters. Hunters of wild beasts and demons like the one you saw earlier. We have no intention on selling you back to the plantations either. So, you don't need to be so wary." The demons suddenly sliced the barrier with his spear.
Scarlett gritted her teeth as she willed herself to hold the barrier up.
"Not bad," the demon complimented. "But a few more strikes, and that barrier is going to break. You'll need to strengthen that ability of yours. You can put it down now."
The ravenette looked at him suspiciously before slowly deactivating her powers.
"Sung-Joo! You know she just recovered! Don't start pushing her now," Musica reprimanded him.
"If they survived to get out here for this long, I say they can handle a swing or two," Sung-Joo replied.
Musica sighed. She then looked back at Scarlett and Ray. "Now, let's go eat dinner! You all must be famished."
Scarlett and Ray followed the two demons to where their friends and now Emma were waiting.
After Musica explained to Emma what Sung-Joo said earlier, they gave their blessing for the food and they ate.
"I'm glad you two are ok!" Anna said happily.
"Yeah, you guys really gave us a scare," Gilda added.
"Sorry," Scarlett apologized. "I wasn't planning on passing out, promise."
"Sigh. I guess I can let it pass. The demon was right behind you guys after all."
Musica and Sung-Joo had taken off their hoods, revealing more of their features. Both of them were wearing strange masks that covered almost their entire face. Musica had light purple hair in two pigtails while Sung-Joo had long red hair.
After dinner, everyone but Ray, Emma, and Scarlett went to go rest.
"Ready?" Ray asked them.
"Yeah," Emma nodded. "It's time we get some answers."
The three of them walked back to the place they were eating, where Sung-Joo was brewing some tea.
"Oh, you're still up?" He asked them. "You should get some rest."
"We will," Emma said. "But first, we need some answers. And… we want to say thank you. And apologize for being doubtful. Even though you two saved us from the plantation demons. I just assumed that all demons were our enemy. It was naive to think of that."
"Don't worry. You all have good reason to be sceptical," the demon replied. "Although I must warn you, there aren't many others like us out there. You'll probably only find us that don't eat humans. You do well to assume that all demons want to eat you."
"So then why are you two…?" Ray trailed off.
"Faith. Our religion is against eating humans. Only humans though. Anything else, I can and will eat. We're what our society calls 'Heathens'. The reason why I saved the lot of you is because of mere curiosity. It's been quite some time since I could have a talk with one of your kind. These days, it's rare to see even a single human outside the plantations."
Their looks indicated unhappiness.
"What's wrong?" The demon asked, noticing their expressions. "Is this not what you asked for?"
"... it is," Scarlett hesitantly said. "But what we really want to know, is…"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"What's going on with the outside world?"
Author's Note: If you guys ask some questions in a review, I'll be sure to answer it in the next chapter! Whether it be how the story will progress or about non-canon stuff. I might not answer some though cause it could be a spoiler!
Also, in case you didn't notice, I've been updating every Monday! So expect an update then. I don't have an exact time, but it should be updated at noon at the earliest, maybe earlier cause I've been making these chapters in advance. I'm literally working on the 18th chapter right now, haha, which is why I've been asking for any ideas or suggestions before they're set in stone.
Thanks for still reading Scarlett's story and I hope I can still keep you entertained!