These chapters will most likely be revised over and over and over again in order to make things more consistent in regards to personality. These will usually only be minor changes.
Isha glared at the slime, raising her stick and waving it around. She tried to still her trembling arm, but she was too afraid still. The slime was almost as tall as she was, and she could still remember how it felt when that moth slapped her. Surely, if the Dark Lord created this little slime specifically to defeat her, it would be even tougher, wouldn't it?
She ran forward, slapping it as hard as she could with her wand. It actually kind of hurt to hit it, and she knew that she would be sore the next day if she kept this up. Of course, there wouldn't be a next day for her if she didn't keep going, so she ignored her exhaustion from her previous run and the growing pain in her hands.
It then struck her, slamming its yellow slimy body into her. It didn't hurt as much as the moth had, which really surprised her. She didn't have time to speculate about why that might be, because it was already getting ready for another attack.
She hit it again before retreating a bit. It was surprisingly tough for literally being made of slime.
It approached her and attacked in the same manner. Even the second hit from the slime didn't hurt her quite as much as the moth had. Was it really just weaker? Or was it because of the armor she had on?
She hit it again, but it still wasn't defeated. This time, she was ready for its attack. She glared at it and steeled herself, holding her stick up. When it hit her, it didn't hurt nearly as much.
After two more hits (and two more of its attacks), It finally disappeared in a flash of light (why is everything flashing? she wondered in the back of her mind), leaving behind a bunch of slime and a floating face-bubble. It flew away, presumably to Greenhorne since it was going back the way she came. She touched her face, finding some of the slime there. "Ugh!" She wiped it off onto her clothes, figuring that there wasn't much point in trying to keep them clean since they were already pretty dirty. She then pulled a small plastic container out of...somewhere (even she didn't know why she had many of the things she carried around) and collected the slime, figuring that it had to be useful for something.
"Where are you going after this, Isha?" asked the guardian spirit. That second time it spoke, it didn't pull her out of the real world. She wondered if anyone else could hear the guardian.
"Oh-um-home? I guess?"
"You aren't going to help the rest of those poor people?"
"Surely someone else will come along. Someone much more qualified than I am."
"But don't you remember? You just saved Asher's face! I wouldn't have called to you if I didn't think you could do it." It continued like it could sense her uncertainty, "How would you like to live without a face? Also, you owe me for saving your life back there."
"Okay, fine, I'll do it."
"Wait, really? Wow, I thought I would have to do some more convincing. Well, off you go, then! Defeat the Dark Lord! You should probably go see if Asher's alright first, though."
The walk back was uneventful, luckily. She was still recovering from the fight, and she didn't think she could survive another encounter for a bit.
She returned in time to see Asher's face reattach itself. The mother was still crying, but they were tears of joy. She fussed over her son, trying to make sure that he was alright. When she saw Isha approaching, she rushed up to Isha.
"Thank you so, so much! You saved my son!" She pulled out a pouch and handed it to Isha. "Here, please take this as a mother's appreciation." Isha looked inside it and found that it was full of coins.
"Oh, thank you!" Isha said, gratefully taking the bag. Before leaving, she looked around to see how many faces she had to save in the town. It seemed like there were only four people without faces, which was doable, she supposed. She really just wanted to get it over with.
"Didn't that feel good, to see how happy that mother was when you helped her son?" asked the guardian, startling her out of her thoughts.
"Well...yes," she admitted.
"Ho ho! I knew you'd come around."
"Oh, come on," she said, rolling her eyes.
"What did I do?" Upon receiving only a scowl in answer, he continued, "anyway, I'll heal your wounds, and you can set out to find the next face!"
That was good. The sooner she could finish this, the better. In moments, she felt all of her soreness and exhaustion melt away. It was like she hadn't fought the slime at all, except that she felt a bit more confidence in herself.
Soon after she set out, she was faced with a moth like the one that attacked her earlier that day. Is it really still the same day? She ran up to it, smacking it with her stick before it could attack her. She could still remember the pain of her previous encounter with one of them.
It then attacked her, slapping her with its wings again. To her surprise, it didn't hurt nearly as much as the first time. She didn't stop to wonder why, wanting to focus on defeating it first. She did, after a few more hits. It crumpled to the ground and disappeared, the face flying away.
She was tired after the battle, even though it was only a moth. However, a few seconds after she won, a bolt of power shot through her, healing her injuries. She could sense a newfound inner ability to create fire by using her magic.
The butterfly left behind some pink honey, which she scooped up in another container. There were also a few coins, for some reason, next to the honey. She decided not to question it.
About thirty minutes later, a commotion on the path ahead of her caused her to quicken her pace. She saw a boy whose long, blue hair was tied up in a low ponytail. He appeared to be a warrior based on his attire. Two rock moths were circling around him, occasionally darting in to slap him. He was turning around and around, swinging at them, but he rarely managed to hit them. As she watched, she saw that he was dodging many of their attacks, but that he surely couldn't keep it up for long.
She began to walk to the side, intending to use their battle as a distraction so that she could sneak past the moths and continue on her way. However, before she could get far, the guardian spoke to her.
"Go on, help him!"
"Why? He looks like he's doing fine on his own," she said.
She got the feeling that the guardian was rather flabbergasted. "Come on, don't tell me you think you can beat everything by yourself. Imagine trying to fight two, three, four of those moths with just yourself and your stick! If you help him, he'll surely join you. You'll really need the help to defeat that Dark Lord."
"Why do you have to be right all the time?" she said, under her breath. She sighed, but complied, running over to the boy. "Need help?" she asked.
"No, no, I can handle this," he said, panting. "Go on, I'll be fine. Don't hurt yourself."
She ignored him, as he obviously was not fine. She decided to try out her new fire skill, aiming at the moth on the left. She smiled in satisfaction, her fire taking it out in one hit. Although he didn't seem to want to admit it, he appeared to be impressed.
He attacked next, slicing at the butterfly with all of his strength. That was all that was needed to defeat it, likely since he'd already hit them a bit before. They stood in silence for a moment, awkwardly looking at each other.
"Hey, thanks, kid," the boy finally said. "I'm Raiden. What's your name?"
"Isha."
"Alright, Isha, tell me. Why are you out here?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"You must know by now how dangerous it's getting out here. There's no way you're just out for a nice stroll when you have that for your weapon."
Isha looked down at the stick in her hand, comparing it to his sword. She hated to admit it, but he had a point.
"Are you lost?" he continued. "I can help you get home safely. Where do you live? I'm not doing anything specific, so it really isn't a bother. I'm just trying to kill monsters, and I can probably do it just as well with you around. Especially if you get a better weapon."
"Before we continue, I think I should make something clear: I am not going home," she said, "for a very long time. Not until the Dark Lord is gone, at least. Perhaps not ever." She was rather appalled by his arrogance, and also by the fact that her guardian seemed to want her to invite him along. Did the guardian just not know that Raiden was like this, or did they just want him for his strength?
"What does the Dark Lord have to do with it?"
"I'm going to defeat him." She did not mention the fact that it was rather against her will.
She didn't appreciate the really, you? face he was making. She wanted to just walk away and ignore him, but she could almost sense the guardian telling her off for that. She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
"It seems like we have common goals, Raiden. Like you said, going along with me would allow you to kill just as many monsters, perhaps more. I assume that you would like to see the Dark Lord defeated, as well. So I propose that we join up and begin adventuring together."
"Alright! Let's go, then!"
His abrupt departure surprised her so much that she had to sprint for a moment in order to catch up with him. He continued to jog for a while, leaving her with no choice except to run along with him. It was not long before they encountered a strange-looking monster called a goblin, which Isha was able to dispatch in one fire attack. Besides that short encounter, the rest of the jog was uneventful. It had gotten dark by the time they reached the inn. They slept the night in a room together, since there were few rooms left.