Haha turns out I'm very bad at gauging how long I take to write. I'll stick to hopefully a chapter per month. Hopefully. You know, I think my problem is that I only write when I'm in the mood. If I don't, I get angry about how bad I write. I think I'll take the time to initiate the mood this next month. That being said, happy holidays. Sorry for the short chapter. Give a review please, I need to know if you like it. Thanks.
Space between me talking and actual story.
"Wake up. Flak, wake up." I jolted awake. Galin was slapping my face gently. I swatted his hand away and yawned.
"What's going on? Are we there yet?" Galin wryly smiled. I rubbed my eyes. We were still in the forest. Understandable, considering how big it was.
"Take watch for me, I need to sleep." Galin immediately fell asleep. I yawned again. Galin did look like he needed lots of sleep. If he wasn't going on this quest, he was probably going to pull an all-nighter in his workshop. What did he need to work on anyway?
I yawned yet again. I was also lacking sleep. In fact, I was lacking so much sleep I began to hallucinate strange sounds. The insects buzzing around and the rustling of bushes were normal. But, I heard weird squeals coming from behind us. I had to keep watch, so I shot a little lightning bolt out of my hand and played with it. Lightning powers defy reality. Just in case, I checked the side view mirror. My eyes widened as I saw something all too familiar.
To put it simply, my mind went into overdrive. I had to think of a way to wake everybody up quick, so they could cushion themselves. I didn't know why, but I instantly locked on to the car screen. I didn't evaluate it or anything, I just knew what it had. The car had an encyclopaedia app, a design app and even a videogame on it. All that information ran through my head in not even a second.
I slammed the car with electricity. The car screen flashed through different apps until it landed on the alarm app. I shot more electricity into the car. The alarm on the car rang so loud that even Selena jolted awake. I stopped the electricity just in time for me to shout a warning.
"Boar!"
Selena and Dahlia lurched forward and crashed onto the back of the shotgun seats. The car made horrible screeching noises as it began to sputter out of control. The car was hit again, but on the side. It spun over and crashed into a tree. I could hear us all grunt in pain as we landed on our heads. We barely had time to recognise our situation before we heard another malicious squeal. Erik was charging directly at us from the front.
Galin brought out Erik's former tusk and blew into it. He must have spent his time working on it, as the tusk was bronze. Powerful lightning shot out from the tusk and broke through the glass window. It shot straight at Erik, though he decided to dodge. Galin tried to blow the horn again, but it only spurted out little sparks.
"It's Erik. Erik the boar." I told the others. I had seen Erik in the side view mirror, ready to ram us. I knew I killed him, but here he was again.
"I assume that means the Erymanthian boar. We have to fight, except Galin, of course." Selena turned herself around into an upright position. We all followed suit. I looked out the front window. Erik was in front of us, waiting. I guess he decided to be a gentleman and wait for us to strategise.
"Why Galin?" I asked. Galin looked at me as if I was an idiot.
"You think I can fight?" I nodded. I shot lightning into his Erik tusk. From that, I could sense that the tusk was connected to the lightning curse. It wasn't fully hollowed out, so it wasn't at its full power. But, I had recharged it a bit, it could shoot again.
"Yes. You have a gun and Erik's tusk." Galin only did sign language in response. He pointed to himself and laid his left hand down. His right hand was shaped into a scissor with the thumb pointing up. He crossed his left hand with his right hand. I had to assume that meant 'I'll be run over.'
"You're absolutely right. Let's go." Galin sarcastically began crawling.
Selena and Dahlia got ready to crawl to the front. But, before that, I had to ask, "Wait, before we go, can anyone tell me why Erik is back? With wolverine tusks to boot?"
"I don't know. He shouldn't have reformed that fast." Selena elaborated, "Monsters reform in Tartarus after they die and the few that escape are the monsters we face. Erik died yesterday, there was no way it could reform and escape from Tartarus within a few hours."
"He must have had help. Some kind of sick person who decided that resurrecting monsters seemed good and fine." Dahlia looked disgusted at the idea.
"Not just that, the person armoured Erik's tusk with adamantine." Galin took a look at Erik before turning back to us.
"We can do this guys," I said to the others. I began crawling. Galin got the tusk ready, to scare away Erik if he charged while we were crawling.
I kept my head forward, to pay attention to Erik. Erik was such a gentleman for waiting on us. Or maybe he was scared of the lightning tusk. Both works. I had to be careful not to let my hands touch the ground since it was covered in glass shards. If you've ever broken a window, you'd know the glass shards spread everywhere and tear through your skin.
I got up first and touched my earring. The earring expanded into the same bow I used during the Apollo competition. My quiver was already on my waist as I had put it on while we pulled out our water containers. I pulled out an arrow and nocked it, prepared to strike. I wasn't sure what I was aiming for, Erik's eyes were much smaller than a bullseye. Not only that, I didn't have the help of the lightning bolt either. I knew, for certain, that it increased my overall abilities. It helped me win against Apollo. Though, to be fair, I was shooting at the same target multiple times. Get with the process and you'll master it.
Selena pulled off her earrings. They turned into maces. Dahlia also pulled off her pendant. I expected a trident, but it was a sword instead. I didn't know why the pendant had a trident on it if it wasn't one. Since the three of us had weapons at the ready, well, technically Galin was also ready, but he wasn't battle-ready, Erik saw it fit to squeal.
"Alright Erik! Come on, let's duel!" I shouted. I walked slowly towards Erik. Selena and Dahlia shuffled away, probably worried about me, but I had a plan.
Erik charged. His only attack was charge, which made it pretty easy to avoid. I let loose an arrow, hoping to hit his eye. The arrow bounced off the thick skin. I grabbed another arrow, and instead of shooting it, I extended it. I threw the now-lance onto the ground, letting it roll towards Erik. If all went well, Erik would trip over the lance. Unfortunately, all went not well.
"Flak!" Galin screamed. Erik simply leapt over the lance and kept charging. I barely had enough time to pull out another arrow and extend it to block the charge.
I stamped my feet on the ground and held up the lance. My bow clattered onto the grassy ground. Erik's tusks became entangled with the lance and actually brought me off the ground. I expected to skid on the ground, like a hockey player, but instead I was brought off the floor as if I was a beetle on a stick a child picked up. A beetle that was unfortunately about to be smashed onto a car. Poor beetle.
In an effort to stop him, I generated electricity and shot it through my lance. The lance conducted the electricity and sent it to Erik's adamantine tusks. To my surprise, it didn't affect him at all. The tusks coated in metal didn't conduct electricity. I didn't have time to shoot another bolt of electricity before I crashed.
I gritted my teeth to avoid screaming as I was smashed onto the car. My body was the only thing that prevented Erik from running over Galin. I felt like I was Batman, getting his back broken by the Bane. My back wasn't broken, but it definitely felt like it. A miracle.
"Galin, now!" Selena shouted. I heard Galin blow his tusk and saw a little streak of lightning that passed under my legs, ever so slightly not hitting me. The lightning splashed onto Erik's face.
I then realised that the lightning splash was not in fact, actual lightning. It was water. Water had splashed onto Erik's face and absorbed the lightning. Despite the nature of reality, the lightning spread throughout the water. Erik didn't even have time to respond before the water dove straight into his eyeballs. I would've cupped my mouth in horror if I could.
Erik began convulsing. His eyes were trembling and his legs almost gave out. The immense pressure on my arms and body stopped. I dropped the lance and nearly collapsed. Dahlia didn't fry Erik's eyes, she fried everything else. The eyes led straight to the brain, so naturally, Dahlia sent the water up there. Then through the spine. Then-you know what? I won't burden you with the knowledge.
Erik's final moments before disintegrating were watching me collapse. I saw straight into his eyes and he saw straight into mine. His eyes were scared, fearful of what was happening to him. Mine were probably horrified. For at least a moment, I thought we had a connection. Despite his attempts at murdering me, I felt sorry for him. The same way I feel sorry when a child couldn't afford flowers. I reached out my hand and grasped our prize in my hand.
"Flak, are you okay?" Selena ran over to my side. Her maces had already returned to her ears. She carried my bow with her and also returned it to my ear.
"Yeah. Wanna see our prize?" I asked sombrely. Dahlia nodded feverishly. At least someone was happy about this.
I opened my hand. Two eyeballs that were formerly Erik's sat on my palm. "Dahlia, these are yours."
Dahlia hesitantly took the eyeballs. I tried to sit down, but Selena took my arm and tugged me over from the car wreck. I was about to sit down on pointy bits of glass. I collapsed on the grassy meadow and silently thanked Selena for her assistance.
'Don't mention it.' Thanks Selena. Again. I began to wonder if maybe the chaotic lightning water was a plan Selena came up with and shared to the other two. But not me.
"Sorry," Selena apologised outside of my mind. She sat down next to my collapsed body, almost ready to lay down like me. Galin carefully crawled over to us.
"Dahlia! What do the eyes do?" Galin hollered. Dahlia broke out of her trance and sat down next to us. She looked uncomfortable having to be the one to explain.
"So, the eyes," Dahlia began. She looked incredibly uncomfortable. Galin gestured for her to continue. "They cry."
I wryly smiled. "Of course they do."
Dahlia tried to explain the benefits of a crying set of eyes, but the rest of us looked unconvinced. "They cry clean water. We have a steady supply of water now. I have easy access to water when we need it to fight. If it comes to it, we could drink the...tears."
"See?" The pool of tears in Dahlia's palm flew into the air and shaped into a little figure of a boar. She made it crash into a misshapen person, which was definitely me. I was a little miffed at that.
Since Galin and I weren't able to do manual labour, the girls had to pick up after us. Selena and Dahlia got Galin's wheelchair out from the trunk. Meanwhile, we were picking out glass shards from our face. They got out our bags and carefully retrieved some of the celestial bronze that broke off of the car. Galin had asked for some. Probably for the tusk.
Selena fed me two ambrosia cubes. The aching in my body lightened, but didn't go away. However, my wounds disappeared over time. It took several minutes, but the scratches and the bruises I received disappeared. I was in awe at the power of ambrosia, but didn't have time to think about it before Selena urged me to get a move on. We were going to walk all the way to Chrysanthemum General Hospital. By the way, I tasted pancakes this time. My favourite food changes a lot.
We were already pretty close to getting out of the forest, so it wasn't hard finding our way out. The sky above us was still dark, a sign that we were up way too early or late. I was hoping for some midnight taxi to come around, but nothing came. Galin was the only person able to fall asleep. His snoring was pretty loud and kept the rest of us up. Also, I have to say that I was the one driving Galin's wheelchair. Apparently, Selena was too careful and Dahlia was too rough.
I can't say nothing happened on the way to the hospital. We managed to reach the city just as the sun rose and made the decision to eat some food. We ate pretty quickly even though we still had the rest of the day and 9 others. Then again, we still had 12 tasks to go. After that, we took a taxi to the hospital.
Chrysanthemum General Hospital was just like a regular hospital. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. Not a lot of people needed to go to Chrysanthemum in this time of day, so the lobby was practically empty. I did spot quite a few people I recognised though, from my time here. I knew most of the patients who were stuck here. Diagnosing my condition took weeks, so I had the time to know these guys.
One special person, who was walking out of the hospital, happened to be my best friend when I spent time there. His name is Docker. We've drifted apart since then, as he was still recovering from his broken leg. As such he was always seen with a crutch. I advised him to ask for a prosthetic as that would be much quicker and we had the technology, but he refused. His reasoning was that the leg could always have been tinkered with and he'd stand out. I guess he just wanted to be 'normal.'
"Flakey! You're back! Haven't been back in months buddy. Where've you been?" Docker limped over to me and gave me a one-handed hug. I awkwardly gave him one back. His hand nearly reached my quiver, which I hadn't realised I was still wearing. When we stopped hugging me, he moved away. He didn't seem to notice the quiver, even though it was in plain view.
'Sleight. The Sleight that affects mortals is called The Mist. A more accurate term is Glamour. It affects all mortals who happen to see things that would seem unusual to them. It makes them think of an explanation that makes sense and the Sleight makes it look like it." Thanks Selena. So, for all we know, Docker sees a normal purse.
'Yes. That is how it works. Congratulations.' Tired Selena, my favourite kind of Selena.
I smiled, not wryly this time. "Gave up on a cure. I'm just living life under roofs now."
"Haha, sounds good." Docker eyed the others somewhat uneasily. "So, what're you here for then?"
"We're looking for..." I trailed off, but Selena had my back.
"Haley Instil. She's a little girl about 12 and has platinum blonde hair. She's supposed to be bedridden in a room here." Selena grasped my shoulder and pulled me back a little, closer to her and away from Docker.
"Who's this, Flakey?" Docker looked suspicious of Selena. I knew I had his full trust, but I didn't know why he was so distrusting of everyone else. He wasn't like that when we first met.
"Selena," I wavered, "Instil. Haley's big sister. She recently traveled here to visit Haley but had no idea where to find the hospital. So, I escorted her here and I figured I might as well pay a visit."
"Cool, cool. I'll make it easier on you then. Her room number's," Docker hesitated, probably because he wasn't sure if he remembered, "407 if I remember correctly."
"She was on the same floor as us? How did I never meet her?" In this hospital, the patients are tight-knit. We're encouraged to interact with one another and as a result some of us think of the hospital as a second home. I still do.
"Back then, the doctors were still making sure that she wasn't under too much stress. It was like that until recently."
"Residents only?" That was how visitations typically worked. Residents of the hospital that were cleared for visiting and family members.
"And some trustworthy outsiders," Docker added.
"Then we're fine," I thought out loud. Haha Selena, you have to use your ears for this one. Selena sighed and moved over to Dahlia. Dahlia comforted Selena. Docker, meanwhile, had a smile that seemed strained.
"Yeah, you'll be fine. I'll wait outside, just like always." Docker slowly walked over to a nearby bench with his crutch. The bench was carved with an ornate design and was put in front of a flower bed. I smiled a little bit when I saw that. Same old Docker.
"Come on, come on." Galin impatiently drove inside. Dahlia and Selena quickly followed in. I hesitated before I caught up with them.
Docker felt off. When you hang out with him, you can tell he just wanted to stick around and have fun. He would go along with the group and had a hard time saying no. That led to him getting taken advantage of a bunch of times, but he always excused it by saying that is was for them. Whatever made them happy.
Today, though, he was different. He was hesitant, something he never is. Was he scared or something? The Docker I knew would have happily chatted with the group. He'd probably talk to Galin for awhile. It was the little things that made me think about it. I didn't know whether that made me too cautious or too sensitive. Whichever it is, I had to put it behind me and move on. Docker probably had an operation or something coming up. That was why he was nervous. No reason to worry.