Luz felt the slight tickle of the sun's rays on her face, bringing her out of her sleeping state. She lazily turned her head to the other side in an attempt to drift off again. However, the chance of that was completely blown when she heard the thud of something larger than her nearby. She immediately woke up fully and jerked up suddenly, nearly hitting her head on the ceiling of the small cave, the walls of which were covered in moss and lichen. Anne was still snoring softly beside her, completely undisturbed by the thud.
Panic was really starting to rise when Luz heard a familiar, all too specific snarl. It was a giant praying mantis, Luz was sure of it, but as icing on the cake, it was bigger than the last one. She didn't know exactly how much, but the growl was lower than the previous green mantis, and the previous one didn't make as much of a thud when it walked.
She began to try and wake Anne in the quietest way possible, shaking her gently on the shoulders a few times. ''Anne! Anne! Anne! Wake up! I swear to god, there is another mantis here!" Luz whisper-yelled.
Anne lazily muttered something under her breath. ''Five more minutes...'' she managed to say sleepily.
''We don't have five more minutes!" continued to whisper-yell Luz. ''We are going to get eaten by a giant freaking mantis!
The mention of a giant mantis made Anne stand up sharply, fully awake with panic in her eyes. ''So it wasn't a dream?" she asked, her voice small.
Luz shook her head sadly. The thrumming stopped, only a nearby low growl was heard. Both girls' blood froze in their veins. The thud returned, this time closer than ever. A large red foot with a sharp point appeared in front of the cave entrance, followed by another. The two girls froze in place, forgetting to even breathe. The praying mantis stood still for a moment then rose into the air and flew away with a loud buzzing sound.
The two teens remained silent for a moment until Luz took a breath and broke the silence. ''Why in Azura's name can this thing fly!?''
''Because it's male.'' replied Anne, still looking at the cave exit for fear that thing would come back.
''What difference does it make!?''
''I have no idea! Marcy told me once and I remembered!'' said Anne, finally looking Luz in the eyes. ''Female mantises can't fly, but males can.''
The two stood frozen in the cave for what seemed like hours. They listened for the slightest noise outside that might tell them about the praying mantis and that she was still there. They could hear nothing, except the buzzing of the huge dragonflies that passed over the cave.
Finally Anne pulled one of the leaves out of her hair and got to her feet, bending over a little to keep from hitting her head on the ceiling of the cave.
''Where are you going?" asked Luz.
''To see if any rainwater has collected.''
''Anne, we saw a huge red mantis outside a little while ago, what if it's still there and ate you?'' Luz tried to dissuade her.
''It walked away, or more like it flew away, we were standing here for probably half an hour or I don't know, it's gone. I'll just see if any water has collected.'' Anne said and left the cave.
Luz shyly looked outside. She gulped and walked out of the cave, quickly catching up to Anne. ''I came to watch your back.''
''Whatever you say.''
Luckily for them, no more huge bugs appeared from somewhere and they successfully reached the cut bottle that had collected enough water for a day or two. Anne carefully took it out from the soil which had turned into soft mud. ''Okay, now we just need to transfer the water safely into the sturdy bottle.'' Anne said as she tried to pour the liquid into the other sturdy bottle. A little of the water failed to enter, witch made Anne wince a little.
''Alright. We have water, now we need food.'' Luz said.
''Where are we going to find some? Should we try to hunt or try to find fruit?''
''Let's look for fruit sounds less dangerous, so fruit.'' replied Luz looking around her timidly. ''Wait a minute... We need to start a fire! I almost forgot.''
''That's going to be a bit difficult, everything is wet.''
Luz started pacing in circles nervously. ''Alright, then, we need food, which god knows where to find, and dry sticks given that it rained a little while ago. All right. Everything is under control.'' Luz whispered the last to herself then took a deep breath. ''Alright then. Let's not waste any more time.''
The two girls got their stuff from the cave just in case and started walking around the lake with the goal of getting to the opposite side, because there seemed to be an open space with no trees. Anne made a new spear on the way using Luz's pocketknife and a long stick she found on the ground covered with mud. They had to go back into the woods a bit, where again the huge mushrooms and trees covered with thick vines towered over their heads. The sun beams that managed to break through the thick vegetation made crooked shadows.
They sat down on a fallen tree overlooking the lake and shared their last protein bar. They looked around the shore once more. They had come close to where they wanted to go and had picked up dry twigs along the way, but had found nothing to eat. Except bugs, but so far they weren't that desperate.
''Can we eat roots?" asked Anne.
''We don't know which roots are edible, so no.''
''How about crickets? I've watched people eat them on TV.''
''Shouldn't they be cooked? I think that's our best option-'' their conversation was interrupted by a loud splash coming from the lake and the startled giant dragonflies flying over their heads with a buzz.
They glanced at the lake and noticed that foam had formed in the water. Something big had jumped in. Another foolish dragonfly passed within a few feet of the lake water. Only to be bitten and submerged in the water by a huge snake with another huge splash. The two girls froze in place from the shock, their fight or flight instinct refusing to activate.
Anne finally shook it off and pulled Luz deeper into the forest, at a greater distance from the lake. ''Nоpе, nоpеnоpе. Don't go into the lake. The lake is bad.'' she muttered under her breath.
They were in a slightly denser part of the forest this time, so dense they could barely make their way through the vines. They made their way to an opening out of the forest, but Anne's attention was taken by a blue cricket as big as a rat resting on a lichen-covered rock.
''Can we eat it? If we roast it over a fire.'' Anne asked, all her attention on the insect as if it would jump at any moment.
''It could be poisonous.'' Luz tried to dissuade her.
''It doesn't look poisonous-'' she tried to say.
''Anne. It's blue.'' Luz tried to argue.
''Blue is a nice color.'' the other girl said, now close enough to catch it. She crouched down a little and reached out to grab it. She managed to grab one of its long hind legs and lift it in the air. The little animal started flailing its limbs in fright, some of which touched Anne's fingers. ''Ahh it's moving! What should I do!?'' Anne turned her head in panic to meet Luz's gaze.
''I don't know!'' Luz said while taking out her pocket knife.
Anne took the knife in her other hand. ''Do you want me to kill it?" she asked with panic in her voice.
''No!''
''Then why did you give me the knife!
''I don't know!
Anne took a deep breath and brought the knife closer to the cricket's head while Luz tried not to look during that time. The insect helplessly turned its head towards the girl who was about to cut it off. ''I can't!" shouted Anne and released the cricket, which quickly hid in the vegetation. ''I couldn't kill it...'' she said blankly.
Luz reassuringly put a hand on her shoulder. ''It's alright, I wouldn't have been able to kill it either.''
''But Sasha could have killed it. She could have made me kill it too.'' Anne said avoiding eye contact with Luz. ''Don't you see Luz? I'm nothing without Sasha, im weak without her. All the decisions I make alone are bad!''
''That's not true, Anne. And Sasha is wrong sometimes. Anne, you killed a huge praying mantis on your first day here! You saved my life twice already!'' Luz stood up. ''You failed to kill the cricket because you're too nice to hurt an innocent creature, not because you're weak.''
Anne thought for a moment, surprised by what Luz said. ''Thanks dude, I don't know what to say really.'' the other girl stood up on her feet. ''Let's keep moving.''
They finally made it out of the dense forest and found themselves on the other side of the lake. Huge papyrus and water lilies grew in and around the lake. However, Luz noticed something outside the lake, something that did not belong to nature. ''Anne, do you see what I see too?'' asked Luz as he pointed to what looked like a sign with red writing on it, but it couldn't be read from there because they were several hundred meters away from the sign.
''No way...'' Anne said incredulously and started walking fast towards the place followed by Luz.
Now that they were closer, they could see that there was a path next to the sign that led to the lake. '' 'Don't swim' '' Luz read aloud. ''Looks like someone found out about the snake before we did. I hope they're okay though, looks like the person was in a hurry to write it...''
''Luz! We're saved! There's a path! There's a civilization nearby, Luz! They'll definitely help us!'' Anne said as she excitedly shook her by grabbing her shoulders.
The two girls walked down the path, letting their guard down a bit. Luz allowed herself to stare at the amazing fauna of this world for the first time since the exploding mushroom incident. They entered a forest again, but this time not so dense and dark. They saw a fence along the trail that was now unfinished and looked long abandoned.
They were so distracted by the fact that they would probably soon be safe that they didn't hear the buzzing behind them until it was too late. With a crash and a familiar sickening screech, a red mantis appeared behind them.
Luz immediately froze, the thing was twice the size of the praying mantis they'd barely killed. Their only option was to run, but that was how Luz came to the conclusion that he couldn't move. Anne snapped her out of her trance again and pulled her along the path until she was coherent. ''We need to hide! We can't outrun it!'' Luz shouted between rapid breathing.
The creature let out another sickening screech that distracted Luz for a moment, but it was enough to cause her to stumble into a root. The mantis quickly caught up to her and raised one of its jagged blades ready to slice her in two. Anne, however, threw her self-made spear to the ground and quickly stepped forward and grabbed the mantis by the upper limb, not letting the blade out of her sight. The creature pressed forward, digging Anne's shoe and sock into the soft soil. Anne turned her head to Luz for a moment, and Luz could have sworn her brown eyes turned blue for a moment. ''Run!''
There was no way Luz would listen to that. She grabbed Anne's spear from the dirt and tried to stab it into the mantis's neck like Anne had done. However, the giant bug easily dodged the blow, but turned its attention away from Anne. Luz handed her knife to Anne and she took it in her right hand, her knuckles turning white from how hard she gripped the weapon.
The mantis attacked Luz first, who tried to impale it with the spear, only to fail. She was hit on the opposite side of the jagged limb and knocked to the ground.
''Luz!" shouted Anne and turned in her direction. The mantis took advantage and swung at her head.
''ANNE! BEHIND YOU!''
She ducked just in time and her head wasn't cut in half. However, she felt her left ear burning and something warm running down her face. She raised a hand to her left ear and hissed in pain. She looked at her hand, the fingers of which were now painted with blood. A small part of the top of her ear was completely missing.
Luz had gotten to her feet and was trying to distract the mantis, which worked all too well. Anne got to her feet and tried to ignore the fact that half her face was starting to get covered in blood. She could taste a salty and metallic taste in her mouth. The mantis had exposed itself and part of its body was completely exposed. Anne stepped forward and plunged the knife with all her strength, deep to the handle, causing the creature to screech in pain. She began to move the knife downwards, making a large cut and managing to successfully draw it out. The mantis screamed in pain, Luz took advantage of this and swept the spear right into its eye. It blinded the creature with one eye and fell to the ground.
Now it was the mantis's turn to retreat. The girls approached it in an attempt to frighten it, though they themselves were scared to death. The mantis lifted itself into the air with particular difficulty and flew away with a buzz, leaving a trail of green.
The adrenaline began to wear off and Anne let out a pained groan and leaned forward. Her hands were once again covered in blood, but this time some of that blood was her own.''Anne! Half of your face is covered in blood!'' Luz said worriedly and approached her, dropping the spear on the ground. ''Your ear!
''Is it really bad?
''Mmmm nooo...'' muttered Luz. ''We need to clean it.'' the girl took out the water bottle and dug into her backpack for patches.
''What are you doing! We don't have much water!''
''I should try to clean it up a bit.'' Luz said in an insistent tone. ''Otherwise he might catch some alien infection. Now bend over.''
Anne listened to her discontentedly. Luz poured some water and Anne hissed in pain. ''Almost done...'' Luz said and took out a large enough patch from her packet of multicolored patches. ''Here's a blue one for you, because you said blue was a nice color.'' she said as she carefully stuck it on Anne's ear. After that, her serious expression completely disappeared. She took out a smaller patch and stuck it on a small scratch on her leg. ''Look! Now we are boo boo buddies!
''Dork.'' Anne chuckled. ''And thank you.''
Their little moment of peace was interrupted by voices. ''Did you hear that? It is definitely nearby! They'll pay us so much if we bring a dead praying mantis and say we killed it!'' said a hoarse and whispering voice probably belonging to a young girl. ''And I'll finally prove to Hop Pop that I'm responsible! After all, you need responsibility to kill such a beast, right?'' said another voice that was probably that of a young boy.
Anne looked at Luz with a big smile, however Luz noticed something. The children weren't coming up to them with walking, no footsteps could be heard. They were coming to them with hopping. Luz quickly pulled Anne out of the way of the path into the greenery where they hid.
In a moment the two children appeared on the spot. Only they weren't human, they were talking frogs, standing on two legs and wearing clothes like humans. One held a slingshot and was pink, the other was blue and carried a bulb of green liquid.
''Look! It was here!" the light blue frog pointed at a small puddle of green. The pink one looked a little disgusted.
''Maddie? Look at this.'' the pink frog squatted down and pointed at a few drops of blood already soaking into the ground. Drops of blood from Anne's ear.
The so-called Maddie saw what the other frog was looking at. ''It's not from a bug. Maybe a bird or even a mammal?''
''What if it's another frog's?" the other frog asked.
The blue frog took out another bulb, this time empty, and scooped at the soil with a spoon, then put the soil with Anne's blood into the bulb. ''I can see how it will react to some potions.''
Potions? Is there magic in this world? Luz tried to step forward to see what was going on, but stepped on a dry leaf which made a crunching sound under her shoe. The two frogs quickly turned towards the sound, the pink one pulling out his slingshot and quickly loading it with a rock and the blue one pulling out a bulb of green liquid.
''Who's there?" the pink one called to them.
Luz turned to Anne. ''Should we come out? They might be friendly.'' she whispered to her.
Anne looked at her in disbelief. ''Are you crazy!? What if they cook us or something!'' whisper-yelled Anne.
However Luz stood up and walked out of the greenery, Anne muttered something and followed her. The two frogs looked at them with gaping mouths, the pink one dropping his slingshot to the ground. ''Uhh hi? We're not going to hurt you, we just want-''
The pink frog shouted. ''Stay away beasts! You don't know what we're capable of!'' he shouted as he tried to unnoticeably hide behind the blue frog.
''Wait, wait, we don't want you-'' Luz tried to start however she had to dodge a rock flying straight at her eye. ''We're not going to hurt you, we just want help-''
''I've never seen anything like you...'' the blue frog lowered the potion and took a few skittish steps forward. ''You are... fasinating... What are you?'' she continued as she stepped further forward now without any fear.
''Maddie! Don't go near those beasts! They can probably bite your face off or eat your insides if they want to!'' the frog boy said, preparing another stone.
Anne and Luz looked at each other and Anne laughed quietly and uncertainly. ''Relax buddy, I won't eat your face, we just want help. We're lost far from home.''
''Oh yeah, like we are going to belive you!''
''Sprig, calm down.'' the other frog turned to Sprig. ''Let's hear them out. Maybe they really need help."
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" shouted the pink frog. "THESE ARE WILD BEASTS MADDIE!"
"They can talk. And don't yell, you don't want to finds us something that really wants to eat us."
Sprig sighed annoyed. "Fine. But it's your fault if they eat us."
As the two frogs debated, Luz awkwardly shared a look with her friend. "Uhh you do know we can hear you right?"
The frogs whispered something to each other without letting the two humans out of their sight. They agreed on something quietly and the blue one stepped forward again. "We're listening." she said trying to sound firm, but it was easy to tell how excited she actually was.
They sat on the ground, still on the path, while Maddie dug into the pockets of her clothing.
Luz began drumming her fingers nervously on her knee. "Sooo as you mentioned potions-"
"Shhh." the pink frog poked her. "We here asking the questions! What are you?"
"Uh, we're human children. We're humans." said Anne.
Maddie had pulled out a notebook and was quickly scribbling in it with a pencil. "Humans? I've never heard of such a thing..." she said hitting her chin with the pencil. "You don't look aggressive or dangerous. You don't have long claws or teeth? Are you spitting poison?"
"Last time I checked I couldn't spit poison." said Luz.
The blue frog quickly wrote something in her notebook. Sprig thought, his features softening. "But that doesn't make sense... How do you survive alone in the forest?"
"We don't live in the forest. We came from another world! I don't even know how we got here. We were in our world and BOOM and now we're here. "Anne said while making hand gestures. "Why am I telling you this?"
"Hmm another world you say? And you have no idea how you got here?" Maddie looked at the two girls, Anne shook her head and Luz followed her. "What did you say your name was?"
"Anne Boonchuy."
'"Luz Noceda."
"Nice to meet you Anne and Luz!" the pink frog's serious expression was completely gone. He offered his hand to Anne for a handshake. ''I'm Sprig!
Anne flapped her hands that were still covered in praying mantis blood. ''I don't think you want this, it's starting to stick.''
Sprig shook hands with Luz, leaving slime on her hand, which she quickly cleaned in her shorts. ''That's gross, but cool at the same time! You're slimy like the frogs in our world!''
''There are frogs in your world?!'' the blue frog asked.
''Yes but smaller and as not intelligent. In our world, frogs can't talk. I still wonder if this is a dream...'' replied Luz.
The blue frog wrote down a few more things in her notebook. She flinched at the breaking of the graphite. ''Ah, the graffito broke.''
Anne dug into her backpack and took out one of her capped pens. ''Here. You can write with this.''
Maddie carefully took the pen, Sprig peeking behind her shoulder. ''Whoa, what material is this made of? I've never seen anything like it.'' she said, feeling the smooth texture of the plastic under her fingertips.
''Uhh it's a pen, uses ink to write. It's made out of plastic, which isn't one of nature's most environmentally friendly materials.''
Maddie quickly wrote something else in her notebook. Sprig put his slingshot away. ''Hey sorry about earlier. It's not every day you find a whole new species in the forest right after a failed spell. You're not monsters, you're just very ugly and lost!''
''Damn, right in the feels.'' Luz jokingly put his hand on his heart in mock offense. ''Wait a minute! Did you just say a spell?!'' she said a little louder than she should have, causing birds and huge insects to fly out.
''Luz! Or Anne, I forgot who's who... Be quieter!" hissed Maddie.
"Sorry.'' said Luz ashamedly. ''Did you say a spell?'' she whispered with excitement in her voice.
''Uh yeah. I'm a witch. I needed a partner for this specific spell, so I got Sprig to help me in exchange for bread from my father's bakery.''
''I hope that this bread will be worth it...'' muttered Sprig.
''Anyway. I've been studying magic for a few years now, but I'm still only a level 1 witch.''
''There's magic in this world?!'' Luz said again a little higher than she should out of excitement.
''Of course there is! There are all kinds of dark arts and what not!'' said Maddie excitedly.
''Can you teach me?" fell to her knees Luz. ''Please please please! I've always dreamed of being a witch!''
''Of course I can! No one has ever shown interest in my magic before!'' replied Maddie with a wide smile on her face. ''Let's go to the town!
''Maddie wait! Sprig stopped her. ''These are creatures from another world! If anyone from the town sees them they'll get scared and start hunting them! Hop Pop won't be too happy if I bring two unknown creatures to town...''
''You're right. But we can't leave them here alone! They don't know this world.'' the other frog said as she turned to the two girls. ''How long have you been here?
''Uh, two days?'' said Anne as she turned to Luz. ''Yeah, two days. And we're out of food, we have water though.''
Maddie turned with a pleading look at Sprig. ''Don't look at me like that, you know I want to help them too!'' replied Sprig. ''What if we take them near the town, to the cave you do spells in? You said no one in the village knows where it is and it's somewhere nearby.''
Maddie thought for a moment. ''That's not a bad idea at all! The cave is covered by vegetation and there's very little chance of predators finding you! It's close to the town and we can bring them food if they need it! And best of all, I'll be able to study magic with Luz and try to figure out a way to get them back to their world!''
Luz stood up excitedly and lifted Maddie into the air with a hug ignoring the frog's cold slimy skin. ''Are you hearing this Anne?! This is awesome! Not only will they help us get home, but I'll be able to learn magic too! It's like a dream come true Anne!'' she said as she dropped the frog to the ground because she felt that she was squeezing her too hard. ''Oops, sorry.''
''No problem weirdo, I can't wait to study you! You don't mind if I take your blood or dissect you to examine your organs, do you?'' Luz laughed awkwardly, hoping it was a joke.
''This escalated quickly.'' laughed Anne awkwardly.
They walked along the path, carefully avoiding the town. Luz and Maddie walked ahead, Luz showing various things from her backpack like pens her phone, which impressed the frogs the most and even a few school books. Behind them, Sprig and Anne got along quite easily becoming friends quickly and chatting and giggling at dumb jokes. Luz never missed an opportunity to ask about every other plant she saw and what they were doing.
They came to a split in the trail and took the path that was overgrown with grasses. They came to an open area meeting a mountain overgrown with a variety of wild flora. Maddie lifted one of the vines and from the other rise the entrance to a spacious cave could be seen.
The kids made their way through the vines entering the cave. Vines and lichens crawled along the walls. On some of the walls were hung shelves with various potions, ingredients or tools. There were a few extinguished hearths over which hung vats of water. On one side there were more shelves, implements and even carpets on the ground, making the other side of the cave look a bit deserted. The smell was strange, a combination that of various flowers mixed with smells too strong and cloying to belong to anything of nature. A light cool breeze hit them.
''It's quite roomy in here,'' Luz said.
''Yeah.'' said Maddie proudly. ''The only downside is that the floor is quite cold, and as a whole sometimes it gets quite cold. I recommend sleeping on the carpet until we make you something better.''
''Thank you very much! I don't know what we'd do without you!'' said Anne approaching and lifting the two frogs off the ground with a hug. ''How can we repay you?
''First by... letting us go... I'm suffocating...'' Sprig said.
''Sorry buddy!''
''The pleasure is ours. I just want you to let me study you and not eat us.'' replied Maddie. ''And I almost forgot! Under no circumstances touch the potions, ingredients and bags without my permission! There are things that can make you grow extra limbs, and I'm not kidding.''
Anne shivered in disgust. ''Alllright, we aren't touching potions, you hear Luz?" she turned to the other girl who was about to touch an orange-colored potion.
The girl stopped and tucked her hands behind her back, trying to look distracted. ''Uh yeah! For sure.'' she replied. Anne shook her head with a small smile on her face which she tried to cover with her hand.
Anne turned to the two frogs. ''Are you sure your parents aren't worried about you? I don't wanna hold you back.''
''Nah, no problem, my father knows I can defend myself and is used to me disappearing all day to do magic. And this is better than being with my little sisters.'' Maddie said.
''Hop Pop sells at the vegetable stand and generally prefers I get off his head and not try to help him because I'm not responsible enough.'' said Sprig, putting quotation marks on the later part. ''Anyway. Do you want us to show you which bugs are the tastiest?''
''Uhh we don't eat bugs. For now.'' Anne said with a disgusted face.
''What about mushrooms, berries or roots?
''That's happening!''
They walked out of the cave and began to walk around the surroundings, the frogs showing various fruits and roots.
''This kind of root isn't the tastiest, but it's quite filling.'' said Sprig as he pulled out a piece of brownish root with a light greenish inside from the ground. ''You have to wash it first though.''
''Cool! What's that over there?'' asked Anne pointing at a pink mushroom.
''I don't think it's edible, but I've seen Maddie use it for potions.''
''I'll take it.'' she said and picked it off the ground. ''Are you sure it's not poisonous?
''Almost sure.''
''What do you mean by 'almost sure'?'' asked Anne, her tone a little high.
''I've seen Maddie holding it with her bare hands so it should be fine.''
Anne sighed. ''If I die it's your fault.''
The kids continued searching for food until they found as much as they thought was enough. However, the two children realized something. They had gotten separated from Maddie and Luz and now they had no idea where they were. They started calling their names as they walked through the forest and miraculously managed to find each other and started walking back towards the cave.
''Soo Maddie.'' Anne started a conversation trying to sound calm. She took out the pink mushroom and showed it to the frog. ''Soo Sprig told me that this kind of mushroom isn't edible, but you use it for potions so I thought I'd take it to help you with something. However, Sprig said he wasn't sure if it was safe to touch it with my bare hand.'' she said as she gave him a quick glare. He smiled and waved awkwardly.
''Did you smell the mushroom?''
''No?''
''Then nothing will happen to you.''
''And why shouldn't I sniff it?
''Basically, this kind of mushroom is used for dizziness potions, strong painkilling potions and things like that,'' Maddie explained. ''But if you sniff it a certain kind of toxin will enter your body that will make you feel dizzy, happier, you won't feel as much pain and you'll experience little hallucinations.''
'' You mean, if I smell this mushroom, I'll get high?''
''Well, yes.''
''Cool.''
The four continued on their way as they talked and joked around. Anne and Luz told the two frogs things from the human world and they were quite impressed as Maddie didn't miss the opportunity to write everything down.
They were pretty close to the cave when Luz sensed that something was really wrong. Nature had gone quiet. There was a quiet crackling, not from a branch breaking or anything though. She and Anne turned to the frogs, whose faces fell and they froze in place looking at the greenery. Their eyes were filled with horror. The two girls turned to what they were looking at and dread overcame them.
Two orange bug antennae protruded from the vegetation, turning black towards the head. The insect darted forward faster than the blink of an eye, its short beak passing inches from Sprig. Sprig jerked away, breathing rapidly. Anne immediately drew her knife and tried to slash at the insect, but it darted with incredible speed to strike her. By sheer luck, she managed to avoid its short beak.
''What the hell is that?" cried Anne in horror.
''Assassin bug.'' whispered Maddie with horror in her voice. She quickly shook it off and pulled out a potion, throwing it at the insect and hitting it.
It screeched in pain and turned on her ready to stab her with its beak and suck out all her bodily fluids in seconds. However, Sprig hit it in the head with a rock distracting the thing. They were more, they had the advantage despite its incredible speed. Maddie said something to Luz and shoved a potion and a few bundles of something into her hands, Luz nodding at her.
Sprig kept firing his slingshot, jumping from place to place, branch to branch, narrowly avoiding being impaled. Luz threw something at the insect hitting it right in the head. A cloud of smoke formed around its head, preventing it from seeing. Anne immediately took advantage of this, plunging the knife into the insect's body to the handle, destroying its wing. She began pulling at the lodged to make a large cut, causing the creature to screech in pain. It pulled sharply to the side, removing the knife from its body but making the cut even larger. It struck Anne with one of its limbs, sending her straight into a tree knocking the air out of her lungs and knocking her unconscious
''Anne!" cried Luz, narrowly avoiding the insect's beak.
The cut was large enough, the insect was getting weaker the more blood it leaked. Luz saw with her peripheral vision as Anne woke up and struggled to her feet, clutching the knife in her hand. She was going to attack it again. Luz threw the flask of Maddie's potion, which shattered on the creature and the yellow-green liquid soaked into its wounds. The blood began to flow faster, it could be seen that the creature was dazed and would soon fall.
Anne approached with a limping walk, grasping the knife with both hands. Sprig continued to shower the creature with stones without thought, confusing and dizzying it. Anne had gotten close enough to deliver the final blow, she just needed something to distract the insect. Luz threw her last smoke bomb, blinding the assassin bug, allowing Anne to try and cut its head off. She lunged forward, plunging the knife into its neck and pressing down. The tough armor refused to be cut though.
The assassin bug managed to remove Anne from itself, the knife slipping from her hand remaining stuck in its neck. Anne fell to the ground hissing in pain. The creature staggered and fell over, flailing its limbs in an attempt to get up. It let out one last wet scream before falling silent and limp.
Everyone sat on the ground looking at the now silent body of the bloodthirsty insect and breathing heavily.
''Do you know what we just did?" asked Maddie in her hoarse whispering voice not expecting an answer. ''We just killed an assassin bug. No one from the town has ever survived an assassin bug attack let alone killed such a monster!''
Sprigg laughed in disbelief. ''We should tell the town! We'll be heroes!''
''But we shouldn't say that there are creatures like Anne and Luz here!'' said Maddie.
Anne stood up and hissed in pain. ''No need to give us credit, say you killed it.'' she said as she crawled over to the corpse, pulling out the knife.
''We can do that, but wouldn't that be a lie? We wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you!'' Sprig objected.
''No problem buddy, say you killed it yourself.'' Anne said as she tried to stand up but struggled. ''You gave us food and shelter, take it as returning the favor.'' Anne tried to stand up but hissed in pain again. ''That bastard knows how to hit...''
Luz quickly went to her side worriedly and put Anne's arm around her neck. ''I'll help you, I'll help you.'' Anne stood up putting half her weight on Luz.
''Thanks dude.''
Maddie walked over and looked at Anne. ''Your leg doesn't look broken, just bruised. I'll give you something for the pain when we go to the cave.''
''I'll stay here to guard the body.'' said Sprigg.
''Are you sure?'' Maddie asked him.
''Yeah, I'll keep myself safe. Call the people from the town after you drop them off at the cave.''
The three kids headed back to the cave when it started to get dark, Anne using Luz for support. Maddie waved the vines away and revealed the cave again. She pressed the cap on a few of the mushrooms to illuminate the place. She settled the two girls on the brown soft carpet, which was probably made of animal skin, and took a few potions from the rafts.
''I'll be back in a bit. I need to tell the others in the village that we killed the assassin bug and make sure Sprig is okay.'' the blue frog said. ''When I get back I'll give you something to help with your wounds. See you later!" said Maddie and ran out of the cave.
Anne lay on her back on the carpet and closed her eyes, sighing heavily. ''What a day.'' she said, but got no answer from Luz. She sat up to look at her friend. She was hunched over, tears streaming down her face. ''Hey hey hey, it's okay. We killed the bug, we're safe!'' she tried to move closer but hissed at the pain in her leg and ribs.
''Anne, do you have any idea how bad you scared me?" said Luz between sobs. ''When that thing crashed you into that tree... I thought the worst! You got hurt because you had to protect me! I'm to blame for this!''
''No, you aren't. And I should have been a little more careful. You protected me a few times, and if it wasn't for you, me and those frog kids probably wouldn't be alive right now!'' Anne said trying to sound comforting.
''But if you weren't here we wouldn't be alive right now either.''
''That's why we are a team! We all helped equally, and you shouldn't blame yourself for me getting hurt because I wasn't careful.'' Anne said and hugged the other girl. ''Look, today we killed a bug that Maddie said no one in the village killed and it was with your help! Earlier you saved my life from a red praying mantis! You don't give yourself enough credit Luz.''
''Thank you. I'm sorry to bother you with my nonsense.'' Luz said.
''Your feelings aren't nonsense. Hey remember. I'm here for you and you're here for me.'' Anne told her while ruffling her hair with her hand. She looked towards the entrance of the cave noticing Maddie there.
''Uh am I interrupting something?" she asked awkwardly.
''Uh no, it's okay.'' Anne said and pulled away from the hug.
''Okay then. Luz? Do you want us to start with your witch training? We'll start with a simple painkilling potion then you'll try to make me a slightly harder potion for faster healing.'' Maddie said and Luz's face lit up.
Sprig finally got home and flopped down on the couch groaning with exhaustion. His grandpa locked the door behind him.
''I'm proud of you Sprig! I can't believe you and Flour's kid killed an assassin bug!" shouted Hop Pop happily. ''You did so much good for the whole family! We'll be remembered as the family whose kid killed one of the scariest beasts in the forest! Those bastards have been killing townfolks for years!''
Sprig let out another annoyed and exhausted groan.
''Sorry boy. I'll let you rest.'' Hop Pop said and walked towards the stairs.
''Hop Pop wait!'' the boy huffed. ''I'll tell you something, you'll probably think I'm crazy, but please don't tell anyone in the town!
''What's worrying you, boy?''
''We didn't kill the bug just me and Maddie.'' started Sprig. ''There were two others that helped us but they weren't frogs.'' he said uncertainly and turned to his grandpa who motioned for him to continue. ''We found them in the woods this morning, they had badly injured a praying mantis and we heard the shrieks. They are creatures from another world Hop Pop! They were lost in the forest and don't know how to get home! They are not dangerous, or at least to us, they straight up murdered that assassin bug, but they are very cool and friendly. Only me and Maddie know about them and we don't want anyone else to know because they'll get scared of them and start hunting them!''
''So you found creatures from another world in the woods and they saved your lives?" asked Hop Pop. ''I can't say I fully believe you, but you should introduce me to them. I will gladly help the creatures that saved my kid.''