I stood there for a moment, frozen in fear. That one moment, though, was all it took for the trees to grow inhumanly tall. The clocks had grown eyes and were staring me down, but all I could think about was following Atlanta. The ground rippled beneath my feet like the ocean, but I kept running. And running. And running. Finally, Atlanta collapsed on the ground. "Atlanta!" I said, running up next to her and putting my arm on her shoulder. She was holding a huge gash on her side.
"It's the fox…" She stammered, "He knows your biggest fear. He will project it into your mind and make it a reality in his lair. He knows… He knows everything." She heaved and shook until she started throwing up small spiders. I waited until she was done.
"Why are you here?" I asked. My voice was shaking.
"I wanted to… to protect you…" She said. It took all of her power. "From the prophecy…"
"What do you mean? How can you protect me from the prophecy?" I asked.
She struggled for breath now. "It said in plain Greek that the hero would die. You were such a great friend to me, and I didn't want to accept it. I tried to change the prophecy, and I…" She struggled again. "I am suffering the consequences." I started crying. When I wiped my eyes, I found out they were tears of blood.
"You can't leave! You are my best friend!" I said, taking her hands.
She fought for a smile. "You are my best friend, too. It's not your time to go, Zenia. I'm going to be with my Helene." She looked into the distance. "I'm going to be with my Helene… My Helene…"
"No!" I screamed hysterically, "No, no, no! Come back! Stop it!" I was screaming and tearing at my hair. "Stop! Come back here! No!" I collapsed onto the ground, which had stopped its current during our last conversation. I ripped at the moss on the ground and finally stopped and rested against a tree. I looked at the corpse of Atlanta. I got up, walked towards her, and took off my ring. When I placed it on her right ring finger, she started glowing red and was soon engulfed in gentle flames. Her body was soon swept away to God knows where, taking my ring with her. I was happy that I took the ring instead of my weapons. "Thank you, mother."
I started on my way back to the cave. On my way, I came across a rabbit who was throwing rose petals on the ground from a basket. "Hello, little fella!" I said, stooping down to see him. He looked at me, fear in his eyes. He shook his head and dropped rose petals more vigorously.
"Oh, don't mind him! He can't speak anyway." Said another rabbit, coming out of the brush. They were both standing on two legs, and the one who had just come out was wearing a fancy ball gown. What made the sight more peculiar was the fact that they were, well, normal rabbit sized, and nothing here was normal.
"Why not?" I asked.
"I cut his tongue out! See?" She pointed to her necklace, which had a variety of teeth and a tongue in the middle.
"Umm… fabulous." I commented.
"Oh, I just knew you'd love it! Everyone does. It's the must-have accessory this season." She gushed.
"Right, well, would you mind telling me where the fox lives?" I asked.
"Of course! He lives that way." She pointed behind her. The other rabbit shook his head and pointed the opposite direction. "You stupid buffoon! Don't listen to him. He's dumber than a post." Just then, an anaconda slithered out from a tree.
"You again?" I said, not particularly happy to meet my old acquaintance.
"Who again?" He said.
"You. You're the crazy anaconda." I said coldly.
"I'm not the crazy one- you are." He commented.
"Kill it! Kill that nasty snake, Gillian!" Screeched the female bunny. Her fur was turning red and she was jumping up and down in anger.
"Oh, calm down. He's just a snake." I said.
"Kill her too! Kill them all! Eek! Snakes are gross! What are you waiting for?" She pressured poor Gillian. Gillian just shook and covered his head in rose petals.
"Hush now, Mrs. Foxtrot, don't be alarmed. It's just me." My anaconda friend cooed.
"You disgusting snake! I'll tear you!" She suddenly grew large fangs and claws and leapt at my anaconda. He dodged easily.
"So have you found your fox yet?" He asked, still parrying Mrs. Foxtrot's blows.
"No, I'm afraid I haven't." I admitted.
"I didn't think so. You would be dead if you had." He knocked the annoying rabbit away with his tail.
"Do you know where I can find him?" I asked.
"Yes. Did you try looking in that direction?" He asked, pointing his tail towards where Gillian had pointed.
"No, I haven't. Thank you." I said.
"Not a problem." He said. I turned to walk away just as he was swallowing Mrs. Foxtrot whole. As I walked, the trees swayed, even without breeze. The ticking of the clocks had stopped, but the clocks were still there. I started humming a tune to pass the time, and a little blue bird came up to me and started humming along with me.
"You're a cute one." I told her. She kept humming. The anaconda slithered up next to me.
"Not everything here talks, you know." He said.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" I asked.
"Hmm… Yes, I suppose am. Apologies." And with that, he dove into the ground. I resumed walking.
"He's an odd one." I told the bird. She tweeted. "I like you." I said, smiling. We resumed humming until a blood-curdling scream broke the air. My poor bird-friend exploded on impact.