Chapter thirty-sixth: Really bad News

"There it is. That's our tree", Ellis said, they had continued their climb toward the rim and the mist had lessened a bit, in the distance up ahead, a large lone tree stuck out from some craggy rocks, moonlight lit up its lush leaves and wide trunk.

Keith and the others was tired—more then tired—but the sight of the tree gave them a burst of energy.

"We're almost there, we can do this, team!" Keith said. "We can make it to the rim, We're going to find the healer and save Shiro."

Just then, Ava whined and looked at Lance with downcast eyes, Lance put his hand on the wolf's soft fur and listened closely, but his heart broke when he heard what Ava had to say.

"Oh, no", Lance said.

"What is it?" Keith asked.

Lance shoot his head, "I have really bad news", he walked a few feet away from the group and turned to face them, "even if we make it to the rim, it doesn't matter, there is no miracle healer".

"What?" Hunk said. "What are you talking about?"

"Of course there's a healer", Keith said.

"No, there isn't", Lance didn't know he could say it more clearly.

"Why are you saying this?" Pidge asked.

Lance looked at Ava, then back to the group. "Ava told me through her sadness."

Ellis, Hunk, Pidge, Stats, Kiaion, and Kosmo stared at Lance with a mixture of sadness and confusion, but Keith glared at him coldly, after all this time, Keith still didn't understand.

"There is no miracle healer, I'm sorry", Ava said, she knelt beside Kosmo who was carrying Shiro on his back and stroked Shiro's hand, they had been so close.

"Stop being mysterious", Keith said. "If you're going to make a claim like that, you owe everyone an explanation."

Lance paused, he was pretty sure that Keith would understand but he guess that he was wrong.

"But it is the truth." he said. "I don't know how to explain it but...Ava know it".

"But why, Ava's leg was healed?" Ellis asked.

"That's the part I don't understand, if there is a miracle healer, why is it on this mountain!" Lance answered.

"I'll tell you why...Maybe it decided to join the scariest mountain ever to scare cowards away, that's what you are, Lance", Keith said.

"Hey...that's stupid offensive, Keith!" Lance argued, "look, I want to save Shiro as much as the last person, but we had no idea what we're dealing with".

"Then we keep walking!" Keith said, without looked back, "We'll find out whether there's healer when we get there".

Some while later, Keith turned around to Lance over and over as they walked, he felt a little bad he'd been so harsh on him, but the stakes of their mission were high; they couldn't afford to make decisions based on a daemon's superstition. Lance hadn't said a word to him since their fight.

"Huh, the more we climb on this mountain, the less scarier it gets!" Keith said.

"Here's a theory," Pidge said. "The higher we walk, the closer we getting closer to death."

"I don't know, something seems different to me," Keith said. the mountain was more intense than ever before.

oooooOOOOOOOooooooo

Keith jumped, "Lance, cut that out", he snapped. "It's not funny".

"I didn't do anything", Lance said.

Hunk, Stats, Kiaion, Kosmo, Ellis, and Ava stopped in their tracks, "Well, I heard something too", Ellis said. "Did anybody make a scary, haunted ghost sound?"

Keith shook his head, "Well, whatever it is I don't think it's a ghost, we keep moving", He started back up the hill and the group followed.

oooooOOOOOOOooooooo

"I heard it again", Lance said. "Maybe we should find out what it is."

"No, we should not." Keith said, was it too much to ask to just get to their destination? Shiro was getting more pale than ever.

"I'm going to share an Explorer proverb with you." Pidge said, continuing to move up the slope. "When traveling up a mountain, trying to save a dying friend and you hear a spooky sound, just keep walking".

"Wow, that's a really specific proverb", Keith said.

Despite herself, Pidge grinned.

"What if someone needs help?" Hunk asked.

"Hunk, you have a good heart", Keith said. "It's super annoying".

But then Hunk batted his lashes and gave Keith a wide-eyed, innocent stare.

"Seriously, you're giving me that look!" Keith said.

oooooOOOOOOOooooooo

The human explorer was probably right. "Fine, but we shouldn't all go up there, I'll check it out, the rest of you stay here and keep Shiro safe".

He unfurled his dagger with his hand and headed off in the direction of moaning.

"I'm coming with you!" Pidge asked as she quickly made sure her friend were alright, plus she must make sure that Keith has backed up.

Keith and Pidge wove their way through the trees, his blade pointed and her ears perked, the closer she got to the sound, the stranger, the forest because. The rocks and the trees around them were shrouded in sticky, weblike strings.

Soon, Keith and Pidge slashed the white mess with their weapons each swing.

Keith cut through a particularly thick mass of web and then, suddenly, thick mass of web and then suddenly, the moaning was louder than ever.

oooooOOOOOOOooooooo

Pidge shivered at what she saw, there was a human-sized figure wrapped in webbing from head to toe, suspended in a giant net of sticky strings.

Pidge's heart was in her throat, but Keith and her fear gave way to compassion, whatever was making that sound desperately needed their help, Keith and Pidge approached the massive cocoon.

"Turrrrrrn baaack", the unfortunate creature called out.

Started but undeterred, Keith stepped closer. "What did you just say?"

"Before it gets you tooooo," the video moaned.

Pidge's heart skipped a beat, but she was not about to leave someone suffering in this state.

"We're not leaving you", she said. "Don't worry, just hang on, we going to help".

Very carefully, Keith placed his blade against the sac and cut a small slit in the webbing, he was careful that his dagger would only penetrate deep enough to cut through the webs without harming whoever was inside.

But to their uttar shock, the entire sac collapsed into a pile of dust, Pidge gasped, whatever had been inside was so fragile, the moment it was expected to air it perished, Pidge turned and ran in the direction she had come.

As she sprinted back toward the group, she tried to shake the image of the disintegrated creature from her mind, but whoever it had belonged to, Pidge was sure that Keith had killed it.

"Pidge, wait up!" Keith called as he was chasing after her, slowing to a jog, at least not nothing had attacked her, but what would will tell the group?

By the time they reached the others, Keith had made a decision.

"So, what was the sound?" Hunk asked.

"It was too late to help it," Keith said. "We should get moving".

Hunk, Kiaion, Stats, Kosmo, Keith, Ellis and Ava started up the mountain ahead of Pidge, but Lance lingered.

"Are you okay?" he asked Pidge.

The image of the sac flashed in her mind again, and for some reason, she found she wanted to share what she had seen with Lance, even if she didn't tell anyone else. "It was horrible, Lance", she said, "It was barely alive, crumbled to dust right in front of me, whatever it was...it was the prey, it's the predator, we need to watch out for."

Lance nodded—that did seem to be a pattern up here. He felt a sense of dread in his stomach, but he was glad Pidge had told him the truth.

Meanwhile, Hunk had become distracted by a rustling noise, there was the shadow of something in the trees he couldn't quite make out.

He strained his eyes to see in the darkness, gazing up into the branches, slowly, the shadow came into focus.

"Arrrrggg!" Hunk screamed, there was a huge glowing face in the tree, It was fierce and skeletal and seemed to drip with slime.

"Hunk! What's wrong?!" Keith yelled, running over to him, but by the time he reached Hunk, the face had disappeared.

"I...I saw something", Hunk stammered, "But it's gone now".

Ellis nodded; he'd been in Hunk's shoes before. "Something's watching us", she said. "If you guys want to turn back, we can try to find another way to the tree".

"There's no turning back," Keith said, "Shiro doesn't have much time. We press on, no matter what".

And so they pressed on, soon, the forest became dense with the white webs Keith and Pidge had encountered earlier, Keith sliced a path through the stickiness but it had become harder and harder to see, and the muscles in his arm were beginning to shake.

When they ran up against a solid wall of webs, Keith stopped.

"Can't you cut through it?" Lance asked.

"Probably better if we can go around it", He said, wary of laying waste to some monster's home.

But the web stretched far in both directions, Ava run up and down its length, sniffing at its base.

"I don't know if there is an 'around'," Ava concurred after a moment. "We just need to punch through."

"All right", Keith said, seeing they had no other choice. "Let's find out what made this", he swiped through the thicket and the group entered a webbed area where everything was sticky.

"Be careful, do not touch those webs", Keith ordered.

"Ugh...they're like everywhere...It's too dark", Hunk said.

CLICK.

"Everyone stop moving!" Keith said, the group froze, but the forest was silent.

Keith motioned for them to begin walking again. CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, the sound came from behind them.

The hairs on the back of Hunk's neck stood up. He slowly turned around.

A giant spider, easily as big as the colossal leech, stared down at them with penetrating red eyes, its legs were as wide as tree trunks and covered in purple fur, its abdomen was covered in a bright green pattern—the 'face' that he had seen before.

"Aaaaaaiiiieeeee!" the spider shrieked.

"Don't scream, don't scream, don't scream," Hunk told himself, they'd defeated the leech; they would defeat this monster too. He quickly pulled out his gun and a lightning sound cracked to life in his hands as he fired at the monster.

But the instant the shot was taken it, the spider disappeared into thin air.

"Ah! Did I get it?" Hunk asked, though he was pretty sure he hadn't. "Where'd it go? Is it in hair?!" A shiver coursed through his body.

"I don't know!" Keith said, "It's a two-tone spider; you'd know if it was in your hair".

"Shh...we need to listen", Ellis whispered.

Hunk brushed off his head one last time began looking around every which way, he couldn't see anything, but he heard...scurrying? It was hard to tell, very hard to tell.

AAAAAAIIIIEEEEE!

The tremendous spider suddenly dropped down from above, Keith and the others took off running and found shelter behind a hedge. The spider loomed ahead, directly in their path to the tree.

"How are we going to get past that thing?" Keith asked.

"Even if we manage to get past it, one misstep and we're caught in those crazy webs", Pidge said, "And trust me, Keith, you what will happen when you get caught in those webs!"

"There has to be a way, we have to get through", Keith said.

"Wait a minute," Lance said. "Something's not right".

Keith and the others glared at him, there was a ginormous spider in their way, many things about this situation weren't right.

But a smile slowly spread across Lance face. "Something's not right in a very good way", he said, "It's going to be okay guys, we can just walk right past it." Lance stepped out from the hiding spot.

"What are you talking about?" Keith said.

Lance stood up taller. "That monster's not real, I'm sure of it".

"That doesn't make any sense", Pidge said.

"Exactly, even if I am not spider expert, all those crazy critters and screams—they don't make any sense!"

Keith sighed. "Lance, you've lost your mind!"

"I'm going out there to prove it", Lance said, and made a move towards the spider.

Keith grabbed his arm, "Don't, don't do it, Lance."

But Lance pulled out of Keith's grasp and ran towards the spider.

"Lance, no!" Keith cried, he stared in horror as Lance marched straight up to the monster and waved his arms at it. The giant spider lunged bur stopped before reaching Lance, then it opened its grotesque, slimy maw and let out the most bloodcurdling scream Keith and the others had ever heard, Keith raced toward Lance.

Lance looked the spider right in the face and pulled out his hand toward the spider's forehead just as Keith came up next to him, the spider didn't react, instead allowed Lance to pet it.

"Wow, I was right, try petting him!" Lance said.

Keith wasn't so sure about petting, but he held his hand out toward the spider, It roared but didn't move any closer.

"See, it won't do anything", Lance said.

"You're right", Keith admitted, he turned to the others, "Lance is right".

"Let's see if we can get it to turn around and show us the creepy glow face", Lance said.

White Lance tickled one of the spider's legs, Keith hung his head, If Lance was right about the spider, that meant Keith was wrong about Lance, he tapped Lance on the shoulder.

"Lance, I owe you an apology", Keith said.

"I couldn't believe it either, I accept your apology." Lance said.

"Well that's okay, I'm sorry I didn't believe in you." Keith said.

"If you really mean it—" Lance said.

"I do", Keith said, looking Lance in the eye.

Hunk, Pidge, Kiaion, Stats, Kosmo, Ellis and Ava came out of hiding and took in the spider.

"I'm not sure which is more terrifying", Pidge said. "But if the spider is fake, then what is it? And what's it doing here?"

"That's the part I'm still unclear about!" Lance answered, "but there's proof that there is no Miracle healer."

"let's just hope you're wrong, Lance!" Keith said.

With lighter hearts and high hopes, the group left the fake spider behind. They arrived at the base of the hollow tree a few minutes later, the trunk was as large as a small cottage and rose what had to be at least one hundred feet into the night sky.

"This is it!" Ellis said, "We were hiding in that tree when the miracle healer found us, it was the only shelter I could find from all the snow and monsters, remember this place, girl?"

Ava licked Ellis's face, "Yes I remember". she said.

"This way, guys!" Ellis led the group into the opening ro a tent, inside the hollow was a cave like expanse covered in moss and fungi.

"So, now what?" Keith asked, pacing around the perimeter."Do we just call for her? Miracle healer! Hello, we're here." He started waving his hands in the air.

"I don't know, I just showed up, and then she showed up", Ellis said.

"Yeah. I don't see why that shouldn't work", Keith said.

But as soon as Keith had closed his mouth, a soft glow began light the hollow.

Lance and the others turned toward the light, which was coming from just outside the tree, "Actually, I think it is working", Pidge said, she pointed to the moon as the gang piled out of the tree hollow.

Figures seemed to emerge as if from the moon, getting larger as it appeared as wide as the moon itself.

Pidge shielded her eyes as the figures got closer, and it glided to a stop near the tree.

"It's ninjas." Hunk said, he hadn't seen one since he was a small child. And soon the group find themselves surrounded by ninjas.

"I thought the ninjas was just a myth", Keith said.

"Not the first time you've been wrong today, buddy", Lance replied.

"Fair enough", Keith said as he got out his weapon to defend himself again the ninjas who dressed in black to hide themselves from the darkness, he resisted the urge to kill them as one false move could end up endangering Shiro's life.

Keith watched as a figure emerge from the ninja, a woman holding a walking stick, she wore a gray cloak covered with crystals, her gray-white hair was wound up in a knot on top her head, and two braided plaits hung in front of her ears but her unique feature was in fact that she was green, her entire body was green but her very presence seemed to calm Keith's racing heart.

But Pidge's reaction was not calming.

"Lance and Ava was right", Pidge suddenly burst out, "That's no miracle healer, she's fake".

"What? How do you know?" Keith asked, he'd never met a healer before, but this woman seemed genuinely interested, like he imagined a healer would, if you weren't surrounded by ninjas.

"She's a deamon, a special type of daemon." Hunk exclaimed, "she can't heal anything".