A Monster in the Forest
The six remaining contestants, Damon, Luna, Aria, Bryan, Bible, and KJ entered the Forrest guided by three soldiers in black suits from the Immortal Horses.
They were given food, water, flashlights, a compass, three lamps, and were then left alone to their own devices.
---
After fifteen minutes of walking aimlessly through the deep damp forest, the sky slowly turned dark.
Ding!
Everyone in the group was messaged simultaneously.
Message: [The monster is 500 meters North West]
Everyone followed North West on the compass until they reached a slightly open area.
Ding!
Message: [The Monster is 50 meters nearbye]
"This is such a scam. They are obviously tracking us with a drone or whatever," said Aria as she looked up at the sky.
"We should at least settle down for now and camp out here," suggested KJ as he placed his lamp next to a tree.
The five other Witches followed along placing their two lamps on trees and splitting up into groups of three.
Damon and Bryan.
Luna and Aria.
KJ and Bible.
---
"Damon, I have a question?" asked Bryan.
"What is it?" Damon laid out in the forest, his back against a dark oak tree.
"How did you kill that Ice Witch, Demitri, and what type of Witch are you?"
Damon looked off into the darkness. The small lamps of Aria, Luna, KJ, and Bible in the distance. He looked at his lamp, the buzzing gnats swarming around it.
"I'm a Gravity Witch."
Bryan looked at Damon. He felt like something was off in that response
"And what about your friends? Luna, Aria, what's their deal? Back at the HQ, Aria was always eyeing me up, watching me."
"She's... A character. Serious, murderous, slightly evil... Actually, she's pretty evil... But she's also determined."
"Do you care for her?" asked Bryan, his back up against another tree opposite Damon with the lamp in between them.
"No... I..."
Damon looked at his own palms, the last seven-hundred years in his hands. His lovers. His friends. His partners... In crime.
"I care for her. But I don't want to."
Bryan felt a sudden change in Damon's demeanor like his inner mind was slowly morphing into something else, something mailable. So he kept going.
"Funny, you always gave me that uncaring feeling, like you were always bored? So do you..." He jokingly pretended to blush, "do you care for me too?"
"Only if you're not boring."
"Then wanna hear a joke?"
"Sure."
---
Luna and Aria sat together. They watched the small lamp fizzle in and out as the dark night passed by.
"How long are we gonna be out here?" asked Luna as she laid back in the tall bushy grass.
Aria held out a Berretta m9, she tossed it around, waving it back and forth, cleaning its barrel and trigger.
"Didn't you get the text? We finish once we kill the monster."
"But didn't you say that this was all a lie or whatever? That Miss Eiko's just doing whatever she wants. Didn't she say that herself yesterday?"
Aria loaded her gun.
Click...
Chink...
Pop!
"Luna, these Immortals can't be trusted. Take everything they say with a grain of salt. You trust an Immortal... We'll you..." She glanced at Damon across the way, "sometimes you can't even trust even the one closest to you. But at the same time, you have to take risks. And this risk paid off. He saved my life."
Luna looked at Damon at the same time Aria did.
"Are you talking about Damon? He saved your life?"
"Yeah... He saved me... He's trustworthy. But he's also lazy and gets sidetracked a lot. I think So I think I'm also doing him a favor as well. When I first met him he was depressed and a loser, now... Well, he's mostly the same, but at least he's along for the ride."
Luna couldn't keep her eyes off of him.
"Aria...?" she asked still staring.
"Yeah?"
"I think I've fallen for him."
"For Damon?"
"Yeah for Damon, he's... He reminds me of..." Luna turned back to Aria, "I'm too embarrassed to talk about it."
"Haha. Good, I don't want to hear it."
Rustle...
Rustle...
Rustle...
Someone rustled in the bushes nearby. Aria and Luna immediately turned to it.
"Luna get back!" Aria commanded as she pointed her gun at the bush.
"Wait it could be a bunny!" screamed out Luna as Aria slowly put her finger on the trigger.
"Wait wait!"
A man jumped out from the bush.
"Don't shoot! I'm... I just wanted to listen..."
It was Bible.
"Your...?"
He stood up from the bush, his black military jumpsuit. His long assault rifle strapped around his back. He held his hands up.
"I just wanted to listen to yall and protect yall."
"Protect us?" asked Aria still pointing her gun at him.
He sat forward, his legs crossed and staring right at the two beautiful women in front of him.
"I didn't want to be partnered with that old guy, KJ. He creeped me out. So I came over here, but you two were talking about something personal so I decided to not interfere."
"So you're a stalker?" asked Luna.
"No-no-no. I'm no stalker. I'm just feeling a bit lonely. So can I sit with yall?"
Luna turned to Aria. Aria turned to Luna. They stared at each other. They stared at Bible.
"Sure, but you have to tell us a good story."
---
Ten minutes later.
"So did you like the joke?" asked Bryan to Damon.
"No, it was shitty."
"Come on it wasn't that bad."
"It took you ten minutes to explain it."
"Fine, it was a little bit-"
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Across the forest, a loud scream erupted. Everyone jumped up. Damon, Bryan, Aria, Luna, Bible, they all turned to KJ's lantern in the distance.
They looked at his shadow. His light. Where he sat.
He was missing.
Aria pulled out her Beretta m9. She pointed out into the forest.
"Luna the flashlight!" she commanded.
Luna pulled out the flashlight.
Click!
She shined it out into the forest.
The tree lines, the grass riding up the moss, the bushes and leaves, floating across the dark empty space, all lit up by a single beam, all toward one point, the eyes.
A dark red, deep cursing, a murderous intent.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Aria fired off three shots into the darkness.
Rustle...
Rustle...
The monster disappeared.
"What was that?" asked Bible.
Damon and Bryan walked up to the group of three.
"What did you guys see?" asked Bryan as he looked out into the dark abyss where the monster escaped into.
"It was..." Luna turned to Damon, "a monster!"
Aria sighed, "yeah no shit Luna. We were all told about this beforehand. It was KJ's stupid fault for having us wait around. We should have just went for it and killed it."
"Then what about KJ? Did he get eaten?" questioned Byran as he picked up the half smashed lantern.
Bible looked out into the forest, on the tree KJ was sitting next to. He touched the bark, the leaves.
Blood.
"KJ... Is dead."
"Ahhh!" screamed Luna overexaggerating as she grabbed Damon's arm.
"Oh my!" pretended Byran.
"I'm not shocked," said Aria without any concern.
Damon wiggled his way out of Luna's grasp, "he died pretty quick, and we didn't learn anything about him. I feel like something is up-"
Bible interrupted, "so what's our next step?!"
He looked out into the forest pointing to the direction where the monster ran.
"We should follow it and kill it before it escapes. But instead of going in a group, we should go in pairs. I'll nominate myself, while you four pull from straws or something."
"That sounds like a smart idea," nodded Luna.
Aria looked at Bible with a confused suspicion, "no, it doesn't that's a stupid idea. But..."
She turned to Damon.
"I nominate Damon to go out there with you."