Chapter ten: Bringing an end to this here adventure...or so we thought'

This would be my first time in the forest. This would probably be the first time I step into the woods in both my past and current life.

Well, that’s mainly because earth was more civilized and had huge buildings everywhere. There weren’t exactly much forests or reserved, and I found that a bit sad.

Now that we’re in here, this is starting to feel more and more like a real adventure. I’m getting a little fired up really. But at the same time, I’m beginning to think of all the things that could possibly go wrong.

Let’s just hope no one pulls a red flag. But isn’t just thinking about it a red flag enough?

As long as I don’t say it out loud, it probably isn’t.

If we steer clear of red flags, we should be fine.

“Okay! Let’s go rescue Muffin. We are the hero’s party, nothing can stop us!” and so the first flag was pulled right off the boat.

I felt my tummy gurgle as I listened to Don's without a care in the world declaration.

“Reo, are you okay?” Don turns to me and asks.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Then why are you making that kind of face?” Don asks again

“Ah! No, it’s nothing.” I said.

“Okay then. If you say so. Let’s keep moving.”

Yeah... let's get this over with...

We slowly but steadily began to advance into the forest. And once again, I spotted it once more.

An akward seeming girl sneaking side glances at me within short intervals. It's been like this for a while now.

Lia and I have been akwardly clashing gazes and glances at each other. She'd quickly avoid and divert my gaze when she notices I've spotted her. Frankly, it's been pretty uncomfortable.

I decided to ignore it all this time but ity becoming a lot harder to

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We advanced into the forest with careful steps, closely looking out for more clues and keeping an eye out for the dog. We followed the pawprints and continued. And after some time, somehow it really began to feel like an actual adventure. I oddly got really into it.

We would sometimes mess around a little and goof off though. But the kids never really forgot what they had come to do.

And so time flew by quickly. And within that time, to escape the slow boringness of our calm progress, my mind jumped it a strange activity of it's own.

I began formulating a mental journal...

Day: #

Hey! Reo the adventurer here! It’s been a day since we dived into the mythical forest of lost dreams on a quest to find the sacred beast.

We've been blessed and lucky enough to have not run into any real threats or dangers. Though if anything were to come out way, I doubt we couldn't handle it. After all, my party is no average one. Consisting of the most skilled amongst their peers, they are the Legandary Hero's Party.

The party encompasses of six positions, and then there's me.. First we have Leon, our brilliant knight in shiny armor. He dives forward and clears the way of monsters with his reliable knight skills. Plus has a killer smile.

Trise, our sturdy crusort to our knight in brilliant amour at the vanguard. I think the main reason we haven’t really come across a monster is because of her.

They might be monsters, but it seems like they know who to pick a fight with. I'm sure even monsters have danger sense.

Our Trise is on a whole different league from them after all. I feel she’s the monster herself, but decided to keep that to myself.

Kyle, our wise and trusty guide. He (what does a guide really do?) does whatever a guide does.

Lia, our cute priest who provides support magic, healing magic and buffs from the back. With her cute face and doll like features, she could also serve as the mascot of the party.

I, Reo Bellar who just happens to be here (I’m more of a plus one really).

And lastly, Don. The hero himself, he is the leader of this team. With his fast strategic thinking (if only) and his might holy sword bestowed upon him by the gods (he wishes), Excalibur I guess? He um…does whatever it is heroes do like slaying demon lords, perhaps?

Well, that is all about the great members of the hero’s party. Well, until my next entry, if I do survive, that is.

Day: ##

It has been about three days (thirty-forty minutes if not one hour) since my last entry and I dive into the dark forest of doom (or was it of mythical forest? I don’t know- can't keep up).

We still are yet to stumble upon anymore clues and are yet to find the sacred beast. We were picked and blessed by the gods of this world and journeyed on this here quest in search of a key figure. Along the way, were also graced with the blessings of the beast which served as guidance. But until a few days ago, the blessed guidance if the sacred beast was no more.

This is Adventurer Reo Bellar signing in...

Until my next entry-

“How long has it been? We’ve been searching for a while now and still no trace of Muffin.” Kyle whines, “I’m almost at my limit.” heaving a long drawn out sigh, he leaned against a tree.

Kyle however wasn't the only one to feel this way. We've been out in the forest for a few hours now till the point I'm begining to suspect we might be lost

Not to mention, we still haven't found Muffin and to top it off, the whole crew is already exhausted and the day is quickly going by

“Kyle is right. We’ve been in the forest for a few hours now and we’ve spent basically half the day searching. Maybe we should just head home.” Leon speaks up to Don.

There was a momentarily pause as he observed his. expression.

"..."

"Don..." Before he could fully make out how s sentence, Don cut him off with a mild outburst.

“What are you trying to say, Leon? You’re just going to go home and give up?” Don stepped up and said.

“No, Don…look, what I’m trying to say is that we should get home and rest, we’ll continue the search tomorrow of course. I mean, we’ve been doing this for a while now, we are all tired, not to mention, it is getting late.” Leon said.

Leon is right. Everyone is exhausted. It would be good if we could return home and rest, that way we can continue the search tomorrow. I mean, it’s not like there’s a time limit or a deadline.

But then again, there is also the possibility that the more time we waste, the higher the chances that something happens or will happen to Muffin.

While at the same time, there's the possibility that Muffin has already returned back home.

I looked around and observed the faces of the party. The exhaustion was visibly outlined over their faces. I listened to the rustling of the forest and the whistling of the winds racing through the gaps of the leaves of the trees. Evening was slowly closing in.

And with it so was dinner time...

“I think Kyle is right, and I agree with Leon as well. We could always continue this tomorrow. After all It’s not like there’s a time limit, right?” I smiled at Don.

“Reo! You too,” Don cries out as if betrayed. He shifts on his feet and sighs. And squaring an even look between us, he said:

“I understand where you guys are coming from, but we’ve gotten this far already. It’s not every time we get to have adventures like this. C’mon, guys. We’re almost there, I can feel it. We are so close to finding Muffin.”

He began to gently urge the party with a reasuring smile. A friendly, amiable light with semblance of enthusiasm gently reflected in his eyes.

Don atop a tree stump begins a speech. Wait, when did he get up there?

“How many chances do we get to do things like this? If we go back now, what about that little girl, what do we tell her? We ventured into the forest but gave up halfway? Heck no, guys. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. An actual adventure...kind of. Ok how about this, we keep searching for just a few more minutes and we return back home just before sunset..."

Giving into the gentle light blazing in the surface of Don's eye, the party, fell to his driving will.

“Okay, fine! We get it. We’ll keep going for a little while more.” Kyle said a little reluctantly. He rubs the back of his neck while mumbling a little something under his breath.

“But only for a few minutes more. And if we still haven’t found Muffin, that’s all for today.” Leon added.

From the looks of it, Don’s somewhat inspirational speech got through them.

But I still think we should go home.

I've realized this, but the members of the party often always give in to Don's will without complaint. But not like they do it out of their own will or lack any other choices. But almost like they're driven along . It’s almost as if he truly is the leader. No matter how absurd the thing might be, they follow and support him.

“Well, we don’t have much time anymore. We only have about half an hour before the sun goes down, so I think we should split up to cover more ground.”

“Wait! I don’t think that’s a good idea, well at least not entirely.” I hesitantly voiced out.

Five pairs of eyes fell my way, one pair containing particular contempt and disdain.

With a deep scowl Leon said:

“What was that?" His voice flat and vengeful.

“Ah! Well…I uh, mean, we are in the forest right now. Aside from it getting late, if we split up, we might run into a monster or a wild animal. It’s too risky.” I stuttered.

Splitting up in such a place, especially at a time like this, wasn't such a good idea. We’re lucky enough to not have come across any monsters or wild animals all this while.

It might be true that splitting up will allow us to cover up more ground and increase our chances of finding Muffin. But it also increases our chances of running into monsters when alone.

Maybe under different circumstances Leon’s plan could be a good idea. But an undisputable fact still remained. we were all kids, and no matter how familiar we might have been with the forest, the risk is still a lot too high. So, I wasn't in support of the idea.

I wasn't the only one who felt this way though.

“I think I’m with Reo on this one, Leon. Splitting up is dangerous no matter how you think of it.” Kyle said

“He’s right, Leon.” Trise added

“.!!.”

From herr, Leon was a bit taken back. He blinked blankly as if dazed by the turn of events..

The expression which followed was one I had never seen on him these past hours. His eyes were blank and glassy as of suffered an unexplainable blow form their words.

From what I had observed, Leon was the smart one in the group. Don's right hand and idea man. Come across a seemingly peril, he provides a suitable suggestion or plan and Do approves. Like that the party has seen a lot of minor adventures without getting into any real trouble.

Not to mention, he was the only one out of the group that could actually get some reason into Don. Truly his right hand and trusty knight.

But now, all of a sudden, that system was broken.

That was a mistake on my part. I had gotten carried away and hadn't considered this. Leon and I weren't already on good terms. And with my recent careless action, I seem to have put our status in stone.

Silence reigned dominant among the group. The only thing betraying the nature of where we were was the rustling of the tree and leaves in the wind

A sigh leaves Leon's lips, breaking the weighing awkwardness of the silence.

He regained composure, recomposed from the sudden shock, he raised his head and said. His words directed at me:

“So, what do you think we should do then, Reo? The words sounded as if spat out.

His expression was a lot calmer but the animosity laced in his voice and light in his eyes betrayed his real emotion.

He observed my face closely and glared slightly before turning to the rest of the party.

“So you don’t have a better a plan? Okay, do any of you have a better idea?” with a hint of sarcasm lingering behind his voice Leon asked the groupDon tilted his head slightly to the side. Assuming a thinking pose, he remained silent.

So did the rest of the group.

"A... actually, I might have an idea."

Leon glared over his shoulder before turning to face me again.

“I might have an idea, but I highly don’t recommend it. I mean, it’s not exactly much different from Leon’s.”

“You do? Then what is it?” Don persisted.

“Before I do, I’d like to say something first." Before I continued, I squared an even glance at the party and said outrightly:

" I still feel like the right choice for us now is to return home. But I also understand you’ve all made up your mind to keep searching. I’d also like to warn you that the idea isn’t exactly recommended either. Despite the fact it'sy idea, I'm still greatly against it. But if you really do wish to continue the search then...this raises our chances of finding Muffin a lot morem."

"Ha! If it's such a bad plan that even you don't recommend, why do you still suggest it to us?" Leon spat out with scorn.

I picked up a fallen branch and thrust it straight into the ground. I made sure it was firm enough to stand. With my fingers spread out, I continued on:

“Ten minutes. We only have ten minutes. We’ll split up, but in groups of two. There are six of us here. We each split up in groups of two and spread out.”

"What? How's that much different from my..."

“The groups will search within at least a five-hundred meter radius and within ten minutes return back here. To this exact 'checkpoint'.” Saying this, I ripped out a piece of my shirt and tied it up to the branch I struck into the ground, making an improvised flag.

"If after ten minutes, fifteen at most, a group is yet to arrive, we should assume something went wrong and quickly return back to the village to get help. And if by any chance any of the groups come across a wild animal or a monster, avoid it. And if unable to do so..." At this pou, I hesitated.

'...I did say it was a bad idea'

"...Send at least a person back to get help." Lingering for a while, I forced the rest of the word out.

This plan comparatively raised our chances of survival while at the same our chances of finding Muffin. But at the same...

The first one to react to this was Leon. He cried out and before I could realize what was going to happen, an aggressive fist ran into my face. My body twisted and crashed into the dirt on the ground.

Leon's punch barely hurt for a few seconds and before the pain could fully begin to fade away I was immediately grabbed by the collar and forcefully raised off the ground. Leon's raged crystal blue eyes glared sharply into mine. His forehead smacking hard against my face.

“You fucking bastard! You expect us to sacrifice one of our own for to survive?!"

His grip against my collars tightened and he rose an arm again to strike me.

“N...no. Listen. I'm not saying we should...." Paying no heed to my words, Leon went in a frenzy against me.

I contred my self and tried to put myself in his shoes.

Leon was only caring for the well-being of his friends. And the so called idea I established threatened that greatly. In the possible chance we run into a monster deep in the forest, to ensure the higher level of survival, at least one of us should be sent back to the village to get help. Who would mean, the other of us... would serve as bait. Sacrifice.

Another punch smashed into my face before I could fully get my sentence out and then another, and another...

With each one, I felt the force and power behind his punch only increase.

"Don't kid around. Heck, I know you'll be the first to run if it ever came down to it. You'll turn tails and run as fast as you can within looking back!..."

'No...! That's not it...' I understood what Leon was feeling I really did. I tried to get the word out but couldn't. Instead, a different emotion began swirl I from my stomach with each blow Leon dealt me.

Irritation...

"H...hey, Leon!"

"Dude, cut it out!"

"That's enough..."

The rest of the kids didn't stand there long enough to see where Leon was going to take this and quickly moved to restrain him. Kyle and Trise grabbed hold of his hands and pulled him of me. Leon cursed at me as he struggled to break free. Veins bulging from all over his face.

Lia put herself between the both of us and Don helped me up.

"Are you okay?" He said.

I simply nodded and flashed a small smile. This wasn't an act or a feign though. Despite Leon's barrage I really sustained no injuries or wounds. I could barely even remember how the force of his pinched felt.

I let go of Don and cleaned the dirt and dust off my clothes. I slowly walked up to Leon who still struggled under the clutches of Kyle and Trise.

He was like a beast waiting to be let out and pounce all over me. The look in his eyes was weaved with intense and deep animosity.

I stared deep into this same eyes, my expression reflected softly against the surface. From the reflection in his eyes, my eyes looked empty and dark, hollow. Like the depths of all the coldness in the world gathered deep inside.

Staring back into mine, I observed Leon's eyes shiver...but in a much more different manner and for a separate reason I wasn't bothered to find out why.

At the same time, the petrified faces of the brats from yesterday flashed through my mind.

'Oh...it was fear.'

Realizing this I suppressed the strange desire to smile out.

Slipping out of my short reverie, I moved my lips and said, my voice monotonous and strangely indifferent:

"An adventurer in the real world work side by side danger and at times even sacrifices. It's not something brats should go mouthing their mouths off in pitiful claims at roleplay. People really die. Many at young ages. Sacrifices made too, at the end of it reap nothing. If you truly do have some human sympathy deep inside you, don't insult those who have walked the actual trail in life and lost their lives and many other irreplaceable things. If u can't understand that, goes that far to show how truly premature you are."

I watched Leon's eyes continue to quiver. I observed the faces of Don, Kyle, Trise and Lia. All stiff and pale as if the color had been drained out their faces. Their eyes widened and quivering, lips trembling.

It was then I noticed the reflection in Leon's eyes...it reflected my figure on the surface. And in it I had on an ecstatic smile curled up in a twisted angle.

And at the same time, I was overcome by a clutching fear and forgetting to breathe for two seconds. Within that time, I came back to my senses. The smile completely melted and vanished from my face. Instead replaced by a lost expression.

'...wh–what...was I just saying?'

Strangely enough I had forgotten what had happened within the past few seconds. The faces of the party all frozen and pale.

"Uhh...guys. Are you o..."

My attention was immediately drawn to the sudden rustling of bushes over to the side. I and the rest of the group shared a tense expression towards the bush.

The rustling died down a few seconds later, and head first, a dog came out.

“Eeh!?!” x6

It was a small dog with brown and white fur. The left side of its face was brown and the right, white. Its left ear was bent and the right stood up straight.

It barked and wagged its tail happily as it approached us. The description of this dog fits exactly with that of…

“Muffin!” Lia said as she cuddled the dog which jumped into her hands.

“Ah! We finally found him.” Trise said.

“Or more like, he found us.” Kyle voiced out exactly what I thought. And as for the rest of us, we stood there dumb struck.

***

We finally found Muffin the lost dog and decided to return home.

The mood however wasn't as upbeat as it should have considering we managed to accomplish our goal.

No one said a word, not about what went on between Leon and I or anything else. And all just silently walked back with a heavy atmosphere. Nothing but the sound of our footsteps and the evening forest.

I did notice Lia shifting her gaze between Leon and I, but just as the others, I decided to ignore it.

Out of everyone here I felt like I was the one who felt the crushing weight of the atmosphere the most. Considering what I had done. Which I of course still wasn't sure of.

'...I think I might have messed up.'

Although I was the one on the receiving end of the punches...

I looked down at my hands and a strange thought slithered its way Into my mind.

'Maybe...maybe I'm not human?'

I reached the same palm and caressed my face. No sore or bruises. No pain at all.

The dog which seemed to have made itself comfortable in Lia hands, suddenly rose up. Its ears perched up and it barked toward a certain direction.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

Suddenly Muffin jumped out of Lia's arms and quickly dashed Into the forest. And instinctively at the same time, I did too.

“Eh? Muffin where are you…Reo, you too?”

The voice of Lia quickly faded behind me into the rustling of trees of the forest the further I ran after the dog. For some reason, my body moved on its own and went after Muffin. Maybe it was just to get out of the crushing mood.

I continued to chase Muffin with no idea where it was leading me to or even where I was. I jumped over logs and duck under branches within short intervals. Muffin was small and nimble.

He moved so fast and was especially easy to lose sight of here. More reason I had to catch up.

We ran passed a creek and made it to the other side. The view of the forest quickly raced past me almost in a blur. For a moment I wondered if the others came after us or if they even could keep up.

After a while of running through the forest, I came to a halt. There I stood. Before me was an old gate. Not an old wooden gate or a stone gate, but a gate made of metal wire. Like the ones you find in correctional facilities back on earth.

The gate was tall and the height towered over me. It had vines and plants coiling all around it. And it was mostly rusted. I never thought I’d see one of these in this world.

Judging from the looks of it, this gate has been here for a share number of years. Looking sideways, the gate doesn’t seem to end.

I looked around trying to get an idea where I could possibly be. I was still surrounded by tree and leaves so I definitely still was in the forest.

“??”

I hadn’t noticed this earlier, but the forest had suddenly gotten quiet. Too quiet, even more than a graveyard. Even the air and atmosphere of the forest had changed completely. The mood of the forest was disturbing and unsettling. I wasn't sure how to describe it.

There was a really eerie feeling to it. The air was still and stagnant. Unmoving at all.

There were no sounds at all. None from the rustling of trees or birds. None other than the shifting and snapping of twigs under my feet.

The trees in this area were a lot bigger, thicker and oddly shaped, which just added to the unsettling feeling of the forest. The leaves here weren't as lustrous and green. They were duller and creepily still. They didn't whistle or rustle.

The canopies were a lot thicker as well. And this prevented light from hardly passing through. Suddenly, it felt like my sense of time had been messed up.

While taking account of my new weird surrounding, I noticed a sign which was hung on the gate. The sign said, *Do not enter* with a skull face and horns sticking out of it.

It was very convincing.

The forest was totally different from a few seconds ago. Maybe I might have gotten too deep?

“Reo!”

A voice from behind reached me and I helped before turning around. It was Dons. Following him were the others. Guess they really did manage to keep up, though they all looked out of breath.

“Haa…haa..w-where is…” Don tried saying something, but was too short of breath.

“w…where’s Muffin?” he asked.

'Oh, right! Muffin. I was chasing that damn dog and I ended up here. I totally forgot.'

“He’s over there!” Kyle said pointing beyond the wire gate. Muffin had somehow made it over to the other side.

“C’mon, you guys.” Don said to the rest of us, before following an opening in the wall over to the other side. I don’t think he saw the *Do not enter* sign with a skull face.

While having mixed thoughts and feelings, I went along with the others following behind them reluctantly.

After getting to the other side, we continued our chase with Muffin. Further in was a cave where the stupid dog had run into.

'Right, of course it had to be a cave.'

We all stood at the entrance of the cave which oozed eeriness. Each and every one had an anxious expression. We were unsure about going down there.

My internal alarms were flaring up just from standing before the entrance. Going down this cave was going to be a bad idea. I instinctively knew nothing good will come from doing this.

“L…let’s go get muffin.” Just as I was beginning to think of all the possible thing that could possibly go wrong if we were to dive into this cave, Don said with his voice trembling in every word.

He was trying to put up a brave front, but even he knew how bad of an idea this was. But even still, no one objected but followed.

And like that, we all delved into the mysterious cave. Our little adventure taking a little turn south.