The morning began with bad news. I felt somewhat haunted. The sound, coming out of trees was terrifying. Creaks of wood and screeches of monsters in a distance declared something was wrong. As if the whole forest was in agony. Breakfast was the least of our concerns.

Lianne clenched her fist and glared at me. “We need to leave. Now!”

That was the first time I saw her so worried. Even when we saw the monstrous leafy snake, she didn’t appear as distraught as that. Or maybe I hadn’t paid enough attention.

“What is it?” It was a stupid question. I already knew the answer.

“They’re closing in. Gather your things,” she said.

I could tell just by her expression that shit was about to go down. And it was common sense that it was my problem. But I couldn’t just decline her offer now, I couldn’t. and even if I did, she would still see this through and that was just the way she was. So instead, I chose to honor her wishes. If she wanted to get tangled up in my affairs and help me then I’d just accept it. But if she ever needs my help…. Then….I made a vow. If I lived through this, I’ll try to return the favor. “Right!”

I gathered my things. I didn’t have much, to begin with. I thought by this time the skins, ears, and fangs would start to rot but in reality that hadn’t happened. It was all thanks to a special liquid which smelled kind of like formaldehyde- or maybe it was that (Who knows, right?)

“This way,” Lianne said as she quickly headed in a different direction than where we were supposed to go. Maybe she knew a quicker or perhaps a safer way out of the forest.

I followed her. We ventured deep into the forest. There were monsters everywhere: meaning the demons hadn’t come this way yet. However, instead of attacking, they were running around in panic. Just from that, I could understand how much of a threat the demons posed. And I knew that first hand from my encounter with one in that forest. If that hooded man hadn’t helped me, I’d be dead now.

It didn’t take long before we ended up in very deep woods. The detour wasn’t all that bad. Though there were monsters here it was also the sign that the demons were far away.

These parts were covered with thick roots sticking up from the ground making it harder and harder to move ahead. There were some plant monsters that tried to attack us despite the chaos. I suppose this was the best time to hunt, after all.

All of the plant monsters spewed corrosive liquid; maybe acid. Luckily, Lianne sniped them before they could harm us, but arrows weren’t that effective. The only safe way to traverse was to move from branch to branch atop the trees. But I was never much of a climber.

“We need to move fast. They are catching up. Hurry up and climb up the tree.” Lianne was already on the tree. She was a natural climber or maybe she practiced for years. The latter didn’t seem like a good description, so I stuck with the first. Either way, she could do something, I couldn’t. And this wasn’t the only thing.

“I…I-I can’t climb…” I stuttered in embarrassment. What more could you expect from a shut in college nerd? I couldn’t climb, I couldn’t swim, and I was practically useless. But saying it out loud, made me realize just how much embarrassing it was.

“What! Give me your hand!” Answering in disbelief Lianne spread her right hand toward me. She pulled me up with just one arm. The Gods must have really blessed her with strength. The pull was strong and she almost ripped my arm off. She didn’t even apologize.

I wasn’t eager for an apology, but she could have at least gave me some sincere encouragement now, couldn’t she have?

Once up, we jumped from branch to branch. I wouldn’t lie- I almost fell like a dozen of times. Fortunately Lianne made sure I was still moving and not falling to my death. I guess I was much more of a burden that I thought I was.

Although it was a detour we were still making progress. After all we were climbing down this time instead of up: meaning, we were going down the mountain.

Lianne listened to a tree. Her head forehead touched the tree bark. For a second she almost seemed cute, at least before she laid out cold facts. “This isn’t good, the demons are moving as well. The whole forest is in a state of chaos. I can’t make out anything.”

“Let’s just keep moving,” I said. Probably the famous last words of an amateur adventurer. My own internal monologue turned into my enemy. I sighed at the utter depression I wrought.

By noon we had moved farther away from the demons and closer to our destination, at least I hoped we did.

“Let’s take a break.”

I nodded. We were too tired. We moved without breakfast and both of us were exhausted from the jump yesterday.

She handed some bread to me. “Eat them. I was saving them for emergencies like this.” I didn’t even ask where the bread came from. She didn’t have any bags on her. Meaning there were pockets in her clothes…..

Just thinking about it…. I shook my head vigorously and I took it. “Thank you.” I’d almost gone down the rabbit hole of perverseness.

We ate, drank water and rested for a few minutes before setting out again.

We were almost at the base. And yet I had a bad feeling. Call it a gut feeling if you will but whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

Fate wasn’t nice and I knew it. When the forest began to become less dense and we finally reached the very bottom, it happened. There it was: a strong, half naked, muddy skinned humanoid creature that towered over me. He had four arms and seven eyes on his face and no mouth. The muscles were sticking out and he was twice as wide as me and Lianne combined. He didn’t speak, obviously.

With axes in each arm it looked like a horrifying scene straight out of a horror movie. And behind him was an army of demons. There was a familiar demon there too. How in the world did they get here so fast! I really thought we’d be able to escape, but clearly we were wrong.

I couldn’t tell if the strong hulk thingy was a demon or not but he was definitely glaring at me. He didn’t say a word but the only thing he did was to make a sign which to my belief translated to – come with me or die. I knew going with them would be the logical choice under the circumstances when the guy in front of me looked like he could kill elephants with his bare hands and was backed by an army of demons behind him. To be honest I might have taken up the offer right away if Lianne wasn’t there. However, there was a particular demon there that caught my eyes instantly. She was none other than the one who killed Sheila and Dune. And thus my anger roared. Wasn’t she dead?

“Lianne, you should stay back. This is my problem!” I screamed.

She unsheathed her sword. Till now I hadn’t seen her use swords or knives. So I had no idea what she was doing. “What are you talking about? It’s obvious I’m here and I plan to interfere.” She’d already made it clear a long time ago.

But I was still glad to hear it. “Lianne…” A smile crept upon my lips.

She was too kind. For a guy who lived most of his life in the midst of hatred and isolation, this was a true bliss. And that was why I didn’t want her to take part. But maybe I was just being selfish.