CLASSIC #17 [The Forgotten Forest Expansion (End)]
I'd be lying if I said I had every single piece of this planned out from the start. Things often lead from one thing to another for me sometimes and end up working out. Though I'll admit I feel as if the beginning/middle area of this isn't anywhere near as strong as I wanted it to be. Oh well, it's all just practice. This'll be the end of the Forgotten Forest, and then we'll be moving on to something else! What's that something else? We'll find out later. Probably.
---
I lay on my back underneath the trees. Lazily opening my eyes, I saw the leaves sway against the light wind making the shade they provided become unreliable and I squinted as light intruded on my otherwise darkened nap. I felt Samantha stir and, looking down, saw her resting on my body, just waking up. I was tempted to tell her how heavy she felt to get a rise out of her, but held my tongue.
“'Morning, Sam.” I said drowsily. She looked up at me, her green eyes gleaming through the shade.
“Hiiii.” She yawned before lowering her head back on to my chest. “What time is it?”
“Time to get up, I imagine.” The elf groaned in response.
”I want to stay here.” She was so groggy I could barely make out her words.
“We aren't kids anymore you know. We actually have responsibilities now.” Another groan.
“Fine.” Ever so slowly, the girl pried herself off of me, swaying slightly as if she were about to once again collapse on herself. Though I joked, I didn't fare much better and I actually had to place my hand on a nearby tree to keep my balance. “You ready to go back?” She asked. I nodded in response. “Okay. Oh, before that--” her face suddenly became very serious and panicky as she rushed towards me, “drink this. Come on, please wake up.” She said, bringing a bottle of clear liquid up to my lips. Catching me off guard, I could do little as the liquid was forced down my throat.
“What the hell?!” I spat as I backed away.
“What?” Samantha asked, suddenly back at the spot she was before, empty handed. “Are you alright?” I looked at her, confused. I could still feel the taste of whatever that was in my mouth, though everything else had reverted back to as if nothing had happened.
“Did you have a drink on you?” I asked.
“No, why?” There weren't any empty bottles around, and why would she lie to me?
“Never mind, probably still half asleep. Let's head back, yeah?” She nodded at me with a small smile as she outstretched her hand. I took it as I interlocked our fingers together and we walked hand in hand back from the borders of Evehom to Eliz's house.
Reaching the large house in the center of the village, Samantha wasted no time in knocking on the front door. A few seconds later, the chief opened the door with a wide smile.
“Oh, back already?” She asked happily. Almost too happily. “Come on in, I'll let her know you two are back.”
“Thanks again, Eliz.” I told her, accepting her invitation, “we just needed some time alone. You know how it is.”
“Of course, of course. Didn't I tell you you could call me 'nan' from now on?” Aw jeez. I saw Sam smile smugly besides me, nudging me on.
“...Thanks, Nan.” That felt more natural than I thought it would. I probably would never get used to it, though. The aged elf chuckled to herself as she led us to the living room.
“I'll get her ready, she was just upstairs playing.” We nodded as she went up the steps while we sat on the loveseat.
“Man,” I said softly, “this brings me back.”
“Yeah. Remember the first time you came in here?”
“I was so nervous. You have no idea.”
“Really? You looked pretty calm to me.”
“Did I? I remember feeling panicky. Then Eliz—Nan—made that potion for us...”
“Mm-hmm.”
“...wait. I showed up because...” I couldn't remember. Why did I come to this village? And how? “I found you dazed.” I told her, retracing my steps. “and then...something else happened later, right?”
“Huh?” Just as I was about to break through something, Eliz walked down the stairs.
“She'll be down in just a second.” The chief told us, snapping me back. She took a seat at her chair and, almost immediately after, I heard small footsteps run down the stairs. I looked towards the stairs to see a small girl with brown hair, blue eyes, and pale skin running towards us.
“Mommy! Daddy!” She cried happily.
“Hi, baby!” Sam cried back, crouching down to embrace her daughter before picking her up.
“Hey there, little Emily!” I told her, tickling her nose. “Were you a good girl?”
“Uh-huh!” My daughter said, nodding in an exaggerated manner. “Nanny Eliz taught me loads of things!” That made me worry.
“What's with that face?” Eliz asked jokingly. “I was just showing her her elven culture.” I couldn't help but be suspicious. Over the years, I've learned that Eliz had a lot in common with my best friend. ...Who I haven't seen in a few years...? Wait, where—
“Daddy!” Emily cried again, snapping me away.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“We're going home, right?”
“Of course we are, why?”
“I'm kinda hungry.”
“Oh,” Eliz said, “I could make something for you if you'd like.”
“N-no thank you, Nanny! I'm not too hungry.” I held back a chuckle. Looks like she inherited my sense of taste.
“Thanks, Eliz, but home's not to far. She's a tough girl, she can last. Isn't that right?” I petted Emily's head, causing her to smile.
“Right!” After a quick goodbye, the three of us made our way across the village. Emily walked between us, holding both our hands. “Daddy?”
“Mmm?”
“Are you happy?”
“Yeah, of course I am. I have everything I could possibly want here.”
“Do you want to stay like this forever?” I looked down at her, confused.
“Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?” This caused my daughter to smile.
“Just wonder—“
The sunny day was suddenly replaced with darkened woods. The smell of chimney smoke that I had been used to for so long was gone, and in its place was a damp woody smell. Samantha's voice rang out from somewhere.
“Fight it!” She told me. I felt incredibly lethargic, so much so that I couldn't even wiggle my fingers. In an instant, the darkness was gone and I found myself sitting in a small dinning room across from Sam.
“Aren't you hungry, Bryer?” She asked, pointing at my plate full of food.
“No.” I said sharply. What just happened? I felt my heartbeat start to increase, and stood from my chair.
“Dad?” The little girl asked, looking up at me. I didn't answer. Something was going on. Without saying a word, I ran out the door and into the village. The sun was gone, and the skies were an unnatural color of black.
“Bryer?!” I heard Sam call behind me. I looked around, but all I saw was darkness. Gone were the other houses. The torches that lit up the village at night were no where to be seen, even the bordering magical trees that sealed the village from danger were missing. As my heart beat rapidly increased, my mind also began to fire itself into overdrive. Random thoughts and memories contradicting everything I've know for the past years surfaced themselves onto the shores of my mind. How could I have stayed in Evehom for so long without the Sword Guild looking for me? Why hadn't Alice ever try to contact me all these years for answers? Or Chive, for that matter? As these ideas pelted themselves against my brain, the ground below me began to crack.
“Daddy?” I looked down to see Emily staring up at me, her eyes watering. “What's happening?” I felt my heart break in half at the sudden realization.
“You're not real.” I whispered. Samantha and I had found the large slime monster, but then what happened?
“Dad? How could you say that?” She sobbed.
“No. This isn't—” I looked behind me to face our home, only to find a black void in its place as a dark breeze blew across my cheeks. “This place doesn't exist.” I said sadly.
“This is what you wanted, daddy!” The girl cried. “You have everything you ever wanted!”
“I know.” I looked back at her, crying her little eyes out, causing my own eyes to tear up. “I know. But I can't stay. I could never stay.” I fell to my knees before wrapping my arms around the daughter I never had. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”
“Dad,” she whispered quietly. “please remember me? Please please please?” I couldn't answer as tears fell from my cheeks. I kissed the top of her head while the ground below us began breaking away.
“Of course.”
---
I hurt.
Staggering to my feet, I felt a flurry of emotions course through my body. Anger, fear, sadness. I leaned heavily against the tree Samantha had placed me next to as I took in my surroundings. Dark woods. Hardly any natural light entered this area as I remembered chasing down the slime monster. Below me was my bag, as well as an empty glass bottle. Samantha had saved me in the exact same way I had saved her. I pocketed the bag as I heard the elf's voice ring out from somewhere. Rubbing my eyes of any tears, I ran towards her voice.
I easily found her as I retraced my steps. She and the slime monster were in the empty meadow with the lone stump I had found behind the kaytrap's lair. I saw the elf fire arrow after arrow at the monster's purple nucleus, though the thick slime halted any of them before they could penetrate it. I drew my sword, ready to destroy the creature that had caused me my previous pain and walked passed Samantha, avoiding eye contact.
“Bryer?! You're okay!” I didn't answer as I took a fighter's position. “Wait, no! We can't fight this; we need to run.” I looked up at the slime. It was obvious that a single strike from us wasn't going to cut through its body. Instead we would need a large number of attacks in quick progression to clear a path. I guessed that the time needed between attacks would be very strict; they all needed to be less than a second apart. I took another quick glance at the monster's membrane. It was surrounded my tall trees, which gave me an idea.
“Shoot another arrow at the core.” I told her, still avoiding her face.
“What?!”
“Just do it!” I crouched down and focused on my sword. I still had plenty of trouble using my mother's technique, but right now there was no way I wouldn't be able to pull it off. Samantha notched up an arrow and, as soon as I heard it fire off, I stood up, my body consumed with energy. With blazing yellow eyes, I ran towards the large slime at a speed I didn't bother to measure. I jumped towards a nearby tree and pushed my feet against it, kicking off to another tree closer to the monster. I again kicked off that tree, which sent me careening towards the slime's core. As I flew through the air, I quickly slashed through the gelatinous outer body rapidly, clearing a path for the arrow trailing behind me. I saw the arrow narrowly fly below my arm and pierce the core with a satisfying clenching noise. Adding on to the pain, I stabbed my sword at it as I began falling from the sky.
I just managed to right myself in time to land on my feet. I watched on as the slime slowly melted away to the ground. The frail core, now pierced in two separate places, began breaking apart and the slime itself was unable to maintain itself. As a result, the large mass of gelatinous material began to break away until only the now-dead core was all that was left.
“
Coeur de Lion.” Samantha whispered in awe. I turned to her, slightly confused.
“Heart of lion?”
“Lionheart. Courageous one.”
“Oh.” It hurt to look at her, though I wasn't sure why. “Thank you. For waking me, I mean."
“Huh? Oh. Yeah. I had...uh, I had followed after you, but found you walking around—“
“In a trance?” She nodded. “So then that thing was responsible for what happened to you, too.” She nodded again.
“Not only that, but look.” She reached into her pockets and pulled out some wrappers. Handing them to me, I read the labels. They were all commercial products that were bought in bulk by militaries and guilds.
“This thing was stealing the supplies from Fayfield and Blueshire?! But how?”
“I found...bodies...deeper in.” Samantha told me. “Bodies of elves that had gone missing. What if that thing could control them?” Well, damn.
“Why didn't it control us, then?”
“Maybe it couldn't? Maybe it needed an empty body to host.”
“I'll need to report this.” I said. “Maybe Alice would know more.” I again pulled out the crystal shard and called out to her.
“
Another night at Evehom, I assume?” Alice said before I could tell her anything.
“Actually, tell Dyson I finished the mission. No one should be missing any more supplies from here on out.” This caused the mage to remain silence in a moment of concentration.
“Who did you just kill?”
“Seriously?! That's what you think happened?”
“Am I wrong?” Damn it.
“It was a slime monster. There's plenty of evidence to say it was behind it, as well as the murder of a few elves.”
“I'll let Dyson know. We'll need you here to account it to us.”
“Right, right. See you soon.” I pocketed the crystal and found Samantha staring at me.
“You're...going back?” She asked oddly.
“Yeah. This is the main reason why I was here, after all.” The girl hesitated for a few seconds before speaking.
“You know...You could, you could stay here. With us. You can stay in the village.”
“I can't stay,” I told her, “I could never stay,” This felt familiar, though I couldn't place it anywhere in my mind. “I'll swing by to visit though, so don't you worry. And I can show you around town sometime, too.”
“Seriously?! You won't forget, right? Please please please?”
“Of course.” I told her while de ja vue flooded over me. Why did it feel as if I just had this conversation? Ah well. “I have to get going though. The sooner the better. Let Eliz know what happened, okay?”
“Alright. You better be back, or I swear I'll come and find you.”
“Scary woman.” I joked before an awkward silence came over us. “Um.” I started. “I guess I'll—“ Samantha interrupted me before I could finish by grabbing my head with both her hands.
“Bye.” She whispered before pressing her lips against my own. For once I let myself enjoy the moment and closed my eyes, but it was over all too quickly. “Sorry.” she whispered, “I probably shouldn't have.”
“Probably not,” I answered back. “but I ain't complaining.” I heard her laugh as her fingers slipped away from my cheeks. As I opened my eyes, I found myself alone in the forest. 'Lionheart', huh? That had a nice ring to it.
---
I entered the building that housed Alice's apartment. Though I knew I needed to report to Dyson, I had instead opted to head home and shower in order to clean myself off of the slime that had gotten on my skin and clothing. I didn't realize just how much of the stuff I had gotten on me, and I was quickly reminded of why I hated slimes. After that I had decided to call on Alice to answer a few questions relating to slimes and the powers they could posses just to make sure I was on the right track before I formally went into Dyson's office. As I walked into the main lobby, I heard the receptionist gasp.
“You're Mr. Alma, right? Bryer Alma?” She told me as I reached the front desk.
“Yeah, I'm just here to visit Alice Reyes.”
“O-of course. Um, do you remember me, by any chance?” I looked her over before the memory of my misstep surfaced.
“Ah, yeah. Sorry about that. I didn't realize you had a boyfriend.”
“That's just the thing; the night after we kind of broke up.”
“Oh! Uh, sorry to hear that, I guess.”
“Thanks. Um, but I was wondering if maybe you wanted to do something? Maybe have you for dinner?”
“Uh?”
“I-I mean, have you
over for dinner, of course.”
“No, I mean—wait what?” Thoughts of my last two weeks in the forest raced back, and with them came Samantha. “Ah...I'm sorry. I've actually kinda just met someone.”
“Oh. That's...that's fine. Please don't worry about it.” I nodded before she let me head up to Alice's room. For some reason, I couldn't help but feel as if I had just dodged a bullet.
[Forgotten Forest Scenario 1, End.]
