User blog:Otherwordly Poptart/Don't click this blog.

Just a draft to save.

No reply. No coming back.

Too late.

Then a hit on the back of her head.

She fell on the ground.

Something grabbed her neck.

Pressure. So much pressure.

She was being suffocated.

Air.

<p style="margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 15.75pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(43, 83, 181); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; ">She needed air.

<p style="margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 15.75pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(43, 83, 181); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; ">But she didn't get it.

<p style="margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 15.75pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(43, 83, 181); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; ">She felt herself passing out.

<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">While everything before Rosalie's eyes disappeared, she felt the pressure stop all of a sudden. Had the invisible creature somehow been stopped or did she just die by getting suffocated? No idea. No clue. Silence. A sweet, beautiful silence overtook her mind. And darkness. She didn't fight it anymore. She had decided to enjoy it.

<p style="text-align:center;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">~ ~ ~

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           She didn’t know how long it had been since she had gone unconscious. But after she became aware of everything again, the sun was almost completely down. “Finally!” called a voice. Ace’s voice. “I thought you’d never wake up. You scared me for a second.” Rosalie opened her eyes, still feeling a little dizzy. She was propped up against a tree and Ace was sitting next to her.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “You left me…as those things attacked me!” Rosalie said, angered. “I thought we were gonna stick together.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “I came back and saved you, though,” Ace refuted. “We need to find Fudge. I could barely take those things on my own. She’s been away for a long time, and I’m sure some followed her.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “It’s her fault that she ran off, though,” Rosalie said. She looked at Ace and noticed a wound between her neck and her shoulder. Like a bite mark.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Ace just sighed. “We still need to find her. And hopefully Jessica, Aron, and Alica too.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Then I guess there’s no use in staying here, then,” said Rosalie, jumping up and trying her best not to wince.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “That’s the spirit.”

<p style="text-align:center;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">~ ~ ~

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “How long does this forest last, anyway?” asked Rosalie, after a little while of walking, thankfully with nothing attacking them. “Like, I wonder what we will come across if we go past this forest. It’s friggin’ huge, though. I wish we had the map,” she said, remembering that Aron last had it.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “I dunno either. We need to fight that giant first before we make any more discoveries. What if we aren’t even going the right wa-“ Ace stopped dead, staring at something in the distance. Rosalie followed her line of sight and her heart almost stopped. Staring back at them was a HUGE pack of black creatures. Probably in the hundreds. She couldn’t figure out what animal they looked most like. Build of a lion. Teeth like a saber-toothed tiger. Claws like a bear.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           They both froze solid. Ace looked at Rosalie, who gave a small nod. In the next instant, they dashed the other way, forgetting any plans of heading a certain direction. As they sprinted, Ace turned her head to look behind her. She saw them, right on their tail. Some were splitting up, undoubtedly trying to corner them later on. Rosalie felt a sudden sharp, stabbing pain in her left leg, and cried out. Ace saw one of the creatures right behind her, trying to bite her legs until she fell. She took out her sabers while running, and with one swift swing, its head fell on the ground behind them. “Keep going!” Rosalie shouted, and tried to run as fast as she could, knowing her leg was probably gushing blood. DAMMIT! she thought.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           For the first time since she got here, Ace realized that they might actually die.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Their adrenaline, the only reason they managed to outrun the beasts, was running out. A few hundred meters in front of them, Rosalie noticed some kind of opening carved into a high rock wall. She pointed at it, and Ace understood that they might lose them in there.

<p style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "> “They’re…gaining on us!!” Ace exclaimed between breaths. A group of them was only a few feet behind them. They had to reach it. Just a little more. Ace thought that she would pass out any minute.

<p style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">As they passed the opening (after what seemed like forever), it took a few more seconds of sprinting to realize that they weren’t being followed. The beasts were just…standing on the outside, staring at them.

<p style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">“It’s like…they can’t get in…” Rosalie said, panting. “Like, there’s something keeping them there.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Ace, suppressing the thought that it might be because something more dangerous was in this place, said, “Well, we should keep going so they don’t change their minds. Even though my heart’s about to explode.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           They walked a little ways in, and Rosalie’s legs buckled. Now that their energy wore down, the pain of her wound was becoming worse.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Rosalie!” Ace cried.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “I’m fine!” Rosalie yelled. “Just…give me a minute.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “We should just sit down a while anyway; catch our breath and try to find a way to stop that from bleeding.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Rosalie nodded and Ace sat down against the wall opposite her. Now that they were - for the moment - out of danger, they examined the giant room around them. The ceiling seemed to be the rock from which this place was carved into, but the walls were yellow and felt like smooth stone. From the outside, the entrance seemed narrow, but on the inside, it was an enormous cavern with various hallways branching from the clearing. Nothing was illuminating the inside, yet they could see everything perfectly in a bluish light. It wasn’t just a large cave…more like…a temple.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Rosalie found some kind of cloth in her pack that could work to bind her wound. She ripped it to the right size and rolled it around her leg. It had to do for now.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Suddenly, a distant voice echoed, “ROSALIE! ACE!!”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Ace jerked her head around to find the source of the sound. She saw…Fudge! Running towards them.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Fudge! There you are. Where the hell were you while we were getting attacked by those…things?”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “What ‘things?’” Fudge asked. “I was in here the whole time. Trying to decipher what this says. It might be useful.” She pointed at some writing on one of the walls. “It’s the same thing for several rooms. If you take another path, though, it doesn’t say that along the walls.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Beware of giant,” Ace said, looking confused. “What’s to decipher?”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Are you joking?” Rosalie said, still sitting on the ground.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Well, can’t you read it?”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “No,” Fudge and Rosalie said at the same time.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “It looks…foreign,” said Rosalie.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Um, it’s in plain English to me.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “That’s crazy. You swear it really says that?” Fudge asked.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Yeah.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Well, my time was wasted trying to read it, then. WAIT A MINUTE.”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “Huh?” asked Rosalie.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “It’s only along one pathway. That must be the way the giant is!”

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “That makes sense,” Rosalie said.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “I guess we should go follow it, then,” said Ace. “Wait.” She remembered Rosalie’s leg.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Rosalie, sensing what she meant, said, “I’ll manage.”

<p style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "> “Alright…”

<p style="text-align:center;text-indent:.5in; line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">~ ~ ~

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           After about an hour following the word walls, they came to another large room where they could see the sky. The ground was grassy, and there was another entrance leading outside. In the middle of the room was a…giant. Rosalie’s heart skipped a beat.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           “This…is what we came here for,” Fudge said. “Get ready.” It noticed them and started to run towards them.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           He was about 11 feet tall, but that didn’t worry them the most. What worried them was the huge axe that he carried.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Ace gulped. Guess the option of being friends is out, she thought.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           They barely had time to think before he swung at Rosalie, who blocked it with her shield, staggering. I can do this.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Fudge came from the other side, aiming at the giant’s neck. As if he could sense it while facing the other way, he turned around and kicked with a force that sent her flying backwards, landing with a terrible thump.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           Ace knew what he was going to do next. She ran in front of Fudge as he swung to finish her off, instead trying to block his axe with her two sabers. Though she managed to stop it from coming at full force, he was too strong, and his axe slid down the blade and sunk into her shoulder. Ace screamed in pain.

<p style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">           This wouldn’t end well.