Beyond the Stars

Chapter 11: Adventure

[A/N: The following chapters will be somewhat inspired by Into the Woods movie]

Okay then, they're busy glaring at each other so I better start traveling then. "Where are you going? We'll go with you, you might get harmed." Blessica said which made Carmen scoff. "Ah yes, something bad might happen to you especially when you're with the wrong people." Carmen said like she was implying something which made Blessica angry. I planned to go on this trip alone but they insisted so I have no choice but to let them. I waited for them to prepare and be ready. After they're finished with their stuff, we began to travel. We walked separately since we're on different sides of the barrier. According to the map, we need to walk until we reach the end of the barrier but it seems like it's never-ending, this is such a long barrier, I think it's even greater than the Great Wall of China.

We finally reached the end of it. We weren't expecting a great mountain next to the barrier. Well, I have no choice but to climb it. Others were hesitant but I don't care. I started climbing the mountain which left them no choice but to follow me. This is quite fun. I never tried hiking before and now I'm doing it. Although this wasn't the type I was expecting it to be. It's harder and more tiring.

What's more tiring is I can feel the tension between my friends. They're all my friends but they can't get along. "Milady, stand beside me. You might get harmed because you're with the wrong person." Baron said as if he was implying something. "What the hell is your problem?!" Alon snarled which made Baron grin. "I don't have a problem." he's still grinning while saying that. "You're insulting us in front of our friend!!" Yeah, Alon is really angry. "Why are you affected? I'm not even dropping names. Or maybe what I'm saying is true? hmm" Baron teased which made all of them argue with each other.

This will be indeed a long trip. Goddess Cassiopeia, give me strength. Amen.

While they're busy fighting behind me, I'm trying my best not to trip and fall while I hike. I also glanced at my map to see if we're going the right way. Oh right after this mountain we'll need to go to the forest. Hmm, the atmosphere became weird. They suddenly went quiet and stopped arguing. I wonder why.

"Milady, isn't it dangerous here?" Cedric asked. Ohh now I know why the surroundings are dark and we're headed to the forest. Oh, so they're all scared. I hope they're scared the entire trip so that they'll give me quiet and peace. "You shouldn't have come here in the first place if you're scared." Danilo debated. "Wow! As if you're not scared! You're the one who shouldn't have come here because merely your presence irritates me!" Cedric rebutted. "Oh, you think I'm happy with your presence? Just so you know, the feeling is mutual! I'm irritated by you too." Danilo rebutted.

 

They're once again fighting. When will they shut up? They fight as if they go way back. As far as I know, they only met this day. So there won't be any past between them. "It seems like you don't know who you're messing with." Danilo snarled at Baron.  "I don't need to know you. How about you? Do you even know me?" Baron rebutted which made Danilo shut up for a minute but then started to fight again.

I wish earphones work in this world since I badly need one. It's noisy! I'm getting distracted. "HELP!" they all stopped fighting when they heard someone asking for help. We were hesitant to come but then, in the end, we decided to go to that noise. As we went closer, I saw a lady in a ponytail wearing a white blouse with a blue dress and a white apron. She's with her horse and battling with a pack of wolves. If we leave her alone she'll die for sure. Good thing I prepared my sword. I faced my friends to ask for a plan to help the lady but Baron recklessly aggroed with his claymore to the wolves which left us no choice but to aggro as well since the attention of the wolves transferred from the lady to us.

We weren't thinking, we were just attacking the wolves with our hand-to-hand combat weapons. I'm using a sword as well as Carmen, Blessica and Alon are attacking with a spear, Danilo and Baron are using claymore, while Cedric is using tomahawk. We were just attacking when Cedric screamed which made us all look at him and we saw that he cut the head of the wolf he was battling with a tomahawk. That made the other wolves angrier. They were about to attack him when someone came. It was a big guy. He looks inhumane. I was even more scared at it more than the wolves. I thought that it was about to attack us but it tanked us against the wolves.

It took in all the damage while still trying to attack the wolves while we help him do so. Eventually, all the wolves ran away in fear. We were all right but the guy was bruised. I wasn't surprised since it took in the damage. It fainted so we came near him. "I'll take care of him. Thank you for helping me." The lady said while accompanying the big guy to her horse. "W-wait, aren't you going to leave that here?" Carmen asked. "That thing looks beastly, he might eat you alive." she continued which made the lady smile.

"Honestly, I was scared of HIM first" she emphasized the word, him. "But after I saw him save me from the wolves today even after I ran away from him earlier, it tells me that he might be a nice person, that even beasts have a heart." she explained while gesturing us to walk beside her. She was pulling the horse with the horse collar and we followed her. "Uhm, we just want to get out of the forest, you don't have to lead us on our whole adventure." I assured her which made her nod and continued with her story. "This beast taught me to never judge someone without knowing the whole story. We may think we understand them but we don't." she explained which made the others bow their head because of guilt.

We were quiet until we reached the end of the forest. This is where we bid goodbye to the lady but before leaving, I asked her what her name is. "My name is Belle." she said sweetly before she went in her way. We were still quiet even after Belle left so I decided to crack the noise. "Hmm, we might not have learned anything about King Caspian and King Therondia but we definitely learned something from Belle and the beast today." I tried to be energetic but they were still quiet.

"Did you say King Caspian and King Therondia?" I turned my head to the one speaking. I saw a hermit. "Come with me. I may not know all about those two kings but I know something that you might want to know." with that we followed the hermit.