Project Fantasy

Chapter 7

The two monsters immediately ran towards Mark, as he made a swift dash to the right. The monsters continued to chase him, further distancing themselves from Ren, who was still on the ground. Ren continued to watch as his friends were devoted to protecting him. He couldn't stay on the floor forever.

Mark began to fight off the two monsters as Ren struggled to find his balance. His arms were weak from the initial struggle, but slowly he was able to push himself onto his knees. He looked over to Mark, who seemed to be able to effortlessly handle two monsters even though he was struggling with one just a few moments ago. As Ren continued to watch, he built up the strength to rise to his feet. This is what he was supposed to do. To keep fighting for his safety. For everyone's safety.

He stumbled his way onto his feet, still dizzy from the initial pummeling that he got moments before. He could hear Star in the distance, taunting at her enemies while she steadily flew away. He could see Mark, who had now gotten several bruises and cuts from the fighting. He couldn't stand to watch them anymore. Ren looked around for something, anything that could help him. Then he saw it.

There was a thick log in front of him. Slowly, he stumbled over to it. He took a good look at the size. It was as long as a sword, and it was thick enough to where Ren could hold it with ease. He swiftly picked up the log and turned back to Mark, who was beginning to lose breath. Ren quickly ran over to him, and in one big swing, he hit the monster in front of Mark over the head. The swing caused the monster to fall down, and Ren could see a dent in the monster's head. His eyes grew wide at the realization.

"It's the head!" He yelled. "Their weak point is the head!" Mark looked over at where Ren was mentioning, and he too realized the dent. Mark looked around for a log, and once he spotted one, he dashed over to it. The second monster ran toward Ren as he had his back turned. Ren heard the footsteps and quickly swung toward the sound, hitting the monster straight on the side of the head. The monster fell and let out a scream. The first monster got up and dashed towards Ren. Suddenly, Mark jumped in front of him and swung at the monster, stopping it in its tracks. The monster also let out a scream, but neither got up again.

Mark grabbed Ren's hand and started pulling him away. "We need to find Star now!" He yelled. Ren nodded and ran with him, the log still in his hand. Meanwhile, Star had managed to run to the end of the forest, but she had cornered herself by the monsters. She swerved the attacks of the monsters and managed to stay above them as much as she could, but she knew that the plan would fail eventually. She could feel herself getting tired, as her dodges were getting narrower and narrower. Star was panting at this point. What was she going to do? She couldn't even see her friends anymore with how far she had flown. We're they alright? We're they able to hold their own?

As she continued to dodge the monsters' attacks, one of them started to swat her with a stick. Star flew even higher, as the stick almost hit her a few times. But she knew she would need to think of something. If she flew over them, they would just jump and catch her. But if she flew higher, she would lose steam faster and get caught. She tried to think. There was a tree beside her. If she tried to use it, they might try to climb it, and the tree could break. She decided to take the risk though, as she quickly flew into the leaves of the tree. The monsters quickly rushed towards the tree and began to shake it. Star desperately held on to a branch near her as the monsters continued to shake the tree. After a few moments, the shaking stopped but was quickly replaced with a tilt. Star looked down, realizing that one of the monsters was climbing the tree. She quickly made her way up to the top, narrowly avoiding a few attacks. As she made her way, she could see someone lurking in the bushes. She made no effort to identify them, as the monster was right on her tail, but as the monster drew closer, she heard her friend call out to her.

"Star! Star, over here!" Mark called out. Star turned to face him. Once she realized where he was, she quickly took note of where the monster was and jumped off the tree. She quickly flew into Mark's hands, where she collapsed in exhaustion. "Don't worry, Star. I got you," Mark told her, as Star was breathing heavily. She looked up at him and a smile spread across her face. "The exit... it's over there," she said as she pointed south of where the group was. Both Ren and Mark nodded as they started to run towards the exit. The monsters began to chase them, but Ren and Mark were able to keep their distance. It wasn't long before they saw slivers of light. They began to run faster, and once they reached the end, they all collapsed into the newly lit floor.

The monsters chased them until the exit, in which they screeched at the sunlight and ran back into the darkness. The group was struggling to breathe as they lay on the floor. It took them a few moments before they could catch their breath again, and slowly they picked themselves up from the floor. "Well...wasn't that exciting?" Mark said in between breaths. Ren and Star nodded as all three eventually got to their feet. "At least we got out of that place," Star said. "Heaven knows what would've happened if we stayed in there."

"You sure got that right," Ren said. Mark looked at him for a moment. "I don't think we've introduced ourselves, have we Ren?" Ren looked at him. "I know you, Mark. Lilac talks a whole heck of a bunch about you you know?" Ren responded. He turned to Star. "I'm not sure who you are though," he said, suspicion showing in his voice. Mark felt it immediately, and quickly put himself in between the two. "Well Ren, this is Star. She's been trying to get us out of here since the beginning. Ren looked at her. "What are you? You're small like a toy and have wings like a bird," he said. "I'm a fairy," Star responded. "I here to help you two get home."

Ren looked around. He was confused but was good at keeping other people from knowing it. Instead, he turned to Mark. "Where are we?" He asked. "Well we just got out of what the fairies call the Land of Horrors, and now we should be getting close to the place where we started, right Star?"

"Right. Your portal shouldn't be too far from here," Star responded. Ren looked at them as if they had three heads. "You're a fairy?" He asked. Star nodded as they began their walk again. Ren looked at both of them with a sarcastic expression. "Uh-huh. So you're telling me that I woke up to a fifty-foot monster, fought my way through them for what seemed like hours, almost died, mind you, and you're here all chirpy and giddy like you didn't go through the most terrifying experience of your life?" Ren replied. Star looked at him dumbfounded. "I just wanted to lighten up the mood a little. It was scary." Ren shrugged. "Well you make good friends Mark," he snarked as he walked in front of the two of them, hands crossed. He walked forward for a few moments before stopping and turning back towards them. Mark and Star looked at him blankly. "Are you going to show the way or not?" he asked. Star snapped back to her senses and flew in front of Ren, Mark following closely behind both of them.

The walk was slow, as none of them had any more strength to go quickly. As they walked, Mark and Star struck up a conversation for a few minutes. They were laughing and joking around, and stopped every few steps to regain their breath from all the laughing. Once they had finished, Star turned to Ren. "Hey, Ren?" She asked. "What?" He responded. Star slowed her flying. "I'd like to get to know you a bit better before you guys go." "Well, I don't. End of story." Star's enthusiasm wavered as she looked at Ren, who had stopped looking at her. She took a soft breath before talking again. "Mark was telling me about the condition that Lilac has. I'm aware that you were a result of her condition."

"Stop saying it like that. You make it sound like it was a bad thing." Ren responded. "It's not a bad thing. It's what we had to do."

"And I want to understand that. Why did you have to do what you guys did?"

"That's none of your business. Besides, it's been years. We can handle ourselves just fine now you know."

"I have no doubts that you can. I just want to know why you, and by proxy, Amber, are here in the first place."

Ren looked at her with surprise. "How do you know Amber? And how did you know my name back in the forest?!" Ren began to yell, but it was clear that there was fear in his voice. He stomped toward Star in a rage. "You don't know anything, you hear!? Nothing!" He yelled. "I know that. I want to know. I want to understand." Star said calmly. Ren froze for a moment as Star's words processed in his head. He slowly backed away from her as she stayed where she was. He looked at Mark, who had a soft expression. Ren relaxed as he looked for a place to sit. Mark and Star also found a place, and all three of them sat down.