AvA: Corruption

Ch. 3 - Ambush in the Night

It was nearly midnight. No light was to be seen through the dense trees of the forest. Only the orange glow of a campfire illuminated four stick figures huddled together, toasting marshmallows over the crackling flames.

Lorona loved the warmth of the fire. It made her feel... safe. Protected. Like nothing bad could happen to her. She cuddled next to her brother, Bit, and drew back her stick, tugging the golden-brown marshmallow off of it with her teeth. It was the best thing she'd tasted in a long while.

Bit hadn't said a single word ever since they'd set camp. Aichor and Neros, on the other hand, had been exchanging lines all the way to the campsite and still were. But that didn't bother Lorona. She loved the contrast between her brother and the two.

But Bit's not saying anything brought sad memories back to Lorona. Memories depicting her beloved. She wondered if he was dead, and if he wasn't, would stay the same or not, as his staff had been destroyed.

If he didn't remember anything about her...

She tried to shake the thought out of her mind. Of course he will, she mentally scolded herself, You'll find a way to rescue him from wherever he is and live happily ever after together.

She wanted to believe that, but wasn't sure if she could. She'd seen Metaphor glitch out of existence with her own eyes. It was difficult to have faith in the notion when she'd seen what she'd seen.

The ambient sound of the bugs in the trees suddenly stopped, like someone had abruptly turned on mute in the forest. All that was left was the crackling of the fire. The wind died, and it seemed that the others had also stopped breathing. Aichor and Neros stopped talking and looked around, confused. Everything was eerily quiet all of a sudden.

Lorona heard something whistling through the trees. Bit snatched up his staff, but too late. A needle buried itself in Aichor's throat. He choked, and fell sideways. Neros caught him before he could hit the floor. Aichor didn't make another sound. He lay limp on the grass. From the point the needle had struck him, grey blood vessel-like lines began snaking their way up his body.

Neros scrambled back in alarm. "A-Aichor?"

"Get back, Neros!" Bit ordered, "He's being corrupted!"

"Wh-what?"

"I said 'get back!'"

"B-but..."

"Get. The HELL. Over here. NOW!"

Neros finally acknowledged the seriousness of the situation at hand and started forward. Bit stretched out a hand, but just before Neros caught it, a grey figure with bat's wings pounced on top of him, driving him into a tree. Neros screamed, and Bit yelled, "Run!" to Lorona.

They tore through the low-hanging leaves as fast as they could. Behind them, they could hear Aichor growling and hissing. A gust of wind pushed them forward. Lorona tripped and fell as Aichor leapt over their heads and landed with a thump in front of them.

Bit caught his sister around the waist and willed his gem to take them far, far away from Aichor, from the forest, from the lurking danger within. The gem glowed. Aichor hesitated. The world grew painfully bright around them. Bit closed his eyes as he shut Lorona's.

When the brightness subsided, they were standing in the mouth of a large cave with vines hanging from the top. Trees grew around the cave, forming a clearing dappled with moonlight. Through a small tree-free dirt path, Bit could see a valley dotted with clusters of colorful flowers.

Lorona wrapped her arms around Bit's neck and wept into his shoulder. Bit patted her back to comfort her.

"It's fine now," he said soothingly, "We're safe."

Lorona cried harder.

Bit heard footsteps nearby. He looked up to see a blue-purplish stick staring at them, an assortment of bundles in its arms.

"Um... hello," it greeted, "I'm Liv. And you're trespassing."