The Twilight Flower

Chapter 3

Wizzard shot a quick glance at GingerBrave, his voice tinged with irritation as he spoke, crossing his arms. "You realize that hound just now could have bitten your arm off and would have gotten away with it?"

Despite the annoyance, GingerBrave could tell Wizzard's comment came from a place of concern. He simply shrugged, keeping a calm demeanor. "But it didn't, so everything is fine." he muttered back. Wizzard rolled his eyes, but joined GingerBrave as they walked over to Strawberry Cookie, who was working to stop her own bleeding.

GingerBrave sat beside Strawberry Cookie and noticed the blood oozing from her eyelid. He was sad to admit that a cut that deep would definitely leave a scar. "If... you want to stop the bleeding, you need to apply more pressure than that." he advised.

Strawberry Cookie felt a wave of embarrassment as she looked away and nodded. "I know, it's just really painful... but I'll keep trying." She spoke softly, wincing as she applied more pressure to her wound, but she was determined to stop the bleeding.

GingerBrave's eyes flicked over to Wizzard Cookie, who had been pretty quiet during these past few moments. The question that had been nagging at him suddenly resurfaced, so he spoke. "So... Strawberry Cookie escaped from the oven... and I did too... did you escape from an one?" he asked, turning to face Wizzard Cookie.

Wizzard stared at him. "...Yes! You don't remember? You were with us!"

"...I was?"

"Yes!" Wizzard Cookie repeated in his "wasn't-it-obvious?" tone of voice. (Like he usually did.) "We escaped together! It was terrifying. That fire.... how could you not remember?" Wizzard Cookie shuddered. GingerBrave finally felt a rush of memories return to him.

"O h." Was GingerBrave's only words.

He did remember now... the intense heat of the oven... the panic he felt as he frantically searched for an escape, eventually finding Wizzard Cookie and Strawberry Cookie, when they ran and came upon a tall crimson tower— and they all tumbled down into a red portal, which must have transported them... here.

Honestly, that had raised more questions than it answered. What had happened before they were trapped in that oven? He somewhat had memories of his childhood, of growing up alongside Wizzard Cookie and Strawberry Cookie, but everything beyond that was hazy. He couldn't recall any details of his life before then, which was worrying. As much as he wanted to push his mind to remember more, he simply couldn't. So, he reluctantly decided to let it go for now and focus on the present.

"Yeah!" GingerBrave exclaimed. "I remember now... we were all separated when we entered that portal... but I guess we weren't scattered too far from each other. It's a good thing we ended up finding each other again." He smiled.

Strawberry's eyes widened with terror as she spoke about what she had been trying to say earlier. "When I was trapped in the oven, I... saw something... something terrible." She confessed. "A cookie of great power, with glaring red eyes and black, curved antlers... like a monster!" She shuddered as she recalled nightmare she had seen a little too well.

"What?" GingerBrave and Wizzard both exclaimed, exchanging a look with each other. Strawberry seemed to realize how bizarre she sounded and shook her head, trying to brush it off. "A-Actually, maybe it was just my hoodie that was over my eyes during the whole thing. The chaos of the oven probably just caused me to imagine things." she said sheepishly, attempting to rationalize her earlier statement.

Wizzard Cookie changed the topic to be less awkward. "Forget where we came from! Where even are we right now? Theres nothing but weird... forest. Nothing here is familiar to me."

Now that was also a good question.

GingerBrave scanned the dense forest ahead. "Well...this can't all be trees! Surely there's something...somewhere?" he said aloud, more to himself than to his friends. Suddenly, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"You'd be correct, good cookies! You are near a kingdom!"