The Keys: A Tale of a Beginning and End

Chapter twenty

Trudging through a marsh was nothing like walking through water, it was a lot messier and squishier. I had no clue what I was standing on, every time I took a step in any direction my foot would sink all the way in. If it weren't for the boots my feet would be smothered in marsh contents and my shoes would be missing. The road ahead of me was a hard one, but that didn't stop me from pushing through.

I think I was out there digging through the marsh for hours, my face was burning, no doubt I'll end up with a sunburn, and I was exhausted. The sun didn't appear to have moved any further than where it was, and I don't think it will change unless I found what I was looking for. Problem 1, I have no clue if I'm looking in the right place, I can only go with my gut feeling, the other problem that I was having is what exactly am I looking for? Am I looking for the magic flail given to me by Shearah, or something else, I wasn't exactly sure. The only thing I'm positive about is that I have to keep looking, there's no way I'm giving up that easily.

After another hour of searching I found a tree, it was dead but its large limbs offered shade and comfort from the suns scorching rays. Of course my luck is horrible, so I don't even get 5 minutes of rest when I get attacked by an ogre.

The ogre had rough and splotchy yellow and green skin, teeth that jutted out from its mouth, and a huge club. As it walked towards me the ground shook, I found that odd since I was still in the marsh and couldn't really reach the bottom. He kept coming closer ( at least I thought it was a he who knows ) I looked around and tried to come up with a plan, but of course this probably would have been easier if I had a weapon. I thought for a moment longer until he was about 2 yards away, that's when I decided to jump and grab onto the dead branch hoping it wouldn't break. Using my upper body strength I pulled myself up onto the branch and then climbed up higher until I was about a foot above its head, then I sat there quietly, unmoving and barely breathing.

That's when the branch started to crack and break, it looked up and that's when I made my move. I jumped off the branch clutching 2 small sticks, I thrust those same sticks in his eyes, it was a gruesome sight but I had to live people need me. He tried to wack me with his club several times, but each time I moved at the last second and he ended up hitting himself. We repeated this process until he finally knocked himself out, and he landed on his back with a thud. So right before I fell face first into the marsh, I had shut my eyes tightly expecting a squishy substance to envelop my face, it never came. Turns out I was back in the bedroom, all clean no trace of dirt or anything that proved that I was gone, except for one thing, my chocker was back on my neck.