Ultraviolet

Chapter 4: The Misty Forest

(Author's Note: In some places, you will see three dashes in a row. Those are meant to resemble an em dash. I just put them there because there's not an actual character on the keyboard for the em dash, so I would have had to go copy one to paste every time I wanted to write. It was easier for me to replace them with three dashes.)

"First, to get to the Third Reality, we need to pass through the Misty Forest, where I just was," Nopira began, "then, I will introduce you to a friend of mine, who will accompany us as we make our way through the Great Labyrinth. Beyond the exit of the labyrinth lies the Miraculous Gateway, the portal to the Third Reality."

"You said you just came from the Misty Forest, right? That means that we should be able to travel through it with no trouble. That's great! I'd love for this adventure to be as easy as possible!"

"Hold your horses, Dianne. What you don't know about the Misty Forest, is that it plays tricks on your eyes. You will see illusions that will lead you astray among the trees. The path out of the Misty Forest is different every time, so I do not know the directions to the exit. We will have to work together to find it. Make sure you stay close, we don't want you dying in the woods."

"I see. Now, let us proceed."

"Wait! There's one last thing you need to know before we enter the Misty Forest. I've never experienced this, but I've heard that it can happen. There may be monsters lurking in there. None that are deadly, but they can still cause detriment," he cautioned.

"Okay! I get it! Now please, let's just go," I requested.

Nopira caught up to me, and we entered the Misty Forest together. The fog engulfed us, but I could still feel his presence next to me, and I'm sure he could feel the same. It was nearly impossible to see anything in that wretched place, so I had to strain to listen for any peculiar noises. We walked in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being the dead leaves crunching beneath our feet and the pitter-patter of the rain up above. If I looked up, I could see a little past the fog, but the tops of trees covered the sky, leaving almost no light whatsoever. However, this meant that we did not have to walk in the rain, which I was considerably appreciative of. Eventually, I heard the sound of a third pair of footsteps coming from about fifteen feet away, but the direction of the sound was indiscernible. Nopira stopped dead in his tracks, and I stopped too. We stood there, unmoving, listening for the footsteps again for about ten seconds.

Suddenly, we heard the shriek of a terrible monster, right behind us. Nopira and I stepped away from each other, and the monster ran between us. I could not see what the monster exactly looked like through the thickness of the fog, except that it slightly resembled a woolly mammoth, but it was much smaller.

"Dianne! Start picking up rocks and throw them at it!" he screamed, tossing a stone at the creature from a few feet away.

I bent down, searching for anything to throw at the beast. Eventually, I found a rock, about the size of a bowling ball, to throw at the creature. It began to charge at me, and I hurled the rock at the beast. All in a moment, the rock hit the creature and it fell onto its back, rolling on the ground, desperately trying to get back onto its feet. Nopira kicked it with all his might, sending the creature flying into the air, where it hit a tree. It didn't get up or even move at all, so we presumed we had either killed it or knocked it unconscious. Either way, we didn't care about finding out, we just wanted to escape. We found each other in the fog through a game of Marco Polo. After I was sure I was right next to him, we continued walking on, but much faster this time.

"Hey, Dianne?" Nopira asked, "I hope you don't think I led you here to hurt you. I really didn't know that was going to happen. If I did, I would have found us weapons of some sort to defend ourselves. Somehow, we were able to manage without weapons, but I'm afraid that if we meet a creature who is stronger than that, things might not go so well next time. On the bright side, however, your performance in that battle was amazing! It was really impressive, I was shocked when you picked up that big rock. That creature fell right over! Then, when I kicked it into that tree, that was even more amazing!"

"Wow, way to brag, Ghost Boy, but thanks for the compliment," I muttered.

"Don't call me that! In all seriousness, we should stop talking, we need to listen closely to our surroundings. We can't risk getting attacked by another monster. I fear the repercussions."

"Right, let's continue," I agreed.

We walked for about ten minutes until we saw a small stream of moonlight pouring in through the trees at what we assumed to be the end of the Misty Forest. Right in front of the exit was a patch of purple clovers that seemed to stretch forever horizontally. The fog had cleared up, as we were nearly at the end of the woods. The purple clovers seemed awfully suspicious, so Nopira and I decided that we needed to find an alternate route to the exit. We couldn't just walk around them, because the line of clovers was so vast, maybe even never-ending. We couldn't jump over them because the patch was far too wide. The only other option was to climb.

"This tree looks to be the easiest to climb," I pointed out, staring up a very tall tree with low branches that spread out far enough that they could be used to cross the clover patch.

"I've never climbed a tree before," Nopira murmured, embarrassed.

"What? Well, it's not that hard. Just hold on tight, and don't look down. We will just crawl along this branch right here until we reach a safe spot in front of the clover patch, then jump off. I'll go first, then you'll reciprocate my actions."

I slowly climbed up the base of the tree about seven feet, and then carefully transferred myself to the lowest branch on the tree. I crawled along the length of the branch, careful not to shake it too much. When I noticed the branch thinning out, I looked down to make sure it was safe to jump. I was in the perfect location to jump off, so I lowered myself off the branch and then hopped off. I turned around and smiled at Nopira, beckoning him to follow me.

"Phew! That doesn't look too difficult! I think I can do it just fine," he declared, looking very relieved.

He climbed up the base of the tree with no troubles. Whenever he climbed onto the branch, it began to wobble, and he gave me an anxious look.

"Just keep going! You only have a little farther to go! As long as you don't think about it too much, you'll make it!" I encouraged.

He continued his climb, never wiping the anxious look off his face. He was probably very nervous, but I didn't blame him, especially after seeing what happened shortly after.

Nopira successfully reached the end of the branch and hopped off as soon as he could. Clearly, he was dying to get off of the tree.

"Afraid of heights?" I teased.

"Yes, but I'm also scared of that clover patch. I wonder if we did all that for nothing?"

As soon as he finished his thought, giant Venus flytraps rose from the purple clovers.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad that we decided to climb that tree instead of walking. If one of us would have fallen, we would have been eaten alive," I reflected.

"I'm surprised you're taking this matter so lightly. I almost just died because I decided to go with you on your stupid adventure!" he retorted.

"That was your choice, not mine. You didn't have to go with me, but thanks for coming along, I suppose."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get out of this place, this has already been a traumatizing enough experience."

Finally, we exited the Misty Forest. Right before I stepped past the last tree, I looked back into the woods. I felt very accomplished. I had assisted in killing a strange monster, taught someone how to climb a tree, and narrowly avoided death! I was one step closer to finding out the truth. When I got my answer, I would not let it go to waste.