The Witch, The Wizard, and The Out-Worlder

A Long Bridge, A Dark Forest

"We have to move now, don't look back." Felix cried out to me, his voice carrying over the sound of the quickly speeding wind.

I took a deep breath and placed my foot on the bridge. It felt stable enough, not swaying under my weight. Thunder cracked once again behind me, but it was still far enough not to light up the sky around us. Lute gave me an encouraging nudge to the side of my neck, as well as a high-pitched whistling sound, which I took as a positive sound. I pushed onward, trying to catch up to Felix, but he was moving faster than I was.

"Don't leave me behind!" I cried out. He didn't say anything, but he did slow down slightly.

Walking across was difficult. I felt my knees shaking and my palms were sweating uncontrollably. Soon my arms began to shake, as I was too far to turn around, and incredibly high. Not looking down was next to impossible, but I tried my hardest, I knew it wouldn't make the endeavor any easier. I took the walk slowly, making sure I had ample footing before I took another step, it was all I could do to assure myself that I wasn't going to fall off.

Slowly, we made our way through, trekking nearly halfway across before I felt the first rain drop. I turned to look behind me to find the dark clouds were close, really close. I watched the clouds cover the sunlight, instantly darkening everything around us. One raindrop turned to two, two into four, until they were coming down incredibly fast. I was instantly regretting getting on the bridge. The rain was supposed to be far enough behind us to where we wouldn't have to worry about it.

The wind started to pick up even worse than it was, causing the bridge to sway more than I was comfortable with. Now I had to focus on the rain, the wind, as well as not passing out from sheer nerves, "Felix." I wobbled out. I could barely form words in my head, let alone get them out coherently. I feel Lute grabbing tightly to my shoulder as he sunk as low as he could, his wet hair waving in the wind, highlighting how thin his actually body was.

"We need to move quicker. We're past the halfway mark, I can see the other side ahead. Just keep pushing yourself, one foot after the o-," He was cut off by a bright flash and the loud boom of thunder striking somewhere around us.

I closed my eyes and tried to steady myself mentally. I wanted nothing more than to hide out in my room and watch the storm from my window like I typically did. I reopened my eyes and pushed forward again; this time quicker. The bridge was soaking wet, as the rain had intensified considerably, even still, the wood was easy to get footing on. The grip I had on the rope was so tight, my hands were burning from dragging against the coarseness of it.

The thunder picked up, lighting the ever-darkening skies, if only for seconds at a time. The loud cracks that followed were what put me on edge, each time making my stomach turn. If the bridge were to be struck, we would be doomed without hope.

"We're nearly there, just a little more!" Felix yelled out to me, but his voice was barely audible over the rushing wind and constant pattering of the rain.

I couldn't get myself to respond, I was too focused on keeping myself moving forward. I wanted nothing more than to be done with the bridge.

The rain had completely soaked through all my clothes, chilling me to the bone. What made it worse, was my hair was flailing in the wind, wiping my face, obstructing my view. There wasn't anything I could do about my hair; I couldn't take my hands of the ropes long enough to tie my hair back.

With my hair covering half my vision, I made an effort to flip my hair back by quickly tossing my head to the side and back. The motion did get my hair out of my face, but it also momentarily took me off my balance. This was just long enough for me to lose footing on one leg, sending my left leg slipping off the board. My right leg buckled from the suddenly added weight.