Youngblood | Lonely Hearts Club

Chapter 4 - Jasmine finally gets her base

"Behind you, Missy! Watch out!" Monet shouted, almost louder then anyone had heard her say. Jasmine turned around and was faced with a giant ogre-like monster. It was tall and burly but what made it different than the typical Blaten ogres was the single eye and the large scaly wings coming out of his back. Jasmine had never, in all their time of being in Blaten, seen anything like this creature before and she only just managed to jump out of the way of his massive gray hands before he could smack her. She clutched at her sword tightly in her hands before looking back at Monet and Mark. The two of them were just as surprised to see the creature in front of her as she was.

"What is that?" Jasmine cried out, holding her sword out in front of her. She waved it slightly, ready to defend herself should she be attacked again in the next few seconds. Next to her, Mark also pulled out his sword, dropping his dagger down at his feet. Jasmine heard Monet notch an arrow in her bow and satisfied, Jasmine knew they were prepared for battle.

"That's definitely a Never Ogre," Monet replied, pulling back her bowstring. She was prepared to fire an arrow if needed. "I read about them in the library when I was preparing for the quest. They're big and nasty and you're never supposed to encounter them. That's why they're called Never Ogres." The gray monster in front of them let out a loud roar and swiped his big hands at them again. The warriors of Blaten took a step back, swinging their swords and shooting their arrows at the Never Ogre. Nothing hit the giant in front of them. Instead, it just seemed to make him angrier.

"What are we supposed to do then?" Mark called over to Monet. He held his sword out in front of him, prepared to attack if needed. Monet, for the first time since they started this mission, finally looked as if she was at a loss for words.

"I... I don't know..." Her voice trailed off, growing small, as she stared up at the big monster in front of them. The Never Ogre roared and spread his wings, knocking into a few of the trees. The ghosts that lived in the trees started to rattle and complain, filling the Whisper Woods to be filled with enough noise to make up for the weeks that it had lacked it all.

"For right now, all I can think of is that we should run," Jasmine replied quickly once she noticed that Monet didn't know what to do. Mark and Monet nodded their heads and the three of them took off running, twisting and weaving through the trees. The Never Ogre followed behind them but he was slow and dumb so it was fairly easy to throw him off their trail. Still, they could hear him roaring in the background. The three of them didn't rest until they had made it to a small clearing where they practically fell down onto the ground in exhaustion.

"We should have been more careful," Mark groaned, throwing his sword down in front of him and throwing himself down on the ground, breathing heavily. "I just lost my dagger because of him."

"No, I should have warned you about him. It's all my fault," Monet sighed, crossing her legs over each other and laying her bow down in front of her. "And you can have my dagger, Good Sir. You use it more than I do." She pulled her dagger out of her dagger pouch and held it out to him. Mark took it and said his thanks, smiling a bit at her before sitting up again and slipping the dagger where his own dagger normally belonged.

"It's not your fault, Miss Knight. We all should have been more careful," Jasmine replied, pulling her knees up to her chest while she leaned back against a tree. Monet shook her head and looked like she was going to protest but Jasmine interrupted her. "You did tell us how dangerous this quest was going to be." Monet just shook her head again.

"Yeah, but we haven't even made it out of the Whisper Forest yet. We still have so long to go to get to Cloud City. Maybe we shouldn't have gone at all," Monet sighed, drawing some figures into the dirt. Jasmine frowned at her.