Beneath the Moon

Through the Forest

Currently, we're on a hill far from the west mansion— where the dragon lady is. We decided to stop by and look at the map.

"Did you figure out our way to the forest?" Terrence asked. He can't read maps so he let Harvey and Tristan do that stuff.

"Not yet." Tristan replied.

I fly up to get a better view of the hill when I noticed a sign floating and under it are trees.

"EVERYONE! UP HERE!" I called to my companions. They fly near me when they heard my call.

"What on Earth with the yell, thief?" Tristan asked irritatingly. Guess he's so angry at me. "We're about to figure out our way."

"Sorry but I guess that can help." I pointed the sign I saw saying 'QTRSHB ENQDRS'.

"That's just rubbish." Tristan replied.

"Maybe it's a code and we should decipher it." Lance suggested. "Codes are possible right?"

"Maybe you're right but what cipher should we use?" I asked. Suddenly, my necklace glow and show some letters and a number.

"ROT 1?" Harvey asked.

Lance took off his phone and type something. "Guys, I used the net to answer our question. 'ROT 1 is literally means rotate 1 letter forward through the alphabet'. So that means Q is R, T is U, R is S, S is T, H is I, B is C, E is F, N is O, Q is R, D is E, R is S, and S is T. It's RUSTIC FOREST."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's not waste time."

"Yes Sir Tristan!" The other three boys joked while I just gave a soft laugh.

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As we enter the forest, I felt a chill run down to my spine. You could tell I'm shaking and holding on Lance's arm.

"Don't worry Zeanne. It'll be okay." Lance calm me. I take a deep breath and calm down.

While we're near in the middle of the forest, I heard something so beautiful in my ears.

"Did you guys hear that?" Terrence asked. Guess I'm not the only one who heard it.

"Yeah. It's so beautiful." Harvey said while his eyes are close. "I think we should look for its location. We need to get guitar strings remember? It seems like that the instrument used there is a guitar."

"I agree." I said. Tristan gave me a dagger stare. What did I do?

We followed it and when we reached the middle of the forest, we saw a huge lake and there's a guy that looks like four years older than me playing the guitar. We hide behind a tree and watch him.

Suddenly, he stopped strumming. "Is anybody in here with me?!" He asked. Seems like he is asking with a mix of shout.

The boys show up and walk near him. They let me stay here because they said they can handle it. "Stay right there! What do you want?" He said. He's handsome but scary.

"Sorry to disturb you but we need to get guitar strings. Can we?" Harvey asked politely.

"Why would I do that? Specially if I'm the guardian of the Rustic Forest and all of you just barged in?" He asked.

"Well it's open, duh." Tristan said.

"How dare you! Now taste my wrath!" Now the guy is angry. "I Alexis Nature, guardian of the Rustic Forest, summoning my powers through the help of my guitar. You intruders will be my servant after hearing my strums!" He chanted. I can't do anything. I'm panicking and can't think straight.

'His power can't affect you dear. You have your moon to guide you' I heard those words like a whisper from the wind.

I heard the guy start playing the guitar. I peek to see what's happening and ignore the whisper.

I saw the boys struggling for a while but then their eyes glow and become green as the forest. The guitar guy commanded something and the four quickly followed.

"NOOOO!!!" I yelled and near them without thinking. The guy look at me.

"Oh what a beautiful girl will be doing here in the forest at this late night?" He said. "I'm Alexis"

"Okay Alexis. Let them go!" I yelled.

"Whoa whoa. Are these your boyfriends?" He asked.

"They're my friends. So let them go!"

"Oh so you're single. Good to know. I'll let them free if you'll marry me."

"No way!"

"Then they'll be my servants. We— wait. Silly me. I'll just use my guitar to make you follow me." He started strumming and an energy surrounds me. I remembered the whisper earlier. I have a plan.

I whispered something to my necklace and now I got green eyes too like the four. Hope it works.

After Alexis saw me transform, he smiled sweetly. "You are now under my control, love."

"I am now under your control." I said. "What should we do master?"

"Drop the master. Call me sweetheart." He replied with a wink.

"Okay, sweetheart." I can't help but feel disgust.

"Great. Now dance with me." He said. I have no choice and a little dance won't kill right?

His guitar played 'Say You Won't Let Go' by James Arthur, on its own. We just dance near the lake. Though I suck in dancing, at least he's happy. I just need to make him believe that I fell under his spell. After that, we sat near the lake and start talking. I enjoy it though until he whispered something. "I know you're pretending. I'm not stupid."

"Yeah. I'm sorry Alexis." I bowed my head and transform back. "Please don't kill me."

"I was about to but when you danced with me, I realized something. I shouldn't force anyone to love me and be with me. I messed up. I'm sorry miss. I don't even know your name."

"It's Zeanne. I know what you feel. I'm just like you. Lonely. But you know, maybe we can help you."

"Zeanne. That's pretty name. But wait 'we'?"

"Yes Alexis. My companions can help you too. We're in a mission, you see. We're going next to Japan after we get finish here. You want to come? Maybe you can find someone there. Either friend or love."

"I guess so." He replied.

"But in two conditions. Okay?"

"Anything for you Zeanne."

"Let my companions go and we need seven guitar strings. Deal?"

"Let's do this." He cut the spell and the boys are back.

"What happened?" Terrence asked.

"It's a long story. But everyone, meet Alexis. He's going with us to Japan. We made a deal. I'll help him to be not alone anymore and he'll give us the seven guitar strings." I said. Tristan is about to protest when Lance stopped him.

"Please to meet you Alexis. I'm Harvey, that brown-haired guy is Terrence, the green-haired guy is Lance and that black-haired guy is Tristan. By the way sorry for his attitude earlier. But where can we find these strings?"

"In my storage room. Follow me." Alexis led us to a huge tree where we hid earlier. He chant something and there's a door that opened and whoa! There are so many guitar strings and they are all glowing. "I'll give you ten strings just in case." He gave it to Lance and put it in the pouch Lady Dragon gave us.

"Thank you Alexis." I said and smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Next stop is Japan. We're coming to get you Sakura!" Terrence said excitedly.

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