Distant pained wails filled the red forest, but she couldn't help but drown them out. Ignoring the sounds, and the footsteps that frantically scoured through the paths of the trees.
She sat atop the body of a slain corrupted creature, untouched, undamaged. One more stalked in the treeline, though she paid it no mind.
'I accounted for being separated as a less than likely scenario. I should've been smarter, planned for more variables that could occur.' Kori thought as she closed her eyes and meditated.
Just like when she was called to the House of Eden she brung a space deep within the confines of her conscience to the forefront of her mind. There she found herself standing on the index finger of a giant stone hand.
{Welcome, resident of the House of Destiny's Palm}
{You earned a title, 'Destiny's Favorite'}
{You earned a title, 'Princess of Utopia'}
{You earned a title, 'Head of the House of Destiny's Palm'}
{House Stability: 5%}
These writings appeared on a small stone tablet in front of Kori so she had no choice but to read it. Suddenly she couldn't help but sense a sinking feeling in her chest.
"Someone's… hurt?" She questioned.
She looked around and saw darkened figures that oulined the rest of the group standing on the other fingers. She saw Kei standing on the thumb, Lila on the ring finger, Lok on the pinky, but could not tell who the figure was on the middle finger.
'Is that the 5th? No time to wonder, someone needs help."
She tried to run to them but could not go past the first joint of the finger.
{To go further, conditions must be met}
The stone tablet read.
'I can't tell who it is! Think… think.' Kori's thoughts ran frantically.
She took a deep breath and tried to shake off her feelings of worry. 'Phew… ok. That's who I'll find first.'
***
In his view the world spun sideways. Thrashing through the treeline he thudded to a stop and yelped in pain, the lines between blood and dirt became blurred. His eyes slowly opened and were met with red leaves that had fallen on his body. Looking around he saw the unfamiliarity of the crimson trees and grass that surrounded him.
"Red?— Where am I… Lila?" Lok tried to stand but the fall hurt him worse than he thought it did. He chose a sword in the waiting room but now he was only left with the dagger his brother had given him.
His ribs ached and his breath was choppy but he forced himself up anyway.
"Kei! Lila! Kori!?" Lok managed to yell, his voice echoed but no response was given to him save for distant sounds of fighting and screaming.
Then— a groan?
He twisted his body only to find a boy no older than himself who could not recover from such a fall. The boy's eye was swollen shut and he was slumped against a tree.
Lok knew his brother.
'Kei would probably tell me to stay behind him and handle it himself, he would tell me to hide, or stay safe. But this time, someone's hurt, right?' A tiny part of Lok thought about backing away, but a part much bigger forced him to do the opposite.
"Who are you?" The hurt boy groaned.
"I'm Lok, I want to help, can you stand?" Lok said. The worry on his face is evident.
'Like the heroes in the stories I read, someone is in need and I can help them so doesn't that mean that I should? That's the right thing to do. No matter what Kei thinks of himself he always ends up doing the right thing too. He'd allow this, this one time.'
Screech!
"Oh no it's back." The boy tensed.
Lok looked over his shoulder and was met with a haunting figure. The creature had 6 legs that were deformed leaving the bone on the end like a sharp blade. Its long neck held armored scales and it had a human face with mandibles.
It used it's 4 legs to stand and attacked with 2.
"Sustenance." The monster's tongue slithered past it's teeth.
"Run!" Lok jumped away with the hurt boy in hand which allowed him to get sliced just a bit along the arm.
The monster gave chase but Lok made sure every step he took that the boy was at less risk than himself.
"It's faster than us! It'll get us!" The hurt boy yelled.
"I know! But it's ok I won't let it get us." Lok reassured him.
As the monster swung, Lok ran behind a tree just in time. It cut half the tree in an instant. Everytime the monster was within range to slice Lok's head the boy would run behind a tree causing the creature to lose sight of him.
Pant! Pant!
'I'm starting to get tired. I am tired. I'm running as fast as I can but it's only getting closer and closer. I want to stop and I want to take a break but I know if I do we will both die. I can't run anymore, I can't hide anymore. What would the hero do in a story? What would Kei do? I know they'd probably fight, but I also know I can't fight this.'
Lok's mind ran frantically looking for a solution. No matter what he thought, the only way he thought of surviving was simply waiting to be saved. There was no one to save him though, he called out and no one was there.
His feet carried him and the injured boy past tree after tree till Lok jumped over a bush. His eyes dilated as he realized he ran so long he had just jumped into an open field past the treeline.
"Tiny snack— nowhere to go." The creature stayed in the treeline toying with them as they realized their helplessness without the cover of the trees.
'I think… I get it. My first mistake, heroes don't give up even when they think they can't win, they keep trying.'
Lok tried to catch his breath, his heart was beating a mile a minute, he put the boy down and his hands shook as he slowly pulled his dagger from its sheath.
He readied himself for what was to come. 'My second mistake was hoping to be saved. Kei never taught me what to do if I can't hide or run. The group is separated, but I will find Kei and he will find me. I will do the right thing, and survive while doing it, no matter what.'
"Stay behind me ok?!" Lok yelled nervously.
Whack!— Thud.
Lok fell over onto the ground while the boy stood over him holding a stick he found nearby.
"I'm sorry!" The boy whimpered.
The Zeytian child's eyes blurred but through them he saw the injured boy hobble away through the unkempt red grass of the field.
"No… it's dangerous. You'll get hurt alone." Lok reached his arm out to the boy.
Screech!
Suddenly a separate beast from the one who gave chase previously appeared. Its wings were twice the size of a man and talons were sharper than blades. It had the body of a falcon but horribly deformed as if it were pulled straight from a nightmare.
The beast swooped in and picked up the boy right from the ground and tossed him into its mouth. Lok felt full of regret and helplessness.
Soon the nightmare bird set its sights on Lok. He forced himself up from the ground. The creature quickly came close to being in range.
Swish!
He closed his eyes and swung his dagger with all his might but had miscalculated the range the bird was from the range of his blade causing the dagger to only slice through air instead of corrupted flesh.
Still when he opened his eyes the bird was met with a hard knee to it's face.
Wham!
A girl flew through the air, her white hair and eyes reflected the moon's light as if she were a star in the sky herself. She donned a black knight dress and dark light armor.
The beast squirmed along the ground sporadically wrapping its wing around its face to ease the pain. The girl lands intensely locking eyes with Lok.
"Found you little hero." She smirked.
"Kori?" Lok muttered in confusion. As he looked at her he felt something that reminded him of the feeling he had when reading, admiration.
"Here, try to stand." She held out her hand.
"How did you find me?" Lok asked as he took her hand.
"I heard you." Kori replied.
Lok became baffled. "Heard me? Just from that? There's no way, I was running for hours."
"It's true. Or at least heard you at first. I felt myself going in the right direction until I reached a cut tree, then I couldn't feel anything. This black band named itself then awakened after that and made a radar map of the area." She pointed to the band on her right wrist.
"Black band? What do you mean heard and felt? Is this the power of being in a house together? But I don't 'feel' anything." Lok could do nothing but come up with more questions.
"Maybe I've just got more aptitude for it since I've visited a house before. Either way it doesn't matter, now focus up. Shit-bird will recover soon and I see a stalker hiding in the treeline. Can you fight?" Kori concluded and asked.
"I can try." Lok was unsure.
"You can, and you will." She said bluntly.
"I will." Lok's grip of his dagger tightened.
"You take the injured one. I'll take the creepy stalker and if it gets too dangerous I'll come back you up, you have my word." Kori ordered and reassured him.
"Got it."
They stood back to back Lok with his dagger in hand facing the hurt Nightmare bird and Kori stared into the treeline. She clenched her fist and lightly tapped Lok's back before speeding off towards her monster.
"Show me what you got little hero."