How the Emperor trapped a Witch

Chapter Fifty-seven: A hiking trip

Note: Blood and violence.

Alaric

"They just keep coming!" Blair grumbles as she stabs a strange looking monkey with green fur, the front half of a snake as it's tail and large teeth that jumped from a tree towards her.

Nothing had happened when we first entered the jungle until Reid almost fell into a pitfall with sharp sticks pointing out from the bottom. Once we pulled him up, we were suddenly attacked by the monkey's. 

We were tripping over bodies as they mindlessly attacked until I noticed a strange formation of monkey's behind of a group of darker colored green monkey's which seemed to be protecting something. 

"Kimbra!" I pushed forward, Kimbra immediately understanding what I was planning. I reach the cluster of monkey's who turned and hissed and I see a shining green monkey which seemed to be the one controlling all of them.

It turned to run away, but it was too late; my sword stabbed into it. The monkey screeches for a moment before it falls lifeless to the ground.

I look up to see the rest of the monkey's looking around in confusion before running off into the jungle. 

"Wow. They weren't kidding about this place!" Barrett laughs as Blair rolled her eyes and Reid flopped down on the ground. 

"If we are having this much trouble early on." Nolo says, his quiet voice silencing Barrett's laugh. "Then it will be problematic to rescue Witch Celestia."

"Don't worry." I released my aura which surrounded each member of our group and spread out between the trees.

It became eerily silent as birds and even bugs went quiet from the pressure that came off me in waves, but I did make sure to hold it back enough to not harm the others.

"Now we just have to get to the door." 

::::::::::::

"This is it?" 

I could hear the surprise in everyone's voice as they spoke in unison as we looked up at two large stone pillars which nature has slowly reclaimed, covering it with moss and ivy. 

"Yes." I respond walking over to the stone a few feet from the center of the pillars and cleared off the moss and grass growing on it. 

"How are we supposed to get it to open?"

"We have to wait for nightfall." I turned to look at them, remembering what Ilin had told me before I left.

******

"It's not difficult to find the entrance to the Demon Realm." Ilin says with a wave of my hand. "The only problem is that the door can't be opened from the inside so you need to return before it closes and it can be only opened at night."

"How long is that?"

"24 hours; starting from when the door is opened. Also time passes differently there, just like here." Ilin sighs before a tray floats down to me, a small box resting at it's center. "Once the door is opened, open this box and you have until the light disappears to return with Celestia."

"Got it." I placed the box into my spatial bag.

********

"Rest for a few hours." I order, watching as Reid and Kimbra started setting up a small camp fire as the rest went to gather wood. 

A few minutes later, we all sat down around the fire as I briefed them on the plan. The fire crackles merrily once I had gone silent.

"So we have 24 hours to do this?" Blair asks with a sigh and crosses her arms. "This is insane."

"We don't have much choice." I stared at each of them, meeting their eyes. "We'll be trapped there if we aren't fast enough."

"Is this really worth it?" Blair asks, turning the air frosty. "Do we even know that she is actually there?"

"She is." I answer coldly. "If you don't want to help then stay here."

Reid takes a sharp breath inwards at my statement while the other three remained stone-faced; they could tell that I was serious.

"I want to help." Blair meets my eyes and straightens her back. "I may of gotten on the wrong footing with her in the beginning but I was just starting to get to know her. I don't like it when people don't keep their promises..." 

Blair trails off, blushing a little. "She was supposed to brew some tea for me."

I raised an eyebrow, but relaxed a little from her comment.

"We'll get Celestia back." Kimbra pats my back, reminding me of when I was a kid since this is what she would do instead of praise. 

I opened my mouth to respond when a sudden rustling causes all of us to immediately stand up in fighting positions. We all stared in to the surrounding jungle and tensed when a figure steps out. 

"There you are Boy." Quinn loops over, her eyes reflecting the evening sun. "It took me a bit to follow you."

"Quinn?" I relaxed and asked puzzled. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"You will need my help  to rescue Master." She says simply, her face its usual passive self. "I used my silk to fly across the water to here. It was quite difficult."

"Silk? Never mind." I shook my head in amazement. "But I am glad you are here."

"Of course."

(Sorry guys- this chapter is a little short but the next few ones should be way longer. Of course that also means I might not be able to post it right off the bat.)

From your awesome author!