Violent hints

Chapter 5; Together?

Valeria Castro

The glowing orb swirled into the Tanuki again.
    "I warned you both, this is "ment for you to do together. There are consequences to your actions." Xu and I bowed our heads in shame staring at the ground. "I'm glad you've realized you need each other. It will only get harder from here. You have to be more careful. With one life this is very risky," Tanuki says. I started to think about this.
    "Wait? One life? Xu did you..die?" I asked in complete shock. She seemed so smart and witty that I would think she actually could survive here alone. "Are you ok? What was it like?"
    She seemed embarrassed. "I did. I didn't know what to do. I was something I have never seen before," Xu said. "It was just dark and then I woke up back in the field from earlier,"
    "This is almost the end of our journey to get home. There is one more monster that will take you to where you need to be and I can meet you there. I wish I could lead you guys but I have limited power here because of my twin restraints. Fare well," the Tanki says pointing us in our final direction before turning back into a violet orb in the sky.
"We can do this, right? Together?" Xu says with a warm smile on her face.
"Together" I answer back as we start walking hand in hand. We continued walking through the woods.

Xu Cheng

"So what happened to you?" Valeria asked.
"There was some huge skeleton and it was chasing me through the woods. Its footsteps were very loud and when it finally caught me it swallowed me whole" I said in confusion.
"Wait, was it really really tall? Like taller than the trees?"
"Yeah.. do you know about it"
"Yes! A lot actually. It's called the Gashadorhuro. It is a huge, 30 foot skeleton that eats people and then takes their bone to add to him. He basically made out of its victims bones," She told me, sounding very nerdy and excited. Her face fell after seeing me look slightly uncomfortable. "Sorry, I bet that was scary and I should make it worse," She added.
"No, no it's okay I just fell dumb for not being able to escape. I hate not being able to do things and my parents are very hard on me for it." I say not wanting to sound like I'm complaining. Valeria seems to be an amazing and a very smart person. We walk in silence for a second. "But don't worry about me, I'm glad you did get to tell me what that was. Anyways, what did you experience?" I add, changing emotions to focus the topic on Valeria
"There was a woman in a wedding dress by the river. She thought I was her husband and started chasing me for revenge," she answered in excitement.
"La Sucia, her story is quite sad. Her husband left her for another woman, and she has been seeking revenge ever since. She believes anyone is her husband." I informed her.
Our talking has really passed the time as we are met with the entrance of a maze. There was a grassy arch and grassy walls that lined the maze. It was quite tall, a couple feet taller than me.
"I guess we go in," Valeria says. We start slowly inching into the maze. "I trust you to lead the way," she added, waiting for me to make the first decision.
"Are you sure? You've been the one to get out of these situations,"
"No, I think you should,"
"I guess I will then," I say, making the first turn left. I continue leading us. We go left, left, right, left, right, right, left, and end up face to face with a woman. She was quite tall, maybe 8 feet. She had a beautiful dress made out of plants with a few flowers too. Her hair was also partially made of leaves. She was a gorgeous creature.
"Why are there trespassing in my forests?" the creature sayed in a very mature, velvety voice.
"We should like to pass through that is all," Xu said in a light hearted voice.
"To prove worthy you must 
    "We are trying to pass. We have no intention of disturbing you," I replied. As I observe her more I realize it's another creature I've read about. The MadreMonte, she the protector of forests.
    "I will allow you to pass if you can prove yourself worthy, you have 15 minutes to escape the maze or you will be locked in here forever. Be ware, it is no normal maze. There are other creatures. I do not control what happens while you are there, only what I have told you. You better get going, children,'' the woman tells us.
Valeria and I looked at each other. "You lead the way," Valeria said, gesting for me to move first. We take a left from where we met the MadreMonte. We kept walking, careful of where we were going because of our warning to the other animals' creatures. We walked in silence for a couple minutes just taking in the nice scenery but also my heart beating louder than a drum from another creature encounter. I turn around to see how Valerias is doing but when I turn around she is gone. I started running back retracing my steps. Not this again.
"VALERIA!" I shout frantically looking for where she could have gone. Where could she have gone? I was freaking out now. I lost my way from taking random turns. "VALERIA!" I start tearing up. "VALERIA" I start tearing up. I fall to my knees in fear and sadness.
I feel something wrap onto my leg. Before I could look around it started pulling me. "NOOO HELLP!'' The ground underneath me starts scratching my back making me wince in pain. "NOOO GET AWAY!" I look down at my foot to see a vine. Another one wraps around my other leg and then my waist. Soon there's many vines all around my body to the point I can barely move. A vine covers my heart as I year distant yelling. One then comes around my mouth as I try to scream. Then another around my eyes and my vision goes black.

Valeria Castro

I let Xu lead us again through the maze. It was quite beautiful. As we were walking I looked around and saw the most beautiful owl. It was white and violet. I felt drawn to it, I turned right to follow it. It started flying through the maze quickly as I sped up to keep pace with it. I tried to keep my eyes on it, in hope of not losing the part.
It led me to an open area in the maze with the most magical water fountain you have ever seen. It preached on the ledge of the fountain. I started slowly walking around taking a look at the beautiful walls around me. There were vines growing everywhere. On the fountain, on the walls, and even all over the ground. They swayed slightly in the breeze. There was also a beautiful assortment of flowers growing everywhere like the vines but mostly violet flowers. I soon hear Xu yelling
    "VALERIA!" she yells.
    "XU!" I yell back but it's as if my words bounces off an invisible wall that surrounds the fountain. "I'M COMING" again my words bounce off the invisible wall. What in the world?
    "VALERIA!" I hear again. I start rushing towards her yells through the maze. I kept meeting dead ends. "NOOO HELLP!" I hear making me freeze in panic and then keep running through the maze. "NOOO GET AWAY!"
    "XU IM COMING" I soon heard that I'm quite close. I finally found her. Lying almost unconscious on the ground. I drop to my knees on her side and start tearing up too. I quickly checked the back of her thumb. The last heart is blinking. I grab onto her hand.  "No no no no. This can't be happening," I mumble through my cries. I now realized how much of a friend I wanted, like Xu. She was smart and driven. I cared about Xu. We bonded over interest in folklore. I felt safe with her. She made me feel different, like butterflies in my stomach. If I could give her one of my lives I would.
    "It's ok." Xu says, accepting her fate. "I wish we could have gotten to know each other more" She smiled through her pain. "I'm sorry if you hate me after this," Xu then grabs my face and pulls me into a kiss.
    She breaks away. "I could never hate you Xu," I say, kissing her again. Xu's body relaxes as it goes limp. I lay my head on her chest, crying more than I ever had before. I stay there for a moment before feeling her chest start to rise and fall again. I slowly lifted up my head to see her opening her eyes again. She started to sit up but I wrapped my arms around her making her fall back down.
    "How a-are you alive?" I ask through my sobs.
    "I-I don't really know" Xu replies, ''Look at me. She looks at her thumb and has another life somehow. She then grabs my hand to look at her thumb. I lost a life.
    "That was quite cute but it's not safe here," We both jumped slightly from a voice from behind me. I turn around to face Tanuki. "Quickly no time to lose," she continued as we got off the ground. "Follow me young ones,"
    "Are we not going to eknowledge what just happened?" I ask, still holding Xu's hand.
"I will explain on the way but we must keep going," The creature said, starting to walk quickly. I roll my eyes as we start to follow the Tanuki. It starts to speed up as I do, dragging Xu behind me.
"This world is cruel but I did have control once. Before my sister turned on me and turned this world into a misery, I added one rule to this world. True love is the only solution. Valeria, in your mind you were willing to give up a life and Xu, your last thing before you died was Valeria." I looked back at Valeria with a big smile on my face as she smiled back. The creature paused before continuing. She changed tones, "Anyways we are almost there. I know I know I told you I can't interfere but this is why we have to hurry."
"Where are we going?" Xu asked
"Home." Tanuki answered. We ended up back in the forest. We had to go through the thick forest and ended up by a floating door. It was a violet,misty door.
"This is where we all part," the creature says. I looked at Xu in sadness.
    "I don't want this to be the end," I tell Xu as I start to tear up.
    Me either," We hug each other as Tanuki starts to open the door.
    "You must leave now but I will lead you guys both back to each other," The Tanuki says, making us hopeful to see eachother again.
    "I'm gonna miss you and I love you," I say as I pull Xu into a kiss. We are both sobbing now.
    "I love you too" Xu says before we pull apart. We hear a rust behind us to see all the creatures we have encountered. We then both head through the door.

Word Count: 1945