Previously...
"This is a strange-looking room..." Roselyn commented as she looked around. "There isn't any wax here." She was right, unlike the area just outside of it that was riddled with cracks and waxes, it was left alone.
"Huh...it looks like those bees didn't touch this place." Avelyn furrowed her brows. "How odd."
"But this room or chamber...whatever it is, feels strange." Kathryn pursed her lips. "Don't you guys feel it? There's definitely still some magic still lingering here." Her amber eyes narrowed in caution.
"And these carvings...I think these are runes." Erina peered over the stone hedges. She hummed as she wanted to brush off some of the dirt to see it better.
"Don't touch that!" Kathryn shouted in warning but it was too late. As Erina's hand touched the stone hedges, its ruins began to glow in golden light.
"Ah! It wasn't me this time!" Cynthia exclaimed, wanting to point it out for once.
Golden light enclosed within the stone hedges as they slowly felt them being sucked toward it.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
"What is this?!"
"I'm sorry!!
"Dammit, why is it so difficult to get this quest fucking done?!" Cynthia yelled in rage as they all were quickly pulled into the bright unknown vortex.
Only their jars of golden honey were left behind...
Bzzzz...
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It was a blurry sight as she struggled to open her eyelids. A pained groan escaped her lips as she slowly got up from her back. 'This is really becoming a normal thing...' Cynthia thought, referring to her other black-out occurrences.
"What the...." She gaped as she was welcomed by the sight of trees tall as skyscrapers and green of flora as far as she could see. "Did I shrunk or something?" The blonde girl was like an art within a giant forest.
Cynthia gulped as a scary thought came to mind; with such a huge habitat, there must be larger creatures to occupy it. She furiously looked around as she tried to search for her friends. "Dammit! Why do we always get separated?!" She scrambled her hair in frustration. "That's it! I'm getting us cuffs so getting separat-"
"C-Cynthia!!!" Cynthia felt her body flew forward as a body crashed into her from behind. Coughing her guts out, she turned behind to see the teary-eyed Lily. "I-I'm so happy..t-to find yo-you!" She was bawling, clinging to her back.
Cynthia punched herself in the chest before smiling at the white-haired girl and turning to face her. "Hey hey hey, it's okay." She tried to comfort her. "I'm sure we all didn't land that far from each other."
Lily could only give a little nod. Cynthia smiled and patted her head. "C'mon, trust me! We have been separated before!" The blonde girl chirped. "We'll be fineeee!"
"B-But didn't last time we got separated, Yumi..g-got im-impaled?"
"..."
"..C-Cynthia?"
Cynthia grabbed hold of her arm and immediately started walking forward. "Yeah, we should find everyone else," Lily said nothing as she was dragged along. The blonde girl's reaction really showed that she was still very much traumatized by the event.
'...I shouldn't have mentioned that.' Lily sniffed quietly as she tried to keep up with the other girl's strong strides. 'But I really hope everyone's okay...'
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"OH MY GOODNESS!"
Yumi and Erina watched Avelyn soar from here and there. Every little plant and flower caught her eyes in great excitement. Actually, that was how they easily found the brunette. She was squealing as she pulled out flora from the roots.
"These are Lissuins!" Avelyn had shown them what seemed to be purple droopy lily bulb flowers from the world of their previous life.
"Um...they're pretty?" Erina tried to compliment them but she was unaware of the flower's properties.
"The pretty things are sought-out flowers for their sweet-smelling fragrance!" The enthusiastic brunette explained enigmatically. "They are highly difficult to obtain as their fragrance can last far longer than ordinary flowers!"
Yumi leaned to sniff the said flowers and nodded to herself. "Hmm, they smell nice."
"Right?! And we were completely surrounded by Hírilorn trees!" Avelyn twirled around and gazed upon the great massive trees. "Their wood could handle nearly anything! As a matter of fact, the transactions for them are the very few that Istalia Kingdom would ever make with outside kingdoms!" She sighed sadly before continuing. "But oh well, it only that it much more fascinating discovery!"
Amidst the brunette's fast rambling, Erina caught the very name that made her pale. "Wait wait!" She halted the Avelyn, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Did you say Istalia?" The pale blonde girl hoped she had heard wrong.
"Uh-huh." That only response made her nearly faint.
"Don't you know how much danger we're in?!" Erina was shaking Avelyn vigorously.
Yumi had a blank face but it lit up in realization. "Oh right, humans are forbidden to enter Istalia." She placed a closed fist into her palm.
Erina snapped her head at her with started to cry. "Exactly! We got to find the others before we get into worse trouble!"
The urgency of the situation finally snapped Avelyn from her craze. "Oh right. Ah, I'm so sorry." She shook her head. "What was I thinking?! I shouldn't have been so distracted with the flora!"
Erina smiled at her, happy to see the brunette realizing it. "It's alright. We all get distracted sometimes." Then, her smile quickly faded as she turned to Yumi.
"Yumi?"
"Already on it." The pinkette knew what to do. She used her water magic to inject herself into the trees. This was to help her get a wider scope of the area.
Erina watched her nervously and clasped her hands together. "...please keep everyone safe." She whispered with a silent prayer.
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"Halt!" Sharp spears pointed right at them and Roselyn and Kathryn could only raise their hands in surrender. The two girls managed to find each other and seek out to find the rest of their group. Unfortunately for them, they had landed a bit too to close the capital where guards were conducting their patrols.
A sigh escaped Kathryn's lips at the sight of those distinguished pointy ears. "Of all places...it had to be Istalia." She grumbled under her breath.
"Um please!" Roselyn tried to reason with them. " We mean no harm! We got lost and-eehh!" A frightened squeal erupted from her when a spear was directed closer to her face.
"Silence humans!" The guard was in no mood to talk. The two girls were immediately cuffed with a strange vine-like rope that wrapped itself around their waist.
"W-What?! Where are you taking us?!" Roselyn cried out and before they knew it, both of them were behind bars in some dark underground cell.
Kathryn grumbled as she leaned against the dirty wall, "Just great."
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Meanwhile, there seemed to be some progress with the other girls.
"Found them!" They heard Yumi call up from the trees. Erina and Avelyn eagerly rushed over to her when she landed back down.
"You spotted everyone else?!"
A small sad smile graced Yumi's lips, "only Cynthia and Lily. They had a bit further than us...but..."
"But what?" Erina became more worried. "Didn't you spot Kathryn and Roselyn as well?" Her worries grew worse as the pipette solemnly shook her head. This is bad...where could those two be?! Could they be in danger?! What if-
Her train of thought was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder from Avelyn. Erina turned to her to which the brunette gave her a reassuring smile. "Hey, I'm sure Kathy and Rosie could be fine. For now, we should reground and alert Cynthia-sama and Lils of where we are."
Erina sighed but returned her smile. "You're right. At least we know that those two are safe."
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"Um...Cynthia?" Lily tugged on the girl's shirt.
"Hmm?" Cynthia blinked over her shoulder.
Lily looked nervous but forced the question out, "Do you even know where we're going? We..." She gulped, looking around them as all the trees looked similar to her. "...seemed to be lost."
However, she began to ease up when Cynthia patted her head. The white-haired girl gazed up to the other girl who adorned a big smile. This definitely means that she has a plan-
"I have no clue where we are!" With that, all of Lily's hopes shattered.
"Wh-what?"
"Obviously no idea on how would we find the others!" Cynthia let out a nervous laugh when Lily gave her a look of betrayal. "Hey! Don't look at me like that!"
Lily could only fall to her knees with a grey cloud over her. Mumbles of 'we're doomed' were a mantra under her breath. Cynthia could help but find the scene somewhat comical.
"Hey, don't lose hope so soon!" Cynthia kneeled down to her and patted her shoulder. "I may have no need of tracking the others but doesn't mean the others don't!"
"Eh?" Lily looked up to her.
"Did ya forget? Yumi's insane tracking skill and Kathryn's wit would definitely think of something!" The blonde girl gleamed. "Plus Erina's resourceful and Roselyn always has something up her sleeves! Oh and let's not forget Avelyn's vase knowledge of flora and fauna! Heck! I wouldn't be surprised if she has already figured out where exactly we are!" Cynthia had great confidence in her party members.
Even with the anxiety from their previous quest, she knew that after such an event, they all would be on their guard. This...was the life of the adventurers that they all had been training for.
"But hey, we can help the others' chance of finding us if we make it easy for them." Cynthia grabbed Lily by the arm and pulled her upward. "Can you create some staircase on that tree?" She gestured to a nearby tree. "We can get a higher viewpoint."
Lily nervously nodded, "I...I can try." She took a deep breath and whispered a spell under her breath. With great concentration, a curved icy staircase emerged upward of the tree.
"Atta girl!" Cynthia cheered the white-haired girl on. Once it was done, Cynthia touched it before hissing at the cold touch.
"I...I just hope it's stable...." Lily was not confident that her staircase could hold their weight. She never tried making anything like it.
While Cynthia only pursed her lips at her, "Well....one way to find out!" She immediately stepped on a step.
Lily watched in growing anxiety as the blonde girl climbed the staircase higher and higher.
"Ha! I live!" Cynthia declared as she cheerily waved down at Lily. She was confident in Lily cause despite the girl's petite fun-size, her ice is strong as hell. Remember in the previous chapter? She managed to trap a stone monster in her ice.
"U-Um okay!" Lily forced herself to yell. "Try to see if you can see anyone else!" She grimaced when she yelled but she had to, she doubted Cynthia could hear her if she spoke normally.
"Okay!" Cynthia nodded and ventured further up the tree. After quickly climbing up the stairs made of ice and a few slips here and there, she made it to the top of the tree. She looked around her, trying hard to make out anyone. Then when she actually remembered that she had a telescope, she hit herself before using it.
There she spotted a group of three; Avelyn, Erina, and Yumi who were coming right in their direction. This was great news! She has to tell Lily!
"Lily! I found them!" Cynthia yelled down to tell the white-haired girl. "Lily?" She scrunched her brows when she received no response. Then, she peered down the tree and onto the icy staircase to sport the white-haired girl.
The blonde girl blinked in confusion as she could not spot her friend, even with her distinguished white hair amidst the green. "Lily?" Instead of a reply, Cynthia received a very unwelcome reaction in which the very stairs she was standing on began to shatter and crumble.
"What the fuck?!" There she fell and from a dangerous height too. Shit. She tried to command her fire but she was panicking and she was going down so fast. Tears dripped from the corner of her eyes and she tried to figure out something. Heck, she even called for her other element but she couldn't focus to force it out.
"LILY!!!!" She could only cry out for her friend. However, the white-haired girl was nowhere to be seen and the ground seemed to be awfully close. Cynthia could only scream and closed her eyes to await impact.
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"Eh?" Cynthia peered open her eyes and there she was just a few inches from the ground. She felt something grabbed her by the ankle. "What the hell?" Her brows scrunched at what seemed to be vines wrapped around her ankle.
Did someone save her? Her thoughts were viciously interrupted as she was dragged further into the dept of the forest. Another scream escaped her lips, "arghhhhhhhhhhh—"
Cynthia immediately froze as she was met with vicious rows of very....very sharp teeth. Ah, shit.
"Mhhmmmhmm!" The sound of another struggling quickly caught her attention. To her surprise, it was the very girl she was searching for. "Lily!"
The poor girl was first to be captured as she was wrapped in vines even her mouth was wrapped by them. That explained her disappearance.
Rage immediately replaced her fear as Cynthia turned to the grinning flora. "You son of a monsterfucking bitch..." Even with her arm wrapped, she could still conjure up fireballs and aim it right at it.
However, horror consumed her as each fireball was eaten by the monster fly trap. Mere smoke emerged from its mouth but it didn't seem like her attack did any harm. "Fuck!"
"Cynthia?! Lily?!" When she almost lost hope, she heard her other friends. She looked down at them with a cry, "Guys!!!! Help us!!!"
"Oh my goodness!" Cynthia recognized that familiar excited squeal. "It's Carnivores Venus Strangler!" Avelyn was beaming at the drooling flora monster.
"Avelyn!" Erina snapped the girl back. "Focus! Our friends are gonna get eaten by a bigger version of Ben!" She grabbed hold of the brunette by the shoulders before she could get too close to the monster that resembled their household plant.
"Avelyn!" Cynthia yelled out. "How do we take down this monster?!" She struggled against the vines. "It bloody ate my fireballs!"
"Ah, well." Avelyn nervously scratched her cheek. "I did mention before that they are strong against fire and ice magic."
"Oh great, the very people it got are fire and ice mages." Yumi blankly said. "They're doomed."
"C'mon Avelyn!" Erina shook the brunette harder. "There gotta be a way to defeat it!" However, she was unaware that she was only making her dizzy. The poor brunette was getting her brain scrambled.
"And you better think of something fast," Yumi said as she was taken away by vines. The pinkette had such a blank face as vines brought her closer to the monster.
"Yumi!" Erina cried out in alarm and conjured up wind blades to cut the vines. However, they easily grew back as much as before. It was a fruitless effort. "Avelyn?! Any weakness at all?!"
"Um, they are resistant to most magic because they are mostly used as guards..." Avelyn jumped away from creeping vines and kept burying them underground. "...perhaps wood and earth magic would be more effective...." She tried her theory and created twin giant columns to match the monster. "I hope this works..." Then she collided it both with the fly trap monster in between as she brought her two arms together. "Argh!"
A shriek was last heard of the plant monster before it was crushed. There was only silence in the air. Until...
"Ahh!" Cynthia yelped out as she was dropped and Erina quickly cut the vines. The pale blonde girl quickly did the same for Lily and Yumi.
"Hurry!" Erina pulled them along. "C'mon Avelyn!" She called out to the brunette.
Avelyn collided with the monster between the two columns once more before following her friends. "Yeah, I doubt... that would hold it for long...so we got to get out of here." She panted. "I didn't think that would work actually—ahhh!"
"Avelyn!" The rest screamed as the brunette was grabbed by more vines.
"Fuck! There's more of them?!" Cynthia cursed as not one but four more appeared. Lily burst out crying at the sight of them, "We're gonna die!"
"Oh hell nah, I am not dying at the hands of Ben's creepier cousins!" Cynthia pulled out her sword that was set ablaze. She screamed as she slashed through the vines but it was ineffective as more vines simply emerged. "Arghhh!" She yelled out in frustration as she dangled upside down by a vine. "That's it! I'm using a Fire-Wave!" She was sure such a huge attack would be hot enough to burn these monstrosities.
"Ignis-"
"No!" Avelyn's shout was heard which earned a disbelief look from the blonde. "That attack would cause a huge wildfire that would spread across the forest!" The brunette tried to explain while struggling with the vines. "Burning the forest would bring forth the wrath of Istalia!"
Lily grew pale at the name, "Istalia?! We're in the elven kingdom?!" She squeaked out.
"Istalia? That freaking portal ruin thing brought us to fucking Istalia?!" Even Cynthia knew the danger of being in such a place. She could only let out another frustrated scream as they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Unleashing a strong enough attack to destroy these giant fly traps would catch the eye of the kingdom and that would be a death sentence.
"Dammit! We only wanted to get some fucking honey! Why is that so difficult?!" Cynthia growled biting on a vine that tried to cover her mouth.
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Author Note:
Because I'm a sadistic ass-hole, that's why (๑'ᴗ')ゞ💩
As for the readers, thank you so much for still reading this despite not updating for a long time. (┳Д┳) I have seen the votes, comments, and the adding to reading lists, those really motivated me to update more |°з°|
I had trouble on how to start this Arc. Plus, I was finishing up my finals and had more work coming up. So yeah I'll try to find to update. (⌒_⌒;)
But be aware that I am still alive and I am not abandoning this story!
Oh, and thumbs up to those who recognize the flower and tree names! They are from the Lord of the Ring!
Okay, that's all for now! Bye2