After eating Dokaru suddenly decided that it'd be a good idea to explore outside. I agreed to this because I kind of needed the fresh air. I'm still curious to why I was hearing voices in my head all of a sudden. Crazy-chan decided to tag along with us because she "couldn't simply leave us in the wilderness to fend for ourselves." So, here we are now. Walking through some random forest.
"So you were pushed through a swirly portal thingy by yer ma and that's how you ended up here?"
We both nodded. Merry, who Dokaru was carrying didn't answer.
"And something was chasin' ya?"
We nodded again. Merry was becoming upset, her normally happy expression was quickly turning dark and glum. The little pink haired angel looked scared.
"Um.. Maybe we should stop talking about it. So, why are we out in the forest?" I asked.
"Oh! Haha, no problem. Sorry for bringing it up. We need to get a nice little distance away from civilization. Somewhere where there aren't too many people walkin' around ya know?"
"Oh? Why?" Dokaru asked out of curiosity.
"Haha! Well obviously we can't have people seeing kids pass through portals! It'll cause absolute chaos!"
"What?! What portal? Where are we going?" Dokaru asked the brown eyed lunatic.
"We're going to track down your kingdom of course!"
"WHAT?!" We both yelled.
"Shh! Keep it down will ya?! There could be civilians around." Crazy-chan whisper-shouted.
"But..." I trailed off.
"How are we supposed to find it?! Do you even have any clues?"
"Haha..." Crazy-chan scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously. "Nope! But it couldn't hurt to try at the very least. Who knows, maybe this will help you guys feel a little better? Even if we don't find any clues, at least you can say you tried, right?"
"Well..."
"Let's go then!"
Crazy-chan clapped her hands together and when she pulled them apart, a bright portal opened. She then grabbed me and Dokaru's hand. "Ready?"
"Uh-"
"My body is not ready.
"Why is it so bright?"
"I'll take that as a yes!" She jumped through it, dragging us down with her as it closed behind us.
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When I opened my eyes Dokaru was still holding little Merry firmly in her arms. Crazy-chan was standing in front of us with her hands on her hips. I looked around only to see that we were...in some kind of marketplace? This confused me. Crazy-chan turned around as if she understood my confusion and smiled. "Welcome to Atitrik marketplace!"
"Why a market place? Aren't we supposed to be looking for clues?" Dokaru asked for me. She gently put Merry down and held her hand.
"We are! I know what I'm doing, trust meh! We aren't in the dangerous part of this area yet. Even places outside of Earth have civilization you know? What were you expecting? Another forest?!" Crazy-chan giggled and puffed out her cheeks. She looked like a...fish again..?
"Ahem... Take a look at the people here and tell me what do you see."
We stopped staring at the buildings in the marketplace and actually examined the people there. Some of the people had strange markings all over their bodies and faces, there were some that didn't look like they had human skin, some had ominous glows or auras surrounding them, and others...clearly looked inhuman.
"What...are they..?"
"People. Don't let the appearances fool you. They're not all bad. If you actually talk to some they'll be really nice!" Crazy-chan grabbed a random man by the arm who had horns on the top of their head, and waved at them. "Hey!"
The guy glared at her and shoved her arm away before continuing about his business.
"Aww... Must be having a bad day. I hope it goes better for ya!!" Crazy-chan shouted over the horde of people around us while jumping and waving with a humungous grin on her face. The guy who she had been talking to looked even more irritated and continued walking away as people have her strange looks.
"I hope to see ya again soon okay?! You can tell me all about it!"
When she finally finished she turned back to us and laughed. "See? Friendly! Just don't go around challenging strangers, alright?"
"U-Uh..." We were speechless.
"And make sure you don't let go of that little angel's hand, alright? Let's go!" She grabbed me and Dokaru by our arms pulled us away into the crowd of people.
"W-Where are we even going?!" I asked.
"Well, it's dangerous to go outside of civilization around these parts. We should make a stop at some of these places for the proper gear. Do you have any weapons?"
"Weapons? We..."
"See? Exactly why we have to stop here!" Crazy-chan Walked up to a salesmen, eyeing his merchandise and asking him a ton of questions.
The three of you do have a weapon.
"That voice again..?"
"I already told ya I'm not buying low quality goods! Now answer my questions about that sword!" Crazy-chan frowned at the salesmen and clenched her fists.
"Hey... Uhm... That's okay, Crazy. We have weapons."
"Eh? Where?" She stopped arguing with him and turned around to look at us.
"I don't know.."
"Well, I'll just get these swords for you until you can find your own. Deal?"
"O-Okay..! Thank you Crazy!"
"It is my pleasure, princesses~!" Crazy-chan attempted to do a curtsy but instead she ended up tripping on something somehow and laughed it off. We all started giggling on our way to the next little shop in the marketplace.
1 hour later that day...
"Alright. Ready?"
Crazy-chan adjusted her backpack full of supplies and we stared into the dark forest. We could feel the bad vibes it was giving off. It looked as if we could easily get lost through it and never return if we're not careful. The forest was so dense it looked like it came straight out of a horror movie. I could swear that the creepypasta, Slenderman himself would be happy to live in it. It was practically oozing with mischief and eeriness. I wondered why something like this was so close to a marketplace in this..."place." No wonder it's so dangerous here.
"Um... Crazy-chan? What makes you think we'll find clues in a place like that? I don't want to set foot there. It doesn't even look like animals could live there." I rubbed my arm and shivered has a chill went down my spine.
"Pfft. This isn't Earth! The "animals" here aren't the same as what you're used to. Crazy-chan answered with a cheerful grin on her face.
"Where... What is this place then? I don't think Merry should tag along with us." Dokaru tightened her grip around the little pink haired angel's hand. Merry looked up at the forest with wide eyes and slowly hid behind her, clearly frightened by its appearance.
"She'll be fine, I promise! We're in Ashura. This place is full of dungeons for beginners. It should be pretty easy to beat these! Err... Well this particular one is kinda for the more 'experienced' fighters, but it should be fine as long as you're with me!" Crazy-chan beamed and suddenly we heard a loud explosion coming from the forest. Although there were no visible flames, pitch black smoke could be seen coming from within.
"Agghh! Someone's getting first dibs on the loot! Stupid high classed mages!" Crazy-chan stomped her foot and trudged straight toward the now smoking forest. "Follow me and you'll all be just fine."
I gulped, grabbed Dokaru's hand, and quickly followed right behind Crazy-chan. As soon as the forest was within two more steps, Dokaru picked up Merry instead of simply holding her hand. I guess she didn't want to take the chance of her getting loose, and to be honest, neither did I. If she got lost here I don't think we'd ever be able to find our dear little sister again. At this thought I glanced at Merry. She hasn't said much during this entire trip. We really should have left her back at our new home. I didn't know our trip would be this dangerous. As if she read my mind, Dokaru looked back at me with the same worried expression. Merry was hiding her face in Dokaru's hair as she was being carried. I looked in front of me to make sure we were still right behind Crazy-chan. Instead of simply following behind her, I decided to speed up a little and walk beside her. As I did this I noticed that Crazy-chan's cheerful expression was gone. She had a serious look on her face as we continued walking through the deep forest.
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((Yay for 1,470+ words for this chapter! The art for this particular chapter is actually mine! Although it's only a sketch....haha- might change it- I also might go back and draw covers for each chapter later on during the week but I'm not promising anything! I hope you enjoyed this and appreciate the effort I put into making this longer! It took me a while to get inspired and write but I finally did it! Now for the next chapter...aaaagghh.... Later guys! Or- whoever that's actually reading this
Also I decided to add music for this one
Just because!
I hope this makes up for the delayed updates!
Bai bai for now!))