HHHHNNNNN THIS IS LATE AND SHORT AND UNEDITED PLEASE KILL ME
(well actually I did edit it...this morning when I was 40% awake)
I literally just had no idea what to do with this chapter, I kept writing a few sentences and then backspacing them because it was stupid.
I think my finished thing is passable, though. And...if there's any typos, just tell me, instead of starting this huge annoying comment chain of people yelling out numbers.
(you know who you are)
Anyway I'll shut up and let you read now
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Axel hit the ground with bone-rattling force, landing on his side with a solid crunch. He cried out in pain, rolling over in the aftershock of the landing.
The hulking, gigantic, blue beast, with the one eye...
It had to have hit him hard for him to be hurting that much. Axel groaned loudly, pushing himself upright into a sitting position. The agony came in waves- he would be numb for a few seconds, and then the mind-shattering pain would be back.
A sick, pointed grin, dripping with my own blood...
He closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath. Exhaustion was threatening to take his senses, but he wouldn't let it. Not yet. He sat still and quiet, waiting for the pain to subside so he could pinpoint exactly where the worst of the hurt was coming from.
It eventually did, fading to a still-very-persistent ache. Axel experimentally unbent his right arm, rolling his shoulder. It hurt, but not terribly.
He did the same with his left arm, and felt like he had been physically hit with pure undiluted agony. A pained scream ripped itself free of his throat, echoing into the night. He nearly collapsed, blinded by scorching pain. As a longtime griefer and now the King of Boomtown, Axel had had his share of pain. This, however, was a new level of torture.
He wasn't sure if his left arm had been burned, frozen, or pulled apart, because it felt like all three were possible. He sat up again, using a nearby tree for support.
Axel froze. He stared at the dark oak tree he was leaning against as something clicked in his mind.
The valley was shallow and barren, save for the grass and a few flowers underfoot. A grove of trees lay ahead, but plains surrounded them where they had stood when the ground erupted with monsters unnamable.
There had been no trees where they were attacked.
The purple hooded figure, blasting the blue beast away with a green flash. Staring down at him with hollow, empty eyes. Not human, but not quite a full monster.
It hadn't come for him first. It had gone for Lukas, then Petra, then Olivia, then finally Axel. A blast of green accompanied each of their disappearances, like the one that Axel was sure was about to come.
Then the icy creature was back, slamming into him with its ghastly maw open far too wide to be natural. He had been forcefully knocked to the side...and then the green flash came.
He gasped shallowly, nightmare images flashing vividly behind his eyes. When the creatures had burst from the ground, there had been no time to think. He didn't know what, exactly, that green flash had done, but it had apparently taken him pretty far from where he had been.
Axel cursed and squinted into the darkness, trying to make out any of his surroundings. No luck- the forest was pitch black. But could that be...was that a light, glimmering through the thick leaves?
It was, a faint flicker of torchlight, just a short walking distance away. But Axel had barely been able to sit upright, he wouldn't be able to get anywhere at the moment, not without help.
Luckily for him, however, help was on the way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ivory's brown eyes snapped open. She laid still for a few moments, her should-be-tired brain racing.
Something had awoken her, something unusual.
Kat and Kenzie couldn't be up to their usual troublesome antics, right? No, it was far too late.
From outside her window, a little way into the woods, a distinct cry of a person in pain.
Ivory slid out of bed immediately, her blue-tipped black hair falling around her shoulders messily. She stepped into her boots and buckled them hurriedly, then left her room, walking as quickly and quietly as she could.
A little ways down the hall, a shadow moved inside the library. Ivory poked her head inside, just as her friend Serena was sitting down with a book.
"Ivory? The heck are you doing up?" Serena asked, hearing the other girl's footsteps. Serena was a few years older than her, with long, dark, cyan hair and turquoise eyes. She was a known insomniac, and often retreated to the mansion's library when she couldn't sleep.
"Did you hear that?" Ivory asked in a hushed voice. Serena tipped her head to the side. "No. What did you hear?"
"The scream." Another voice said from behind Ivory. The black-haired girl nearly jumped out of her skin, covering her own mouth to stifle a shriek.
"What the fudge, Iris?! I did NOT need that heart attack!" She snapped at her other friend, breathing heavily as her heart slowly returned to normal. She curled her fingers and lightly punched the other girl's shoulder.
"Shh, shh. Don't you dare wake the others up." Serena warned, putting a finger to her lips.
Iris ignored Ivory, stepping around the younger girl into the library. "I heard something too, a scream or yell for help, or something. There's someone out there." Her lavender hoodie was pulled close over her head, mostly obscuring her silver-streaked blue hair and giving her a rather spooky appearance in the dim torchlight.
Serena picked up the torch, standing up to be closer to the other two girls. "How did I not hear it, then?"
Ivory shrugged. "Dunno. Should we go investigate? If someone's in trouble, we ought to help."
"Yeah, but..." Serena trailed off, glancing out at the pitch-black forest.
Another shout came from outside, reverberating with pain and shock. It was a male voice, not a boy, but not quite a full-grown man. All three girls froze. Then Iris turned and started down the hall, not bothering to step quietly anymore.
"Iris, wait up, we need to-Iris!" Serena whisper-shouted as the hooded girl turned the corner and started for the stairs. Ivory quickly followed her, and Serena hesitantly trailed behind.
On the ground floor, a smaller girl with short, dirty blonde hair peered out of her room and fixed Iris with a grumpy look. "What the fuck was that? Where are you all going? What time is it?! The hell is going on?"
"Yeah, keep asking questions, Pandora." Ivory snapped. The small girl turned her glare on Ivory instead. "Oh, shut your cake hole. Seriously, what the hell is going on?"
"We're gonna go figure it out, Kat." Serena assured her as Ivory hurried out the door behind Iris. "We think someone might be out there, possibly hurt. Just go back to bed. If Kenzie or Lisa get up, just tell them the same thing."
With a few more grumbled swearwords, Kat vanished back into her room, and Serena followed her two friends as they started to disappear into the night.
"Guys, do you even know where you're going?" Serena called as she jogged to catch up. Iris pulled a torch out of her inventory and used it to gesture ahead of her. "It came from right over here, both times."
They walked in silence for only a few seconds before Ivory shouted "Hello?! Is anyone there?".
Iris cuffed her around the head. "Dimwit. What if there's something dangerous out there?"
"What if there's someone hurt out there?" Ivory countered. Iris just huffed, holding her torch higher.
"Hello...? Who's...can you hear me?" A hoarse, tired-sounding male voice called back.
"Yes! We're coming!" Serena exclaimed.
Axel struggled to keep his head up, fatigue further beating his will down every second. Three teenage girls quickly came into view, and Axel felt a wave of relief that helped combat the stinging pain. The trio hurried over, and he shielded his eyes against the bright torchlight.
"Thank Notch." he breathed.
"Holy crap, are you okay?!" Ivory exclaimed, noticing that the arm he had lifted was decorated with a ring of toothmarks, seeping blood.
"Not...not necessarily. I can't get up on my own, and there's something...really wrong with my other arm. I don't know what state the rest of me is in, it was too dark to see and my whole body hurts."
"Let's get you back to our house, and we can see what we can do. You cleaned out that extra room, right?" Serena asked Ivory, trying to stay calm. The younger girl nodded. "Yeah, me and Lisa did that last week."
Serena handed Ivory her torch, and she and Iris leaned down to help Axel up. He rested an arm across each of their shoulders and managed to rise to his feet, wincing. He was taller than both of them, but was still strong enough to stand.
Ivory led the way back, though she kept turning around to address her friends and the stranger. "I'm Ivory, by the way, and this is Serena and Iris. What's your name?"
"Axel. Thanks a million for helping me, I don't know what would've happened if you three hadn't showed up." His voice was ragged, and his breathing was labored and heavy. He was managing to hang on for now, but it was clear his strength wouldn't last long.
Iris frowned. Serena was the one who spoke up, though. "Axel...like in the-"
"Yes, the Order of the Stone." He interrupted tiredly. "We were on our way back from a mission when we were attacked."
"Attacked by what?" Iris asked quietly, remembering the bitemarks on his arm. Axel shook his head slowly. "There wasn't enough time to identify them. Monsters. Beasts that would give your nightmares nightmares. I didn't get a good look at most of them, just this huge, icy blue thing that went after me, and a creepy hooded...person that sent me here. I don't know what happened..."
Axel trailed off as the dark-oak mansion came into sight, and he stumbled. "Wait, you don't mean..."
"Whoops, forgot to mention that. We live in an old cleared-out Woodland Mansion, with a few other friends. You'll be safe here, I promise." Ivory said. Axel gave the place a wary look as the approached the front doors, but was too beaten-down to be overly worried.
When they went inside, Kat was hovering near the stairwell, but jumped back when they entered, looking shocked. "What-who the hell-what ELSE is gonna happen tonight?"
"We'll explain later. Right now, we need to get him up to the extra room, and he needs a healing potion." Serena said in her taking-charge voice.
"On it." Kat said, and bolted off towards their supply room to get a potion. Iris helped Axel limp up the stairs and down the hall, and Ivory trotted along in front of them.
Axel immediately sank onto the blue bed, pressing his less injured hand against his forehead. Serena stepped into the room a second later, handing him the pink Potion of Healing.
"My room's just down the hall, so if you need anything..." Ivory said. Her brown eyes were pools of worry.
"Thanks. I think I just need time to recover, and I'll be okay." Axel sighed. "I'm really sorry to intrude on you all like thi-"
Iris held up her hand. "It's alright, trust me. We'd do this for anyone, no matter who they are."
"I mean, your hero status doesn't hurt, but- ow!" Ivory added, only to be elbowed in the ribs by Serena. "We'll leave you alone to get some rest." Serena said, more to her friend than Axel. The trio went back out to the hall, though he could still hear them snapping at each other.
As soon as they left the room, Axel uncorked the potion and drank it. He sighed in relief as the potion quickly did its job, mending the worst and most painful of his wounds. As the aches left him, so did his senses. He laid back on the bed, and almost immediately lost consciousness.
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90% of this was written past midnight last night I'm sorry for the scrambled mess
So yeah! I tried my best to introduce the Saffridge crew, and next chapter will be the last part of Chapter One. We will also FINALLY meet up with some of the Authors, which I think several people have been anxious about.
(guys chill they're all fine)
(for now)
(but yeah)
(rip my sanity)
Oh wait one more thing
You might've noticed that Axel did NOT have amnesia surrounding the whole monster thing. This is because he's overall stronger than the rest of the Order, and the Endergaunt's magic didn't affect him as much. The others wouldn't have lost their memories either, if they had remained conscious.
*sneakily glances back at end of chapter*
*grins evilly*
Word count: 2153 im ashamed of myself