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•Warning: This story may not be suitable for some readers as it contains gore, depression, NSFW, suicidal thoughts, mature scenes, death, manipulation, etc. Please proceed with caution and respect me, the author, and other readers.
Within this story, I have changed major things to where I see fit that is more appropriate for the characters. The older characters are 15ys old•
🦋Your journey will be much lighter and easier if you don't carry your past with you.🦋
Loud pants could be heard as you ran along with the others as fast as you could, getting away from
the wall, trying to find a place that would be safe enough to take a break. It was still dark because it was early in the morning. It was getting hard for the group to maintain sticking together as many of you tripped on roots that rose from the ground, intertwining its arms around the light brown leather shoes that protected your feet from the soil and rocks beneath it.
"Guys... we made it!" Emma beamed as tears spilled from her eyes as she ran by your side, panting heavily with her arms raising up and down in the same pattern along with her legs.
You were still in shock. You couldn't process everything that just happened not too long ago. You kept asking yourself, 'how is this possible?' 'How did you manage to escape and made it off of that cliff alive?' 'Where are you going?'
'What about the others who were left behind?'
Guilt overcame you as you continued to run thinking about your younger siblings who are still stuck on the farm. You can't imagine how they're feeling right now. They probably think that you abandoned them for your selfish reasonings and they were left there to die. Of course, you and the others are going to make up a plan to rescue them, but something kept nagging you.
What if it will be too late?
'Stop,' you cursed yourself in your head. 'Don't start now, Y/n," you continued as you moved quickly through the forest, leaping through rocks and dogging the tree branches that appear from the dark.
"You have to live...
you gotta stay alive!"
Your heart was racing and beating violently against your rib cage, feeling like the organ is trying to break through the thick chambers that's made out of your bones. Your thighs were burning, it felt like you were slowly losing feeling in them. How much longer were you gonna run?
You felt like you couldn't make it too far. You needed a break, you needed some water, you needed to hydrate yourself.
"I... Guys, I don't think I can go any further," you panted as you held your head up towards the sky with closed eyes as you forced yourself to keep running, desperately trying to keep up with everyone's pace. You were out of it for a while now.
It's been a while since you were able to move like this. As soon as you discarded your cast, you had no other choice but to force yourself to get back with the program.
Instead of gradually going back into the movement you had to run head-on with full force.
"Come on! We can't stop now. Try holding it for a little longer, Y/n," Ray said as sweat trickled down his forehead, holding onto Jemima's hand as she tried to keep up with the older raven-haired male.
"Ray, I can't keep up either," The brown-skinned female whined as she tripped up over her feet.
"Okay," he mumbled when seeing that everyone was running out of breath. "Guys were taking a break," he said as they gradually slowed down their pace. It would be best to save as much energy as much as possible if there was a threat to come your way.
You silently thanked him inside of your mind as your legs slowed down before raising your hands to place on your hips.
"That doesn't mean that we're gonna stop moving, " the slim male said as he looked around at everyone. " We have to keep moving forward. Who knows who and what is looking for us, " he finished with a deep scowl. He raised his hand towards his sweaty forehead and wiped off the salty natural liquid away from his skin before wiping it onto his pants leg.
"We just made it out of there and I'm pretty sure none of you wants to go back in."
"Yeah, Ray's right," Emma added. "We're gonna continue to move to see if we can find a better ground where we can stay for tonight."
"Alrighty then," you mumbled as your shrugged your backpack further up onto your back. Your heart continued to beat at a fast pace as you breathed hard fanning your face with your hands trying to cool yourself down.
You looked up at the gigantic trees that covered you away from the sun above, leaving the glistening slant of light to shine elegantly on your figure.
"Woah... Did you guys ever seen trees this big before," Don asked incredulously as he scanned through the forests that were filled with hundreds of gigantic trees. You heard Yvette stop to look at an undeveloped white flower and gasped softly.
"What kind of plant... is this?" You asked quietly to yourself as you bend down beside the raven-haired female.
"I have no idea, but it's very pretty," she said quietly with a small smile on her face. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Me neither," you said mindlessly sticking your index finger out towards it to touch the soft petal that hid away behind the gray leaves that wrapped its protective arms around the plant.
"It's a completely different forest from where we came," Gilda said in awe as she inspected the unfamiliar plants and mystical glowing creatures that flew past.
You heard birds singing as they flew from the trees above, watching you as if they were your guardian angels, singing a lovely lullaby.
"I've never seen anything like it," you whispered as you held out your index finger only for a bright-colored bug-like animal to land on it.
"These bugs look kinda familiar though," Yvette said besides the curly-haired girl, Jemima.
You looked away from the younger females and decided to do your wandering around, taking in the beautiful calm nature around you. The air felt different, your environment was different. You were finally having a taste of freedom, but you had a weird feeling in the deep pits of your gut as your eyes scanned around slowly.
"You butt head," you heard Lannion joked as he and Thomma ran up one of the fallen branches.
"Guys, don't go too far," you said loud enough for the two can hear. As if on cue, before you could react in time, Lannion tripped over a thick vine, falling off of the tree while screaming Thoma's name. The dark-blue-haired boy cringed before running back down to go aid his best friend.
You sighed in dissatisfaction before moving forward, passing the blonde boy who was displayed on the ground, pretending not to see anything. You made your way back towards the group and looked towards Emma.
"Alright, guys. We're gonna take a break. There should be a search party that's out by now and who knows what is inside of these woods," the green-eyed female started. "So we have to stay alert."
"So what should we do for the time being," Don asked as he walked forward, looking towards Ray with a curious look. The raven-haired male look towards you with raised eyebrows and gestures with his head for you to speak.
You looked around the woods and noticed a group of trees that were paired together where all of you could rest. "There," you said, pointing your finger towards the small hideout.
"We have a limited supply of food and water so I'm asking you all to use it wisely. Don't gobble it all, okay," Gilda said while watching all of you dig inside of the well-organized backpacks that were established by your one and only mother of the group.
"Yes ma'am, " Thomma joked before biting into his sandwich.
You took off your book bag from behind your back and looked towards Ray to see him with a scowl on his face. You knew that he wasn't a person who spoke much but he has become more quiet than usual. Ever since Norman's shipment, he kept more to himself.
The said male looked to his side before looking towards you. "I'll be right back," he mumbled.
Your lips parted slightly as you watched the male stood from his spot, making his way over towards the orange-haired female who stood in the middle of the woods.
"Yeah," you hummed as you watched the two interact with each other silently among themselves. You took a couple more bites out of your sandwich before standing up, wiping off the crumbs on your hand by rubbing them against your pants leg.
"What are they talking about," you mumbled to yourself as you carefully got down the tree, away from the others.
"...We'll carry that load together," you heard Ray say as you approached them. The two turned towards you and looked at you with determination written on their faces.
"I think it's about time we keep moving," you said bluntly before looking back towards the younger children munching down happily on their food.
"I agree with Y/n. We should find a more secure place before something comes for us. Who knows what's inside of this forest," Emma said as she visibly shivered in disgust. The wind around you blew gently glaring around the thick cotton fabric that protected you from the cold.
"Alright, what's the plan from here?" Ray asked before stuffing his hands deep into his pants pockets.
"We're almost out of water," Emma started with furrowed eyebrows. "But do you remember that river we saw? We can fill up our jars up there," she suggested.
"That's a good idea," you hummed in satisfaction.
"Let's do that first. And I bet we can find some food around there too," Ray suggested and in return, you agreed. But before you could speak the raven-haired male spoke.
"Wait a second... We have to think like our enemies. They would expect us to be at a place like that because it would only be a matter of time that we run low on our supplies."
"So what do you suggest we do, Ray?"
"Guys!"
Don and Gilda slid down the branches before landing on their feet beside you.
"Now that we're free... where to next?" Don asked as he looked at the three of you in curiosity. Everyone was anxious and worried about what was to come in the future because what will happen is still in the unknown.
Your nerves were skyrocketing once again and it felt like millions of ants were biting away at your nervous system. You were feeling the familiar feeling of the natural liquid gradually making its way out of the small holes of your pours, coating itself on the pads of your fingertips and covering the bottom portion of your hand.
"We're heading southeast," you said as you dig inside of your bag, pulling out your water, getting ready to drink the cool liquid.
"South... East?"
The short female pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and turned towards the tall male. "It's between south and east?"
"I know. I'm not that dumb," the male said before placing his hand onto the said female.
"Ray, show them," Emma said before looking up at you with a small smile on her face.
You raised your eyebrows in curiosity, looking in between the two. "Show what, exactly," you asked.
Ray dug in his pocket and pulled out a familiar grey pen. A small frown made its way on your face as you kept your eyes on the small object.
"That's the pen... Norman left us," Gilda said softly as she analyzed it. "Does 'W' and 'M' stand for William Minerva?"
"Uh-huh. We're gonna let him guide us for where we need to go next," Emma said as she watched Ray.
Ray fiddled with the object before slowly twisting the top off and pulling it back gently to review a piece of writing.
B
06-32
You heard a low hum come from the pin before a hologram scan presented itself in front of you. You looked at the scan in awe as you saw the familiar owl symbol in the center of the hologram with its code surrounding it.
"Wow...."
"What the heck?"
"What is this," you mumbled in awe as you took a step forward beside Ray, scanning your eyes across it with a fluttered feeling.
"They're are our coordinates," Emma said gently.
"B 01-14," she finished before adjusting the thick scarf on her neck quietly as she too stared up at the hologram before you all.
"Our coordinates," Don mumbled absent mindlessly, trying to process the information that was being presented out in front of him.
"Check this out," Emma stayed before taking a few steps in front of you and placed her hand out gently against it. The screen changed automatically showing a map of your current location.
After Emma was done telling you your location, there was more to be done. Ray cracked down the codes to the owl by using the worn-out olive green mythology book that was in Gilda's hold and managed to receive a note.
You looked to the side and gazed around at the others before looking back up to the screen with parted lips a furrowed eyebrows.
'If you need my help come to visit me. I'm at point B 06 32
~ William Minerva'
"Thanks to Norman for leaving this pen... we now know where to go," Emma mumbled with a saddened smile on her face.
"Yeah," Ray said dryly before letting out a small sigh.
You looked away from the others quietly and seen the younger kids sulking quietly.
"I miss Norman..."
"I miss him too..."
You buried your chin further into your scarf and placed your foot down on a dried-up fallen leaf, crunching it with the bottom of your shoes, breaking it down into small tiny parts.
"Guys, he wouldn't want you to be sad. Let's be happy, for Norman!" Emma said in enthusiasm.
You rolled your eyes and looked the other way before letting out a small huff.
'Why be happy for someone else... Why not be happy for themselves?'
"We should keep moving," you said, walking past Emma, gesturing for the others to rise to their feet. "We don't have all day and we need to get supplies, fast."
"Okay," you heard one of the kids mumbled as they scurried up from their sitting positions.
"Can I walk with you, Y/n?"
You looked away from your right to see Yvette looking up at you with innocent eyes.
Your heart softened at the younger girl's look and nodded your head gently. "Yeah... I don't see why not," you mumbled.
As all of you walked you managed to find some natural resources in the environment that you were in. Yvette found a familiar plant that she read from the books that it stored water inside of its body.
"They were called sea enmities and they're filled with water," Ray said before pulling out a sharp blade, slowly cutting open the plant for the cool liquid to drain itself inside of your glass bottles. "An according to the book that we read, it should be safe for us to drink. That's great because it will save us the hassle of making a trip to the river," he finished with a smirk, sealing his lid onto his jar and placing it back into his backpack.
"Come to think of it," you started lowly as you moved around, admiring your surroundings. "The book described a forest that's similar to this and it also talked about strange creatures that lived in it... That book might be very helpful," you said turning around to look at Emma who held the book in her hands.
"It's a guide to help us survive out here," the orange-haired female finished before looking down at the book that's was in her hands.
"What else could it be. Do you remember what the Morse code says?" You walked over towards the two older kids and looped your arm around Rays quietly. He looked over towards you quietly before looking back to Emma, not showing any sign of shoving you away.
"Promise ..."
"Maybe it's a promise from Mr.Minerva saying that he will help us through this," Gilda state.
"It has to be... he's trying to help and protect us," Don added.
"Yeah... We know that the outside world is a dangerous place, but at least we know that we're not alone out here. We have each other and an ally. And together, we'll come together and find Mr.Minerva and find more allies. And then, we go back for Phil and the others!"
You knew that Emma was doing this to put everyone's worries away but you knew that it wasn't going to be that easy. Easier said than done. There was gonna be hell to go through before you can get to heaven. And you knew for a fact that the demons were going to toy with you on the devil's playground.
Time was moving fast and it wouldn't be too long until nightfall will hit and it just made you even more anxious than before. You needed to move now.
"That's great and all, but we still need to keep moving. Those large terrifying creatures are on their way to decapitate is if we don't get away in time," you mumbled to Ray while tugging on his arm gently.
He looked down towards you once again and nodded. You removed your arm from around his and watched him make his way towards Emma, speaking lowly to her only to make her sweat slightly. She nodded gently before wiping away the cold liquid from off her forehead, giving the others a wavering smile.
Everyone walked inside of the group with their lanterns held out, walking quietly through the now dark forest. The only thing that could be heard was the crickets and animals that whispered cools around you and your feet hitting against the ground.
Ray abruptly held out his arm, stopping the group as he looked around frantically with panic in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" You asked shakily as you held onto Jemima's and Yvette's hands.
"Something's off..."
You looked around in slight panic when you heard noises coming from the direction ahead of you.
"Guys... we should turn around... something is coming our way," you said taking a step back, bumping into Thomma.
"The lamps. Off now," you said in authority between gritted teeth. Everyone flinched at your tone and immediately cut off their lights as they kept quiet.
A herd of lime green light-up fireflies flew towards you at a fast pace revealing a large abnormal demon making its way towards all of you with a roar.
"RUN, NOW!"
You yanked Jemima and Yvette around as they yell in terror. The brown-skinned girl fell on the ground and cried out for you. You quickly grabbed the female and held her close to your body as you pushed your body past its limit, running as fast as you could.
Don noticed you and ran further up ahead and raised his arm, signaling for everyone to split up. Gold went one way and Don went the other. Both of them had their own set of kids, getting them away from the monster.
"Here, Y/n!" Ray quickly grabbed you and pulled you aside to hide behind a set of trees along with Emma. You quickly let go of Jemima and bent down holding onto your knees as you panted heavily, trying to calm down the aching feeling that was inside of your body.
"I'm sorry, Y/n. I didn't mean to fall," Jemima said with tears in her eyes as she watched you in worry.
"It's... fine Jemima. I'm... I'm okay. I promise," you assured her.
"They split off into groups... Don took the faster kids while Gilda took the slower ones."
"That's smart. He's giving her a chance for them to get her farther away while he and the fast kids outrun that big blob of shit," Ray grumbled as he watched from the sidelines.
"They've must've trained for this," the raven-haired male said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"We're okay for now, but we gotta figure out how to get rid of that thing," you said finally collecting yourself together, standing up straight to get a better view of what's in front of you.
Emma took a step forward only to be yanked back by Ray.
"That was close."
"The adventures of Ogo described traps like this," he said gesturing to the vines that surrounded the area.
"The snakes of ovopanera..."
"Yeah. Whatever falls in, doesn't come back out," Ray confirmed. "This is great... I have an idea and this is only something I can do alone. I don't want any of you getting hurt," Ray said shooing Emma away.
"What are you doing... you're not gonna-"
"Relax. I'm not gonna sacrifice myself," the male said quickly with a scowl on his face. There's no reason to. I want to do this alone because I know for a fact that I can do it," he said looking at Emma then towards you. There was a silent communication between you, him saying, 'Believe in me.'
"O-okay," you said nervously as you looked him in his dark orb eyes.
The orange-haired female looked towards you with parted lips and then back towards the tall male. "Huh?"
"Go join Gilda and run downwind from here. I'll meet you guys later," he said gesturing for you to take your leave.
"Ray, are you sure-"
"Y/n, come on! We gotta go," Jemima said as she tugged on your hand trying to get you to come along with her and Emma.
"Go!" Ray yelled towards the both of you through clenched teeth. There was no time to waste. If you wanted to make it out of here alive, you had to do what was best and keep moving no matter what. He was buying you time so he wanted you to put that to use.
You ran through the trees with wide eyes trying to get a clear view. You felt tears welling up in your eyes as the strong winds blew against your face as you moved at a fast pace beside the other two females.
A loud cracking noise echoed in the exotic forest making all of the animals around go dead silent. You stopped in your tracks and turned around to see that the large demon that was chasing all of you not too long ago.
"What the hell happened," you asked with a hoarse voice.
The head of the demon landed on the snake-like vine before caving inside because of its heavyweight.
"I found them."
"Well?"
"It didn't eat them. I don't smell humans on it... I know you're out there! That was a close call. I'm glad you're alright... You can come out now! We killed the beast and it's perfectly safe. So please, come out!"
You peeked around the tree slowly to see two large black demons that had hard white carved masks as their faces.
"It's them... they found us," you whispered to Emma and Jemima.
"What do we do now?" The younger female asked as she held onto the bottom portion of your jacket. She was afraid, you can hear it in her voice and feel her shaking. "I'm scared..."
"Emma, we gotta regroup. Now," you said looking back to Emma with a deep frown. "Gather up all of the others. There's no way everyone will make it out of here unless they get to moving now. I have faith that Ray can handle himself from here," you finished.
The said female looked at you with a look of determination before nodding her head.
"Let's move."
You bent down low enough to Jemima's height and gestured for her to get onto your back. "You're ready, Jemima?"
She nodded her head gently and climbed onto the upper portion of your back, wrapping her arms around your neck in a secure way. "I'm ready."
It didn't take long for you to find Don and Gilda along with their groups squatting down lowly behind a large tree quietly.
"You made it," Anna said with a bright smile before standing up. She ran towards you and embrace you
A loud whistle could be heard making you and everyone else look around in confusion.
"Uh-oh...That's a new sound," Emma said.
Your breathing was becoming uneven and your anxiety is skyrocketing. You felt like you were trapped in a room,
"I hope that's not the monster.."
"Ray should've been here by now."
You were starting to get worried and your mind was playing the worst-case scenarios. Where is he? Did he not know where you were or did he get... caught?
"We can't leave him behind," you said in worry, dropping Jemima down. "I'm gonna go look for him."
Before you could run far away you heard someone collapsed on the ground. You turned around in confusion to see a pale unconscious Emma.
"Y/n don't go! Emma's wound reopened and she's burning up," Gilda said with tears in her eyes as she held onto the female.
You looked away from her then back to the direction you came from earlier with beads of sweat trailing down your face. You looked down to the ground in panic before closing your eyes tightly, wishing for a sign quietly.
"Over here..."
You opened your eyes and looked up towards the female who stood in the middle of the forest, surrounded by multiple fireflies giving her a mystical mysterious look.
"We don't know who you are! Why should we trust you?" Gilda snapped as she held the fallen female in her arms.
Don looked towards you in fear before looking back to the unfamiliar being before you.
"Y/n... what should we do?"
"You're safe now..."
4425 words
