Chapter 3

No author's not this time but I do have a chapter for ya...
____________________________________

        "I still don't see why you couldn't have gotten us closer than this," Add complained. He scratched at his neck a bit as he spoke. Before leaving, Ara and Add had gotten a new set of clothes for traveling. Add's excuse was he wanted to match his dynamos but Ara knew it was because he missed his cat eared jacket. He had a new one now which was black themed with false fur surrounding the hood's edges. It was a direct contrast to his original white themed outfit.

        Ara intended to go back to the place that used to be her home but Paradox insisted that he'd go pick something out for Ara instead to which Add practically freaked out. He ended up going with Paradox and picking instead of him but returned saying that he was glad Ara hadn't gone with them. The massacre had been pretty bad according to what Add and Paradox saw. In the end, Ara ended up in a dress that was a little revealing but Ara didn't mind too much.

        The sleeves were roomy and the dress itself allowed for more movement for Ara's fighting style. Add had even gone so far as to retrieve a new spear for her that just so happened to go with the dress. Paradox had successfully taken them a little further back in time and dropped them in the middle of a forest near Ruben. "What's with you and random landscapes anyway. First it was the middle of nowhere with snow, then it was the middle of a grassy feild, and now it's a forest," Ara muttered as they came close to leaving the forest to travel on the main dirt road.

        "I can traverse through time and space. Location has nothing to do with it," Paradox said. "Location has everything to do with it," Eun said in Ara's mind to which she nodded. Paradox must have assumed she was agreeing with him but she wasn't and he'd be better off not knowing so. Ara was glad that Eun was starting to talk to her more regularly but she had never been given a good explanation as to why Eun had been unable to communicate with her in the first place. "How much further do we need to go anyway? You're the only one that actually knows how to get to Ruben," Add said to Paradox who immediately avoided Add's gaze.

         "I may have forgotten the details but it shouldn't be too much further. Maybe another hour or two of walking," Paradox said with a shrug. "Another hour or two?!" Ara yelped. Add simply gave him a slightly murderous look. "If you weren't in that form, I'd strangle you," Add said reffering to the fact that Paradox had yet to switch out of his child form. Ara wondered if it was his preffered form and if so, why. "It isn't my fault. I can't make everything happen perfectly," Paradox said in his defense.

        "You could have at least warned us that you didn't entirely know what you were doing," Add said. "But that wasn't the case. I knew exactly what I was doing," Paradox said. "We wouldn't be two hours away from Ruben if you did," Add snapped. "I did know what I was doing and I said about one or two hours away!" Paradox snapped back. "You know what, I'm not going to argue with you. There's no way I'd lower myself to your level of childishness," Add said turning his gaze away from the pouting Paradox.

         All the while, Ara had watched their little arguement and of course thought it was rather childish for them to be arguing in such a way. "Ara, watch out!" Eun suddenly said as she took control of Ara and forced her to drop her spear only to pull Add and Paradox back by their cat hoods. Both of the boys seemed offended by the gesture as the looked at Ara in surprise. "It wasn't me, it was Eun," Ara quickly said. "That rock over there. Pick it up and toss it a little in front of them," Eun instructed. "You two, don't move," Ara said before she went to follow Eun's instructions.

        Ara tossed the rock in front of them and waited. As soon as the rock landed, the dirt path suddenly shifted and a barely visible net shot up from the ground and twisted at the top as if there were a victim to be trapped. "That material, it's enhanced thread," Ara muttered, recognizing the shimmering properties of the threaded net. "Who would want to trap travelers anyway?" Add muttered having calmed down from the assumed purposeful attack in his cat hood. "Who would want to trap travelers that are one or two hours away from Ruben?" Paradox questioned as he put his cat hood on his head.

          "Whatever the reason, we're going to have to go around and be more careful about where we step," Ara said. "You'll need to be more than just careful," a voice unfamiliar to Ara said. She quickly picked up her spear from the ground and readied into an attacking possition as did Add and Paradox. With their backs all facing each other, the scanned the surrounding area for the source of the voice. "Oh, I mean you all no harm. I intended to save you once you were caught by the net but one of you is rather perceptive. Guess I couldn't be the hero this time," the voice said.

        A tree rustled from nearby and someone sooner appeared having jumped down from the tree. "The name's Amelia. Nice to meet you all," she said sith a smile. "You're an elf," Add muttered, none of them moving from their defensive stances. "Yes, I am. You're a boy," Amelia said with a slight pout before she smiled at them again. "Who exactly are you and why are you here? And what do you knkw about this net that we don't?" Ara demanded. She wasn't sure if she could take Amelia down, especially with the elf having a bow as a weapon, but she wasn't going to let her guard down so easily.

        "I'm Amelia, like I said. I help Lime protect the forests of Elrios but recently things have been happening in Ruben's forests. Lime and I have been helping to save travelers from the horrors of Ruben for the past month and a half," Amelia said. "Amelia!! What did I tell you about spilling classified information to strangers!!" a new voice said. A different elf suddenly appeared, jumping down from a different tree and landing near Amelia who seemed just as shocked as everyone else.

         "Lime! What are you doing here. You were supposed to be looking after that kid that ran through earlier! If he goes to Ruben, he won't make it out alive!" Amelia blurted out. "Clasified information!" Lime snapped as she chopped Amelia on the head with her hand. Amelia yelped in pain and held her head. "I apologize for my friend's actions. I don't doubt that she waited until after you three were trapped to save you. I can't stay here for long though. I'll have Amelia escort you three to safety while I go and save that hardheaded child," Lime said.

         Add, Ara, and Paradox remained silent. None of them truly understood what was going on. "But I want to help save Elsword too," Amelia whinned as she continued to run her head from where she sat on the dirt road. Lime promptly hit Amelia again. "You talk too much. Stop telling classified info," Lime scolded. "Wait, did she say Elsword?" Paradox suddenly asked. Lime perked up. "You know him? Are you two childhood friends or something?" Lime asked.

        Ara and Add both held back laughs, both of them realizing that Lime only saw Paradox as a child. "No, we aren't childhood friends but I know about him to a certain extent. Why is he going to Ruben?" Paradox said surprisingly calmly. "I can't tell you just yet. I need to first save him from that horrible place. I'll be back to base as soon as I get him. Amelia will look after you three and fill you in on the current situation in Ruben. Something tells me that you three don't know," Lime said. "The base is this way," Amelia said, still rubbing her head but now standing instead of sitting on the dirt road.

        "I don't sense anything off about these two. Their concerns are genuine as far as I can tell. It would be wise to go with them. They seem to know some valuable infornation about Ruben," Eun said. "Right," Ara said outloud although her words linned up with Amelia's comment and got rid of any potential suspicions the elves might have gained. "Wait, how do we know we can trust you?" Add asked. He didn't have Eun to secretly comment in his mind like Ara did. "I was going to save you from that trap wasn't I. That should be good enough so let's go," Amelia said.

         She turned towards the forest and began walking away. The moment she did, Lime made a quick escape to the opposite side of the road and into the forest, disappearing from sight. "Well, what are you three waiting for. You don't want any patroling bandits coming along now do you?" Amelia urged before she also disappeared into the forest. "Eun trusts her so we should be fine for now," Ara muttered to reassure Add before she followed after Amelia. The elf was fast, running along the forest floor as if the forest itself was nonexistent. She easily dodged anything that could have possible gotten into her path.

        "Just take some time to relax. I've got this one," Eun said, probably noticing that Ara was having a little bit of touble keeping up. Ara complied and allowed Eun to control her movements. Soon enough, Ara was keeping Amelia's pace but doing so by traveling through the treetops. Eun glanced behind them which allowed Ara to briefly see that Paradox was easily keeping up, using various portals to close any possible gaps. Add wasn't so luck although his dynamos did carry him pretty far and rather quickly. Either way, he was lagging behind a bit.

         However long it was, Amelia finally made it to her base of opperations and stopped at a clearing that was close to a cave. Ara got flashbacks to her time in Altera when she saw the cave and shuddered a bit with the strong hope that they wouldn't have to go into it. In the middle of the clearing was a large tent-like structure surrounded by a lot of floating things. "Hello everyone! Are you all glad to see me back safely? I've brought us new visitors," Amelia announced as she began to hold her hand out to one of the floating things.

        Ara would have yelped in surprise if Eun hadn't still been in control for she didn't realize that the little floating things were tiny people with wings. "They are forest spirits. They are small but powerful, especially when they are in greater numbers like this," Eun informed as she gave control back to Ara. "There are so many of them," Add muttered. Ara looked to him in surprise. "You actually know what they are?!" Ara asked since Add had never mentioned such creatures.

        "Yeah I...when I was in Elder with mother, they healed us a little. We lived just outside of Elder's boundary back then right after we'd time traveled. I didn't understand them very well but they would sometimes speak to me," Add said as he watched them curiously as he reminisced on his past. Ara slightly smiled at his somewhat happier expression. "That's a bit unusual for them to approach those that are unfamiliar with nature," Amelia muttered having heard Add's words. Add didn't seem to care though and simply shrugged.

        "Why did you and mother need healing in the first place? What could have possibly happened to you two?" Paradox asked. "There are bandits in Elder too. They're merciless and I greatly dispise them," Add said, his happiness instantly vanishing. "You two must be related. Both of you referred to the same person as "mother" so I must be right," Amelia concluded. "What?" Add and Paradox simultaneously said. Ara was quick to step in.

          "Yes, they are related. This is Add and this is his younger brother who you can call Paradox since he doesn't like to go by his real name. Paradox has a bad uncurable not contagious eye disease which is why his eye is like that. He and his brother are just a bit edgy to be honest," Ara said. Add and Paradox both gave her looks off warning to which she ignored. "And you must be...their cousin?" Amelia said. "No, no, I'm just a friend of theirs. My name is Ara," Ara frantically replied.

         "No, you're an acquaintance of mine and Add's extra special friend," Paradox muttered as he averted everyone's gazes. "Oh...I see. Interesting," Amelia said with a slight smile. Add nor Ara said or did a single thing. "Well thank you for the gracious introductions. Why don't we enter this here tent an meet the last member of our little group!" Amelia said. She gave them a thumbs up and headed towards the tent.
____________________________________

And so another chapter has made it but I've got others to do. I wonder...what do you guys think is wrong in Ruben? Until next time you spectacular readers!

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top