Lullaby Moon

Sonata

“My name?” She asked, thinking for a bit, “well that isn’t very important right now is it?” She looked around, examining her surroundings, the trees blocked out most of the sunlight, only a small patch allowed the forest to be lit. She gasped as she looked towards the centre of the sunlit field, a woman was laying there, probably only in her twenty’s, she didn’t move, lying there, lifelessly. She ran over to the woman, quickly checking for any vital signs, Manna was close behind her. “Is she alive?” He spoke fast, a little worried for the woman’s life.

“… Only just” said the girl, “b-but… I don’t know any first aid” she sighed, wishing she had listened during first aid class. The woman lying on the ground had bright rainbow hair, she looked athletic, but the girl knew she wouldn’t last long, no matter how tough she was.

“Wh-what can we do then?’ Manna asked, more worried now.

“We can ease her passing… I am afraid that is all we can do…” The girl let a tear shed as she spoke, “no one should have to die like this,” She looked over the woman’s body for a second, admiring her physical stature.  After a bit she stepped back, trying to think of a way they can make her passing less miserable, “We should get her out of here…” She spoke fast, hurrying to get something made to carry her out, Manna could see she was struggling, and decided to help her, after some effort they got a, rather crude looking stretcher to carry her, “I think she would rather stay here than ride on this,” he chuckled at his joke. The girl face palmed, clearly finding the joke stupid.

She hauled the woman onto the stretcher and tried lifting up one end, struggling even when Manna helped with the other end, “she is REALLY heavy,” it  was clear in her voice that she was struggling, only being a child after all. She slowly continued progressing through the dark, moist forest. After what seemed like hours of walking, Manna suddenly collapsed, the girl gasped and carefully put down the stretcher. As soon as the stretcher made contact with the ground it turned into what appeared to be a black mass, engulfing Manna. The girl fell on her back, crawling away from the mass; the forest around her seemed darker than usual, slowly starting to spin. “Wh-what’s happening!?” She was now horrified, she could see ghostly figures forming; they began to dance, humming a dark tune, some starting before they formed.

She screamed for help, but knew no one would be able to hear her, the sound of her scream echoing through the dark, empty forest. The ground around the ghostly figures started to dissolve, slowly crystalizing, forming a soft white light as it falls into a never ending abyss. It slowly started to get closer to the girl. She suddenly started shaking, everything around her being torn apart, replace with a little lighter version of it, then suddenly a loud crack was heard as everything change slightly, Manna was shaking her harshly, it seems she had another episode, ‘but it felt so real’ she thought to herself. She took Manna’s hands off her, “I’m ok…” She said, a little unsure if she really was, “just… Another episode,” she looked at Manna as he sighed in relief, quickly picking up the stretcher again, she could see a light in the distance, ‘we must be near another clearing’ she thought, picking up the stretcher and hurrying for it.

After a while she started to notice something, the light wasn’t getting any closer, as though it was running away from her, she stopped and looked back at Manna, “do you see that light?” She asked, he replied with a simple shake of the head, as she looked back, it was gone. A tear shed from her eye, was she going insane? She continued walking, desperate to get out of this accursed forest, the silence of the dead sent a piercing pain through her chest every few seconds. They came to another clearing after a bit, putting the stretcher down. The girl could hear something in the bushes nearby, she quickly looked towards it, fixing her eyes on the bush, there was a pair of red glowing orbs in the bush. She gasped and ducked, hoping the thing didn’t see her. But to her dismay the thing had seen her; it slowly exited the bush, unlike anything she had seen. Its tail was spiked all the way, the body sharp and covered in what appeared to be metal, the legs were tipped with sharp pincers, and the head was distorted, an orb sitting right in the centre of it. The girl jumped back as the creature pounced at her, landing right next to the woman on the stretcher. The woman suddenly opened her eyes, looking at the creature, “hey!” She yelled, “what do you thi-” She didn’t have time to finish her sentence before the creature plunged its tail right through her skull. The girl looked terrified, fear flowing through her.

She tried to avoid making eye contact with the creature, slowly moving back, Manna was on the far left of her, keeping an eye on her and the creature. Neither of them thought it smart to say anything, they just slowly started moving closer, trying to regroup. She didn’t know what to do; this creature just killed someone in less than a second. She was breathing heavily, her heart pounding. The creature suddenly charged at her, its sharp pincers ripping through the woman, the girl jumped to the side, letting the creature run into a nearby tree, she suddenly ran for Manna, trying to get him to run the same way. He knew exactly what she wanted him to do and started to run, jumping to the side every time the creature charged at them. Manna stopped, suddenly, he grabbed for the creature but its sharp back cut his hands, they had no choice but to run. The girl quickly scurried up a tree, Manna, though, seemed to have trouble. The creature charged at him as he tried to climb his way up the tree, it was inches before he managed to get above its height, the creature suddenly stopped. Looking to its sides, the girl looked confused, why isn’t it coming after us, she thought. After a while of looking around it turned and went the other way.

“Phew,” Manna wiped his brows as he spoke, “that was close…” He seemed happy to have survived; He looked down to the ground, hopping out of the tree, the girl followed after him. Together they decided to head off in a random direction.  The trees seemed to be getting less dense, the foliage letting more light through. She could tell they were getting close to the exit, the girl smiled and looked back at Manna, but he was nowhere to be found, she could have sworn he was right behind her. She started to panic, looking around frantically, but he was still nowhere to be found.

She hurried back into the forest, searching frantically for him, yelling out his name, “Manna!” She screamed, but there was no reply, she tried again, even louder this time. After a while her throat started to hurt. She felt something cold wrap around her shoulder. “So you want to find your… Friend...” A cold voice spoke, chilling her to the bone, "maybe you should follow me," she could feel the hand slowly slip away, the wind blowing behind her, she turned around, but no one was there. She seemed a little confused, but headed onward anyway, she slightly hoped that she wasn't heading the right way, bit feared what may happen if she disobeys whatever the thing was.

She felt like she had been walking forever before she came to what appeared to be a forest house, it looked rather odd, twisted even. She could see a figure by the door waving her over, it was wearing a cloak so all she could see was the bony hands. She sighed, looking around, trying to note down any possible escape routes. After a little while of waiting she headed for the building.

Inside looked even more messed up than outside, it was riddled with potions from the roof to the floor, they were hanging from hooks, which made it hard to walk without cutting her leg, the thing with the bony hands was right in front of her. It looked at here, piercing red eyes flowing behind the hood. "Take a step and see, a hidden mystery, a secret kept so well, you will find it oh so swell," the thing says, the girl can see a hint of a smile appear on its face. She steps closer, and notices a pool of water on the floor, it looked more like a mirror. She looked into it, suddenly the water started spinning, the girl felt like she was going to be pulled in, but she stood her ground, soon she could make out a figure in the water. But before anything interesting could be shown she heard a bang behind her. The door suddenly went flying across the room, Manna was standing there, looking rather unhappy. He walked at a rather fast pace up to the bony figure and removed the hood, all that was there were two beady red eyes.

The eyes looked up at the now horrified Manna, he backed away from the thing, not sure what it was. "Don't try, don't try, to know quite why, you see, you see, it's really easy... DIE!" The thing lunged at Manna, he quickly grabbed its arm and swung it across the room. The thing hit the wall with a large thud, making a crack in the timber. It lunged again, wrapping one of its claws around Manna, the girl looked shocked at what was happening, she knew she wouldn't be able to defend herself.

Manna grabbed the creatures hand and ripped it off of his throat, trying to rip it off, but instead ended up throwing the thing into another wall, the potions behind it smashed, causing an explosion of light, raining down little silver balls of glowing dust. The thing threw one of the bottles at Manna, it hit him square in the chest, sending him flying across the room. He pulled one off the wall as well, throwing it at the thing, it smashed on one of its eyes, corroding it away. The creature wailed in pain and lunged at Manna again, trying to rip into his chest, Manna quickly grabbed the things arm and rammed it into the floor, kicking it in the side and sending it flying across the room.

The creature came back again, trying to punch Manna, he dodged it, throwing a few punches himself, they were faster than the creatures but only a few of them landed with a satisfying crunch. He went in for a side punch, landing it in just the right spot, the creature was suddenly ripped in two, one half flying into a wall, the other half just standing there. After a bit it topples over, now just a useless corpse. Manna stands there for a bit, panting, he looks over to the girl, "are you okay?" He asks her, smiling a bit. She just replies with a slow nod, she seems to be shaking from the events that passed.

Manna looks around, it seems it is now night time, he thinks to himself that it might be best to stay the night somewhere else. He picks up the girl on his shoulders, chuckling to her, she chuckles as well, holding him tight. She ducks as they go through the door, Manna looks around, as does the girl. They can see a light in the distance, the girl looks back to the twisted house, but it doesn't seem to be there, like as though it never existed, replaced by a large tree. She shrugs it off, slowly getting used to all the strange happenings, the girl looked ahead to where Manna had now taken her, it was what appeared to be a small abandoned cottage. It looked liveable, but not in the best shape, Manna went in first to check it out, and after a while of inspection decided it was safe. He gave the girl the only available bed, taking the floor for himself.

After a bit they got up, Manna first, then the girl, the two of them headed out, they could see some light over in the distance. They quickly ran to it, this time it wasn't fake, it was the way out, the girl smiled as soon as they exited, giggling a bit, Manna close behind her.