2 Chapter Two: Curse Marks

[Echoing Voice] "Tell me. In the world you came from... is there such a thing as fate?"

Scene One.

As Arthur ran swiftly down the winding road, a large wooden tree golem pursued them, only lagging about thirty feet behind them.

Arthur found it difficult to keep himself upward, as he had barely fallen asleep before suddenly appearing in this strange place.

And on top of that, Loran was holding onto his neck pretty tightly, as she was afraid he might drop her.

Suddenly, and without any warning, a large Troll like creature walked out onto the trail in front of them!

Arthur quickly adjusted his direction, just barely avoiding running into the Troll.

The Troll lifted the large stone club it was dragging and roared at them when the Golem caught up.

The Troll turned around and roared again, trying to scare the golem, but it didn't budge.

The golem lifted its left hand, which Arthur thought closely resembled a claw from a Claw Machine, only made of wood, moss, and vines.

Not wanting to get caught in the battle, Arthur continued running down the trail, ignoring the sounds of the two titans clashing behind them.

Scene Two

As they made their way to the edge of the forest, Arthur and Loran saw the trees disappear, and open into a large clearing followed by a forty-foot cliff which spills into a long plain.

Arthur had to stop, to take it all in.

He looked across the plain, and saw a large city in the distance, sitting at the base of a mountain with three peaks.

Suddenly the sound of the Golem and Troll fighting became louder.

Knowing they didn't have much time, Arthur ran along the cliff side, hoping to find a way down.

(Loran) "Art. I can't keep going like this, and you're clearly struggling to stay upright."

(Arthur) "You're right."

Arthur slowed down a bit and made his way back towards the woods.

After making his way into the tree line, Arthur noticed one of the larger trees that had a hollowed out portion at its base.

He made his way inside, and let Loran off his back.

They both sat down with their backs against the core of the tree and faced the entrance.

Scene Three

(Arthur) "Are your feet okay? I figured they might be sore from those things that attacked you."

(Loran) "That's why you picked me up?!"

(Arthur) "Well... I guess my instincts told my body what to do before my mind could fully process everything. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

(Loran) "No I'm fine, I trust you. And my feet only have a few scratches nothing major."

(Arthur) "I'm glad... So what do you thinks going on." Arthur said as he turned his head and stared out of the entrance of the tree.

(Loran) "I... I don't know. I was sleeping in my bed when I heard a voice. When I opened my eyes I was here."

(Arthur) "A Voice? I didn't hear anything. I woke up to those things pulling on my feet."

Arthur said as he turned his head and looked at Loran.

(Loran) "Those things, they looked like something out of a movie, or a video game."

(Arthur) "They reminded me of the Goblins from that medieval fantasy show everyone is obsessed with."

(Loran) "Your right... could we be in another world like that show?"

(Arthur) "I'd say it was impossible... that is if it weren't for all the evidence..."

Suddenly they heard a loud crash!

(Loran) "Is it the Giant?" A loud thumping moved around the tree behind there backs, as the Golem moved to the front of the tree.

Scene Four

Arthur quickly dashed out of the tree and turned to face the golem.

(Loran) "Arthur!"

He picked up a rock about the size of his hand and flung it at the golem.

The rock flew from his hand like a bullet blowing through the golems left shoulder, leaving an eight-inch hole.

(Arthur) "What the... How did I..?"

Just then the vines covering the golem's arm began growing and filling the hole Arthur had made.

Arthur began running away from the golem as it started charging like a bulldozer, tearing up the ground under its massive stump like feet.

It closed the gap between them in under twelve seconds, and Arthur just barely dodged left out of its way.

The golem crashed into one of the large trees, chunks, and splinters of wood flew through the air in every direction.

Arthur looked at the giant pile of wood, vine, moss and leaves where the golem had collided with the tree.

(Arthur) "Is it dead?"

Admits the scattered mess that was once the Tree Golem, was a large yellow gem which was glowing.

He stared at it for a minute, believing that it wasn't dead, but with no sign of life, Arthur started to feel a sense of relief.

(Arthur) "Loran."

Arthur quickly went back to the tree where he had left Loran and found her curled up in the place he had left her.

Scene Five

In another part of the forest, a young man who looked to be in his young twenties is walking down a path through the forest.

He noticed that the ground began to look dug up and scraped, almost like two large bores had been fighting over territory.

He continued his trek down the trail for a bit, when he stumbled across the corps of the Troll.

(Man) "A Behemoth Troll! What are you doing so far from the Mountain?"

Suddenly a loud crashing sound echoed across the forest.

(Man) "And what is it that killed you?"

The Man started heading to the source of the crashing sound.

Scene Six

Loran sat in the core of the tree, too afraid to move.

The thought of what might have happened to Arthur was paralyzing her.

Though she only thought of him as a friend, he was always there for her when she needed help.

He continuously proved that he cared for her, and he never asked for anything in return.

Because of that, she was depending on him to help her get through this, to help figure out what happened and how they were going to get home.

But he left her, he abounded her to face a monster straight out of a fantasy novel.

(Loran) "Why did you leave me?"

Loran wrapped her arms around her knees and held them tightly as if she was embracing a dear friend.

A sounded and loud crash shook the tree causing dust to fall like ash from a volcano eruption.

The crash deeply disturbed her, but the echoing silence brought an eerie sense of seclusion that disturbed her even more.

Tears began to fill her eyes and she silently wept into her pajama pants.

(Arthur) "Loran?"

Loran looked up and saw Arthur standing in the entrance of the tree.

(Loran) "You... Your."

(Arthur) "I'm fine, I'm sorry I left you."

(Loran) "You Jerk!"

Loran got up and ran to Arthur, wrapping her arm around him and crying into his shoulder.

(Loran) "I.. (Sobs) I thought you were dead.!"

Arthur put his arms around Loran and stroked her long black hair with his right hand.

(Arthur) "I'm sorry, I couldn't let it get to you."

Loran calmed down and let go of Arthur. She took the end of her sleeve in her palm and whipped the tears from her eyes.

(Loran) "Don't do anything stupid like that again... Okay?"

(Arthur) "Yes, mom."

Loran gave him a death glare.

(Arthur) "Alright... I promise, no more self-sacrifice ideas."

(Loran) "That's better."

Scene Seven

Arthur and Loran walk out of the tree and make there way back towards the path.

They approach a large root which was about five and a half feet tall, and Arthur climbs up and gives Loran a hand up.

They drop down on the other side, and suddenly the golem steps out from around the tree, hitting Arthur with its left arm, sending him ten feet through the air.

Loran falls backward and sits between the base of the tree and the corner of the large root. Her eyes glance over at Arthur who was struggling to get back up before her attention was brought back to the golem which stood towering over her!

(Loran) "No... some.. someone help me!"

The golem lifted its arm as if to bring it down on her, and Loran screamed and put her hands out in front of herself as if to stop the massive wooden arm from killing her.

A few seconds passed and Loran peeked her eyes open to see the golem's arm being held away from her by strange green energy which seemed to be pouring out of the palms of her hands.

The golem tried to press on, but to no avail, it wasn't able to move let alone crush Loran.

As the golem flailed it's body trying togged free of the magic energy holding it in place, the back of its body splintered and broke open reviling the large yellow gem at its core.

Arthur stared in disbelief as Loran counted to hold the golem at bay, but as the seconds passed Arthur quickly realized she wouldn't be able to hold it for much longer.

Arthur got to his feet and dashed to the back of the golem climbing onto its back and grabbing onto the vines at the base of its neck.

Arthur tried pulling chunks of the golem off, but it did very little to affect the giant.

Then the golem jerked and parts of its back broke open once more revealing the Giant yellow gem a few inches from Arthurs' hand.

(Arthur) "This looks important!"

Arthur reaches his left hand in, grabs onto the gem and begins pulling on it.

The golem starts going ballistic as it tries to shake Arthur off.

Then vines start wrapping around the gem and pulling it back into the golem.

Arthur reaches his right hand in and with his whole body, begins to pull on the gem.

And in one sudden and powerful move, Arthur kicked off the golem with his feet, bringing the gem with him as he soured twelve feet through the air and slammed into the ground.

The golem turned around and teetered towards Arthur, before loosing all power and crumbling apart.

Loran breathed a deep breath and relaxed her arms, and the green energy pouring out of her hands stopped.

The golem came crashing down into a pile of assorted vines, wood chunks, and other plant life.

Arthur got up, somehow not feeling tired from the whole ordeal they had just been through.

However, Loran simply sat on the ground too tired to move.

Scene Eight

Arthur walked over to Loran and offered her a hand up.

As he lifted her, he noticed a strange green symbol on her left hand.

The symbol had three hexagons inside each other, with a crystal in the center.

(Arthur) "When did you get that?"

Loran looked at her hand and the symbol slowly faded from the bright green to black, leaving a tattoo on her hand.

(Loran) "What is this?"

(Man) "It is a curse mark."

Arthur and Loran turn to see a man dressed in a green cloak standing on the root of the tree looking down on them.

(Arthur) "Who... Who are you?"

To be continued...