Lightning Bugs

///Lost'sForward/// 100 Stones = 1 Chapter

I'm not promising this as a regular thing yet, but if we get 100 Power Stones this week I'll drop an extra chapter!! (I just want to see if it's possible)

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Disheveled, Olive followed the toad. It was a typical toad, larger than Olive's palm, brown and bumpy, and it meandered through the forest for quite some time with Olive in tow. 

Eventually, the toad squeezed its plump body through a crack in a tree's roots. This particular tree grew larger than the rest. Its roots spiraled uncontrollably and the earth beneath it had long been uprooted and distorted by the tree's unique disposition. 

It was there, between the exposed roots, that the toad found sanctum. Burying itself in the dirt, the toad disappeared underground. 

*ba-dunk* 

The sound of water embraced Olive's ears. She kneeled on the grass and pressed her ear against the roots that breached the surface. For just this moment, Olive controlled her breathing. 

She took drawn out breaths, slow and deep. Her heartbeat depressed and suddenly sounds she couldn't hear before materialized. 

She heard splashing and buzzing. More 'ribbits' blurred the noise, but underneath it all, Olive heard the flow of water. 

The sky above morphed, its once vibrant blue now a soft orange. Olive had little time to spare. 

She looked around at the other trees in the area. Her eyes scanned the landscape in search of something unordinary — a crater, a divot, a cave, a hole, anything that could lead underneath. 

Then, orange turned to red and red turned to black. The sun was gone and night arrived. 

But in the darkness of night, a glow emerged. Soft and sweet, a pink hue trickled up the roots of the larger tree the toad had disappeared into. Like fireflies, but incomparably smaller, more similar to the size of ants, pink bugs escaped from the gaps in the roots and fluttered throughout the air. 

Olive didn't catch the miniature creatures, but she deftly observed them. Too small to resist the air current, the pink dots of light moved alongside the wind. For a moment, it felt as though the wind itself was moving — the pink lightning bugs were so tiny and inconspicuous that when paired with the breeze, they appeared as one. 

While watching the light show, a blue essence abruptly cut into the pink display. More bugs, just as small and just as bright as the pink ones, joined the fray. The blue bugs flickered but their light beat on and off in tune to Olive's heart.

The two species of miniature lightning bug intertwined in the wind. They spiraled around each other, flew in conjunction, and mirrored the miraculous colors that filled the night sky. 

Meanwhile, Olive stood beside the larger tree. She had watched the pink bugs emerge so… where did the blue one's come from? 

Not wasting another moment, Olive climbed the tree and scoured her surroundings. 

There, in the distance, a weak light surfaced and faded. 

Olive dropped from the tree's branches and bolted towards the subtle glow. After half a mile of travel, Olive arrived at yet another tree — this one however, was decrepit. 

Its vitality stripped away, the brittle tree paled in comparison with the rest: its trunk was dry and hunched over, no leaves grew atop it, and large cracks spread through its hull. From those cracks, the blue lightning bugs emerged. 

Olive felt the bark of the tree and from just her touch, pieces of rotted wood collapsed. The tumbling of the bark widened one of its cracks and in that moment — another light ignited within Olive's head. 

She carefully stripped the tree of its bark and cut into its trunk. Piece by piece, the cracks connected until a complete hole remained; a hole large enough for Olive to fit her head through. 

So she did. 

And when she looked down into the hollow trunk of the decrepit tree — she saw flowing water. 

The stream was filled to the brim with life: toads, lily pads, fish, flowers, lightning bugs, and more butterflies than Olive had ever seen. 

An oasis ran underneath the forest. 

She pulled her head out of the trunk and immediately climbed a nearby tree. From there, she ran her eyes along the surface of the forest, bumping from tree-head to tree-head. In the distance, the mound of grass they decided to make camp stood tall. 

Olive memorized the direction and returned to the grass. As she did so, her instincts surged within her being. In a split second decision, Olive tilted her head to the side. 

*woosh* 

An arrow zipped past Olive's cheek and crashed into the trunk of a tree beyond. Blood splurged from Olive's cheek and ran down her neck. 

Her instincts roared once more. 

Olive dropped to the ground and another arrow split the red hairs atop her head! 

She rolled across the forest floor, but the tall grass paraded her location. Olive poked her head through the grass. 

*woosh* 

An arrow struck with intensity! 

Olive narrowly dodged the arrow and picked herself up off the ground. She ran around a tree and used its trunk for cover. 

*thunk* 

She felt the weight of an arrow slam into the wood behind her. 

Adrenaline pumped through her veins. Her heartbeat thumped sporadically and her body spiked in temperature. As tingling coursed through her, Olive snuck around the trunk and searched for her opponent. 

The moment she did so, an arrow flew past her, but Olive ignored it and crept her head back into the open. 

'They have to reload, right?!' 

Underneath the night sky saturated in stars of red, gold, and purple, a glint reflected in the distance. Between two trees, caught in the entanglement of brush, an arrow exploded into the night. 

'There!' 

Olive tucked her head behind the tree as an arrow passed and the moment it did so, Olive kicked off the ground and stormed through the forest. Every three seconds, another arrow was launched, but Olive paid adept attention. 

She weaved between the arrows and cut through the thicket. Seconds away from the amalgamation of leaves and sticks, Olive's instincts picked up on something she'd otherwise succumb to. 

A clenched fist the size of Olive's head, dark green and tattooed, burst from the brush and exploded towards Olive's gut. Olive's heel dug into the dirt. She leaned the entirety of her weight onto one side and spun around in tandem with the fist, moving with the punch rather than colliding with it. 

Contact was still met, however, and Olive's small frame slammed into the ground and tumbled across the forest floor. Olive clutched her ribs, they felt broken, but she didn't have time to relish in the pain. 

The moment Olive found her bearings and stood on two feet, an ogre of a creature charged her. 

Olive ducked underneath a right hook and slid between her attackers legs. She took advantage of her small frame and mobility and rushed towards the creature's back. 

Olive clawed her nails into the Orc's back and scurried up its torso. She tried to wrap her forearm underneath the Orc's neck… but her arm wasn't long enough! The Orc's neck was too thick for Olive to crush, and as she realized this, a green palm contorted her vision. 

The Orc tore Olive off its back with chunks of flesh following suit, caught in the space beneath Olive's nails. The sharp pain assaulted the Orc's nerves and in a berserk rage, the Orc hurled Olive into a nearby tree! 

Her back cracked against the trunk and the air was forcibly expunged from her lungs! Olive toppled to the ground breathless, but instead of despair seducing her, anger flushed through her being! 

Enraged, Olive dug her bloody nails into the ground and pried herself off the floor. She felt something in her back snap and she could see her stomach turning black, yet fear escaped her. She had almost forgotten the effects of her Trait |Fearless|, but in this moment especially, Olive noticed it. 

The Orc slammed its feet into the ground and bolted towards Olive. Thankfully, their vast difference in size allowed Olive the time to analyze her opponent's movements before they struck. 

Olive sidestepped one punch, narrowly ducked underneath another, and rammed her fist into the Orc's gut. Immediately though, Olive's nerves lit aflame! Her hand shook helplessly and slowly numbed alongside a feeling of electricity that shook her tendons. 

The Orc grabbed Olive's shoulders and held her against the ground. Unable to escape, Olive watched a knee get bigger and bigger until it slammed into her head. 

Olive lifted off the ground and flew backwards! 

Every piece of her burned in the fires of Hell. Her body was breaking, bones snapped and pierced her flesh — even her vision grew red as blood poured down her skull and over her eyes. 

'Holy shit I'm gonna FUCKING DIE!!!' Although Olive couldn't feel fear, she unfortunately wasn't stupid. 

She tried to get up, to lift herself off the ground, but her limbs no longer responded to her commands. She coughed up blood — a rib must have pierced a lung. Her breathing was wheezy and no matter how many times she spit up the red liquid, it continued to overflow into her esophagus. 

'Not like this…' 

Tears cleared the blood off her cheeks and Olive could finally see again, but when she opened her eyes, instead of the sky akin to a jewel box — she saw the tusked face of an Orc spread in perverted glee; a cheshire smile and black eyes drowned her world. 

Unable to move her body, Olive stirred her mana. She knew she couldn't summon Cain, she'd need his Circle already drawn, but desperation knows no such rule. 

The Orc wrapped his sausage fingers around Olive's skull. He lifted her off the ground and dangled her in the air. 

Near lifeless, Olive was a marionette frolicking in the forest. In the meantime, the pressure exerted unto her skull blurred her vision and devoured her senses. 

Mana was something that existed within her, however. A piece of her separate from the rest, entangled within her flesh while simultaneously stored elsewhere — even in total nothingness as her senses died off one at a time, Olive could still feel her mana. 

'Someone…' Olive cried. 

'Help me…' 

The Orc's grip tightened. 

Olive's consciousness waned. 

'FU…' 

Olive's thoughts slowed. 

'CK YOU!' 

In an instant, Olive's mana vanished. 

Then her skull cracked. 

Her blood washed over the Orc's hand and ran down its arm. It covered its chest and dripped onto the ground. 

Olive's blood gushed out of her until a current of it flowed down the Orc like water. 

Then suddenly, her blood suspended. It stopped flowing and froze on the Orc's body. Even the droplets of blood about to fall didn't. A moment later, Olive's blood began flowing in the opposite direction. 

The droplets were sucked back into the stream. 

The dribbles on the ground swam up the Orc's leg and reunited with the current. 

The blood in Olive's body began to move on its own. 

Autonomously, blood flowed through Olive. It delivered oxygen to and fro, collected nutrients from various organs, and expunged waste in the appropriate places. 

Before the final drop of blood returned to Olive, a spire of scarlet, as small as a toothpick, rose from the river of red. A droplet formed from the spire and within the orb of blood that now stood separate from the rest — an eyeball opened. 

Then, it blinked. 

///LostNoteFound///

Wowowowow!! A lot of stones today!!!

THANK YOU!! WalkingBush, DevilGod_of_Chaos, UnKnownEntity001, and Dayden_Brown!!

And special thanks to moofin — our first time stoner today (also they somehow managed to donate 6 stones in under 6 hours? I don't know how that's possible but hey! THANKS)