2 Roger's Coming

Fourteen-year-old Chang'e is… slightly lost. Just slightly. She wasn't even sure how she came to be in the middle of a desert.

'I should have thought of a plan before leaving the capital,' she groaned, mentally berating herself for her short sightedness.

Chang'e had alternated between walking and flying for days with Carrots and her Crescent Moon as her only two companions. It was awfully boring to hold a conversation with herself, and she was getting weary from the long journey with the Land of Dawn's sun belting waves of heat onto her back, making it stifling for her to remain in her dress. Carrots had even taken to rolling himself on the sand in an attempt to cool down but the sand was no help.

Without realising, she had come to the edge of a forest. A gut feeling — bunny instincts? — told her that something important lay within the forest.

Chang'e exhaled softly. "Well, Carrots? Should we go into this forest?" she stroked Carrots' ears affectionately. Carrots immediately nuzzled into her hand, his soft white furs tickling Chang'e.

"I'll take that as a yes. We probably can't get anymore lost."

With that, the duo floated into the forest.

"You know, Carrots, I'm a bit confused," Chang'e began, "are forests and deserts supposed to be beside each other?" she mused, thin eyebrows furrowed in thought.

Carrots flicked his ears up and sideways.

"I guess you don't know either, huh?"

As they continued to wander the forest aimlessly, the sunlight that had previously lit up the forest through the gaps in the trees began to fade away, turning the forest darker.

Chang'e stilled to a stop when she realised that she could barely see three feet in front of her. The sound of birds chirping had completely stopped. The forest was still and silent. It was as if time had stopped for everyone except her. And Carrots, of course.

She didn't like this. At all. She hated being in the dark, not knowing if something was lurking somewhere; not knowing if something was going to attack her.

How did she not realise that she was going deeper into the forest, where even sunlight may not reach? What even was the time? She couldn't have been in the forest for that long, right?

"C-carrots, what do we do now?" Chang'e whispered, her fingers trembling as she ran them through Carrots' fur.

A howl shattered the deafening silence in the forest. Chang'e gasped. "Carrots! There's a werewolf in the forest!"

She needed to run. She needed to get away from the werewolf. She needed to get out of this forest. Coming in here was a mistake.

Chang'e channeled her mana into the Crescent Moon and activated her skill 'Crescent Moon' to speed up her movement speed. Holding onto Carrots tightly, she flew as fast as she could, the wind whipping her hair in her face from her speed.

The full moon shone ominously, the moonlight providing meagre light for her to see. Chang'e zigzagged through the forest, hoping to find the exit to the forest before the werewolf finds them.

A low guttural snarl was all her warning before a large creature pounced onto her, its golden claws ripping the sleeves of her dress but thankfully not her flesh. The shield bestowed upon her by the Crescent Moon helped deter most of the werewolf's attack, but the werewolf was strong. In that one strike, her shield was broken. Quickly generating another shield, she continued to put as much distance between them as possible.

A layer of stardust covered her hands and meteors shot out towards the werewolf, pelting it and dealing damage to it. However, that only made the wolf angrier. Its red and bloodthirsty eyes gleamed in the dark, with Chang'e and Carrots' frightened figures reflected in its eyes.

Chang'e hiccuped in fear at the werewolf's gleaming gold claw gauntlets. Carrots burrowed deeper into her arms, little body trembling with fear. This snapped Chang'e out of her fear. She shot as many skills at the werewolf as possible, slowing it down and injuring it as much as possible.

But the werewolf was stronger. In a matter of seconds, it caught up to her. Fear and adrenaline pushed her to fly faster, but her mana was running dangerously low and she only had enough to generate one shield. The werewolf probably knew this too, as it opted to stalk towards her instead of leaping at her.

"I'm sorry, big brother," Chang'e sobbed.

"DODGE!"

A flash blue lit up the forest floor. The new voice belonged to a boy with cat-like ears and tail. He wore a ferocious expression on his face as he kicked the werewolf across the face before flipping and landing on the ground.

He flickered about the glowing blue cross on the grass, attacking the werewolf with magic and phantoms of himself. The werewolf let out an enraged howl and tried to leap forward and swipe at the boy, but the cross at its feet slowed him down considerably, allowing the boy to dodge to the side, away from the claws.

The agile boy with feline features turned towards Chang'e and grabbed her hand. He dashed forward, bringing Chang'e along with his skill.

"We need to get as far away from the werewolf as possible. My dash has a cool down so just keeping running — err, flying — but I'll grab you so we can dash forward and cover more distance when the cool down ends," he says.

Chang'e bit her lips and nodded. Together, they sprinted away from the werewolf, with occasional bursts of blue and stardust lighting up the dark forest.

At one point, Chang'e glanced back behind her, only to see gleaming red eyes and fangs, and she shrieked. "Quick, run! Roger's coming!"

Harith cursed and slammed a hand down, creating the multi-dimensional rift again, effectively slowing the werewolf down. They took advantage of his reduced speed to dart away, running towards the now visible opening between the trees.

The exit.

With one last dash, they were out at last from that nightmare of a forest.

The two continued to run until they were well away from the forest. Only then did they slow to a stop. The white-haired boy fell onto his back on the sand, his breathing haggard, and placed a hand on his forehead.

"Thank you for saving me!" Chang'e blurted out. She hugged Carrots close to her body for reassurance. They were alive! Chang'e had never felt more relieved.

The boy raised his hand up, cutting her off just as she began to speak. There was a pause as Chang'e waited patiently for the boy to catch his breath.

"I'm Harith. Who are you?"

"Who am I? My name is Chang'e, the Moon Palace Immortal," Chang'e introduced herself with a smile. She dipped into a small curtsey, which Harith did not return.

"The what?" Harith blinked in confusion. He waved Chang'e off as she opened her mouth to speak, interrupting her yet again. "Nevermind, I don't really want to know. Let's just head towards the nearest town. You look like you're in need of a shower desperately."

"Both of us do, actually," he amended.

Chang'e gaped at his audacity to interrupt her. He didn't even return her curtsey! Had he no manners? She fumed silently as she floated to follow him.

"Hey, Chang'e right?" Harith glances at Chang'e with a small grin. "Tell me about yourself. We're in for a pretty long walk so let's trade stories. I'll go first."

The two chatted amiably as they headed towards the nearest village. Well, Harith led the way while Chang'e followed.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.