3 3: A Second Chance

Ugh, my head hurts. But wait, if I can feel my head hurting, that must mean I'm still alive!

I open my eyes and notice that I'm in a really strange cave filled with purple light. I look down at my body and observe that I'm wearing a white shirt and shorts with shoes that are brown. I also look on my right forearm and I see that I have a triangle-shaped tattoo. I don't remember ever getting this!

"Where am I? This definitely doesn't feel like home." I say, as I got up and start looking for a way out of the cave.

Suddenly a stampede of weird green fox-like creatures runs past my feet. Then strange-looking purple birds with red eyes fly above me. I've never seen animals like this before, am I having a bad dream or something?

"Woah, what the? What are you guys running from?" I ask as I keep looking for a way out of the cave.

As I continue to walk I see something that I couldn't possibly ignore. Three kids that look to be about my age are knocked out on the ground and they're wearing the same clothing as me. There is one boy and two girls.

The boy has short light brown hair, built like an ox, and looks to be about 5'11. One of the girls has short jet black hair, very petite, and looks to be about 5'2. The other girl has red-dyed hair, a voluptuous body, and looks to be about 5'5.

"Hey, wake up! Are you guys okay?" I ask as I shake all of them.

"Oww, what the hell happened? I was finishing up the job then…. " The boy says as he holds his head in pain.

"How am I still alive? Is this supposed to be the afterlife?" The red-haired girl says, her face full of confusion.

"It can't be! All of the burns are gone!" The black-haired girl says as she starts examining her arms.

"Do any of you remember how you got here?" I ask as everyone got on their feet.

"Not really, but I have to figure out what's going on! My little brother is probably worried about me!" The boy says, his voice full of panic.

"I don't remember how I got here either. The last thing I remember was that I was trying to escape my house because it was on fire." The black-haired girl says.

"Nada, I can barely remember anything!" The red-haired girl replies as she stretches her arms out.

As she stretches her arms I notice that she also has a weird triangle-shaped tattoo on her right arm.

"Hey, that tattoo looks just like mine!" I say as I show her mine.

"That's weird… I planned to get a tattoo eventually, but nothing as lame as this one." The red-haired girl says as she's clearly disappointed.

"Wait, you guys too?" The boy says as he shows his.

"Yep, I have one as well." The black-haired girl says as she shows hers.

We all sit in silence, as it is very clear that something weird is going on.

"We need to find some answers! There are way too many coincidences, our tattoos, our clothes, the fact that all of us were sleeping in this cave. I think I see a little bit of light ahead of us. Let's go!" The boy says, his voice filled with frustration.

"Amen to that! I hate staying still for too long! I needa get back to my dog so we can eat dinner, I'm starving." I say, as my stomach starts growling.

"I hope my family is okay." The black-haired girl says, her eyes full of worry.

"Hey before we go, what are your names?" The red-haired girl asks.

"The name's Crow. Delivery boy by day, dog dad at night!" I say.

"I'm Jack! My life isn't too flashy, but I work hard to make sure my brother is good." Jack says, his voice full of pride.

"My name is Sachi. I guess you could say I'm an athlete… Uhhh, it's a pleasure to meet you all!" Sachi says nervously.

"Mariella! But you all can just call me Mari! I'm an artist, show me anything and I guarantee you I can draw it!" Mari says cheerfully.

"I think it's best if we all stick together for now." Jack says as everyone nods their heads in agreement.

We walk for a whole hour before we finally reach an opening in the cave. As we walk outside for the first time we see a dark forest with purples trees.

"This place is really weird. I've never seen anything like it!" Jack says as he examines our surroundings.

"Huh? Why is the sky purple?" Mari says as she points at the sky.

As we all look up we see a dark purple sky with what looks like a green sun.

"Okay, none of us are on drugs, right?" I ask.

"Nah, not today! I didn't have time to." Mari says nonchalantly.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, but no I think this is definitely real." Jack replies.

"But if that's the case, then what's going on? Did our planet get attacked by aliens or something?" I ask.

"It's too hard to tell, so far all of this definitely feels alien to me!" Jack says as we start walking towards the forest.

"Wow, even the plants here are really weird. I don't recognize any of these flowers." Sachi says as she kneeled towards the ground examining the plants.

Suddenly, one of the flowers grows 10 feet in size and its branches grab Sachi!

"AHH! Help me!" Sachi says as the branches start to suffocate her.

"Hold on I'm coming!" Jack says as he runs towards her with no hesitation.

I feel like I'm stuck in a neverending fever dream.

"Come on let's try to pull her out!" I say as we all try to pull her away from the aggressive flower.

"Guys, do you have anything we can cut with? I'm an expert with this type of stuff!" Jack asks.

"I'm sorry, my pockets are empty!" Mari replies.

I check my back pocket and I can feel my old switchblade.

"Here, take it!" I say as I throw my knife to Jack.

"It's a little small, but it should work! Take this!" Jack says, as he grabs my knife and swings it with a huge amount of force.

With four swings of my switchblade, Jack is able to cut Sachi loose and the flower starts to wither.

"Are you okay?" Jack asks as he helps Sachi up.

"I'm fine… Thank you all for saving me. I owe you guys big time." Sachi says as it's obvious she's really grateful.

"Don't mention it! If anything that was kind of fun for me!" Jack says as he smiles.

"Damn, you cut that thing like it was nothing." I say.

"I guess I forgot to mention, I'm a lumberjack. It was honestly the easiest way for me to make a living since my father instilled it in me." Jack says proudly.

"Mmmm, the way you swung that was so hot… " Mari says sensually.

"What? Cut it out, you weirdo!" Jack replies, his face full of embarrassment as Sachi and I laugh.

"We better get out of this forest. If that's how the flowers are here, I hate to imagine what the wildlife is like." I say.

"I'll never look at flowers the same… " Sachi says, as she stomped on the dead flower.

We continue to cautiously walk through the forest for hours as it almost feels endless.

"Didn't we pass by here earlier?" Mari asks.

"Nah, that's impossible. We've been walking straight this whole time!" Jack says.

"Mari might be on to something. It does kind of feel like we've been walking in circles. Give me a sec, let me check something!" I say, as I look for the tree I marked with my switchblade.

Sure enough, I find it and I even see the dead flower that Sachi stepped on earlier.

"Just as I thought… Somethings wrong guys!" I say, as all of a sudden, we hear heavy footsteps in the forest.

"Jack is that you?" Mari asks.

"No, you idiot! My feet aren't that heavy!" Jack says angrily.

"Guys! What is that thing?" Sachi says as she points ahead of us.

A giant 12-foot cyclops like the ones I used to read about is walking slowly towards us and it doesn't look like he's here to make friends.

"Wow, I haven't seen creatures like you before! Yet you all smell like Scavs, Mardians, Windians, and Bracadiers! Very strange indeed! I'm sorry to say, but I'm starving quite a bit! You guys don't mind if you're on the menu do you?" The cyclops says as it looks at us like we're little bugs.

"RUN!" I say as all four of us book it across the forest.

"It must've been doing something to keep us trapped here!" Jack says as the cyclops starts running after us.

"Crap, I haven't worked out in years!" Sachi yells, her voice full of fear.

"You think we can stop it?" Mari asks, as looks back.

"Are you nuts? That thing is twice our size! We'd be lucky if we could get a hit on it!" Jack says as he starts breathing hard.

The cyclops starts running really fast as it's starting to gain on us!

"Enough of this! Try running away from this!" The cyclops says as it swings a giant club at all of the trees in front of us.

"Everyone hit the deck!" I command, as we all duck below his swing.

"Nice call out Crow! That could've been bad!" Jack says, his voice full of relief.

"We have a bigger problem!" Sachi says as all of the fallen trees are blocking us from running any further.

"Uh oh! This isn't good!" Mari says, she slowly gets up.

"Wait, Crow! Your foot!" Jack yells as I notice that my left foot is stuck under the tree.

"I can't move it!" I say as I struggle to move my foot out of it.

"Come on guys, let's try to pull it up!" Mari says as all three of them run towards me.

They all try really hard to lift it, but none of them have enough strength!

"Just try to find a way out of here! Don't worry about me!" I say as the cyclops is getting way too close for comfort.

"No! I said we should stick together and I meant that!" Jack says as he keeps trying to pull the tree up.

"It won't budge!" Sachi yelled.

"Just move!" Mari yelled.

"Hehe! Perfect I got you all where I want you! Enjoy the next life!" The Cyclops says as he swings a club at all of us.

Out of nowhere, his whole hand gets cut off!

"Huh?" The cyclops says.

A slender figure in a dark hood is right below him running at blinding speeds.

"Sorry, but these half-bloods are coming with me!" The person in the hood says as it sounds like they have a feminine voice.

"You little Scav!" The cyclops says angrily, as it attempts to swipe at her.

The girl in the hood dodges his desperate attack with ease and starts running up his shoulder.

"Get off of me you dirty Scav!" The Cyclops says as it tries to shake her off of him.

"Say your prayers ugly, a dirty Scav will be the last thing you lay that disgusting eye on!" The girl says as she manages to stay on his shoulder flipping and dodging.

She runs to the top of this shoulder and jumps over 20 feet above him. A really dark aura starts to engulf her whole body as she also pulls out a short sword. She descends towards him as it's clear she's going for a big attack.

"Your head is mine! Scavian Art: Dark Blade Slash!" The girl in the hood says as she shoots a circular dark aura blast at the cyclops.

"NOOOO!" The cyclops yells, as his head is cut clean off.

The girl in the hood falls safely onto his corpse and takes her hood off. She's a dark elf, just like the ones I used to read about in my favorite stories. Her skin is grey, her hair is white, her eyes are red, and she's about 5'6. \

"So, you're the half-bloods that Adora summoned? I'd prepare yourselves, you're coming with me." She says as she smirked.