1 Into The Woods

Tabitha held a branch in front of her and kept using the branch to pat the ground or sweep away the vines that blocked her way. Tabitha had dropped into this place for almost 2 days. Both of her denim coat and black tights were filled with hayseed and dirt. Her coat even had a few holes in it.

She had already lost her purse in the woods. All of her stuff, which included her money, cell phone, and ID, was gone with her purse. She was not really sure what happened to her. The only thing that she could remember was that she was walking in a strange alley and plastered. Once she stepped into a cesspool, she just lost consciousness completely. After she woke up, she found herself in this weird forest.

Tabitha forced herself to keep awake when she realized she was not in the city anymore. Now, the sky was getting darker and darker. It seemed impossible for her to find a safe area to have a rest. Tabitha took a deep breath and felt really depressed. She had just graduated from college and after 3 months of hard work, she finally became one of the official designers in the studio. She had no experience in field survival. She believed that if she just chose a random place to sleep, she would be eaten by some rare beasts and she would not even wake up before she became a pile of bones.

Tabitha put all her weight on the branch she held. She was way too sleepy to keep walking. Just then, she heard her stomach's growl. Tabitha looked around but she could not recognize any of the plants here. The girl sighed again. Her last dinner was taken before she appeared in this place. For the first time, she regretted dieting. If she had eaten more food before, she might remain alive for a little bit longer.

"Crack!"

She was taken aback by the sudden sound. Something approached. Tabitha felt her body tightened. She pulled out the spiked stone in her pocket stealthily. She had scuffed the corner of the stone before. Although it could not use as a sharpening knife, it gave her a sense of safety. At this time, she only hoped that it was not a snake or a beast like a tiger...

"Hey! It's you!"

The gleam alit Tabitha's vision. A girlish voice called out to her. She traced the sound and saw a little girl standing in front of her. Yes, a girl. Not a beast or a monster, it was a girl about fifteen.

The girl was in a beautiful white dress, with her blond hair in a ponytail, she looked like a Disney princess. Tabitha stared at the girl's green eyes. It was hard to tell which one was more frightening, a monster or a girl that just appeared in front of her in a dark forest like this.

Tabitha's nerves were not relieved by the fact that she found the newcomer a "fellow".

"Who are you? Do you know me?" Tabitha raised her tone slightly, trying to rebuff the fear she could not hide.

"Well, I don't really know you, but I did see you appearing in the mission area with us." The girl answered breezily, but it didn't make Tabitha relax at all.

"What do you mean mission area?? Do you know where this is?"

"Well, if I have to explain, this is just one of the spaces in Rubik World. As for you, since you appeared in the mission area with us, I'm pretty sure that you are our new member now."

Rubik World? New member? ? Am I still dreaming in my bed?

"Wait...wait a minute, I can't understand anything you just said According to your words, it's more than us two in this forest? And I'm one of your team? Is that right? But I didn't see you guys when I woke up!"

"Umm, you can't blame that on us. You were totally drunk. We needed to find the clue for the Eugenie. It was impossible to bring an unconscious person with us. It was our fault leaving you alone but we'd conjured prohibition magic around you. However, after we returned, you were already gone." The girl shook her head, seemingly unwilling to see the things end like this.

Tabitha listened with dubious suspicions. In fact, she did see a few patterns around her when she woke up. If those were the prohibition magic that the girl said, she might have been telling her the truth. After a moment's silence, Tabitha carried on speaking: "So can you tell me why am I here, and what Rubik World is?"

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

As Tabitha held the compact biscuits which she received from the girl that called herself Fay, she realized how much food could bring her happiness as it slowly filled her stomach.

"Here, you need to have some water. If I found you earlier, I would still have some chocolates in my pocket. You are really out of luck."

Tabitha took the kettle from Fay. After taking a big mouthful, she finally felt alive again. Bad luck? She thought so. According to Fay, she had suddenly dropped into this so-called world of magic from her garden after finishing her afternoon tea and was walking in the garden. Tabitha sighed wistfully. People had never encountered a newcomer such as her. She was so unconscious that her team didn't know what to do when they saw her.

Tabitha glanced at Fay. The girl was around 7 or 8 years younger than her. With a magic wand that Tabitha had only seen in movies, Fay cleared a path through the forest seemingly effortlessly.

According to Fay, people who came to this world could choose an own ability once they survived the first task. The world would screen a few abilities that suited them based on their own qualities, and let them choose the ability they wanted.

Abilities... Sounds like the opening of a magic girl comic... For a girl like Tabitha who had been living in a civilized world forever, it was not that easy for her to believe a random girl's words so quickly.

"Shhh..."

Fay, who had been walking in front of her, stopped suddenly and put a finger to her lips to gesture for Tabitha to stop. The flicker at the top of the wand dimmed. Tabitha felt herself like a fish that was trapped in the darkness. Every fiber of her being tightened again.

"Boom Boom Boom..."

The ground trembled, as the sound of buildings collapsing lingered close to them. Tabitha's face became pale momentarily, "What is this..." She hadn't seen such a situation in the last two days in the woods. The shaking was increasing in intensity, like an earthquake.

"Catch this!" Fay pulled out a twenty-three-meter-long hemp rope and threw it at Tabitha. "Fasten yourself tight to a tree! It has pretty poor vision. Stay quiet and hold on so that it won't find you!"

Once Fay's finished her words, a figure as high as a skyscraper appeared in Tabitha's vision. Fay held up her wand and murmured some strange incantations. The dark clouds scud past overhead, and a thunderstorm began beating down on the behemoth!

The tumultuous lightning lit the body of the figure. The huge body was radiating with a bronze gleam. Tabitha had even seen a few baroque patterns on the top of its body. With another lightning striking its head, the monster began to howl. The giant's two eyes flashed a fierce scarlet light. Right at the moment, the monster had risen its arms and hammered down like a meganthropus!