Act 8: Into the Forest

Continuing the last chapter - Mason steels his resolve and chased Cristina together into the forest when she was kidnapped when she ran away as they heard her scream for far away.

While diving in the forest, Madison noticed that there are people who are watching them from above the trees. Those people were wearing black robes and hoods as they pass by a tree, those people in the black robes were quickly disappearing.

The twins rushed quickly to save Cristina, but suddenly, a gunshot was heard from a distance. Mason noticed that the shot came from where the kidnappers took Cristina. So, they quickly run towards it to rescue Cristina in time.

While the twins were making a run through the thick forest, Mason's horse collapsed, tossing him away like a pebble. Madison stopped and helped Mason to stand up. Mason gets up on his feet quickly but feels a little dizzy because of the fall. He stood up and he saw the horse was killed by a poison arrow struck to its neck. He was shocked and became more aware of his surroundings.

Mason immediately told Madison, "Madison, watch your surroundings carefully! Someone shot an arrow to my horse. And I know there's poison in it that's why it stopped moving."

Madison replied, "Roger that, brother!"

The twins formed back-to-back position and guarding each other. And there, a shot was going straight for Madison, Mason quickly noticed and immediately slashed the arrow by his sword.

The second shot was fired, and this time, it is heading towards Mason, Madison immediately threw a small knife to the arrow avoiding hitting on Mason's back. Mason was astounded and said, "Whoa! Where did you get those knives?"

Madison replied, "Well, I thought I could by some of these before we left. Anyway, it's none of your business. Just focus yourself."

Mason nodded and said, "Roger that, sister!"

While the twins we're still on guard, Madison noticed that there's a sudden move behind a tree, she didn't hesitate to shoot it. When she shoots that tree, she missed the target and ran away, she quickly draws her knives and threw them to it.

But luckily, one of the knives hit the target's leg, making it unable to escape. Madison quickly called Mason to tie up the target and take it as a hostage to lure the enemies out.

As Mason tied up the hostage, Madison told her to check it to see if there are some weapons. Mason checked and searched for some but unfortunately, he grabbed something, he felt a sensation that he's never felt before, he squeezed it and suddenly the hostage moaned.

Madison heard this and immediately told Mason to let go because she realized that it was a girl. Mason was speechless as his face turned beet red.

Mason became flustered and asked, "A-a-are you a g-girl!?"

The hostage nodded and Mason was shocked as he lost consciousness for a while, and Madison unhoods the hostage. She was a beautiful girl and Madison noticed that the girl's ears were pointed, so she asked, "Are you by any chance, an elf?"

The girl answered, "Yes I'm an elf."

Madison replied, "I see, so what are the elves doing here?"

The girl answered, "Because we're searching for something that belongs to our clan."

Madison asked, "And what is it that supposed to be?"

The girl answered, "It's a sacred gem that was kept in our clan, it has the power to heal any kinds of diseases and wounds in just seconds."

Madison replied, "Hmm... A gem that heals wounds, huh? By any chance, is this the rumored jewel that whoever touches it heals it's wounds no matter how deep it is."

"I think so...", the girl said.

And so, Madison introduced Mason and herself, "Oh I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Madison, and this is my brother Mason, look, I apologize for Mason for grabbing your... you know."

The girl replied, "Huh? Oh, that's okay! I know that you're just doing it for safety but... if you're brother wants to touch it, I... I could've let him." As she smiled innocently.

Mason heard this and quickly rose up and excitingly said, "Really!!?? Y... you really let me!?"

The girl was shocked and nodded. Mason was so happy and excited, but unfortunately, he felt a dark aura brewing behind him, he slowly looked back, and saw Madison was staring at him with a murderous intent.

Mason panicked and immediately apologized to Madison. But Madison said, "Hmph! You like girls with big boobs huh!? No wonder why you liked that maid back in the mansion because she had those huge watermelons!"

Mason stuttered and replied, "W-what!? H-h-how can you say so!? It's not like I like girls with big boobs, you're just jealous or something because you don't have any huge watermelons."

Madison's face has gotten red and said, "Well, excuse me! Even if I have those, I will not let you touch them or feel them! Pervert!"

Mason replied, "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

As the twins were about to argue again, the girl interrupts them and said, "Um... Can you two please stop for a moment?" As she introduced herself, "My name is Casanova, my friends call me Cassie because it's too long to pronounce."

Mason replied, "Well, it's nice to meet you Cassie."

"Likewise." Cassie replied.

"So... Care to tell where are you hiding our friend?" Mason asked and said, "I don't know the reason why you took her though."

Cassie replied, "Oh, right. We didn't kidnap her... We just took her away from this forest because it was manifested by witches and ghouls."

"Ghouls, you say?" Mason said.

Madison replied and asked, "Say, Ghouls are beings that feeds on human corpses, right?"

Cassie answered, "Yes, and not just only human corpses, but the living also. There are rumors here that ghouls always attack adventurers and passers every time night falls. There were some remains of the victims here somewhere and they said that the ghoul's nest lies in the center of this forest."

"Is that so?" Mason replied. "Looks exciting to me. First the witches and then ghouls, how pretty exciting!"

Madison told him, "Mason, now it's not the time to be excited about it. We need to device, a plan or something to infiltrate its nest but first we need a place to stay before night falls, I don't want to get caught up in a mess in the dark."

"You're right Madison, hey Cassie, your friends took our friend to your clan, right?" Mason asked.

Cassie answered, "Yes, they are probably."

Mason replied, "Then take us to your village. I'm sure it nearby, it's just my assumption though."

"Oh, okay. Then follow me." Cassie said.

And so, the twins agreed together to trust Cassie even for a while and untied her in the process. The three traveled together towards the Elven Village of Siberius.