Losing Touch With Reality

"Hey, are you okay? We found you..laying on the ground." Ophelia stated, looking at the kid worriedly. She could've sworn she knew this person. But where had she met him?

The other members were looking at him the same way too..except for? Gerald?

Gerald was standing as far as he could from Kai. He looked away and didn't make eye contact. 

Why was he here?!

"You guys.." Kai murmured, shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness. He looked around to inspect the faces closer. "The ones who took down the spider." 

The three members made sounds of realisation when they had finally understood why the child looked so familiar.

Zane held out his hand shyly while he pulled down his black mask. "Kai, was it?" He asked.

Kai nodded and pushed himself up and flicked off all the dirt he had gathered from sitting down there. He looked up and found himself being given weird stares.

"So..what are you doing here?" Anne straight up asked, stepping in front.  This forest was nowhere suitable for a kid to be in.

"My uncle told me to wait outside. He said it was only going to take a while..but it has been hours." Kai started, looking at the ground. "I was tired so I took a nap. I didn't expect to find people here." 

"Is that so? Well, I think you should go back to your..village? It's better if you call back up too." Ophelia suggested.

The others agreed silently while some glanced at the border of the willow forest.

"But..I'm worried. I'll stay here until he comes back." Kai refused Ophelia's offer. He wished they would go away soon. He didn't have time to dilly dally like this.

"He's probably dead by now, just saying." Anne abruptly said, everyone looked at her and tried to shush her up. She was too insensitive for her own good.

Kai looked as if he was about to cry. "My uncle..dead? No way." 

"No! Anne is just..joking! He's perfectly safe and sound." Ophelia stepped onto Anne's feet with the heel of her shoes.

"Really?" Kai said, wiping his face. His eyes suddenly glimmered. "If you're going inside that forest! Can I come along too? I want to see my uncle!" He pointed in front of him. 

Ahead was a small river with rocks within. But even further were vines and leaves building up on the ground. And higher up were leaves that were big and fluffy as clouds.

They covered the whole sky and devoured the light. Leaving only a dark path ahead.

"You can't.." Zane murmured, getting anxious.

"I can't?" Kai bit his tongue and gulped. "Won't you guys protect me if anything dangerous happens?" He needed them. He wasn't going to go alone.

"Well! It's not like we can't.." Anne gave it a thought as she scratched her head. The boy was pretty useful in the last fight and he didn't seem too empty headed either. She wouldn't mind dragging him along, the problem was Ophelia.

Ophelia frowned. She wasn't sure whether the kid was aware but he was putting a lot of pressure on her despite his innocent words. And she knew he was a bit different. She could tell her previous encounter with him.

Hesitantly, Ophelia made up her mind while she gave Zane a small reassuring look. "Alright, but stay by our sides at all times. If you see danger, run. Okay?" 

Everyone let out a big gasp as they stared at Ophelia as if she had lost her mind from all the adventuring.

Gerald was the most shocked. He has remained silent all this time, thinking Ophelia had the rationality to send him back. But he had guessed wrong. He took a look at Kai who was busy wiping his crocodile tears. 

He knew he was forgiven. But for some reason he can't shake off this dangerous feeling he was getting. He was already nervous from planning to defeat the Inetflutrious Flare but now this..

Kai smiled and took out his tucked in shirt and hid the blade underneath it's fabric as he tied it tighter to his belt. 

Everyone started moving, heading towards the river. Zane stayed behind and walked side by side with Kai who seemed tense.

"We're going to eradicate a snake in that willow forest. Because of the requests..and the large payment sum. 50 thousand gold coins for the whole body of the snake were brought back. If we get it done..we can all live peacefully with the money." Zane said, getting lost in his thoughts. He hummed a low tune as he pulled up his mask.

"Is that so? But aren't you guys going to continue being adventurers?" Kai asked, looking at the ground. He could feel that the soil was uneven. He might stumble.

"For what?" Zane asked, confused.

Kai stopped and wondered why he asked that question. He furrowed his eyebrows but before he could give a response they reached the river.

"Careful." Zane reminded, stepping in front first on the first block of stones. It was wet and slippery. With one small misstep, someone could possibly fall. He jumped to the next block and put out his hand.

Kai shook his head and attempted to manage by himself. He kept looking forward and seeing Zane looking at him with a worried expression while offering a lending hand the whole time.

Once they reached the other side where the others were waiting. They all stopped and marveled at the willow forest. There were many entrances so to say.

But peeking inside, nothing could be seen at all. It was too dark. 

"Ophelia, fire." Gerald said, touching the branches of the tree to check for any jagged ages. He was the first one to step in and once he did, something changed.

A foul scent entered his noise like an invasion. His eyes didn't adjust to the darkness one bit, he turned around to look at his friends but it was a blur.

With just one step in, he lost a little touch with reality.