EPILOGUE; CHAPTER 11: Three Choices, Three parts To Take.

Back at the cave, we all split up into different tunnels. I ran into one alone and ended up getting chased by all three hounds. Lia, Don and Leon went down one tunnel together, leaving Trise and Kyle running down the third tunnel together.

Lia, Don and Leon ran and were able to lose the pursuers. The got away from them and found their selves in another part of the cave where they found a bunch of other kids captured and chained up.

There, they also ran into Kyle and Trise. Don insisted on freeing the captive children, Leon tried to advise him not to. He tried convincing him to return back to the village and report to the elders, but Don was stubborn and still insisted on freeing them.

They went into an argument, wasted time and were cornered by the men who happened to have another hound with them.

Don and the rest tried escaping, but couldn't and ended up getting captured by them.

Thanks to Don's sacrifice, Lia was able to escape and made it out of the chapel into the forest, but was still pursued by one of them men when she ran into me.

Over all, they were caught.

That was really unexpected and a lot to take in. Here I was, hoping they had made it back safely, but that was just wishful thinking, wasn't it?

"Oh, I see." Unsure of what to say, these were the only words which made it out of my mouth.

This all started out as some little kid's game, but developed into this.

"…We should go back to the village and report this…" I suggested.

That would be our best course of action right now after all.

"No! We can't!" Lia immediately turned down my suggestion.

"We can't do that!" She said.

"Why not?" I asked sounding a bit confused.

"W-we can't, cause if we do… th-they'll die." Lia said.

"Eh?" A confused voice leaked out of my lips.

Lia's words hit me hard. What does she mean they'll die? Well I get they're in some really troublesome situation, but what those she mean by that?

"What do you mean by that? What do you mean they'll die?" I asked growing anxious.

Lia balled her fingers into a tight fist. She was a bit hesitant, but mustered up enough will and said,

"Th-the ritual, they said it's today. There is no time! We have to save them!" More words of confusion. Sorrow filled tears came streaming down from her eyes

"What ritual? What do you mean?" unable to barely contain myself much longer, I asked and Lia explained.

Back at the cave when they were all captured, the cloaked man had said something about a mid-night ritual that'll happen under a full moon later this night.

And the captive kids, including Don and the rest would serve as sacrifices at the ritual.

Don and the rest were able to cause a distraction allowing Lia to get away hoping she would go back to the village and get the attention of the adults.

But Don isn't smart enough to think that. He probably just wanted at least one of them to make it out—wait, no, that's not the point!

This is all really exhausting. Things just seem to be getting worse by the minute. All thanks to one stupid dog.

Wait. Where's the dog? After everything, we still lost sight of it. Why does a dog have to so adventurous? Let's just hope It's with Don and the others.

Right now we have much more bigger problems than to attend to.

The best course of action would be to return home, but if what Lia said is true, we don't have enough time to do that. The ritual begins under a full moon which is tonight.

We have to save Don and the others before it's too late. The night sky just came in, so it's only a while before the moon is out. So we have till then.

And there's not enough time to go back and bring help. It'll at least take a few hours to do so, that's if we don't get attacked by monsters along the way. There's also that problem as well.

At most, we have about an hour. We're left with three choices right now;

He first choice is for the both of us to return home and get help.

The second choice is for one of us to return home and get help, while the other one goes ahead and tries to save Don and the rest.

The third choice is the hardest and yet the easiest of all three choices; to just forget about them and everything that had ever happened today.

We have to be logical and rational about this. There's no time and those are the only choices I can think of.

We have to slim down our choices.

Option one is out. It has already been established that we don't have enough time to spare to go back to the village. Don and the rest could be killed by then. There's also the case of getting mobbed by a monster.

Option two isn't recommended as well, but could work. The chances of running into a monster still stands as well as the chances of one of us getting captured along with the rest. It carries just as much risk as choice one.

Which leaves us with option three; forget about them and everything that ever happened today, which goes without saying; No way!

I might not know Don and the rest for more than a day, but that doesn't mean I'd leave them to die. Even if just for one day, we've been through a lot together.

We've overcome hardships and all shared near death experience together. There's no way I'm just going to leave them to die.

And besides, Lia has known them longer, I don't think she's going to go along with this stupid idea. I ever considering this as an option makes me an idiot, abandoning them, not in a million years.

So what then do we do? We don't have much time. Every second that we waste here brings them closer to their deaths.

Two of the options are too risky, while one of them is just too inhumane.

There have got to be another way, a safer way. This is so frustrating!

I grit my teeth in frustration. Splitting up isn't a good idea. It would be better if we stuck together and we don't have much time.

Wait, that's it. I've been thinking of a safer way to get through this, and that's why no idea has come to me.

Too risky, pfftt! Isn't life risky on its own? You can't always expect a safe and assured way out of most things, especially in a case like this.

Ok, I've decided.

"Lia, let's go save the others." I've always wanted to say that line—wait, not the time. Right.

"Your saying we should go save them ourselves?" Lia asked looking a bit confused.

"Yeah, and we don't have much time left. Let's go."

I'm already regretting this.