The Forest of Dreams

" Did you keep your eyes open?" I asked

"Yeah." She said sheepishly

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"Damn it, now all of our plans are useless!" Anabelle punched a tree and it didn't budge, or even tremble, the leaves merely swayed in tune to a mysterious breeze that seemed to be taunting her. That obviously didn't make her attitude better.

Viola meekly spoke up, trying to calm Anabelle. "Well, we can still do what we initially planned. We don't know how big this place is but we can still try to get a crest or two, and with the cover of the trees we can hide ourselves, building a more effective fortress."

Anabelle grunted in irritation, but to my surprise that actually seemed to make her little mood a little better.

" We need to hurry though, Since we can better defend, others can too. This is definitely going to be difficult if we aren't fast enough." Korona pointed out

" Then, lets move." I say. Using my claws I l climb up one of the willows and try find a good direction to start traveling. Problem is that they aren't the easiest to see through regardless I thought I saw something move, apart from the normal sway of the trees.

" This way." I say and start making my way in the direction I saw suspicious movement.

"Slow down Alice." I heard Viola say and I noticed they were having a hard time working around the roots and trees. It made me snicker and briefly reminisce about when you had first arrived to New Home. It made you feel a little homesick. Odd, I don't even remember when it started to feel like home.

Slowing down for the others I made a conscious effort to ensure that I didn't leave them behind. I kept an eye out for any possible sneak attacks and anything else that could possibly warrant attention.

As I made it to then past the unusual movement I saw earlier I started to raise my guard even more. I wasn't sure if it was nerves or not, but I had a feeling we were approaching something. It was soon revealed I stumbled upon an empty clearing. I began to feel tense. I scanned around and to my surprise I found a team, decently skillfully hiding amongst the trees. Retreating slightly I relayed what I found to the others.

Undoing my stealth skills and makeshift Invisibility, I startled the others on my team. " Alice where did you come from?" Viola asked Holding her chest as she started breathing heavy from the shock of me popping up behind her. I held a serious expression that also served to unsettle them. I typically have an impassive, tired, or slightly amused expression, possibly angry, but never serious.

" There is a team up ahead, all four of them are amongst the trees surrounding a coming clearing. Three of them I don't recognize but I do know that Emmy is one of them. We need to be cautious. Her range is limited in here and considering we all can fight in confined spaces we have the upper hand. The others don't seem overly assuming, they only have one magic user, Just keep moving forward and stay vigilant." I gave the others a vicious smile and disappeared. "I'll force them out of hiding." My voice echoed into a faint whisper.

" Is it just me or did Alice just become scary?" Viola asked worried

" Nope, I saw it too." Korona agreed slightly worried.

Anabelle just grit here teeth, probably thinking about the fact she still couldn't see me coming, or the true extent of my hiding abilities. Not that I really care. She may be strong but if I were to go all out she wouldn't stand a chance.

" Now time for some more fun~" I whispered to myself. I love myself a game of hide and seek.

Running through the trees I try to find the four from earlier. They hadn't moved much however, I could tell they were just now getting distracted, since their gazes were on the other three. I could tell they were more alert than they were before, but that just makes the game more fun. Using the nearby trees as a blanket I conjure up some sunfire and compress it into a small brick the size of a small coin. The moment I release the coin of fire I had limited time to work, to ensure that my plan would go smoothly, so I needed to be fast enough to be able to shake up the whole team.

My first target was a girl near the entrance of the clearing. Her job was most likely to flank them from behind and close of their escape. She is a small girl with short brown hair and has a bow and a short sword, and was crouching on a branch of a willow tree almost completely shrouded by the cascading blue vines. Like a ghost I appeared behind her, placing my present beneath her a short way down the tree, to keep her out of fatal range, but still give her a real good spook and disorient her. A small breeze caused the girl to shiver and she turned to look behind herself, but I was gone with the wind, any evidence I had even been there had vanished.

The next was in a similar boat. This time it was a boy. He was in a tree too and had a spear that he was ready to throw. His position was a direct mirror to the girl from before and they looked a bit like siblings. I had decided to have more fun with this one, so despite the same set-up and execution as the girl, before I left completely I had whispered something into his ear. " You should run." In a childish, yet threatening voice. I could see him shiver, but His eyes immediately snapped back to Viola, Korona, and Anabelle since they were getting dangerously close to him, and he couldn't risk being seen.

From the way he reacted I got a good little giggle but I didn't have time to keep this up. I needed to hurry. It was only a matter of time until Emmy caught on to what was going on, and my stunt with the guy will probably speed up that realization.

Arriving at my final victim before I will try to tackle Emmy, I notice he seemed to be a magic user considering the fact he had a wand. I hadn't seen something like this before, a wand I mean, it was a rod with a green gem in the tip, but I didn't think they were a thing in this world. I was reaching my time limit so I couldn't worry about such trivial matters. I came and passed in a blur, none being the wiser.

Finally I came to Emmy. I figured she would be the only one to be able to react to this since she has had to deal with this before, so I decide to go all in. Looking past Emmy I saw that my group had almost made it to the center of the clearing in perfect time. A smile made its way into my face as I propelled myself off my perch where I was stalking my prey, and bolted forward. Emmy's face met mine at point black range and I could see a lightbulb go off in her head. She tried to react, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Boom!" I said with a playful grin and Emmy's eyes widened. As my hand touched Emmy's chest. I made sure this one wasn't as powerful as the others to ensure no lasting harm to Emmy. The worst she should have is some small burns and a hole in the stomach of her blouse.

~BOOM~

~BOOM~

~BOOM~

~BOOM~

In tune with my verbal que, I had blasted Emmy off the tree and a chine started disorienting the others. I jumped down in pursuit of Emmy as my group in the center jumped at the abrupt noises. Once their opponents had been revealed they made fast moves to apprehend them. Korona took the Boy warrior, while Viola took the girl. Anabelle incapacitated the mage, and I fought Emmy.

" I got the Crest." Viola called out.

We had gotten what we had come for, so I give Emmy a guilty smile " Sorry." I say and run off with the others. As spontaneously as we had appeared we had departed. Emmy couldn't do anything but stare at the forest I had disappeared into shaking her head, as her team was currently not in any condition to pursue us. A small smile adorned her face as we were retreating deeper into the forest.

Once we hade made some distance and I could tell we were going to be safe, I had us slow down and rest a bit.

" Some warning would have been nice." Viola complained

" Agreed." Korona seconded.

" Sorry, I realize I should have planned out more, but I didn't want them getting away. Thankfully you all are great on the uptake, Nice work." I praised. This seemed to diffuse most of the irritation, in the group.

" Lets see that Crest." I said with some excitement. I found these gems rather pretty. Viola pulled out the blue gem that they had picked up. Looking at the gem it was a light blue color, but something felt wrong. Then the gem burst into light and I realized that Emmy must have made a decoy, which is why she didn't try to chase after us. This was a smart move.

Silence fell over the group as we had already lost Emmy's group and it was too late to turn back and try again.

"That was a good idea. We should probably do something similar too." I suggested and the others nodded in agreement.

"How should we do it though?" Viola asked

" I can make one." Korona said. She closed her eyes and a small fireball sparked to life. The orb was then compressed and crystalized into a brilliant glowing gem roughly the same size as ours. Korona's eyebrows furrowed as slowly the glowing luster from the fire dimmed and a crest was engraved into the surface. It made a pretty convincing fake.

I use some Moonlight magic to do something similar and keep it on me. Something told me that It would come in handy later. I rigged this one to work kind of like a smoke bomb. If the outer shell is cracked or de-summoned a sleeping gas should come out. I love how versatile magic is. I clued back into the conversation that I had zoned out of for a moment.

" We should probably keep going, if we ran into people this early then the arena may not be all that big. We also don't know what kind of monsters are wandering around here." Anabelle said and we all got up to start moving, when I felt something staring at me. I scanned my surroundings for anything but all I saw were trees and vines. there was plenty of shrubbery for smaller creatures to hide within, but I didn't notice any unusual shaking or sounds.

" Alice are you coming?" Viola called out and I turned to see the others already some distance in front of me.

" Coming!" I yelled rather dramatically, and took a few steps attempting to appear that I was following them, blissfully unaware. Turning abruptly I scan to see if I had fooled whatever it was watching us I saw nothing however ... 'The trees moved.' I thought in terror. Anabelle had already slugged one of those things pretty good, and it did nothing. Though I may not lie her very much, I cannot lie she is strong. Not to mention My firebombs had done nothing to the trees themselves. This was bad. Very bad. I could only hope that the royal scientist knew about them.

Pushing the matter to the back of my mind we continue along carefully. I was in the front to ensure there was not anything in front of us and that our path was safe and free from traps, while the others traveled in a V shaped formation. Viola and Korona stayed in the middle as Anabelle took the back, ensuring in the event of a sneak attack our more frail members could react.

This forest was far more dangerous than the Announcer had let anyone know. The trees moved and the flora breathed. The forest must have know that I had figured it out, or perhaps it was because I knew I could see, but the willows swayed in a lifelike manner, while, the roots shifted and squirmed, the plant would move, but I couldn't tell if they were malicious or not. As far as I could see there wasn't anything unusual.

Continuing along I felt the surroundings get slightly odd. The trees seemed to bend slightly. and while it was hardly noticeable, it still caught my attention since I was trying my hardest to spot traps. Approaching closer I walked through a veil of sorts and I was surprised to find a fortress of vines, and flaming rocks. Vines created a base for the structure and the outer walls were fortified with rock adorning Veins of molten lava. It looked a bit like a castle fort. I noticed an archer on one of the vines keeping a look out. I recognized the archer. While I didn't know his name, I remember his face. He had brown hair that was cut short and he had a blue eye. Yes singular, the other didn't exist. It was just smooth skin. I couldn't tell if it was like a cyclops thing or if his character didn't load properly and the textures just disappeared. That was what it looked like. On one side a normal eye, then the other, slendermans' darker, chocolate skinned cousin. He definitely left an impression.

The point is I remember his teammates too. Luxen was one, and the others were pointed out to be, Aron and Hopper. They were definitely not a group we wanted to cross, especially considering those vines seemed to be of the same kind as the rest of the forest.

I fell back but I caught a glint in the Archers eye before I had vanished completely. He couldn't tell who I was, but he did know something was there. Damn he is perceptive.

Falling back to the group I report what I had seen to the others and we begin to formulate a plan of action.

" I think it would be better if we just ignore them." I state. Luxen was my biggest issue. If he lost it against his sister, I'm not sure that would go over for anyone. Then again I doubt she is dumb enough to provoke him again.

" That is true but we don't know how long we have nor do we know how big this place is. It took a while after he last group to find them. We may not have many more chances." Korona points out.

" I agree, besides if I charge them now before they have time to fully plan everything out, then we have a chance of ruining their fortification. If they don't have their crest they have to chase us, and that would give us a permanent advantage." Anabelle seconded Korona.

" Yes, but we would be exhausting ourselves early and we could lose everything if we get caught off guard afterwards, much less that chance we fail." I counter. " If we are dead after this fight, then their is no protecting ourselves from other attackers.

" Why don't we try to make an alliance?" Viola asked silencing us all. Our gazes were drawn to her, and her idea. We weren't getting anywhere arguing, time to rely on the mediator.

"W-well Anabelle said something about alliances before, and if they are as set up as you say we could go out and find crests and use them as a headquarters to fall back to in the event we are wasting too much energy." Viola was as unsure as ever but she had a point if we were to work together we may be better off altogether.

" Thats actually not a bad idea." Korona said. " Not only that but if we plan it right we could bait people into a perfect ambush with all of us. For both endurance and protective battle they sound like perfect allies. However, That would involve us getting along with Luxen." Korona looked over to Anabelle in concern.

" You people are annoying you know. I'm not an idiot, if it is for the success of this stupid competition I will get along with him. I can't let my own pettiness tarnish the pride of the royal family, any more than it already has. I'll play nice if I have to, but not a second more." Anabelle said with a huff, showing her displeasure and childish maturity.

"Keep this up and people may mistake you for a nice person." I cackle, and Anabelle's face practically screamed 'try me'.

We travel along the same path I crossed to get to the barrier. Weaving through trees I reached the edge of the barrier. "We're here." I say but the others look at me with some slight speculation. I failed to mention the veil to them and they were looking at me like you would a kid who was telling you all about the imaginary friend they have. Not quite sure if you should act like you believe it and go along, for their sake, but then again you know they're crazy. Well that was what Viola and Korona looked like. Anabelle just rolled her eyes.

Taking a few steps forward I disappeared from their view. I could still see them, but they couldn't see me. It was an ingenious thing whatever it was, equal parts terrifying and amazing. I could see the surprise on their faces, especially when My hand popped out of the field and pulled Viola in. She had the best reaction of the three, and I was trying to get more of one from the others. eliciting any physical response from people was amusing to me. I find it a great passtime.

Looking over to the fortress, out position had already been given away. 'Lets just hope negotiations go well.'