I crept along the path of glowing fungus and shrubbery, oddly trampled over already, as if something had come here… Rather recently, I might add.

  Little glowing particles, a bit different then the spores, floated past me, coming close enough to cause the twinkly dust they left behind to tickle my nose,

  “Achoo!” I sneezed, discovering that I actually had that bodily function at all. “Who would’ve thought?”

  Some of the little glowy particles stuck to my spear. Seeing them up close and stationary revealed that these were moths. They’d decided that the stardust light of my spear was warm and inviting enough to cuddle around.

  There were a lot of them attracted to my weapon, so I shook it a bit and they fluttered around, but came back for a second helping moments later.

  “Silly bugs…” I pouted a little, but shrugged, knowing they probably couldn’t help it. “If I need to use this thing though, I hope all of you get off it.”

  The last thing I wanted to do was battle with a moth covered spear. Luckily, they seemed to be absorbing the light and releasing it, so my light source never dimmed.

  Further down the path revealed an assortment of tall flowers that smelled very nice. I leaned down and took a sniff.

  “So pretty,” I said, staring at the round flower head.

  While looking at it, the flower head parted and looked back at me with a big eye. The lashes on what counted as lids were covered in tiny puffs of pollen.

  “Uh…” My head tilted as I curiously gazed at the flower eye, which did the same to me. It blinked a few times, and I mirrored its actions.

  A few of the flowers behind it also opened their eyes, as if collectively awakening from a hibernation.

  The moths on my spear became active again, leaping from the glowing weapon and landing on the flower petals. Their light grew twice as bright and released a warmth that countered the damp cold of this forest floor.

  While the moths released their brightness, they caused the flower eyes to cry a yellowy green substance, which the moths began to slurp up with great eagerness.

  Meanwhile, the flowers turned from a pale colour to a far more vibrant yellow, pink and green. The light from the luminescent moths was feeding them much needed sunlight they weren’t getting here otherwise.

  “Woah…” I smirked. “That’s nature for you, I guess.”

  I heard a fluttering noise to my left, darting my sight that way to see a trail of sparkles.

  “More bugs?” I started walking that way. "Maybe it was a fairy…"

  *Thud Thud*, went something behind me. *Thud Thud!*

  I could only associate it with footsteps. But when I turned around, nothing was there.

  “What a spooky place…”

  My LOCATION menu was able to collect data while here, but I was only getting a few meters worth of map cleared up around me. The rest was a foggy mess riddled with strange symbols that may or may not have meant anything. None of those icons were Samael’s sprite.

  Furthering the search for my snake, I tried to reconnect with my auxiliary heart, seeing as it was with him when they went through the portal, but that wasn’t working either.

  Continuing to move along and search the old fashioned way, I came up on a river with lily pads and frogs. The frogs had glowing antennae that they turned off when I came into sight. The mist hid them well enough, but that didn’t keep them from actively shooting their tongues forward to catch flies and other bugs.

  While watching the circle of life unfold over the waters, I finally saw my first signs of sentient life. Boot prints were stuck in the mud at the river side. They had a distinct pattern on the heels, which looked like they were meant to help deal with uncertain climates.

  “No snake tracks though…”

  I followed the footprints down the river until discovering a distinctly quiet clearing. Up to now I’d heard crickets, birds, along with dozens of other creatures that I couldn’t even identify. They'd kept a distance, but now they were completely missing.

  Mist began to seep around me, turning the land a bluish purple and blocking the already weak outside light.

  Wooded plants and tree trunks were circling the clearing. Huge scraps of earth were clearly and very recently pushed aside, signaled by the smell of fresh earth. It began to feel more arena-like than natural.

  *Thud thud* I heard again, turning every which way to see what stalked me from the shadows.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” my hands clenched tightly to my spear, sensing danger was inching closer to me.

  My detective outfit wasn’t offering me any combat boosts, so I equipped my Nazalian Battle Armour + 1 and stood at the ready. Unfortunately, without my combat mode, I had to rely on my base strength to deal with any threats. Even worse was my utter exhaustion.

  I took a few steps back to keep a good distance, but kept my spear ready to stab forward. A faint breath left my mouth as the weight of the spear weighed heavy on my sore arms.

  Trees began to rustle around, followed by branches shifting and nearly breaking.

  Sounds like large rocks grinding against each other approached, getting louder and louder by the second.

  *Thud Thud* went those footsteps again.

  A pair of blue eyes appeared at one end of the clearing. I pointed my spear that way and stepped back for distance.

  The blue eyes were high up, nearly ten meters, meaning it certainly was a large creature heading this way.

  With a mighty sized hand of stone, the creature was able to push aside entire trees, fully revealing its form to be some sort of rock monster with glowing brown marks all over it…

  -Identifying creature…-

  -Creature identified!-

  -Stone Golem sighted!-

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  “A stone golem…”

  This big guy didn’t look like he was ready to attack me based on his cautious movements. Although showing no mercy to those trees, his pause and subsequent stare at me made him seem docile.

  “H-hello?” I lowered my spear slightly, showing less hostility to the golem.

  The golems head twitched and his hollow blue eyes dilated. Then his right hand stretched out toward me, like he was going to grab me.

  Its slow motion was enough for me to back up and avoid its grab, but that didn’t seem to sit well with it, causing it to make another snatch at me with more aggression.

  “Ahhp!” called out a woman’s voice. “Not her…”

  A whip struck the shoulder of the golem, making it quickly retract its arm and step away from me.

  A cloaked woman stepped out from behind it, a familiar name above her head. “Lil Yaldy? I didn’t think you’d find your way in here.”

  “Miss Adalyn.” I walked up to her. “Why are you here? What is this place?”

  She flipped back her hood and revealed that ever fabulous face of hers, not the least bit concerned with my presence.

  “This is my garden. A private place teeming with nature of all sorts and sizes.”

  An enchanted forest was hardly just any old garden.

  “I’m sorry for coming here without your permission,” I apologized. “But my friend Samael got sent here and now I can’t find him.”

  “Oh my!” she looked shocked. “Well, I have a feeling I know where the lil’ guy went off to.”

  “You do?” my head tilted.

  “Sure do, Lil Yaldy!” she passed by me and lightly pinched my cheek.

  I hate cheek pinches!

  “Why don’t we head that way now, eh?” she winked and gestured for this adventure to continue. Without any other options, I followed close behind her.

  -☆☆☆-

  Adalyn was marching along pretty quickly, as if in a hurry, but she didn’t look stressed at all. Her fast pace was aggravating my sore legs.

  “So, this private garden, why is it so strange?” I asked, hoping a conversation would help keep me going.

  “Since Y’all were snooping around my home and found a portal, I figure there’s no reason to keep secrets.”

  “Sorry…” I reiterated my apology.

  “Oh, don’t be sorry. Isn’t being naughty fun? Such a thrill wondering if you’ll be caught in places you shouldn’t be.”

  I couldn’t exactly agree with that, since going places that could get me in trouble didn’t give me much of a thrill. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to get away from situations like that.

  Well, I suppose if I had to say one thing that felt good about it, it was the planning stages. Something about theory crafting how to deal with a situation had some entertainment value.

  “The portal you found was one of a few that I have set up to go in and out of this secret place. You see, it’s actually what’s known as a pocket dimension.”

  “A pocket dimension?” I repeated.

  “Yep! It’s a space between spaces that can hold a whole little world of joy in it. This one’s been in my family for generations, and I became the first of them to make good use of it.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “That clothes y’all was wearing, as well as just about everything I’ve ever designed, all the material comes from this garden, which Mr. Golem back there is all too happy to protect.”

  So Adalyn was the one who made all the clothes here. I had to admit, her skills were nothing to scoff at.

  “Miss Cynthia told me that you were big in the fashion industry,” I said.

  “Oh, darling, is that the best praise she could come up with?” She gave a mischievous smile, sticking her tongue out. “Once we find your friend, I’ll show you just how much she undersold me and my lovely work…” she stopped in front of a big tree that was out in the open sunlight.

  The tree looked to be in horrible condition. The leaves were all crinkly, the bark was petrified and peeling off, showing rotted wood that made up the trunk of this ugly thing. The smell of sulfur wafted around it with a hint of charcoal.

  Oddly, it had ripe fruit growing on its branches, which appeared to be apples. They looked really bright and healthy, as opposed to the tree itself.

  If these apples fell far from the tree, I think that would be a blessing for them.

  Adalyn picked an apples and took a bite, not the least bit disgusted by eating a raw piece of freshly yanked fruit.

  “Want some?” she offered it to me next.

  I couldn’t deny that something about it was mouthwatering, perhaps the hint of honey scent coming off of it. The very fruit was tempting me to taste it, but I wasn’t very hungry.

  “No thank you,” I waved my hand in denial.

  “But, you know what they say about apples…” she tilted her head cutely and pointed to her head. “They make a girl smarter.”

  I was always looking to get smarter, but it still wasn’t appetizing enough for me to take.

  “That’s okay,” I replied, still refusing.

  She shrugged, then tossed away the fruit.

  “Well, I tried. If y’all ain’t hungry, y’all ain’t hungry.” She pointed up to the top of the tree. A spiraling black ring was twirling around above it, only vaguely appearing when clouds passed over the sun. “I believe your friend is up there.”

  “What is this weird tree?”

  “It’s a mali tree,” she replied. “Ain’t it just a beaut'? It has such yummy fruit, and I harvest a lot of goodies off it to make into fabric.”

  She thought this thing was beautiful? I guess it was one of those golden goose things. As long as it was profitable, it was good. But it looked pretty ugly from my point of view.

  To be honest, it kinda’ reminded me a lot of the boni tree, but if I’d let it die completely and turned it into a zombie tree. I couldn’t shake off how accurate that felt. The name wasn’t that different either.

  Boni. Mali. Well, one letter was the same, I guess…

  A honey scented aroma did come from the fruit she was holding, but not quite as strong as the ones back home.

  “Why is Samael up in this tree?” I asked.

  “Snakes love this tree,” She replied. Somethin’ about the fruit just gets ‘em all excited.”

  Samael never acted that way back home with the boni tree, so maybe these were completely different trees.

  “Snakes can’t eat fruit…” I told her.

  “Who says they want to eat it?”

  Regardless, I could see him hanging from one of the branches. The golem had been following us and finally caught up. At Adalyn’s command, he lifted us up on his palm and stopped us where Samael was hanging from. My auxiliary heart was coiled in his grasp.

  “Hang on, Samael!” I called out.

  “Ssss...”

  Finally I was able to snatch him and the crystal. I’d never seen him race up to my hair so quickly before in my life.

  “Sss…” he hissed apologetically.

  “No, it’s my fault,” I replied. “I was the one who asked you to check out those vents.”

  “Sss…”

  “Sammy… Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re super helpful.”

  I didn’t realize he felt like he wasn’t lifting his weight. But he was going above and beyond what normal snakes could do, and that was really something.

  “Ssss…” His hiss turned more chipper.

  “Yeah!” I cheered. “At least we’re back together again! That’s what matters.”

  Adalyn’s brow raised curiously at me while I chatted with Samael.

  “Y’all can understand him?” she asked.

  “Well, yeah,” I nodded. “Can’t you understand your friends too?”

  My logic seemed to stir up laughter in her. No idea why…

  Although Adalyn’s smile couldn’t have portrayed a more content feeling within her, her brow lowered as she looked at me from head to toe.

  “That old rusty armour of yours looks so drab and broken…” she commented, poking a finger against the metal. “Would you like me to whip up something special for you? Something that screams ‘heroic.’”

  That sounded awesome! I’d get to see her skills at making clothing first hand.

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