Crimson y unconscious under the pale moonlight with her eyes closed, her body glowing a beautiful ember. The hole in her body was starting to smoke up. The smell of flowers expelled from her and lured all sorts of woodnd creatures that hurried over, who stood outside of the clearing gazing at the miracle being performed.

  Meanwhile Crimson was standing in a bck void that never seemed to end the farther she walked into it. There were occasional sounds of fire crackling in the distance and every time she heard a faint noise she would run in that direction. Every time she would dash a bit faster with a trail of red petals falling behind her from the wound she carried hoping to find an exit. The crackling would echo louder the closer she was. Finally, when Crimson thought she found where the sound was coming from, it returned to deafening silence to the point where her ears started ringing. She fell to her knees and for the first time looked at the hole in her stomach. Crimson's eyes widened in fear seeing red flowers growing out of the wound, as she tried to touch the petals she noticed a giant cw taking the pce of her right hand. She flinched back and moved an index finger to make sure it was hers and it responded with every motion she made. Crimson was in such disbelief about the cws, that she forgot all about the flowers.

  Crimson looked up and saw nothing but the pitch bck sky, and closed her eyes, “I'm dead. That has to be it. I finally kicked the bucket. Looks like the White Coats were not going to kill me.”, She whimpered with tears starting to form.

  Crimson bent over with her cws covering over her head, “ Why? Why am I so stupid? I gave myself up for them! People I’ve barely known!”.

  Sobbing could be heard echoing across the void, with orange-like liquid falling from her eyes taking the pce of her tears. Every time the tears would fall onto the surface she kneeled on, it would turn into orange water ripples expanding along the ground. These ripples would eventually turn into giant waves that would circle around her being the only other color and light. Her tears would not stop and the flowers were growing rger the more she gasped for air. The crying soon turned into coughing causing her to vomit up more petals crouching over to her cws. The crackling noise of fire would start again, being much louder as the flower petals began to drift away.

  “Miss.., Are you ok? You're coughing a lot.”

  Crimson's sharpened eyes looked up to see a young boy who had bck scales on his face and a small button nose, he was wearing a yellow shirt and some brown shorts.

  “Miss? Do you want me to get help?” The boy called out, leaning closer towards her.

  Crimson shook her head disagreeing with the boy. As the air began to flow back into her lungs, she realized that she was now kneeling on a dirt path no longer being in the void. The Cws also disappeared along with her petal-like vomit.

  The young boy eagerly helped Crimson up “Come with me Miss! Lady Rouge can help you!”.

  The boy grabbed onto Crimsons arm and started pulling her up dragging her off somewhere. They walked over a bridge and instead of a small river, it was filled with red flowers blooming underneath. They entered a town manoeuvring around people hurrying on with their lives, but some of them looked familiar like in that one dream she had a few nights ago. The people here had horns, fangs, and tails, yet they also had sharp ears like elves. Even the boy dragging her had some of these traits.

  Crimson soon realized the street they were walking on looked familiar and she stopped making the boy lose his grip on her, as she turned around with her eyes widening in disbelief gncing around in shock, this was the pce before with all the bodies. She started to walk away so she could investigate further, but the boy grabbed her arm again.

  “Miss please, we can't stop what if you’re sick?” he beckoned.

  With a tug he made Crimson follow him until they reached a house with yellow bricks and blue roofing. There was a sign with a drop of water falling into an open flower.

  The boy swung the door open with a small bell chiming of their arrival, “Miss Rouge I found this woman, she was lying near the bridge and she needs help right now!” The boy shouted.

  A tall, slender woman walked out from behind a curtain with hair being red as molten fire, and blue eyes that Crimson thought shined like sea gss. The scales on her nose and cheeks had a tint of green as well reflecting the light off of them.

  “Hello my name is Nyra I am the Monshire Doctor here, Please have a seat.” Nyra waved at them walking behind the Curtain with a smile on her face.

  The boy dragged Crimson again to the back of the clinic, there was a desk with papers and treats, along with a bed for patients to y on and be examined. Nyra went up to the boy, giving him a bug on a stick from the cup on the table, which took his attention off of holding onto Crimson's arm as she sat down on the bed with relief.

  “Thank you Thomas for bringing her here. I will take over now.”

  A giant smile grew on Thomas' face as he received his treat, and with a flick of his tail and a wave he ran out the door shouting, “Feel better soon Miss!”

  The door chimed as it closed, and Nyra let out a huff and rolled her eyes in annoyance pulling the curtain to have a look at Crimson.

  “It’s been so long since I've seen the Eden that I almost forgot what it looked like. Good news too, it seems the flower has control of you for now and is keeping you alive.” Nyra said, grabbing Crimson's Arm and scraping it with a medical swab.

  Nyra continued her examination until she noticed Crimson's hands.“You haven't even started spreading the Eden. I won't lie, you aren’t in as bad of a shape as the st person I saw. The poor idiot.” Nyra walked behind Crimson now looking at her hair.

  “Where am I exactly? One moment I was dying in this pitch-bck pce, and then the next I was here.” Crimson chattered, hovering her hand over her stomach with a worried expression.

  The flowers weren't there growing out of her but, the clothes she was wearing before were gone and repced with a red shirt, and green shorts.

  “May I?” Nyra said, walking in front of her again gesturing towards Crimson's stomach.

  Crimson nodded, staring at her hands confused, allowing Nyra to continue. When she lifted the shirt up the materials felt like soft petals to Crimson. She shivered at the feeling of cold wind blowing through an open window and flinched at Nyra's touch tracing her finger where her wound would have been.

  “Looks like you will have a nasty scar when you wake up, it will be even in the shape of a petal, how cute.” Nyra cooed.

  “My hand is normal again too. I swear it wasn’t even mine a second ago, it was like a cw.” Crimson's voice was shaking, “You never told me where I was? Where am I?” Crimson questioned Nyra again.

  Nyra tugged Crimson's shirt down, walking away slowly to the desk to lean against, taking a candy out of the cup, and proceeded to eat it.

  “You are in what I like to call the Stem of the flower. You are unconscious and unresponsive, think of it as being comatose. The flower is taking control of your body's healing properties until you are fully back to perfect health, well almost perfect health.” Nyra answered by taking a Bug pop from the stand and putting it in her mouth.

  “So you and this pce are all in my head, and what do you mean by almost?” Crimson asked, concerned.

  Nyra ughed, “You really don’t know anything huh? I thought they would? Hmm," She paused. "Never mind It has been way too long anyways.”.

  Nyra gnced away before answering this time, “Think of this pce as Limbo. We were all alive once but eh, accidents happen, even if most of us were colteral damage. We were here before you arrived, and we will be here when you follow that light guiding you back to the world of the living I guess.”

  Crimson stood up walking towards the desk to grab one of the bug candies only for her hand to phase through it.

  “You're not dead yet so the food here you can't touch or eat. Oh also when I said fully healed I meant physically and if a part of your body was transformed say goodbye to that part of yourself forever. As an example, your hand. You said it turned into a cw here, meaning you might be changing slowly. Do you use Spells? Nyra asked, taking the stick out of her mouth, and fixing her gaze back over to Crimson.

  “I was a prisoner and tested daily. I would use elemental magic. I believe that's what they called it.” Crimson responded.

  “ELEMENTAL!” Nyra shouted and jumped up closer to Crimson with a passion in her eyes.

  She proceeded to calm down and twirled the stick between her fingers walking closer to Crimson, “Now that's news to me, you must be the first ever elemental user the flower has had. Heh, an elementalist I can't believe it. That's probably why you haven't changed drastically you are pretty much tied to the magic itself meaning you have an Aura Gate. Um I don’t think the flower can replenish that, however. So it's going to be hard on you when you wake up.”

  Crimson stood back for some space only to be bothered by a shining light from the left of her. It was blinding her from the gaps of the Curtain.

  “How are you not bothered by that light coming from behind the Curtain?” She asked only to be given a bnk face by Nyra.

  Nyra sighed and walked towards the Curtain, “looks like are times up it was fun talking to you.”

  Crimson heard a familiar voice from the light whispering, “I am sorry, I should have done more to save you faster. You know I have so much knowledge about you and your past, so let me tell you mine since well I want you to wake up, and guide your way.”

  “Vincent?” Crimson walked towards the Curtain.

  Nyra pulled the Curtain, the light pierced through the door.

  “Once you walk through that door you will be back in the nothingness known as the stem, keep following that light, don't stray from it,” Nyra said, nudging her past the curtains sheath.

  Crimson walked towards the door and the clinic started to fade into the darkness leaving only the door in front of her and Nyra behind. As Crimson reached out for the door her hands csped on the knob.

  “ One more thing, choose your battles more carefully Crimson, or else you will truly regret it!” Nyra Shouted before the darkness engulfed her too.

  Crimson walked through the door and then looked behind her only to see the surrounding void she was standing in not too long ago. The light and Vincent's voice called to her. Without a second thought she followed it like a moth towards a fme only to realize, how did Nyra know her name?

  ~ ~ ~

  Meanwhile on the other side

  Vincent ran down a muddy road full of potholes tripping over himself as the thunder roared above him. His clothing was drenched and they felt like weights holding him down. He eventually made it to a familiar house and pounded on the door like a crazed man.

  “ELLY PLEASE WAKE UP! PLEASE IT’S AN EMERGENCY!” he yelled banging on the door.

  Ms. Eliot's dog started barking and the lights from inside the house turned on, which calmed Vincent down a little. He could hear the old woman rushing as fast as she could towards the door with her dogs barking growing louder.

  The door unlocked and the little old woman peeped her head out slightly confused, “Vincent? What are you doing out? You're drenched.”

  Vincent answered hysterically, trying to catch his breath with each gasp “Your husband, didn’t go with the priest right? I need his help Crimson, is in the forest.”

  Ms. Elliot grabbed her coat, digging into her pocket, and put a leash on the dog. “He didn't. That old bastard won't even go do his undry, here's the key to the store. He sleeps in the storage room upstairs to wake him up by just knocking on the door repeatedly. Here take Shump, with his barking he will wake him for sure.

  Ms Elliot handed over her keys and the dog to Vincent then proceeded to take her coat off the hanger, and waddled past him.

  “Where are you going?” he asked, turning after her.

  “To your house of course. If you are going on a rescue mission, you three might need me to prepare things for you, and gather your healing supplies.”

  Vincent nodded and began to run with Shump starting to race him to the Adventure Store in town. They both sprinted across roads of Hollybrooks concrete they could hear every step they made, passing by Sellers Avenue with every stall now abandoned for the night. Then through the town square, eventually going down a very old road made out of loose bricks. Some called it the first Road of Hollybrook. Vincent started tripping from some bricks being missing, but that didn't stop him as he could feel his heart pounding faster. Eventually, the both of them made it to the run-down Adventurer Store.

  Dust was piling up at the window dispy and the door was starting to lose its paint, a giant hanging sign with a rusted sword engraved on it was swaying from the storm. Vincent clumsily flipped through the keys trying to find the right one, even dropping them at one point. After the fourth try, the key fit into the lock, and the door was finally open. Shump slipped through Vincent's legs, tripping him and making him let go of the leash, he bolted to behind the counter and up a stairway barking louder than ever. Vincent staggered back up and bolted after Shump, as he ran behind the counter towards the stairs he heard a door swing open. Vincent started to walk up the stairs then out of the darkness an hand axe flew down towards him, luckily for him it missed by an inch sticking out of the bottom of the stairs.

  An older man's voice started speaking “Shump? What are you doing here boy? Oh no.”

  The figure ran over to the top of the Stairs to see Vincent on the verge of colpsing. The old man walked down, helping him walk back to the first floor to the front desk wooden chair.

  The older man chuckled and tried to brush off the situation, “Sorry about that Vincent I thought you were an intruder like back in the day, old habits die hard. I always sleep with a weapon, but uh I have to ask what are you doing with Shump and the keys?" The old man gave a concerned look "Is Eli in danger?". he asked.

  Vincent kept huffing and gasping for air barely being able to speak, “ No but, you have to help me, my friend, is in the woods fighting a Banshee. I can’t get in because there's a wall blocking the entrance.

  The old man leaned over rubbing Vincent's back while Shump stared out the door growling as the rain started pouring harder, “My boy if she's fighting a Banshee it’s already too te, especially if this storm is from that same Banshee. No point in risking yourself.”

  “David”, Vincent interrupted, “It’s Lana. Lana is the Banshee. We were trying to help put her to rest. Please, my friend is Mr. Betos Cousin, you probably have read about her in the paper. Please I know you have weapons that can get through that Mist.”

  David walked to an armor stand that was holding a sword with some golden trimming, and picked it up, “This is the only Sword in Hollybrook that is blessed by our Priest at the moment. The blessing of Eden's tears. A Holy weapon.”

  David took the sword and handed it over to Vincent, “Hold this for a minute. I'm going to put on better clothes.” David said proceeding to walk up the stairs.

  Vincent stared at the sword, his emotions kept brewing looking at it. He stood up and started walking towards the door, then turned around to face Shump.“You stay here Shump. Then make him follow you back to the forest. I know you're smart enough to understand me.”, he commanded

  Shump wagged his tail and tilted his head with a goofy smile. Vincent smiled back and walked through the door out into the storm. The Wind was picking things up into the air. If this continued Hollybrook itself could be gone in the storm too. Vincent picked up the speed, now overstepping, and dodging anything that would make him trip again this time. The Sword in his right hand was illuminating, as strong as his will to save Crimson. When he finally made it to the home stretch of the dirt path toward his house he looked up at the sky for the first time, the clouds were swirling over the forest and he could see lightning sparks poking out of them. He continued running until he arrived in front of Ms. Elliot's house stopping for the chance to breathe. Vincent slumped over putting his hand on his chest, it felt like it was going to explode. In that small amount of time he heard the thunder roar and the csh of lightning.

  He looked at the horizon, his house, the forest was right there, and then a red light emanated from behind the trees as if a fire had started. Vincent started to run again turning into a full-on sprint trying to make it to the front gate of his house. In the far distance, he could hear Shump barking, meaning that David was catching up. Vincent finally made it to the gates entrance to his house when the rain suddenly stopped and the moon shone through the clouds that broke apart from each other. The Mist wall colpsed, and the immense heat from the battle poured out of the forest, the red light from before was even brighter.

  Vincent walked through the forest entrance, and it felt like he was inside of an oven, the trees did not shine their normal colors of blues and yellows but a blood-like red shined from the leaves and the veins that crawled up them. As he approached the clearing, the light dimmed in front of him along with a thud. This made Vincent start jogging while readying his grip on the sword, what he witnessed next shocked him to the core. Animals of the Forest were watching in a circle looking at Crimson who was unconscious on the ground surrounded by fmes. There was no sight of the banshee, and it looked like Crimson was holding something.

  Vincent started to rush over towards her clenching the sword in his hand, but he was soon stopped by the smell that attacked his senses. Looking down he saw her blood was soaked into the earth trailing under her, and a giant gaping hole that took the pce of her lower body was smoking. Vincent stopped thinking about anything else and ran over to the circle of fmes stomping them out. They burned through his pants burning him through the action but he didn't care, once it was safe he proceeded to get on his knees, and flipped her on her back. Looking at her face he held her close, noticing that she was grasping onto what looked like a branch; its leaves were on fire with her blood soaking into the bark. Crimson was breathing faintly, with the leaves pulsing along with every breath she took. Vincent heard rustling and looked up to see Shump and David walking out of the brush covering his nose with his arm.

  David stopped in his tracks at the image he saw, he immediately gnced everywhere to see any signs of the Banshee, while Shump ran back into the woods.

  “She's still alive, she's breathing,” Vincent said, gasping.

  The smoke from Crimson started rising stronger, Vincent looked down and saw the gap was slightly closed. “She is healing herself please, help me bring her back to the house.”.

  David stared at Vincent coldly, as he stopped covering his nose reaching for his battle axe that was on his back, “What is she, Vincent? Not even Elves can regenerate.”

  Vincent started stuttering, “She, she is Mr. Betos Cousin.”

  “Lies tell me before things get out of hand, what the hell is she?.”, David aggressively repeated walking towards them.

  Vincent rested her down and reached for the sword beside him as he stood up.

  David chuckled, “You are protecting a monster?”. he mocked.

  Before the two could csh, Shump came out of nowhere jumping in between the two stopping their engagements towards each other. All the animals began to disperse from the scene as the elderly women waddled out from the bushes.

  “One cut on either of them and you will regret it!”, Ms. Eliot announced, waddling past the two of them towards Crimson.

  Ms. Eliot proceeded to walk over to Crimson looking at the gap that was starting to close slower than before, “We can't just keep her out in the cold, one of you pick her up and bring her inside.”

  Vincent turned around throwing the sword towards the ground and nodding in response, walking away from David who was cursing at Vincent under his breath as he went to pick up the holy bde. Vincent carefully picked up Crimson carrying her in his arms, they heard the thud of the branch that was ignited in her hand just a moment ago fall to the ground turning lifeless as it hit the muddy dirt. David along with Shump cleared a path and they headed to the house for shelter.

  Ms.Eliot waddled ahead of them as they were walking in the backyard and opened the door for them, it was fairly warm inside with the oven on high bst allowing the heat to travel around the house. David put his weapons beside the couch, and Vincent started walking up the stairs to Crimson's room, with a blood trail following him. Ms.Eliot walked up slowly behind him noticing the blood droplets were evaporating, she peeked through a door that was open and saw Vincent ying her down gently.

  “I’m sorry Crimson, I couldn’t get to you in time.” He said quietly.

  Ms. Eliot walked through the door, “You know she would have probably stopped you from getting closer to protect you. If you were in that fight, it was probably going to turn out into a worse outcome. Is she healing herself?” She guessed with her hand on her chest.

  “It seems like it, she told me yesterday that she could heal herself over time passively. Can you do me a favor and change her clothes, please? She’s not very wet but I still want her to feel comfortable.” Vincent whispered, trying not to disturb Crimson's sleep.

  “Of course dear. Thank you for trusting me.” Ms. Eliot said, walking up to Crimson.

  Vincent left the room but not before turning on the lights slightly and exiting.

  Ms.Eliot squeezed Crimson's arm staring at the wound, “I'm sorry for that night I didn't know, but I promise you my dear you're no monster. You saved her, didn’t you? Thank you, love.” Ms. Eliot sobbed.

  Ms.Eliot realized the bedding was starting to get bloody, so she walked into the hallway into the closet that had some old towels. She took about four green ones and brought them back, by the time she got back Crimson's pink sheets were turning red. Ms.Eliot sat Crimson up leaning against her. Crimson's warmth felt safe to her like a campfire's protection, as she was ying the towels down for her to rest on, she slowly id her down. Shump walked his way in and started to y at the foot of the bed.

  “You're gonna protect her boy?” Ms.Eliot questioned smiling while turning to Crimson's drawers.

  Ms. Eliot proceeded to dig through the pile of clothes that were brand new with the tags still on them until she stopped at some cute pink flower pajamas. She turned to Shrump to ask him for an opinion but the dog was already fast asleep. Putting the clothes on the bed beside Crimson she could see the heat rising from her body, the pajamas looked too warm so she went back flipping through clothes in the drawer. Meanwhile, downstairs Vincent and David sat in the sitting room silent.

  David couldn’t stop thinking about what he witnessed a moment ago. The girl from the capital, this “cousin” of Jouvins Beto, had a hole in her abdomen. She should be dead yet she’s breathing, and she was healing her wounds while asleep.Vincent looked at David's face, and how it had a stern frown of anger and disgust. He couldn’t allow David to reveal what Crimson was to the town so he broke the silence.

  Vincent started mumbling loud enough for David to hear him, “She was protecting all of us. That girl ying in the bed upstairs would never hurt anyone in this town.”

  In response, David finally looked up at Vincent and leaned back, but instead of mumbling his words, he spoke with a louder and more confident tone, “You don’t even know if Crimson is even a girl not alone being a human at all. If you had a hole that size in your abdomen you would be dead in an instant.”

  David proceeded to get up from his chair and walked up the stairs, while Vincent contempted what to do next. If he should tell Beto about Crimson's injury and if he should tell the two elders the truth.

  David walked down the hall to a slightly open door to see Ms. Eliot holding up a tank top that she thought was perfect for the situation. He walked up to the door and knocked lightly.

  “In a second we're almost done!”, Ms. Eliot responded, making Crimson sit up to change her shirt.

  It was covered in blood and torn all over just a little tug on it would rip the fabric apart into pieces. Ms. Eliot even whipped the blood off of her skin using the fragments of what little shirt was left and proceeded to dress Crimson in the tank top. It was perfect because it was not touching the wound that steamed under the old woman, it smelled of decay but she was determined to help.

  Ms. Eliot id her back down and called out to the door, “Alright she is presentable!”

  David walked in with his eyes full of disgust, looking past Ms. Eliot and straight at her, “Why Eli? Why are you protecting it? This creature.”. He asked with sorrow towards her.

  Ms. Eliot sat on the edge of the bed, “She is not called a creature, their name is Crimson. A stronger warrior than you ever were! If I remember back all those years ago correctly, you were the one who deemed the woods were too dangerous for us to use, So you knew didn’t you? You knew Lana was a Banshee. Even after we married you never told me my best no the woman I loved before you was still in there.” tears began to roll down her face.

  “That girl saved her. Alex for forty years should have known his mother was still there; he could have saved her when he became an S-rank adventurer.”

  David reached out only to put his arm back down by his side looking away, “she learned the truth I can’t fix this anymore it’s too te.”, he thought.

  As the silence in the room engulfed the two Vincent walked through the door. The hallway light illuminated behind him, “Hey can we talk about all of this for everyone's safety.”, He demanded walking away back down to the sitting room.

  From the tone of Vincent's voice, both elders knew that this was serious, they had never seen anything like this from him. As he wanted, both of them followed him out of the room, where he was waiting for them in front of the couch. He gestured a motion pointing at it, telling them to sit in front of him. Once the two were in their pces Vincent gnced behind the bookshelf hallucinating a severed arm poking out remembering an old friend.

  “You both have learned a secret that no one should have ever discovered, but I will admit this is my fault. For your safety and Alex's as well I beg you both not to say anything about this night to anyone.” Vincents gnced back at them with sorrow.

  “I trust both of you, to not tell what happened. But if you do tell anyone without Jouvin Beto's approval he won't just be your enemy, but all of Hollybrook will be under the threat of the empire and brought to ruin. If you can’t keep this a secret then.” Vincent gnced back behind the bookshelf again to see the arm was repced with a runic sniper rifle.

  David and Ms. Eliot knew they were in trouble as they both turned their heads and looked at each other.

  “Vincent, as an adventurer my number one priority is everyone's safety, convince me that she will not harm Hollybrook or its people. if so I won't say a peep.” David wagered crossing his arms and turning his head straight back at Vincent.

  Vincent defended right away, “You didn’t see she just killed a Banshee for you guys, an elemental one at that. You both saw the storm as much as I did. She even studied about them before fighting. Not to mention David if it was Alex that damage could have been him or anyone else who awakened her by accident. I would guarantee if the story of the dragon was true she would go fist first into its maw to protect everyone.”

  “The dragon is real, Lana must be the only monster he couldn’t get rid of.” Ms. Elliot interrupted.

  David smirked, “Dragon? Hah, she will probably lead it towards us and harm us all if it was real.”

  Vincent balled up his fist, with all his emotions out on dispy, “ You want to know what she is a weapon fine, She is against them!" he excimed. "They called her a Dragon knight, she is meant to kill them without any effort. She was enhanced to protect humanity from monsters, that's why she immediately went after Lana even when I told her not to do so!”

  David sighed, “Alright boy no need to get worked up. Fine, I won't dig up any trouble about her especially if I will have multiple targets on my backside, now if you excuse me I have some investigating to do.”

  The old man hoisted himself up off the couch and walked towards the door. Before reaching for the knob he paused, then turned his head back, “The longer she stays here, the worse of an outcome there will be for Hollybrook Vincent.” David turned the handle and walked out the door with that final warning.

  With The door closing behind him, it felt like the air shifted back into motion. Ms. Eliot kept staring at Vincent with a glimpse of curiosity.

  “Now that he is gone, let's continue her story. She is a Dragon Knight, but that's not all is she? With her arrival and with the recent events near the highway, I can put two and two together unlike my idiot ex. She was a part of that dragon attack wasn’t she, no she was the dragon?”, Ms. Eliot questioned Vincent which made his expressions turn soft.

  Vincent sat down beside her looking down towards his feet contempting how to respond, “ If anything happens to me, I need someone to take care of her. Ms. Eliot, if I tell you I can’t make sure you will be safe, but you are the only ally I have. Do you still want to know?”, he asked in a monotone voice.

  The old woman rubbed his back trying to comfort him, and nodded to indicate that he could take some of the weight off of his shoulders.

  Vincent leaned back and began to narrate everything he knew, “She was a b rat of the Capitals. They put her through many different tortures that not even a war criminal could ever dream of. She burned down the entire thing to escape, only to be found by Mr. Beto. For her to stay in Hollybrook she made a promise not to harm anyone until things die down. You connected the dots so I won't get in trouble as much, not to mention you already know my shady past, so it shouldn’t be a surprise.”

  Vincent felt the embrace of her arms hugging him, it was like the weight of the world was partly taken away.

  The old woman smiled, “I will protect her along with you, I owe her that much. However, I think we should get a doctor to at least check on her, but we should probably wait until that hole in her fully closes up.” She requested.

  No one felt tired that night, Ms. Eliot took Vincent's room to help care for Crimson on the upper floor since he felt awkward to change her clothes if needed. They went through at least twenty towels that had the stench of a dying dream embedded into their fibers.

  Meanwhile, David investigated the forest opening, the tree's colors went somewhat back to normal with their yellow, and blue hues illuminating the night. Once he got to the clearing David looked up to the sky to see a blue moon and a sky full of stars. He walked over to where they found Crimson, when he heard a crunch under his foot, with a step back he saw that there were crystals in the dirt. The crystals called Banshee Tears, which David knew were just as rare as gold. He took out a pouch and dumped out the tools he was carrying allowing him to collect the scattered tears.

  Once he finished gathering all the Tears. David walked towards the other thing that caught his interest, the supposed weapon that Crimson was holding. As he walked towards the branch, he felt the temperature rise, just by looking at it giving off the impression of it being as hot as a fresh iron ingot. The bark on the branch was charred, and the magical veins were glowing red. David reached into his coat, took out some thick gloves and touched it. He could feel the warmth it was producing surge through the glove materials. If he touched it with his bare hand he could have seriously injured himself. To examine it more he picked it up and turned it around, to see green vines wrapping around the branches base as if it was turning into the grip of a sword.

  With his discoveries, David left the woods, while feeling dread and uncertainty.