My hand reflexively shot down to my wand, but the person behind me yanked me by the head and held his knife tightly.

"Do not further move... or I shall truly disapprove."

A voice spoke melodically behind me.

I froze instantly. I hadn't heard anything approaching me. My blood pounded, and I couldn't help but feel the sight of the demon with the gnashing teeth ripping into my throat again. My brain ran through the worst case scenarios.

"Sweet child, do not be alarmed. Comply, and you shall not be harmed," the voice continued silkily, looming over me to look me in the eye.

There was something strange about the tone he used, but my eyes widened in fear. The masked mage now loomed over me.

My heart raced even faster, and my hands started shaking violently. If this guy wanted to kill me then he wouldn't have bothered asking politely. He wanted something from me.

"I seek the Ring of the Honest Dreamer, I trust you here, to not commit a misdemeanour?

My assailant tightened his grip on the blade. His fingers were dark, grimey, and spindly, giving me chills just thinking about it touching my skin.

What did he mean by this...? Was he talking about the ring in the trees.

"The ring was taken from you at Rivershire. Then lost, by the thieves that had been hired. Surely, it was not lost to your extravagant fire?"

I gulped, trembling in fear, trying desperately to catch my breath. I could feel his physical strength - I knew I wouldn't be able to force my way out of this.

"P-please don't hurt me! Please!" I squeaked out, tracing symbols in my head. It wasn't elegant, and it wasn't something I was good at yet, but maybe I could deconstruct his weapon with my magic.

He chuckled softly, holding me still with his left hand as he drew a symbol in the air with his knife hand. It was a circle with four lines coming out from the top, forming a star. It glowed faintly as he formed it with his mind. He laughed as I struggled weakly in his grip, unable to get away.

Mere moments after he began to trace the symbols, he gurgled as I felt a spurt of blood splash over me.

"Hippity hoppity! Your heart goes stoppity!" a familiar voice spoke from behind him.

I felt the mage's grip slacken slightly, and I immediately raised my hand and threw a mana bolt behind me in all of half a second. I felt the masked mage's assailant roll backward as the mage was knocked off his feet. I rolled forward, jumping into the dirt.

"Creepy rhyming bastard," the voice spat behind me. I scrambled backwards to my feet as quickly as I could to turn around.

Behind the mage stood a man with short brown hair and rabbit ears . He was smirking widely as the mage crumpled back from my blow.

The mage sputtered, moving his hand to his heart which had a gaping stab wound through it, "You'll find nothing there, neither hide nor hare!" he yelled as he began to raise a hand at Haigha, "Yo-

Another Haigha appeared behind him, and promptly decapitated him with a swipe of his daggers. The Haigha he'd pointed at disappeared into a cloud of blue sparkles.

"Sorry friend, no monologue for you today." Haigha said with a shrug before turning to face me, "Thanks for the assist, kid."

"Haigha??!" I asked incredulously. "I was so scared. I thought you and the others had gone into the dungeon already..."

He shook his head, then smiled at me. "I said I was going to scout around, I didn't specify where! The chief erm, wanted me to keep an eye on you tonight, just in case of something like this." he explained cheerfully and waving his hands dismissively.

I nodded slowly in understanding.

Then, he immediately pulled out his wand and shot a fireball directly at the decapitated mage's body.

"Please be dead this time... Oh please be dead," he muttered quietly under his breath. The mage's body began to snap and burn away as the fireball overtook his body.

His relaxed, before turning to me with a smile. "That was pretty impressive though. You actually managed to cast a spell without a wand or staff. Not bad at all!" he complimented me with a grin.

I grinned sheepishly in response, feeling a little proud of myself.

Suddenly, I began to hear dissonant strings all around me. Music, coming from seemingly everywhere and nowhere, and then the sharp sound of constant static filled the air.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I covered my ears, wincing at the noise.

Then of course, the chuckling began. A mocking chortle that seemed to come from nowhere, but everywhere at once.

The mage's body began to float in the air above his decapitated head, which also levitated beside him. His head began to contort and twist, its mouth opening wide. It let out a high pitched laugh, and began to spin.

It rose into the air and hovered menacingly over our heads, laughing loudly as the flames burned out on the body.

Suddenly, a flash of pressure burst forth, sending me flying across the clearing. I landed hard on my tailbone and groaned, rubbing my head in pain. When I got up I saw Haigha standing next to me with two daggers drawn.

Then, he sheathed his daggers and turned to me gracefully, scooping me up from the ground. He carried me bridal style, and then we immediately took off into the woods.

The static grew louder and louder, and I heard... Bells? Violins? And then... more laughter. This time it sounded different, deeper and darker.

In a 'woosh', Haiga began to hop through the trees at a breakneck pace. We moved faster than I ever imagined possible, and we passed several other adventurers along the way who looked at us curiously.

I looked behind us as the decapitated body floated behind us. The adventurers behind us gaped as the body began to sprout red tendrils that reminded me of veins, growing thicker and longer each moment they stretched out. Smoke poured forth from his limbs as his hands exploded into a cloud of red mist, mist that then twisted and formed into gaseous hearts.

I covered my ears as the sound of static grew louder and louder. An accelerando began to pick up in the sound of dissonant violins and cellos.

I watched in horror as snaking tendrils reached out through the woods towards the adventurers and grabbed them, pulling them into the air. I closed my eyes, then shuddered as I heard the sound of bones crunching and and rending flesh. Their screams were loud and shrill and horrifying.

We broke out of the trees into the base camp area, and Haigha stopped in front of our tent. I gasped for breath, leaning against Haigha. He placed me gently onto the ground and kneeled down.

I dismissed the barrier, and promptly floated Tarrant's cash register to me as screams began to fill the camp.

"Let's go," he whispered urgently.

"But..." I turned around to look at the camp scrambling. A noise that greatly resembled air raid sirens rang out as the creature floated out of the trees.

I was worried about Lori. About Tarrant, Dinah, and Friar Dodgson.

"Is the party down there?"

Haigha nodded grimly.

"The Adventurer's Guild has contingencies for monsters within a dungeon that might require A-rank or S-rank assistance. They've started sounding the retreat alarms on each entrance."

A sudden rush of wind blew past us as we ran. There was a thud and a scream as something fell from the sky.

A horrible symphony full of dissonant strings and static came into full around us, and I began to hear cymbals and what sounded like distorted human voices singing along. The choir was nightmarish, and I could feel my mind begin to fray at the edges as reality itself seemed to *rip*.

Something large crashed into one of the tents, knocking it completely over and crushing people inside. It was a 'Goliath', a tall human-like race in this world. Or at least, half of him. A shocked expression of twisted horror crossed his face as he breathed his last.

The creature came into full view now. Heart-shaped mists willowed out from beneath its robes and continued to pour forth from its arms. A pair of white, beady eyes darted around from its neck, grinning as its tendrils lanced into the hearts of a pair of adventurers drawing their bows. The very fabric of reality distorted around it as its laughter filled the forest.

[https://i.imgur.com/lVwCK16.png]

As we neared the edge of the camp, another adventurer tried to fire what looked like an arquebus at the creature, but as he settled into his stance, he was flung into the air by one of the red tendrils.

The creature laughed again as it sent the the adventurer flying into the air. Then, the adventurer was skewered by hundreds of tendrils and then broken down between two tree trunks.

It opened its mouth wider and roared out a long, deep note that echoed throughout the forest. It released a torrent of flame from its jaws, burning everything within reach in a cone.

I shielded my eyes from the intense heat as the smell of charred meat and wood permeated the air.

"Get back here Alice!" Haigha shouted at me, running ahead. "We have to get you out of here! You're not ready to face something like this!"

I followed him, not knowing exactly what was happening any longer. Something tugged at my ankle, causing me to stumble and fall flat on my ass when I tripped over the remains of the fallen adventurer. He scooped me up, grunting a little at my weight combined with the cash registers'. I focused and cast a spell, reducing our weight as we began to flee once again.

There was another crash nearby, and Haigha cursed under his breath as he picked me up and ran forward. Another orc warrior crashed into one of the tents, tossing it aside. Her huge form blocked out the moonlight and lit up the entire camp area with its roiling fires.

She stood up and roared, throwing off a shower of sparks. The warrior charged at the monster as more adventurers got their bearings and began to form ranks. We continued to run down the road toward Halton, and I huddled in for dear life.

"What is that thing?!" I screamed through the dissonant strings and static.

Haigha opened his mouth to answer. Then, I heard...bells.

Gigantic, glitchy words covered the sky as that horrible static noise filled my ears, and I just screamed. Screamed in sheer terror as everything became wrong all at once. Reality itself rippled once more as red began to pour forth from its appendages, and everything in sight was transformed into a surreal scrapbook cut-out art style.

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K̷̢̛͇͓̫̦̜͉͙̠̯͍̖̻̳͋̎̂͌̎́̈́̾͊̏̄̋̓͊͗̃͐̂͊̒̅̾͗͋͊̓̀̆̀̈́̿̈́̽̂̀͊̈́͊͒͋̈́̏̌̕͝n̸̡̡̢̯͙̘̖̦̼̘͎̫͇̲̥̮̣̱̼̱̞͓̮͕͔̪̟̣̦̻͙̠̦̖͎̠̪͖̳̝͛͛̆̆͒͌̔̌̅̊̋̎̌͊͛̊̔̑͒͗̌̍̕͜͜͠͝͝ͅͅa̶̡̢̨̡̧̯̹͍̻̠̖̭̹̗͈̯̪̞͍̜̩͚̭̪͎̯̘̰͇͕͈̯̖̘̺̞̙̙͇̅̌͗̔̑̀̆̾͛̅͑̃̈̂̈̆̃͗̀͒̏́͑̅̈́́̚͘̚͜͝ͅv̸̡̡̛̲̭̙̫̙̼̞͖̭̗̙̭̻͚̫̯͙̞̥̝̱̮͙̯̥̩̩͕̟̤͈̼̙̖̠̬̖̙͔͌̀̒͊̏̂̓̑̆͂̆̽̄̂̌̊̽̓̉͋̍͋͗̍̚̚͜͠͝͝ͅͅͅe̸̡̡̢̯̤̮̪̥͔̹̰̠̠̣͙̹̭̟̖̫̞̮͚͈͕̪͎̰̝̮͔̙̞̝̤͕͓͚͚͙̫͚͉͖̻͊͋́̀̈́̓̔̓̔ ̶̧͉͚͔͉͇͖̲̟̯͈̗͙̰̯̺̰̭̠̤̣̲͉̹̫̰͚̜̗̱̦͔̫̯͖̫̦̘̺̲͎̗̫͎̰̰̱̹͌́́͜͜ȯ̸̡̝̝̞̬̤̤̻̬̘͍̳͔̦̞̬̰̦̮͔͋̔̅͑̉̑̅̾̋͂͋͌͊̐͊̀̓̎͂̄̉̎̀̀̅́̏͂͛̓́̚͘͘͝͠͠ͅf̶̧̢̢̛̞͖̲̻̙̲̪͇̮͔̟́̏̂̓̆̾́́̂̃̿́͆̉̃̒̽̈́̕͘͘̕̚͜͝͝ͅͅ ̵̢̧̨̨̛̛̟̙͔̲͎͕̱̩̮͔̞͇͚͓͍̹̱̞̖̬͔͇̺̰̮̰̭́̓̍͐̇̈̅̓̎̂́͑̾͐̈̊̆̎̚ͅͅH̴̡̨̡̢̧̡̧̡̫̞͈̺̥̠͔̫̮̩̮͚̼̰͎̼̜͖̪͉͎̤̣͕̠̭̩̞̯̃̐̆͋͐̀͋̋͊͗̈́̃̆̇̌́̍͊͛̊̿̇͆̀͛̒͐̕̕͘͘͜͝ͅͅȩ̶̛̤̠̠̠̭̳̙̰̉͛̀̃͌́͐̈̕͜͠ǎ̸̢̨̨̛̛̝̱̥̰͎̮̦̣̺̪͙̜͔̜̺͈̪̘̭̗̼̦̝̀͊̋̊͑̓̎͐͆͂̔̅͊̑̆̅̈́͛̎́̏́̔̿̌̉̇͘̕͜͝͠ȓ̴̡̛̺̗̮̞͎͉̬͚̬͔̟͖̱͐̀̌̓̏͆͂͗́̀̌͒͋͂̏͑͒̽̿͆̅̈͛̎̚͜͠͝͝ţ̸̢̧̢͕̼͕͕͕̻̖͍͕̘̖̬̘̥̗̖͈͕̩͙̦̗͚̱̰̣̫̱̜̲̜͖͕͓̻̖̳͕͔͉̣̤̈́̇̋̋̈́̑̅̎̍̇̈̆̀͒̇̉̿͂̐̓͋̾̃͘̕̚̕̕͘͜͝ͅs̶̰̳͓̫̫̳̳̿̽̒̿

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End of Arc 2