The first thing that needed to be addressed immediately was the glaring red wound on Iris’s shoulder. Her shirt was stained with blood that dripped down all throughout her shirt, completely ruining it.

Sera went to rip part of Iris’s shirt off to get to the wound but as her adrenaline had worn off and the wound on her arm started to radiate pain. She faltered for a second before she felt a hand grab her shoulder and felt the pain start to subside. Looking up she saw Bo standing by her side using his ember to absorb her pain.

Now without pain, she ripped Iris’s shirt apart. With a tear here and there, Iris’s wound underneath was revealed and it didn't look great. Five distinct claw marks left deep cuts that went from her shoulder, down her chest, all the way to her abdomen.

Bo looked away in embarrassment as Iris’s bare chest was revealed. “Is she gonna be okay?” He asked with a hint of worry.

“She's strong so she'll be fine. Help me clean it so we can deal with it faster.” Sera said and Bo gulped before turning back, he couldn't afford to look away while helping.

While there were potions in Gladesdale that helped heal scars, it really only worked on the smaller scaled ones. The little cuts she got from the fog sprites and the paper birds would be an easy fix, but this cut was likely too deep to heal.

Bo used his ember on Iris a few times to relieve Iris’s pained face that shone through even while she was unconscious. They spent a few odd minutes dealing with her wound before they finally finished.

Bo flopped onto the grass next to Iris and breathed out a deep sigh of exhaustion. Sera first dealt with her own wound and then similarity flopped onto the ground panting.

He looked around and found no trace of Zorn, he had disappeared.

“Zorn!” Bo called out but got no response. “Looks like he ran off while we were distracted— what an interesting guy.”

“That's for sure, and he’s all by himself too. Well he did look pretty strong back in the mansion.” Sera said.

Bo yawned and lazily responded. “Yep— it's only the afternoon and I'm already tired.”

“It's not like we can really move on with Iris like this, we might have to camp out a few days until she's able to move around.”

“True. Let's find a spot further away from this exit to rest in.”

Sera agreed and let Bo carry Iris this time around while they searched nearby for a nice secluded spot they could relax in. They didn't want to search for too long so after 10-15 minutes of walking away from the exit, they found a larger tree with a large hollow.

That would be their home for the next few days while Iris healed— or maybe a little longer than that.

***

A month later.

“How are you feeling?” Bo passed his water pouch over to Iris who swigged a mouthful down.

“You keep asking me that.” Iris sighed. “I'm fine.”

“That's good then.” Bo smiled and continued to pack up.

They had a little setup going in the tree hollow they found. They set up the tent which unfortunately had a tiny tear in it from the mansion crawlers— a term they came up with. They also had a little campfire started inside which was possible because the hollow was big enough that the smoke properly escaped instead of festering down with them.

Today would be their last day in their tree hollow home. It had already been a month and they were ready to move on. Iris’s wound was practically healed, five claw marks still remained scarred down her shoulder and chest but she was able to move around normally.

Bo and Sera were finishing up packing the things up, almost ready to head out. Iris on the other hand was outside the tree hollow using her staff to help exercise her injured side. It was stiffer than before but throughout the month she had made sure to stretch and exercise it so it didn't become a burden in the long term.

“Good to go?” Sera yelled out to Iris.

“Just give me a couple of minutes to warm my shoulder up.” Iris replied.

There was no worry of creatures overhearing them here. On the first day they realized they were still in a section of the maze because they were not in its hedge pathways. After a couple days of scouting, Bo found no signs of creatures, not even bugs. He did find the entrance back into the maze and memorized its location once they were ready to head out.

They then came to the conclusion this section must be some sort of safe haven like the trial fountains border. It wasn't a guaranteed fact but they found nothing to counter that thought.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

A couple minutes went by and Iris finished up stretching. She hoisted her own backpack full of things onto her back and was ready to leave. They all took one look back at their temporary home that housed them for a slow and relaxing month before following Bo as he led them to the hedge path.

It wasn't far away. They quickly got there and didn't hesitate to take the first step back into the maze. Their footsteps echoed off the cold stone floor, something they hadn't heard in a while as they were used to the sound of soft grass.

Their pace was decent, they didn't want to rush but after a month of not doing anything, their spirit of adventure was running at full power. Hours went by in the blink of an eye, forks in the road were met and decided, even a monster was felled during that time.

They were breezing through the maze and they could feel that they were close to finally completing it. According to the Keeper and various guides, the Lost Maze shouldn't be too long, it should only take a few days if the challenges weren’t too hard.

They had spent three days in the Lost Maze before the long month break so according to the guides, they should be almost at the end.

“Oh hold up, somethings different up ahead.” Sera suddenly raised her fist, motioning them to stop.

She took a few steps forward and realized they had reached another section of the bridge. In front of her was a hole that went an unknown depth down. All she could see in her vision was a single pillar resting a few feet away from the ledge in the middle of the hole.

“Come take a look at this.” Sera said.

“Another section, that means we should be close to the exit no?” Bo remarked. “Hopefully this one doesn't take us days.”

“Let's not rush ahead with this one.” Iris rubbed her chin in thought.

“What can we even do besides jump on it though? There doesn't look like another way through.” Sera brought up a good point.

“I guess there's no other way around this?” Iris stuck her head out to see if there was a wall surrounding the hole and was correct as the hedge wall extended to the sides.

“So… how do we do this?” Iris questioned.

“I'll go first, if something goes wrong my ember has the best chance of getting me out of trouble.” Sera said.

Bo and Iris agreed and watched as Sera jumped the gap onto the pillar. A short burst of anxiety sprouted in them waiting to see if something bad happened, but nothing did.

“Iris you go next, I can catch you if you stumble.”

“I-I… should be fine.” Iris got a little annoyed at being treated like that, but she knew they were just worried about her. She had been beaten, cut and bruised during her time in the Lost Forest so she couldn't really say anything back.

Iris looked down at the hole but the fog prevented her from even seeing that far down. Talking one last gulp, she took a few steps back then ran and leapt onto the pillar.

As she landed, the weight of her backpack added onto her momentum and she stumbled forward. Her heart jumped out of her chest for a brief second before she was put to stop as Sera easily stopped her from falling.

Sera beamed at her and Iris could only blush and whisper. “Thanks.”

“I'll always be here to catch you when you fall so don't worry about anything.” Sera patted her puffed out chest and smirked with confidence.

“I can't really tell but is there enough space for me?” Bo asked them. The pillar was only a few feet away but it was hard to tell with the fog.

“Hmmm, with our backpacks I think it would be better if you waited. I'll hop onto the next pillar then you can leap over to Iris.” Sera explained.

The next pillar was in sight, a similar distance away and Sera didn’t hesitate to jump over. Seeing Sera disappear into the fog was the signal for Bo to hop over to Iris’s pillar.

“We take it slow and easy, no need to rush and mess things up, okay.” Sera went on to say.

Bo felt a sudden jolt as he felt his body begin to descend. “The pillar is sinking!” He cried out.

“Shit, okay never mind, Iris hurry over!” Sera put her arms forward to catch Iris.

A hint of panic, ever so small, began to form in their minds.

Iris leapt over easily as the pillar descended slowly and had only moved a small amount. They continued hopping from pillar to pillar, not so fast that they would mess up but they couldn't afford to be slow.

The pillars were beginning to start their initial descent faster and faster. The second Sera landed on one of the pillars, she felt it move down.

“We're gonna have to pick it up, they’re getting faster!” She yelled.

They stopped counting how many pillars they landed on and could only keep moving forward with less time between jumps. Luckily Sera saw in front of her a familiar hedge wall with an opening in it for her to jump to. It was the exit.

“Guys, the exit is right here!” She yelled and turned to watch Iris jump onto the pillar with her.

The pillar was already a foot and a half down and the floor was a fair distance away so Sera had to put some muscle into her jump to get up to the pathways level.

Iris went to jump but panicked at the sight of the floor in front of her getting higher and higher above her. She composed herself and jumped, trusting Sera to help her.

One of her feet managed to get onto the floor but not enough of her was on the floor and she fell backwards with a scream. A hand tightly caught her outstretched arms and yanked her back onto the solid floor.

“That was a close one.” Sera wiped a bead of sweat off her brow but realized they were not done, Bo was still on the pillars. She looked down to see the pillar was already more than 4 feet below the ground when Bo landed on it.

“Here, I'll help you up.” Sera reached her arm out.

Bo used his strength to take one last mighty step helping him dash up to Sera but he wasn't going to clear the great distance fully. His arms both made it and clung on to the floor but the rest of his body was dangling into the abyss below.

Sera and Iris– mostly Sera, grabbed him and helped hoist him up onto the floor.

“Whew, another section complete.” They took a moment to calm their beating hearts then like always, kept moving forward.