“I know a way out.” she huffed.

Sweat made lingering smoke stick to her face like soot and her curly hair looked frizzed out and dry. Lily dragged Chrys out of the street and behind a collapsed vendor, hugging the wall of a large building. These buildings didn’t have doors, they were meant for decoration. It was impossible to climb them either, the concrete impeccably smooth.

“Okay, what now?” Chrys asked. They watched the chaos with grim shadows.

“Worlds in Moon are connected with entrances and exits. The simplest way to explore is to use them and map them as you go, that’s how we all did it.”

“Yeah, but Festival Square is a hub, its entrance and exit are in the same place, and it’s blocked.” Chrys said. The two began sliding along the wall, hidden in the shadows of the vendors.

“The simplest way...” Lily trailed off, becoming more obsessed with sliding down the wall, her hands feeling for something.

“What are you doing?!” Chrys barked.

“Oh!” Lily flinched, “S-sorry, what I mean is that the simplest way to leave here is that entrance, but it’s not the only way. Every world has a secret way to leave, like instead of transferring planes you simply jump off one with a parachute.”

“Okay, so how does that help us, do we even know where the secret exit is?”

“Riley always said to find a secret you have to look for something that’s already missing.” Lily said, feeling her way on the concrete buildings. For Chrys, it suddenly clicked.

“Doors.” he said wondrously.

With new vigor the two frantically felt up and down the walls, speeding on to the next one when they had no such luck on a building.

“It’s taking too long to find it!” Lily panicked. She began to feel like she was being foolish, thinking she’d find the secret exit. As confident as she sounded earlier, she wasn’t 100% sure.

“Hey, focus, it’s the only clue we’ve got, stick with it.” Chrys said. His rough tone somehow comforted Lily. She looked towards the street again and shuddered. It was now becoming less of kids running and more of those smoke monsters leaping around. She wanted to stop fretting and focus on finding that exit but she couldn’t help but stare at the destruction happening.

“How...how could this of..” Lily stopped, squinting at the other side and seeing children hiding in the shadows just as they were. One made eye contact with her but in one second as a group of monsters rushed by, they were gone. So were the other kids she’d seen. “It’s...it’s on the other side.”

“What where?!” Chrys said, he turned his head as he pat the wall. Lily pointed to where she had seen that kid. “Shit...”

They both felt intimidated by the sheer number of monsters blocking their path.

“You have to summon something.” Chrys suddenly said.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“What?” Lily turned and tilted her head in confusion.

“It’s the only way we’ll get through there. I tried to summon something and all I got was this stupid hammer.”

In Chrys’ hand was now what looked like a normal toy hammer that fit comfortably in his palm. There was no hint of it having been half his size or glowing with light. Moon usually let you think of anything you want and have it appear in your hand, but now Lily realized, no one had summoned anything to help them escape. It was like they were being restricted.

“What should I summon?”

“I don’t friggun know! Think of a weapon from your favorite videogame!” Chrys said exasperated.

“I-I don’t play videogames. I played balloon tower in the school library once...” Lily said sheepishly. She hadn’t liked it.

“Just think of anything anything that will get us across from here to there!” Chrys demanded.

Lily wracked her brain, agonizing over what to summon. She closed her eyes and just repeated it in her mind over and over again, I want to get out of here, I want to get out of here. Her fingertips started to tingle as if they’d fallen asleep and her head started to hurt. It felt like something was pushing back against her, condemning her to the frightening fate of children caught by the ashen monsters. She just wanted someone to save her, she just wanted Riley to come back to her and tell her all of this was a dream. She couldn’t stop her mind from straying and as she realized she’d gotten distracted, an intense light erupted in her hands. Lily opened her eyes and stared blankly at the small blue pocket umbrella in her hands.

“An...umbrella...” Chrys said, gawking.

“I-I’m sorry, I got distracted and...” Lily stammered, close to tears. She’d been useless again. The tiny rolled up umbrella mocked her.

“Fuck!” Chrys hissed. He slammed his fist into a wall. “We just can’t win, huh?”

Lily unwrapped the chord around the umbrella, the fabric loosening and the umbrella spreading from its previous confinement. The fabric shimmered as she examined it. Why did I summon something so stupid?

“We have no choice but to run and hope we don’t get caught.” Chrys stared dejectedly at the wall. “You’ll go first and I’ll cover you.”

Putting her fingers where the umbrella’s runner was, Lily slowly pushed it up, the arms of it stretching out the canopy like a big wing. The piece of metal clicked into place as the umbrella fully opened. Inside, the umbrella looked dull, no secrets. Lily didn’t know what she hoped for but there was nothing.

“Lily?”

“Oh! I’m sorry I-I was just hoping-

“Lily– what the fuck,” Chrys growled, “this isn’t funny, where are you?”

Lily stared at Chrys as he stared back...or stared past her. His face was alarmed, like he was all alone despite Lily being right in front of him. He frantically turned his head toward the open, as if scared she’d left him behind to run to the other side.

“Lily?!” he practically yelled. He took a step forward, bumping into her. She flinched and dropped the umbrella. More surprised as suddenly Lily was right in front of him Chrys jumped backwards.

“How...?” he began. He rubbed his eyes.

“You couldn’t see me.” Lily said. She was trembling with excitement. “You couldn’t see me!”

“How did you do that?” Chrys asked.

Lily picked up the umbrella again and pointed it upwards. She turned to face Chrys whose eyes were wide, staring at the spot he had seen Lily disappear as she raised the umbrella over her head. She put it down quickly.

“We can use this to get to the other side,” she said, “but we have to be careful. Those things can still touch us.”

“How do we know we both will be invisible under that thing, what if it’s only one person?” Chrys asked.

“We don’t have any other choice.” Lily said sadly. “We have to trust it will work.”

The two looked grimly at the umbrella, then at the monsters filling up the open street. They would have to huddle together and walk slowly around them to the other side. If they faltered they were done. Lily felt sick, the umbrella shook in her hands. She felt frustrated with her weak body, like it would collapse or drop the umbrella. She was on the edge and she couldn’t take much longer. A hand gripped hers around the umbrella.

“I won’t let you mess this up.” Chrys said. Lily looked up at him. He looked just as nervous.

“I won’t let you mess up either.” Lily said. Chrys let out a dry laugh.

“Good.”

The two lifted the umbrella over them, took a deep breath and walked out into the street.

----------------------------------------