Flora was clueless about the events that happened to her, one after the others it was hard to believe everything was real. In the center of the room, darkness came again to fill the space. Just a slight trait of light descended on the statue, brightening a little its surroundings. From the look of it, Flora inspected the head of the sculpture, bearing now a cheerful smile.

- Was it always like this?

Though Flora, doubtful of her own memory. She get her phone out again, that she previously put in one of her pockets, rendered useless with all the blue light flying around. She turns around, going in the direction of the doors to go back outside. Flora points her light toward the doors, hoping to find a handle or something to pull them, they're rendered tightly closed like something locked them.

- No point in insisting here huh.

The room was calm and silent since the lights but she felt something was off, like something was looking at her from the darkness. Flora was a courageous girl but this feeling of crippling fear from the what she cannot see began to consume her. The first signs of it were her trembling hands, the flashlight from the phone was shaking the distant shadows of the pillars. By making the shadow dance in this unsettled light, Flora imagined things, even imagining things moving in the dark. What makes her even more aware of the presence of something was crumbling of some pieces of stones falling around from the walls.

Flora has her back against the doors, like some hidden forces were forcing her to stand still like this. She wanted to yell something, hopefully scaring the thing that was stalking her. Flora was struggling to open her mouth, her teeth were chattering, not from the cold room but from the cheer fear spreading all over her body. She finally gather all her courage to scare of the thing preying on her with a big and loud scream.

- I-I-I I have a weapon, an-and-and I will use it i-i-if you approach!

If she wanted to scare off the creature lurking at first, she could at least hope for it to takes pity for her. Even Flora cursed in her head after shouting something this miserable and with what weapon will she scare it off? "If only the word was still there..." She though.

When her attention lighten a little bit, she finally see a shadow running from a pillar to another. She was reassured in a way because the shadow was not the one of an immense creature, thus it could make its way through this room, and hide behind pillars. No, the shadow she saw was not higher than her knees, long ears pointing on its head and a dense spiky fur covered its body. Flora was still on her guard, the creatures outside were far scarier than anything that lived on earth, "little creatures might not be an exception." She tough cautiously.

Now start a party of hide and sick between the two, Flora shut the flashlight of her phone and put it in her pocket. She rushes behind the closest pillar on the opposite side of the shadow and stand still against the column. Staying in the open was not the best idea, plus, the doors are shut so she had no point in staying here. At least, she could find some clues about the exit by looking meticulously at the paintings. Her last resort would be to climb the columns to escape by the tiny hole in the roof.

Even if the creature was on the opposite side, the room was now completely silent, even if it wanted to make as little noise as possible, Flora couldn't miss the sounds it does. The shadowy monster lurking was heavily breathing, as much as Flora, even though she tried to hold as much her breath as possible to dodge this case. She also hears its footstep going from columns to columns, it was getting closer to Flora. She didn't know what to expect, was it hunting her, searching for her or avoiding her.

Stolen novel; please report.

She advanced further and further, inevitably, the creature was now from a column to the one where Flora was hiding. Thanks for it to take so much time, she could regain some composure in the meantime and think straight. If it gets closer, she will throw her bag at it and make a run for the farthest pillar to climb and escape. For this plan to work and to not forget anything important, she put the most essential things she can hold in her pockets. Forget her school supplies, water was desperately needed when you are lost in nature.

It was the moment, the creatures makes a run for it in the direction of Flora, for what purpose, she didn't know, but that was not the most important thing. Tightly grabbing her bag to not miss her shot, a droplet of sweat run down her forehead. The slightly shaking of fur going in the direction of Flora was clearer and clearer. From this distance, it was about one and a half meter away from her.

Her vision is now accustomed to the darkness, she decided to look by passing her head to see where it was to not miss her only shot. It was the moment, she throws her backpack where the creature was and successfully hitting her target, even more so that a little "Kyuuuu" was heard. The cute and desperate scream of the creature stopped instantly the run of Flora. Turning around to see what was happening where the creature was, she see her voluminous backpack compared to the creature struggling under it.

Flora didn't know if it was dangerous or not but she didn't care at this point: Something screaming with such cuteness can't be bad. Maybe the love she bears for cute animals will lead her to her own demise. Before lifting the backpack she inspect the members of the animals under it. It has four little legs and a long, fluffy, soft tail. The fur was ice blue with a deeper blue going in the straight line from the tip of the tail to the body or even the head.

She uses her left hand to lift the bag and see the face of the creature. What she did not expect was her tattoo reacting to the animal the closer her hand was closing the distance with. Her intuition was telling her to trust and lift the bag, she remained calm as she does it. Now free from the bag, the creature places its hands in front of its faces, leaving another "Kyuuuu" of distress. The cute face of the squirrel like was amusing to watch, a mocking smile appeared on the face of Flora.

The surprising thing she noticed on the animal was the jewel embed in the forehead of the blue squirrel, emitting a feint blue glow, the same as her hand. After some seconds that seems hours for the poor creature, it finally opens its eyes and looks above it. There, stand still a curious Flora that now hold both her hands on her tights, inspecting closely the squirrel.

- And what are you supposed to be?

Asking the squirrel, like it was able to answer her. She do not hesitate a single instant and grab it by the fur, like a mother cat would grab her kittens to take them somewhere. What Flora did not expect was the bright light coming from both and hand and the jewel on the forehead of the blue creature. The next instant when she opened her eyes, the squirrel was not there anymore but what took its place was the same giant sword that disappeared earlier.

- Is it what I think it is? A squirrel transforming into a sword?

She's yelling in excitement. The heavy looking sword was not heavy at all when she's holding it, it's even light as a feather while she moves it around. Flora tried a few moves she saw from fantasy movies or others from the genre, but controlling nothing, she cut like a piece of paper one of the column in a single straight hit. Leaving a blue trace upon the column that finally stop emitting light.

Flora stand dubious of what happened right now before jumping in ecstasy.

- Awesome!!

After a few minutes she's exhausted and fall on the ground, heavily breathing. She put the sword next to her and the next instant, the sword emit a blinding light. When she opens her eyes again, the squirrel was there, holding its head just like it went on a roller coaster.

- Oh poor you, I'm so sorry.

She grab it and hug with her right hand, the one without the tattoo. Without accepting it the blue squirrel try to rebel but it's useless, it can't fightback the tight hold of the human. It finally surrender while doing the grumpiest face it could do, she could even hear a little yet cute sight coming from it.

- Okay okay, I stop, here I put you on the ground!

Flora follow what she say and put it on the ground. She looks from the ground to search for an exit, the squirrel looking at her, is now looking in the direction of the gaze of Flora.

The two of them had a new mission for them, going out of this place. But will they stay together after this?