"Time for revenge!" Emit said as we approached The Tower. The one guard eyed me as I flashed my pass. Whatever concern he had he didn't voice as he let me pass into the first floor. I'm probably worrying him considering I came out half eaten last time.

"You seem more hurt by those rabbits than me." I said, rubbing my still sore arms.

Emit buzzed in the air. "They disrespected you, which means they disrespected me!"

"Uh huh…" I said. I continued my walk inside. I went towards the same path I had taken before. I kept my grip tight on my new weapon, tugging lightly on the string, as if confirming it's not going to break on me.

"You're acting like this is life or death." Emit said

"Is it not? There are things in here that want to kill me!" I said.

"Eh, not like it would be for very long." Emit said.

I don't like how casual he is at the prospect of me dying. Part of me wants to just turn around and go back home. I know that's a pointless effort though.

"Heads up, Kid!" Emit called out. Just ahead, right before we entered the big room I had ventured into last time, they were there.

Frockling about, looking as harmless as ever. I knew otherwise though. Their beady eyes didn't spot me yet. I dared not to make a noise.

Crouching down I lowered myself. Three targets. Less than last time, still better be on the safe side though.

I took my bow, drawing an arrow. It was hard trying to keep a steady aim while crouched. This was something I needed to practice, but no better time than right now.

I put my sights for the closest rabbit. I wanted to attempt to take it down in a single blow if possible. I had done some minor research on hunting game, figuring it would apply here as well.

I aimed for the upper chest, right where the heart or major arteries should lie.

I pulled back on my string all the way. The rabbit I had been aiming for raised its head, as if sensing the incoming danger, it’s eyes briefly noticing me.

…I hesistated. My will to fire draining away.

“What’s wrong? It saw you! Fire away!” Emit said.

“Nothing.” I quietly replied. I pushed the encroaching thoughts off to the side and refocused before letting loose my arrow.

With a squeal, the animal was struck. The arrow to my surprise pierced straight through it. It never stood a chance.

The other two, reaching to their friend being shot down, bared their fangs at me and dashed towards me.

I still had the advantage, the hall was narrow enough that they ran at me in a straight line. I attempted to fire again, my arrow went flying towards one of them coming for me. It went right past the fleet footed animal as it moved ever so slightly to the left. Damn it.

They were right in front of me now, I didn't think I could get another arrow off in time. I fumbled, trying to put my bow on my back as the first bunny came jumping towards me.

Instinctively I moved over to the side, dodging the sharp teeth of the beast. I pulled my sword out, ready to take action.

The other rabbit took this chance to dash at my legs. I'm not repeating last time though, I slashed down. It was too focused on its own assault as it didn't even attempt to move out the way. My blade cut into it, deep enough that after pulling away its body fell limp.

One more. I turned to my last foe who was in the process of another leaping attack. This one I didn't have a chance to dodge, it latched on to my side and bit down. Thankfully my leather was tough enough to not have it's teeth pierce into me, still hurt like hell though.

I took the hilt of my blade. One whack, two whacks, three right on the head of the rabbit.

The pressure of being hit in its head made the rabbit let go. I was prepared to follow up on it when it turned away from me and sprinted away deeper into the Tower.

Victory?

"I don't know about that, Kid. Get ready for round two." Emit said.

Trusting my guide, I took out my bow again. Sure enough the one I had shaken off of me and three more came barreling down the hall clustered in an angry pack.

I'm not gonna miss this time. I drew another arrow and let it loose. Since they were so close any attempt to dodge made them crash into each other. This led to the one stuck in the middle being struck with my arrow.

The others tumbled on their ally who was now lying on the ground. I took the chance to take aim once more and fire into them again. It flew right into the fluffy pit, impaling two in a single blow! One more!

It was the same one that leaped at me earlier and got back up. Look where that got you! I drew another arrow and took aim straight for it. Right before I was about to let go, a voice called out.

“Left! Shoot left!” Emit shouted. I didn’t have time to question as the fluff ball came barreling towards me. I listened to Emit and redirected my aim to the left and let go.

The rabbit had seen me let go and jumped out of the way… straight into the path of my shot! The creature had been pierced right into its flank. It wasn’t dead, but far too injured to move as it squeaked out in pain.

“You did it! Now finish it off!” Emit cheered.

I walked over to the rabbit, with my sword in hand. It tried to move away but whimpered in pain from the wound in its side. It looked up at me with fear in its eyes.

The same feeling as right before I fired crept up on me. I lowered my blade.

“I don’t think I can.” I said.

“Huh? What’s the issue?” Emit asked.

“It’s a living creature.” I replied.

“So? It was trying to kill you just two seconds ago!” Emit said. “What does it even matter? You already killed the others. What’s one more?”

“That was different! I didn’t have a choice then. Plus this one can’t even hurt me anymore.” I said.

“Kid, look at it.” Emit said, floating right above the rabbit. “You already fatally injured it. It’s not going to survive this. There’s no hospital or someone it can go to. It would be a mercy to end it’s suffering now.”

I hesitated. Deep down I knew he was right. I already had hurt this one and others too. I didn’t think about it, partially because I was preoccupied with other worries but mostly because I was afraid. I didn’t like to fight, and I really didn’t like to… kill. Sadly, I was going to have to if I wanted to climb this thing and stop far more deaths from happening. Be animals or other Fallen, I can’t hesitate anymore.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and thrusted my sword down.

I wiped the blood of my sword with a cloth I had brought with me. The scent of copper filled the air as I wrung the red liquid out. Ugh. Gross. Some even got on my clothes. It was gonna take forever to get the stain out.

“Oh quit whining. Nothing a little bleach won’t get out.” Emit said.

I was going to ask what bleach was but figured it wasn’t really important. Moving on, I had decided to gather the bodies of the rabbits into the next room. One was so I could recollect my arrows that were still stuck in the few of them and also I figured I could get a few shards of Mana off of them. They could come in handy in the future.

Remembering what Lyra said to me, mana shards would commonly be found inside the liver so I’ll cut into there. What a strange place for them to grow though.

“It’s not really that strange if you think about it.” Emit said. “The main function of a liver is to detoxify chemicals and filter your blood. So of course when breathing in a gas like Mana constantly your body has to do something with the excess.”

“What? I thought the main purpose of it was to house your body's internal energy or something like that. Or was it the soul? I can’t remember.” I said. I wasn’t ever really big on religion.

“Where’d you come up with a dumb idea like that? Plus everyone knows the soul is located behind your left kidney.” Emit said matter-of-factly.

“Is it?” I said, grabbing my side. I don’t feel like my soul is there. Then again, the floating soul in front me of me is saying so. Seems like a valid enough source of info as any. It is strange though, I didn’t even know souls existed in the first place till recently.

Existential questions aside. I had work to do. I had taken my knife and cut into the animals. The first one had a shard! It was quite tiny though, about the size of a coin. I checked the others and didn’t have the same luck. I thought all of them were supposed to have them?

“Nah Kid, things these weak don’t usually have enough time to grow them, usually get eaten by something bigger. It's a surprise you found one at all.” Emit said.

“And you just let me go ahead with butchering them without telling me that?”

“Hey! I can’t give solid advice twenty-four seven. You’ll wear me out!”

I groaned. He’s so useless I swear. I quickly wipe off my knife then put it and the shard away. Let’s get back to exploring. The new room was more of the same, grass, trees and another two exits. Looking at my map, the path on the right portion of the room should be where I need to go.

As I went down the path, I encountered more rabbits. Two of them. One of them had an odd string on its foot as they both came down the hall.

I drew my bow again, ready for another fight. I planned on using the same methods as before, shooting them down with my arrows and swinging my blade at any that got too close for comfort. There were only two of them so it should be easier than last time. I readied another arrow and fired. I missed the shot outright, with no effort on their part to even dodge. I could hear Emit chuckle much to my annoyance. Whatever!

I drew my sword, ready for their assault… When they instead ran right past me. Um... Okay? Sure, I’ll go with it. I don’t need to fight everything after all.

“That’s no fun though. You should run after them.” Emit said, floating over to the direction they ran. I ignored him and continued on the path. With a grumble, Emit floated back over towards me.

After that it was pretty quiet. I casually strolled down the halls, taking in the sights. I had taken my journal out at this point. I felt pretty safe, so I decided to draw. The hallways were changing as I went along. More vines and seemingly tree branches infested the sides of everything. I sketched a picture of myself wandering, focusing less on myself and more on the scenery.

As I scribbled away, Emit grew visibly restless next to me, if the erratic floating was anything to go by.

“Of course I’m restless! This is taking forever! I forgot how big the floors are in this place...” Emit said. “Where’s the staircase to the next floor, Kid?”

I flipped the pages of my journal to the map I had copied. “According to this map… about another three rooms away.” I said, sighing. I had been walking for a bit already and we hadn't even made it to the halfway point. This was going to take forever. I don’t even think I could make it to the top in three days at this rate.

“Come on now, If you run I’m sure we’ll make it to the top in a day or two. Just don’t sleep!” Emit cheerfully said.

“That’s not happening. Isn’t there like, I dunno, A shortcut or something I could take?” I asked.

“No there- Oh!” Emit said, brightening up suddenly. “You could just take the elevator!”

“The what?”

“You’ll see. Just make it to the next floor.” Emit said. Well alrighty then, I continued onwards.

Moving on, It became harder to draw. Mainly because the ambient light coming from… the ceiling? Wait, where is the light coming from? I’m indoors! Ugh, so many questions! Anyway, the light coming from somewhere grew dimmer. The cause of said issue was the appearance of many more trees. I had entered another room, This one was extremely wide, if the map was anything to go by.

Visually I could somewhat tell the size, but it was so dense with the plant life it made it harder to tell. It reminded me of the forest I used to wander in back at home. Lyra and I would spend hours hanging out and exploring.

Well, I decided to put my journal away while taking a few more steps. The next thing I knew I felt something tighten around my ankle. The heck?

I barely was able to look down before I found myself being yanked with extreme force. I hit my head on the ground, which really hurt mind you, before I found my world being turned upside down, literally!

My body was pulled straight into the air, all my arrows falling out of my quiver and landing helplessly on the ground. My sword too joined the pile of junk on the ground. Looking down, or up rather considering I was now hanging, my foot had been attached to a white string, much like the one I saw the rabbit had earlier. My tail also smacked itself into my face. Ugh.

“Ha! Look at you, like a pinata!” Emit laughed. Har har.

“Urgh!” I grumbled. Flapping my wings back and forth, trying to struggle. All that accomplished was me now swinging back and forth, which made me a little bit sick.

I heard some noises from nearby, it was a couple of rabbits. They spotted me and hopped over. Leave me be! Thankfully for me, they ended up landing in their own rope traps that I didn’t even see. Next thing I knew I had two fluffy buddies hanging out with me.

They struggled against the bonds keeping them aloft. I did as well, swinging myself even more in the process. Come on...

“Hey Kid?” Emit began.

“What? I’m kinda busy here!” I replied back.

“Gonna be even more busy in a second. Look over there!” Emit said, floating ahead of me.

Letting my eyes wander towards the area, I almost let out a scream. There was… something crawling on one of the trees. It was on all fours, or I should say all eights. It had several long thin limbs, connected to a thicker bulbous base. Red lines traced around the surface. Attached to the base of it was even freaker. A furry body upper body with another two arms, thin like those human statues Lyra keeps. It’s face also reminded me of a human’s shape, except this had an elongated face and far more hair than I remember the supposed descriptions of people having.

It looked at me and thunderously beat its chest while letting out a roar. Crawling all the way to the top and letting out more of the white rope, or webbing I should say, from its backside while doing so.

This unnerved me even more, and I began swinging even harder.

“Calm down, Kid.” Emit said.

“How am I supposed to calm down with that thing around?” I yelled back. Next thing I knew something blunt hit my chest. Ow! Looking at the source, the creature had thrown something at me. A rock, if judging by the now pile of them in its hands were anything to go by.

“Stop that!” I yelled at it. I got another rock throw straight into my face. My vision went a little blurry and the taste of blood entered my mouth.

I swear to the gods if it broke my beak I’m gonna be pissed.

My other two rope buddies didn’t like the rocks as well. They cried out when one hit them. One of them had gotten smacked in the head, it now going limp from the impact. It died from that? Yikes!

The last alive bunny had managed to bend its head towards its foot and naw at the bindings. It fell onto the ground and hopped away to safety. Goodbye my little buddy. That left just me here.

The attacker from the trees looked at me with a confused head tilt. What?

“I think the Monkey-Spider doesn’t know why you’re not dead.” Emit remarked. “Anyway, you gonna get down from there or what?”

“I would if I could!” I replied back. I noticed the ‘Monkey-Spider’, as my guide so loving put it, ready another rock in its hands. I flapped my wings to swing the rope, just in time to as the stone whizzed by me. Ha! Suck it!

“Just cut yourself free!” Emit said.

“With what? My sword is on the ground.” I said pointing at it. Another rock got me in the gut. Ouch!

“You still got a knife!”

…Oh yeah. I guess I do. I carefully pulled the knife out of my pouch, I couldn’t quite reach my foot with my talons, I was nowhere near flexible enough to bend like that. Luckily I did have an idea. Using my tail, I tightly wrapped my blade around it. I moved the knife to the webbing and began to saw at it. This was really tough. Tails weren’t made to hold things and this shows it!

Another rock flew past my face. Geez! I gotta hurry up. A couple more threads broke off due to my efforts. Suddenly with a snap, the integrity of the web came apart completely. I landed right onto my pile of junk, not on any of the sharp parts mind you.

The rock flinging jerk howled at me escaping, banging its fist onto the tree. It took another rock and threw it at me. Okay that’s enough! I got up, picking up a few arrows and my bow. I notched the projectile and aimed at my enemy.

The arrow flew and landed right in its side, a green ooze now flowing out. It screamed in what could only be described as a combination of pain and anger.

“Keep at it! Baboon face doesn’t know who he’s dealin with!” Emit excitedly said.

I drew another arrow. The furry creature also picked up another rock. It was faster and toss it straight at me. I was no longer a stationary target and simply moved out of the way. I fired right back at it, this time my arrow landing right in its chest!

The blow made it lose its balance on the tree, and it came tumbling down. It stopped moving on impact.

I let out a deep breathe I didn’t even know I was holding. That was something else. I picked up the rest of my items that had fallen and secured them back onto my person.

Just as I was finished though, the body of the creature jolted upwards. It’s not dead?!

It let out an even louder scream, I put my talons to the side of my head. Shut up!

After it was done, it came crawling towards me. I pulled out my recovered sword and met it head on. Standing face to face it was about up to my chest level, which was even more perturbing in all honesty. Its front legs dripped a clear fluid and slashed at me. I held up my sword in an attempt to deflect it. It ended up hitting my arm, cutting me. The liquid burned when it came into contact with me. I let out a yelp, shaking my arm free of the substance.

No more Mr. Nice Fallen! I made a downwards swing at it. It grazed its flesh, letting out more of the green ichor. It flinched backwards from the blow. Before it could react further, I took a move from Lyra’s book and did a quick step forward followed by a sweeping blow with my blade. This cut it’s two front legs right off!

The Monkey-Spider crumbled from its lack of balance. The mass fell forward, the upper body no longer being supported. Another deafening scream it let out. I rose my sword up, ready to put it down when I heard scuttering coming from behind me.

I turned my head to see several of the same creatures as one I had just been fighting. They howled and screamed in unity, crawling on the ground and swinging from the tree tops.

...

I turned tail and ran. Nope nope nope! One of these things was already a pain. That was an army!

As I fled, I felt more rocks hit my backside but I paid them no mind. If I stop now I’m definitely dead!

“Watch out! The ground!” Emit said, floating ahead of me and lighting himself up. That let me see the numerous web traps that littered the landscape. I hopped over a few, weaving between trees while mentally trying to keep track of where I was even going.

The screaming got closer. Rocks continued to fly at me. Out of all the pelting of the pebbles one felt different and I found myself being yanked back.

Looking back it was a string of webbing! One of them turned its backside around and shot it at me. Disgusting! I took my sword and sliced the string. But that slowed me down enough for one to attempt to leap on me. I held up my sword out of instinct. It impaled itself right into it, its chest piercing into and knocking me over. We tumbled backwards, rolling till I hit a nearby tree. I felt dizzy but I shook it off.

Even after all that and my blade till inside of it it still tried to grab onto me and dripped more of the acid onto my chest. Ow! How tough are these things? I awkwardly kicked it off, getting its blood on me, which thankfully wasn't acidic.

Another shot of web flung out and landed beside me. I gotta get out of here. I quickly returned to my feet.

“Emit! Exit!” I yelled.

“It’s… Uh.” Emit trailed off. Useless! “I’m not! I think it’s that way!”

Emit floated off into the forest. I sprinted off after him. The light of my guide flickered in the density of the woods as I tried to keep up. After a bit, the light at the end of the tunnel was there. Or rather the end of this stupid freaking forest inside of the place. A hallway greeted me and I ran towards it.

I put some distance inside before turning around to see if I was still being followed. The rock gang stood at the entrance of the hallway. They didn’t seem keen on following me downhere for some reason. They let out a frustrating sounding howl, before disappearing into the shadows.

I went a bit deeper, just to really make sure I had enough distance between us before slumping to the ground in an exhausted pile.

“You did it! Good job Kid!” Emit said.

I weakly gave him a thumbs up. Yeah. Good job...