▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 23║▌║▌║█│▌

I whirled my head behind me and looked into the depths of the forest. I heard the steady, monotonous, sound of a crunch…crunch…crunch emitting from the forest. By this time, everyone else is standing up on alert. “Who’s there?” I heard Garen call out to the sounds.

No answer came…

As the ominous sounds steadily grew nearer, I peered harder into the darkness. The fog, ever since the Lady of the Lake touched me, is now seemingly nonexistent. The vivid colors were dulled by the night, but they were still distinct in their nature. I felt an uneasiness spread throughout our party, for the steady crunch was maddening. I was a little relieved; however, because at least now I know it isn’t a griffin.

After about five minutes of hearing the crunch, the sound suddenly stopped, but I could finally get a glimpse of what we are dealing with. I saw shadowy humanoid heads with glowing red eyes looking at us through the vibrant foliage. What kind of creature are they? I turned to Garen and asked, “What is that out there?”

Puzzled, Garen asked, “What do you mean? I only see fog.”

“You mean you don’t see those humanoid heads out there with glowing red eyes? They are lined up just past the tree line seemingly staring at us.”

I know that I have better vision than them, but I thought they would be able to see things just past the tree line. Garen grabbed my shoulders suddenly, and he glared into my eyes with horror. I could feel the others shift and unsheathe their weapons in uneasiness. “What did you say!?” Garen asked in a scared tone.

I stared back at him in confusion, and I told him, “There are just things with human-like heads with glowing red eyes standing in a line past the tree line. I can’t see their bodies though.”

Garen quickly turned to Nessy and asked her, “Do you see anything like that?”

Nessy sighed for some reason and exasperatedly said, “Yes, I do…”

Garen hurriedly turned around to our party and shouted out, “Everyone hurry into the water! We will be safe there since they can’t swim! Char, get John and carry him on your back into the lake! Hurry up, we need to get in there before they receive their orders!”

Everyone hustled toward the lake, and as we were running to into the lake, I shouted out to Garen and asked, “What do you mean ‘they’? What are they?”

He shouted back as we were running to the lake, “They are Golem Warriors summoned here by a Terran. You can’t kill the Golems unless you destroy the core in the center of them or the Terran that summoned them. They are extremely dangerous since their core is buried deep inside of them and can’t be reached by a normal blade. Only gods and powerful monsters can defeat them with ease. Our only hope is the water where they can’t enter, or they will melt back into the mud they are made from.”

Just as we were about to enter into the lake, Nessy moved and blocked the way. Garen looked up at the hulking creature and asked in a frightened voice, “What are you doing?! Get out of the way!!”

She closed her eyes and looked down in guilt as she said, “I’m sorry my friend, but I can’t do that. I have been promised things that the gods would never allow. My family could have this lake all for themselves if I do this. My family will no longer have to share the magic life source of this place with anyone again. Please hand over Zeus’s child quietly, and no harm will come to you or any of your allies.”

Nessy was working with the resistance this whole time? Was that why she was acting so weird about the island in the middle of the lake? I turned to Garen, and he looked dumbfounded. He said in a disappointed tone, “You know I can’t do that Nessy…”

Nessy looked back at Garen with new resolve in her eyes as she spat, “Then you leave me no choice…”

Nessy straightened her long neck, and she raised her head into the sky and let out a long cry. It was long, monotonous, ominous, and sent a shiver down my spine. The whole party froze in awe and shock as the cry cut through the silence of the lake’s land. When her cry ended, I heard another similar distinct cry come from the woods. Then another…And another…And another! There were about ten cries throughout the lake, and after the cries finished, the screech from earlier rose out and the crunches started again. The sense of uneasiness in our party grew to a sense of fear as the crunching sounds got closer to us. Garen quickly turned around and shouted, “Khar, Tsar, and Jerry, I need you to hold off those Golems as best as you can for a little bit! If it gets too dangerous call for backup! Everyone else try to get Nessy down!”

Conor had begun to laugh hysterically at the situation. He probably thinks all of this is hilarious since he can just teleport out at any time. All of a sudden, another creature that looked just like Nessy rose out of the water right next to her and looked down at us. This made an already bad situation worse. Sasha jumped up in a flash next to Nessy, and she made two powerful slashes with her knives on Nessy’s neck before she came down. I looked at where she struck, and there was nothing there, not even a mark. Nessy looked down at her and roared. The roar shook the ground, and I began to feel like I did with the griffin. The crippling fear, the sense of death being eminent…It was suffocating. I heard the clashing of metal behind me, and when I turned, I saw that the battle between Golems and Khar, Tsar, and Jerry had started. The minotaur brothers swung their huge axes into the bodies of the Golems and shattered the bodies of them instantly, but the Golems put themselves back together and rose back off the ground. I now could see the faces of the Golems clearly. Their faces looked exactly like a human skeleton skull, but their bodies were built like a normal muscular man aside from their hands. Their fingers were like daggers primed to kill.

I heard more yelling, and the rest of the party started to attack Nessy and the creature beside her, even Garen joined the fray. I was stuck in the middle of the two battles with John on the ground and Giselle standing beside him, and the noise of the battles grew louder. More Golems began to march out of the woods along with Nessy’s family rising out of the lake and the marshy woods. This isn’t looking good…

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌