The Deadly Forest of Siladhi

Leo and Arte appear within a tunnel of flashing rings of color before being blinded by a bright light. They shot out of the tunnel and landed on a patch of dirt and grass, and ended up lying on their backs. The unfamiliar glow of a purple moon shone down on them from above. They let out low groans from the pain of their rough landing. Leo rolled over and pushed himself up. He offered Arte a hand, helping her to her feet.

“Where in the hell are we?” She questions.

“I don’t know… But doesn’t this place feel familiar?” He questions.

She scans the area, noticing the strange blue flora, and even the grass is blue. The not-so-distant howls that made her recoil, not to mention the oddly placed cabin standing behind them. The cabin is large, made from logs, and well-maintained.

“This feels a lot like the Siladhi forest. But that can’t be right… There’s no way we’re in a game right now.”

“It has to be it. It feels more familiar than my apartment.” He reaches down and picks some of the grass, letting the nightly breeze blow it out of his hand. “That necklace you had, are you sure it’s not some super obscure artifact or something?”

“No. It shouldn’t be. It’s just a replica of the hero’s necklace from Crystal Quest.” She held it in her hands. It was no longer glowing. “My grandpa gave it to me a few years ago… Now that I think about it, he said something strange back then, but I can’t remember it.”

“Do you think it could be related to this?” He asks, while looking around.

“Who knows? This is just super bizarre.” Arte says while stretching. “All this happening sobered me up real quick, too…”

“Same…” He agreed. “But… If this is really inside Crystal Quest… Isn’t this the chance we’ve been waiting for?” He realizes. “So raise your swords…”

“...The adventure of a lifetime has begun!” Arte exclaims.

“We have a chance to explore this world like never before!” Leo extends a hand to Arte. “So let's make the most of it!”

A smile spreads across Arte’s face as she takes Leo’s hand. A shadowy figure appeared from the tree line. It stepped out into the light of the moon into the small plains where Leo and Arte stood. Leo could see it creeping out a distance away, and his eyes widened. It crept out on all fours, standing tall, almost twice its size. An elongated horn on its head, the color of blood. The mane was nappy, dark, and covered with various chunks of meat, with hooves coated in blood.

“Insanicorn,” Leo whispered.

The words instantly cause Arte to freeze up and turn toward it. The insanicorn appears to grin at them.

“The hero was supposed to encounter this after training with Sky!” Arte nearly shouts.

“It’s nighttime. Enemy rates spike at night, allowing higher-level monsters to spawn.” He explains.

The insanicorn charges toward them. Leo and Arte jump to the sides of the creature as it misses them both narrowly.

“If we want to live, we need to get close to the cabin!” Leo exclaims.

The insanicorn, however, was now standing between them and the cabin. The insanicorn’s horn began to glow as it spun to reveal its backside.

“It’s a low sweep! Get ready!” Arte exclaims.

The insanicorn spins around once more with a blade of light extending from its horn a long distance, as it sweeps the ground with a slashing attack that they time and manage to jump over. Following that, the insanicorn does a quick jab attack toward Leo. The blade of light extends, increasing the distance of the stab, and Leo quickly slips to the left to avoid it, but gets grazed by the attack on his shoulder. The combination of burning and cutting causes him to grimace, but the heat cauterizes the wound instantly. In the time that it focused on Leo, Arte managed to slip around and was getting closer to the cabin. The insanicorn fired a projectile from its horn at her.

“Arte! Behind you!” Leo shouted.

She looked back and saw the small orb of light traveling toward her. She dove to the side, but the attack homed in on her despite her dodge.

“This isn’t a normal insanicorn, this is…!” She thought.

The attack collided with her as she threw her arms up to block it.

Boom.

From a cloud of smoke, Arte came rolling out. She was still conscious, but her arms were singed from the blast and throbbing.

Leo, on the other hand, was being pushed back toward the forest, and the insanicorn was attacking him with various thrusting attacks. His dodging was getting better with time, but his anxiety also grew as he watched Arte from the corner of his eye. The blow had completely knocked the wind out of her. Leaving her gasping for air. Leo waited for the next jab and prepared to take action, but the insanicorn did a rapid stab attack, catching him off guard, and stabbing through him and pinning him to a tree. Leo shouted in pain as the horn stabbed through his arm.

“I thought you were just an average insanicorn.” He spoke between pained groans. “You’re Nappy Nolan… The unique monster of this area.”

The insanicorn ignored his words and drove his horn down his arm, further tearing into his flesh and burning it. Leo screamed in pain as his vision twisted. The sound of his screams snapped Arte back to reality as she saw Leo being impaled. Stumbling to her feet, she ran the rest of the distance to the cabin, and as soon as she got within distance of the cabin, the door swung open violently. A woman walked out with strangely elongated ears. She was dressed in a baggy striped blouse and matching shorts.

“I can’t even get any damn sleep without you bandits showing up, huh?!” She shouts.

Arte stares at her in confusion.

“Sky, we’re no bandits, we got attacked by Nappy Nolan!” She exclaims. “Can you please help us?”

“Nappy Nolan, huh?” She takes a step and bursts forward, creating a gust. She pulls out her knife, cleanly spins the blade around her fingers, and slitting the monster’s throat all in one swift motion. Blood spatters from the cut, and the creature weakly falls to the ground in a pool of its blood. Leo retches and barely manages to hold back the urge to vomit. The pain in his arm helped to keep him focused on something else. After the beast was slain, Arte began to make her way over to them.

“Thanks for helping us,” Leo said.

“Yeah, you really saved us there,” Arte says.

“Don’t mention it. Although there is something I’d love for you to tell me.” Sky spoke.

She places her knife against Arte’s throat while holding her jaw in place.

“Why the hell do you know my name?” She questions.

The blade tightly presses against her skin, causing blood to drip down the blade.