Splitting V

I open my eyes, seeing the morning sun glow entering through the broken down door and the not broken window. I lift up my head and see that the Bullseye is still sound asleep, but the Guardian is awake eating the berries I picked last night.

“Tasty, huh?” I ask, my head tilted to the side as I stay lying down on the couch.

“I’m hungry, that’s all.” She responds, sounding slightly tired, but also annoyed “But anyways, why did you do all of this?”

“What? Entering into Knowledge Forest? Though I guess, Knowledge Library would be more fitting.” I chuckle as I raise my hand and put it behind my head, as I proceed to look her in the eyes.

“No, not that, although I am curious. No, I wanna know why you gave me these berries? And also, why’d you give us a blanket?” She inquires, as she gets up off the floor.

I never got time to actually look at her or have a full-on talk with her because we were fighting when we met, but now I see it all: her long brown hair flowing from the wind coming from the broken door, her bright blue eyes showing that she’s disciplined and serious, but that’s not who she truly is. Her flowing blueberry colored skirt, and her blueberry colored shirt, both showing she has some sort of love or soft spot for blueberries, and her necklace is in the shape of a blueberry as well.

Wait, when did I get so good at interpreting things? I never said this about that Hazel person. I’ll do that when I see her again I think to myself.

I get up off the couch and start heading towards the Guardian. I sit down next to her and look at her.

“I’m not a fan of killing people. So you can understand my concern when you two went flying through some magic shield and then were knocked out.” I explain.

The Guardian looked at me, shocked. A small child, in front of her, but acting like an adult strangely enough, I bet this is what she’s thinking. Of course, I wasn’t expecting an answer, just hoping she’d understand my woes.

“So tell me, do you want something?”

Surprised and shocked, I shook my head and asked “Come again?”

“Do you need anything?” Her voice was louder than the first time, as I actually heard it “Not for any reason, other than to thank you for keeping my friend here, alive.”

“I guess… Could you get me a special plant that gives me back my memories?” I quickly ask, hoping she’d say yes.

She stays quiet as she looks at me, as if I’m some sort of madman. I stand still fiddling with my fingers as I look at her, very nervous about what her response will be.

“Wait, why do you need a Memory Herb?”

“Well, you see… I sorta, kinda… lost… My memories. The only reason I wanted to come here is because there should be some sort of knowledge on this kinda thing, but I can’t find it unless I have some magic powers.”

“Okay, so you lost your memories, and you want me to locate a Memory Herb, is that correct?” She questioned, trying to make sure she understood what I asked.

“Yeah, that’s correct. So, would you be willing to find one for me?”

“Yes, it shouldn’t be too hard to find. I’ve sensed some nearby for a few days now,” She explained, as she began to walk towards the broken entrance.

I follow behind her, and I see the sun shine brightly into my eyes. I raise my hand, covering out most of the sunshine from my eyes, as I stay behind the Guardian, following her.

“So, uh… What’s your name?”

“My name is Lily, Guardian of Knowledge Forest. What is yours?”

“I’m Arthur, sorry for accidentally knocking you and your Bullseye out.”

“I accept your apology; you did help us out afterwards anyways.”

“Great!” I reply, as I smile widely.

I continue following behind her, as she walks past a few shrubs and into a place covered in long leaves and vines. Lily moves leaves aside with her magic and walks behind a really long palm frond, as I walk behind. As I walk past it, I see a light blue herb, giving off a faint translucent glow. I stare at it, hypnotized by its entrancing light.

“Here it is, in all its glory: the Memory Herb,” Lily says, clearly in an informative tone.

“Woah… That’s cool… So, do I just eat it?”

“What?! No! You don’t just eat it! You have to ground it into a mushy mixture, and then pour it into a drink!” She shouted, clearly shocked by my statement.

“Got it. Won’t eat it,” I reply, as I walk forwards grabbing the Memory Herb.

“Now, we just got to get this thing back to Knowledge Forest, and get your memories back.”

I nod my head, as I walk back out from under the palm frond. We travel for less than half an hour, back to Knowledge Forest, and we stay completely silent the entire time there. The silence is so thick, you can cut it with a knife or even a fork, in fact, its so quiet, any noise that I hear is able to scare me. Soon enough, we pass by the broken and beat up area that me and Lily had caused by fighting, though I think she caused more damage than I did.

“Alright, now let me fix up that drink for you,” Lily smiled, as she held out her hand.

I give her the Memory Herb, and she walks away into the Knowledge Forest. She spends a bit of time and then comes out with an odd looking liquid concoction: it’s gross-looking, blue and green, and glows very brightly, which I don’t think is normal for a drink, though this one does restore memories so…

“Alright, gimme!”

She hands it over, and I grab it and take a huge gulp of it quickly. I taste it for a moment, and I realize it doesn’t even taste how it looks; it’s actually really sweet and reminds me of mangos and peaches. Suddenly, I feel a rush of nostalgia and memories run through my mind, as I remember Jingles and Brownie, and Hazel.

“Thanks, Lily! You’re the best!”

“Ah, i-it’s nothing! R-Really…” She responds, as she smiles softly, but then that smile fades as she looks up towards the sky. “Hold on… I’m sensing large amounts of magical energy… Snd it’s moving towards us too…”

Suddenly a giant gust of wind knocks me back a little, as I fall over, onto the floor, tumbling. Lily manages to stand on her feet, just moving a tiny bit. I shake my head, as I look up and see Nir flying in the air, in all his diabolical glory.

“Ah, so this is where you were hiding. You really are a coward, Arthur.”

“That’s rich, coming from a man who fought two children…”

“SHUT IT, YOU BRAT!” Nir’s eyes widen with fury, as he raises his hand, a dark orb emanating black energy “BLACK!”

The orb instantly grows bigger and bigger, the orb start to shake violently, and it looks like the light around the orb is being sucked into it. I look at Lily, who’s currently watching in shock, and I notice that her body is as stiff as can be.

“VORTEX!”

Nir instantly throws the orb towards Lily as I run as quickly as I can, lunging at Lily, knocking her back. The orb barely misses us. I get up, dusting myself off, as I look at Lily, who’s currently still in shock.

“Hey, c’mon! Even Hazel didn’t act like this, and she’s WAY younger than you!” I say, as I try shoving her up.

“I… That thing… He has the Dark Amulet… H-How… Why… Does HE have it?!”

“Look, explanations on the way. Right now, we need to run!” I grab her hand, as I pull her up.

She finally begins to move a little, as the two of us go into Knowledge Forest. She walks towards her Bullseye, as she tries to wake it up. She begins to shove it and talk to it, as if that would get it up faster.

“C’mon buddy, get up! We need to get moving!”

“Alright, how about… Food?” Lily, looks at me then Bullseye.

Suddenly, the Bullseye wakes up, as it looks around the room and sees Lily and me, and begins to open its mouth, waiting to be fed. We could do this, but now’s not the right time or place…

“I’m sorry, buddy, but we’ve gotta get going. There’s a guy who might hurt us!” Lily exclaims, her eyes filled with fear.

The Bullseye finally understands the situation, as it bites on my clothes and puts me on its back, and then it does the same to Lily. It turns around, as it begins to run, exiting Knowledge Forest, and past Nir, who’s in the air.

“There you are, you rodents!”

“C’mon Lily! Get it to move faster!”

“How? I can’t control its movement!”

The Bullseye seems to be running as fast as it can, through the jungle that I went through, with the sound of explosions and destruction coming from behind us. Just how much stronger has Nir become?!