Treehouse (Chapters 1-10)

[Babymullet Ver 9.8]

I love my backyard.

To use the word yard is an understatement, the area behind my house was a forest. A huge forest, with trees that were older than the town we lived in. The best part of the forest was that it was playground for every kid in a 3 mile area. It was a great equalizer, it didn’t matter what game system you had, what fancy car you drove, all that mattered was that you had your imagination, and could climb a tree.

When high school came around though, people stopped coming to the forest. Some people wanted to come, but had jobs, or college to worry about, but a couple just stayed behind, just a couple. One girl; and one boy. They were always the captains during games of capture the flag, always trying to outdo the other in anything and everything.

Of course, they eventually fell in love.


Huff Huff Huff….

Chad forced his breathing to slow, taking cover behind a tree momentarily catching his breath before dashing out and throwing himself on the ground, now hiding behind a big rock. If everything went according to plan, most of the boys should be in position, or close enough. He peeked over the rock he was behind, quickly taking in the scene. A few girls were gathered around a red handkerchief tied around a stick stuck in the ground. He could catch a smidge of there conversations, most of it rather pointless.

He took cover again, he hadn’t seen Erica yet, which was odd because she usual taunted him all the time during capture the flag. Tonight she was very quiet. ‘No matter’ he thought, ‘this match should be ending soon’

And as if waiting by some divine fate, he heard a cell phone go off in the girl’s camp. He looked up again to see a girl answering her cell; she gave a brief nod before putting her phone down. She looked around the forest for a quick second.

“MIKE! CHARLIE! MOM WANTS US TO COME HOME NOW!!” The girl screamed in a high pitched tone. Two shadows detached themselves for the forest and walked out to the girl who had screamed. Mike, Charlie, and Sara were all siblings, and their mother always seemed to want them to come in early. The boys were halfway to the girl’s camp before they realized that the game was still on. Everyone stopped moving for a second, when all the boys on Chad’s team screamed at the top of their lungs and charged into the girl’s camp.

Half of girls guarding the base screamed and ran around in circles; the other half was trying to defend their flag. Chad slowly made his way around the rocks, looking for an opening, and that’s when he saw Erica.

Like a lightning bolt she ran through the camp, tagging every boy she came across. Knowing he wouldn’t have a better moment, Chad darted out from behind his cover and dashed to the flag. He was able to grab a hold of it before a girl screamed out for Erica. Chad looked behind him to see Erica charging at him, Chad had a good feeling what the running of the bulls would be like, before running as fast as his long legs would take him.

The other kids, having seen the two big kids’ race away, forgot what they were doing and chased after them, screaming at the top of their lungs in support of their respective teammate. Neither Chad nor Erica heard this; they were to busy running or chasing to care.

Chad weaved between trees, trying as hard as he could to get more distance between him and Erica. He leapt over a small stream, recognizing where he was and how close he was to his home base. ‘Not even 100 yards left’ he thought ‘I should be able to handle this.’ Putting in the last bit of energy he had, he ran straight as an arrow to his home base, ducking for the occasional branch.

“Gotcha!” A voice to Chad’s left exclaimed. He barely had time to turn his head before a mass slammed into him and knocked him off balance, sending him sprawling into a pile of leaves. He looked up to see Erica standing above him, a smug smile on her face.

“Dam” Chad said “I’ll never hear the end of this one”


Ten minutes later, after all the kids had gathered up and were sent back home. Erica turned to Chad and asked if she could borrow one of his school textbooks. Although they were rivals when it came to games, the two were good friends. With a nod both of them set off to Chad’s house in relative silence.


“Oh hello you two! Who won tonight’s game?” Chad’s mother asked, a plump woman who described herself as a ‘baker, not a cooker’.

“The girls won today” Chad said with a sigh, while Erica suppressed a giggle.

“Oh dear, you’ll never hear the end of that one, don’t you know?” Chad’s mom replied. She turned to face Erica, “Is their anything I can get for you dear?”

“Oh no Ms. Spencer, I was just here to pick up a textbook” Erica replied
politely, Chad rummaged through his backpack while his mother gave a little sigh.

“You know dear, you can just me Sandra, lord know we’ve know each other long enough to be on a first name basis, don’t you know?” Erica gave a little nod as Chad handed her the book she requested.


“Thanks Chad, well I’ll be seeing you later Ms. Spencer” Erica began walking to the door, and once again Chad’s mom interrupted-

“Oh no you don’t! It’s so dark you’re most likely gonna trip over a root and break every bone in you’re body, don’t you know? Chad, take this flashlight and walk her back to her house!” She had that mom-ish way of seeing something that was not a question, more of a demand. (A demand filled with love!)

Erica and Chad looked at each and shrugged. Chad’s mother sometimes made Chad walk Erica home like this. Secretly, neither of two minded. Chad grabbed the flashlight and escorted Erica out of the door, both of them heading back into the forest.

“And say hello to Mary for me! Bless her heart!” Chad’s mother shouted after them. Chad turned and waved back confirmation of this request, before turning on the flashlight and disappearing with Erica back into the forest.


Chapter 2 Treehouse.

Chad and Erica walked quietly through the forest, gently bumping off each other due to the uneven ground. The flashlight bounced around in front of them as if they were trying to amuse a cat into chasing it. Around them the forest made soft noises, wind rustling through the leaves, the soft creaking of wood, the skittering of a small animal. These sounds to them were as natural as their own heartbeat.

Bump…….Bump………Bump……..

Both of them were thinking the exact same thing whenever they bumped into each. They were just trying to pluck the courage on the next bump to hold hands, and walk through the forest together.

Bump…..

‘Naw, that wasn’t a good bump to work off.’

Bump……

‘Well that was a terrible bump; I got knocked to the side for a bit.’

Bump…..

‘Darn, should have done it then.’

And so on and so forth.


“Hmm…it’s getting a lot darker faster then I thought it was.” Chad mentioned quietly, “I’m not real sure where exactly we are.”

Erica also looked around, trying to find a tree or something of a landmark so they could get their bearings. It wasn’t the darkness that was throwing them off, both of them had played enough in the forest during the night so that they knew which way was which if they could find a suitable landmark.

Tonight though, they were just flat-out lost. Erica bent down and retied her shoes, while Chad cast his flashlight on the ground, looking for a stream, or a gnarled root. Anything that could poi-

Yellow eyes.

“Holy shit!” Chad jumped into the air, dropping the flashlight in surprise.

“What?” Erica asked “Did you hurt yourself?”

“No….I saw….eyes….yellow eyes” Chad replied, realizing how stupid he sounded as soon as the words left his mouth. Erica giggled a little bit, “Oh, big strong Chad saw some scarwy eyes?” She bent down to pick up the flashlight, feeling Chad blush behind her. She moved the light over to where it was before Chad had his little fit, both of them seeing nothing but a leaf stamped into the mud.

Chad gave a little ‘hmpf’ while Erica stood up and pushed on into the forest, moving the light around looking for something familiar. Chad gave one look behind real quick, before he jogged back over to Erica.

Bump……

“Hey wait!” Erica suddenly shone the light onto a massive wall of thorns. The wall was easily 7 or 8 feet tall, and was so thick that you couldn’t see through the other side even if the sun was up.

“Briar Wall!” Chad noted, “So that would make…..yep, right up there.” He pointed a little bit above the wall to a large black mass floating in the air. Erica moved the light up so that they both could see the wood paneling of the Treehouse.

The Treehouse was huge, during the day if you were to walk by it you would think that a tree just picked up a good size house and moved all its branches around to accommodate it. Whenever a new kid went into the forest, the first thing he saw was the Treehouse. Sometimes all the kids would just stand beneath it and look up.

You see, the reason this Treehouse was so amazing, was that no one knew how it got there, or even how to get in it. For as long as anyone could remember, the Treehouse was in the forest. Sometimes college students could be heard talking about it whenever they felt nostalgic. But the Treehouse had no rope leading to it, there were no nearby trees to climb up, and the briar wall made it impossible to use a ladder, or anything else.

So the Treehouse stood where it was, a legend in the halls of the local schools. It was also the biggest landmark in the entire forest. Chad set off to the south west, Erica not far behind. She heard a snapping branch, and moved the flashlight over to see what caused the noi-

Yellow eyes.

“EEPPP!” Erica yelped, dashing forward and running into Chad. They stumbled for a moment, before Chad helped Erica steady herself, looking at her quizzically.

“Eyes” Was all she said, both of them looked at the spot of light, again just
seeing a leaf in the mud. Without a word, both of them began to briskly walk towards Erica’s home, the lights of which could be seen twinkling in the distance.

Bump…

Bump…Their hands met and grasped together. Like a warm fortress, the simple touch made them feel much safer. Suddenly, the yellow eyes both of them had seen weren’t as scary. It even seemed to get a bit brighter outside.
Stopping at the edge of the forest, they made quick goodbyes. Erica smiled softly at Chad, before dashing off to her house. Chad stood and waited for her to get inside, watch the lights go off from one end of the house to the other, and it wasn’t until the last light went out a few minutes later did he turn around and run back to his house.

He didn’t see the eyes again, but then again, he wasn’t looking either.


Chapter 3 Treehouse.

Over the next week, not much activity happened in the forest. Some children had to travel away, on vacation, or some sort of emergency. Others stayed the night at friend’s house. In the case of Chad and Erica, both of them had to hit the books, or be drawn away because of some pointless thing. They only time they saw each other during the week was when Erica returned Chad’s text, their fingers grazing for just a moment, the warm tingling feeling arcing into their bodies for just an instant.

But finally, a break of doing nothing for a few days finally came up on their schedules.

Knock, Knock, Knock… Ms Spencer was in her kitchen; baking a few things for a small get-together she was having later in the evening, when she heard the knock on the door. She quickly washed her hands and dried them by shaking them out in the air as if she became a hummingbird for a few moments.

“Oh hello Erica! So nice to see you! How’s your mother doing?” Ms. Spencer asked, while opening the door for Erica who stepped inside and promptly took her shoes off.

“She’s doing fine, and she’s sorry she couldn’t come to your get-together.” Erica replied.

“Oh bless her heart; it’s the flu again, isn’t it? I swear there’s some sort of bug going around, don’t you know? Are you drinking a bunch of fluids? I heard from that Oz guy on Oprah that dehydration can kill you, don’t you know?” Erica suppressed a giggle as she watched Ms. Spencer go back to her kitchen. She jogged up the staircase, heading down a short hallway to Chad’s room.

Upon carefully sticking her head into his room, and seeing him busily working on something on his computer, she began to creep in as quiet as she could. With only inches between them, she of course made as loud of a scary noise as she could think of.

“Boo”

“Agywhaca!” Chad shouted, jumping into the air, but his jump in the air was rather limited by the underside of his desk, with what his knee slammed in with a huge *Thunk*.

“Oh my god! Sorry! I didn’t mean for you to hurt yourself like that!” Erica pleaded. Chad gingerly hobbled from his desk over to his bed where he sat down, doing a sharp intake of his breath when ever he used his leg.

“I really have to work on my scare-ness” Chad said, rubbing his knee softly.

“Any damage?” Erica asked.

“No, I’ll just have a nice bruise in a couple days.” He tested his weight on his bruised leg and already found it much better. Erica watched him for a few moments; just to make sure he wouldn’t faint in pain like he did every once in awhile, and then turned her attention over to his computer screen. A few pictures of dissected eyeballs dominated his desktop, little scrolls of words sprouting from the pictures like twigs from a branch.

“Why the sudden love of eyeballs?” Erica asked, curious beyond measure.

“Trying to figure out what we saw a week ago” Chad replied, Erica shivered a little bit at the mention of the eyes.

“Ugh, why would you want to think of those again? It was probably just some big passing animal.” Erica prompted; Chad looked at her with skeptical look on his face.

“You really think that?” He asked.

Erica waited a second before nodding her head slowly.

“It was too…different. I only saw them for a second, but I felt like they had been watching us, like it was toying with us…I mean, it communicated all that with just a glance. I don’t think animals can do that.” Erica replied.

“Yeah…I felt that too. But I looked up a couple things; don’t quote me on any of this because I only used the scientific wonder of Wikipedia, but irises can’t be yellow. They can be hazel, which shines yellowish when hit with a certain angle of light, but no creature that has an eyeball of that size, or shape, can have a yellow iris.” Chad said while he hobbled over to his computer and open up a few images files, showing several more dissected eyes.

Erica looked at him a little amused; Chad always looked in his books first when ever he had a question. She could also tell from his excited movements that in all likelihood he had planned, and rehearsed, this entire lecture several times. Suppressing a smile, she decided to play along.

“Size and shape?” She asked.

“Yeah, how big do you think that thing was?” Chad asked, leaning forward with interest. Erica thought for a moment, never having considered that before. She was more concerned with being as far away as possible from the eyes.

“Umm…I would say, about as big…as my…fist…” Erica answered, shocked at the fact. Chad nodded, he held up his own fist for comparison. He opened up a file showing a moose, and then a moose’s eye out of its socket.

“Now a moose has the biggest eye of any forest creature, and it’s only 40 mm in diameter” Chad turned to face her, “That’s barely two inches.” He then held up his fist and placed it over his eye, Erica stared at in a moment before the two arrived at the same thought.

“That thing was huge” Erica said, now even more afraid of the eyes, because what ever it was, it was large enough to easily crush her or Chad.

Both of them stood in silence. Considering the danger they were in that night, a whisper of their minds told them to be logical, stating over and over that animals are more afraid of us, then we are of them. But something didn’t feel right about that, the eyes seemed to speak, there was a psyche behind the eyes that did not exist in other animals.

All this thinking and studying led to only one conclusion of course, it was time to go on an adventure.

A short while later, with shoes back on, coats zipped up, Chad and Erica set off into the forest. This time they only bumped off each other once before they held hands. The warm tingling feeling returning to them, they walked in silence, but each had a hint of a smile on their faces.

After a few minutes of being together, they almost forgot why they went in the forest in the first place. Both were rather content just to walk around aimlessly, together. Their unspoken crush they had on each other slowly changing into something more. But the winds of fate don’t allow these things to happen simply.

**

An old, wizened hand reached out and steadied itself in a doorway, looking out his window to the forest floor 25 feet below him. He breathed softly, watching a shadow slither from tree to tree. He frowned for a few seconds before turning around and grabbing his cloak.

“Now it is time for me’s dice to be cast”

Chapter 4 Treehouse.

“Hey wait, wouldn’t you say this is where I saw the eyes?” Chad asked to Erica, who looked around and took notice of the trees and their shapes.

“I think so…where was it that you flashed the light?” Erica asked, Chad looked around for a few moments before pointing to a somewhat open spot in the forest. Erica walked over, Chad a few steps behind. At first they’re was nothing but leaves to be seen, Chad bent down to careful move them out of the way. He heard a gasp, and it took him a moment to figure out it was him.

Erica looked at him curiously as he picked away some more leaves, trying not to disturb the scene. A few moments later, Erica too made a note of surprise.
The ground had been decimated by claw marks, deep tracks a few inches deep. Dark black ooze pooled at the bottom of the claw marks, ever the detective, Chad bent down and gently wafted the air around the ooze towards his nose. He took a slight sniff, and what felt like a fireball went up his nose and surrounded his eyeballs, his face scrunched up in pain. He stood still for a moment as he forced the bile in his stomach from coming up.

Erica noticed something was wrong when Chad began to sweat a little bit. She gently bent down next to him, wrapping her arms around him. Chad barely noticed that she was there, the fireball in his eyes now traveling down to his gut, to ever limb in his body.

“Chad, I think we should head home. Those claw marks are huge.” Erica said simply. It took a concentrated will of effort for Chad to nod his head forward. Erica provided support as the two of them slowly worked there way out of the forest.

Luckily, the pain subsided a few minutes later. Chad still ached, but it no longer felt like some was pulling fishhooks through all the tubes in his body.

“Thank you” Chad said.

“Do you think you could walk on your own?” Erica asked, still providing support.

“No” Chad lied; he was enjoying the attention from Erica to much to say otherwise. “But let’s rest by Big Oak for a minute, and then get the heck out of here.” The Big Oak was just past one of the many streams that ran through the forest, and it was just what its name implied, a big oak tree. It was the right of passage of any kid who played in the forest to reach the top of the mighty tree.

“I think we’re in over our heads here” Chad strained, as he slowly lowered himself and rested up against Big Oak. “I mean, not only is thing huge, but it looks like it can rip our heads off, and that black ooze…..ugh”

“Yeah, I want to get out of here as soon as possible” Erica replied, looking over her shoulder.

“Hey, isn’t it getting a little darker out?” she asked, Chad looked up at the sky; it wasn’t darker, but the sky…it shouldn’t be that color.

“Yeah….let’s get going now” Chad said, he carefully got up back on his feet, steadying himself for a moment before nodding to Erica. The two of them walked around the tree, heading back to Chad’s house.

They ran right into it within three steps. Yellow eyes staring into them as if it had been expecting them this entire time, it was still toying with them. The two of them froze with fear, the idea of screaming locked into a little box in their head.

The creature itself looked like the entire contents of a mass grave pressed into some mold, a parody of some sort of four legged animal. Twisted steel wire held the massive form together, and the ooze dripped from every crevice and crack in its uneven form.

But the eyes were still the worst, it was wrong to have something so alive, so important for human communication, on an object of pure evil. Chad felt the bile rise in his throat again, next to him he felt Erica tensing, her hand shaking in his. The massive figure took a step forward, a section of its face dropping to reveal an area filled with teeth washed in the black ooze.

With a tremendous creaking and snapping, one of Big Oak’s branches swung round and brought itself down hard on the creature’s back. The creature slammed into the ground and let out a roar that sounded like it could rip the bark off a tree. A second branch came slamming down on the creature’s face, but now it began to fight back, tearing at the branches with its claws and teeth.

GO! A voice said, coming from all directions. Chad and Erica bolted, the sickness of being near such a creature still affecting them, tears streamed down their face, their hearts pounded. They ran in any direction but where the creature was.

This way! The voice said again. Even though it seemed to come from everywhere, Chad and Eric instinctually ducked under a branch and headed off towards the Treehouse. They could see its block shape in the distance, and their legs carried them as fast as they could.

CRUNCH

The creature had somehow broken free of Big Oak, they could feel its loping gait behind them, felt the whispers of its hot, sickening breath licking their backs.

Quickly, make it to the wall! The voice said. Their hearts sprang in their chest; Briar Wall was barely a stone’s throw away! Willing the last bit of energy in their limbs, Chad and Erica made their final dash to the Treehouse. The creature took a swipe at them with a limb as thick as a man, but this sudden burst of speed only gave them the tiniest of scratches. Still, the ooze got into their bodies, lighting their blood on fire. They collapsed on the ground, limbs sprawling out in every direction. Mercifully unconscious.

The creature came to a halt, looking down at its new victims. It reached down to grab them, when the Briar Wall came alive. It coiled up into one massive ball of thorns, before launching out, wrapping around the creature like a snake. The creature tried to cut, to break the Wall, but it was being crushed. At once, the Briar snake began to rotate while still holding the creature, its sharp thorns cutting into it.

With a roar, the creature tried to break free, but the thorns kept spinning, slowly tearing it apart, bit by bit. Slowly, its struggles and activity died down. Within minutes all that was left was the twisted steel wire that held it together, and a dark smear that was on every thorn. Briar Wall slowly uncoiled itself, once again surrounding the Treehouse.

A lone figure looked down at the two teenagers on the ground, now peacefully sleeping as if nothing occurred.

“Not now, no no no. Healing must be done for you and me’s. When you wake, then you come to see me’s. Me’s wait, me’s heal during then. Then me’s be ready for you to fulfill your destiny.” The figure raised his arm, and with a flash of green light, Chad and Erica disappeared.


Chapter 5 Treehouse.

Chad woke with a start, as suddenly as if someone had just flicked a switch on his head. His mind was still running off the chase that had happen not but a few hours ago, and it took him a few moments to realize where he was. Chad was in his own bed, in his own room. He closed his eyes again, listening to the sound of his own breath echoing off the walls. The warmth of his sheets, the coldness around his waist…

Wait, his neurons struggled to add two and two together. He snapped his body to attention and looked down to see a dark circle of moisture around his lower half, his neurons had added up this new equation. He had wet the bed.

He gently sprang out of bed, taking off his clothes and stripping his bed. Making a massive bundle of wet fabric, Chad sneaked half naked through the hall to the wash room. The sounds of his mother’s little get-together, a whole gaggle of middle aged women with alcoholic drinks, made if fairly easy to sneak around the house.

After a quick shower and clean, dry, clothes; Chad moved the wet bundle of fabric over to the dryer. Several thoughts tumbled through his head; chief among them was how he went from the forest to his bed, and where Erica was. His bedwetting he attributed to either massive stress or shock. His whole body shuddered as he remembered the creature. ‘More like a demon’ he thought.

Grabbing his coat, he head out to his backyard, waving to his mother’s friends who were gathered on the porch, raising their martini glasses. Chad stopped right on the edge of the forest, peering in. His mind weighed his desire to find and make sure that Erica was okay, and the fact that the forest now had evil demons inside of it.

Chad dashed into the forest.



He stopped running when he reached Big Oak.

The mighty tree, once the most majestic thing in the forest save the Treehouse, was now decimated. Its bark had been ripped off in numerous places, deep black ooze eating away at the wood. The tree gave a deep creak, almost as if it was in pain. He placed his palm on the great oak,

“You saved my life Big Oak” The tree seemed to creak in reply; Chad heard the rustling of wind through the trees. “Thank you” The rustling of leaves seem to intensify for a moment before Chad realized that there was no wind blowing through the forest. He whirled around; prepare to see another demon right behind.

Instead was another tree, what looked to be a willow. Chad clamed down for a moment, before the tree turned to look at him. Chad screamed in surprise as he could see a perfect face made of knobs and knots of wood. The eyes and face never changed, but betrayed an immense intelligence.

The willow’s head moved back and forth, his leaves rustling into a melodic song. Chad’s panic immediately died down; somehow he knew that he wasn’t in any danger from this tree. As if the tree could tell what he was thinking, it began to walk towards Big Oak.

Chad watching in amazement, the tree’s short stubby roots moving around as if was a type of centipede. It placed two large branches, with soft, nimble twigs on the end, on one of the gaping wounds on Big Oak. It began rocking its head again, the leaves rustling into another song. Chad gasped as green sap oozed from Big Oak onto its gaping wounds. New wood began growing in its place, healing the dead, diseased wood. Chad looked back at the Willowman,

“Took good care of Big Oak, it saved my life.” Chad requested, the Willowman briefly nodded its head.

“Umm…do you know where my friend is? Her name is Erica?” Chad briefly wondered why he was asking a tree for directions, but odder things had happened in the past 24 hours. Willowman lifted one of its branches and pointed off in the direction of Erica’s house.

“Oh, she’s at her house…Thank you” Chad bowed to Willowman before running off.


Chad knocked a few times on Erica’s door; he heard a muffled ‘Come in!’ Chad gently walked inside, to see Ms. Patova wrapped in blankets and holding several tissues to her nose.

“Hello Ms. Patova, sill fighting off the flu?” Chad asked, Ms. Patova slowly nodded.

“Is Erica in her room?” Chad asked, Ms. Patova shrugged her shoulders and began to measure out a does of Dayquil. Chad gently chuckled to himself as he walked down a hallway. He saw that Erica’s bedroom door was slightly ajar. He poked his head to check up on Erica.

Erica was sleeping peacefully on top of her bed, her chest slowly rising up and down. Chad stood in the doorway, feeling slightly creep-ish watching Erica, and so he gently walked over to wake her up. That’s when he realized that she too had wet the bed.

Moving slower now, he gently shoke her awake. She groaned softly before rolling over and opening her eyes, looking up at Chad.

“Ugh, what happened?” Erica asked, rubbing her head gently.

“I have no idea, but umm…your bed…” Chad began, Erica looked down on her bed, and nearly jumped out of it when she realized that it was wet. She gave a single, sharp, ‘EEP’ before running out of her room into the bathroom across the hall.

Chad blinked for a moment before silently stripping Erica’s bed and put it in the household washer. He heard the shower turning on, and guessed that Erica had the same thought process he did earlier in the day. Chad stood idly in the hall, unsure of what to do. Having no better idea, he headed back outside and waited just at the beginning of the forest.

A few minutes later, he saw Erica coming outside. She headed straight for him and without a word the two of them embraced each other. Erica cried softly as Chad stroked her back.

“If it helps any, I woke up in a wet bed also.” Chad said softly, Erica looked at him quizzically.

“That’s a bit to coincidental” Erica said, Chad nodded.

“Ready to go back in?” Chad asked.

“Only if we’re in this together” Erica replied.

And that’s when they had their first kiss.

[Babymullet Ver 9.8]

Chapter 6 Treehouse

Even if a person can see it coming from a mile away, the first kiss between two people who love each other sends a shockwave through their bodies. The first initial touch, every cell in your body stands on its end. Then time seems to stretch, and for the life of a planet your lips touch each other. Such a simple touch: a Kaleidoscope of chemicals rushes through your veins. And in an instant, it’s all done.

Faces still touching, lips only a short breath away, carefully opening eyes to look at each. Chad and Erica began to grow small smiles. The entirety of all the unspoken words between, all the emotions that were never said had been told with just one kiss.

Alas, if only it was that simple.

A screech, the sound of nails on chalkboard echoed through the forest. Chad and Erica looked around the forest to see what was making such an awful noise. A large ripping noise behind them made them turn around to see a slim, pure black figure step out of dark hole suspended in the air into Erica’s lawn. The black figure took two steps to the edge of the forest before stopping suddenly. With a snap of its arm, a black bolt shot towards Erica. Without thinking Chad jumped in front of the bolt, with a cruel, cold Thunk, the bolt hit him square in the chest. Chad blacked out immediately.

**

Chad woke up halfway through the process of puking. Bright white lights shined in his face blinding him, while dark shapes of human heads ducked around his field of vision. A strong smell of antiseptic washed up his nose before he heard one of the blobs shout.

“Jesus! He’s vomiting! He must have eaten something recently!” A voice said, Chad felt strong hands on his throat, forcing down the stinging bile. He gagged several times before punching his fist hard into something fleshy. The hands loosened their grip just enough for Chad to get a single breath in and force whatever was coming up his gut back down.

“He’s violent! He’s hurting the people who are helping him! He’s delusional! Call –“ Chad blacked out again before he could learn what was being called for.

**

Blinking slowly into awareness, Chad slowly woke up and moved his body around. Feeling like someone had beaten every inch of him with a bat he laid still for a moment, waiting for the room to stop spinning, or his head. When he could finally focus on one spot, he looked around to see a bare room. A few chairs lined up against one wall; a single window with bars across it let in a single shaft of light, a steel door with a thin slot of a window was the only apparent exit.

Chad tried to lean forward to get a better look around, but a sharp tug at his wrists stopped him from moving in any directions. Looking down Chad noticed handcuffs attached to both of his wrists and the hospital bed. He noticed he was also wearing a flimsy hospital paper gown. It took him a few moments to place the dense feeling around his waist; pressing his legs together he felt the slight squish of a wet diaper.

“You must excuse all the precautions, but we cannot take any risks until further study.” A voice said. Chad jumped and looked around, seeing a thin man standing in the corner. The figure was standing in the half light, so Chad couldn’t make out much detail about him.

“What’s going on?” Chad asked, “Who are you?”

“To answer the easier question, I am Dr. Robinson. You are here under strict security for a few reasons. One, you’ve been deemed extremely violent: You both attacked the doctors helping you, and the girl you were with, als-“

“I would never hurt Erica!” Chad interrupted; Dr Robinson took a deep breath.

“An eye witness puts you both in the forest, and diving towards the girl. You collapsed for the second reason you’re in here. Your blood test came back with stuff we’ve never seen before, although from what we can tell, it shares remarkable traits of some hardcore street drugs.” Dr. Robinson said, stating each word slowly, as if Chad would have trouble understanding them. Chad himself was in shock, he was tied up to a hospital bed for things that were not true. His struggled to ask a question, or say anything, but the thoughts slipped out of his mind as if they were greased.

“My mom?” Chad asked.

“You will be able to see her in a few minutes; right now I’m going to ask you few questions. It is very important that you answer these questions truthfully. Got it?” Dr Robinson asked, Chad nodded slowly in reply.

“Why were you in the forest?” Dr. Robinson asked. Chad was about to answer that he and Erica were looking for a giant demon that didn’t exist, and that treemen may help him, but considered otherwise.

“I was walking with Erica.” He replied, which was true.

“Why were you walking with Erica?” The doctor asked again. Chad mind scrambled for an answer, but his mouth was already spitting one out.

“We were going to a Treehouse, to kiss.” Which had the possibility of being true Chad thought. At the mention of a Treehouse, the doctor gave a large twitch in surprise. The doctor tried to hide the movement by beginning to walk around the room, towards the window.

“A Treehouse? Tell me about it?” The doctor asked.

‘That’s an odd question for a health exam,’ Chad thought. ‘Might as well keep going with it.’

“It’s a pretty cool Treehouse, its been there as long as anyone can remember. You have to work at getting inside of it, but I’ve done it a couple times.” Chad lied.

“Oh really?” The doctor said, facing the window. He twirled around so that he suddenly faced Chad “You’re lying.” He said simply. It was Chad’s turn to hide the surprise on his face.

“Even if that old fool Zagmut had given you powers over the forest, you have no where near the Novalen powers to access it.” At the mention of Novalen, a word that came off the lips feeling old, the air felt a little denser. The word bounced around the room longer than it should have.

“What the hell is going on?” Chad demanded. The doctor smiled, his lips pulling back….and back. The doctor’s smile kept opening until something poked out of the mouth, large fingers. The fingers gripped the side of the doctor’s face, and then with an immense rip, two fleshy flaps of skin fell to the ground.
In the doctor’s place stood a massive, squat, hulking shape; like the demon in the forest it was made of decaying bodies and flesh held together with twisted cold steel. It was so massive it had to slouch to fit in the room. Black ooze leaked from every crack in its broken frame. Hands from where the head would be parted to show the same vivid yellow eyes. At once, using the lips from the bodies that made up its figure, the thing spoke.

“Trust me, you have no idea what is going on.” The sound of dozens of voices talking in agony made Chad brake out in tears. He felt the diaper around his waist get heavier as the figure took a step forwards.

“Now tell me where the girl is!” It screamed. Chad took every thought, memory, and feeling for Erica and shoved down into the deepest corner of his mind and locked it with a key. The eyes stared at him for a moment with immense disdain.

“I see” The figured rumbled, “You Love her, foolish boy. An illusion that is, potent though it is. Very well, I’ll keep you in here for awhile, watch you die, and then rip the truth right out of your soul” Chad heard the stomping of footsteps head towards the door, he choked out a question that had been on his mind for awhile.

“Why?” He asked. The monster, now in the guise of Dr. Robinson turned to face him.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe, and you would hang on to that idea. It would give you strength, dull the pain. And if the off chance you do believe, it would give you hope. I’m not going to give you that.” The doctor closed the door, and Chad was alone.



Hours later, cold, with a leaky diaper, Chad somehow fell asleep. His arms had to stay at his side due to the handcuffs, and his neck ached from the awkward position.

Knock…Knock…Knock.

Chad looked up confused, he checked the door, but he heard the knocking noise again. He turned to face the other way, and his jaw nearly fell off in surprise. Erica was FLOATING outside the window. He gave a scream of joy but quickly closed his mouth when he saw do a hush gesture. She did a quick motion with her hands around her eyes, and it took Chad a moment to figure out that she wanted him to close his eyes. He nodded his head and turned to face the other direction.

FSHOOSH! A light so bright it felt like it shined into his eyes from the back of his head. He turned around immediately to see what was going on
Erica gently flew into the room like Peter Pan, as soon as her feet touched the ground she ran towards Chad, flung her arms around him, and the two of them kissed.

Up until that moment, Chad was going to say how she should get out, that crazy Doctor Rip-jaw was looking for her. But that kiss made it all moot. Because somehow he knew that everything was going to be okay now. Erica broke away from the kiss and looked down at Chad chained wrists.

“Oh…don’t worry, we’ll break you out.” She said calmly.

“We? Who’s we?” He asked, Erica gave a sly grin before grabbing a piece of chalk from her pocket. Chad watched curiously as she traced 5 rune symbols on a wall. She then grabbed an acorn, (Chad was really confused at this point) speaking softly into her hand, she chucked the acorn as hard as she could at the wall.

The acorn tapped the wall with a slight chink, on the bounce all 5 runes flashed brightly. And where there was once a wall, there was now the side of a tree that reached floor to ceiling. With a sudden green flash, an old man accompanied by several treemen appeared in the room.

“Excellent! Yes, yes, eh, yes. Good good. You learn, yes, very fast, eh?” The old said. He spoke in a very broken record fashion. His beard looked long enough for him to trip on, and he wore a huge cloak that was stitched in an intricate leafy design. The old man looked over Chad, who felt like he had nothing to fear from this man.

“And you, yes, yes, good. Me’s happy to see you, eh? Good. Alive, and, eh, not well, no no. But still eh, 1 out 2, good, good.” The man said, now looking at Chad for the first time. Chad looked over at Erica, who merely shrugged her shoulders. A sudden snapping noise drew Chad’s attention to his wrists, where a treeman had snapped off the handcuffs. Chad rubbed his sore wrists for a few seconds, before gingerly sliding out of the bed and hugging Erica.

“Yes yes, eh, no, yes, good good. Cuddle time later, now we must go, eh? Yes. Yes. Gather round, eh?” The old man said.

“Are we going back to the Treehouse?” Erica asked.

“No, No, eh, yes. We go much farther, yes, eh?” The old man sputtered, Erica shrugged again, but half carried Chad over to the tree stuck in the wall. She placed her hand on the bark, and the treemen surrounded Erica and Chad. They began rustling their leaves, and Chad felt like parts of him were leaving bit by bit.



Chapter 7

With a flash of green, Chad and Erica appeared in a shining hall, ripped right out Greek mythology, tall white columns of marble reached up to a ceiling that disappeared in the clouds. Stone golems dressed in gold and silver armor stood in between each column, each grasping a massive two handed weapon. Paintings of phalanxes and gods dominated the walls. Chad felt some warmth going down his legs from the sheer scale of the room he was in

“Zagmut, once again you come to our halls…ahh, I see why” A melodic voice said at one hall. Chad turned to see a woman, dressed in deep purple robes, curly red hair went down to her shoulders, andpiercing blue eyes that seemed to stare right into Chad. But unlike the evil, yellow eyes from daemons, her eyes had a logical, yet loving appearance. She gracefully rose from a simple throne and began to walk towards them.

“Could it be that an old fool had found the two we are looking for?” The women said. The old man seemed to cock his head sideways at this question, his eyes shifted back and forth for a second before he licked his lips.

“Bring? No, no, no, eh? They need need, yes, eh? Rest. The family, eh? Looking for them, yes yes, eh? Perhaps they are, yes yes, and no no.” Said the old man, Chad realized that Zagmut was the old man.

“We will give them shelter Zagmut; arm them for the coming conflict.” The lady turned to face Chad and Erica, a soft smile showing on her face. “I can see both of you are weary, allow us to provide for you.” She spoke in a way that made it not a question, or to question her. Chad looked over to Erica who merely nodded.

“Good, follow Archeas behind you to a room. When you are rested and fed, all will be explained, specifically your role in this world. Zagmut, if I could talk with you before you go.” Zagmut seemed eager to leave where ever they were.

“Come with me please.” A voice that echoed of two rocks grinding together, Chad and Erica turned to see one of the massive golems gesturing to follow. They looked one last time at Zagmut, who reluctantly nodded his head at them, but not before winking briefly.


A few minutes of walking, Chad leaving little drops of urine from his leaking diaper, and the golem gestured to a doorway.

“There is a bath through the doorway on the left.” The stone golem said.

“Thank you…umm…what was your name again?” Chad asked

“Archeas” It replied.

“Oh, well thank you Archeas.” Chad said.

“I serve the light.” Archeas replied, before walking off down another hall.

“Odd way to say you’re welcome” Erica muttered as she walked into the room.
Chad whistled softly as they stepped inside, the room oozed rich. Huge murals of angels and holy figures filled the wall. The carpet was so soft that it would have been just as easy to fall asleep on the floor as the white bed with golden bed posts. The room itself opened up to the outdoors, a guardrail serving as the fourth wall in the room.

Chad and Erica gasped as they looked over the guardrail; a massive forest sprawled out as far as the eye could see, a blue, pristine river snaked between trees and rocks, and small white figures could be seen moving through the forest.

“The Novalen…” Erica whispered in awe. At the mention of the word, Chad looked up.

“Alright, what is going on?” He asked.

“Well I’m no so sure myself, Zagmut tried to tell me a few things, but I can barely understand him.” Erica began, “From what I gathered, the elements of the world are powered by spirits. We can control them, but we have to remove some sort of seal first.”

“No no no, not a bad idea you have” Chad and Erica jumped in the air in surprise and turned around to see Zagmut standing in the doorway. “Seal, yes yes, eh? Broken with every use of Novalen yes yes, no no you let them know you can use Novalen, eh?” There was lengthy pause after this sentence and it took them a few moments to realize that Zagmut was giving them a question.

“You don’t want them to find out we can use Novalen?” Erica confirmed,

Zagmut nodded eagerly, before reaching into his pocket, grabbing Chad’s hand he pressed a dirty looking apple in his hand.

“You eat, no no no eh? When I’m gone, yes yes, eh? Don’t eat their fruit, no no, yes no.” Zagmut hobbled to the door, Chad and Erica both staring at him in utter confusion. Zagmut paused at the doorway, turning to look at them.

The crazy look in his eyes seemed to leave for a moment.

“Don’t trust them” Zagmut said, and with a green flash, he was gone. Chad and Erica stood still for a moment, openmouthed. Not even massive demon dogs could compare to Zagmut on the weird scale.



Chad looked down at the fruit in his hand. It looked like one of those foods you see on reality shows, so disgusting that only a bucket of cash could make you do it.

“Eat it” Erica said. Chad looked at her quizzically. He thought at first that she was joking, but her warm smile made him think otherwise. Carefully, he took a bite.

Every flavor he had every tasted was dancing on his tongue. He took a huge bite out of the apple again, greedily munching on it as if it was first bite of food in days. Juices trickled down his chin as flavors exploded in his mouth. A few of the flavors were unpleasant, but they were washed out with every other good thing.

Just like a kiss, the fruit was gone before Chad knew it. He looked sadly at his empty hands, Erica giggled at his behavior.

“Now look around.” She said. Chad listened to her and looked around the room and out past the guardrail. At first he couldn’t notice anything. Then a little star bounced off his forehead, he shouted in surprise and feel backwards landing on his arse. A loud squish could be heard, and Chad felt gel leaking out around his legs. He blushed in embarrassment, Erica didn’t say anything, and she only helped him up and gave him a soft kiss.

“I’m gonna take a shower really quick” Chad said, his eyes watching the little stars flying around the room. Erica watched him follow the little stars around, smiling at his curiosity.

“Those are Novalen, the spirits of the elements.” Erica said. Chad stood in awe at the spirits flying all around him. The ones in the room seemed to be flying around at high speeds, and if Chad focused on them they seemed to fly towards him. They began to spin around Chad, and with little effort, they lifted him off the ground. Chad gently floated through the air, flight at his fingertips.

“Hey crinklebut” Erica said, herself now orbiting around him. “Go take a shower; we can have some fun later.” Chad nodded and had the wind spirits push him towards the bathroom.



A few minutes later, Chad emerged. Showers were nice enough when you need to get clean, but when the water was a bunch of Novalen water spirits, the possibilities of play was endless. He could bend the Novalen to his will, and he had made the water form shapes before exploding. Wearing some clean clothes that were provided, he walked back in the room to see Erica floating a few feet above the bed.


Erica smiled as she saw Chad entered her field of vision, floating a few feet above her. She pushed herself upwards, and the two of them experienced the first zero-G kiss in human history.


Treehouse chapter 8

WHUMPF

Chad laughed as a pillow slammed into his head; he got his arm up in time as the pillow came back down like a jackhammer. It harmlessly slammed away at him for a few seconds; he turned to look at Erica who was standing in the opposite corner of the room.

“You gonna just keep hitting me, or are you going to do something else?” He asked, Erica shrugged in response. With a flash of Novalen, the pillow reversed directions and came at him from under him, slamming into his chin.
Chad and Erica had quickly found ways to amuse themselves; they had received a message earlier that they should get plenty of rest, and that Archeas would escort them to a meeting later in the day. They soon were testing out the limits of Novalen, or they just had massive pillow fights, give or take.

Chad grabbed onto the pillow with Novalen, and launched it in the air like a boomerang towards Erica. Laughing, Erica jumped 11 feet in the air to avoid the deadly, spinning, fluffy pillow. With a flick of her wrist, the bed sheets sprang into action. Like a giant trap the sheet wrapped itself around the flying pillow, making it fall dead to the floor mid flight.

“Aww…that’s no fun.” Chad said, letting go of the pillow. He watched the Novalen fly around the room before settling back into a somewhat peaceful motion.

Knock…Knock…Knock…Chad and Erica froze, not quite sure how to handle someone knocking on the door.

“Who is it?” Chad asked.

“It is Archeas, I am to escort you to your meeting with Lady Eiowynn” A rumbling voice answered.

“Who?” Erica asked.

“A conversation is much easier when both parties can see each other. May I open the door?” Archeas asked. Chad and Erica looked around the room, they were still taking Zagmut’s advice and trying to hide the fact they can use Novalen. They quickly rearranged a few items in the room and opened the door for Archeas.

“So…who is Eiowynn?” Erica asked again.

“Lady Eiowynn is who you met when you arrived in this plane.” Chad and Erica both remembered the women in purple robes. They both wondered what Archeas meant by planes, but decided not to ask.

“She wishes to see you” Archeas continued “In 30 minutes, I am to escort you to the meeting. Please meet me outside your room when you are ready.” Archeas then turned on the spot and walked out the room, closing the door behind.

“Any bets on when we’re gonna meet someone who acts normal?” Erica asked after a lengthy pause.

“At this rate, forever.” Chad replied, laughing to himself.

“Well I’m gonna go take a shower” Erica said, heading over to bathroom “No peaking” She added, winking at Chad.

‘Wait’ Chad thought ‘Does the wink mean…? aww dammit’


A few minutes later Erica came out dressed in new clothes, Chad hopped off the bed he had been resting on and gave her a quick kiss.

“Ready to go meet this Eiowynn?” He asked.

“Yeah, I have a bunch of questions. Like why is there a stack of diapers in the bathroom?” Erica asked.

“What?” Chad asked in reply. He quickly stuck his head in the bathroom to see a small stack of diapers lining up against the wall. “Huh…I guess I didn’t see those”

Erica decided not to go on any more about the topic, but grabbed Chad’s hand and they walked together out of the room to Archeas, who lead them silently down the hallway. Having no better option, Chad and Erica followed.

For the most part, the journey was silent, but every once in awhile they ran across a figure in white robes. The reaction from these robed figures was always that of shock. The blood drained from their faces, their mouths wide open, eyes painted with fear. Chad stared right back at one of the figures, and with a small scream he ran away.

“Why are they so afraid of us?” Erica asked.

“Because you are in the very sanctum of this plane and your purity is of an unknown value.” Archeas responded in his gravel-like voice. Like everything else in the past few days, this statement only created more questions.

“We are here.” Archeas said, with a push from his massive stone arms he opened a massive golden doorway. Chad expected for a massive shining light to overwhelm him, just like an Indian Jones movie. But instead a weak light made him blink for a few seconds. What he could only guess was Eiowynn was sitting at a table, playing a game of chess with herself.

Eiowynn was dressed in the same pair of purple robes as before; she calmly looked down at the board below her, and deliberately moved a white piece. Chad could see small sparkles of Novalen twinkle and move a clear chess piece in response.

Eiowynn looked up at the two of them, a warm smile on her face.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions, why you are here, what has happened to you in the past few days, or even the more immediate concern of what is moving these chess pieces .” She asked, her voice was very regal, and seemed to echo off the chambers so that her voice surrounded them. Chad opened his mouth to reply, but Erica cut him to it.

“What is it?” She asked innocently. Chad mentally kicked himself; they still had to act as if they didn’t know about Novalen.

“It’s a substance called Novalen, it is the primary element of the universe, from which all else is created.” Eiowynn began, she gestured to the ground and Novalen sparked up to create two chairs.

“In the beginning, everything was a mixture of nothing, or Novalen. We known very little, but what we do know is that a divine being, or several divine beings, reached their minds into the cosmos and created the universe and eventually, Earth. They seeded it with life and a few millions of years later, mankind came into existence. These beings gave mankind the greatest of gifts; they gave them the ability to use Novalen to their own end.” Eiowynn continued, moving another chess piece into place. Chad noted that she was playing a losing game. He smiled to himself as he realized that Eiowynn had rehearsed this entire speech.

“However mankind is a flawed creature, ruled by chaotic forces; many used Novalen for evil purposes. Chaos reigned over Earth, destruction was commonplace, and death was everywhere. A small band of warriors gathered together to try and stop the chaotic forces. But it was too much, too late.” Eiowynn was now moving her chess pieces too defensively; the other side chipping away at her remaining pieces. At last, all that stood was her king, checkmate.

“In one final effort, they created a massive spell that sucked all the Novalen out of Earth into two distinct planes of existence. One plane was for evil, the other plane was for light, which is where you are now.” Eiowynn softly blew over the chess board, all the opposing pieces falling over. She gently picked up her own king piece and held it up.

“And that is who we are, guardians of the planes. It is our job to ensure that evil stays where it belongs, and that we influence the rest of humanity with the powers of good.” Eiowynn turned to look at them. “Somehow you have entered this battle, the forces of evil want you, and you have already met its warriors. Why they want you, we do not know.”

“You don’t know?” Chad asked, Eiowynn nodded her head. Chad was about to say something again, when Doc. Ripjaw’s words suddenly rang through his head.

If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me, and you would hang on to that idea, that I was a liar. It would give you strength, dull the pain. And if the off chance you do believe, it would give you hope. I’m not going to give you that.

Chad looked back at Eiowynn, her eyes hid it well, but deep in the depths Chad could see that she lying.

‘Even in the plane of light, we have to be careful.’ Chad thought.

Eiowynn slowly reached down behind her and grabbed two small apples. Unlike the apple Chad had eaten the day before, these apples were pristine, perfect, the kind apples you see in grocery store commercials.

“The second thing the warriors did when they sucked the Novalen out of Earth was that they placed a seal on every human. This seal was very powerful, and blocked the ability for humans to use Novalen, so that evil can never wield such power again. These fruit are grown from trees that are fed off 100% pure Novalen substance. They begin to chip away at the seal in your mind, allowing you to see Novalen, and use it” Eiowynn handed them an apple, and gestured for them to take a bite. Chad looked carefully at Erica, remembering the second piece of advice Zagmut gave them.

Chad took a bite of the fruit, his mouth exploded in sweetness, so sweet it actually made his tongue burn. Eiowynn nodded and turned away to walk to a balcony, gesturing all around her.

“Look! Look at the world that is now revealed to you!” Eiowynn said, joy filling her voice. Chad gestured to Erica and the both of them hid the rest of the apples in their pocket.

“Wow!” Chad began to act, slowly getting up and looking around him. Acting like kids in a candy store Chad and Erica began to lie through their teeth about Novalen. They did a gentle manipulation of some Novalen on the ground, which made Eiowynn congratulate them as if they were children.

By now, a few juices from the apple that Eiowynn had given them were going through their bodies. The pure light of the fruit reacted with the poisons in their bodies, the tiny scratch given to them by the demon in the forest. Chad’s inner organs all seemed to flip-flop at once, making him stumble before falling to the ground. Through his swirling vision he could see Erica do the same; he felt a warm puddle spread out beneath him.

‘Not again’ Chat thought. He closed his eyes to close out the spinning room and just focused on breathing in and out. He felt like his body was raising up above him, and he focused himself to calm down, to sink down. After a few minutes of breathing, rising, and sinking, Chad was able to open his eyes and look around.

Erica was curled up in the fetal position, a slightly yellow puddle growing beneath her. Chad looked down also to see he had wet himself, again. He looked to see Eiowynn was standing at the opposite side of the room; several stone golems were standing by her, weapons pointed straight at Chad and Erica.

“They are not pure!” Eiowynn screamed. “How are they not pure?! Zagmut! What did that bastard give to you?” She clapped her hands together above her head and with a flash of light, she disappeared. For a long moment Chad could only hear the sound of his breath echo off the room.

“I am to take you back to you room, where you will stay until further notice.” Archeas said. Chad nearly jumped out of his skin; Archeas had somehow entered the room with no one noticing. Chad looked over at Archeas and nodded his head as he pushed himself slowly into a standing position. Erica was still curled up into a little ball.

“What s going on?” Chad asked, gently nudging Erica. She only mumbled something softly in reply. Gently Chad picked her and began to carry her.

“You are tainted.” Archeas replied.

“Tainted?” Chad said.

“You are not a human of pure light, a taint exists in you. Such a taint should not exist on this plane, a person in your presence risks the possibility of their soul becoming corrupt. I will most likely be destroyed.” Archeas replied.

“Destroyed? For just being around us?” Chad asked.

“Yes” Archeas replied simply. Chad followed Archeas in thought; the old saying of ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’ jumped to the front of his mind.

“What’s going to happen to us?” Chad asked.

“You will be put on trial, it will then be decided if you can be saved. If you can be saved, we will purify your soul and raise you in the ways of the light.” Archeas replied.

“And if we can’t be saved?” Chad asked.
Archeas stopped at the doorway to their room, he held open the door for Chad as he walked through, still carrying Erica in his arms.

“Then you will be executed.” Archeas replied. The door swung back, and with a loud clicking noise it was locked. Chad stood numb in the center of the room. Erica gently nuzzled her face against his body, she had fallen asleep.
Chad signed gently; he hated waking people up when they fell asleep. Laying her down on the bed, he gently nudged her awake. Blinking her eyes rapidly she immediately moved her hand and felt her wet pants.

“Do you want more bad news now, or later?” Chad asked.


Chapter 9 Part 1

“So they’re going to kill us.” Erica said, it wasn’t a question.
“I wouldn’t put it past them; the place has taken a turn for the worse.” Chad answered.

“Pfft. Plane of light my ass.” Erica muttered. She moved to sit down on the bed but shot straight back up as she was shocked. She looked down at her wet pants, letting out a long drawn out sigh. She walked over and grabbed Chad’s hand and began leading him to the bathroom.

“What are you doing?” Chad asked. Erica turned to look at him.

“We both have wet pants and we need to clean up. I’ve just been told that we face a life or death trial, so I’m feeling a bit clingy. And right now, I want to be…I want to be with you. I mean…if the last 24 hours haven’t been some sort of bonding experience, I don’t know what the hell is.” Erica took a deep breath, words ready at the tip of her tongue, ready to say something else.

“We’ve been friends ever since we first met, when we were toddlers. Best friends. I’ve always been able to talk to you, to be me, and be safe... Right now I want to keep doing that. Right now I want this to become more than a friendship, it’s-“

“Stop” Chad interrupted. Erica snapped her mouth close.

“I’ve wanted to hear you say that for the longest time…I’ve wanted to say it for the longest time. I thought it was just because I wasn’t sure how you felt. But now…I mean if we go forward, we can’t go back, we can’t go back to being just friends.” Erica and Chad looked at each other, all mental walls and shields put away for this moment.

“But you can’t live your life paralyzed in fear on what can happen later on, I mean think realizing that is part of getting older….and…” Chad struggled to put more words out on the table. For a moment Chad and Erica said nothing. Then as if someone had flipped a switch, they made their choice.

“I love you”

“I love you too”

**

Cuddled together on the floor of the shower, the curtain and warm water creating a fortress from the outside world, the two made their plans for escape.

“We have to escape into that forest” Erica began “I mean, we should be able to fly out of the window.”

“Yeah, but it seems a little bit too easy just fly out a window. Although the idea of moving around an entire fortress filled with massive stone golems, crazy warriors, and who know what else doesn’t seem that good of an option.” Chad remarked. Erica smiled and gently leaned into a kiss.

…

…

“Plan, escape!” Chad said, pulling his head back and breaking contact. Erica put on a pouty face, but reached over and turned off the shower. With a flicker of Novalen Chad brushed all the water off his body.

“Well that way certainly beats a towel” Chad added, touching his dry skin. Erica nodded and brushed the water off herself also. Chad stepped out of the shower and stood in the middle of the bathroom, looking into the mirror, looking at his reflection while he went deep in thought. Watching the little movement in his face as he thought about what had just happened, what was going to happen. He smiled gently at the warm feeling still moving through his body.

“Hey, do you think we should put one of these on?” Erica asked, holding up one of the diapers that were in stacks on the far wall. “Cause apparently whenever things go wrong, we wet our pants.”

Chad opened his mouth for a response, but his mind was stalling from the sudden derailment and subject change.

“Umm…ah…I see the logic…but I really don’t.” Chad replied. Erica smiled at his stuttered response.

“Well I don’t either. But I’m tired of wetting my pants because of some Novalen powered fluke.” Erica said. Chad bit his lower lip, before nodding at Erica.

“Besides, I think you looked cute in them” Erica said.

“Cute? How is it supposed to make this better?” Chad grumbled. Erica giggled at him, grabbing another diaper and some supplies that were on the floor next to the diapers.

“Nothing for you, but I’ll like it more.” Erica replied. Chad walked out to the main room and hopped onto the bed. Erica joined him and the two of them sat silently looking at each other.

“So…umm…who’s first?” Chad said in mock excitement.

“Well have you ever diapered anyone before?” Erica asked. Chad slowly moved his head side to side.

“We’ll I’ve babysat a few kids who needed to be changed, so I’ll show you how to do it, then you can diaper me.” Erica said. There was a short pause.
“This is a really weird conversation.”

“Thank you Captain Obvious.” Chad said lying down on the bed ready to be changed. Erica unfolded the plastic white garment, and with a sharp crinkling noise she adjusted a few parts of the diaper before gesturing to Chad to lift up. Obediently he raised his lower end up a few inches and sat down on the fluffy plastic.

“Hard to believe something that crinkles can be so soft.” Chad said to no one in particular.

“Oh, so now we like this?” Erica asked smartly. Chad made an hmpf noise in reply as Erica lightly tapped some baby powder onto Chad. “Oh come on, you’re being diapered by a beautiful naked girl who you are going to diaper in a few minutes. This has to be some sort of sexual fantasy for someone.”
(Chad and Erica break the fourth wall and look at the reader.)

“Well how come the beautiful naked girl can’t stay naked? It will distract our enemies!” Chad said. Erica lightly smacked his leg, and brought up the front of the diaper to envelope Chad in its crinkling grasp. With four soft ripping noises Erica taped the diaper securely in place.

“There, not so bad isn’t it?” Erica asked cheerfully. Chad shrugged in reply as Erica flopped down on the bed and prepared for her own diaper change. Chad slowly unfolded her respective diaper and stared at it for a few moments before he realizing which end was the front. Sliding it under Erica, he began to lightly dust her in baby powder. Erica sighed in contentment as the sweet smell drifted upwards to her nose.

“Are you enjoying this?” Chad asked. Erica giggled before responding.

“A little, I’m just remembering all the fun we had in daycare together.” Erica said. Chad giggled a little as the memories came back to him.

“We must have been quite the handful to old Ms. Gertrud and company.” Chad said. “I wonder if she still remembers us.”

“Are you kidding me? We were terrors when we where only four.” Erica replied. Chad brought the front of her diaper up and tighter taped up her new underwear. Erica leaned up and gently kissed Chad before hopping off the bed and grabbing some clothes to put on. And just like that, as if a spell had broken, the two of them began to move around the room, putting on clothes, and gathering any other things that belonged to them. Playtime was over; it was time to break out.

Sooner than Chad had hoped for, he and Erica were standing on the balcony; looking down at the forest below them. The smell of wood and fresh dirt wafted upwards and calmed Chad’s anxious mind.

“So if we get split up-“ Chad began.

“I won’t let it happen.” Erica interrupted. Chad looked at her for a few moments, and then slowly nodded his head.

“Ready to go?” He asked.

“Only if you’re with me.” Erica replied.

“I love you” Chad said.

“I love you too” Erica said.

With a gust of Novalen, they leaped into the air.



As soon as they left the floor a loud klaxon noise sounded. Chad turned to see several figures on a landing above them pointing in hurried movements. A second afterwards a blot of Novalen shoot towards them, and only by desperate jerk to the side did Chad avoid it.

“I think they noticed us!” Chad shouted as he and Erica flew away as fast as they could. They heard a loud thumping noise behind them and quickly gained elevation in order to put more distance between them and the White Fortress.

“AARRRUGGHHH!” A voice rang out; Erica looked up to see a massive white armoured figure racing down at her. She dodged to the side as the round shaped man flew past her. Chad looked to see the man dressed in thick white armour, so round and smooth he looked like man sized turtle, but Chad was more distracted by the massive hammer the man was wielding. The man shot past them, but in a blink of an eye, pivot on the spot and used his newfound momentum to launch his hammer in the air directly at Chad and Erica.

“DIVE!” Chad screamed, without thinking he let go of the Novalen keeping him up in the air. Erica followed and the two of the dropped like stones towards the ground. The hammer returned to the hand of the huge armoured guard, and a moment later he chased after them.


“Aim for the water! I have an idea!” Erica shouted. Chad arced his body so that he fell directly above Erica.. He wondered what she had in mind as they fell towards a small lake that Chad had never noticed before, every passing second making the water look more and more like solid rock.

“Slow us down! I’ll take care of turtle!” Erica shouted. Chad really hoped Erica knew what she was doing as he gestured with his hand at the Novalen. Obeying his mind the Novalen sprang together to shape a giant slide that gracefully curved softly enough not to break Chad and Erica as they went from terminal velocity to a horizontal flight.

With his task done, he looked to see what the rest of Erica’s plan was. Turning to look at the Turtle man, it seemed that he was still falling towards them with an evil grin on his face. He looked at Erica to see an intense look of concentration on her face. Confused he looked back up to see the turtle man now looking around him in confusion. With a start he realized that Erica was parting the Novalen around the flying guard, denying him any way to slow his descent or attack. With a soft thunk Chad and Erica landed in his makeshift slide and began to slow down. The armoured man kept on falling.

A few seconds later the huge figure slammed into the water, making a spout of water shoot up into the air. Chad looked to see if anything broke the surface, but he quickly lost sight of the lake as they zipped into the forest.
After a few minutes of flying through the forest Chad and Erica touched down at the base of a large tree. Chad collapsed on the ground and gently kissed it, smelling the simple scent of dirt.

“I think we made it.” He muffled, his face still stuck in the dirt.

“Yeah, we’re not out of the fire yet, but it looks like we lost them for now.” Erica said while resting against a tree.

A deep, wet, ripping noise echoed from behind them. Chad whirled around to see that another man in huge turtle armour had his hammer raised, ready to smash into him. Without thinking Chad focused the Novalen into a small, baseball sized lump and rammed into the man’s face. With a noise like wet meat getting hit with a hammer, the man’s face crumpled inwards, deformed beyond all recognition. Most shockingly of all was that the man’s whole upper body detached and flew through the air, crumpling in a heap a few dozen feet away. The legs teetered for a second, before falling over. Chad watched blood slowly pool around the bodies, his face white in shock.

“Didn’t think you had it in ya.” A voice said. Chad and Erica looked to see a man standing between the two halves of a former man, dressed in slim, but sturdy looking armour, the color of earth. Varying hues of brown, red, and green were painted on this simple pattern of armour. Long, flat, black hair covered the top half of his face, the lower half dominated by a bemused half-smile. Chad finally noticed a huge two handed sword calmly rested on his shoulder.

“Allow me to introduce myself, as I am sure you are quite wary of any person who crosses your path, more so with me mainly because of this big sword of mine. So first allow me to remove this battle-garb and get into something more friendlily.” The figure raised his hand, Chad flinching slightly, and with a snap of his fingers. The figures armour and weapon turned into dust and blew away into the wind.

“Who are you” Erica asked. Chad noticed that she was taking no chances, and was gathering Novalen around her in case she needed to attack.

“My name is Huatam; I am a friend of Zagmut.” Huatam replied.

“Right now that doesn’t stand for much; Zagmut dropped us off at this loony bin.” Chad curtly said, pushing himself to his feet.

“You are absolutely right; it was our last intention to bring you here. We wanted to bring you to Zagmut’s base of operations, but somehow the Robinson family found out-“Huatam began.

“Who?” Erica asked.

“The Robinson family, the leadership behind the forces of darkness, both of you had the joy of meeting the family dog in the forest, Chad you had the infamous honor of meeting Alexander himself while you were in the hospital.” Chad shuddered as he remembered that meeting. “Anyway, somehow the Robinsons found out about the location of our safe house. If we brought you there, we would all be dead. Having no choice, Zagmut brought you here. He guessed you would escape quickly enough, and I’m here to help you get back home.” There was a long pause after Huatam stopped speaking.

“How can we trust you?” Chad asked. Huatam smiled,

“You can’t, but perhaps a friend can help soothe your nerves.” Huatam gestured behind him and pointed at a small willow tree. With a sudden shake of leaves, the tree’s root crawled out of the ground. The tree turned around and Chad clapped in joy as he saw the familiar knotted face of Willowman.

**

“Willowman!” Chad shouted. Without thinking Chad ran forward and hugged the treeman. Willowman moved his head so that his leaves sang in happy melody as he hugged Chad with his multiple arm branches. Erica bounced in right after Chad and squeezed Willowman hard enough that he creaked in joy.

“I hate to interrupt, but we need to get moving.” Huatam stated.

“Where?” Erica asked.

“You’re not going to like the where part, we have to head back to White Fortress Huatam deadpanned.

“Back!? We just escaped from there! Why would we want to go that direction?” Chad said.

“Because it is the only way to leave this plane.”Chad and Erica looked at Huatam in confusion, who meekly smiled in response.

“This is going nowhere, I’ll be glad to answer your questions as long as we head back to the fortress. Is this agreeable?” Huatam asked. Chad and Erica looked at each other, over to Willowman, back to each other, and then over to Huatam.

“Alright, looks like we have no other choice.” Chad answered. Huatam nodded excitedly and began walking in the direction Chad and Erica came.


“Alright, so let me start at the beginning” Huatam began. “So we have the first group of Novalen users some 32,000 years ago do the great spell. All light was put into one plane, all dark into another, and a seal placed on every human so Novalen could never be used in such large power again. However over time, different groups began to break off the forces of light and darkness, the forces of gray to give a term.”

“The forces of gray?” I ask my voice heavy with sarcasm.

“Yeah, it’s a bad term, but it’s such a board truth that I haven’t found a better one yet. I mean, humanity is not just a black or white type of species. We exist in shades of gray; the same can be said for those who use Novalen. Some can fit into the crazy zeal of light, others in the evil passion of darkness. But the majority of us are in the middle. Some groups have their own names such as the Redactors, Xanthiums, Thalassians, more than can be counted really.”

“And you are?” Erica asked.

“I work for Zagmut, 101st grandmaster of the Amalathianism, which was founded some 2100 years ago, give or a take a lifespan. We exist as antibodies, pursuing only infections that wish to harm our host, mankind. We pursue no active agenda, but we do disrupt others.”

“So if we get out of here, where do we go?” Chad asked. Huatam turned to look at him, a slightly annoyed look on his face.

“You can go where ever, that’s what I’ve been saying. However if your actions lead to the harm of others, we will stop you.” There was an awkward pause, before Huatam continued through the forest. “But let’s talk about more cheerful topics, as in getting out of here and getting back to earth. Inside of the fortress is a planar cannon, the only thing powerful enough to get us moving fast enough to outdistance this plane and fall back into Earth’s plane.”

“And how do we get to this cannon? Erica asked.

“Well, the cannon is cooled by water, so all we have to do is steal a boat they use for water transportation, ride it to the fortress, break through the massive blockade they’ll have waiting for us, get to the cannon, and launch ourselves back to earth. Oh yes, we’ll do this with one full fledged Novalen user, two newbies, and a walking tree.” Huatam paused and put on a huge, fake smile. “Sounds like a blast.”

**

A few minutes later the party was on a small airboat, bouncing up and down as they rocketed down a river towards white fortress. Chad kept his mind busy by looking at the airboat’s engine, a small metal block filled with gears and soft blinking lights. Huatam noticed his interest from the control panel and tossed him a small crystal he had in his coat pocket after he got Chad’s attention.

“It’s powered by a Novalen crystal, Novalen in a physical form. They’re used to power machines or certain spells.” Huatam replied to Chad’s unspoken question. Erica examined the crystal afterwards, before handing it back to Huatam.

“Where do they come from?” She asked.

“When objects like Willowman, trees, some animals, rocks, or other primal elements that get infused with Novalen, they become sentient. When these creatures are killed, most of their bodies dissolve away. Usually they leave behind a few of these crystals, solid Novalen.” Huatam answered.

“So it’s a concentrated dead thing” Chad asked bluntly.

“Well…yes.” Huatam replied, there was another long silence as everyone tried to find something to talk about. Chad belly did a small flip flop as he saw the white fortress come up on the horizon. He looked down at the clear water beneath him, looking at the fish that traveled in the wake of the boat. Of a massive sturgeon like creature briefly flash into view before disappearing.

“We’ll have about thirty seconds till they realize that we’re not them. Get ready to unleash the biggest blast you can muster at the gates, and hope you can make a big enough hole…if you have any action movie music you want to play, now is a good time to start.” Huatam said grimly. He pressed a few buttons on the control panel, before putting the Novalen crystal he showed earlier between his hand and softly moving his lips. Chad looked at Erica and began gathering Novalen energy as the gates of the white fortress came into view. He saw some figures move around the battlements o the top stop and wave in there general direction.

Chad saw the figures on the battlements stop waving as they got closer, and as more and more Novalen gathered around the boat till they looked like a minor sun. He heard a klaxon go off in the distance as Huatam shouted something at the top of his lungs, guessing that was the order to fire; Chad unleashed all his energy at once. Like a silver fireball, the Novalen rushed towards the large metal gate, and with a tremendous gong tour it off its hinges. Water splashed everywhere as confusion rippled through the white fortress.

Huatam jumped back to the controls, his rugged dark armour suddenly equipped. His sword rested in a sheath on his back as he darted the small boat through debris and waves. Chad threw some smaller bolts of energy back up at the wall as the figures recovered and tried to raise the alarm. He was successful in knocking one into the water before Huatam turned them out of sight.

“Looks we got some company!” Huatam shouted, Chad looked around to see several airboats like themselves racing towards them. He flicked a column of water in front of one of the boats, causing it to flip. Erica reached into water and launched the large, sturgeon like fish at another boat’s driver, knocking him off his craft.

Huatam had driven the craft towards a long dock like structure. Willowman shakes his head in rhythmic movement, and the dock comes alive and lowers itself into the water, letting Huatam drive right up on to it. A few boats hopped on the dock too, before Willowman raised the dock back out of the water. Chad saw two boats crash into the now raised dock, bodies flying through the air along with most of the craft. Huatam struggled to control the airboat on the thin dock as people threw themselves into the water to avoid the speeding boat.

“Brace yourself!” Huatam shouted, with a small hop that left Chad’s stomach 10 feet behind him, the craft hopped off the dock and landed back into the water. Huatam jerked the craft back and forth as bolts of Novalen, or towers of water attempted to smash them.

But too many things were trying to hit them at once, a small bolt of energy
hit the side of the boat, putting in a solid hole that began leaking water into the craft. Chad shouted out to Huatam and tried to plug the hole with Novalen energy, but three more bolts smacked into the side, creating new holes for water. Huatam angled the craft towards a small hole in the side of the fortress.

“Get ready to jump!” Huatam shouted, as he forced the sinking craft to eke out a few more yards. With a final sputter from the engine, the four of them leapt into the air and landed on a ledge leading deeper into the fortress. A figure dressed in white shouted in alarm as he saw them, he turned to run away as Huatam raced forward and ran his sword through the man’s stomach.

Chad watched the man slide off the sword, a pool of deep red blood growing beneath him. Huatam turned to look at Chad before silently sliding his sword back into its sheath. Willow shaked his head softly in a slight mourning, Erica’s face was white in shock.

“Are you going to freeze in shock every time I kill someone, because this escape will take a long time then.” Huatam asked simply. Chad blinked his eyes a few times before walking into the fortress, refusing to answer Huatam.

Finding the cannon room was fairly easy, several tributaries of water branched off from the lake and heading the same direction. The room itself was very simple, just a small raised platform with several large, thick cables leading to it.

“Is that it?” Chad asked. “This seems a little too easy.”

“Let’s hope you don’t jinx it love” Erica said.

“You are a little bit to late on that notion, heathens.” A deep voice answered. For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Chad and Erica turned around to see a large man, dressed in the same thick, turtle armour as before, standing in one corner of the room.

“Shit! Cornell!” Huatam growled. The figure, who Chad guessed was called Cornell, turned to look at Huatam with an amused look on his face.

“Oh Huatam, still looking for another beating? I’m fairly sure I beat you within an inch of death last time we met.” Cornell said in his smug tone of voice.

“And I will fight you again; you had no reason to destroy those creatures!” Huatam shouted back, grabbing his sword again and raising into a fighting stance.

“Their Novalen wasn’t pure, like your soul! Prepare yourself!” Cornell grabbed a huge two handed mace and charged towards Huatam, who answered with a bestial roar, dodging Cornell’s initial strike and answering with his swing. Chad and Erica stood uselessly on the side, watching the two humans battle. They felt a soft hand on their shoulders and jumped, only to see Willow man gesturing for them to stand on the raised platform as he began typing away at the controls.

The wires leading to the machine began to glow and vibrate softly. Chad felt the familiar feeling of his body slowly trickling away into another plane, Willowman turned from the controls and began heading towards Chad and Erica. Huatam began circling around the room, ready to leap on the planar cannon.

“You will never escape!” Cornell shouted, and with a speed that seemed impossible given his great size, knocked Huatam into Chad and Erica. With a meaty crunch the three of them fell of the platform into a crumpled heap. Chad felt hot pokers of agony in his chest, feeling like he broke some ribs from the impact. He slowly pushed himself up just in time to see Cornell launch a silver fireball at Willowman who was rushing over to help them.

Like dry kindling Willowman went up in flames, a high-pitched scream echoing through the room. Chad tried to scream back in protest, but pain echoed through his body with every gasping breath. Cornell began walking past Willowman towards Huatam who was still dazed from the impact. He raised his massive mace in the air, ready to bring it down and end them all.

The blow never came.

Like a spider, Willowman began wrapping his branches around Cornell. Cornell grunted in surprise as he was encased in wood. He brought his mace down on one of Willowman’s branches, only to have the wood regroup and grab his weapon. Willowman’s roots wrapped themselves around Cornell’s legs, and with a sudden movement, Willowman crushed Cornell so quickly the man didn’t even have time to scream.

The room feel quiet, the bloody pulp that was Cornell now extinguishing the flames that covered Willowman. Chad slowly dragged himself over to Willowman, who slowly began releasing the bloody remains of Cornell. The charred tree slowly fell to the ground, all of his leaves, his knots, burned away. Chad gently reached out and grabbed one of Willowman’s remaining branches, Erica’s hand soon joined his. Willowman’s wild thrashing lessen as he realized who was touching his branches. The treeman gave one final groan of pleasure, before his body dissolved into Novalen dust, swept away by the winds.

“All that remains are his crystals, I can think of no better person to use those crystals than you.” Huatam said softly. Chad and Erica reached out and grabbed a crystal, its soft twinkling form gently warming their hands.

CRASH!

A whole squad of white armoured warriors suddenly appeared in the room, carrying between them all a large, mini gun-eqse weapon. Huatam uttered another curse as he pulled Chad and Erica to him with a tug of Novalen. The last thing Chad saw before he was teleported off the plane of light was the very deep, dark barrels of the menacing looking gun begin to warm up.

And then, nothing.

Chapter 10.

“Well that is surely a brave kid. I know if I fell on down on escalator, I would not have the sense to call for help like that brave boy did.” The newsman said.

“That sure is right Bob” His co-anchor replied, and the two of them shared a fake laugh. “Now Melissa has a brief update on the disappearance of two high school seniors that happened only a few days ago. Melissa?”

“Thank you Rebecca.” Replied an attractive woman who now dominated the screen, a microphone grasped in her hand. “Police have still been unable to locate any clues on the disappearance of two local youth. Search parties have combed the entire forest numerous times and have found no clues. Police are perplexed, both by the disappearance, and also a large Treehouse that they have been unable to reach.”

“A description of both teenagers can be found on our website, and the police are looking for any leads. Local children say that they miss both teenagers, but all of the local children are sure that the two youth will return so that they can play their games of capture the flag again, back to you Bob.”

“Well those sure are some brave and hopeful kids.” Bob said

“That sure is right Bob” His co-anchor replied. This time the two of them did not share a fake laugh.

**

“My god…a spellblade, and a summoner…there may be something to all this hype Zagmut.” Huatam said. The two of them were sitting in a small study, facing each other. Zagmut had his fingertips gently placed together, his eyebrows deeply furrowed in thought.

“Zagmut? You there?” Huatam asked.

“Yes my friend. This is indeed an interesting development, there have been no spellblades born in…well…hundreds of years. Then these two show up, hounded by the forces of darkness, and light…Very, very interesting.” Zagmut replied, weighing his words carefully.

“Do you think they are the ones?” Huatam asked.

“Hrm?” Zagmut said.

“You know who I’m talking about.” Huatam said sharply. Zagmut gently nodded his head.

“Aye, these could be ones; all the pieces seem to fit into place, but I’m still unsure. Certain aspects have not been fulfilled yet.” Zagmut said softly, there was a long pause.

“And if they do, well frankly I couldn’t imagine what another great spell would lead to.”

**

Archeas stood in the center of a copper ring, large floodlights lit up every crevice of his stone frame. With a sudden jerk the copper ring opened up like a pupil, and Archeas plummeted. He landed in a pool of red hot magma, his frame slowly getting eaten away. Bit by bit his form melted, Archeas stayed silent throughout the whole ordeal. The last thing he saw before liquid magma rushed over his face, was a light positioned over the copper ring.

It blinded him.

**

Doctor Robinson stood quietly on the edge of a mighty stone cliff. Sounds of pain and torture echoed up to his ears, creating a pleasurable sensation deep in his brain. He mentally tossed several ideas around in his head before deciding on one of them, a bored smile spraying across his face in response.

**

“Ow! Watch the ribs!” Chad said softly, wincing in pain.

“Sorry!” Erica replied, gently kissing Chad on the cheek till he turned his face so that their lips met in a slow kiss.

“I think I’m okay now” Chad said softly, Erica gently adjusted herself so that the two cuddled up together and put as little pressure as possible on Chad’s healing ribs.

“So Mr. Spellblade” Erica began, “Want to do anything for today?” Chad thought for a moment.

“You know, I just want to have a normal day” HE replied, Erica giggled softly.

“Like lying around in bed kind of normal?” She asked.

“Yeah, sounds good.” Chad replied.

“Well, I’m seeing one problem in the normal parts of that. I’m gonna need a
change in a bit, and I’m pretty sure you will to Mr. Crinklebut.” Erica said with smile across her face. Chad pondered this for a few moments.

“Ah, **** normal; I like the weird stuff anyway.” Chad said, leaning forward to kiss Erica again. The two of them gently moved closer together, flesh touching flesh.

Unbeknownst to them, if they were look out the window, they would see a small group of children playing on the forest floor 15 feet below them.

**

Jimmy was new to the suburbs, his family had moved from the other side of the state just a few days ago. And he was playing with all the neighbor kids in the forest; they quickly showed throughout the entire forest, showing him the landmarks, Big Oak, Stick Dam, and the Treehouse.

Jimmy looked up at the Treehouse, his eyes open in wonder at the amazing structure. If he listened quietly enough, and looked closely enough, he thought he could the sound of two voices, a boy and a girl talking. And looking through one of the windows he was sure he could see someone moving.

“TAG!” some kid shouted, reaching out and hitting Jimmy firmly on the shoulder. Driving the Treehouse out of his mind, Jimmy began to play tag with his new friends.