I stormed out. I can't believe that he was such a fool, an actual madman. Living for revenge, seriously? What was he thinking, he had to be joking? It was like one of the bedtime stories my mother told me when I was younger, where the morale was that revenge was shit and that isn't not going to help you. I personally don't even think revenge is such a bad thing, but just chasing it your whole life is a dumb plan. It's his problem now, I don't think I'll stick around to find out if he will come to his senses. I almost lost my footing a few times while stomping away from the cave. Because of the rain, the dirt turned to mud and it was slippery. I didn't know where to go. I had no destination, just wandered around and climbed up a small hill but I couldn't believe what I saw when I looked down from it. I instantly ran back to the cave as fast as I could. "What do you want?" he hissed at me as soon as he saw me. "You have to come outside right now," I said out of breath. "I won't go running around ankle-deep in the mud" "You really should, like, right now!" I took his arm and dragged him behind me. "Let go of me!" he struggled. I was physically much stronger than him. It surprised me how easy I could drag him up from a sitting position. "Fine," I let go of his arm, we were already on top of the small hill, "but look down there." "What do you mean?" He looked down, "Light? Is there someone else in the forest?" "Look closer, it's not fire, it doesn't burn in colors like that" After he looked down more carefully he said dumbstruck, "No, It couldn't be. Here?" We lay down, so they couldn't see us. "This can't be real, I know some magical beings exist, but fairies?" There was a glint in his eye, " They're beautiful. It's like a folktale," he whispered. "Are you sure they're fairies? I thought they can fly, but these guys just walk around on the ground," I whispered back skeptical, "and they look so small." "Looks like they are having some sort of ceremony. I have to get a better look," he said. "No, we don't know what they'll do if they catch us." "This could be a once-in-a-lifetime situation and you are too cowardly to even get a better look at what is happening." He stood up, I stood up too and tried to force him down but he slipped. He held onto me, but I lost my footing too and we were tumbling down the hill right into their ceremony. Opening my eyes, I saw them right before me. They weren't even five steps away from me. It was as bright as day and I got a good look at them. They were truly beautiful, not in a human way but something more. Well, they only looked like humans a little bit. They had everything a person would have except that their faces were messed up with wings on their backs. If they had them, why wouldn't they fly? Enough, I have to focus, we are in an extremely dangerous situation. I stood up and cleaned my clothes a bit and tried to calm the situation. I put my hands up, coughed, and said, "Uh... hello there, honorable spirits of these woods, I assume. We are just two young children who accidentally stumbled into your gathering. We just want to get out of here peacefully and unharmed." It didn't look like they understood what I was saying. I back away and helped the other boy up from the ground and tried backing away but got startled when I bumped into something hard. I turned around but there was nothing there. I tried reaching out with my hand, but something stopped it midway through. "It's like a barrier," I said astonished. I quickly patted down the invisible wall to see if there was a hole or a tear so that we could get out of here. I got frustrated because even after searching all around us I didn't find any way of escaping this unseen prison. Resorting to the last method, I wanted to use I took a step back and swung my fist at the air before me. It was of no use and couldn't help but let out a little yelp. I broke the skin on my knuckles and started to bleed a little. It felt like I was punching a stone wall. "Ouch, you got any ideas?" I said while rubbing my hurt fist. "No, but have you noticed what we're standing in. Look down. We're standing in a circle. It goes around like the walls we're in." I looked at the ground and true enough we were, it was a circle big enough to give us some room and at the edges were strange markings. It suddenly got brighter, brighter than the brightest day. The light came from nowhere, and it blinded me. I held my hand in front of my eyes to see what was happening but couldn't, it seemed like the light was going through my hand, not just my hand but my entire body. In the first few seconds, my body felt light. I thought I could do anything but then an extreme amount of pain shot throughout my body. I couldn't stand it. I fell to my knees, never in my life did I feel anything like this. Like a thousand needles were coursing through my body. I passed out. When I woke up, I still felt sore all over. I looked around and there were no spirits or fairies anymore, but I saw the boy lying on the ground next to me.

He slowly stood up, "What happened and why does my head hurt so much."

"Just your head? My entire body aches like I just ran around the world without pause." "This is not the time for jokes, the sun already rose. It seems we passed out for some hours." He stood up and examined his surroundings, "They're all gone, and the circle is gone too." I, too, investigated the ground. It really lashed down yesterday so the ground should be muddy, but when I touched the ground and took a handful of dirt it felt dry, brittle. "That sure was weird, what do you think they even wanted here?" "They're some of the most mysterious beings out there. I didn't even think they were real until last night. Their thought process is most likely beyond our comprehension. It would be in vain to try to justify their actions." "Are you telling me to just stop thinking about it?" "Yes, what would you even think about, how will you ever get know to what you're thinking is right? You'll never get an answer." I think he was still mad at me about last night. "Anyway, let's go. I don't want to stay in this forest any longer than I have to." He went back to the cave to get the sack and dagger then we went on. We didn't talk as we were trudging through the forest. The ground where we woke up was dry but the further we marched on the muddier it got. I thought that we may have to walk for another day, but it turned out we weren't that far from an exit out of the woods, we only had to walk another hour. We left the forest and found a road after walking for another few minutes, but I didn't know where the road would lead to. "Should we be looking for a sign to guide us?" "Could you even read it?" "Very funny," it was true that I couldn't read but he didn't have to be mean about it. "Don't worry. I know where this road leads to. If this is the one I'm thinking of then there should be a city to the north and one to the south. Remember when we talked about this a few days ago?" "Oh yeah, now I remember. And to which one should we go to?" "We," he put extra emphasis on this, "aren't going anywhere. I thank you for your companionship during this time, but I do not want us to travel together anymore." "Why?" I asked puzzled. "We do not share any common goals. Why did you even come with me? What did you think you would do after escaping?" "I don't know. I didn't think that far ahead. I want to do something that will help me get stronger. I can decide after I'm in a city." "That's such crap. You didn't even think ahead for your imminent future? That's why I want to split. Don't take this so hard, but you would only drag me down." "Piss off, I don't want to hang around you either. You are such a downer. You don't even know yourself what you'll do, do you?" "Oh fuck off," he rummaged through his bag. "Here take this," he handed me some stripes of dried meat, "At least you won't immediately die of hunger in the streets. I don't want you to lose your life, but I won't help you either. Goodbye." He turned around and walked away. "Thanks, but you'll see. I'm going to have a bright future," I yelled after him. "Maybe I'll even be famous," he didn't respond to my shouting. I put the strips into my pocket. They'll get dirty but I don't care. I turned around, choosing the road opposite to where he went, and started to walk. The city couldn't be too far away, could it?