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Reaching behind me with the hand that is holding Betty, I hope that I’m right and that some sort of harness will appear to keep her strapped to me and next to Asael.

When I don’t feel anything, I panic momentarily that I’m going to have to put her down and risk losing her here, before I remember that I should be able to send her home.

“Thank you, Betty. You may go home,” I whisper, barely any sound leaving my lips.

She disappears, and I allow myself a brief moment of relief before I start to swiftly climb up the nearest tree.

It’s only after I touch it and begin to climb that I realize that, since I have no idea what kind of trees these are, or where I am, they could be poisonous.

Thankfully, nothing happens, and I don’t immediately drop to the floor and start to scream in pain, so I consider that a win and just carry on climbing.

The canopy is so densely packed up here that I can easily move from one tree to another, without too much hardship on my part. The only real thing I need is balance, which I do have.

Just as I jump to get to the next tree, something jumps up from the ground and smacks into me, knocking me off my trajectory and sending me hurtling toward the ground. I prepare myself to roll to minimize the impact of the landing, and when I pop back up, my eyes widen.

Shit, it’s the backward knee walking things, that I came across is Luesidious, apart from there’s not just one this time. From the quick count I manage to do, I think there is around six. I seem to have run into a pack, one that is surrounding me quickly.

From past experience, I know that I do not want to find myself in the middle of them.

Going up against one of them was difficult enough, and in fact, the only way that I managed to win was because Asael suddenly appeared under the bush next to me.

If he hadn’t, I would have died. I pull Asael from his sheath on my back and silently request that he split into two so that I can better protect myself.

I need to get away from this grouping, which means I’m going to have to run.

Before I have fully gotten my feet underneath me, I’m moving.

The first head falls, which enrages the others even more, and the small gap that I had seen that I could escape through begins to close.

I spin and I whirl my swords stabbing and slicing as arms, and heads fall to the floor with a thump.

Any bodies that fall, I make sure that the heads are kicked far away from them, still not willing to risk them being able to put themselves back together.

I know I haven’t killed them all, but I have killed enough of them that a pathway has opened up again, and before the last one can get its hands on me, I run.

If these creatures can put themselves back together, then there is absolutely no way that I want to stay where I am. In this situation, I can’t risk it.

As I run, I glance over my shoulder, and I’m surprised to see that only one creature is still following me. I begin to slow, knowing that I can take on this last one, and hopefully clear this trial quickly.

Heat suddenly pulses from my chest, and it causes me to stumble at the shock of it.

Glancing down, I realize that the heat must be emanating from my necklace, the gift from the imps.

I’m so distracted by the absurdity of it that I realize too late that the backward knee creature has gotten far closer than I should have let it.

Lifting Asael, I know that I’m not going to move quickly enough, and that the creature is going to get a good swipe in.

I brace myself for the pain that I know is going to happen any second now, but the pain doesn’t come.

Instead, some kind of invisible force hits the creature, knocking it off course and away from me.

I watch in horrified fascination as the same invisible force seems to pull it apart, scattering the pieces all around us in a bloody splattering.

I should probably run, the invisible force could easily turn on me, but I find myself rooted to the spot as I watch.

When it is thoroughly pulled apart and very definitely dead.

I see the grass dip with the weight of giant feet as it pads its way over to me, but I still can’t see it, and I still can’t make myself move.

Weirdly enough, I’m not scared, or even worried. I’m just curious.

So curious, that I make Asael disappear into his single sword form, although I don’t allow him to disappear completely, I’m not stupid.

For some insane reason, I start to lift my hand, almost as if I want to stroke it before I think better of the action, and begin to pull it back.

Before I can, though, a soft, wet nose that feels kind of like a dog's nose, nudges my hand gently. My brain compares it to a dog’s nose, but I have never seen, or rather felt, a dog’s nose that is this big.

It’s bigger than my whole hand, and I try not to let the obvious size of it panic me.

It just saved my life by killing that last backward knee walking thing.

I’m also reasonably certain that if it wanted to eat me, it would have done so by now.

I slowly begin to move my fingers, and then my hand, so that I’m stroking the side of its huge head.

It has soft fur, and I try really hard to make sure that I don’t accidentally poke it in the eye or something.

I don’t imagine that it would be very receptive to pets if I did that.

Whatever it is, it seems to like the pets though as he or she leans into my hand asking for more, and making me smile.

A few moments of pets later, my necklace vibrates.

The beast in front of me gets taller, and I realize that, impossibly, it was lying down or crouching or something, and it wasn’t at its full height, which means that it is even bigger than I initially thought.

My wonder at his size gets pushed back though as he lets out a warning growl.

Instinctively, I know that it’s not directed at me, but that it’s warning of a threat nearby.

The air around the creature shimmers for a merely a moment and I get a glimpse of the same kind of creature that bit me in Luesidious, I don’t have time to question it, or double check, as not only does it disappear again, becoming invisible, because two more of the backward knee walking big mouthed creatures come charging at us.

He clearly picked up their approach long before I did.

Immediately, I turn to the one that’s closest to me, somehow instinctively knowing that the creature will take care of the other one.

While I swing and dodge the arms of the attacking creature, I see the beast easily and quickly tear the other one apart.

The creature that’s attacking me is determined, and my attention needs to focus on the thing trying to eat me, rather than the one that is trying to help me.

The thing swings for me, with a weird clicking squeal, that grates on my ears and makes me want to cover them with my hands, which I’m assuming is what it’s aiming for.

It’s a really good distraction technique, and one that almost gets me.

I swing for it with Asael, pleased to find that it apparently can’t make the noise when it’s fighting for its life.

There’s something different about this one, it’s stronger than the ones that I fought under the trees, and it seems more vicious.

Which I know probably doesn’t make sense since they’re all trying to eat me, and that inherently makes them vicious.

We fight back and forth for a while; each time it makes a swipe at me, it gets closer to actually harming me, and I’m beginning to tire now as well.

I need to end this as quickly as possible.

Finally, I see the perfect opportunity for me to behead the fucker.

It’s a risk, it means I have to get far closer to the creature than I would like, but I have no idea when this opportunity is going to present itself again, and I can’t risk not taking it and having to fight for longer.

Especially since I’m losing momentum and getting tired now.

With my decision made, I wait until it tries to attack me again and then dive toward it, rolling on the floor and popping back up well within its reach.

As my sword arcs upward, the backward knee walking thing grabs one of my arms. I yank it free as the pain registers, but put it to the back of my mind so that I can continue on my original task.

The head drops to the floor with a thump, and I kick it away from the body, as I look down at my arm where the creature grabbed me.

My eyebrows rise slightly when I see that where it gripped me, its hand has burned through several layers of my clothes, all the way down to the skin, and has left behind an angry burn in the shape of its hand.

Ouch. That’s going to need healing by Doc, and the sooner the better, hopefully. For now, though, I need to focus on other things. Like the invisible creature and see if he needs help.

I turn back to the creature to see if it’s okay, and maybe see if I can figure out how the creature from Luesidious is here, because I’m pretty sure that it’s the same one.

Although, I don’t know how I’m sure. Turning around, I suddenly feel the now familiar feeling of the portal pulling at me, and sure enough, I soon find myself back in my room.

I sigh.

I guess that’s another mystery that we’ll have to add to the ever-growing pile. Not once did I feel threatened by the creature, but even when it bit me in Luesidious, I had no desire to harm it, which is odd when you consider that I should have wanted to defend myself.