When Lunar stepped out of the cave for the first time in days, it was so bright he had to squint his eyes, and when his vision focused, he felt his breath taken away from him.
"Wow," he felt at ease now that he was back in familiar territory. Soon everyone else joined him as well, and he watched them all have the same reaction.
"Now that we're all out, we should all go home." Declared Birk.
"Your right. bye, guys! I have to go back to my mom. See you soon!" Serai said as she ran out of the forest and back into the human town, still looking sad.
"Come on guys. We have to go too." Rose announced.
"When we get back, something weird will happen".
"Wow, spoiler alert" Birk laughed
'what's she talking about?' Lunar asked himself. 'We'll just have to trust her. She's got us this far'. When they got back to campus, Lunar couldn't wait to see everyone. But when they walked into camp, they got an unexpected reaction.
"Lunar? Rose?" Their mom ran up and hugged them when she saw them.
"you've been gone for so long! everyone thought you guys were dead!" Ive said sobbing.
"Were ok mom," Lunar tried to comfort her.
"We were only gone a few days."
"what do you mean a few days? You've been gone for three years!" Ive said still sobbing.
"W-what?" Lunar felt as if the world was swaying beneath him. 'T-that can't be!' he thought.
"Is this what you meant by something weird will happen?" Birk turned over to ask Rose and unhappily, she noded.
"B-but we were only in the cave a couple of days". Lunar could feel himself stumbling as he spoke.
"What cave?" Ive asked.
"We checked the crystal cave and it was sealed shut in a way that nobody could get in."
"It collapsed as soon as we got in," Lunar described.
"We had to take the red tunnel cause the blue one was collapsed as well," continued Aster
"W-well that explains it. you guys took the red tunnel. It's a miracle that you even came out at all" Moon clarified.
"Yea, It is" answered Lunar.
"So if we've been in there for three years, what happened in the time we were gone?" asked Birk
"Well." When Birk said that, it felt as if both Moon and Ive couldn't look any of them in the eye anymore.
"W-what happened" Lunar couldn't stop himself from stuttering.
"the outlaws attacked us again. Luckily we were more prepared than last time." Lunar could barely hear Ive when she spoke. The outlaws, also known as rogues, were a group of elves that belonged to no clan but go around raiding and attacking other clans, sometimes kidnapping or killing the people in that clan.
"Is everyone alright?" Lunar asked in worry.
"Not too many people got hurt" Moon replied.
"Thank goodness!" Birk let out a sigh.
"How long ago was that?" Lunar asked.
"It happened twice. Once a year ago and then it happened again just a month ago." Moon replied.
"It happened twice?!" Birk said in shock.
"And just a month ago?!" Aster added. When everything calmed down and everyone went to their tents, but Lunar stayed out looking at the sunset. Right beside him was his mom, sister, and the other female elves making dinner. 'It's good to be back' he thought. 'I can't imagine leaving this place. I've been here as long as I can remember.' he thought back to when the older elves told him stories about the journey from the last forest they were in, he was just a couple of years old when they made the journey so he didn't remember anything from it. Then his thoughts drifted somewhere else. To his sister, she got kidnapped 4 years ago, by the humans, he missed her, he would always take her to the clearing and play with her or teach her how to use the bow, she was just two years younger than him, but he loved taking care of her. she had blond hair like him, but much longer, and he remembered it would constantly get in her face when climbing or using the bow.
"you stand like this and hold the bow like this," Lunar remembered younger him teaching his sister how to stand and hold the bow.
"ok brother," said a little girl getting ready to shoot but as she did her hair got in the way and messed up her aim.
"How many times do I have to tell you? get mom to tie up your hair before we practice" Lunar said taking his sister's hair up and tieing it so it stays.
but his sister just giggled and tried again.
"Lunar?" younger Lunar heard a voice but when he looked around, no one was there.
"Lunar." Suddenly something knocked him out of his thoughts and back to reality.
"Lunar," Serai said, tapping his shoulder, looking down with a miserable look on her face.
"Serai? What wrong? What are you doing here?" Lunar asked,
"I don't know what going on. My mom's not at my house, Somebody else is instead, and they said they've been living there for over two years, I've even checked my friend's houses, but nobody there!" Serai burst into tears as she leaned onto Lunar's arm.
"I'm so sorry, it was confusing to come back for us as well. We found out that we were in the cave for three years even though it felt like just a few days for us." Lunar explained.
"W-what?" Serai stuttered as she took her face out of Lunar's shoulder and looked up at him with teary eyes.
"what do you mean three years?" Lunar felt bad for her.
"you can stay here till we figure out what happened to your mom"
"T-thanks" Serai stuttered as Lunar wiped away her tears from her face.
"let me go tell my mom. You can stay in me and my sister's tent for now. I'll tell Rose to show you where it is,'" he informed her. As he walked over to his mom and sister in the cooking tent.
"Mom, I hope you don't mind, but Serai is here, her family and friends weren't in town anymore, so I offered her to sleep in me and Roses tent"
"Oh poor thing, of course, she can stay here as long as she likes" Ive replied.
"Great. Rose, can you show her to our tent and help her get settled in?" Lunar asked.
"sure"
"Do you want me to help cook?" Lunar asked as soon as Rose left the tent.
"sure, you can chop up the carrots and put them in the salad."
When Lunar was done cooking, he went out to find Rose and Serai to tell them dinner was ready. 'where are they? It doesn't take that long to set up a sleeping spot in a tent.' He thought. and just when he was about to pull back the cloth hanging by the entrance of Rose and his tent, he heard voices coming from inside. As he listened closer, he could hear that it was Rose and Serai whispering to each other.
"We can't just not go tomorrow" Rose whispered,
"why not?" Serai whispered back
"cause either way if we don't go or if we do go, Lunar still will" 'there talking about me?' Lunar thought.
"You said he drowned cause of me, so what if I just don't go in the water? Would that work?" Serai asked in a whisper
"It's worth a try," Rose response was even quieter than the others, almost like she wasn't sure Serai's idea would work.
"Serai, Rose, dinners ready," he said, making it sound as if he had just arrived at the tent.
"Ok, we'll be out in a bit" Rose replied. After dinner, everyone went to their tents to sleep. In the morning, they all went to the lake to celebrate Rose, Lunar, Aster, and Birk coming back.
"It's a perfect day to swim. Don't you think?" Ive asked Lunar.
"It truly is." It was a beautiful and sunny day, perfect for going to the lake. There was not a single cloud in the sky, not even a slight chance of rain. When he looked at Rose and Serai, they both looked worried, but Birk got to them before he could.
"Come on guys, enjoy the great weather." But neither of them said anything. And before he knew it, they were at the lake, and everyone jumped in. Everyone but Serai and Rose.
"Come on guys, don't let some worry get in the way from having fun" Lunar said, splashing them.
"you go, I'll stay out, that was our plan, we never said anything about you not going in," Serai said, pushing Rose into the water.
"hey!" Rose said as she slipped into the lake with a big splash.
"You're coming in too," Lunar said, picking up Serai and throwing her in as well.
"Lunar!" She said as soon as she got to the surface.
"We might as well enjoy it," Rose said to Serai.
"what do you mean?" Serai asked
"I've deen thinking, I don't think we can change the future, and there are plenty of people here so if it does happen, there are people here to help. Now, let's have some fun!" Rose said splashing Serai with a huge wave. After a couple of hours of swimming, Rose, Serai, and Lunar were sitting on the edge of the cliff above the water.
"See, nothing happened. arent you happy you didn't just sit around all day?" Lunar asked
"yea, I guess I am happy" they both replied. And Serai stood up to stretch, but as she did, a huge Eagle came up behind her, causing her to be pushed off the cliff and into the water below, and though Lunar and Rose were laughing, they soon stopped when Serai didn't come back up.
"SERAI!" Lunar yelled as he jumped off the ledge and into the water to save her. 'No this can't be happening!' he thought. 'It's just like what Rose said! I should have listened to her!' When he finally got to Serai, she was still conscious but fighting something, and when he went to look, and he saw that she was tangled by a weed that was wrapped around her leg, and by the time he got her untangled, his lunges were aching for air. 'Come on, just a little farther!' he told himself. But just when he could see the service of the water, he felt himself lose consciousness, and be dragged up to the shore by Serai. When he was on dry land, he could barely hear everyone panicking around him. 'Is this the end? Am I gonna die?' he thought as the voices began to fade, then everything went black.