Ife tripped over and looked at his legs.
"Why am I wearing a dress, umm...What's your name anyway?" Ife asked .The woman mumbled under her breath.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"Bonnabelle, but you can call me belle," she said.
"Anyway, anything different since you woke up?" .
"I do feel a little weird like something is dragging me towards it hey don't change the subject here."
"The pants look good on me don't you think?" She said her pitch going higher.
"Hand them over!" He increased his pitch.
"I helped you and watched over you it's the least you can do." Her voice returned to normal.
Her voice is a bit deep but feminine must have grown up with boys.
Ife thought. A scream rang out, and belle unsheathed her sword, one foot forward and one foot back, with the oversized guard uniform she wore.
She looks like a man, Ife thought. the trees rustled and out came the doctor who had abandoned them. Belle dropped her sword and caught him by the ruff of his neck. She connected with a head-butt and a swift jab to the chin.
She definitely grew up around men. ife thought. She unbuckled his trousers and pulled them off.
"What are you doing?" He asked. She threw the trousers at him.
"Well don't spend all day getting changed it may be a tight fit but it will do".
"I'm not wearing a dead man's trousers".
"He's not dead".
"Are you seeing the blood?!?".
"Fine if it bothers you so much".
She put a hand over his body and a grey, translucent, semi-circle of aura formed around the doctor.
"What are you doing?"
"Watch"
The aura dissipated and the doctor slowly got up and darted off into the forest.
"You said you were feeling something earlier in what direction?"
Ife slipped into the trousers with ease.
"Somewhere up ahead".
They started walking down the forest, the trees growing thicker and thicker.
"Where did you learn to fight like that?".
"I travel a lot and so you have to learn a thing or two to defend yourself".
"What do you do on your travels?"
"I collect valuable resources for my country" she smiled and sighed.
"Those were good times why I can practically taste the salt on the seas" she stopped herself and kept a neutral face.
"Seas? You sail?"
"Time to time".
"Must have been fun I always hear stories."
"It's not a safe place I'll tell you that".
"Yeah, I heard about pirates, was it? Whenever my brother used to come he would tell me-" he kept his mouth open but no words came out he yawned.
"Anyways, we're getting close".
"I guess you're right" she twitched her nose.
"What do you mean we're getting closer?"
She pointed to a flowing stream ahead of them.
Ife swallowed and walked towards it and slowly reached out, bell caught his hand .
"I don't think that's wise," she said
"What do you mean ?"
"What are you seeing?"
"It's just water".
she sighed and put her hands over his eyes.
"What do you smell?"
His nose twitched and he wretched.
"Get ready" she slowly lifted her hands and ife fell back
"Hypnosis devilish little thing," she said
He got up and looked blankly into the stream of red.
"Is esu perhaps a trickster?"
"On occasion yes,"
"Any connection to demons? Evil spirits?"
"Yes, he is known as their king but that's a kid's tale".
"Seems real to me".
Ife sat down.
"That explains why no one leaves".
"You say a lot of things that don't make sense".
"Look people don't get lost and his paths are not as many as impossible to escape as you believe if it to be if it were impossible you would not have information about the paths, to begin with".
"You are saying my people have been passing down a lie?"
"Not necessarily" she stretched an arm and pulled him up.
"Thirsty?" She asked.
"Parched" .
She walked over to the stream and waved for him to come closer she plunged a fist into it, the stream slowly turned lighter and lighter shades of red
"The smell is dying down what are you-".
"Wait a moment longer and you can drink as much as a camel if you want to".
He looked at her hand and saw the water fizz around it, the water soon became colourless and the water stopped fizzing. She released her clenched fist and scooped up the liquid sipping carefully.
"Help yourself," she said scooping another handful. Ife stared at the water, his reflection staring back he immersed his head and opened his mouth and took in a mouth full and pulled back swallowing as he came to the surface.
"I wasn't sure I could do it purification was never my speciality".
"There you go again with your weird talk".
"Well, I guess I never explained things so this will be a great experience". She looked left and right and walked down the stream and rolled up her sleeves she pulled with her whole body and pulled something out with a crash. Ife approached slowly.
"This is going to be perfect so watch care-"
Ife fell to his knees.
"After all this time... "
"What happened?"
"Please can you restore it with your magic?"
She held his face in her hands and tilted it up.
"We can do it together okay?"
They both knelt beside what looked like scrap metal with torn wheels.
"I may have to nag you a bit starting with this technique, it's not magic it's just spirit energy or the more official term grace. It can be used to exorcise, bless or create miracles but you don't need to sweat those stuff because we're blessing right now". A ginger like an aura flowed through her hand and covered half the scrap.
"It's no different than the body you have but a bit liquid. Close your eyes and imagine a candle melting and hardening".
Ife closed his eyes and listened to the stream he could feel the metal more and more as the thought of melted wax filled his mind.
"Stop!"
He abruptly opened his eyes and saw he was indeed successful but his was receding and overstepping irregularly.
"You're doing great for your first time ready for the next step?"
"Yes".
"Now, look this hunk of metal has rust and is busted up in more ways than one. Purification is the first step so for this. Imagine washing away the rust oh, and for the rest of the way keep your eyes closed and increase your output of energy".
The rust started disappearing and the scrap began to shine in exchange.
"Now, for the last part of restoration imagine the way it used to look and try to replicate it" .
The metal came together to form a handle and the body dents popped out, and broken parts grew back .
"Open your eyes".
Ife saw his aura had covered it and gawked at the reformed wheelbarrow.
"Thank you".
"No problem just remember purification is the removal of impurities and restoration is reverting it to its original state".
"Thank you".
"Your aura being white is weird though I've never met a person with pure white".
"Will it turn grey like yours?".
"No, everyone has a distinct colour and besides yours is sort of pretty".
"Thank you".
"Save it for when we get the mask".
"So how are we going to navigate?"
She sat down, mumbling to herself and
Looking at the clouds,
"I got two choices but we got to flip for it, heads or tails?"
"Hey, isn't that the doctor from earlier" ife called her attention to the other side. The doctor stood looking at them body soaked in water and dripping.
"Hello!" Ife called.
Belle rubbed her neck, a warm sting went down her spine. She looked at her palm to see blood it wasn't hers she quickly looked at ife but he was calling for the doctor. She looked up and saw a figure above her she quickly stood and walked back slowly and the full figure came to view the doctor with a rope around his neck and a spears riddled through the chest and torso. Whatever was on the other side was not human. She turned to "the doctor" and saw him slowly walking back into the forest. She unsheathed her sword and struck just a hair behind ife he turned and felt a small splash on his face he wiped it and looked at his fingers traces of red now on them. He looked down and saw a hand on the ground.
Belle wrapped her arms around his midsection.
"Get ready" she blurted.
"For what?" She released a coat of aura into distinct tail like shapes which turned to octupus tentacles, that stretched and held the trees. Water violently spewed from the ground, Ife couldn't maintain balance, the floor slipping more and more beneath his feet as it quaked. The solid dirt turned to mush and a pinkish soft surface. The surface rose upwards pushing them back with a waves of water and a veil of darkness began to spread the trees and remaining land were sliding past the pair.
Belle tightened her grip around ife and the tentacles pulled forward launching them skywards the light closing. They were losing momentum when Belle formed the tentacles into a pair of wings and with a single flap of its wings passed through narrowly to the light. Ascending to the clouds as the momentum slowed down, she slowly turned around and saw something they would never have expected. The forest had taken a new shape. It had a dark face with yellow eyes and jagged teeth, with red and yellow marks on its face. The pupils slowly fixed on them and the face made a wide smile, as it opened its mouth the sky was blocked out as an earie palm shadow came down. Belle turned her back as it swatted them down. Her gripped loosened and ife spiralled away from her she was falling faster than he.
She took the impact for me.
He thought and stretched a hand out
Melted wax. Flow like wax.
His aura flowed down and got a hold of her barely coiling around her as they entered the abyss.