I dusted myself off and started walking to the entrance again. After a couple of steps I tripped over a rock that I swear wasn't there before and landed face-first on the ground. "Ow." I heard another loud crack and quickly rolled out of the way from another boulder. More came falling, and I dodged them as they came for me and only me.
May hesitated as I tried to avoid the hellfire of rocks that came for me every second. "I have a thought. What if we play the harp? What if it's just cranky because it hasn't been used in so long?" I moved to the right as another rock smashed the ground I used to stand on. "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"
May crossed her arms. "Have I ever been wrong about these types of things?" I hesitated, trying to think of any situation when one of her crazy suggestions didn't work. "Ugh! Fine! If you want to touch this thing, be my guest!" I tried to throw it to her but realized that I couldn't remove my hands from it. I pulled harder but I couldn't let go. "It's stuck to me!"
May cupped her hands by her mouth so I could hear her better as I continued to dodge boulders. "Take off your gloves!" I shouted back. "You try taking off your gloves with no hands!" I then jumped out of the way of a bunch of swords that fell from the ceiling and stabbed into the cracks of the floor. "What the heck?!"
May then flew over to me and grabbed my hands. She struggled to pull the harp out of my grip and I stepped back into something that caught on my foot. I lifted my foot to see that it was stuck in a bucket and groaned. "Seriously?! What next, a rake?!" I then stepped back again onto some metal spikes, and a wooden pole cracked me in the back of the head. "AH!"
May continued to try and get the harp unstuck. "Don't give it ideas, Dedrin!" Suddenly, she was able to unwedge the harp from my hands and we both fell back onto our butts. "Gah!" She then quickly started to pluck the strings of the harp as soon as she was able to, and with each pluck a ring of light would appear.
Everything that was trying to kill me stopped, and plants and flowers started to grow out of every crack in the cave. I stared in amazement as the harp glowed and created more foliage around us until it appeared like we were in a jungle. May closed her eyes as she played, and the light reflecting off of her face made her sparkle. The tune was beautiful, and once she finished the light disappeared.
She then opened her eyes, surprised to see all the plants that had grown around us. I got to my feet and looked around, trying to see if I still had bad luck. Nothing happened to me and I didn't trip as I walked over to May. She stood up as well with delight. "We did it!! We cured you! Hopefully, all the bad luck in town disappeared as well! Come on, let's find out!" She moved to make her way through all the plants but I continued to stand there in thought.
Yet again she had solved another trial, and I was left standing there with my uselessness. 'I don't understand this girl. What could she possibly hope to gain by helping me? I expected to have some sort of idea of what she's after by now, but I'm still clueless. She knows I would never do the same for her so why is she still at my side with those crazy ideas of hers?'
I then pulled the bucket off of my foot and threw it away. I followed May out of the greenery and once we reached the ledge again a blue flame appeared in front of us. Theodius took its place with a bright smile. "Wahoo! You completed the seventh test! You only have three left to go once you hand over that harp." May gave it to him and he looked at it with admiration. I crossed my arms as I walked over to them and spoke to Theodius. "What do you want with that 'cranky' harp?"
Theodius turned to me and his smile became a smirk. "I saw a druid drop this here a while ago and I bet her that if I could find it she'd have to go out with me." I sighed. "I'm sorry I asked. You couldn't do that yourself?" He made the harp disappear in his hands and shrugged. "I could've, but then I'd be a trial short on this quest. Plus, I didn't know how to rid of the bad luck. What a unique idea to play it, CherryMay. Man, Dedrin would be so lost without you. Knowing him, his first idea would be to break it."
I glared at him even though he was right. Theodius didn't seem to notice my look of ice as he started to turn away. "Anyway, I'm off to get me some tail so I'll cast that next spell tomorrow. In the meantime you can relax or whatever. See ya!" He gave us finger guns and disappeared again.
I rolled my eyes and started to walk back to Saniel. "We work for such a dork." May then gasped, causing me to turn around. Her face was full of joy as she raised her hands to her face. "Did you just say we?! As in you and I?! As in we both are on this quest?!" I blinked a few times before answering her. "You're weird." I turned around again and May jumped with excitement. "I'm not hearing a no! I knew it was about time to take our friendship to the next level!"
I looked down at her from Saniel's spine with a hint of irritation. "Fine, I move you up from acquaintance to constant annoyance." She jumped onto Saniel's back after me with her hands in the air. "Yay! Progress!" The corner of my mouth lifted a little as Saniel took off toward the giant village again, but I quickly stopped myself before she noticed. 'What? I never find her gut-wrenching positivity amusing. What has been wrong with me lately?' I thought.
Once we were close enough to see the gorge May pointed out all the new vegetation that had surrounded the town while we were gone. "Look! The harp must've grown all of this when I played it back in the cave! It's so pretty now!" Saniel flew lower until we were flying through the streets to see all of the giants celebrating.
All of the empty pots that rested on doorsteps and hung from windows were now full of freshly bloomed flowers and fruits, and everyone was dancing to the music being played in the square or hugging each other warmly. The entire town looked so much different than before, and the dryness in the air had been replaced with warmth. We landed back on the table where we spoke with Cecile before, and she soon noticed us from a distance away before returning to greet us with a smile. "You did it!"