Rei, Avi, and Keo pondered on their next move. “It seems that my sword has the ability to harm Ardonous’ spawns… This has been proven twice now! I hope you guys find some way to attack those guys too, I don’t want to have to fight alone.” Rei said, referring to his sword. “Say, that blade, when we found it, it was in a pedestal near the first artifact correct? If so, then that must be the Honor’s Guard, a legendary blade forged by the sages to combat the blight.” Keo stated. “Eh… it doesn’t look all that special, it doesn’t have gems hanging from it like Avi’s.” “Yeah… I know, my sword, the Bejeweled Protector does look pretty nice, doesn’t it?”

  “Your Amber Marksman looks nice too, Keo.” Said Avi. Keo paid no attention to the groups chitchat, as he was too focused on his previous statement. “(If the Honors Guard is the only thing that can fend off the blight… then how can we help…? It is said that Rei is the one destined to fight Ardonous… but… maybe It’s not a good idea to tell him yet. He knows he’s the hero, but does he know he has to face Ardonous head-on eventually? We don’t even know how powerful he is; or will be.)” Keo was lost in thought.

  The sun was starting to go down. “Its getting late, and we have no place to sleep.” Said Avi, yawning. The glistening sunlight over directly over the horizon lit up the grass, revealing a pattern of sorts. “Say… do you guys see that?” asked Keo. “It looks like some kind of pattern…” responded Rei. Avi ran up ahead and took a closer look. She waved to them and yelled. “Look! I think I know where were supposed to go!” Rei and Keo ran over to Avi, and listened to what she had to say.

  “I think if we go west from here, we should find a pathway. On that pathway, which will take us north, we will find another cave, which will house the artifact.” Avi said, running her finger across the ground like a map. “How did you figure that out so quickly…?” asked Keo. “I’m Smart!”. Avi responded, smiling. “(For once…)” Rei thought to himself. The three started walking east, hoping for no troubles from Ardonous’ goons.

  They soon reached the path they were looking for. “That wasn’t so far!” said Avi, looking ahead. A large pathway was stretched out in front of her, and through the fog, a cave entrance could be barely seen. “We should really take a rest… if we’re going to need to fight, which I expect, we should be well rested.” Rei said, looking for a place to lay down. He laid down on a flat piece of land. “It’s actually not that yucky. Lets get some sleep, I have a feeling whatever’s coming next wont be easy.” Keo and Avi laid down and fell asleep, along with Rei.

  The next morning, Keo woke Rei and Avi. “Wake up guys… we need to get going…” He said. “Yeah… lets go…” Avi said, standing up. “Did you pack food, please tell me you didn’t forget to pack food.” Rei asked. Keo reached into his pouch and pulled out some bread. “It’s all I brought with us, make it count.” He said. The three ate their bread as they walked down the path. The further they walked, the more clearly a loud stomping noise could be heard.

  “Do you hear that?” Rei asked. The cave entrance was becoming very visible, and the footsteps started to shake the ground. The three sped up and ran towards the cave. They arrived at the cave to a surprise. It was empty. There were no monsters, nor was there an artifact. Keo was puzzled. “Hey Avi, why are you on the floor?” Rei asked. “And those, footsteps. I can still hear them…” he continued. Rei turned around to see the same creature they met in the cave, at giant proportions. Since it wasn’t dark, more details could be visible. It had a distinctly frog-like appearance. It looked very angry. Black smoke was emitting from its pores. “Uhh… so the reason the footsteps were getting louder, is because it was following us… ooohhhhh…. … RUN!!!!!!!!” The three ran into the cave in fear, with Avi stumbling behind.

  The visibility in the cave became less and less the further they ran inside of it. They had no time to light a candle, as the creature was in hot pursuit of them. It began shooting balls of goop and slime at the ground, which exploded into more goop on impact. “Nonononononono… STAY AWAY!!!!!” Avi yelled. The three kept running away, hoping to catch sight of the artifact. “Maybe its hidden? If we can find it, we can just get out of here, and we won’t have to worry about this guy.”

  A gleaming red light appeared at the end of the open cavern. “Is that it…!?” Keo yelled. He sped up and ran towards it, with Avi and Rei following him. “I think it is…!” Rei yelled back. Rei jumped for the artifact and snatched it. “Got it!” The creature bent over and took the artifact with its mouth, and ate it out of Rei’s hand. “Great. I thought I was done with handfeeding… and wait… that was the artifact… uh oh.” The creature started flashing many colors, and nearly doubled in size. It almost reached the cave ceiling. Rei readied his blade, and so did Avi. Keo drew his bow. “I d-don’t see how were gonna fight this thing… it’s huge!!” Avi yelled in fear.

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  The artifact-imbued creature roared at the group, and launched an attack. It shot a large amount of slime in the group’s general direction. “Get out the way!!” Rei yelled, jumping out the way. Keo jumped in the other direction, out of the range of the attack. “Avi! Run!” Rei yelled to Avi. Avi stood still in fear, looking up at the large ball of slime headed straight for her. “NonononoNONONONONONONOOOOOOOOO” Avi was hit and covered in green slime. “Hey… it doesn’t really hurt that ba-“ Avi was slammed into the wall. “Owie…. Now I’m all sticky, and I’m in pain… once again… why me…. Ugh…” Avi passed out. “Rei smiled for a second. (“She looks kinda… actually I’m not gonna say anything about the slime. Nope. I’m keeping my mouth shut.”) Rei quickly regained his senses, and picked up some rocks to hide and protect Avi.

  He then returned to battle and saw Keo firing arrows off towards the monster. “Rei! I-I think that ball-thing is powering up this guy! That must be why it went after the artifact. It’s the work of Ardonous! He’s trying to kill us right here before we even can meet him!” Keo yelled, firing off more arrows. Rei jumped forward and ran towards the enemy, he hit its leg, and a small amount of black smoke came out of the area that was cut. The monster seemed to be in no pain though. “Uhh… I don’t think we can hurt this guy… are we doomed?”

  “This thing swallowed the artifact, AND knocked out Avi! It’s beating us two to one! Lets score a point!” Rei yelled. “Point… what…?” Keo looked at Rei with a puzzled face. “Eh, whatever, we just need to find a way to hurt this thing. Rei ran forward and kept attacking. He ran and jumped all over the place, cutting the enemy in many different areas. “Rei! I think I’ve got it! The monster isn’t the problem, it’s the dark energy inside of it! You see that smoke coming out of the cut areas!? If we can get enough of that out, it will probably leave the monster and leave it vulnerable! The monster would also probably shrink!” Keo yelled, firing more arrows. “Great idea!” Rei said, continuing his attacks.

  The monster shot off many balls of goop, and tried kicking Rei and Keo many times. It also swung its arms on the ground, trying to hit them with those too. Eventually, Rei’s attacks began to work. A mass of dark energy appeared externally from the monster. Rei kept up his attacks until more energy was freed from it. The monster readied an attack. It opened its gaping mouth and started charging something. A colorful ball appeared in its mouth. “It’s using the artifact to fight! And this attack looks like its gonna be pretty nasty!” Rei yelled. He jumped out of the way as the enemy shot off a massive colorful laser from its mouth. Keo also successfully dodged.

  The attack made a large hole in the ground, and also made some of the ceiling collapse, blocking off Rei from Keo, and obscuring the unconscious Avi. “KEO!! You ok!!” Rei yelled. The monster swung its arm and Keo jumped over it. It then kicked its foot and hit Keo. He was flung into the wall. The impact made some rocks fall, blocking him off. “I c-cant get out of here! You’re going to have to fight alone… I’ll cheer from here!” He yelled, nearly passing out. “Three to one… great… and now I know, Keo can get scared! Eh, this guy’s almost down, I’ll make this quick.” Rei sprinted forward and cut through the enemy. With Keo cheering in the background, Rei kept fighting.

  Eventually, the enemy was covered it small cuts. The dark mass outside of manifested fully. A colorful core could be seen inside of it, signifying the artifact. The large frog-like monster shrunk back down to its normal size. With a puzzled look on its face, it waddled away and receded into the dark.

  The newly revealed shade took form. It extended its shape from the orb and grew into a body-like structure. It grew four appendages and then was plated in heavy-duty armor. Rei gripped his sword tightly and jumped at the enemy. He was knocked back onto the floor, dealing no damage. “Great… how am I going to break that armor.” The enemy began shooting beams of colorful darkness all over the place. Rei dodged and rolled to avoid the attacks. Avi, who had just woken up, crawled over the rocks, and saw what was happening. She tried to yell, but couldn’t, she was still too stunned. “We have to get out of here! We can come back and finish the fight another time! Fleeing is the only option!” Keo said what Avi wanted to say. Keo grabbed Avi, and dragged her still slime-covered body across the ground, leaving a trail of green goop. “Get up, Rei!” Keo yelled.

  The shade manifested a sword and swung it at Rei. “ACK!!” he jumped up and dodged. Rei started running out of the cave, with the enemy catching up to him, firing off arrows from a newly manifested bow. “Almost there…!” He yelled. Rei kept running. Keo kept dragging Avi, while her face was being run across the ground. The goop that she was covered in was protecting her face from any scratches, and she was also quite slippery.

  Rei nearly escaped the cave, with Keo trying to toss Avi out of the cave. “WHY ARE YOU SO HEAVY!?” He yelled. Keo pushed Avi out of the cave. Avi had a dumb expression on her face as this happened. The enemy shot several dark beams, and hit the cave entrance, which caused debris to fall, and trap it. “Phew… lets get out of here, we need a game plan for this guy…” Rei said, catching his breath.