Chapter 17: Little Girl, Big Tree

Our next destination was the town of Tora which lies directly south of Fora. When we walked closer to town, we saw the very large tree at the town's south end. The tree caused the entire town to be covered in shadow. We saw Tora in the middle of town talking to the villagers. He turned around when he heard us come up. He looked like an older version of Stan, but with a pompadour, mustache, and clothes. When we asked him about the Gem, he replied,

"Ah, so you are the ones looking for Gem! Excellent!"

"Yes, we are," Jennifer said. "Do you have it?"

"Unfortunately, no," Tora groaned. "A large bird came and took it from me."

"A large bird?" Andrew asked.

"Yes! The thing was huge! It took the Gem and made its way to the top of the tree! I would've fought it off myself, but it was too quick for me! If you are the ones searching for the Gem, could you get it back?"

"How did the bird get a hold of your Gem?" Stan asked.

"...Must've let my door open when I went out that one day..." Tora muttered. We all just groaned. "Well, the important thing is that you get it back! You up to it?"

"It's just a bird, right?" Kyra asked. "How hard could it be?"

"We had to fight and hypnotic clock, travel through a maze and a prison, go through burning snow, avoid getting smashed in a pyramid, navigate a mansion full of ghosts, fight the clock again after escaping from jail... I'm getting a little tired having to hunt for the Gems!" Jennifer whined.

"That may be, but I bet you feel much stronger now than when you started, right?!" Tora asked.

"Every challenge will make us stronger and, eventually, we will become strong enough to take down Exitilus!" Andrew encouraged. "We'll go get that Gem!"

"Excellent! I'll be right here waiting!"

"You don't want to come with us?" Lacey asked.

"Naw, I have dinner cooking. I'll make enough for you guys to have some when you return, though, okay?" Tora left and went back inside. After Andrew went to the Shop to purchase more supplies, we headed for the tree.

When we arrived, we all looked up. The tree seemed to reach the sky! We were just there and now we have to go up again? In the same day?

"Excuse me?" a girl voice said behind us and we turned to look at her. She had her pink hair tied up into ponytails.

"Something you need, girlie?" Stan asked.

"Yes," the girl said. "I was wondering if any of you had seen my brothers."

"What do they look like?" Andrew asked.

"Well, one has blue hair and the other has red," she replied. "They left on a journey a while ago and haven't returned."

"You lost your brothers, huh?" Jennifer said. "I know how you feel. I'm still looking for my sister."

"My other brother, Spencer, is down in Galero looking for them with me," she said. "So far, we've had no luck."

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Madilynn," she replied. "Or Madi. I don't care which."

"Well, Madi," Kyra said. "We'll look for them, but we're on a journey of our own. We're here to get the gem back from the bird on top of the tree."

"You're going to climb all the way up there?" Madilynn asked. "That looks dangerous."

"Well, Madi, you haven't seen danger, yet," Stan said. "We've fought monsters and dragons, escaped fortresses and mazes. What have you done?"

"Traveled the entirety of Moneo searching for my brothers," Madilynn rebutted. "All I want is for them to return home, so don't you dare try to upset me." She walked to the entrance to the tree. "Now, are you coming or what?"

"Who put her in charge?" Sobie asked.

"Just deal with it for now," Andrew said. "She's going through some stress. This is probably her way of dealing with it." We headed into the carved out entrance into the tree.

The tree was hollow on the inside and it was full of vines, ledges, and platforms. We had to use all of them to climb up the tree. To make the challenge even harder, we were constantly attacked by Ravens and Crows. The entire tree was, well, a tree, so using Fire or Lightning Magic was out of the question. A couple of the vines snap under the Stan's or Matt's weight. A couple of the platforms were narrow and any sudden movements would have us fall to the bottom, which was made increasingly difficult by the various bird attacks. We would occasionally have to save each other from falling to our doom. We were only a quarter of the way up and we were all tired from the climb, even Stan, Matt, and Andrew. Andrew gave us all Health Vials to recover from our wounds given to us by the birds then we continued onward. We had to stop at several points to get our strength back.

"I've heard a lot about you guys," Madi said. "You aren't very amazing in person."

"Well, excuse me," Sobie said. "The last time we headed in the sky's direction, we used a tornado to get up there. And that was this morning!"

"We normally do an adventure a day," I said. "We had enough time to do two today."

"Why didn't you guys rest?" Madi asked.

"We need to get all the Gems before Exitilus does," Andrew answered. "Otherwise it's the end of the world." Madilynn stood up.

"Then what are we doing sitting around here? Let's go!" Madi started climbing up again.

"She's very energetic," Helen said.

"And somewhat rude," Marina added.

"Let's just continue," Andrew said and we started climbing up again.

It took us nearly two hours to climb the rest of the way up. Whatever dinner Tora was preparing for us would likely be cold by now. We couldn't tell what time it was, but we knew we were in here for a long time.

"My feet and arms are killing me!" Madi complained.

"You know, you didn't have to come with us," Stan said. Madi just shrugged and continued. At the top, we reached what looked like a large bird's nest. We saw plenty of things in the nest, including the Tora Gem! I was about to run and get it, but Andrew held me back as he looked around. Night was falling so it was difficult to see, but it seemed like the large bird wasn't home. Andrew cautiously approached the Gem and bent to pick it up. When he did, we heard a loud screech. We looked up and saw the large bird approaching fast. Andrew tried to head back but the bird was much faster than he was. As the bird dived to get Andrew, Kyra ran out and knocked him away and the bird grabbed her instead! Kyra dropped her katana as the bird flew higher up and circled the tree. Jennifer readied her arrows and the rest with our magic.

"Hold on! You could hit Kyra!" Andrew yelled. "Lacey, fly up there and see what you can do to get her back!"

"Okay," Lacey said as she grew wings and took off. She wasn't as fast as the bird, so catching up to it was a challenge. Kyra was desperately trying to get out of the bird's talons by struggling and kicking. Then she gave the bird a good punch and it let her go! Lacey tried to get to her, but she didn't make it in time and Kyra fell right past her. Andrew jumped off the nest in hopes of catching her and he fell with her. He caught her, but he continued falling. Lacey dove after them and increased her weight so she'd fall faster. Kyra, afraid that she was going to hit the ground, gave Andrew a kiss, which seemed to have stunned him. Andrew snapped out of it in time to pull out a Gem and they both disappeared. Lacey returned to the bird's nest and the bird returned as well. It came at us full force, but now we were ready for it. Jennifer shot her arrows as I used my Lightning and Kyra's Ice swords to attack. Feeling a mixture of burn, shock, and freeze, the bird dropped and landed.

"Let's head back to town and find Andrew and Kyra," I said. Lacey said she'd help us all down, acting as a parachute.

"Why couldn't you have just brought us up?" Madi asked.

"Though I may be able to turn into a plane or other flying objects," Lacey said. "I can't lift all of you."

"What about in the mine in Qora?" Helen asked.

"I glided down. I didn't fly," Lacey answered.

When we landed back in town, we saw Andrew and Kyra lying on the ground together.

"How cute," Helen said. Stan walked over to them.

"What are you doing?"

"Kyra's... kind of going through a bit of shock right now," Andrew answered. "You wanna help me out here; I'm going through a bit of a shock myself."

"Oh, come on!" Stan said as he lifted them both and carried them into Tora's house. The rest of us followed them in, laughing. Tora was waiting for us and he kept our food warm for us. After a hearty dinner, we turned in for the night. Andrew helped Kyra to her bed.

"I've never had to go through that before..." Kyra said.

"Heh, me neither," Andrew answered. "So, um, about that kiss..."

"I was afraid I was going to die," Kyra said. "I was going to kiss whoever saved me."

"So, you would've kissed Matt or Chris?"

"Ew, no," Kyra laughed.

"Stephan? What if Jennifer decided to save you?"

"Okay, fine!" Kyra yelled out. "I... like you, okay?"

"I suppose I'll take what I can get," Andrew said. "You should get some rest. We all need it." Andrew started to leave the room. "By the way, Kyra... I like you, too. And don't worry, your origin's safe with me."

"You-you know?"

"From the start," Andrew answered. "Like how Stan knew with Sobie. But I'll keep the secret from the others and the reader until you're ready to say something."

"...Okay. Thanks, Andrew,"

"Good night, Kyra," Andrew nodded.

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