Erik's Journey | The Fall

After the Fall

My eyelids flickered as I slowly came to, forcing my eyes to open fully and scan my surroundings. That was a habit I had ever since I became a thief; scanning my surroundings for any potential threat. I didn't recognize where I was, but it looked like some sort of jail cell. I was lying on a green mat and my entire body ached.

"Urrrgh... What happened?" I muttered to myself, painfully sitting up. "Am I still alive? I, I remember the Tree of Life... and the Lord of Shadows..."

Everything came back to me in a rush. The Lord of Shadows taking the Luminary's powers. The Sword of Light being stolen. The Tree of Life exploding. But I couldn't remember anything after that. How did I get here? And where is here, exactly?

"I can't be the only one who made it, right? Right...?" I murmured.

I looked down at my arms and noticed a few cuts and burns on them; probably from somehow surviving the giant explosion.

I looked back up and around again to see my surroundings better. There wasn't much in the cell, but the iron-bar door had a big padlock on it.

"Hm. Not good. I'm not exactly in the best shape for a jailbreak..." I said. I stood up and stared at the cell door, trying to figure out what to do.

"It's not a jail... it's a monster's lair!" A small, high pitched voice said behind me.

I whirled around and saw a small, floating slime behind me. It looked sort of like a jellyfish, with a blue head and orange tentacles. It had a huge smile on its face and it laughed when we made eye-contact.

I stepped back a little, stunned. I was positive a few moments ago that it wasn't there...

"Hey! Where'd you get off sneaking up on people like that!?" I exclaimed, before grimacing and putting my hand over a cut on my arm.

"Don't worry! I'm not a bad slime! I promise!" The little slime slurped after it was done speaking, which honestly, was kind of gross.

"Oh dear, it looks like you're a little battered and broozed. But I can help! Here you goo.."

It flung two of it's front tentacles out from its body and drew a circle in the air. "Wheeeeee!" it said.

Suddenly, I didn't hurt anymore. I looked down and realized that all my cuts and burns were gone. Had this slime just healed me...? As far as I remembered, the last person to ever heal me was Serena...

"Whoa... You... You healed me!" I said, kind of surprised but also sad at the thought of being separated from my teammates. I gave him a confused look. "What kind of slime goes around appearing out of nowhere and healing humans?"

The slime just simply laughed and twirled in the air. "This kind of slime! My name's Healijah. Nice to meet you!"

I looked down and scratched the back of my neck, feeling slightly suspicious of the floating jellyfish. "Uh, okay. Sure..."

I looked back up at Healijah. "Well, whatever. If you're as good a monster as you say you are, maybe you can help me. Have you seen my buddies anywhere?"

Healijah tried to tilt his head, but ended up tilting his entire body. "Ooze that? Your friends? You mean other goomans? Nope, you're the only one here! But you want to goo and find them, do you? Alright! Follow me!"

Healijah slurped after his long sentence, then he floated over to the cell door. He stopped, flapped his tentacles, and said, "Wheeeeee!"

The door instantly swung open, and I stared at it, confused.

"Uhh, he's helping me escape?" I whispered to myself. "Maybe he really is one of the good guys..."

I shrugged. "Well, I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Guess I've got a new friend."