the trial by tale

the trial

Chiara enters the Blue Forest and the gates immediately slam shut behind her and Evil's Wild Card, Bogden of Woods Beyond. The pair finds themselves in the Tulip Garden. Bogden takes one fearful look at her and sprints away through the tulips, heading south. Coming from that direction are quiet, rustling noises which for some reason fill Chiara with a sense of foreboding.

Though she knows there's safety in numbers, every step she takes in Bogden's direction fills her with dread. Deeper into the Tulip Garden, the girl can hear a beautiful song which beckons her to come. She follows the sound of the lilting melody, enchanted. However, the song's beauty is overshadowed by Chiara's cautiousness: her talent alerts her that this is not merely an ordinary song.

Taking cover behind trees, she creeps toward a clearing where the music is coming from. Here, the girl sees a beautiful maiden, singing to a spellbound Everboy. Her powers of manipulation over him are strong, but Chiara's talent enables her to see the true person behind the pretty illusion. This creature is a hideous harpy hoping to eat him for dinner.

Determined to rescue this poor boy, Chiara mogrifies into a sparrow. Right as the harpy takes his lovesick face into her talons, the girl flies right between the couple. Startled, he topples backward and she momentarily loses the illusion. The Everboy is broken from the spell at the sight of her true appearance and tries to run.

Shocked and confused, he doesn't even consider mogrifying to escape. As the harpy reaches for him, a sadistic smile stretching across her face, Chiara mogrifies into a horse and sweeps him onto her back. The creature screeches threats at the children as the horse gallops away but can't fly fast enough to catch them. Soon, they've both made it out of the Tulip Garden.

At first, the desperate gallop away from the harpy is easy. Spurred forward by her fear, Chiara manages to cover a great distance with the dazed Everboy clinging to her mane. After a while, however, her adrenaline fades and her exhaustion catches up with her. The horse collapses to the ground, narrowly avoiding crushing the boy she just saved. Suddenly, she feels herself mogrifying back into a human and dives behind a large pumpkin to cover herself.

"Wait a minute," the boy babbles. "Where'd the horse go..."

He notices Chiara's mortified, bright red face peeking out from behind the pumpkin. Finally understanding what happened, he takes off his jacket and tosses it to her.

"Wear this," he says. "It's probably long enough to keep you warm. Hey, uh, thanks for saving me. I don't think I know you..."

"I'm Chiara," she responds quickly, not surprised he doesn't recognize her. She's not a popular Ever, not by a long shot. But she's confused that she doesn't recognize him. "And you are..." she prompts, having trouble scrutinizing him in the dim light.

His eyes widen. "Chiara, look out!" he calls.

"Huh?" Chiara responds, gazing at him in bewilderment. Despite her confusion, her instincts from Surviving Fairy Tales kick in and she ducks, curling into a ball. There's a loud thud. She looks up and sees a monstrous creature trying to tug its hook out of a tree trunk. Chiara shudders, noticing how deeply the blade is embedded in the bark, and realizes that could've been in her.

"Come on!" the boy hisses. "While it's distracted!" He hauls her to her feet and the two start to run, but hear a horrible ripping noise as the hook exits the tree trunk. Sprinting for their lives, the pair reach a stony bridge which appears dangerously unstable.

The boy stumbles on the uneven stones, throwing Chiara off balance, and she nearly topples off. She saves herself by instinctively grabbing his arm and finds herself staring directly below the bridge. At a one hundred foot drop ending in sharp rocks.