“That is it!” I exclaimed, throwing the frying pan I held at the bush. I tried an axe, but it didn't work. I tried a mace that we apparently had– that did not work. But a frying pan, of all things, was the thing to separate the bush from its stem.
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Wow.
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The bush I was trying to hew fell over, and I exhaled, satisfied. If you’re asking how I even had all these things in the first place, then your answer is the pouch, momma put way more than the essentials in there.
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Picking up the part of the brambled bush I’d hacked off, I pulled the thing into the tent, tracking mud and grime and whatever unjoyus thing resided in this forest inside. I walked over to our little kitchen and put the brambles on the counter, Noah staring into the fireplace.
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He had taken to doing that as of late, and I didn’t know why. It concerned me at first, but day after day, when he found himself with nothing to do, he’d just stare into the flames, listening to the wood burn.
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Oh, and fun fact! This ‘Hodiainne Forest’, as it was called, apparently had trees that, during the night, if in immediate contact with anything, will either burn up and die or freeze to the specific temperature of negative six hundred and forty two degrees celsius.
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How do I know this?
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Let’s just say that there’s a lot you can do with seasoning.
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Anyway, this— brambled thing, Zandywildum or something, was apparently supposed to be edible but only in a very specific manner. The actual plant didn’t look like it, especially since it was built like a thornbush, but I was getting desperate, and desperate times called for desperate measures.
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After changing into a fresh pair of clean clothes, I came back to our kitchen and carefully sliced off the thorns and the sharp bits like the eight-ball told me to. The ball itself was displaying a floating holographic screen with instructions–something I had only recently learned it could do.
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Wondering if the eight ball was clinically insane (how is a bramblebush supposed to feed four?)I followed the instructions to the tiniest detail–apparently, if not chopped correctly, it could release chemicals into the air that could seize the lungs in the matter of moments.
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I told you I was desperate.
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“Prepare a pot of water, got that done…” I muttered, washing my hands as I peered at the hologram before me. “Dice, don’t grate, got that…” I then chopped the little bits and pieces, pouring them into the simmering pot of water steaming on the stove.
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“Add one teaspoon of salt, an eighth teaspoon of Koernvauch pepper, and two tablespoons of ground Yolcindom flower. Koernvauch? Dang!” I said, adding the ingredients as the recipe said. Out of all the peppers that we had, which was enough to make a chef jealous, Koernvauch was the most, and I mean the most, spicy of them all. Even an eighth of a teaspoon, depending on what you add it to could be seen as taking it too far.
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I sprinkled in the Yolcindom Flower as the mixture bubbled, and hopefully, according to the recipe, would give us something to eat in about two hour’s time.
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After washing my hands, I headed over to the ‘living room’, and sat down in one of the chairs, momma’s pouch in hand. I reached inside it and after a few moments of fishing around inside the thing, I pulled out what I was looking for, a pocket watch.
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I peered at it, looking at the time and out of nowhere, there was a heavy
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THUD.
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Freezing, I heard the rustling of grass, and then muffled speech. “Damn it, Kalivov! I told you to be careful with that!” A voice said, to which Noah perked up to, snapped out of his daze. He began to speak, but I hushed him before he could get another word out, hoping caution would prove to be a lifesaver in a situation like this.
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“Sorry, Sergeant- say, what’s that over there?”
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My heart skipped a beat and went into overdrive. They’d seen us, they’d noticed us, and if we didn’t find a way to get out of there fast, we’d be the ones hanging from the fish hooks.
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All caution reduced to atoms, I opened momma’s pouch and began fishing for anything, anything, that could help us, that could save our dangling lives.
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I hadn't expected their search teams to find us this far, I thought they might have given up since we were very far away from any camp, but it seemed like they’d chase us out the country if given the chance, and according to the map, we didn’t fit into that category.
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My heart pounded in my head as I heard the footsteps getting dangerously closer, way too much for comfort. I threw things indiscriminately out of the pouch, looking for what I hoped could be a contingency plan, to be a hope that’d let us flee, or at least give us more time. I grabbed something particularly sharp, and pulled it out. I slowed down, looking at it, it was beautiful.
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It was a diamond, but not in any traditional shape– a diamond, the shape of the crest of New Galaxia. The beautiful thing glittered peacefully within my palm, no bigger than such. I looked at it, my attention drawn to its perfect structure, to its pristine shape and absurd strength.
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“Loycelynne,” my brother said, standing at a window, but I never comprehended, my eyes were still on the gem.
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“Loy, they’re getting closer-” The beauty rose from my palm, sparkling serenely. 11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BTXGo6pUA
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“Loycelynne what are you- woah…” He said, turning toward me and then beholding the beauty just as I did. “It’s so pretty…” And it was. It truly was, you should’ve seen it for yourself. It was a marvel to behold, it belonged in a museum–and would be if the Hodinsaenese hadn’t destroyed them all in trying to erase the past.
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Then, out of nowhere, the crystal began glowing, gleaming like a crystal. The object ascended to the ceiling, and wham.
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It went white, just like that.
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There was silence, so loud that you could hear it, followed thereafter by a fast blowing gust of wind. It stayed strong, as I found myself within that void, very much confused but in the back of my mind hoping that the gem was more than just looks and glamour, that would save us from the apparent predicament we found ourselves in.
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And, just like I had hoped, the gem delivered, in more ways than one of course.
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As soon as it happened, it ended, and everything was back to how it was before. I sat in the overstuffed armchair for a hot minute, and looked toward Noah, who looked at me with the same bewilderment.
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“Woah,” He said, "what was that…?” I shrugged in response, then I spoke. “I don’t know, but if it works, it works I guess?” Noah laughed, sitting down in an armchair. “Yeah, we’ll go with that.”
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I smiled at my brother, looking toward what we had on the stove.
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“Oh, the pot is overflowing–”
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