This is a story of a time that could've been a long time ago, but not of this world. It is a tale of a prince and a hero. A tale of a hero who fought with all his might and lost so much, yet also gained so much. A tale that will make you laugh (hopefully), cry (maybe) or unsure if you should laugh or cry. Though it must be said, that this is not a typical fairytale. What would you do if your companion is keeping a lot of secrets from you? What if this companion also has the power to implode a continent? Hero Prince(ss) Chapter 5 The Forest To Nowhere. By Shiina Ai

“Meclis.”

“Yes, Feska.”

“It’s been two days.”

“I know.”

“So tell me why we are still here.”

“Sightseeing?”

“Do you want to become a star, Meclis?”

“Look, I don’t know what’s happening, alright? I’m a thief, not a scholar of whatever field of study this is!” Meclis said in exasperation

“It looks like we’re going in circles,” Nerys interjected.

“Oh wow, brilliant deduction, Nerusys!”

“No need to get snarky about it, Feska.”

“So how do we get out of this, Nerusys?” Feska asked as she yawned.

“Umm, according to Archmage Krell, space and time is a never-ending loop. So if we consider that space-time is a flat surface, by walking forward we will eventually reach our point of origin.”

“How does this help?” Meclis asked.

“This place is like a labyrinth. If we could reach the point of origin, we could, theoretically, leave this labyrinth.”

“But that would’ve meant wasting two days.”

Nerys huffed in annoyance. “I would rather waste two days than spending two years wandering the same place. We can make a detour and avoid this place altogether.”

“But if we just ignore this, other people would be caught up in it,” Meclis said in a rare display of responsibility.

“What makes you think I care, Meclis?” Feska asked.

“Like teacher, like student,” Meclis grumbled.

“What was that, Meclis?”

“Nothing, Feska.”

“Well, let’s have dinner for now. We’ll talk about how to leave after dinner,” Feska said as she stopped her royal white horse.

“Dinner?” Meclis looked up at the canopy of the trees. “I can still see bright light outside.”

“Nerusys, explain it to him.”

Nerys looked at Feska with a confused face.

“Wait, are you telling me you’re still not aware of it?”

“Are you trying to say that you know what’s going on?”

“Not yet, but I do know that the time inside and outside is not the same.”

“You know this how?”

Feska opened her eyes. Her glowing blue orb filled with lightning and explosions appeared before Nerys. As she had already seen it before, she wasn’t as afraid of it as the first time, but it still gave her the chills.

“Forget I asked.”

Feska closed back her eyes and told Nerys that she would again be the cook. And unlike the past two days, she told Nerys that she wanted roast meat, which confused Nerys as they have not seen a single game for the past two days. Seeing Nerys’s confused face, Feska raised her right hand, palm upwards as a stack of four rabbits fell into her hand. All four were already properly gutted.

Both Meclis and Nerys looked up at the canopy of trees, wondering where the rabbits came from. Meclis wondered if it was given by the gods. Nerys wondered if Feska had learned spatial storage magic. Both were confused and hesitant to ask Feska for fear that it would make Feska’s mood get worse. Feska couldn’t give a damn about their worries as she tossed all four rabbits at Nerys and jumped off her perfectly clean white horse.

After dinner, Feska stood up and said, “Now to fix this.”

Nerys looked up at Feska, looking surprised. “You know where the origin point is?”

“No.”

“Then how would you solve this?”

“I am Feska.”

“Right, why did I even bother asking?”

Ignoring Nerys, Feska stretched her body, her limps, and her spine. She snapped her fingers as she said, “I give you one minute.”

“Come on! I’m just barely able to use water magic again. How could you ask me to finish cleaning everything in one minute?!!!” Nerys wailed.

“Not you, dumbass! Them!” Feska said as she looked into the forest.

Both Nerys and Meclis looked at the same direction, as Feska said, “No, you’re looking at the wrong direction.”

“Eh? But we’re looking at the same direction as you!” Meclis argued.

“No, you’re not. Unless your eyes are exactly where my eyes are, you’re looking at a completely different thing.”

Both Nerys and Meclis looked at Feska with confused expressions. As if noticing their stares, Feska turned her gaze at them. After a moment of silence, she explained what she meant.

“What you were looking at just now, Nerusys, was a funny-looking tree. It was a tree that looked like it was raping another tree.”

Nerys went slack-jawed. Her eyes went wide, shocked to know that she was looking at trees mating. It didn’t cross her mind at this moment that trees do not mate.

As for you, Meclis, you were looking at naked young girls taking a bath at a river.”

“What? Seriously? Where?” Meclis asked as he turned back to look at the previous direction.

“The alignment has changed. You’re now looking at the butt of a hippopotamus.”

“Urgh!”

Feska turned to a new direction and said aloud, “Your time is up. Get rid of this space or I get rid of you. Your choice is mine.”

Without warning, Feska covered her arms in gale winds. It was such fierce wind that the horses and her two companions fell on the ground to prevent themselves from being blown away. She crossed both her arms before her face as the gale winds became denser and fiercer. Then she spread both arms, unleashing the power of a hurricane to her surrounding with a blood-curdling scream.

As the hurricane ravaged the surroundings, the scenery started to melt. It shifted upward, downward, and sideward. The trees appeared to dance as they melted together or split apart. The colour of the sky mixed together, becoming a single milky blue canvas. And then, everything shattered like glass.

Sitting in a bush not far from them, were two girls. They were not normal girls, but girls with big pointy ears on their heads. They were fox girls, one with red fur and one with blue fur. But they were not just any fox girls.

“Kochime and Amukoe!” Nerys exclaimed.

Feska turned her head at Nerusys. “You know these little bitches, Nerusys?”

“Didn’t your mother read you fairytales when you were a kid, Feska?” Nerys asked.

“I can’t remember. I’ve been fighting demons since I was a kid.”

Sighing, Nerys explained, “Kochime and Amukoe, the Twin Tricksters. They’re known to reward entertainers and play tricks on travelers. If you get tricked by them, you can offer them soybean curds.”

“And you didn’t think to solve this problem earlier with soybean curds?” Meclis said.

“What’s the point? I thought they were just a fairytale before today. Besides, it’s not like we actually have soybean curds.”

“Well, that’s beside the point,” Feska said, “The problem is, they were playing tricks on me.”

Feska turned her gaze back the twin fox girls. Her chaos eyes slowly opened as more and more lightning leaked out of her opened eyes. She raised both hands and the two girls materialized, their necks in her grip.

“I do not like being tricked, little bitches.” Feska said as she tightened her grip on their necks.

“We were just having fun!” the twin fox girls said together.

“He told us you’d give us interesting reaction, so we waited here,” they continued, altogether.

“We even had to wait here for half a year! How were we supposed know that you’re an archangel?!” they said together again, their words echoing to the point that it was hard to understand.

“I am not an archangel, little bitches. You said ‘he’. Who’s ‘he’?” Feska asked.

They were about to open their mouths again. But Feska tightened her grip on their necks again, telling them to choose one person to speak. Feska didn’t know if they were connected or if it was simply how they spoke, but she hated that kind of echoey sound. For her superior hearing, that kind of echoey noise was incredibly irritating.

They looked at each other before the blue-haired fox girl said, “Umm, he has curly brown hair. He wears glasses and he speaks like a Kormorian. He has a lopsided smile - ack!”

The fox girl stopped speaking as Feska strangled her.

“THAT FUCKING BASTARD!!!” Feska cried as she threw them both to the sky.

“Feska, calm down,” Meclis said in the hope that Feska wouldn’t fall into madness again.

“I change my mind, creep. We’re going straight to that bastard now!”

**Hi all, it's Ai-chan again. Wow, it's been 5 years since Ai-chan posted anything here. Thanks for reading. If you like this story, your comments would be very much appreciated. If you think it needs improvement, please inform me as well. Thank you in advance.