They looked at each other or however much Bora could look at Emilia, without jumping away. Curiosity seemed to leak out of the witch as she simply observed the very agitated slime. It was stretching and reforming itself to make expressions. “How do you do that? ” Emilia questioned. She closed the distance between them and poked the slime. “Sto-Stop that!” Bora grumbled. With a cackle that echoed through the forest Emilia laughed, the witch couldn’t contain her amusement and grabbed Bora. “What the hell is wrong with you!” Bora screamed, going sluggish to escape Emilia’s hands. Bora was unable to escape Emilia’s strong grip and so it reformed itself into an oval ball with an annoyed expression. “Please, let me down!” Bora begged, now making an exclamation point next to her head. “You don’t need to worry, I won’t do anything to you.” Emilia grinned while making sure no one was there and slowly approached the door. “No! Let me down!” Bora screamed, squirming around. “I don’t know how you managed to get here, but I can’t let you back out there. It’s too dangerous,” Emilia tried to explain. “I can handle myself!” Bora exclaimed. Emilia stopped and looked around again, making sure no one beside them was there. Bora noticed the witches’ actions and quieted down. “What’s going on?” Bora asked, fear apparent on her makeshift face. “Shh!” Emilia motioned with her head to a big and old tree to their right. “Do you see that?” Emilia pointed to the tree. “See what?” Bora asked, puzzled. Emilia let Bora down and crouched to be on ‘eye’ level with the slime. “That over there is a Dryad. They don’t really like me, so we have to go in quickly.” Emilia explained fast, already taking out her knife. “What? Dryads are usually peaceful if you leave them and their territory alone. Don’t tell me you-” Bora tried to make sense of the situation. “Shh!” Emilia interrupted the slime and took her knife, slashing her palm. “What are you-!?” Bora gasped, startled by the witches’ action. Emilia slapped her hand on a symbol that was on the door. Bora tried to wiggle away from the witch, finally having enough, but Emilia had different plans. She quickly grabbed Bora and smeared the slime with her blood. “Let those in that hold my blood!” Emilia spoke to the door. The door started emitting a deep red glow. Bora screamed, alerting the dryad that was most likely sleeping. A branch flew rapidly toward the duo. “Tsk-!” The witch grumbled. She swiftly grabbed her knife again, cutting the branch as it kept coming at them. The Dryad let out a truly terrifying scream. “I told you to be quiet!” Emilia complained. “That was your fault, to begin with! Also, the door! It’s glowing? Doors don’t do that usually.” Bora blubbered, but before she could get an answer out of the witch the door shined even brighter. The Dryad grew more frustrated as the witch kept either dodging the attacks or simply cutting off the incoming branches. The Dryad bundled up their branches for a final attack. “Yeah, I won’t be able to dodge or cut that.” The witch said astounded, not having expected this power surge. But as the bundled-up branches came closer, the door glowed one last time. The attack didn’t connect with its intended targets, leaving the angry Dryad now confused. Both Emilia and Bora disappeared as the light engulfed them.
© Barakatou Bandaogo 2024-04-27