The group travelled to the city hall of Haglethorn, under Barry’s guidance, who was taking the lead of the pack, viewing the destruction of the aftermath that came with the arrival of the Chakarie.

  Everywhere Kat looked, she saw despair and pain from the people trying to fix what was broken, and even mourning the dead of their loved ones. She wished a hasty recovery for the city and it’s people, thinking that if she was stronger during the time, that she might have saved some lives.

  The thought of Judas, the doctor, appeared in her mind. She wondered what had happened to him during the attack, he was the first person to step in and protect her from the Chakarie attack when it happened. ‘Where did he go when I called out to him to help Anna? Why would he run away when he was leading me and a bunch of other people through the city?’

  The though would sit in the back of Kat’s mind, it didn’t matter anymore what was the reason to her because Anna was doing better now, thanks to Sherry. ‘At least Anna is feeling better now.’

  Eventually they would all show up at their destination, it seemed that a lot of people came as early as they could to hear what their Governor had to say about the situation. The area was a grand place with a stretch of fountains over a pool of water, flowers of all kinds around the zone with decorative statues still intact. From the looks of it, the city hall must have been pretty guarded from the Chakarie invasion to still be looking as nice as it was now.

  Picking a spot near some benches to sit down, everyone but Anna waited for the meeting to begin. She wanted to eavesdrop on the people around them, utilizing her keen sense of hearing to try and hear what everyone else’s thoughts were about.

  “Hey, did you see something floating in front of you during the attack? It was some sort of message that I only skimmed a bit before it disappeared while I was trying to get away from the chaos.” A random person within the crowd said to another, who then agreed with their story because the same thing happened to them.

  Anna planned on walking around the area to learn more about what the people were thinking of, about the game. “There’s a great chance that Sherry and Oswald aren't the only ones becoming involved in Lost Adventure, from what I'm hearing. I'll be back.” Anna informed the group before leaving.

  Ron whipped out a book from his satchel to read while they waited. Barry surveyed the area, just looking out for anything like a rare item or something unusual. Kat would sit down in silence, patiently waiting, not wanting to disturb any of them.

  The moment would come, when a short shiny bald man in a lime green suit with flower patterns, walked out of the city hall building and presented themselves in front of a podium with a gem-powered microphone.

  His appearance looked as if he came in a hurry, even waving a hand over his head and with a confusion for a moment. One of his assistants came running out of the building with his top hat that he must have forgotten and handed it to him with haste.

  “Hello.” It was the Governor of the city testing out the microphone and speakers. “Can everyone hear me alright?”

  There was a roar of confirmation from the sea of people in front of him. “Thank you, let me begin by saying that it truly is a tragedy that our city was attacked by the wretched Chakarie that live below. And I'll say that this was no random attack from them, it must have been coordinated. Had the city known beforehand, then we would not be suffering as many losses and casualties as we would this very day. Let us have a moment to grieve for what was lost…”

  Everyone went silent, the people of Haglethorn were upset and furious at the damages that their subterranean neighbors caused them. A lot of them wanted payback for what they did to their precious city.

  The Governor continued his speech, “I can feel your anger towards the Chakarie, those scum that live under our glorious home and launch a sudden attempt to claim what is rightfully ours! In the past, we had destroyed their dwelling place with a destructive arcane bomb, believing that it would be the last time we would ever see them again.”

  This had to be the story that Oswald was talking about with him and Ned, their mission that would lead them to destroy the NIghtwalker’s home first by mistake before blowing up the Chakarie’s supposed place of residence. ‘So this must be the first time in a long time, since Oswald and Ned blew up the Chakarie’s supposed home. Could the Chakarie have been building their forces up before seeking vengeance this whole time?’ Barry wondered if that was the case.

  “However, there is something strange that had appeared during the invasion…” The Governor paused for a moment, gathering his words together. “I can’t be the only one to have seen these mysterious messages. But during the unfortunate event, these messages on a blue screen had informed us of the attack that was taking place at the time. Referring to the attack as some sort of quest. And not only that, but my assistants who were with me looked further into this strange phenomenon and showed me what could be the act of the gods that we know!”

  Barry and the rest of the group were all ears to listen to where he was getting at, anticipating what he was about to mention next right before Anna showed up in a rush with the information that she had gathered. “Everyone, the people are now being introduced to the quests given by the system.” Anna said, surprised that Lost Adventure was now officially taking effect over the city.

  The Governor carried on with his announcement. “For those of you that don’t believe what I’m talking about, or missed these strange messages, repeat what I say, and the truth will be revealed to you all!” He went silent for a moment, then spoke again. “Open menu!”

  Half of the people there knew what the Governor was talking about, with the other half now being convinced after suddenly opening a strange blue screen with text, just from repeating the words, “Open menu.” Barry and the group watched and listened as everyone else around them had a mix of emotions, shock, awe, and amusement.

  With a bit of guidance by the Governor, of how to review the quest info that he was talking about, the people of the city were convinced.

  “These messages serve as a warning for us directly from the gods themselves, about events that are predicted to happen, allowing us an opportunity to prepare and act in accordance to what is foretold. But not only were we told about the invasion, the gods had sent another message, one that demands the very attention of everyone here and those outside these walls! And that is the fall of our world from an unknown force working outside our control!”

  “Hear that? So he did skip over the part about the gods forcing them to participate in Lost Adventure?” Barry turned to ask his group, who all agreed with him, and wondered that same thing. “So it is true that the gods decided to omit that part from the people, they have no clue of the true reason…” Barry felt rage against the gods, how cruel was it to force them all into a game without them knowing the reason of these quests.

  Kat could see how frustrated Barry was, she wished that the truth would be revealed to the people soon and make them realize they had become a part of a bigger issue than what it seems.

  “However, I think that it should be our first priority to properly dispose of these fiends that hide beneath our city before they become a problem in the future. And do not fret about the world ending issue, my people of Haglethorn! I have sent word to our great kingdom about the prophecy of the gods, let’s entrust our mighty king to settle the matter, while we settle the score with the Chakarie!” Loud and booming applause erupted from the crowd in agreement to finish off their enemies before they tried to launch another attack.

  It was understandable for the people to eliminate the Chakarie before they became a bigger problem, but the main quest should not be ignored for long. He hoped that as soon as the Chakarie were dealt with, that they would immediately shift focus back on to the main quest, especially since the city was being kept in the shadow about involuntary participating in Lost Adventure. ‘We’ll need all the help we can get for this world ending quest.’ Barry hoped.

  Sometime would pass until the city announcement was over, the Governor would then take the rest of the time to explain the rest of the features that came with the system menu that was believed to be a gift from the gods to make them stronger, a gift that would help them defeat the Chakarie once and for all.

  And with one final motivational speech from the Governor about achieving their revenge against the Chakarie, he promised to assemble his finest men to send down and eliminate their foes. Anyone else that wished to join was more than welcome and would be provided support.

  The announcement would come to a close, the people broke off to go back to mending their precious town or preparing to expedite beneath the surface to retaliate against the Chakarie.

  Barry was the first to get up from the bench and start making his way towards the podium, where the Governor was talking with a few other important looking people in suits.

  The group was confused of where he was going next, with Ron being the first to question his next action as he followed beside him. “Barry, what are you doing? You’re not seriously thinking about telling the Governor about the situation, are you?”

  Barry replied, continuing his stroll to greet the Governor. “Hell yeah, I am, these gods want to deceive the people here by veiling the truth, but I’m having none of that shit.” He began walking faster. ‘Especially since they want to hide my past from me. I’m not letting them have their way.’

  A couple of guards were stationed by around the podium, a few saw his hasty approach and greeted him with a slight hand gesture telling him to stop. “Halt adventurer, the Governor is currently busy at the moment, regarding the urgent matter that was discussed. You will have to-”

  “You’re damn right, this is urgent, but I have information that requires his immediate attention.” Barry then looked at the Governor and shouted out at him. “Hey Limeade! I’ve got news to tell you, right now!”

  “Sir, you do not refer to our Governor as a some sort of drink? Show some respect to-”

  The guard, trying to correct Barry, was cut off by another call from Barry. “Listen here, you Leprechaun looking cosplayer! You skipped the important bit about this-”

  Barry stopped talking once he took notice of one of the guards close the gap between him and attempted to shove him to the ground. He reacted at that moment, bracing for impact and being pushed a couple feet back. “You do not insult the Governor, adventurer, leave the premises at once. Or things will get ugly for you…” The guard brandished his sword, trying to intimidate Barry from getting any closer.

  The rest of Barry’s group caught up to him, Ron had his hands on his head, his reaction to Barry’s attempt to catch the Governor’s attention had him tugging on his hair.

  Anna tried reasoning with Barry to get on out of the area, before things got too heated. “Barry, let’s go now. We understand that you want to address to the Governor about everything else that wasn’t told to them, but-”

  Barry was furious, the Governor had to know what was censored out from them. “Then if you understand, screw off and get out of here yourselves if you're all scared of what might happen. I’ll take responsibility for trying to speak with the Leprechaun.” He was not in the mood to be reasoned with, as he stomped back to make another attempt.

  No one else from the group had the courage to stop Barry, they could see that there was no stopping him. He approached the guards slowly, eyeing up the one that was readying himself for Barry’s next move. “So, you’ve decided to try again, have you? Walk away now, this is your last chance.” The guard warned.

  He didn’t have an accurate measure of how strong or fast each of the city knights were, but knew that they were quite capable themselves when he saw them fight during the Chakarie attack. “I’m telling you, I know something that you lot don’t, these messages aren’t just something from the gods, they're a part of something bigger.”

  “Blasphemy, you dare question our Governor’s judgment? It is an offense against him if you dare spread propaganda through this city. Go clear your head before you get arrested for doing so, I see that the attack must have caused you to cloud your mind, you deranged fool.” The guard mocked Barry.

  That was the last straw for Barry, his legs tightened up, he was about to slip past the guards as best he could. “Deranged fool? Propaganda? You all just read a few messages as of recently and instantly take it as a blessing of the gods? How fucking ridiculous is that!” His legs exploded off the ground in a forward lunge.

  The guard that was speaking to him, dashed up front to intercept his path, swinging his sword in a horizontal motion. Barry expected for the guard to block him, but underestimated the guard's reaction to his sudden lunge, fortunately, Barry narrowly evaded the attack with a power slide. His body whooshing down under like playing limbo and continued his way towards the Governor.

  It was complete anxiety for the group to watch Barry narrowly avoid each of the guards attempt to halt him with a couple of attacks of their own. “Stop right there-!” One called out before getting his helmet stomped on by Barry, before jumping off it like a stepping stone.

  The scene that was occurring near the Governor eventually would become noticed by him, his voice calling out to them with worry. “What in the blazes is going on here!” He questioned one of his guards.

  “Sir Goodwill, an adventurer refuses to go away after being denied by one of us. He requests to have a word with you, saying that it is urgent that you know what he has to say.” The guard explained.

  Goodwill looked back at the chaos that this adventurer was causing, witnessing his struggle to zip past his men, but clearly showing his raw physical prowess by using whatever means he could to get past without a weapon in hand. He believed that since Barry was unarmed and not actively doing any harm to his men, that he could lend an ear to him, per his request.

  “Halt men!” Goodwill ordered, the sound of his voice reaching the guards ears in time before things got even more drastic. “Let him through, I’ll lend him my ear. So stop this senseless fighting.”

  Barry had made it halfway through the guardsmen, he had to give them credit where it was due, it made him wonder what could have happened if more show of force was presented from both sides. “Finally…” He mumbled, brushing past each one of the guards that now stood on the sides, still vigilant of Barry.

  Goodwill remained close to the podium, studying Barry based on his appearance and the way he walked, with what seemed to be anger in each of his steps. “Hello there, troublesome adventurer.” He greeted Barry with a slight smile. “My men tell me you have something of importance to share to me, so much so that it requires you to weasel through. Hm?”

  Barry stopped a couple of feet in front of the stage, looking up at the short, bald man that he was referring to as a Leprechaun. “I do, and it requires you to be open-minded because it’s not blasphemy, it’s the truth.”

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “And what is that, boy?” The word boy coming from Goodwill’s mouth ticked him off because of the way he said it.

  “You're wrong about the system being a blessing of the gods, about the messages serving as just warnings for you all.” Barry tried holding back his anger.

  “System? Do you mean the menu, perhaps?” Goodwill liked the name Barry was calling the weird blue screen.

  He nodded, “Yes, I am referring to it as that. Now, these quests cannot be ignored, we both can agree on that, however; they are given to us as a way to make us do something in order to put on a show for the gods. Everyone here, the whole world quite possibly, has now been converted into a game to act as a form of entertainment for the gods pleasure. This is the damn truth!”

  The Governor scoffed at the information that he was feeding him. “A game, you say? That’s quite funny, why would the gods ever wish to make us as nothing more than guinea pigs or toys? This is truly some theory of yours that might get you into some trouble if you don’t pipe down and take a breather from all this thinking. Where did you even get that information from? Because I don’t see it anywhere through my menu screen.”

  His words were riling Barry back up, he wanted to deck the fucker in the face and make him realize the gravity of the situation everyone was now in. “You're really not even going to consider the possible of my words being true!? The game that we’re all in is called Lost Adventure! And if we don’t complete the quest, we’ll-”

  “I’ve heard enough, get this insane adventurer out of my sight before he upsets me any further. I shall make some tea to clear my headache from his rambling.” Goodwill said, walking away from the scene with his personal guards tagging along.

  Barry was so pissed, he was about to allow his emotions to take full control, wanting to deck the Governor square in the chin, but was stopped by a sudden hand that was placed on his shoulder. He looked to his left with a menacing expression that terrified Kat to her core, his fists balled up and ready to punch the lights out of someone. “Don’t fucking touch-”

  “Aaah!” Kat was so spooked that she tripped over herself, Anna and Ron catching her fall, checking if she was alright.

  His blood was boiling, a constant flow of rage was inside him that needed to be calmed down before he actually harmed someone. Barry glanced at the group with irritation, looking at Kat, who was still shaken up by Barry’s intimidating presence at the moment. “I didn’t mean to…”

  He observed his surroundings and saw that there were a couple of other people besides them that were still lingering around, staring at him as if he was going loco. “...fuck this shit! Screw this damn city.” Barry glanced back at Kat for a moment before stomping away from the scene. “Right, I’m just a crazy guy like you said.”

  “B-Barry, wait!” Kat got back up, she wanted to reach out and support him but was stopped by both Ron and Anna.

  “Kat, let him be.” Anna suggested. “He obviously wants time alone, you saw how he reacted to you. Just let him be for now until Sherry calls us back, hopefully he’ll be in a better state.”

  The three left the area as well, Ron suggested that they kill some time by assisting the people around them. So that’s what they did, while Barry wandered off through the city, but keeping in mind of not being too far from Oswald’s shop.

  He wanted something to vent the rage that he was feeling inside, something that wasn’t living at least, but alas he could not find anything that he could take his anger out on. Barry would then decide that it would probably be best for him to lay down somewhere quiet and ease up while he waited to hear back from Sherry.

  So he picked the nearest building that was the tallest and made his way on top of it, lying flat on the roof with his eyes shut. “How could that fucking bald-headed bastard be so dumb, believing that the system and its features are actually gifts and warnings from the gods to help them deal with the trouble this game is bringing to them.”

  Suddenly, a voice would call out to him, a voice that he had not heard in so long but rekindled the hatred inside of him. “Hilarious, I know.” Barry’s eyes opened up, a serious and tense expression formed.

  A voice chat window had appeared in front of his eyes. “It’s been a while, Barry, my favorite contestant of all time. You’ve gone through a couple of rough patches so far, and would you look at the amount of views you’ve been racking up. Wow!”

  “Ven.” Barry was wondering when he would hear from him again, it had been too long it seemed. “I’m not in the mood to chat right now, bother me some other time, why don’t you.”

  “What’s the matter, Barry? Oh, wait, I know!” There was a dramatic pause before Ven continued. “Is it perhaps that we, the moderators, wanted to hide the fact that everyone of this world is a part of Lost Adventure? That we only informed the few people like the friends you made, Ron and Ned, about the truth?”

  Barry slammed his fist on the roof, “So I was right, you intentionally tweaked the messages to make it seem like the gods are trying to help the people prevent the catastrophe, when actually you wanted to spice things up to make us look like idiots by supposedly spreading misinformation.”

  Ven laughed hysterically, he was enjoying teasing Barry. “What a smart cookie you are, I feel like you deserve a reward for not only figuring it all out the reason why we did it, but also for all your hardships that you’ve faced. And I must admit, your fight with the Orc, Wreav, was peak performance! I hope that you two meet again for another duel in the future.”

  “Ven, if you have nothing else of importance to say to me, end this damn call before I-”

  “I paused the channel, so simmer down, will ya!” Ven replied in an irritated tone, dropping his sarcastic and loony attitude for once. “I’ll leave you with this bit of information, since you’ve collected me so many subscribers. I wasn’t kidding about giving you some sort of reward for being the best contestant on my channel.”

  Barry didn’t want what Ven was about to offer to him, he just wanted to be left alone. “Ven, just leave me the hell alone-”

  “Puck and that little girl are safe, no harm has been done to them for the time being.”

  Barry was shocked for a moment, he didn’t think that Ven would tell him something like that. But still, this was Ven after all, for all he knew, he could be lying to him. “Lies, you’re just messing with me. I’m not about to take your word and drop my guard.”

  Ven sighed, “Fine, believe what you will, contestant. And by the way, I suggest you hurry to retrieve them. Because another quest will be pushed out soon, one that might get a bit too hectic and cause you to lose that precious Kobold that you befriended…hmmm…” Ven was deep in thought about something.

  ‘Can I really trust this maniac for once? He’s usually so sarcastic and irritating all the time that I’m always on edge, expecting the worst whenever he appeared to chat…’ Barry wasn’t sure at the moment, regardless, he was going to hurry anyway and get Puck as fast as he could.

  Ven turned his channel back on and made an excuse to the viewers watching that there was some sort of error that caused his channel to freeze up. “Well then, Barry, my boy, we await for your next spectacular performance to liven things up in Lost Adventure. So buh-bye for now, my moneymaker- I mean, precious contestant. See ya!”

  The call ended, while Barry remained still on the roof, thinking about what Ven had just told him. If what he said was true, then it could mean that the Nightwalkers really were nice people that were just misunderstood. ‘Still…this is Ven, after all.’

  He then thought about the warning Ven gave him, mentioning another quest that sounded like a big issue in the future to come. Barry got up and viewed the city from the building he was on, thinking about what might happen to the people if he chose to leave them to their fate from this dangerous quest that was going to be released. His voice could not be heard from the Governor, believing that what he had to say was all lies because the gods wanted to deceive them.

  ‘There’s no point in trying to reason with them, let them accept their truth and leave them to their fate. I’ll keep pushing forward, get Puck, find the Nightwalkers so that they can give me what is needed for Oswald to craft his potion, and abandon this place for good. That’s the plan.’ Barry thought, he was content with this decision.

  A message would appear to him that was from Sherry, notifying him that she was finished crafting with all the material that was given to her, but something required his immediate attention. He made haste upon hearing that he was needed, rushing back over to the shop as fast as he could.

  He would arrive sooner than the rest of the group and entered the shop. “I’m here, so what’s the news?”

  Sherry was with Oswald, both of them were thoroughly inspecting a potion that Sherry had made. The liquid inside radiated a mystical blue color, the way it swirled around was smooth and mesmerizing, and strangely, he could see what could be vapors dancing around inside. “Oh, here already? You must have bolted on over once I sent out the message.” Sherry replied, surprised of his return.

  “You sounded urgent, so I rushed over as fast as I could. What’s up?” Barry came closer to look at the potion in Oswald’s hand, and when he looked at the glass flash, he was intrigued by what he saw.

  Oswald turned to face Barry, waving the potion in hand. “It’s the cores that you’ve brought, apparently, since our Class is confirmed as Alchemist to the system, we are able to see these strange, yet well-made formulas that we had never seen before. Sherry decided to follow the instructions of one of them and this was made. These formulas are able to provide us a description of what the potions do for a person, however…this one does not.”

  What Barry saw was mysterious, he read the text that was showing above the potion which was “???”, something that he couldn’t identify. “See for yourself.” Oswald then handed him the potion.

  It gave off a cold feeling, he could almost feel some sort of vibration from it. Now in his hands, he was able to look at the description it had, but realized what Oswald had meant. The description seemed to be censored by visual chains for some reason, as well as its name, but the only thing readable was its rarity type which was considered, “Unique”.

  Sherry felt bad for following one of the formulas that the system had shown her. “I’m sorry Barry, I took a chance to follow the instructions of one of the formulas that the system had shown me. I hope that it’s not something terribly bad that I-” She then saw Barry pop open the potion and started chugging, which startled her and Oswald. “Barry! You’re just going to drink it right away!”

  The taste was odd, first it was tasteless, then it was like he was drinking something incredibly minty, and finally after he was finished drinking it, the potion had left him a dry and bitter aftertaste. “Why the hell did it-” He coughed a bit before continuing, his throat felt sore. “-make my throat feel so dry?” He was feeling dizzy, now leaning on the shop counter, the alchemists could see his skin color was turning into a pale white.

  Sherry hurried back to brew him a concoction of some kind to help remedy whatever it could be that he was feeling. While Oswald brought him to a nearby chair, checking his temperature. “He’s feeling cold alright, his veins are showing intensely.” He informed Sherry.

  Ron, Kat, and Anna finally arrived and saw the state of which Barry was in. “We’re back- W-What’s going on!? Why is Barry like this? What happened?” Ron was the first to ask.

  “He immediately drank a potion that I crafted from one of the system’s formulas and now he’s in this state.” Sherry explained, as she mashed up some herbs and what appeared to be claws from a monster.

  “Dumbass.” Anna commented, finding it somewhat funny. While Kat was concerned of his current condition, seeing as how he was turning as white as snow.

  Barry felt like his head was splitting open just like how he experiences his first memory back at the crematorium. Combine that with the sickly feeling and a bit of shivering as his body was getting cold, and he would believe that today might be his last day.

  Then, a notification appeared in front of him. “Your mind and body are currently processing ‘???’, there is a possibility that you might die if you are rejected.”

  Barry was astonished by what the system just told him. ‘There's a possibility of me dying by being rejected by the potion?? Do I have to endure this suffering in order to-’ He felt his heart ache, clutching his chest as he endured the excruciating pain within.

  “Is he dying!? What sort of potion was it that he consumed?” Anna asked, she was no longer finding it funny.

  The only ones who knew the most were the alchemists who had just got done fixing him a remedy.

  Sherry rushed to Barry's side with his medicine in the form of a green chewing tablet. “Any attempt to stop or halt the process will result in near instant death. It is best advised to see it through with the process.” The system warned.

  With this information given to him just moments away from Sherry almost feeding him the tablet, he shoved her hand away instantly. “DON’T! The system is telling me that I’ll die if I try to prevent the changes that it's doing to me.” He then fell to his knees off the chair, cold sweat formed on his body, his heart continued to thump harder with each moment.

  Everyone gave Barry his space, unable to do anything to help comfort him as he was going through whatever it was. Pure suffering, his experiencing for what seemed like hours, when it was only just 5 minutes until he heard something ominous.

  Whispers, he could not make out what they were saying at all, he glanced around the room to try and locate the sound but couldn’t. ‘Where are these voices coming from?’

  He would then hear the voice of a woman, catching only a few words that he understood. ‘He has it…the king's will…’

  Another notification would appear to him, this time with something interesting. “Located skill ‘King’s Commanding Presence’ detected. User has now been accepted and will proceed through with the finishing process.”

  Barry could feel the pain begin to wear off, his skin color was slowly going back to normal, along with his heart rate dropping to its usual steady beat. Everyone witnessed Barry’s recovery, a wave of relief washed over them all.

  He gave himself a couple more moments till he saw the system message him again, this time telling him that the process was now complete. Barry slowly rose back up, wiping the sweat from his body as he sat back down in his chair. “It’s finished, I’ve been accepted by…a skill I was trying to obtain. That was a bizarre experience…” He was exhausted.

  “What sort of skill did you get, that made you look so freakishly ill?” Ron asked.

  Barry checked his profile to see what sort of skill he had received, it had to be something worth going through the motions. But when he checked, the name and detailed description were all still censored. The only thing that he could read was the skill’s grade, which was considered as ‘Unique’. “The only thing that I’m able to read, is that it's grade is labeled as, Unique. I’m restricted from reading the name or the specifics of what it is at the moment.”

  Everyone wondered what sort of ability he had obtained, while Barry tried making sense of the whispers he was hearing, especially the woman's voice mentioning something about, “The king's will.”

  But he would not dwell on it for long, Barry rose up after taking his short break and spoke to Sherry. “We head out now, do you have the rest of the supplies ready?”

  His words stunned her for a moment before replying, “Huh? You want to leave right after all of us watched as you were literally on death's doorstep!? Why don't you rest some more?”

  He shook his head, declining the option. “Can't do that, we have to hurry and retrieve Puck and Luna as quickly as possible before something even worse happens to this city. Time is of the essence and I don't like sitting around waiting.”

  Anna agreed with his hastiness. “Same here, I feel like we've been here for far too long. And I know Luna is probably scared right now, unsure of when we'll see each other again.”

  Based on what Ven had told Barry, he wasn't sure if telling Anna that her sister was alright would be okay, given that there were gods watching and might become suspicious of how he knew.

  Ron didn't like the way Barry and Anna wanted to rush things, but submitted to them. “There's no arguing with either of you, so let's get this over with.”

  Kat had no complaints, seeing that Barry and Anna wanted to go back out with eagerness, encouraged her to follow along. “Y-Yeah, I'm with you all, wherever we go!”

  With everyone else on a consensus to go, Sherry was the only one left to give her input. “It's a no-brainer, so, I suppose we can head out. But think a bit more before drinking something you don’t know, we can’t have you scaring us like that again.” She was firm on what she said.

  Barry sighed and nodded, rubbing the back of his head from embarrassment. “Sure thing…and sorry for almost dying in your shop”

  His response caused a bit of laughter from the group, lightening up the mood in the room. He found it a bit funny as well, grinning at the fact that his rash action almost ended his life.

  Anna noticed this from him and pointed it out. “Damn, you do have a sense of humor besides being so grouchy all the time.”

  He would then revert back to his usual poker face in response to her comment and begin walking his way out the door. “It’s not funny anymore, make sure we’re supplied with what we need and let’s get moving.” Everyone hushed up and kept their laughter inside.

  Oswald informed them that the three ingredients that were needed for the potion to give them insight of the future calamity for clues, was the hair of a witch, the claw of a werewolf, and the blood of a vampire. They couldn’t just obtain these ingredients by force or such, they would need to be gained by the Nightwalkers willingly, otherwise the potion would turn out to be a dud. The recipe for the potion would be told to Sherry by her grandfather and explain that it could only be used once per person in their lives.

  Everyone said their goodbyes, but Oswald would hug his granddaughter one last time before wishing her good luck and to come back safe with her story of meeting the Nightwalkers. Sherry promised to return and tell him her experience, letting go and tagging along with the group. Embarking on their mission to the secret entrance that Barry had last spotted.