Read All of Book 1: Here
Fremont stayed still in the bushes. All around him was greenery. He waited silently as the sound of someone walking approached him. Warinot appeared from the trees; as far as Fremont could tell, he was weaponless. Waiting patiently, Warinot drew nearer and nearer.
Fremont leaped out of the bush and landed a quick punch on the boy. Warinot shrieked in surprise and tried to fight back, but Fremont blocked all his strikes and returned nearly all of them. Warinot turned and hurried back the way he came, Fremont hot on his heels.
“Esmun Esmun Esmun!!!” Warinot yelled. Suddenly glass shattered in front of Fremont, and a cloud of gas surrounded him.
“You dummy,” a voice called from a tree. Warinot hurried up and joined Esmun in one of the branches, Fremont coughing below them.
“What was that?” Warinot asked.
“Just a normal smokescreen. I can’t make much in here.” Esmun responded, “I guess you didn’t find a weapon.”
“Nothing,” Warinot said. “Anything here?”
“Fremont’s climbing the tree,” Esmun responded calmly. Warinot looked down at the Red Guardian, Racing up the tall tree.
“Ah crap,” he said. He climbs down a few branches and gets ready. Esmun pats his cloak, searching for anything that could be helpful. He looked up as Warinot was thrown from the tree and sent sailing down to the floor below. Finding a thin glass vial. He chucked it down, breaking it on the other boy’s head. Fremont teetered on his branch as the gas surrounded his head, blinding him.
Esmun grabbed the blue flag and climbed up higher in the tree, looking for an escape route as Fremont rubbed the gas from his eyes and continued up after him, stopping for a second to grab Warinot’s Green Flag. Esmun pulled on a branch, only to have it snap off in his hand. He was too high. Fremont climbing up behind him. There was no way he could beat Fremont in a fistfight. His only real hope was to escape. He was faster than the Red Guardian, a perk of being smaller and lighter. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he leaps from the tree he was on to the next.
The air turned to wind as he cut through it, howling past his ears as his arms outstretched to grab the branch in front of him. Time seemed to slow down as his fingertips brushed the branch. He breathed a sigh of relief that quickly turned to a gasp of fear as the branch slipped away from his grasp. Gravity seemed to finally take hold as he tumbled down. He bounced off a branch, then another. As the third came, he hooked his arm around it and spun, slowing his descent. He touched his side and winced; something in there was broken or pulled. That would slow him down for a few seconds. He saw Fremont jump from the tree he was on to the tree Esmun landed in, once again being only a few branches away. Esmun looked down, 10 feet of air between him and the dirt. He had to risk the injury to keep away from Fremont. There was an overgrown cave that he had found a few weeks ago. He could hide there and wait for the magic in the environment to heal whatever wounds he’s sustained.
Fremont saw Esmun drop. He was on the run. Warinot’s flag flapped in the wind. As he jumped down from branch to branch, He needed something to throw; if Esmun vanished into the small patch of trees and bushes, he would probably never be found. Fremont hurried after the Blonde boy, scanning the ground for something to throw at the boy. When he looked up, However, Esmun was gone.
“Dang It!” he said, kicking the tree. Looking around one last time, he sighed and began walking back into the woods.
Esmun smiled as he watched Fremont’s feet disappear from sight. He waited with bated breath for the footsteps to fade. Suddenly a hand covered his mouth, and he felt his flag get pulled from his grasp.
“Fremont, wait up!” Bao cried from behind him. Pushing Esmun out of the cave, the boy stood and held the blue flag in the air. Fremont turned and smiled.
“Sneaky guy Esmun,” he said. Esmun Sighed in response. He hadn’t accounted for Bao, and the Yellow Guardian had been with him when he found the cave. Must have snuck in when Esmun and Fremont were racing through the treetops.
“Congratulations,” he said. Warinot limped over to the group.
“Esmun, you lost?!” he exclaimed.
“Yeah, my partner decided to fall out of the tree when I needed him.” Esmun said, “You alright? That looked like it hurt.”
“Oh, it did. When I first hit the ground, I broke my leg, then bounced a little. Just give me a second. I’ll be fine,” Warinot responded. Fremont sheepishly apologized for tossing his friend out of the tree as the four sat and waited for the room to finish healing the hurt boy’s leg.
“Ever find any potions?” Bao asked.
“Nope, find any machine stuff?” Esmun responded.
“Yup, a full machine shop in the middle of the forest,” Bao said sarcastically, “this map is so biased towards Mr. PuchYourFace here.”
Esmun nodded. The training room had two main features, a healing aura that kept The Guardians healthy and fighting no matter how many trees they were thrown out of, and the ability to change the environment around them to train the Guardians in all different terrains.
“Oh, you could make something. You can turn two sticks and a leaf into a working catapult, right?” Fremont said.
“I will throw you off a building next time the town is selected,” Bao said, Fremont laughed, and Warinot stood, leg working again.
“Stop arguing idiots, I’m hungry,” he said. Everyone stood and left the room, feeling the aura vanish as the forest landscape disappeared behind them, leaving the large stone room empty and dark.
Chapter 7: Read Here
Will Fall Writings 