Blog Post

Blog Post 47: The Adventure Shop: Part 14

6/13/23

The woman in yellow stood on the rock above her as Dahlia moved to stand.

The world felt as if it shifted around her as Dahlia tried to gain her bearings. 

“Oh! Be careful! My friends did not think of carefully transporting you to me. But it does not matter, once we have what we came for.”

Dahlia stumbled to a tree and used it to keep her upright as her world slowly settled. “What do you want? Didn’t you already take enough?”

The woman in yellow laughed. “I threatened you and you believe I will not follow through on my word? I am here for your magic.”

Dahlia paused to think of what she could mean. The moonstone, which held her magic, was already in the woman in yellow’s possession. 

“What did you do to my friends?” Dahlia asked, thinking more of their safety than what else the woman could take from her.

“They will be fine if you give us what we came for,” she said, as she floated down from her rock.

“Who are you?” Dahlia asked.

“To you I am the woman in yellow. Do I need another name?” The yellow cloak flowed about her as she walked over to Dahlia.

Dahlia looked at the woman and around her surroundings. The moonlight seemed like it was rippling. The tree under her hand felt, well, not like bark should feel, but she could not place the texture. Staring at the woman in yellow, Dahlia noted her features like that of a memory.

“Give me what I came for!” The woman in yellow shouted, raising her hand to strike Dahlia. 

Dahlia flinched, closing her eyes, but no blow came. 

“Where are my manners?” The woman in yellow circled her as Dahlia felt herself lose balance, crashing back to the forest floor. “I feel like I should get to know you first.” 

“I will not willingly hand over my magic. I will fight till it is all taken away. No matter how weak I am. I will not let you take it away easily.”

“You are so brave, but are you truly? You put on a facade, but I see how you feel. You cannot do this. You have no ability to fight and protect yourself. The others, your new found friends, they humor you. Do you think they will care as much about you once you are safely back in your shack? They only care about the things you can make for them.”

Inhaling deeply Dahlia realized how close those words fell in between the thoughts of doubts and fear she tried so often to push away. 

“Poor little shack owner. Thinking you could save yourself by playing the hero? By going on adventures. You are too easily distracted for a great adventurer. Do you truly think you are all that innovative with your little projects? Don’t you know adventurers just flatter your ego for a better price?”

“No. They like what I make and everything I make is because I want them to be safer and–”

“–If you cared so much about their safety, wouldn’t you just give it away? How selfish can you be? To charge people for your ideas that could save so many? You can’t even protect the people in your party! They all went to protect you, and you cowered behind them like a scared child.”

“Stop it!” Dahlia cried, placing her hands over her ears as her heart began to race. Every thought that held any anxiety, doubt, shame, or fear the woman in yellow seemed to know. Hearing them spoken aloud made it sound all the more true.

“Why? What will you do if I do not? Will you continue to cry out? Beg me to stop until I, out of some good grace in my heart, decide to relent? Give me what I came for.”

“No,” Dahlia said as her voice wavered as she fought the thoughts deep within her, and now, made audible by the woman in yellow.

“You will always bring harm to those around you. You are a poisonous creature that brings destruction wherever you go. You broke apart your family, taking away their home, and then you left after all they did for you. Never to look back. There were people in the town you lived in first that helped you learn a trade. You left. And when they needed someone, they reached out to you. To save them. To make healing potions, to reach out to contacts you knew to save their people and you failed them.”

“I tried to protect my family. I wanted to make sure they were not held back by me anymore. And I tried. I tried to get help, but I was too late. I was too late and I couldn’t save them.” Dahlia felt tears in her eyes as everything that ever tore at her brought fresh wounds.

“Aster, do you truly think he would love you now? Selfish, failure, uncaring, destructive, poisonous girl! He would never love or care about anyone like you if he knew who you really were.”

Dahlia shook and could not breathe with the sobs that came out. Maybe I am truly not good enough. I keep failing and relying too much on others. I can’t do anything. I–

Dahlia looked up at the woman in yellow. The woman’s face seemed as if it was caught in a memory.

 “What do you want from me?” Dahlia looked straight into the woman’s eyes.

“We– I– want your power. Give us the moon stone,” the woman in yellow demanded. 

Dahlia breathed in, with resolve she tried to push away those negative thoughts that only were brought on by overthinking the past.

“You are not the woman in yellow,” Dahlia said, as the woman in yellow rippled slightly.

“You are a failure Dahlia! No one will ever love you!” the thing before her called.

“I have failed many times. But each time I fail, I grow stronger. Each time I fail, I see it is not the end, but only the beginning of what I can do. I am a failure, but that is not where I have stayed because I learn from my mistakes and I do not give up.”

“You are not brave. You are terrified even now! I feel it! Give up! You cannot protect yourself. You cannot protect anyone.”

“I am learning to be brave. I am terrified even now, but that does not mean I will back down. I don’t know what you are, but I will not let you take away my courage. I will not let my fear dictate how I live. Not even if it means that you kill me here.”

The thing in a very poor shade of yellow yelled, “You are selfish. You care more for your shack than taking care of others. Do you not care about your friends? How selfish!”

“I care about them! And I can be selfish, but I want to take care of others. I give first-time adventurers tools they need, even if I say I will charge them, I don’t because I want them to have all they need to protect themselves, because they do not know anything. And it is their first adventure. I wpuld rather them be prepared and protected, than make money from their death. I run a place where people can buy items I have created, and if there is a need for someone, I will donate what I have worked on hard to help them and others. My potions, my cloaks, my knowledge. I share with others, but I am not selfish for owning a business. It is a business and I love that it helps others prepare for adventures.”

“You useless shack owner! You are poisonous! Destructive! No one will ever love you! Aster will never love you!” The thing before her turned a brownish yellow as it screamed into the forest.

Dahlia stood wiping the tears from her eyes. Softly, with her determination in her voice, she said, “I am not poisonous. I encourage others. I want the best for others even if that does not involve me. There are people on this journey who are here because they care about me. I don’t care if Aster will never love me, because I love him.” 

Dahlia walked close to the thing in front of her. “I am not a shack owner. I run the Adventure Shop.” 

The thing in front of her screeched as if it was in pain as it dissipated. Somethings that looked like shadows with streaks of light, almost like stripes, floated around her. The darkness and moon melted away to show the evening sun, but Dahlia was not sure how much time had passed.

“Give us the moonstone! We know you are the one who carries it! Give it to us!” said a collective voice.

“I don’t have it! It was taken from me.” 

“You have it. We can sense it on you.” They started to swarm around Dahlia. 

Dahlia felt fear spark in her heart for a moment at the thought of what they might do to her, but she would not let them win. Not now. Not after what they tried to take from her.

“I have a piece of the moonstone that was broken. It was taken by the woman you tried to portray.” Dahlia studied the creatures as the light and shadows seemed to occasionally make people, or scenes that pulled at those areas she fought against.

“You can sense my fear, my greatest doubts. You could see the moment that terrified me the most. When I met the woman in yellow, but you didn’t know she took the stone. You could not see that because I don’t have memory of that. You, all of you, tried to make me lose myself by creating thoughts to dwell on that are not true. The things I overthink, the moments I contemplate what I could have done better, my relationships. You pulled me into despair.” 

“What do we do? What do we do? She has seen us. She has seen us. She does not have the power. No power. No power, no her. No power, no her,” the voices spoke collectively  to each other. 

Dahlia tried to think of what she could do. She was not strong enough with her magic at this time frame. What little remained was tied to her life. Was there another way to fight these creatures? Dahlia looked around wondering how far she truly was from the others. Considering everything, them creating a false reality, then she may have been closer than she thought before.

Feeling weight on her back, she realized her arrows, mostly gone now, and bow were still with her. Her sword was lost, her bags of tricks nowhere to be seen, but these she had. 

She made a request as her hope began to rise within her chest. Silly, but hopeful. Dahlia readied a bow and shot it into the direction she guessed may have been the road they traveled on. 

“You are a failure. You are weak and have nothing we want. No power, no you. No power, no you.” The shadows with streaks of light swirled closer. 

“I am weak right now, but I know some pretty strong people who will save me. And I have enough power to get rid of you!” Dahlia said, as she formed light in her hands and let it flow throughout her form. She focused on a barrier, as her mind wavered from the strain. She had not done this much since losing all her power, but she would not let these creatures win. Dahlia moved the barriers of light, trapping the swirling creatures, so they could not escape through ground or through the shadows in the woods surrounding her.

As she gathered the creatures, she saw the bones around her. The woods covered with bones of various sizes and origins. Creatures, Dahlia believed, who gave into the despair of the creatures before her. 

Dahlia kept the structure of light to where it trapped every shadow, and slowly she built a wall of water, freezing it around the lighted box. With a final push of magic, she ensured her structures would continue to hold. That her magic would sustain even if she would not, as she felt gravity pull her body down.

Looking up, she prayed her arrow made it to its mark. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Is everyone here?” Aster asked, trying to confirm all of their comrades and who might have been missing. 

“Aislin, she is still missing.” Caridad looked around, as if still hoping her friend would surface.

“Aster,” Hazel called him over.Aster walked over to where three of their comrades lay, sprawled with no visible injuries. 

“What happened?”

“It was an attack on their minds. I am not quite sure how to heal them. It is not a physical wound, but I can sense tremendous pain. We must keep them alive and take them to the healer of minds. I know one we can take them to, but we need to leave before it gets any worse.”

Aster ran his hands through his hair. “I–” he began, as ten members of the group from different parties came up to the duo.

“We will go with Hazel and take them. You can stay with the others and look for Dahlia and Aislin.”

“I do not like the idea of us separating with those things out there, but I do not see another option. We will meet you when we have everyone else,” Aster remarked with hope forcibly in his tone.

As Hazel and the ten members left with the three injured, Aster turned his mind back on the others. 

“Where should we look?” Borg asked, coming up beside him. 

“I don’t know. I can’t even begin to think where or how far they would have taken her. Or what they could be doing. What even are these things? Have you ever seen them?” he asked.

“I have not, but I have heard stories of what they can do. Myths from adventurers that they pull the worst parts of you and parade it in front of you, till it overwhelms you. We need to find the girls before it is too late,” solemnly stated Borg. He looked into the forest and over at Caridad and Pertinax, as they searched anywhere they thought their wraith friend might be. 

“Well I guess we should start somewhere.” Walking toward the wood, Aster paused when Killian cried out.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Killian yelled as an arrow protruded from the back of his knee. 

Aster looked in the direction the arrow came from, running as his heart filled with hope and a laugh fell from his lips. 

Dahlia knew how to get his attention.