Chapter 5 - Valdis L'Amour

This is the rest of the story of the world of Valdis's Story

Jacky woke up first around 2:45 am. He yawned as quietly as possible so as not to wake up Wolfie, but Wolfie had been sleeping on top of him while using his fur as a pillow. It didn't matter though because Wolfie was awake before Jacky. Wolfie stood up and stretched a few times until he was fully awake. He walked over to a window and peeked outside through a crack between two boards. A couple of seconds later, Wolfie pulled Jacky toward the same window.

"What is it?" asked Jacky.

"I thought I saw something moving outside," said Wolfie "But I must have just seen the shadows of trees dancing in the wind."

"Come back to bed."

Wolfie shook his head "No. We should stay here for now."

Jacky agreed "Okay." "It's okay," said Wolfie with an amused smile "We won't get attacked by wild animals or anything else."

A short time passed and there were more movements outside. Then the door opened with a loud creak! Alex and Cedar were already standing at the doorway looking out into the hallway and they seemed very nervous and worried about what might happen next.

"You guys are being paranoid," said Fenrir.

Cedar turned towards him. "That's easy for you to say since you aren't afraid of getting killed!"

"Look, we don't have much choice, so let's calm down before it's too late. Just stick together in case we run into Fango."

The rest of the group huddled closer, hoping that nothing would attack them this early in the morning. After waiting several minutes without incident, they decided that they had done enough stalling and went to see if Fango was really lurking somewhere nearby. They walked quickly down a hall and found a door a little ways ahead that was slightly ajar and made sure that everyone was ready to fight at any second. When Jacky peered through the crack in the door, he couldn't believe what he saw inside: a room full of stuffed dragon heads, dragons' teeth, paintings of dragons on the wall, and other memorabilia related to dragons. He realized then why he hadn't seen any pictures of people or things from Stoukrugon anywhere. It didn't exist yet. He tried peering around another corner but no one else was there so they moved on.

They came upon an open window. The window looked like it led out onto the roof of an inn across the street but it could have been dangerous because there were lots of buildings surrounding it with all kinds of sharp edges that might slice a person up if they fell out. Cedar jumped first and held himself up by wrapping his arms and legs around the window frame while hanging upside-down. He peeked over the edge and signaled to Jacky that everything seemed okay. But Wolfie was hesitant to do anything until Alex said "Go for it." Wolfie grabbed hold of the window's metal bars as tightly as possible and slowly lowered himself outside, using his feet to push against the floor below him until he landed safely. Alex and Fenrir followed him outside without hesitation.

After checking outside again, they determined that nothing was moving and headed back toward their room to regroup. They decided to continue exploring the city later after getting some rest. They turned towards the staircase leading upstairs when a door swung open and a man dressed in a long white tunic emerged. Everyone quickly put their hands on weapons just in case.

"Who is it?" asked Fenrir.

The man smiled and replied, "I'm glad you're here! My name is Harkon and I am looking for someone called Jacky. Can you tell me where he is?"

Jacky recognized the voice of this stranger right away even though he'd never heard it before. He knew exactly who this was. This person was one of Fango's henchmen. The last time he had seen this man was at the inn on the way out of the capital.

Fenrir stepped forward to block the path to the stairs and growled angrily. The other people in the group all pulled out swords or bows and arrows, while the rest showed their fangs and claws with the exception of little baby Argo who began to cry once more. It wasn't hard to see how serious they all were. The new arrival frowned with a look of disbelief on his face and reached into a pouch on his side. He took out a scroll, rolled it up tightly, and handed it over to Jacky:

To be opened only if something happens to me... Jacky, my friend, if you get this message, then know that the city will fall by morning if we don't do anything about it. There are too many enemies for us to fight off so I'm leaving Stoukrugon. Goodbye for now. -Harkon the Tanner

Jacky stood there for a few seconds trying to make sense of what he was reading because he couldn't believe what he was seeing. What did he mean? Did he think Jacky could fix everything alone? That he was going to go run away and leave him behind as everyone else had done before?! Jacky wanted to yell at him, but instead, Jacky silently turned toward the others and said "Let him pass." He unrolled the scroll and read it aloud for them to hear: "I am sorry, Harkon. You're right; you can count on me."

Wolfie turned around quickly to see who had spoken those words. He saw that it was Jacky. Wolfie narrowed his eyes in anger. Why didn't he say anything sooner? If he'd just told Alex earlier in the day when he'd first proposed their plan then maybe things would have been different! Now Fenrir wouldn't be able to kill Fango without risking death himself! It looked like Jacky really hadn't learned any lessons from this game after all! Wolfie wondered if Jacky might actually be worse than Fango. Was this a trap set up by someone other than Fango? Hadn't Jacky forgotten something important enough to make this all a trick? After thinking for a minute, Wolfie realized that it probably wasn't a trap and that he needed to accept the fact that Jacky truly cared about him and wished for his survival, even though Wolfie still hated him for being the reason why they were stuck in this mess in the first place.

Harkon continued on his way upstairs with his two companions following close behind while the rest of them followed more slowly. When they finally reached the top floor of the inn where they were staying, everyone crowded into the room. Once inside, they all got to work figuring out what to do next while trying not to make too much noise or attract attention so as not to get discovered. Jacky sat down at a table by himself and tried to think clearly. What could he do? What was there left for him to try?

A short time later, he heard footsteps coming toward him. Whoever was approaching seemed very familiar and almost sounded like...

"Jackie?" asked Cedar "Are you okay?"

Jacky jumped out of his seat, ran over to the door, opened it quickly, and hugged his best friend tightly. They held onto each other's shoulders in silence before letting go of one another to look at the other person in the group who had arrived: Max.

Jacky grinned ear to ear and said "I thought you'd never show up."

Max smiled back and replied, "I'm glad I made it here just in time!" He stepped past Jacky and put a hand on Jacky's shoulder. Jacky turned around and leaned against his big body for support. He sighed deeply, unable to contain his emotions. He felt safe right now with both Max and Fenrir near him; he felt loved. But he also knew that he would need to be alone for a while because he would be experiencing some painful memories soon that would bring tears to his eyes again. And he wanted to avoid those as long as possible. He hoped that when the moment came that he would have the strength to overcome them without getting overwhelmed again.

"Fango will know what happened here soon," said Cedar. By now it was 3:15 am they had less than five hours to save the dragon and stop Fango from becoming immortal!

"We'll figure out something if we don't give up and start making plans about how to do it," Alex chimed in while shaking his head sadly. "I don't see any other option but to defeat Fango tonight, or else..." He stopped talking when Jacky wrapped an arm around his shoulders and hugged him tight. He buried his face into Jacky's chest and cried quietly for a few seconds until Jacky pulled away, wiped his nose on his sleeve, and grabbed his bag off the floor. Then everyone followed Jacky outside where the night sky was turning bright red as the sun started rising over the horizon.

"Okay, everyone ready?" asked Jacky.

Everyone nodded in unison except Fenrir who looked annoyed by their quick departure plan.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Max "We're wasting time!"

"I just want to make sure we all agree before we leave," said Fenrir. "And besides, this is not the place to discuss these things." And so the group sneaked their way into the city, then found their way towards the Draconic Suppression Center through the streets with weapons at the ready since they were now outnumbered and out-gunned by the enemy soldiers guarding the building. There had been no sign of Fango during the trip here nor did they encounter anyone suspicious along the way. They got sidetracked a time or two but made it to their destination without any problems.

Once there they could see the main doors of the center right away. They quickly headed inside and took cover behind a large pile of crates in the middle of the lobby as they tried to decide what to do next. The rest of the guards appeared to be asleep in the chairs near the entranceway because none of them seemed interested in coming out after seeing what was going on in the lobby. After waiting for what seemed like an hour, Alex stepped forward, looking for a cage with a sign saying Danger! as that cage was where the dragon was kept. But when he opened the door he saw a dragon lying unconscious on a bed of straw, its scales shimmering and glowing brightly thanks to the moonlight shining down from a skylight above. It wasn't Fango; it must have been someone else. It had many scars on its shiny black scales from fighting before.

The others ran over to look while Max checked over the creature's wingspan, size, weight, and other measurements. When the group determined that it was indeed a young adult male Black Dragon, the only thing left to figure out was how to get him to wake up.

"Well, we can just leave him here until morning," suggested Fenrir "Then we can bring back reinforcements."

Jacky shook his head. "That won't work. He'll be gone by the time we come back in the morning. He needs to stay here until we find a way to defeat Fango." Jacky turned around toward Cedar the bear who had been standing there silently with arms folded across his chest with a frown on his face: "Cedar, are you ready to fight Fango again?"

Cedar sighed heavily and nodded, and said "Yes!" but added with hesitation "I'm still angry at him and I hate what he did but if it means stopping him from becoming immortal then yeah, I'll do it... If it means saving the world then I don't care anymore."

Fenrir growled angrily. The last thing they needed right now was more enemies after the trouble they'd already caused!

"I think you need to calm down first," advised Wolfie the wolf. The others looked over at him for a moment wondering why he would suggest such an absurd idea to begin with because didn't he agree with them that Fango should be stopped? After a few moments though everyone began laughing except Fenrir who was trying not to lose control of himself completely and had succeeded in controlling his growling, so no one noticed anyway. Then Cedar walked over towards the dragon and poked him in the snout. When nothing happened, he grabbed the dragon by the scruff of its neck and pulled it off its bed.

"Hey, wait!" yelled Max as the group rushed forward as well to stop their friend from causing the dragon any harm.

Cedar replied calmly, "Don't worry. This is the same technique we used to wake him up before when we rescued him." And sure enough, this time too the dragon slowly opened his eyes while letting out a low rumble. He lifted his head up slightly to sniff the air with his nose. They could tell the smell was familiar to him even through all the pain and stress the poor creature had gone through since the day he was captured and that was a good sign.

The dragon's furry face wrinkled in confusion and anger: "What's going on here?" he asked confusedly.

Jacky answered quickly "We've come back to rescue you. We need you to help us defeat Fango, okay?"

The Black Dragon sat there for a moment looking at each person in turn, then at the other dragons asleep near him; then finally, at Cedar. He turned around and moved into the middle of the room, curled up against the wall, laid his head down, and closed his eyes.

Cedar said, "He just needs to rest a bit longer until he can think clearly again."

They decided to take a break from exploring and moving crates to relax instead and let the dragon sleep in peace. After a little while, Fenrir came over to Jacky and Alex and whispered, "This will be dangerous for us if anyone hears. Can I speak with you privately for a few minutes? It would be best not to talk loudly so that our voices don't carry outside of this place where we're hidden but be close enough so that we can hear one another without being seen."

"Sure," replied Alex "But keep your voice low too or we'll draw attention to ourselves."

The two friends went out to a spot nearby where they wouldn't disturb the others, even though it was already 4:10 am in the morning. The city was quiet except for the sounds of the ocean waves crashing on the beach, the occasional barking dog, and the occasional scream from somewhere within the building. Once everyone had fallen asleep and was resting in silence with their weapons still drawn, Fenrir looked straight at Alex and asked him, "Are you sure about what you did back there when you fought Fango?"

Alex scratched his cheek before responding "It felt right at the time." He paused as he thought about it some more before continuing "I'm sorry you feel like you have to go through all this trouble because of my actions but...it's better than letting Fango become immortal! Besides, I know how badly you wanted revenge!" Then he remembered something else that made him blush slightly. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a small object wrapped in black cloth which he handed to Fenrir who accepted it carefully. "This is a present for you..."

Fenrir unwrapped it slowly. Inside the wrapping paper was a golden necklace set with a ruby gemstone pendant with blue swirls engraved around its surface; the perfect accessory for someone wearing such shiny scales. Fenrir looked up at Alex with an expression that said "Thank you, but this isn't necessary." But Alex responded, "Don't worry. It's not just any gift; it's a promise between two brothers. This should symbolize that."

After a moment of contemplation, Fenrir replied "Well, thank you anyway." And so the two friends smiled warmly and embraced one another. They stood together silently in the night air listening to the waves of the ocean crash against the shoreline until the sun rose above the horizon. There were many things left to discuss and plan but for now, everyone decided to rest in order to regain their strength for whatever may come next. After making sure no one was awake, Jacky sneaked into the center of the building to retrieve the sleeping dragon, dragging him along behind him with the help of Fenrir and Max who held onto the dragon by his hind legs while the others grabbed his tail. When they got outside again they saw there weren't many soldiers roaming the streets so they took off running as fast as they could toward the mountains as quickly as they dared without attracting too much attention from the guards on patrol or the citizens.

The sun had risen well over the eastern edge of the horizon when they finally reached the top of a large hill near a lake and stopped at the foot of a tall tree whose branches reached high enough for them to climb to the top and find some privacy to talk in private. Alex Told the dragon "What we do next to you will be determined by what you say next, I know you can read minds dragon."

The Black Dragon opened his eyes slowly but reluctantly after hearing this news. He lifted his head up slightly and looked around before turning back to face Cedar who sat down beside him with a solemn expression:

"We've heard about how Fango captured you as an egg and has tortured you ever since you were born," began Fenrir "You have suffered so much because of him that your mind is warped in ways we don't understand yet." The dragon nodded in agreement and stared blankly ahead for a moment, then asked in confusion "Why are you telling me all of this?" "because I have a friend named Justyn the Author who can send us to therapy for free. We're hoping he can heal your mind and help make amends with the people of the world." And with that said, the black dragon shook his head vigorously.

"I want nothing to do with these humans! You should never trust any human!"

Fenrir raised his hands defensively but Jeorgar the Dragon jumped in before he could speak and responded quickly saying "That's not true. Humans like Jacky here may be evil and wicked creatures at times but other times they are very kind, caring, loving, generous, noble..." Jacky interrupted him by speaking out angrily himself:

"We ARE NOT EVIL!!!" Fenrir glared at him.

Jeorgar continued anyway, ignoring Fenrir's anger: "It seems that there are good humans who work together to stop the bad ones and even more who work together to defeat the bad guys...like the Dragon Knights."

"What? I'm sure you've just been tricked or something." replied the dragon skeptically. But the group assured him otherwise.

Then Alex said, "I've also learned how powerful you really are. You can understand if people are telling the truth or not"

"Really?" questioned the dragon with interest. He tilted his head slightly in thought as everyone else waited for him to answer while looking on intently. After a few moments of contemplation, the Black Dragon closed his eyes and answered in a soft voice:

"Yes. I was able to hear their thoughts as they told me. And what they say about dragons being dangerous is mostly true." Everyone let out a sigh of relief except Fenrir who groaned "So you think we can trust them now after everything they did?"

"Well, yes I guess so," the dragon said with hesitation before continuing "But, I'll be honest, I still don't want to be involved with you humans again."

Alex opened the book Justyn spoke through after opening his bag of infinite storage, and on page 15 of the open book appeared the words "Yes, I believe you all have something to share with Dr. Schnitzel the Plot Convenience psychiatrist. I'm sending him your way now."

The next moment an elderly man wearing glasses and a tweed coat stepped out from behind an oak tree, smiling. "Hello! Hello, hello! So glad to meet such interesting people! My name is Doctor Schnitzel. You can call me Shnitz. Yes, yes! Very clever! Now then, I am here to help you and the people of the world if you're willing to be helped by me. The nameless dragon walked up to Doctor Schnitzel

"I don't have a name," the Black Dragon said," Thank you for coming."

"No need for thanks, no my boy, it's all in a day's work for me. But please, call me Shnitz or Dr. Shnitz or even just 'Shnitz' like the others do!" He paused before saying with slight embarrassment in his voice: "Although most of them just refer to me as Dr. Schnitzle or even worse sometimes just plain old doctor." The group looked at one another confusedly until they heard Alex ask "Are there two doctors named Schnitzel? Two different types? One human and one dragon?"

"Oh, dear...I hope not," replied Doctor Schnitzel nervously while trying not to laugh too loudly himself and thinking that this must be what a nervous tic was like.

"Anyway, I've read your mind already, so let's start our therapy session shall we?" asked the elderly man with a twinkle in his eye. Everyone nodded in agreement and sat down in a circle on the grass to listen to the wise words of the elderly man as he started to tell them how to begin their therapy.

After everyone had a chance to sit down and take a deep breath, Shnitz began: "The first thing you should understand is that Fango has been keeping you isolated from everyone else ever since you were born because he doesn't want anyone finding out about you yet. This means you will need time to get used to being around people again, especially humans." Fenrir growled angrily but the dragon continued unphased.

"This may also be very difficult for you because you are accustomed to hiding yourself, even when you're asleep. If you can recall back to the night you were captured by Fango, I think it's safe to say you haven't felt completely free in quite some time..." The black dragon stood up suddenly after hearing these words and quickly turned towards Alex "Do you mean I've been dreaming of all those terrible things Fango made me do in my dreams?! And then everything actually happened in reality?"

Alex nodded yes while Shnitz interrupted:

"That's right! That explains why you've always acted as if nothing bad had really happened to you!" Then turning to face the black dragon again he continued "I don't blame you; most dragons would probably feel that way too under those circumstances!" the black dragon stared at him blankly before speaking with anger in his voice "What makes you any better than the other humans? You could have told me the truth earlier instead of tricking me into believing I was going crazy!" He paused briefly before continuing in an angry tone, looking downwards in shame.

"And what makes you think you know what a 'normal' dragon feels like or how we react or anything like that? Do you know how many years we lived without knowing who we truly were and what we are capable of?" said the Black Dragon bluntly with a sigh of relief as soon as Shnitz stopped talking "No...but it sounds like this world isn't ready for us yet." After this conversation, everyone sat quietly listening to the sound of the wind gently blowing through the trees surrounding them.

Shnitz continued: "Now then, where to start? We need to begin with your memories so that we can learn about your past experiences, and also find out exactly how you became isolated from society in the first place. I assume that's what Fango did, but please correct me if I'm wrong." Alex spoke up again asking "Dragon is that true?" the black dragon replied "Yes." Alex sighed heavily before saying "Then let's go back to when he captured you..."

***

Meanwhile, Fango went to have an audience with the King because of his missing dragon. As usual, he brought along some presents for the king: A gold statue of himself made entirely of solid gold! And another one of him made completely out of diamonds! The king thought he had given away these items as gifts for the royal family on the previous visit to the kingdom, so he thanked him politely and accepted the gifts. But upon closer inspection, he noticed that these statues looked just like his dragon which meant that these had been his dragon all along!! Now, instead of having two dragons at home (which was more than enough already) now they would only have one. It was then that Fango said that he was an assassin, saying "My name is Fango," he began" I kill people for money." King Charles said "Guards, seize this man" The king exclaimed. "They are to be taken to the dungeons for questioning"

As the guards came towards him to take him away, Fango quickly pulled out a knife from inside his coat and stabbed it into the throat of a guard right in front of the king before running off into the castle with the other guards in pursuit after him. He ran through every floor of the palace until he got outside and headed through the city streets dodging traffic before reaching the outer walls of the city and climbing over them by using magic and jumping with great agility. When he landed on top of the wall, he turned around to look down at the ground below him before leaping forward, flying across the open space before landing safely behind the main gates of the castle. Once inside the courtyard, Fango walked down a dark corridor that led to the dungeon. As he passed a row of doors he suddenly heard muffled screams coming from the first cell. Before he could react, Fango rushed up to the door and peered inside; there were two young women sitting against the back wall chained together and crying desperately while three men wearing black robes stood watching them. One of the men reached out for the handle on the cell door and opened it...but when he did this Fango saw one of the girls move her head slightly towards him before closing her eyes again.

***

The black dragon got the help he needed. Fenrir got tips on how to deal with the panic attacks he had been getting due to working at Giggling Smile Supermarket that was caused due to Karen Sylvia's harsh treatment. Jeorgar the Dragon got help with dealing with his body insecurities which stemmed from being cursed by Mimxar Edgecombe and learning about the history between dragons and humans (which would hopefully allow him to gain more confidence in himself). And Alex also received advice on ways to regain control of his life after losing someone close to him, Winter the werewolf.

Dr. Schnitzel the Plot Convenience psychiatrist wrapped things up by saying

"It seems like everyone will benefit from our sessions so far." After the group finished their therapy session, Dr. Shnitzle went back to the oak tree and stepped behind it. "We'll meet again if you need any more help, but I think were made so real good progress today." He said as he disappeared into thin air just like he did before. The group waited a few minutes before walking away themselves. But not before Alex caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a letter floating above Dr. Shnitzles head while he was gone:

 Dear Doctor Schnitzle, Thank you for helping us all! We are forever grateful for your time spent teaching us new things about ourselves. You're very nice too and we hope to see you soon. Your friends and patients,

 Alex and friends.

***

Alex thought to himself, "...I guess this means that he is a really, really, really good person. I can't wait to go to my next session with him!" Everyone looked around nervously before laughing out loud at the absurdity of the situation they were in. Fenrir stopped them by holding out his hand to silence them and said "Let's try to get some rest tonight before moving on to the final destination tomorrow morning. It's going to take all of us to pull off the plan. And so they all headed back to Bigtree Village where they found out about the strange events surrounding the village since the last time Alex had been there.

First, the Mayor was recently attacked by an unknown creature who left him in critical condition. His wife, Cathy, took over as acting mayor until he recovered, but she was then kidnapped from her home by a mysterious woman wearing a long black cloak and dark glasses! Not only has no one seen her or heard from her again, but a group of thugs have also taken residence inside the building and started terrorizing the other woodland creatures that called the village home and stealing valuables every night. Some say it might be ghosts haunting the place now while others believe it may be monsters created by Fango using magic to kill off any witnesses to what happened to Cathy. Whatever it is, it makes for some very scary nights for all living things within its boundaries (which includes humans) so please keep this under your hats if you know anyone that lives nearby!

Secondly, The Great Woodsman, Alessandro Del Lago, came down with a case of amnesia after being knocked out by a mysterious man with red hair and grey eyes! He says he can't remember anything about his past except his name, how old he was when he became the woodsman, and that he's known everyone else in the village his whole life. But he doesn't even recognize his own face in the mirror and he's convinced he's not actually who people think he is because he keeps asking the same questions over and over again:

"Who are you? Why do I call you 'Alessandro'?" Everyone thought these were just random things to ask, so they didn't answer him. After all, who wouldn't want to hang out with someone who had a really nice beard like that, right? But he continued to come to them asking the same question every day, so they finally decided to tell him. "We're sorry sir but we don't know," replied Cathy "You've been here longer than anyone;

***

Getting back on track, the group of heroes headed over to Wolfie's friends Foxy the Fox and Bruce the Bear's place where they learned about the events surrounding the bear and wolf's sudden disappearance from Bigtree Village. Apparently, the two of them suddenly woke up one morning and headed into town to find out why everyone was acting strange and then mysteriously disappeared, according to Sam the skunk who lived nearby and told this fact to Alex when he asked him about it. Since then no one has seen or heard from either animal since then. While investigating further, it seems as though there have been reports of some mysterious creature roaming around the village lately wearing a long black cloak that covers its face...but no one knows what kind of creature it is or what it looks like!

The group's last stop for the night before heading off tomorrow would be with Lepus the Rabbit in his burrow near the edge of the woods in order to talk to him about how his rabbit hole was destroyed and he hasn't left his house in over a week due to being scared and avoiding everything because of his trauma. They made their way to the location and found Lepus sitting inside his hole waiting for them. When they walked towards the entrance he shouted out angrily "What do you want?!?" The three humans and five creatures looked at each other, shrugged, and began talking amongst themselves while Alex just stared straight ahead, not making eye contact with anyone else.

After hearing all about their adventures, he finally said "Alright, I believe you." He turned to face everyone else but didn't say anything else. As soon as he saw all of their faces staring back at him blankly he blurted out:

"Alright that's enough, I get it already!" Everyone started laughing as he stood up, dusting himself off after walking back into his hole without another word. And that's when they knew they were on the right path...

***

Meanwhile, the missionaries outside of the book were dealing with hardships placed on them by Keith Douglas who hated the missionaries, Elder Elder and Elder Jackson. He and his followers mocked the missionaries asking for a sign from God to know if he was real or not. They said nothing to the hecklers until one day of this treatment, they cried out to God praying out loud asking to be saved from the hecklers suddenly the building they were in began to shake, and the hecklers realized too late that their time was up. The missionaries survived the destruction of the building though and it scared the nearby people who had come to see the shaking building. This event caused the hecklers to begin fleeing their church because they believed that God had forsaken them.

***

The next morning everyone woke up bright and early (except for Alex) for their journey to the final destination before leaving Bigtree Village forever. They ate breakfast together and headed down to where Sam lived to hear what information he could share about Fango and his friends before heading towards Lepus' burrow once again so he would tell them about his story since he couldn't write anything about it on a note. The group found the rabbit standing in his hole looking outwards while the grass below was being cut with scissors as it was being used to create a path for them to walk through to reach the burrow entrance. As they walked along the new trail created, the rabbit said "What do you want?!" And then the humans just looked at each other blankly wondering why the little guy is acting like that, but they were too afraid of him to say anything back to him.

After everyone heard Lepus out, they thanked him and asked him how much further to the city and he pointed behind him and continued walking forward without saying another word. The rest of the party followed after him until they reached an opening and saw a giant white bunny with two black dots on its face, which resembled a target, on its chest walking out of the woods with a rifle slung over his shoulder and wearing a long cloak that covered his face and body completely. When Lepus got closer, the bunny started screaming "Bang! Bang! I'm going to shoot you now!" And all of a sudden Lepus screamed back "BANG BANG BANG" before falling flat onto the ground lifeless as Fango's henchman shot the poor animal right in front of everyone.

Lepus was dead and no one knew what had happened except Alex who realized it was Fango's henchman who killed him using magic disguised as regular gunshots...but none of them could move or speak because it was so terrifying. Fango's henchman laughed and walked past them towards Bigtree Village without turning around once, causing the whole group to collapse on the floor from fear once they realized there was nothing more they could do about this situation. All they did was witness a man kill an innocent creature just for fun. Then they remembered that Fango used to be a human and suddenly became afraid he would go after anyone he wanted just like he used to do with humans when he lived here before his death.

They began moving slowly away while still not speaking since their voices would tremble if they tried. They were finally able to regain composure and get out of the forest of trees alive by stepping out into open fields where they were greeted by the sounds of birds chirping, cows mooing, and horses neighing in the distance along with the scent of flowers and fresh air filling their noses. They made their way back to town and found themselves at the same park that Lepus' house used to be located at only hours ago. It was empty of people though, but instead filled with many butterflies flying around and covering the ground as if it was a carpet of red roses that someone spilled wine on. The party sat down on a nearby bench to talk about everything they experienced during their adventure but decided to leave before it got dark again.

Their next plan to take action was to destroy the plot armor-stealing machine that Fango in the original timeline used to steal Jacky's plot armor and become invincible

***

Meanwhile, the missionaries outside of the book continued trying to spread Christianity throughout the lands but they weren't having much luck. One day they arrived at the capital city of Black Forest City (in the nearby country Kingdom of Drakonia to the left of Kreyitis Kingdom, ) which was under attack from undead monsters called 'Skeletons'. Their goal was to find some citizens who might have been turned into zombies by the skeletons so they could convert them into followers of God! As they approached a destroyed church they saw two men fighting a zombie monster while holding a sign that read "Jesus is our Lord!" They stopped the fight and helped them out so they could continue their journey.

***

When Alex finally returned home, he told his friends about all that he had learned from Fango about his past life and what had happened between him and his former best friend, Samantha. After hearing his story, Cathy was happy she didn't have to tell him since his memories were coming back to him slowly over time on their own, and didn't need to be reminded of something as awful as this. But it seems as though one person hadn't heard it yet: Jacky. She came up behind Alex without warning and started punching him in the face repeatedly saying "I TOLD YOU I WASN'T A PIECE OF GARBAGE!" until he passed out on the floor from being hit too hard...

After everyone finished telling their stories for the day, they agreed that tomorrow would be their last full day of adventure before heading off to finish their mission and leaving Bigtree Village forever.

On their way over to the city of Troustead, the black dragon said "If you want me to stay a part of this group I will need a name" The group stared at each other blankly wondering how the dragon suddenly knew their names after just meeting him today but decided to leave that subject alone since he doesn't know anything about his previous life and is still trying to figure things out like the rest of them. Eventually, Alex piped up saying "I suppose you could have the name Maximus" Maximus was happy to finally have a name and had a smile that lasted until they reached the village where Jacky's family was living only to find it abandoned because of the attacks of the skeletons and they searched through the house and found an old diary in a cupboard along with a bag containing a ring of healing and a note with the words "To my brother."

"My dearest big bro," It read, "I hope these items help protect you from harm in battle, and that your future is bright. Thank you for everything you've done for me, and remember: Don't ever let anyone make fun of your ears!" Inside the bag, there were also two potions labeled 'Protection' and 'Regeneration'. Alex picked up the 'Protection' one and drank it while everyone else looked on astonished as if they had seen something magical happen! Then the group moved on to the next step of the plan: Destroy the plot armor-stealing machine! They entered the creepy mansion and noticed the room was dark except for the light coming from the bottom left corner from the sun shining through a hole in the roof. They went to the basement and saw a machine words can't describe. Its most interesting feature though was a Tesla coil-like part on the top of the machine and a sign that said "This machine is "invisible" Do not talk about its details or else." Jacky was the first to try and do something about the machine, he walked up to it looking for a good spot to hit it with when all of a sudden it came to life causing a jump in time to where Fango appaired and began to monologue

***

"It has been quite some time since I last appeared before you humans,"

"And what have you been doing since then?" asked Alex.

"Oh just working here at this laboratory alongside my assistant Sven, we are still trying to perfect our weapon designs so we could end the war that is currently being waged between Kreydur and the Kingdom of Jovoria and unite everyone into one country of peace."

"Do you still think your weapon design will work in the long run?" asked Jacky.

"Of course, for I am nothing more than a scientist who loves his craft above all else."

"That's great! You've come such a long way since when you first tried stealing plot armor from Jacky He's right over there by the way!" said Alex pointing towards him without thinking.

"How dare you say something like that to me! After everything I have done to keep that plot armor out of enemy hands!" cried out Fango as he turned red as fire and started growling, he charged toward Jacky and shot at him with a gun at point-blank range and hit him in the stomach and chest several times making Jacky collapse to the floor in pain as blood flowed down his shirt. The rest of the group was paralyzed with fear while they watched their friend get shot because they couldn't believe what they saw happen. But suddenly Maximus jumped on top of Fango knocking him away from Jacky causing him to fall onto the ground dead...

Alex, Max, Jeorgar, Cedar, Fenrir, Argo, Maximus, and Wolfie were too scared to move or speak for almost an hour after witnessing the event until they finally came together and decided it would be best if they left Bigtree Village immediately and never returned ever again since this whole adventure was a nightmare and none of them wanted any part of it even if it meant leaving Jacky behind forever. Wolfie didn't forgive the rest of the group and blamed Jacky's death on them all, and ran away to a place no one knew. They still needed to get rid of the machine though, and when they did it caused a jump in time in the story's plot to about over a month later.

***

At the Castle over a month later:

King Charles looked straight ahead, and his hands were clasped tightly together. And then, all of a sudden, a loud crowd of people came rushing toward them, and they were all shouting.

It was the assassins of L'Amour and they had a blood lust in their eyes like no other. They were marching down the stairs, and they carried sharp swords and daggers that glinted in the light. Each assassin wore a dark hood, and their faces were covered by shadows.

"They're coming!" shouted one of the guards. "they're right behind us! Quick, hide behind me!" With that, the guard jumped behind King Charles, and he covered his face with his hand. The leader of the assassins Valdis said, "Kill them!" while rolling around in a wheelchair.

Wolfie could feel the cold steel of the knives digging into his back, and he gasped in pain. Valdis laughed as he drew his sword, and he raised it high above his head.

"Die!" he said. "die, die, die!"

But as he was about to strike, something struck him from behind. "You won't kill us," said King Charles. "not now and not ever." King Charles swing his sword, but tripped on a pebble and fell flat on his face. Everyone cheered as they saw the king fall to the ground, and they laughed and joked about it. "Ha ha hahaha!" laughed Valdis. "Did you see that, boys? Did you see that?" But then, the queen stepped forward and stood in front of King Charles. "No," she said. "we won't let you." She had put on a big pair of glasses, and they were fogging up from the heat. Her hair was tied back in a bun, and she was wearing a red cloak that covered most of her body. "So what are you going to do?" asked Valdis. "are you going to fight back? Are you going to run? Or maybe you'll just lie there like the dead fish that you are. Either way, we will kill you."

"Don't you dare touch my husband," said Queen Mab. "or I swear I will take your heads off and feed them to the birds." Queen Mab had stepped out from behind King Charles, and she was standing in front of the assassins. She held her hands together and she pointed the tips of her fingers at them. "I am the queen," she said. "and I will protect my husband at all costs." Queen Mab's voice echoed around the hall, and everyone stopped talking and laughing. "That is the funniest thing I've ever heard," said Valdis. "you're just an old woman." "Then why don't you come over here and make fun of me instead?" asked Queen Mab. Suddenly Wolfie the wolf hugged the queen tight, and he kissed her cheek. "I love you too, darling," said Queen Mab. "you're so sweet." The queen giggled, and she patted Wolfie's head lovingly. "Who is that?" asked Valdis. "who is that?" "That's my husband's best friend," said Queen Mab. "he's very special." "Yeah, yeah, whatever," said Valdis. "let's kill them already. Let's kill them both."

That's when the heroes arrived to save the day! They came charging into the room carrying swords, shields, lances, bows and arrows, flaming torches, and even a net full of grappling hooks which they threw down onto the assassins from above! A closed bag full of marbles fell from Valdis's grasp and hit his foot hard as it rolled away from him across the floor until it finally reached King Charles' feet where it was kicked right up by him before throwing the bag back at one of the enemies who caught it with their face. Then Queen Mab lifted her hand high above her head, and a shining ball of light flew out of her palm and struck one of the assassins in the chest knocking him backward. Alex went and put the pebble King Charles had tried on knowing that he would have kept tripping on it and the marbles that were no longer a threat as a tripping hazard. "Don't mess around!" said Fenrir. "If you keep playing around like this, you won't live long enough for me to bite your throat out." Everyone started fighting valiantly against the assassins except Wolfie who jumped off of Queen Mab and began jumping up and biting everyone's faces apart from Queen Mab's. "Don't hurt me," she shouted as Wolfie bit her cheek making blood drip down her chin and neck. But then Maximus stepped forward and grabbed Wolfie by the tail, and he yanked him back, causing Wolfie's teeth to meet empty air. "Hey, what the heck?" cried out Wolfie while flying through the air before landing behind Valdis on his shoulders where Valdis swung his sword downward cutting Wolfie in two pieces leaving only half of Wolfie inside Valdis' body and another piece lying on top of Valdis' lap!

Valdis screamed in pain as his flesh sizzled, and his clothes turned red from all of the melted fat dripping down his legs!

The rest of the assassins fell to their knees because they couldn't move due to how much they were bleeding from their wounds The others took turns jumping and attacking anyone they could reach including Valdis but still there seemed to be so many more assassins than them. And they continued to fight back until one of them suddenly had a bright flash of light and disappeared. Everyone looked up at the ceiling wondering what had happened. Suddenly an explosion blew up in front of them sending debris everywhere. They ducked just in time before it hit them, and the wall next to the stairs collapsed on top of the fallen bodies of the remaining assassins. Maximus lifted his arms and made a circle with his claws. As he did this, the stones lifted into the sky which formed a portal leading to the outside world of the book the heroes had come from. The rest of the Heroes said goodbye to Maximus as they went through the portal.