Anita was already changing when Mars woke up. The previous day, while they were sleeping, Penelope washed their soiled clothes. As she finished tying her belt, she heard the bed creak, signifying that Mars was awake.

“Morning” Anita greeted, before turning to face the princess. Mars was shaking out their hair. They stretched and yawned.

“Morning.” As Mars headed to the bath, Anita decided to head to the living room. In the room, Penelope was weaving something.

“Good morning Anita. Are you ready to leave now?” Penelope questioned.

“Mars is getting ready, so not yet. Sorry to intrude.”

“Nonsense. While you're here, can you help my son out?” Penelope asked. “He hates clearing the garden, but with someone he admires, he may like it a little more.” Anita nodded, heading out to the back of the house. There, as promised, was a small garden. It had various vegetables and herbs, but a lot of weeds. By the furthest corner, stood Kai, staring into the forest.

“Kai?” Anita approached the boy. He didn't move. She put a hand on his shoulder. “Kai, are you okay-” The world faded away. She saw the darkness, consuming all. The blue light, shining bright, flickered and died out. She quickly snatched her hand away from the boy, suppressing a gasp. The kid turned to Anita, with a confused expression.

“Are you okay miss?” he asked

“Yeah, I'm fine. Uhm, your mom asked me to come to help you with weeding the garden. It seems you still have a lot to do-” this earned a groan from Kai and a laugh from Anita. “The faster we clean, the faster we’ll be done. Come on.” As they weeded the plants, Anita's worries about her vision faded, until it was forgotten.

When they returned to the living room, Penelope was handing a bag to Mars. “For your journey” 

“Thank you, Penelope, truly,” Mars responded. “After this, if there's anything I can do, just send a message.” Kai started to tear up. 

“But you can't go, we haven't done anything fun yet!”

“Sorry kid, maybe next time” the idea of there being a next time made Kai’s face brighten once again.

“I wish you well on your journey,” Penelope told them, giving a final farewell before they left the house. As they walked through the town, Anita felt unnerved. Mars picked this up.

“You Okay?” Mars asked, bumping her elbow lightly into Anita’s. Anita sighed.

“Nothing really, I just saw something. Probably just tired.” Mars didn't seem fully convinced, but let it go. Anita still felt disturbed, but let it slip to the back of her mind. The goal was to get to the mountains, and no matter what she saw, that's where she will go. On the other side of town, a wispy figure grew from the shadows. The boy slipped out of the house without any notice. As his skin cracked and his eyes rolled and turned black, Kai smiled.

“Come on!” Mars groaned. They were about a mile or two from the town. Due to faulty directions and roads, they don't know in what direction. Just how long they've been walking. “We have been walking for 3 Hours, how did we forget a map!” Mars whipped out their sword, taking their anger out on a nearby tree. Anita watched in amusement.

“It's fine, we’ll just go back-” Anita suggested. Mars immediately vetoed the idea.

“We don't have time to go back! Every second wasted is another second the darkness grows stronger.” Mars sheathed the sword. “We can't let it get stronger. We’ll just find a better way to get to the mountains.” 

“We don't even know where we’re going, we could be heading down back towards the capitol-”

“We need to do something, so let's go-” Mars started to head in a random direction.

“You're being irrational. Going in a random direction won't help anyone, or save the kingdom.” Mars huffed and turned back around.

“Then what do we do?” Mars questioned.

“I can help!” a small voice came from the forest. Emerging from the fauna was a very lively Kai. He smiled brightly, as Anita’s eyes widened in shock.“I want to go on an adventure but mom wouldn't let me, so I snuck away!” Mars and Anita looked at each other, then back at the kid.

“Uhm, I'm flattered” Mars started “But you can't come with us.” The happy look on Kai's face melted off.

“But why!” Kai whined. “I can fight, see!” to prove his point, he kicked the air, promptly falling over. “T-That was on purpose!” 

“Look kid” Anita started. “It's dangerous where we are going, so we can bring you.”

“But I don't want to! Momma is just going to make me clean more! I'll only go if you come with me!” Kai huffer.

“Fine, okay-” Anita quickly answered. Mars pulled her away as the kid celebrated.

“What do you mean, yes? We have to go, now-” Mars whispered. Anita responded quietly.

“We have no idea where we are going and the woods are dangerous for a kid to traverse alone. There could be darkness trying to kill him or bring his body to the mountains of something. By having him go home and us following, we’ll know not only which direction to go in, but we can get a map and make sure his mom keeps an eye on him." Mars tried to argue, to no avail. Overall, Anita was right. Anita turned back to the kid. “We can head back now, your mom will be worried. Then I can tell you some training stories.” Kai’s eyes lit up. 

“Yes Yes YESSS!”

“So, when I first started training, I wasn't as good as I am now..”

On their way back, Mars kept distant. As much as she wanted to listen to the charming stories of her beating Anita at everything, something felt off about the path they were on. Moreover, something felt off about Kai. Every time Anita tried to approach Mars, Kai asked for another story. Every time Mars tried to approach Anita, Kai pulled her away to point at another random object. It's like he didn't want them to talk at all, so Mars obliged, and instead turned to watch the surroundings. As they went on their way, Anita didn't seem to notice the different paths they were taking or the slight disruption of the landscape. The dirt got darker, and the plant life became wilder. Anita didn't, but Mars did.

“Hey, Kai, where are you taking up?” Mars asks. Anita turns to face mars.

“He’s taking us to the village, remember?”

“No,” Mars responded. “None of these things we've passed before. There were no red flowers or a dirt road. And there certainly was not that tree.” Mars pointed to a vaguely sunny spot. The ground around it looked damp and mushy, covered with moss. That was where a tree lay. It was knocked over, covered in moss, and slowly rotting. They turned to Kai for answers, who blushed, sheepishly.

“Okay, okay I didn't leave you back to town, but there’s something cool over there I got to show you!” Kai responded, rushing over to the tree. Anita and Mars trailed behind. On closer inspection, the tree had a too-dark look to it, covered in green and brown rot. Bugs swarmed, unbothered by the new presence. It gave off a rancid smell that made Mars stay a small distance away, but Kai just continued to go toward it.

“Kai” Anita started. “I don't think you should go near that. We should just go back to town.”

“But it's so weird, right!” he responded. “My friend says that if you touch this, i'll be brave, so i thought you could be too!. If you come over here and look at it, I promise we’ll go back.” Anita sighed and started to walk towards the tree, only to be stopped by Mars.

“Anita, this is weird, even for us. I think we should just leave-”

“Mars, we can't leave him out in the forest alone” Anita responded. “That's why we are with him in the first place because he’s a kid. And we’re supposed to be the heroes. The protectors. Walking over there will only take a few seconds, then we can go, okay?” with this, Anita continued over to the tree. Kai placed a hand on the tree, motioning for Anita to do the same. As soon as she did, her hand seeped into the rot.

“You too Mars, all three of us have to! Then we can go.'' Mars was still suspicious., but let it go, walking over, she placed her hand on the tree. It wasn't until her hand was stuck that the pieces started to piece together.

“You.” Mars stated, “Have never called me by my name.” Kai’s innocent smile quickly morphed into something sinister as the ground started to shake. The tree was rotting rapidly, but their hands were still stuck in the bark.

“It's not a tree, it's magic- Activation magic.” Mars gasped.

“Sweet dreams, princess~”  Kai spoke, before disappearing into a shadow. Anita’s eyes widened.

“What- no no no no no-” Anita tried to pull her hand out of the tree, to no avail. As the ground shook and crumbled, the tree fell in, taking both of them down with it.

Anita woke, groaning as the last of the tree rotted and disintegrated away. Looking up, it was obvious that they fell far, too far to climb back up. They were underground, in a wide rocky cavern with no visible way to escape. She checked for injuries, there only being a few scrapes and bruises. Remembering that she wasn't the only one who fell, she let out a shout.

“MARS! MARS, ARE YOU OKAY?!” After a few moments, a small echoed voice made its way back.

“I'M OVER HERE!” Mars shouted. Anita grew worried. Getting up from the rubble, she went in the general direction of the voice periodically relying on call and response. When she found Mars. she realized why the answers had been so short. Mars, like her, was covered in scrapes and bruises of various severities and colors. What was most concerning was the way they were clutching their head, and the blood dripping from underneath. Immediately, Anita rushed over.

“Gods, okay-” Anita took out her sword, cutting a few pieces of fabric from Mars’ cloak.  She slowly tilted mars’ head, moving their hand and replacing it with a pad of folded fabric. Anita wrapped some extra strips around Mars’ head, to ensure the fabric stays in place.

  “I'm sorry mars, I'm sorry,” she mumbled, tears filling her eyes. “I truly didn't know. If I did, I wouldn't have followed, I'm sorry- '' Mars placed a hand on Anita’s shoulder.

“It's fine, I should have trusted my instinct. We are both kinda at fault here.'' Anita took Mars’ hand and held it in her own. 

“Guess we’re both idiots then, huh '' Anita softly chucked. Then she frowned. “How can we fight the darkness, if we can't even see it? That wasn't Kai, it was a shadow who stole his form, and we couldn't tell the difference.”

“We’ll find a way,” Mars reassured. Anita smiled. For the one injured, Mars was still giving pep talks. To her, Mars was amazing.  A small, minuscule blue light glowed around them, too focused on each other to notice. It quickly faded away.

“Well, we can't leave the same way we came, it's a dead end. Too far to climb, I think.” Anita spoke. Mars looked around.

“Then, I guess we just have to walk through this place and hope there’s a way out.” 

Anita helped Mars up, who almost fell after they let go.

“Im fine, I'm fine-” Mars growled. Anita didn't seem so impressed.

“You literally almost fell over. Anita pointed out. Mars huffed in response.

“You try standing with a concussion-”

“Exactly why you shouldn't.” With this, Anita swept Mars up in her arms, who shrieked.

“ANITA, ANITA PUT ME DOWN NOW!” Mars blushed profusely in the darkness. Anita laughed, putting them back on the ground.

“So carrying you is a no?” Anita said with a smirk.

“I can walk, so let's go already.” Mars took Anita's hand for support. Anita’s heart thumped just a little faster. Mar’s heartbeat is the same.