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Heart pounding, Anise panted heavily. She had never run like that before in her life. Well, perhaps when she was a child, but certainly not within her memory. She looked over her shoulder to see that the boy carrying the lantern had followed after and she smiled. She wasn't alone. That in of itself was a comfort. He began to ask her questions that she couldn't hear for some reason, maybe it was the pounding in her ears from her running so hard. "I-I can't hear you." She was so out of breath that the words were barely a whisper.

She was still standing in spite of her fatigue. The pounding stopped before too long and she heard his last question. "O-of course I can walk!" She stood up straight and wobbled towards the young man before stopping. "After I rest." Her tone was disappointed. She felt disappointed. She felt defeated. She was spirited away to some unknown land with strangers she didn't know and there were things out there looking to make a meal of them.

She looked down the path where they came from hoping that Randold and the other girl were following, but there was no sign of them. A scream echoed through the trees and Anise shuddered. What had she done? She had left them behind. In the dark. With that thing. Regret instantly hit her. [i]Your actions will affect others, so take care which ones you take.[/i] Her father's wise words echoed in her memory. Randold had been the first one to show her kindness, he even saved her from a nasty fall, and she left him behind to fend off a monster.

She looked around for something, anything to use as a weapon, even a branch. In her head it was clear what she had to do next. She took a moment to stare at the young man with the lantern who's name she didn't know and pointed. "What's your name?" She waited long enough for him to answer before continuing. "We need to go back and help. I'll not have their deaths on my conscience. I'm Anise by the way." She grabbed a sizable branch that was loose on the ground and began to jog back up the path back to where they had come from.

She knew she was weak, scared, and didn't know how to fight, but she had to do something to help them. She couldn't live with herself if she let them die easily.