All notes at the end of the chapter

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When your legs can't walk any further, what do you do? 

Do you: 

Sit on the ground and take a break for a while? 

Grab some water, have a quick snack, and continue once you've got your energy back? 

Lie on the ground for a while and look at clouds? 

Or do you push yourself past your limits until you find a temple that's been entirely overgrown with moss and other vines and such which looks exactly like where you should be going in order to rescue your kidnapped friend? 

Danny chose this second option. Which is of course the obviously correct choice when you have no weapon, water, food or shield in a world completely unknown to you and no way to gain your energy back in a short period of time. Obviously. 

So Danny was spent. Lying on the stones near the entrance of the temple, breathing very heavily compared to how he was at the beginning of this trip. There was no water nearby. At least none in sight. 

The figure standing on top of the temple found this sight quite amusing. 

"His condition is unstable, energy totally drained. I calculate our chances of winning to be highly in our favor, if not guaranteed. The first of the Godly Powers will be ours," and in a flash of light, the figure from before disappeared again. 

It took what felt like hours for Danny to regain his energy. He was finally able to peel himself off the ground and walk into the temple, still semi-zombie-ish. 

Once he was in, his jaw dropped. 

The room he walked into was gorgeous! There were vines and plants from floor to ceiling. They covered parts of the windows so there was very minimal yet bright light shining through the gaps in the vines. It was a very ancient temple, as though made hundreds of years ago. There was a split path in front of him, three separate doors to choose from. Left, right, center. 

Danny chose the door to the left first. 

Inside, there were some ceramic pots and a chest at the end of a long hallway. Danny picked up one of the pots in his hands. It was pretty heavy all things considered. The pot wasn't very big at all. Danny kept staring at the pot in his hands. Instinctively, he threw it on the ground. It broke from the pressure and little pieces of clay scattered all throughout the hallway. The redhead winced at the carnage. But from the destruction popped a coin. 

Taking the coin in his hand, Danny inspected it. On one side there was a symbol. On the other was a face. Using common sense, something rare with the redhead, he assumed the sign with the symbol showed the amount the coin is worth. He couldn't make out what number it could be though. He still wasn't sure of the local language... Melìth, was it? 

It was time for some mass destruction. 

Taking every pot in his hands one at a time, Danny threw them against the ground to collect the money that was inside. He hummed a little tune while doing it too. 

Once he collected about 20 coins (He counted), he decided to open the chest at the end of the hallway. 

It creaked loudly at the attempt at being opened. The locks had kind of rusted over with time and being unused for so long so it froze about two thirds of the way of being opened. 

Inside the box was a map of the temple! There were some words printed on the paper but it seemed like a very ancient language, written before even the current language of melìth was established in wherever this is. 

"చҽɾąժąքհҽ Ͳҽì ỼҽɾҽժҽӀìą ͲҽӀӀҽʂէհ" read the map. (Translation from ancient chüwjo: Welcome to Verdant Temple. Read: Weradaphe Tei Veredelia Tellesth). 

"Huh? The fuck does that mean?" Danny asked to the air but he was able to recognize the room he was in. "Okay. I am in the first leftmost corridor. There's at least another floor to this place. Somewhere on the second floor there's a big symbol where Max might be held. I should probably try to find that room first." 

So that's what he did. 

He walked out of the room he was just in and turned towards the door in the center. 

"So, that way's the staircase?" He looked at the map again for confirmation. Seeing as the map hasn't changed within the last minute or so he started walking down to the door. 

Why did it feel like he wasn't making any progress getting closer to the door? 

"Oh, so you actually made it," the voice of the mysterious person from earlier rang out from nowhere in particular. Danny still whipped his head around to see where the voice was coming from. 

"Don't bother, I'm not actually in the room with you. Though it's funny to watch you try. You're actually determined enough to find your friend. The recklessness of humans amazes me beyond belief. You have nothing. No weapon, no shield, no potions. Now how do you think you're going to save him, hm?" The voice asked. Danny got into a fighting stance nevertheless. If he has no weapons, he'll use his fists! That's what he has them for anyway. 

"Ah, I see. You'd risk your own life to save this human. You don't even know what he's useful for. Well, whatever. Might as well make this fun," Danny heard a snap ring out throughout the room he was in. After a few seconds, a few blobs of sizeable shape appeared in front of him. "Time to fight to see if you're really willing to risk your life to save your friend. I would wish you luck but you'll be dead so quickly you wouldn't have a use for it." 

The blobs were gross. A shade of green that really shouldn't be found anywhere in nature. That and they were disgustingly viscous. Almost like Jell-O that rotted and was brought to life. A freak of nature and a mistake. 

They were slowly approaching Danny. 

Unfortunately, the disembodied voice is right. Danny has no real way to fight. Even if he uses his fists that would still leave him wide open for attacks from the side and back if the monsters ever thought about that. 

...Can the blobs think? 

It's too late to dwell on that. It's time to fight! 

One of the blobs approached him straight on. Easy enough. A one-two punch to the... Mass... Would take it out easy! And he accurately assessed the situation. The first blob went down after a few solid hits to the... Body? 

The second one, however, seemed to have learned from its comrade and jumped instead, immediately enveloping Danny in the goo of its body. 

Ew. 

Danny froze at first. The sensation was awful. Like being dunked in glue. Then the feeling of being suffocated began. 

Danny tried to struggle but because of the mass swallowing him, he couldn't move very much. He couldn't breathe. That much he was aware of. Also he was pretty sure he could feel the blob that ate him laughing even though it has no vocal chords. 

He was losing consciousness now. The disgusting feeling enveloping his body and being unable to breathe was getting to him. He was going to die. This was it. He'd never be able to save Max and that disco kid would be able to do whatever they wanted. 

He closed his eyes. 

And opened them again in the void. He blinked a few times before realizing he could breathe again. Looking at his arms to see if there was any residual goop left on his body, he saw nothing but his bare arms. 

"You've come at an unfortunate time," a voice echoed through the space. There was no person attached to this voice. 

Danny was too exhausted to react at all. 

"In thirty seconds, you will die. That will be your end. You will die by being swallowed by a blob and there will be no way to change your fate. Is this how you wish for your life to end?" The voice asked and a woman appeared in front of Danny. 

She was slightly transparent and quite far away. She looked quite ethereal. Her white hair flowed around her shoulders and a white dress wrapped around her body. Danny couldn't make out any other features from where he stood. 

"Answer me," the woman commanded. 

"I... I don't want to die like this. I don't want to die," Danny said quietly. 

"Are those truly the words of the person who does not want their life as they know it to end?" 

"I don't want to die!" Danny said louder this time. 

"Once more, prove to me that you mean it," the woman commanded once again and Danny nodded. 

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" He shouted, full of conviction this time. He truly felt it in his bones and believed his words. 

"Then raise your hand to the sky and you will receive that which has been made for your hand alone," Danny did exactly as she said. 

As soon as he did, a white hot pain burned through his hand, drawing a scream from him. But in his hand, a weapon was forming. The hilt securely formed around his palm and a sharp blade grew from the hilt. Danny's eyes widened as the sword formed. 

"This is the sword the goddess of this land created for her chosen hero. The one who will save the world from destruction. The savior. Take that sword and hand and save the sage that it waiting for you. He does not have much longer left on this planet. Save him from his fate. Open your eyes," the woman said before vanishing like many people seem to do around here. Now wasn't the time to defy the orders of the lady who seemingly saved his life so he opened his eyes. 

The sword was in his hand that was still raised in the air. Deciding now was the time for action, Danny lowered his arm with much resistance. His plan seemingly worked. 

From the inside, the blob was cut clean open. That freed Danny from his viscous prison. Shaking the remaining goop off of his body, he really didn't want to almost die by being suffocated by Jell-O ever again. He did get a cool sword out of it though! 

A sword that was also covered in jelly. 

Shaking his sword off to clear the residue off of it, he marched on towards the door. 

The second floor awaits. 

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COOL SWORD TIME! 

New character synopsis:

Void Lady: Timeless. Female, 5 foot 10. The only person who has ever met this woman is Danny on the brink of death. Never recorded in history or seen by any person at all in recent or past memory. 

That's all the notes for this chapter!