UPDATE: I just realized I never posted Chapter 12. I'll include that here: "I-I can't do this. No way. No way. No way!" "Ethan! Calm down!" "No. Never! No way in hell am I going any further!" I ran, but I didn't get very far. I stumbled. All the energy had been taken out of me. I fell to the ground. My heart was pounding. I was having trouble breathing. Nothing could ever describe the terror and pain I was feeling. "Ethan!" Her voice calmed me for a second. But even the soothing sound couldn't relieve me for long. My mind had been enveloped in a cloud of terror. "No, no, no!" I cried. The next thing I knew, Avianna's hand was over my mouth. She had her other arm around my chest, keeping me from going anywhere. I tried to escape, but she was strong. I heard her whisper in my ear, "Ethan. Calm down. Everything is okay." I wanted to say "Nothing is okay", but with Avianna's hand clamped over my mouth, I couldn't speak. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to speak even if I had the opportunity to. "Don't worry. You can still do this. I have faith in you." She released me. The terror subsided. My heart rate dropped, although I could still hear it pounding. My breathing stabilized, somewhat. "I can't blame you for acting like this." She told me. "Only one person has ever seen.. him. He instantly went completely insane, and died." "What's his name?" I asked. "The Custorium." "Custorium. Like, Cave of Custos?" "Yea." "How are we even going to beat that thing?" "I honestly don't know. The only time I ever faced him, I was forced to flee as soon as the hero died. I haven't been back since." "I once wondered why you never attempted the quest alone." I said. "Now, I understand why." "Yea. Nobody could do this alone." "I know I wouldn't be able to." I said. "I wouldn't have lasted a day in this forest if it wasn't for you." The thought of me going through this place alone was so absurd, I had to smile. "Haven't seen that in a while." Avianna said. "Seen what?" "You smile. Y'know, you're one of the bravest people I've ever met. Surviving this long and still being able to smile, that's impressive." The thing was, if I ever got home, I doubt I would be smiling much again. This quest had taken so much out of me. It had even taken my will to keep going. But I had won that back multiple times. I wasn't going to give up yet. I'd come too far to give up now. "Ethan?" "Yea?" "Yyyou okay?" "Oh. Yeah. I'm fine. Just kinda, zoned out." "Just don't zone out in the middle of a fight, 'kay?" "I'll try my best." "Cmon, we should get going. The cave isn't too far away." "Boy, I can barely contain my excitement." I said in the most dead voice possible. "Have you always been this sarcastic?" "Maybe. Let's just keep going." We walked in silence for a while. I wanted to make conversation to lighten the mood, but I could tell Avianna was thinking the same thing I was. The quest was going I end soon, one way or another. It was pretty scary thinking about it. In a few days, I would either be free again, or I would be dead. I just hoped I would see the sun again. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Avianna placed her hand over my chest, signaling for me to stop. "What?" I whispered. "Shh." I looked about 20 degrees to the right, and I saw a cave. But this cave couldn't have been the Cave Of Custos. It was much too small. Something was off about it. I got why Avianna was getting a weird feeling from it. That's when we heard a growl. A long, deep growl. Then another. And another. Five figures emerged from the darkness. It took me a while to interpret them, but I eventually figured it out. Unfortunately, we weren't going to win this fight easily. We had run into a cave of Lufors. It had taken a lot to kill just one Lufor. Five at once? This was going to be tough. Something was different about these Lufors. They were bigger, more muscular, and they looked hungrier. "That one in the middle. That's the Alpha." In the middle of the pack was a Lufor nearly twice the size of the rest. The thing might have been eight feet tall standing on its hind legs. It's body marks were red instead of black. All in all, it was pretty intimidating. I unsheathed my sword. Avianna knocked an arrow. We waited for the first Lufor to make a move. That's when Avianna was pounced on from behind. "No!" I screamed. I lifted my sword with both hands, and brought it down on the Lufor that had just pounced on Avianna. I heard bones cracking as the Blade emerged from the Lufor's throat. Gross. The Lufor dropped dead. All five Lufors charged at me. I was alone to defend Avianna, who was still down, groaning in pain. The Alpha was the first to strike. He went to chomp on my head, but got a mouthful of sword instead. While I was occupied with him, I felt claws sink into my leg. I yelped in pain. I swung my sword wildly, hitting a Lufor or two, but they overpowered me quickly. I was hopeless. I was being clawed, scratched, and bitten at just about ever body part you could think of. I was forced to the ground, where I dropped my sword. I yelled in pain as the torture continued. Suddenly, I felt a rush of pain in my face. Half of my vision blurred. Then I realized my vision hadn't blurred, it had been taken. My left eye had been clawed out of its socket. I've seen some pretty gruesome things. But nothing will ever compare to seeing your own eye lying on the ground next to you in a few different pieces. A wave of nausea spread over me. The clawing continued. I would be dead in a few seconds. This was it. This would be how I died. This was the end of my journey. "I have faith." Avianna's voice rang in my head. "Especially in you." I wasn't dying now. Not when Avianna was counting on me. I extended my arm, and my fingers graced my sword. I managed to get a a grip on it. I was beginning to lose feeling. I had lost a ton of blood. I gripped my sword, and with one mighty thrust, I sent it surging through the Alpha's heart. It immediately fell limp. The Lufors backed off me wimpering. Somehow, I managed to get up. I yelled in pain. With my one eye, I gave the Lufors a murderous look. "I suggest you all scram, or you'll be joining us for dinner tonight." I growled. The Lufors all ran back into the cave, stumbling over each other and making odd noises. I heard a voice behind me. "Ethan?" I turned around to see Avianna, slowly getting up. When she saw me, she shrieked. "Oh my gosh! What hap- Where is your eye?!" I pointed to a couple of different locations on the ground. "Over there, over there, and up there." "Ethan! Nows not the time! You could die any second!" That's the last thing I heard before blacking out. Aye, JWD here. Welcome to Chapter 13 of my book, Prove It. If you want to read the full book, you can follow me on Wattpad @ jwd813 That's it for now, enjoy! c: Note: If you haven't read any of the other chapters yet, links are on my profile page. Chapter XIII I woke up in enough bandages to wrap around the Earth a few hundred times. No, not literally. I noticed there was a heavy dose of bandages over my left eye. Then I remembered, I didn't have a left eye anymore. I winced. I was going to live the rest of my life with only one eye. Thinking about it reminded me of Latro, my former cell mate. He only had one eye. Now I knew how that felt. I tapped the bandages over my eye socket. I could tell it was bloody. I sat up and looked at myself. There were few places where I wasn't wrapped in bloody bandages. I winced again. That's when I realized Avianna was sitting a few yards away, looking through her backpack. When she heard me, she looked up. She immediately got up and ran to me. I was expecting her to examine me, but instead, she wrapped me in a bear hug. I could hear her crying. "Woah, hey hey hey. It's okay. I'm alive." I said. "You were out for at least two days!" She cried. "You lost so much blood, I thought you died!" Two days? No wonder I was so hungry. I wasn't sure what to do next, so I wrapped my arms around Avianna. "It's okay." I whispered. "I'm alive. I'm not letting anything stand in my way now." "I wouldn't know what I'd do if you died. You've been through so much, I would never forgive myself if you died now." I pulled back and placed my hands on Avianna's shoulders. "If I die, there is no way it's your fault. I would have never made it this far if it wasn't for you. You've helped me so much. This is in no way your fault." "You're special, Ethan. I'll do whatever I can to help you finish this. "We're finishing this together." "Together." "Welp, let's get going." I started to stand up, but Avianna gently pushed me back down. "You need to recover. Wait a bit." "The only thing that needs to recover is my stomach. Got any Lufor meat?" "Plenty." She dug through her backpack and pulled out some. That's basically what we ate throughout the entire quest. The remains of the creatures we kill. Not always the best, but if you eat the berries that grow on the bushes, your insides will burn to ashes and you'll die a painful death. Avianna made a small fire to cook the meat. "We're really close to the cave. Once we finish up here, we'll go in." I stared at the fire. I was about to face the biggest test of my life. In a few hours, I could be dead. Defeating the Custorium wouldn't be easy. I unwrapped a few bandages. Avianna didn't protest. I was covered in scars and cuts. I unwrapped even more bandages to reveal some bigger and nastier ones. I finally got to the point where the only bandages left were the ones over my eye socket. I looked at Avianna. "Should I?" I asked. "Just a sec." She rummaged through her back pack and fished something out. At first, I though it was a slingshot. Then I realized that it was one of those medical eye patches. "This is the best I've got. Take the bandages off." I hesitated, but I took off the rest off the rest of the bandages, exposing my empty eye socket. A little blood trickled out. A slight breeze flew in, which sent a shiver down my body. I swear, the forest did that, I said to myself. I put on the patch, which covered up the socket. The strings tugged on my ears a little, but I would have to live with it. I had more serious problems. Like killing the Custorium and getting out of this forest. I missed Domum. I was probably going to be fired from work, if I wasn't already. I tried to clear my head. I was thinking to much. I just had to go and do it. "Well, we should get going. We're almost there." Avianna said. "Can't wait." I replied. We set off. While we were walking, Avianna told me a little bit more about her past. She had actually been born here on Domum. Her parents had kept her hidden for twenty years, which would be the equivalent of a five year-old human. Then one day, her parents went missing. She never saw them again. She barely survived in the forest for about a year. Then, she met her first quester. For a while, she had been the one being protected. After a few questers had died, she began looking for people coming to the island, and helping them. To this day, no one has succeeded. But I could soon change that. All I needed was one last fight in me. "Alright, let's get going." Neither of us said anything as we walked. It was noticeably tense. "Nervous?" Avianna asked. "No, I'm absolutely filled with joy. Of course I'm nervous!" "How does anyone handle your sarcasm?" "No idea." A white light suddenly flashed in front of us. For a second, I couldn't see. After a few seconds, the light got dimmer, and my vision started returning. I never really believed in ghosts. It all sounded a little outlandish to me. I didn't think they really existed. But after I'll I had seen on this quest, I wasn't surprised to see one standing before me. Avianna had a shocked look on her face. She obviously recognized the ghost. "Who's that?" I whispered in her ear. "That's.. No way.. That's.." The ghost started walking toward us. It spoke, "You look a little tongue-tied Avianna." "Not too often I see spirits of dead heroes." She said. The ghost stopped walking. He stared at me. Even though he was a ghost, he still had obsidian black eyes. They looked they could bore a hole in me. "The great Ethan Floyd. I've been watching you closely. I have to say, I'm impressed." "Flattered. Now who are you?" "Ace Drominson." Avianna answered for him. "The only quester to make it to the Cave of Custos." "This is the guy?" I asked. "What's that supposed to mean?" Ace's ghost asked. "Nothing." I said. I had envisioned Ace a little more, well, heroic-looking. He was a little under six feet tall, somewhat scrawny, and had long curly hair. He had a babyish face which made him look like a teenager late to hit puberty. I don't know what I had envisioned, but it wasn't this. "So what do you want?" I asked. "I wanted to tell you something. You're not going to win. It's impossible." "Wow! It's impossible? Man, if only someone had told me earlier! Guess I gotta give up and go home!" "The downside of watching you is dealing with your sarcasm.." Ace's ghost muttered. "Listen buddy," I said, trying to sound intimidating but probably failing. "I've been told this thing is impossible one too many times. But guess what? I'm still here. I'm still alive. And I'm going to finish this. Nothing you say is going to rattle me. I've dealt with too much. I'm doing this." "I would battle you to stop you. Sadly, I can't." "Stop this Ace." Avianna said. "We don't need any more distractions." "You've become more of a leader Avianna. When I was alive, I was the one dragging you around. Nice to see that you've grown." Avianna flinched. "Well, I guess all I can do is wish you luck." Ace's ghost said. "Goodbye now." With another flash, he vanished. "He was a great fighter, but a pretty big jerk." Avianna muttered. "You're nothing like him." "Thanks. I'd hope I wasn't." We walked a little bit more. Eventually, the path opened to reveal a mountain. In the middle, a gaping hole that radiated evil was beckoning for me to come inside. The Cave if Custos Ready to die? Come right in! "You ready?" Avianna asked me. "Not at all." I answered. Together, we plunged into the darkness.
