She couldn’t find the moose monster.


    At first she didn’t think it was a problem. She had checked the rain room and the food place, but while she had found some disks in the food place they had both been empty of anything else. Checking each of the wall words had also not found the monster. The only other place she could think to look was its lair but the wall was closed. If the monster was in its lair than there was nothing she could do and would just have to wait.


    That waiting began to turn into panic after she had woken from a sleep. A quick check of the food place and a lack of disks pointed out that the monster had not returned to the food place while she slept. It also had not woken her if it had come out of its lair. She tried to think of a time she had seen the moose monster after it had eaten the magic inside her but she couldn''t.


    Had she taken more magic than she realized?


    She had no idea just how much magic she could hold or how much magic was in her trinket. She had thought that after eating the magic in both herself and in her trinket the monster would be full. Had she been wrong?


    She had to admit to herself that she just didn’t understand anything about magic. Perhaps there was another step in eating magic that she didn’t know about and she had taken too much before she fled its lair. If she had left the moose monster vulnerable and it had been defeated by other monsters….


    She didn’t want to think about that anymore.


    The moose monster was still the only source of magic that she knew of. It was easy to avoid if she needed to and its danger was understood. The moose monster represented the only real path forward for her that she could think of. Trying the same things with any other monster was likely to be the end of her.


    She wanted to go back and look through the Pages again but she couldn''t. She knew that the moose monster did things much longer than she could so she would need to spend more time watching its lair. Though the end of the second sleep seeing no sign of the moose monster made the panic that much worse.


    A combination of her angry belly and a need for more knowledge sent her back to her home. Though that journey was far more dangerous than she could have possibly known.


    As she was padding through the tunnels, trying to think of reasons the moose monster may not appear or what she could do if it didn’t, the darkness attacked her. It was only for a heartbeat and her trinket protected her, but it was something that had never happened before. To have the trinket she trusted her life to tested so thoroughly scared her more than the moose monster.


    She sped up and worried less about being quiet. If the darkness was getting that bold she wanted to be in her home before it tried again. She did manage to return to her home without further attacks. Her heart was still beating faster than normal at the encounter so she made sure the wall crack was as closed as possible before she set her trinket down and moved to start checking the pages.


    She was thoroughly unprepared to be attacked again, which is likely why the darkness tried. She had thought her home safe from the darkness and her trinket able to fight it off. A double layer of protection. When the darkness invaded she panicked badly. It lasted longer this time, no more than a few breaths but still longer than the blink that had happened before.


    Clearly something had changed.


    Could the reason that the moose monster was missing be because the darkness had become more aggressive?


    She had thought she fixed her trinket with the magic she had stolen from the moose monster, perhaps she had been wrong. Maybe she just hadn’t taken enough magic and her trinket was struggling now. The darkness had certainly never been bold enough to invade her home before.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    If her trinket failed now and left her to the darkness when she had no idea where the moose monster had disappeared to she would be easy prey to the other monsters.


    As her new reality settled in, she realized that it didn’t matter what she wanted. If the magic of her trinket was damaged or lessened because of the moose monster then she needed the moose monster more than she needed to be in control. She simply couldn’t face the darkness without its magic, regardless of the emptiness slowly growing inside her.


    Her breath hitched as she realized how little magic she had left inside. Was that why the darkness was attacking? Always before she had been either empty and protected by the trinket or full of the moose monsters magic and still protected. Either not worth the effort or too well protected.


    She had been hasty. Too hasty. She never should have left the moose monsters lair. Not until she had made sure she was full of magic and her trinket was working properly.


    With her trinkets power waning and the magic inside her draining away, she desperately needed to find the moose monster again.


    Find it and never let it leave her sight again.


    <hr>


    She didn’t know what she felt anymore.


    Terrified was a good start, as it took two more attacks and a fitful sleep near the moose monsters lair before she found it again.


    Strange was also a good way to say it, as she found the moose monster outside of the rain room. While her body desperately wanted to experience that again, her mind understood that it was how she had gotten into this situation in the first place and warned about the danger of her body being eaten as well.


    Desperate was also in the mix, as the magic inside her was nearly gone and she feared what the darkness would do if her trinket failed before then.


    All of that on top of the relief she felt to finally find the moose monster again. It had held out its hand, likely to start some kind of magic on her, though she didn’t give it the chance. She rushed up to it and grabbed its hand, pressing it to her chest.


    Instantly the emptiness fled and the tingles began to radiate from the contact. She could feel the magic filling her once again. It was surprising how much comfort the monster’s large hand gave her when it was enveloping her like that.


    Realizing that she was draining the moose monsters magic again and she didn’t know how much it was willing to give, she desperately tried to find a compromise. If the monster stopped giving her magic she didn’t know how it would affect her, but she never wanted to be empty again. The attempts by the darkness were more than enough to convince her she would do anything to avoid that fate.


    In a desperate attempt to continue receiving magic and to distract the monster she offered up her trinket. If the darkness was close to defeating it and she couldn’t fix it with her meager knowledge anyways, she would rather offer its remaining magic to entice the moose monster. She didn’t want to know what it was going to do with her trinket though, so she looked away. So long as it wasn’t destroyed there would always be another chance to fix it.


    When it started to rumble and still hadn’t taken her trinket she grew nervous. She was still wary of looking into its eyes, as they seemed to hold the most potent magic, but she looked up to see what was happening. When she noticed that its other hand was full she grew confused. Could it not take her trinket with magic, or simply eat it on the spot?


    As things continued, the monster rumbling and her holding out her trinket, she started to get a bad feeling. Something that was confirmed when the monster started to pull away. Desperate as she was to not lose the contact, she very nearly spoke, though she realized quickly and it came out as more of an ‘eep’ than any kind of word as she tried to hold its hand in place.


    It seemed to mean something to the moose monster though, as it breathed out noisily and turned toward her. She looked towards the floor as the monster came to loom over her, not wanting to get caught in its magic or see what it did to her trinket. That didn’t last long though.


    She had known that the moose monster was unstoppable and beyond strong. She was given a good example of that strength when it swept her legs from under her and lifted her into the air. She was so stunned by the quickness and ease that she didn’t even think to try and escape. Not that she wanted to once the warmth and tingles started in earnest. If she had thought touching its hand had filled her, she saw now how empty she had been.


    The heat coming off the monster’s chest was much warmer than its hand. So warm she started to worry about being burned. It was even better than the warmth from the rain room. Not to mention that it was accompanied by the tingles racing around her body.


    Her body that wanted nothing more than to curl up and embrace the heat and tingles. Her mind raced trying to figure out what was happening, but the warmth was fogging her mind again and she was having trouble thinking about anything other than how to get more.


    Maybe… Maybe giving in to the moose monster wasn’t such a bad idea after all.