337 There Is No Time But Now

"You're needed here," She argued

"But you need all the help you can get," he argued back.

Vy ruffled his hair and gave him a reassuring smile, "Don't worry. I'll be fine on my own. Just make sure you get everyone ready. When the time comes, everyone needs to be on high alert."

With that, she set off towards the wall with the cart in tow. Once she arrived, Vyrena got to work immediately, setting the explosives in strategic spots around and on the wall itself. Lucky for her, most were already linked together in the form of a chain. 

If she wanted to set them off, she just needed to light one of them and a chain reaction would cause all of them to explode. Looking at all the explosives she had set, Vy wondered if it would be enough. 

"There's only one way to find that out," she muttered to herself. 

She has separated the explosives into two piles. The first pile was lined all on the wall and around it. It would be the first to set it off and break it down. The second pile was back up, in case the wall was thicker than she had expected. 

The sun was already up and above her. The warm sunlight bathed the Jungle in bright light and warmth. There was clear visibility from all angles. This was it. Vy lit the torch in her hand. Carefully, she lit the line of explosives. 

As soon as it caught hold of the flame, the fire travelled through it in quick succession. Vy took a few steps back as she admired her work. Everything moved so fast, quicker than she had expected. 

Within a matter of seconds, the flame had reached the explosives on the wall. Each of them went off one after the other, the sound verberated through the nearby surroundings. 

Everyone from each campsite heard it loud and clear. Vy did not anticipate the shockwave that followed the explosions. Although she tried to keep her distance, it was still not far enough. 

She was knocked back by the shockwave, falling backwards onto the ground. The red bands on her wrists suffered damage from the blast as well. The wall with the symbol of the rat came crumbling down. 

Multiple fragments shot through the air, falling all around the ground. Vy narrowly escaped as a huge chunk of the wall flew in her direction. 

As she dusted off her clothes, she looked on at the blast site. Dust and smoke made it difficult to see. But as soon as it cleared, a smile appeared on her face. A tunnel appeared to be inside the wall, leading to the other end. 

From where she stood, the tunnel had no end, it was dark inside with no light sources. It was as if there was no end in sight. 

It released a red coloured signal, visible from all angles. 

When she turned back to look at the wall, Vy noticed something crawling out of it. It was a creature resembling a monkey. However, something about them was different. As more and more appeared from the hole in the wall, Vy could also feel the presence of other creatures fast approaching from both sides. 

She held her sword in her right hand, her dagger in her left. Vy was ready to take on anything that came her way. At the back of her mind, she could hear a whisper seeping into her consciousness. 

\u003cUse our power.\u003e

\u003cYou need me.\u003e

\u003cYou want it.\u003e

\u003cYou know us.\u003e

But there was no time to dwell on voices in her mind. The battle in the present was far more important. Vy made sure the second set of explosives were hidden in the bushes while the enemies approached from all angles in front of her. 

She was not alone. Soon enough, the children with their shooter weapons were the first to arrive. El and the others followed suit. Ronni and the others were nowhere to be seen. 

Queen Willow and her spider beasts joined their side. The humans and children were surprised to see the spider beasts by their side, but they did not protest. After all, more help was always better than less. 

"We only have 10 mins to get through, so let's make it quick!" Vy informed all of them. 

Together, all of them charged forward, meeting the beasts head-on. Queen Willow and her spider beasts were up against the beasts first, they quickly held the creatures off at bay. 

Vy took the remaining explosives and made her way through the tunnel with El and the other humans, and the children following closely behind. Some of the spider beasts protected them from both sides, carefully taking out the creatures that were coming at them. 

As they neared the end, Vy could tell it was a wall up ahead, she told everyone to stand back as she set up the explosives. 

"Hold them off!" El instructed the rest of the humans who readied their weapons to face the beasts that were coming towards them. 

Together with the spider beasts, they fought off the monkey creatures and drakes. The children formed defensive lines and fired their shooter weapons at the beasts to provide support.

Once everything was laid, Vy set off them immediately.

"Everyone get back!" She shouted as all of them backed away from the wall while fighting off the beasts. 

Seconds later, the explosives all went off, breaking down the exit. Light shone through immediately. 

It was a clear exit!

Everyone was ecstatic to see the light on the other end. 

"Now go go go!" Vy instructed all of them.

The children were the first to get through. But the beasts were relentless. Some of the spider beasts got through the tunnel while others lagged behind, fighting. Queen Willow came through, with Red Silk protecting her. 

"Vy! There are more survivors trapped on the other side!" Queen Willow informed her. 

"The hybrids, they are making their way here. There was a small group of humans too," Red Silk added. 

Vy cursed beneath her breath. Looking over at the exit of the tunnel, she could see that Boss and the children were safely on the other side. The other humans were too. El, Fendrif and Sorren saw the worried look on Vyrena's face after receiving word from Queen Willo and Red Silk. 

"There are more survivors coming. I'm going to help them," Vy quickly told them. 

There was no time to ask for assistance. If she wanted to help them through, she would have to do it now. Vy gripped her weapon tightly and made her way through the tunnel, back towards the Jungle. 

El, Fendrif and Sorren followed closely behind her. They were not going to let her go in alone. Queen Willow and some of her spider beasts were already through the tunnel. 

"Red Silk," Queen Willow called for him. 

"Yes, my Queen?"

"Assist Vyrena," she instructed. 

He did not reject, "Yes my Queen," 

\u003cSpecial Holiday Bonus Part 4\u003e

Within two days, a heavy snowstorm descended on Timbretune and the surrounding area. All the buildings, roads and forest were covered in a thick blanket of snow. It was still possible to play in the snow at first, but by the time Log Day arrived, no one left their homes. 

The Blackfire siblings opened Log Day morning with a stack of hearty pancakes, fresh blueberries and raspberries, and chocolate sauce drizzled on them. After breakfast, they huddled close on the living room sofa, talking about the things that they had experienced in the year. 

For lunch, the siblings prepared their meal together. Since dinner was going to be a huge spread, they decided to keep lunch simple. After that was done, Vy suggested that they built a gingerbread house together. 

They had purchased a set of ready-made ingredients from the local bakery so all they needed to do was put it together. 

"Do you want to make one each, or shall we make one together?" Vy asked. 

"Hmm… let's make one together!" Lycster exclaimed with glee. 

Vy laid out the ingredients they had purchased on the dining table. Feeling ambitious, they decided to make a gingerbread castle. While Vy used the icing to put the pieces of the main structure together, Lycster built the roofing. He used gumdrops as the tiles of the roof. 

Vy moved on to the windows after completing the main structure. When Lycster was ready with the roof pieces, she carefully placed them on. She secured them in place with more icing. Lycster moved on to decorate the surrounding area of the gingerbread castle.

He carefully iced the animal-shaped biscuits and placed them in the surrounding area of the castle. Lycster also stacked some of the smaller pieces of biscuits together, forming a lit-up tree. Once they were done, they took a few steps back to admire their handiwork. 

"I also made each of us out of pretzels sticks, marshmallows and chocolate sauce!" Lycster excitedly showed Vy his finished masterpieces. 

He had used the chocolate sauce to dot their eyes and mouth, but as the chocolate sauce was too liquid, the faces drooped into a horrifying mess. I looked more ghostly and spooky, than fun and festive. 

\u003cTo Be Continued\u003e