novelraw Chapter 223- Forest
Chapter 223- Forest
[Amaterasu POV]
Heading to the place Fia told me I found myself standing in front of a large, dark, foggy forest.
{*Sigh*I really hate this place.}
I stared into the forest, its swirling mists growing darker the longer I stared. Sighing heavily once again, I took my first step into the woods. As soon as I did that, I felt as if I’d walked though a viscous film as several of my senses, mostly magical, were dulled or just completely cut off. Looking back, it even seemed like the entrance I stepped through was getting farther away, even though I hadn’t taken another step. Turning my attention ahead of me, I started to walk, following my connection to Fia.
{Once this is taken care of, I’m getting Phobos to mess with time to give me a week, no, a month with Keeno. I hope she’ll be ok without me for a bit. What am I saying, I hope I will be ok.}
Around me the mist swirled and spun, twisting into spectral shapes while the wind whistled through hollowed logs and holes in trees, casting eerie echoes of nearly person-like tones and bestial howls. It sent chills down my spine as my tails bristled. It felt like I was being watched, though knowing what this particular forest was like, I did my best to ignore it.
The deeper I went, the more things started to feel wrong. The wind started to take on even more person-like and bestial tones, some to the point of sounding like dying screams. I knew it wasn’t real, but they sounded so visceral, some even sounding familiar. When I felt something brush against me, I reflexively summoned my Soul Weapon and cut it, turning the tree and the branch that touched me to ash in the wind in an instant.
[AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!]
The howl that echoed after I did that struck something inside me that made it feel like everything under my skin turned to ice. I redoubled my pace as I struggled to put a name to this foreign feeling.
The forest itself messed with my perception of time. I could no longer tell if I’d been walking for hours or days. The only thing that I was completely sure was real was myself, my thoughts, and the connection to Fia I was following. I hadn’t heard the howl again, though I did get the distinct feeling that whatever made it was closer than before. I’ve been using as many detection magics as I could, though the forest interference was so bad I could hardly detect anything further than a spear’s length from me. I’d kept my soul weapon summoned the entire time and used it liberally at any small sound that was close.
*snap*
At that I turned around at blinding speed, swinging my soul weapon with intention to atomize whatever it hit only to find myself cutting air. The thickening mist swirled and sparked in a trail behind my weapon, though I thought I saw a massive pair of glowing blue eyes retreat back into the fog. I stood on high alert for a few minutes but when nothing more happened I decided to redouble my speed in meeting up with Fia.
More time passed, I don’t know how much. I was getting increasingly on edge. I’d tried teleporting to Fia, but this damn forest completely blocked it. The omnipresent feeling of something watching me had started to seep into my very being, making me feel chills that I didn’t even know I could feel. The sound of the wind had settled into a constant scream with my mind painting it in the tones of Keeno, Fia, and the others while every so often the howl of whatever creature was out there echoed from all directions at once, coming from both far away and practically right next to me. The only good thing to happen recently, at least, is that I was getting close to Fia’s location.
It seems like this damnable forest is trying its hardest to keep me from my goal. Every time I think I’m getting close to Fia’s location, I somehow end up going in circles and, at one point, ending up farther away from her. Getting frustrated I tried just clearing a path to my goal, but I’d become wracked with a splitting headache after every felled tree to the point that I nearly passed out. It didn’t help that I’d started to also catch glimpses of something
. While I never saw it in its entirety, I could tell it was massive.The strange feeling I’d been feeling for a while now was getting worse every time I caught a glimpse of whatever was following, no, hunting me. I was breathing faster, my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, and I felt chills all over. It was to the point it was getting difficult to keep up the concentration for keeping my soul weapon manifested. That was when I felt it. Turning around, I saw a pair of glowing, ice blue eyes staring me down through the fog. They made my entire body start to tremble and my soul weapon vanished. Seeing that, the eyes started to rapidly approach.
I turned around and started to run as fast as I could, enhancing my body with whatever magic I could in the circumstances, though it was much harder than it normally should be. I didn’t even pay attention to where I was going, all I knew is that I needed to get as far away from whatever it was behind me as fast as I could. It didn’t help that I could feel the stare of those eyes and that they were closing in on me faster than I was running.
After I don’t know how long, though, I saw a faint light in the distance. Pushing my magic to its limits in this cursed forest I ran. The thing behind me closing in with every step until I could feel the hot breath on my back. The horrible feeling reaching a peak as I jumped toward the light.
Landing in a small clearing, I heard the wet chomp of something’s mouth snapping shut before scuttling off into the forest again, a low, upset growl accompanying the rustling. Seeing as whatever it was, was leaving as well as being in a hopefully safe place, my consciousness slipped away, though not before hearing the familiar voice of my Apostle.
Chaos Realm:
Luna: …
…
Luna: This isn’t going to go well once Keeno finds out.
I agree.
Luna: You aren’t going to step in?
Nope. This is something they can handle…eventually.
Luna: Mm.