The forest had become a nightmare.
They ran, cut, dodged, fought—but the entity was everywhere, and 'in' everything. Trees lashed out with tendrils of bark, vines writhed like serpents, and the ground itself shifted with unnatural malice.
There was no end to it, no rhythm to anticipate. Only chaos. Only survival.
Adrien's spear tore through a vine coiling toward Mel, the blade slick with sap that pulsed like blood. She stumbled, catching her breath as he yanked her upright again.
"Don't stop!" he barked. He knew Sarah and Mel were tired, having walked miles earlier in the day in search of the river, before this start of this ordeal.
Now he was starting to regret bringing them along, or maybe this was a blessing in disguise, even he did not want to think that their cave was a part of this madness.
Just the thought of it sent a shiver down his spine. Imagining being swallowed whole, while asleep in the cave was not a good thought to have. But it was a possibility.
The group moved as a unit, with not a second taken to rest, barely escaping the numerous 'limbs' luging at them.
Every second was a scramble, a desperate defence against an unrelenting enemy.
Adrien led from the front, his movements sharp and precise, but even he was flagging now and then, the sheer quantity of the attacks coming at him impossible to keep track of.
Even worse, he had to spare some of his defences and to keep Mel and Sarah safe who were defenceless.
His breathing came in short bursts, the burden on his psyche heavy. The Ethereal Void Steps kept him ahead of the worst of it, but every time he looked back.
"Huuuuuuuuu!!!" he let out a sharp, long breath, calming his heart and his raging mind. 'We are not getting anywhere with this. Running it is not working. But what do we do?'
The others were being pushed to their limits. And he had to support them.
Cawwwww cawww!!!
A piercing caw split the air.
They froze for a heartbeat.
Up in the branches, dozens of crows watched them in unnatural silence. Jet black feathers shimmered like oil in the dim light, eyes glowing faintly red.
And then, as if responding to a silent signal, they took to the skies in a synchronized burst, swirling above them like a storm cloud with wings.
They didn't dive. They just followed.
"That's... unsettling," Han muttered, swinging his scythe blindly at a creeping vine. His arm was bleeding, soaked through the fabric of his suit, but his mind was hyper aware.
"They're watching us," Ria said, voice low and grim. "Not attacking. Just… watching."
Adrien's jaw tightened. "Scouts. Or sentries."
"Wait, like someone, or something is controlling them. You mean this thing can see us through them?" Alex asked, panting. "Like… like a hive?"
Adrien didn't answer. He didn't have to. They all knew now—this wasn't random. The forest was thinking. Learning. Hunting.
A snarl erupted from the right.
"Contact!" Adrien shouted.
Through the trees, shapes burst forth—twisted creatures, once animals, now something else entirely.
A boar, larger than any they'd seen before, its tusks blackened and jagged, charged with no hesitation. A wolf with bark fused into its fur leapt through the air, its eyes as hollow as the crows.
It was bad enough dealing with evolved beasts individually, but seeing them charging like a single unit, it was like Camp Bastion all over again.
Adrien's spear vanished in particles of light, and his bow was up in an instant. Thwip. Thwip. Thwip. Three arrows loosed in the time it took the beast to blink—two struck true, but it barely flinched.
The boar slammed into Ria's shield, sending her flying into a tree with a painful crack. She screamed as she hit the ground.
"Ria!" Alex yelled, diving to her side.
Adrien stomped down hard, sending a pulse of Aether in wave, momentarily disorienting the charging beasts.
"Keep moving!" Adrien roared. "Don't stop! We're halfway there!"
He launched himself at the boar, switching to his spear mid-motion. The weight of the weapon was familiar.
Comforting. He spun low, slicing at its underbelly. The boar squealed and thrashed, but still it pressed forward, unbothered by pain.
A vine lashed toward his neck.
He ducked—too slow. It caught his shoulder, yanking him back just as a wolf lunged. Fangs snapped inches from his throat.
Han charged, a wave bursting from his palm—a barely controlled hit that blasted the wolf's side and gave Adrien just enough room to break free.
They were surrounded. Not encircled—but enveloped. Everything in the forest was working together like they had a singular mind.
The ground, the air, the sky… everything was an enemy.
They didn't miss a beat, switching places in between attacks, and seemingly purposefully targeting Adrien, who was probably recognised as a threat.
They didn't even try to kill everything anymore. It was pointless. They just ran, dodged, cut away enough to keep moving.
Every second, something grazed them. Bruises bloomed beneath their suits. Scratches turned into cuts. Cuts into blood.
Adrien was bleeding the most, sparing most of his resources to keep the others in better condition. 'My self-healing sure comes in handy in times like these.'
He was the least worried about bleeding out, even though he was bleeding the most.
But the cave, the cave, it was close. Close enough to believe in. Close enough to push for. 'Just a bit more.' Adrien thought.
Mel stumbled and fell, caught by a thorny vine that snaked around her ankle. Sarah hacked at it with a broken branch, screaming with effort, her hands raw.
Adrien backtracked, driving his spear down into the vine, tearing it apart with raw fury.
"Don't stop," he growled again, voice low now. Less command. More encouraging. Even he was no longer sure if they were on the right track.
It felt like they were headed in the right direction. And that should have been the case. They had spent too long in this forest to lose their sense of direction.
They were all covered in dirt, sweat, blood, and pain. They'd been fighting for what felt like hours. but truthfully, it had only been a few minutes.
Time had lost meaning somewhere between the first caw and the nth ambush.
Another shriek rang out—a flock of twisted birds dive-bombed from above, each of them hissing like boiling steam.
Adrien raised his bow again, loosing a flurry of arrows into the swarm. Some fell. Most kept flying.
Ria was limping, using Alex's shoulder for support. Han looked ready to collapse. Sarah and Mel were barely keeping up. But Adrien had made sure they were the least mortally wounded.
And yet—they kept going.
Step by step. Breath by breath. Cut after cut.
Because if they stopped, even for a moment, they would be swallowed whole.
The cave wasn't a guarantee. But it was something. And right now, in a forest that had turned against them, that was all they had.
All they needed was something to hang onto, otherwise they would soon be cut down.
They broke through another thicket of thorn-covered branches, barely keeping their footing as the forest floor dipped sharply.
Adrien was the first to push through, his arm bleeding from a long gash across his bicep. He stumbled to a stop, heart hammering in his chest, eyes scanning the terrain ahead.
Most of the cuts on his frame from earlier already healing.
The others followed seconds later—panting, limping, dragging themselves forward with sheer willpower.
But when Adrien looked ahead, his breath caught in his throat.
"This can't be right…" he muttered.
In front of them stood a crooked, moss-covered stump with a hollowed-out centre, its bark twisted into the shape of a yawning face.
The same one Adrien had seen earlier that morning—just before the chaos.
He turned slowly. On the left, a leaning birch with two trunks. Behind them, the oddly bent rock that looked like a crescent.
Recognition dawned like ice pouring through his veins.
"…No," he said quietly.
"What? What is it?" Ria asked, still half-draped over Alex for support.
Adrien didn't respond immediately. His gaze swept the area again, confirming every landmark, every familiar tree, every formation.
"We've been here before," he said flatly.
Everyone froze.
"What do you mean 'before'?" Alex asked sharply, her voice laced with disbelief.
"I recognise this area," Adrien said. "Earlier today. I remember that stump. That tree. That stone. We ran miles… but somehow, we're back where we started."
Silence fell like a guillotine.
"No. No no no no—" Sarah's voice cracked as she sank to her knees, hands gripping her hair.
"Are you saying we've been running in circles this whole time?!" Han shouted, rage and despair clashing in his voice.
Adrien nodded once, slowly.
The horror of it settled into them like a second skin.
The forest wasn't just alive—it was intelligent. Shifting. Twisting itself to trap them.
Like a maze that moved behind their backs.
No matter how far they ran, it simply changed the rules. Loops inside loops.
An endless hunt.
"I should've seen it," Adrien whispered. "Why didn't I see it, why didn't I think of this before. We didn't just lose the river. We lost the world. The forest is warping itself."
And then—
Ding!
[System Notification]
Second Ascension Trial Triggered!
Escape the Thrall - You are trapped within a conscious, predatory entity.Objective: Break free of the living domain.
Time Limit: ∞
Completion Reward: ???
Failure Consequence: Consumption.
Difficulty: S
Hint:It sees you. But not everything that sees, understands. Get out of the Thrall's sphere of influence ]
The notification blinked away.