It was daytime, the sun must have risen by now. Yet, the whole forest was drenched in darkness. The thick clouds curdled above us, and the wind battered us and the trees relentlessly.

"This weather is crazy!" I commented.

Kaya and I ran through the forest at a brisk pace and without a break. She lifted her bow and shot an arrow into the distance. A loud howl broke through the forest as a wolf, who evaded my sight, fell to the floor dead. "Sorry, but we need to move on," She said.

"It's alright. They are not worth much XP anyways."

More wolves jumped out of the undergrowth, but each one went down with a single arrow and a howl. "Hungry wolves feast on those unfortunate enough to cross their paths," Kaya said.

Droplets of rain began to fall from the sky. Something I would have usually hated, but now I am glad to have happened. A pack of wolves appeared behind us, trying to chase us down. When Kaya caught sight of them, she immediately paused and spun around saying, "Get back!"

"No wait!" I replied. I cast a simple fire spell, setting the forest before me in an arc of short but powerful burst of flames. The wolves were thrown back, some of them burnt enough to fall to the ground dead, while others retreated into the bushes. The rain grew heavy, smothering the flames before they could grow out of control.

"Clever," Kaya commented.

We continued on the path, reaching an old tree, standing at the top of a cliff. Looking over the edge, there were just more trees. However, about half a kilometer or so, we spotted the ruin, a square stone mess cutting through the sea of trees.

"There. I can see it!" I said.

"We are close. Let's get moving," Kaya replied.

Just as we were about to leap off the edge, the root underneath us tore off the ground. "What the hell!" I exclaimed, trying to maintain balance. The tree shifted, beginning to twist and turn as it roared like a beast.

"Treant!" Kaya said. "Jump!"

And we did, off the cliff and seemingly to our death. That was until I felt something wrap around my waist, before pulling me back up and throwing me back onto the cliff.

Kaya landed a few paces away from me. She got on her feet quickly, preparing to strike. I breathed a sigh of relief before looking at the giant tree walking towards me, its vines beginning to creep out.

I slowly got up on my feet just as one of the vines lashed out at me, forcing me to duck back onto the ground to avoid it. However, the vine proceeded to thrash relentlessly as I tried to evade it.

It didn't hit hard, barely making a dent in my health. But they definitely stung like a bitch. Kaya too was forced to jump and parry the veins to avoid them.

I quickly pulled out my dagger and turned the blade red-hot. With one quick swipe, I cut through the vine. The Treant retreated in response, appearing to scream as it did. It then used the same vine to send broken rocks and tree bark my way. I quickly cast a protect and stopped the debris from causing any damage.

Three arrows struck the Treant, right in the center of the trunk. But they barely made a dent. Kaya grunted hard, looking pretty annoyed. So, that is where its heart is.

The Treant reacted to our attacks by lashing out with its roots this time. I cast another protect to block the root, but it shattered on the first impact. Fuck.

My Mana well began to grow hot. I thrust my palm forward, discharging a powerful fire stream towards it. The stream crashed into the tree trunk, throwing it off balance but the wetness from the rain prevented it from catching fire.

I had to act quickly. I followed up the fire spell with a simple decimation spell aimed at the heart. The Treant tried to wack the ball away with one of its roots but the decimation ball simply chewed through it. A huge gaping hole appeared on the trunk, exposing the glowing heart.

"Kaya! Now!" I shouted.

Without any delay, Kaya fired an arrow through the heart, shattering it. The Treant slammed down onto the ground before tipping over. Its branches hung over the cliff edge, lifeless.

"Nice shot!" I exclaimed.

Kaya had a wide grin on her face. "Thanks. Shall we proceed?"

We walked over to the edge and saw that the dead Treant had let down a vine that reached the forest below. Nice.

"After you," Kaya said.

I hopped onto it and slid down into the thicket below. Streams of water flowed down the walls of the cliff, soaking the forest beneath with a layer of rainwater. The rain fell steadily, neither too heavy nor too light. Just enough to keep us wet.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

We paused for a moment, to take a breath. Kaya stood beside me, her bow leaning against her legs, as she wiped the excess water off her body. For a moment, I was lost. I always thought of Kaya as a beautiful woman but didn't try too hard to think past that. However, the more we talked, the closer I felt to her. Uncomfortably close.

She looked back at me with a puzzled expression. "What happened?"

It was at that moment, I realized I was staring at her with a gaping mouth. I immediately shut it and shook my head. "Nothing. Nothing. Shall we continue?"

She frowned faintly before turning towards the path in front of her. "Gladly." It seems like I managed to get on her bad side. Yikes.

We continued forward but I noticed something strange about the forest. "Say. This appears to be a path to the ruins." The forest appeared to be bisected, creating a twelve-foot wide path covered in soft grass. The canopy above also had less cover.

Kaya came to a sudden stop. "You are right." She picked an arrow out of her quiver and shot it to the ground a few feet ahead of us.

A hand protruded from the ground with fingers sharp as knives. Before long, a humanoid figure dug itself out of the ground, followed by a few more. They were thin and without skin or hair. Their bodies were mutilated and were red as dried blood.

"Ghouls," Kaya said.

"Zombies?" I asked.

"I… don't know what are those..."

"Dead humans brought back to life."

"Not sure. But they will certainly put you down if you aren't careful," Kaya said.

They didn't charge toward us, instead roared and screamed while patiently waiting for us to attack them.

"Hold on. Let me give this a shot," I said. Kaya stepped aside. I stretched my hand out and tapped into my Mana well. As it swelled, a decimation ball formed before my fingers. Just before releasing it, I tried a new trick. Letting my well heat up, the decimation ball began to grow red hot. Suddenly the ball caught fire, with sparks flying off it.

Kaya stepped back, looking at it in awe. The Ghouls, however, were not roaring anymore.

I sent the ball flying in a straight path, cutting through the crowd of Ghouls before exploding in glorious orange flames and blinding us momentarily. When our sight returned, all that was left of the Ghouls were torn limbs and burnt corpses.

I turned to Kaya looking at the battlefield, there was a faint smile on her face and a spark in her eyes. "What happened?" I asked.

"You impress me every time you fight," She said bluntly, her smile widening. My heart swelled in happiness as butterflies fluttered in my stomach. "Let's keep moving," She said before dashing off towards the ruin.

Just as we were about to reach the ruins, the ground beneath us shook violently, forcing us to come to a sudden stop. "What is that?" I asked.

Kaya didn't answer, instead, she pushed me off the path and into the bushes on the side.

I fell quiet and closely observed the ruins that sat a few feet away from us. Two giant stone legs appeared out of the blue, whose steps created mini earthquakes. I looked up to see a giant, at least twenty feet tall, made entirely of stone, walking towards the center of the ruin where it took a seat on a tipped-over pillar. It looked like a child's drawing, with a rectangular body, arms, and hands, made entirely of stone. It had two large spherical eyes on the top of its body, whose dead eyes sent chills down my spine.

"It is a troll," Kaya said.

"A troll, huh? Looks mean. Is its body entirely made of stone?"

"It is. But that is not our problem. It is its eyes."

"They do look scary. But what do they do?"

"One look from those things and you turn to stone," Kaya explained.

"Are you serious?"

"Why would I be joking now?" She asked.

"Great. How do we deal with this thing?"

"I don't know... I am sorry but I didn't expect one to find here."

This reminded me of the old myth of Medusa. We could force it to look at itself, let it turn itself into stone. But, for that, we need a mirror... and it also appears to be made of stone, so I am not sure how effective that would be.

"Why don't you strike it in its eyes?" I asked.

"Those eyes are impenetrable. They can't be damaged by any weapon."

"Not even magic?" I asked.

"As far as I have heard, no."

We could give it a try, but that means giving our position away and if it didn't work, we might be screwed.

"Why don't we try to distract it and sneak away?" I asked.

"Possible. Let me try." Kaya pulled out another arrow and aimed it to her right, ready to shoot.

"Hold on," I whispered before grabbing the metal tip of the arrow. I set it on fire and Kaya immediately fired it into the sky.

The trolls seemed to have noticed it. However, its eyes didn't follow the arrow, instead turned towards us, forcing us to hide.

"What the fuck? It looked right at us!" I whispered. My heart was in my throat.

"Must be one of its many quirks," Kaya replied.

The ground didn't shake, which meant it wasn't moving. Okay, time for plan B.

"Why don't we wrap ourselves in some cloth? Maybe that would block its vision from affecting us," I suggested.

"We can risk it, but I got a better idea." She reached into her quiver and pulled out a small spherical object. A bomb? "It's glue. Used to hold an arrow together. But it is also highly flammable." She explained as she proceeded to tie it to the arrowhead. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the string back, ready to fire.

"Set it on fire?" I asked.

"Do it."

I touched the pouch with my palm and set off a spark. The ball caught fire instantly and Kaya immediately shot it, sending it straight into the troll's eyes.

The arrowhead exploded on impact, but the troll barely budged. Kaya and I quickly scuffled through the bushes, changing our position.

The troll got up on its feet, rubbing its face with its right arm. As the dust cleared, I noticed its eyes were covered in a thick black liquid. "Run!" I said.

Kaya didn't protest and we immediately leapt out of the bushes and ran towards the troll. It continued to rub or scratch the sticky liquid off its face. It appeared to be getting desperate as that big boulder was swaying side to side, each step creating a mini earthquake.

We ran past the giant and looked close to our goal when I decided to do something that sounded stupid but would have been worth the XP if it worked. "Hold on!"

I stopped and turned around to see that the giant's back was facing us. I thrust my arm forward and cast a powerful decimation on the back of the giant's head. As expected, it barely put a dent, but it was enough to throw the beast off balance. The giant came down onto the earth with a thunderous thud and smashed into pieces.

"Nice shot!" Kaya exclaimed.

I looked at the XP band and saw it reach about 40%. "Thanks! Now then. Shall we?"

"We are here," she turned around and pointed to a fleet of stairs.

The stairs went way down into a deep rift in the ground. The whole place was covered with overgrown flora, which gave off a strange aura. "Whoa! This place looks weird."

"Yes. For some reason, this place is a treasure trove of plants that can't be found anywhere else," Kaya said.

Unique setting with no proper background? Yup. That is a dungeon down there. "Well then. Let's go kick some Goblin ass."