The dark didn't bother him as much as the loss of direction. Maintaining a beeline south is easy for five minutes. Keeping it up for thirty? Fifty? Cilen wasn't sure if he was heading into uncharted territory or back towards where he began. Though he could really appreciate the warm little fire and the cozy tree hollow right about now. Even if it had a few bits of fur and rat blood on the floor.

After the umpteenth time of walking directly into a tree, Cilen realized he still had the light-emitting crystal in his right pocket (L.E.C?). Perhaps it would've been useful earlier when he was stumbling around the dark but, better late than ever right?

Concentrating so that he only pulled an extremely small amount of energy, he inserted it into the awaiting crystal. His surroundings flickered to life as a dim purple glow illuminated the dark landscape, casting twisted shadows that covered the forest floor. He could see at least. Though Cilen wasn't sure which was better.

His high paced stumble through the forest had slowed to a snail's crawl. With one hand holding the stick and crystal and the other hand well, gone, he continued his way southward, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that might want a scrawny human as dinner.

As he trodded on Cilen realized that traveling through a dark forest was definitely better with a light source than without (duh). At the same time, Cilen noticed that it also brought a whole lot more attention to himself. Thrice now, he had run into animals and it wasn't clear who was more startled in the encounter.

The eyes didn't make him feel reassured either. Every five or so minutes, he would spot a pair of glowing silver eyes amongst the dense rainforest foliage. And just as quickly as they appeared, they would disappear back into the darkness.

"Great. Just great."

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Obviously the forest wanted him to be even more scared so it sent some mystery beast after his hide too. Cilen sincerely hoped it was vegetarian otherwise he might find himself hard-pressed for options when he would eventually encounter it.

"Is it fun scaring the already terrified?" muttered Cilen. If so, someone had a terrible sense of humor.

Just as he finished his sentence, a dreadful stench of rotting meat found its way in Cilen's nose just as he felt a warm moist breath collide against the base of his neck. Without thinking, Cilen instinctively brought up his walking apparatus and stabbed behind him.

Instantly a cry of pain sounded out in the direction of his rear. Cilen spun around to come face to face with the biggest creature that he'd ever seen. A charcoal black panther an automobile in size with glowing silver eyes that were staring right at him. They didn't look friendly either. Looking at the thing, Cilen's brain temporarily did a short circuit as he tried coming back to his senses.

And then he ran.

Ran like never before. Ran faster than he ever thought possible. Possibly ran faster than anyone in history with a wooden leg. It was a miracle that it hasn't snapped in half yet. Or separated itself from the stub of a leg that it was attached to. Cilen was too busy to worry about that. He was just running. Fleeing through trees, around bushes and shrubbery. Ducking under branches over pebbles and exposed roots.

"Maybe the panther would trip on one of these roots."

It was impossible but he still hoped. But everything seemed to be going well. The panther was fast despite its huge size, but its size was also a detriment. It couldn't fit between small spaces like Cilen did. It had to stop, and go around. And that bought him some time. Cilen could even make out another purple light source be in very distance, and something told him that he would be safe as long as he reached it.

With increased vigor, Cilen sped towards the light source, working his burning lungs and legs that were groaning in pain. His hands and arms were scraped red and bloody but he was close. He could almost see what the purple light was.

Just as everything seemed to be looking towards the upside, Cilen misjudged his stride. His left leg struck against an uneven stone. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as he turned around and saw...

CRACK.

His wooden leg split in two.