Silva’s first steps into the forest made her want to throw up. She’d hated being inside there every single day they spent, and the ire certainly seemed to hate her. It was in the name, so it made sense.
The timekeeper was the only thing she could use as a distraction, flipping it around in her palm and studying its metallic texture. It had a cold steel exterior, well built together. On its backside was the insignia of Arlin. North had apparently gotten this from the guard captain at their camp, a disgusting man named Galen. It was probably a mass produced watch, The glass was smudged and dirty from all of its time wriggling around in North’s pocket, but one could look inside and see its hand happily ticking along. With all of the action he’d experienced, it was a wonder how it had held together.
Her opinions hadn’t softened on him. She still doubted him, and sought best to express that when he came forth with his maddening ideas. However, it came from a place of improvement rather than sheer disapproval. North wasn’t there yet, and Silva still believed she was better suited for leadership. Since she couldn’t do that, she thought the next best thing was to try and mold him into something more competent.
This was what she tried to think about to ignore the sense of dread creeping up on her as she took step after step into the forest. A soft breeze emanated from inside, pushing her towards the lake. It wasn’t as strong as the gusts before, but it got the same message across.
Sorry, but I apparently need to make you angry.
Another step after another, and she felt the ire shift more and more toxic, from frustration to anger. It wasn’t there yet. She looked behind her, seeing Sera and Mell watching and prepared to run in at any time and save her.
She placed her hand on a tree and stepped forward, the sunlight fading as the branches grew denser and more numerous.
Thump.
Like the slam of a beat drum, the forest’s ire pounded through her. It wasn’t focused just yet, but it was working on locating her. The thumping sensation hit her again and again, reminding her of the forest’s hatred and how much it despised her in particular.
The image of Fiavus's corpse flashed through her mind, but she couldn’t tell whether it was herself or the forest that wanted her to think of that. It grew louder and louder, until finally, with one massive beat of its drum of war, it located her.
The forest went quiet, and Silva took the opportunity to run. She had no idea what was coming but she needed to get out and to the lake as quickly as possible. Mell and Sera seemed to have noticed and were already taking a step forward, preparing themselves. Mell had raised up his fists, and bits of lightning crackled within Sera’s hands. She heard the pounding steps of a beast behind her, growing louder and louder as she darted between the trees, trying to avoid any trip hazards. Eventually, she passed by her friend’s side who accompanied on her way out.
Their feet skid as they reached out and made their way to the lake’s edge, looking back to their pursuer.
It broke the treeline. She only had the time to make out its fur color, a dark brown with spots of black. It was going right towards her, with a gaping maw full of too many teeth. Before it could reach her, Mell stepped in and grabbed onto its mouth, holding it open with his bare hands.
It was a struggle, as Mell’s feet pushed further into the dirt as the beast continued to gaze at Silva, its blackened eyes piercing deep. With a blindingly fast motion, it raised its neck higher to catch Mell off balance. His feet slipped, and the beast took the time to shake him off and toss him directly into the lake.
The beast was large, nearly at her hips while on full fours. Its triangular mouth was wider than an eidgarto’s and split in an unnatural manner. The legs it had were dense with muscle, ready to blitz her down at any moment. Behind it, a dense tail flitted around, slashing at the air like a whip as those blackened eyes looked at her unflinchingly. It was a beast of near perfect design, ready to punish sinners.
Silva had been forming ice the entire time, and launched an entire volley into the beast’s hide and head. Those aimed at its skull lacerated the flesh, but could not dig deeper. Whatever this thing was made out of, it was tough. She scrambled to her feet, pulling water from the lake to defend herself.
When it began to move again, Sera’s lightning shot from her hands and into its hide, electrocuting it. It didn’t seem to mind as it rushed forward chasing while tanking more of Silva’s ice, until one finally pierced into its blackened eye. She dodged to the side as it stumbled, but only for a moment. The beast didn’t seem to care about pain. Mell had climbed out and was ready once again, the palms of his fists dripping with his own blood.
Seeing Mell’s wet body gave her an idea that she could only imagine North proposing.
“MELL GRAB THE TAIL! WE NEED TO GET THIS THING INTO THE WATER!”
“On it!”
He darted forward to the creature as it began to make a move on Silva, just barely grasping onto the tail. It pulled hard, dragging him along as it grew closer to Silva. She’d spent her time gathering water from the lake.
She pressed it forward and surrounded the beast with it, imagining it like an extension of her own hand. With a nod towards Mell, she pulled with all of her attunement’s might towards the lake, barely lifting the creature along with Mell to throw it into the water. It flew through the air, still wriggling with its eyes locked onto Silva.
As it landed into the water, it immediately began paddling its way back to the shore.
“Sera! Put everything you have into it!” Silva commanded.
Sera followed through, pushing every bit of her attunement towards the creature. It felt like she was watching actual lightning come from the Corithian’s hands, focused on a singular location. A disgusting shriek came from the creature, the first sign of pain as its movements in the water grew more erratic.
Silva couldn’t let it get back on land, so she tried to push the water in front of her back against the creature, creating waves to shove it farther into the lake.
It gave her one final look of pure hatred until its eyes finally seemed to lose their focus, and all of its muscles locked in place as it sunk below the surface. Paralyzed, with its muscles too overtaxed to thrash, it could only squirm and try to fight itself from drowning, the bubbles leaving its mouth slowed until finally, it ceased all movement.
The trio collapsed onto the dirt, gasping for air as Silva felt the ire begin to dissipate off of her, the forest losing its ability to focus on her. Surely by this point, the others had already started the fire.
“Sera… what was that?” Silva asked between ragged breaths.
Sera, after a brief moment of quiet, gave the response that Silva wanted to hear the least.
“I have no clue.”
“Great…”
They sat there, catching their breath until they stood up in unison. Mell wiped the blood off of his hands, opening and closing them to make sure they worked and finding them satisfactory.
“Guess we’re done. We should probably start walking towards the camp?” Sera proposed.
Silva nodded in agreement.
“Sure, I’d love to get out-”
FIRE
The singular word came to their mind, spoken in a foreign voice that none of them had heard before.
It was not a singular foreign voice. It was hundreds of voices layered over each other all saying the same word at the same time, a primal chant announcing the crime which carried the heaviest punishment of them all.
The drum beat that Silva felt committing her crime was multiplied by a thousandfold, beating down on their minds as it searched for the sinner. It was a true, and utter declaration of war against a singular individual. A cry that it would do anything and everything to make sure they were dead.
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Weiss felt the word FIRE slam in his head with each attempt the forest made to locate him, and it grew louder each and every time. By the time he’d first heard the word, he was already past the gate to the camp and was making his way towards the kitchen, North tightly gripping to his back.
Surely the fact that he had made it this far was due to Silva’s efforts, to which he was grateful.
The rest of the guard around him seemed to be feeling a similar sensation. The word fire passed between their mouths as they panicked, feeling the rage grow ever closer and not understanding why. They had all heard it, and they searched around in a fervor for what may be causing it.
The group’s guess was on the mark. They were searching for the unlucky soul to rid themselves of him. This panic was good, as it meant less people would pay attention to the odd invisible movements of the duo.
Weiss made his way to the door to the kitchen, opening it without much regard as he saw the entire guard in a panic. He was in the far back, as distanced from their view as possible.
“Now.” he whispered to North, who popped himself off his back and ran off. The invisibility faded, leaving Weiss out in the open.
It took a few seconds for the penal laborers to notice him, but once they did, one of them screamed. Of course, they were already screaming due to the forest’s ire, which the guards were yelling at them to stop. Before anyone could make a motion at him or say anything more, he raised up his hands.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Please listen! I’m part of the rebel group hoping to liberate camps. I am like you, in that I was poisoned by magore and have little time. If you are like me, and are desperate to give meaning to the time you have left, I ask that you help me survive. I need your help, because the forest is coming and it is in all of our best interests that I stay alive for as long as possible.”
The kitchen went silent, which the guards seemed to appreciate. Most of them had already left their seats and were either heading outside or arming themselves for the forest, not even noticing Weiss.
“Will we die?” One of the taller, more imposing women asked him while brandishing a soup ladle in her hand.
“Most likely, but I dare not say you had that much time to begin with. However, the longer I live, the more of these people who have assaulted and used you will die.”
The lady scratched at her chin, a smile growing wider and wider.
“An interesting offer. What do we say, ladies?” She asked the group, who gave a round of nods and shrugs. Weiss would have smiled if not for the ire closing in on him.
“Thank you. Do you know what locations I could go to that would be the most fortified?”
The discussion was interrupted as one of the guards who was preparing himself called out, finally having noticed Weiss. He quickly hid his mutilated arm behind his back and his sword beneath one of the tables.
“Hey! What the fuck is a refinery person doing here?” He yelled out.
“Hiding and trying to find a place that is safe. Everyone felt it, and I decided the best location for me was one of the kitchens.”
The guard’s hand reached itself to pull on his burner, but he stopped midway and loosened it. He stepped through the door to the kitchen, taking survey of everyone there.
“I’d ask how you made your way out, but I doubt one of you fuckers would tell me. You’ll be getting flogged once this is over, I’ll make sure of it.” He looked at Weiss with doubt, stepping closer and closer.
A pot came crashing down upon his skull, heavy enough to make a cracking noise as one of the penal laborers in the kitchen. Another made a mad dash for his burner, picking it up and preparing it in her hands. The only other guard who was staying inside perked up at the noise to be met with a bolt of mana through his face.
“I’d say that might bring their attention, if not for the fact that the forest is about to kill us all.” The penal laborer joked. “I’m Bertra, for the time being. Are you serious about being part of that rebel group? Heard they got massacred.”
“Most of us were lost, but I’d say it’s best not to focus on that right now. Bertra, once it actually starts, I need you to get me to the strongest buildings that I can hold down.”
Bertra once again scratched at her chin, likely drawing up an image of the camp in her mind.
“Well, the armory is probably the best, but that’s also where guards will be holing up. Second best might be their recreational room which is closer. Although, the refineries are pretty damn strong and should have some Arlinian bastards in them, and one of those is close to the rec center. You say your job is to just stay alive?” She said, seemingly having prepared for a moment like this for a long while.
“Yes. The forest will continue to attack the camp until I die.”
Bertra tried to think about his words, but was stopped by another slam of the forest’s ire against her head. Weiss was feeling it much worse than her, but only winced so as to hold up appearance.
“You gonna explain how you popped in here?” Bertra inquired
“I don’t believe we have the time.”
The final wave of the forest’s ire focused in on Weiss’s location, beating against him. Every single force in the world beared down on him for a second as a new, much more rage filled thought filled his mind.
FOUND YOU.
The waves of ire stopped, changing from a drum beat into a singular off-key note of rage. The ground beneath them shook as the forest came alive. The trees bent to allow for the full force of Corith to come down upon Weiss and all who stood in their way.
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As Weiss and the penal laborers ran towards the recreational center, chaos was descending upon the camp.
The mind was an impressive thing and could comprehend many things, up to a limit. Just as one could never truly conceptualize infinity. In a similar way, the mind cannot truly comprehend something that is uncountable.
To Weiss, what he was seeing right now was as close as a human mind could get to comprehending what the phrase “uncountable” means, because there wasn’t a reasonable number one could put to the monsters descending upon the camp.
Waves of dark colors, black and brown and white flooded the area, all coalesced together. The minds of these creatures had been overridden, hijacked by the forest’s will to become its puppets. And Weiss could feel so many of them put their focus on him.
“THERE!” Bertra shouted directly into his ear, pointing at a wooden building with a metal roof. He ran alongside them, bursting through the door and finding several guards huddled together inside.
They were too confused and were already huddled at the entrances, firing off shots and seemingly ignoring their presence. The sensation of the forest’s ire grew dense on his back. As he looked at the guard, he saw one of them peeking through a window, grabbed by what looked like a wet appendage, then pulled outside flailing and screaming. He got as close to the center as possible, ignoring the occasional protests of the guard. It seemed that, despite not knowing he was the cause, they’d decided to ignore fighting the slaves to simply fight to survive.
He couldn’t imagine how infuriated they might feel to learn the one they were protecting for the moment was the reason they were being massacred.
The rumbling of the creatures continued, shaking the ground. He looked outside of the window for just a brief moment to see that the wooden barricades had already been topped, the guard positioned atop them screaming as they fell down into the mass of monsters below.
North’s plan, while admittedly half-baked, had made an intelligent bet about the forest’s insight. The camp was designed to protect what was inside, and because the forest took a simple interpretation of actions, it saw the rest of the individuals of the camp as participating in the protection of the sinner. Therefore, they also needed to be punished.
Beasts began to slam against the walls, battering the metal with their bodies, caving in the building. The ladies held weapons, the ones who carried new burners firing at the beasts. They were so dense in number that no matter where they fired, they were sure to hit one.
They were moving too fast on the building, and he needed more time. This place would not hold for long.
The refinery is the only building that is safe, but I have to get through an open street.
He took a small glance out one of the cracks in the metal and saw there was a door just across from them. It was a distance, a gap that would take only a few seconds to cross, but a few seconds out in the open.
I’m sorry North.
“We need to get to the refinery! Shield me!” Weiss cried out, and the ladies coalesced around him, still fighting off the beasts that were starting to break in through the gaps.
There was a door on the side leading to the refinery, which had been barricaded with a metal table.
“I need all of you to surround me, while we use the table to cover our heads? Can we do that?”
Berta looked at all the women with a big smile.
“Alright ladies, who’s ready to be human shields!”
An awkward, but triumphant cheer came from the penal laborers. They quickly moved to the door with Weiss at the center, Their hands reached at the table’s legs.
“And go!” Weiss commanded, and the group placed all of their might forward, breaking through the door and into the giant horde. The sound of the creatures was deafening, as flesh and claw gnashed together in an endless horde. Huddled inside of them, Weiss could feel them be pulled away or torn to shreds, falling as they braced forward and towards the door. He could feel sharp fur bristle against his arm just as they burst into the refinery with the table, one of the ladies turning back to slam it closed but being grabbed and torn outside.
Bertra was nowhere to be seen, suggesting she’d died in the run. Creatures ran inside following Weiss, but seemed to slow as the mana radiated through their skin. The heavy metal machinery was familiar to Weiss, knowing the metal folds and bends which he could grapple onto. With a tinge of regret, he threw his blade to the ground.
A sickness ran through him which the adrenaline helped him ignore. He climbed up on one of the heavy, blocky beasts that helped to refine the magore, struggling thanks to the lack of a hand. He could hear the creature clambering after him, chasing at his heels. He didn’t dare turn back, but he knew it must have been over a dozen which had entered. He could hear screams nearby, which he forced himself to ignore as he went higher and higher.
Weiss needed to survive, and his run across the refinery was important to that. Every second mattered. He was getting close to the roof, hopping from one of the machines to another as he felt a piercing sting in his thigh. He knew that he’d been hit, but not by what. The sounds of the beasts were growing louder as more of them flooded into the refinery.
Of course, he’d placed himself on top of the refinery for a reason. He could hear the metal around him start to break apart, and that meant that the magore which was inside of the machinery would be exposed.
The sickening sensation grew worse as the unrefined magore radiated throughout the building. For the first time, he turned. Eidgartos, shade wolves and other beasts he didn’t recognize were starting to falter, some of their corpses hitting the ground to be trampled on. Those climbing the machinery to chase him were hit the hardest, as he could even hear the sounds of retching.
He was going to die here, sure. But he was going to make the forest have to work for it. He was at the top of one of the machines, looking down at his feet as he was surrounded on all sides, creatures all clambering to kill him.
Outside, there was sure to be far more chaos. The forest would extract its penance, possibly even after he perished.
His lover flashed through his mind as he watched, reminding him of the reason he’d lost his name in the first place. She would never see him. Maybe his god would reward him for this by allowing her to meet him, perhaps in a new form. He was here to pay a penance, to both the nations of Corith and Irebor.
This death was worthy of having a name, even though he was going to sacrifice some of those North wanted to protect. No, both himself and Alex knew that the refineries were probably mostly beyond saving.
North would leave the mines to find desolation and ruin, which was what Arlin deserved. All Weiss could do is hope that the young Corithian would find better allies than himself. Ones who could face the world and didn’t feel the need to die a martyr’s death like himself. Elina, if she were here right now, would probably have considered this a coward’s way to an honorable death, a contradiction that no normal Irebor warrior would embrace.
Weiss knew they would be fine without him, and that they would continue to push on. As long as North was committed and given the correct advisory, he had the ambition to topple nations.
If this was not the warrior’s death he deserved, he would be given the chance to achieve it in another life. Perhaps that would be for the best, as it might allow him to see the world to come next.
A shade wolf grabbed into his ankle, pulling him down from his high ground and into the horde below. He didn’t feel terror, or rage at the forest.
As the horrors of Corith began to rip into his flesh and tear off his limbs, Weiss, banished son of Irebor, felt hope.
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The death knell of Weiss would eventually ripple throughout Corith as the corpse was ripped apart and consumed, leaving nothing behind except for a bloodstain.
The ire of the forest accepted that penance had been achieved for the sinner and all who stood in the path to achieve the penance. It would, as it normally desires, return to the status quo. In near perfect unison, the creatures began their slow march back into the woods where the forest would eventually relinquish control over their minds.
The fire which Weiss had started would dissipate within the day, and the places burned would eventually regrow.
The forest had decided that everyone who protected the camp were accomplices in protecting Weiss, meaning they were also killed in the onslaught. Penal laborers and refinery workers were caught up in the damage, trampled if they remained neutral or torn to shreds if they protected themselves.
The camp was silent, and there was only a single Arlinian left alive.
And he was very much not a soldier.