Sitting Bull looked at Ronnie with a knowing look, but said nothing. The group extinguished the campfire, packed their tents, and set off to the sounds of rattling weapons. The first three hours were not easy for them. Faolandan was getting tired faster than Latludious expected. Small predators attacked them from the bushes every now and then. As soon as the aggressive animals were killed, their bodies were scanned and then given to Barahu to eat. They did not find a well-trodden path, so they had to move through the wilds over bumps, pits, and hills. They walked at the speed of dehydrated sufferers. However, despite the difficulties, the fighting spirit of the group was at the top. Everyone was talking to each other, laughing. Ronnie alone walked detached at the end of the group, with no desire to get close to anyone. He studied the information about the area, the habits of the monsters, which they could encounter on their way. He wanted to be ready for anything.

The moon sank below the horizon, and the sun rose higher as well. Visibility had improved. When it was time to rest, they settled down in a small gorge. Ona directly went offline. Sitting Bull tried to keep his mouth shut and not burden his comrades with plaintive moans. Faolandan started playing with his pet. When they both got tired, Barahu lay down on his back and raised its legs up. The owner smiled and scratched its belly. Latludious created an eye with the help of a spell and directed it upwards and oriented himself around the area.

It was time to move on. The dead Hessataule trees remained behind. Ancient Dormel oaks appeared in their place, huge and wide. They went down the slope and skirted the lake, which seemed blacker than the night, or maybe it truly was. Then they came to a clearing overgrown with glowing yellow flowers. After it, the trees parted and created a natural road of small gray stones. Faolandan almost fell several times, slipping on them, and decided to walk along the side of the road through branches and mud. Ona confidently walked ahead of everyone. After a couple of hours, the road led the travelers to the hills in the Torill's valley. There the group decided to move along a gentle slope. Once at an altitude of five hundred meters, the gravel path stopped twisting and turned into a straight line with a steep cliff on the left hand.

Ona stopped at a section of the path disfigured by a landslide, where broken dead trees were rotting next to several boulders half-buried in hard sand. There was a great view of the valley. She held her breath and then screamed with delight. Down on the plain between the low mountains was a glade with luminous blue lakes and red flowers. They each took out their binoculars, and together they watched the landscape for several minutes.

During this time, Ona discovered a group of wolves lapping up water, their body was covered with green grass, and small deer horns decorated their heads. Ronnie saw, fifteen hundred yards away at the foot of the hill, a creature resembling a lion, overgrown with branches and protected by tree bark. The creature looked in his direction, but whether it saw the troublemakers or not, was impossible to say. The bizarre inhabitant of the backwoods turned its head away and rushed into the invisible wilds.

The road led the travelers to stone bare peaks, on which sat and stared blue-white mockingbirds Nibenfiligod, the size of a fist. Their little wings glowed with a fluorescent iridescent rainbow color. In the sky, directly above their heads, a flock of unknown crow-like birds of slate color flew by, leaving behind a magical trail of powder haze with small blue-white crystals. After walking a few more miles, small stones gave way to cobblestones, mired in mud, as in a swamp. The crowns of low trees intertwined with each other, as if they were old friends hugging. The group could no longer observe the local fauna from afar. Nothing ahead, nothing behind. It darkened under the canopy of the majestic ancient forest. They couldn’t see a piece of the sky or the rays of the sun. Even the wind had died down. Peace and stuffiness surrounded the wanderers.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Half an hour later, the path led to the junction of two hills, between which a crack formed, deep and black. Latludious concentrated, touched the ground, and created a bridge with the help of animated tree roots. Ona was the first to step onto the uneven surface of the magical structure and grabbed the handrail with her right hand. Passed. Faolandan with Sitting Bull on his back followed her. After them, Barahu trotted and sat down next to the owner. In the end, Ronnie and Latludious passed, and the bridge disappeared at the snap of the magician’s fingers.

For the next hour, they climbed a winding road strewn with sharp fragments of rock. In the middle of the way, at a turn, they saw a roughly worked stone similar to a menhir or a tombstone without inscriptions. Yellow flowers with pistils like windmill blades and a stem covered with thorns grew around it. Ronnie stopped at the mysterious monument and saw a glowing red symbol on the ground under it: at the top, the sword that breaks through a crescent moon, under it a mystical circle, on its edge at equal distance from each other were four smaller circles, their rays joined together in the middle and flowed down forming the same letters as on Ronnie's amulet. The paint was dry, drawn a long time ago.

The group took the third break only when they reached the middle of the slope. In a round, empty spot not far from an abandoned house that looked like a temple, they watched as rain clouds gathered over their heads. They were rushing forward like a flock of possessed spirits in search of rest. Twenty minutes earlier, the shining blue peaks of the hills turned into black semicircular domes of the temples of the world beyond.

It started to rain. Latludious created a magical waterproof dome over the heads of a small squad and continued to look into the distance. Ronnie took out his binoculars and saw several Dormels come to life and lean down for two hours a thousand yards away. Ona shouted:

"Look!"

Everyone turned at her voice, and then looked behind them and saw how the branches of the trees intertwined with each other and formed a dark figure of a forest monster. Sharp branches protruded from the spine and the nape of the neck; there were no eyes, no nose, no mouth on the face. It bent its arms and turned to face them. Ronnie pulled out the Barrett, removed the safety, and took aim. A flock of moths with burning wings flew out of the creature's hands and headed off behind bushes and trees.

"AI."

"At your service."

"What kind of monster is this?"

"You are the first to encounter it. There is no available information on this creature."

The trees nearby also came to life and turned their astonished faces towards the group. They, hooting like owls, pointed to the road that led to the northeast, and then again plunged into a state of deep sleep. The roots went underground and the body of the main monster disappeared.