The duo set out as dawn broke over the bog, reinvigorated by a night that had proven to be blessedly uneventful after Nick’s little tussle with the law of gravity. By now, they were growing close to the tower, to the extent that it dominated a large swath of the northern horizon. When he climbed a tree and looked out over the marsh, Nick could almost see its foundation at last.

He judged that they had another half day of travel ahead of them until they reached the grand river running east to west across the marshlands. Once they navigated the crossing, another few hours should see them to the tower’s base where, with any luck, the bulk of team Earth would be waiting for their arrival.

While the immense waterway was imposing, there was reason for optimism. The good news was that after scanning the riverbank with his spyglass, Nick had spotted a region where the water ran shallow, judging by the series of boulders protruding from the surface. They might even be able to hop from one rock to another, saving them precious time in the process.

The bad news was that to reach the shallows, the duo needed to cross through several miles of a dense forest biome. A region where the trees grew so thick that the only way through was to follow a narrow stream that wound its way across the woodlands. The visibility would be terrible and the footing questionable, but the stream should take them all the way down to the riverbank, letting them bypass the compact overgrowth along the way.

Ten minutes later, they had arrived at the borderlands between the biomes, staring up at stout orange trees with golden leaves that topped off fifty feet above the forest floor. After scouting the region as thoroughly as possible from the tree line, they began following the streambed and stepped between the towering trunks, crossing into a terrain different from any they had seen yet.

While there were no overt signs of danger and size up was quiet for now, Nick’s heart started to race, and his adrenaline began to flow. Though the insects were plentiful, there were few animals and fewer beasts darting among the treetops, which he took as a clear warning sign.

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Given the prolific vegetation and convenient source of water, the only reason that more creatures didn’t call the region home had to be the presence of a powerful predator. After a long moment of deliberation, the duo decided to press on. This route was the only way to reach the crossing that Nick had seen from above, since the trees grew too thick to approach the ford by following the riverbank.

Left with no other choice, they made their way along the stream, on alert for anything waiting to ambush them from the treetops, the dense undergrowth, or below the water. Despite an abundance of caution, they didn’t run into anything more menacing than mosquitoes and songbirds for the first half hour, making Nick wonder if his concern was unwarranted. Not that he expected the matter to be resolved so simply with the System and Taltos working behind the scenes.

Five minutes later, they navigated a sharp bend in the stream and found themselves staring out across the dead zone. A wide swath of trees had been burned to the ground, creating a lane about twenty feet wide that led deeper within the forest. Sizing up everything in sight, Nick went perfectly still, straining his senses to the limit to detect the presence of anything hostile.

Whatever happened to the forest here, it can’t be anything good. The more that he thought about it, the more Nick felt that the burn zone looked like a planned road through the woods. A fire-razed route made for something big to pass by. In short, the lane of charred trees was clearly unnatural, likely the work of magic beyond his comprehension. A normal fire would never have contained itself to a single corridor, leaving the trees on both sides untouched.

Without needing to speak, the duo settled down to wait, hiding behind a tree while scanning the area for danger. After ten minutes of spotting nothing of the sort, they moved a few feet deeper into the charred region and started inspecting the ground along the burn zone.

Not long after, Sophia frowned and pointed. Nick followed her finger to where a massive set of tracks was stamped into the soil. He took in deep gouges torn into the forest floor. Scratches along the tree trunks where something heavy had been dragged along the charred area.

Tiptoeing over to the markings, on guard against ambush from all sides, he bent down to take a closer look. The center of the trail contained a continuous depression, as if someone had taken a fat log and dragged it all the way along the charcoaled ground.

Along both sides of the gouge ran a series of curved markings that reminded him of flippers.