The second section was a strange place— not like any of the other sections were normal.

The trees that covered the section were the perpetrators of the foggy atmosphere as its sap produced fog when it was exposed to the air. You would be lucky if you could manage to see 10ft in front of you, that was how thick the fog was.

It didn't help that due to the gravitational anomalies, the environment was hard to transverse.

Up could be down, down could be up, but that was more of a navigational hindrance, not a pain in the butt. The real nuisance were the trees, since they were growing downwards from above their prickly leaves and branches would hang down blocking those trying to walk.

It didn't matter if you were walking upside down since the trees grew in all directions, wherever you were, there would be branches and vines getting in your way. You either walked around the trees or cut through them, both were not efficient. This, alongside the foggy atmosphere made traversal abysmally slow.

Then came the creatures living in the forest.

According to Iris, most creatures were not inherently dangerous like the beasts of the glade, but would rather use the environment to their advantage. This meant that if you were familiar with all the creatures, their habitats, and their way of life, then it wouldn't be too bad.

Unfortunately whilst they had intellectual knowledge, not that much actually translated to practical skills. Also there was only so much you could learn from books compared to experiencing the section for yourself.

Their marry-little group, which they haven't decided a name for yet, made sure they didn't rush in like idiots and instead took their time. They weren't in too much of a hurry because they wanted to live, breathe and experience the bridge, not speedrun through it.

Of course, making it through fast wasn't a bad thing, it just wasn't a priority. Safety and caution was at the top of their list.

Being rookies, they didn't have an assurance that they were strong enough to breeze through a section— like Madeline Might could probably do for the first few sections.

Currently Iris took the lead slowly directing them through the overgrown forest.

To ensure they didn't get lost from one another they implemented a simple system, you always had to be touching someone else. Sera was holding Iris’s shoulder while Bo was grabbing her shoulder.

If they got separated from another, then the chances of them finding each other was slim. They did have Bo’s compass which could be locked onto one of them, but they didn't use that feature yet.

Their goal for the first day was simple, don't die and find somewhere safe to sleep for the night.

Food wasn't too much of a worry as they had packed lots of rations and they had the wild artifact Madeline gave them. Water also wasn't too much of a worry as there were loads of small streams and ponds scattered around and they also packed large jugs of water beforehand that should last them a few days.

The water found in the forest might not be the safest to drink, so they would make sure they boiled any water they took from the forest.

The atmosphere was eerie as they continued along their way, the fog was one thing, but it was like all the noises any creatures made added to the eeriness. A bird would caw in the distance, or some insect would make clicking noises, making Iris flinch sometimes.

Time seemed to pass by more quickly for whatever reason, it felt like only minutes had passed but they had already been walking in the forest for over an hour.

Iris stopped once they got to an opening. “Let's stop here. We can have a small snack break and I also want to do some scavenging to see if I can find any interesting plants.”

She didn't need to say snack twice. They scrounged around till they found a nice trunk to sit on and enjoyed a nice snack atop of it.

Iris would look for plants afterwards as their number one rule was to never separate and to do everything together.

Sera realized she could use the Food Bag wild artifact and pulled it out of her backpack, reached into the bag and pulled out a crystal ball. Looking into it you would see the image of a chocolate cake.

With a single thought a 3 pound chocolate cake resting on a plate materialized in her hands.

“I think fate is telling us to celebrate.” Sera remarked while looking at the cake. Each of them took a large slice of cake that Bo cut using his machete.

“To us becoming crossers!” Sera cheered to which Bo and Iris cheered back. They spent a few minutes blissfully enjoying the cake, and some other snacks together.

Then they joined Iris by helping her search around the area for special plants, or other useful materials. Bo or Sera didn't know what they were looking for, they were just like children pointing at anything that looked different to them.

Iris managed to find a few rare plants, and stored them away to use later once they found a place to rest for the night.

They returned to their routine of walking shortly afterward and after a long day, night soon came around.

You wouldn't be able to tell it was night in the forest since the fog, trees and wacky environment blocked most of the sunlight from getting in, but Iris checked her handy pocket watch and realized it was time to get some rest.

Luckily after looking around, they found a cave on a cliffside. It was quite small, barely able to fit the three of them as they were, but it would do for now.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Sera would take first watch, followed by Bo, then Iris afterwards.

It didn't take long to set up their tent they brought along. They had packed one large tent with a semi comfortable interior that should help their backs on the cold and rocky cave floor.

They had a light meal before bed then Bo and Iris crawled into the tent and fell asleep quickly— or at least Bo did.

Iris couldn't fall asleep and after 30 minutes of restlessly rolling around in the tent, she got up and joined Sera outside.

“Can’t fall asleep?” Sera asked.

Iris shook her head in response. “I'm not sure if it's nerves, or excitement keeping me awake. But… no regret or turning back now. Not after finding these!”

Iris reached into her pockets and pulled out various plants and herbs that Sera couldn't name to save her life.

“Look at these gray keplar leaves, they were just laying around. In Gladesdale each leaf would be worth 200 lang each— at minimum!”

The two chatted for a bit before Iris’s ranting seemed to exhaust the last reserves of her energy and she went back to the tent, ready to attempt to fall asleep again.

***

The next morning came quickly.

They packed up and continued their journey. Their destination was the trial of the Lost Forest called the lost maze.

In all records, trying to find it through skill was almost impossible, it was 90% luck. Right now they would follow Bo’s compass forward until they pass through the edge of the Lost Forest into the beach of the Sea of Misery.

If they managed that and still haven't found the entrance to the trial, then they would head back into the forest and search for the Lost Sanctuary first.

The lost sanctuary was a special building where crossers could rest and recuperate from the dreads of the Lost Forest. It was much easier to find than the sanctuary because the keeper had placed signs around the forest directing you straight to the front door of the sanctuary.

Hopefully they would be able to find those signs quickly and then supposedly the keeper knew how to find the entrance to the trial.

On the other hand, looking at Bo’s compass, it was a little special compared to the classical composers found on Arcon. A normal compass had north, east, south and west for its directions but Bo’s read forward, right, backwards and left instead (F,R,B,L).

Its arrow always pointed forward— very useful in a forest where you didnt know which direction you were going. But even with the compass they would find themselves at dead ends where the land ended and an open cliff lay, delaying their journey forward. They would have to find ways down or across these cliffs which was never an easy task.

The ground was caked in the thickest part of the fog making it hard to see if where you were stepping would inevitably lead you to falling to your doom.

After a few hours of walking they found themselves in a nice little outlet, another great area for a quick rest and snack break.

Suddenly and without warning, Iris who was in front of the group was flung onto the ground and tugged away from them. Sera reacted reflexively and tightly gripped Iris’s hand at the last second before she was yanked away into the void of the fog around them.

“Something is grabbing my leg!” Iris shrieked with a worried face.

Bo took action and dove ahead, grabbing Iris’s leg and holding it steady so he could see what was holding onto her. Faint outlines of gray vines were barely visible in the fog attached to Iris’s legs.

Bo summoned his machete and chopped it down with brutal force, easily slicing through the vines bound to Iris.

Iris flopped down but Sera made sure to catch her and hold her tightly, worried for whatever was attacking them. She summoned her battle ax and while dragging Iris, went back to back with Bo and surveyed the surroundings trying to spot the perpetrator.

Just fog, and more fog, there weren't even any trees around them.

“It's… probably a giant gray venus. Were… in its… territory.” Iris said drowsily.

“What's wrong with you!” Sera worriedly asked.

“Vines...venomous… hallucinogenic… watch ground.” Iris said her final words before her eyes went gray and she froze in place, not able to move anymore.

Her eyes and body continued to squirm in place, but whatever was happening to her made her incapable of helping them.

Now that they had time to take in Iris words, they could feel faint movement below them brushing against their ankles.

Weapons at the ready, they didn't want to wait around to see whatever this giant gray venus plant was capable of. Bo swung at the ground aimlessly trying to cut the endless amount of vines they could feel squirming around them.

With a strange shriek, the vines became restless and started to rapidly crawl up their legs.

“Ow Fuck! Something stung me!” Sera yelled out. “We need… to get out of here…I'm already feeling… drowsy… you gotta do something Bo!”

Bo reacted on impulse after seeing Sera’s body displaying a red aura. He reached and grabbed Sera while activating his ember, the red aura of her body got sucked away into his.

In his palm, a small red ball was forming, growing larger by the second.

Once the ball was roughly a cm in diameter, he let go of Sera and did what he felt was most right, and threw the ball at the ground.

Where the ball hit, a small explosion happened causing the plant to shriek one again and its grip on them loosened.

“Use your ember!” Bo shouted at Sera.

With a final burst of consciousness, Sera activated her strength ember and bounded away with Iris in her arms.

Bo leapt after her but he could feel the vines stop writhing and started to reach after him with more vigor than before— the plant was pissed off.

The vines flew up from the ground and grabbed his arms, small prickly thorns covered the vines but thankfully, they couldn't pierce his skin granting him immunity to its hallucinogenic venom.

He pulled with all his strength but only seemed to be in a deadlock with the plant, and as more vines started to join in, he was slowly losing his foothold.

A stupid idea sprung in his mind once he remembered reading about the giant gray venus.

He stopped resisting and was immediately pulled back into the fog with a fierce smile on his face.

Now he was dangling above the maw of the plant, its body now faintly visible and the first thing he spotted was its sharp plant fiber teeth, easily able to pierce through bone.

As the plant lowered him into its mouth ready to take a bite of him, Bo spat out another red ball he created in his mouth, the last reserve of whatever he sucked away from Sera.

The ball fell into the plants mouth and exploded, making the plant freakout and drop him. He fell straight into the plant's body, bypassing its teeth.

It wasn't comfortable being inside a large plant as its plant stomach was tightly wrapped around him, but it made it very easy to gut the plant.

Bo screamed in fury while stabbing, cutting and piercing the plant until it finally stopped flailing and went limp.

He pried upon its mouth and stepped out, covered in plant juice and chunks.

[ Soul Power: 9 → 15 ]