There were many sounds in the forest at night. The underbrush rustled from the scurrying of rodents of unusual size, the occasional deep hoot of unseen owls echoed through the canopy, and a background chorus of bug sounds blended together until each individual chirp, click or buzz was indiscernible.
Iris sat in the dark atop a branch in the lowest layer of the middle canopies. She watched over the campsite far below, faintly lit by the remains of the fire. She was mostly undisturbed here, though occasionally a large bug would zoom past with a thunderous buzz that was gone as fast as it came. She jumped the first time, and the second, but soon grew used to it.
She had spent the past few days running through scenarios in her head, recounting the wisdom Eli had imparted during their watches and patrols, and building plans on how she would respond to any number of threats or problems. What she hadn't prepared for, however, was how boring night watch by herself would be. She resisted the urge to sit by the fire and read, knowing she would be too absorbed in anything she read to properly keep watch, and she spent most of her time outside the fire's light anyway to keep her eyes adjusted to the dark. The most she had done so far, over an hour into her watch, was occasionally tend the fire to keep it burning.
A familiar feeling crept on her, one that she had kept at bay over the recent days by staying active and busy. It was these moments of quiet when the feeling returned, a sense of disbelief, wonder, and exasperation at her circumstances. Just a week ago she had been in the small forest just outside of her quaint village in the valley, listening to the familiar sounds she'd heard her entire life and dreaming of lands unknown. Now, she was here, deep within those lands, hearing the songs of a forest that echoed memories of her own while still being wholly alien to her ears.
She had seen more of the world in the past few days than she had seen in all her life before this, and faced more dangers and mysteries than all her life before as well. She thought back to the strange ziggurat in the plains, the mysterious tunnel that lead into the depths, and the light that flashed in the dark. Something about that mattered, she was certain of it. Images of the carvings on the walls flashed through her mind, lingering on the visage of the recurring red dragon that seemed to appear following the greatest battles.
Her mood shifted, and a smile crept across her face, soon growing into an involuntary laugh. She was really here, she was having the adventures she had always wanted. Years of preparation for a life that it had felt like would never come, countless hours of reading adventure magazines, running through the woods, and dreaming of great magical beasts. Then, all at once, it had come true. This was only the beginning, and she was going to be a great adventurer.
Movement caught her eye. Autumn's backpack, which had been beside her where she slept, was being dragged into the brush at the edge of the clearing. She stood quickly and peered intently at the motion. It was inconsistent, a series of forceful tugs like a dog pulling on a rope toy. She disappeared from her perch.
After a short string of teleports, she reappeared further in the brush in the direction the backpack was moving. A large, rounded shape shook and convulsed as it yanked on the backpack, its long spindly tail flicking around behind it. Iris pulled her bottomless bag from her waist, reached into it to grab the hilt of her wooden claymore, and then pulled the bag away from her hand and let it slide down the length of the wooden blade until it fell off the tip and landed softly on the ground.
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The rodent didn't seem to notice. She deliberately coughed, and it froze in place for a second before whipping around to face her. It was as large, if not larger than the jackals they had fought in the grasslands, with dark black orbs for eyes and a mouth of vicious, crooked teeth which it bared with a hiss. It arched its back like a cat to look bigger and postured defensively.
"You can't have that," she nodded towards the backpack behind it, "sorry."
The rodent leapt forward with a vicious bite, flying through the air where Iris had just been. She reappeared off the side, and spoke again.
"This isn't gonna work out for you, little guy," she said to the creature that was at least her size.
It hissed again and scurried towards her, stopping to look around in confusion as she disappeared again. She watched it with amusement, unable to deny that it was kind of cute as it angrily sniffed the air.
Something slammed into her. She hit the ground with a thud as her training sword clattered across the ground. She instinctively held back the gnarly maw with an arm against the creature's neck. She blipped away, reappearing beside her fallen sword. She grabbed it as she scrambled to her feet and squared up with the two rodents, both now eying her eagerly. She held the sword with both hands, waving the long blade in front of her back and forth between the creatures. She dared to dart her eyes around to check for more rodents, and one of them leapt.
Its teeth sunk into the wooden blade as she blocked while the other rodent charged towards her. With a panicked grunt, she twisted her weight and swung the sword -- giant heavy rat attached. Its bite slipped and it was flung off by the momentum, slapping into its ally and turning its charge into a sideways tumble. Iris heard more rustling in the bushes.
"Alright," she said, trying to keep herself calm, "let's try going for a run."
She grabbed her bag from the ground and placed it near her waist where it tied itself to her belt. As the rodents recovered, she blipped past them. They turned to face her again, and she waved before taking off into the brush.
The rodents followed as she darted through the forest floor. She kicked off roots and rocks, blipping forward every second or two as the rodents clambered after her. She heard more join the chase, and soon the chittering, hissing and scritch-scratching of their feet built into an ominous soundtrack to the chase.
Up ahead, some birds flew from their nests and lizards scurried away. As she reappeared from a blip, a rodent leapt out towards her from the side. She turned and smacked it with the sword, knocking it aside in the air. She spun in place, quickly scanning her surroundings where more rodents came from all directions. She looked up to a branch high above and teleported, placing a hand on the trunk when she appeared to steady herself from the mana drain.
Back down below, the small horde of rats hissed angrily, some digging and burrowing around through the brush in search while others broke out into fights with each other. Others still climbed up the trunks of the nearby trees, scurrying up towards the canopy. She counted a rough two dozen total before she started blipping from branch to branch across the canopy.
She didn't go back to camp, but instead stayed close to the horde while being sure to stay outside of reach. She couldn't risk them finding their way back to camp, and she couldn't fight them herself. She needed a plan.
She landed on another branch after a leaping teleport, and turned to survey the woods around her. The trees were moving. She glanced down at the darkness below, the trunks descending into the shadowy floor of the forest, each one appearing to move in the same direction. With horror, her eyes shifted to the branch beneath her feet. It was striped with a ragged grey and brown pattern, unusually round, and undulating.