The plant life pressed against Iris on all sides, the only light was a precious glow from above that didn't reach the ground. It was eerily quiet, the only sound was her own breath. She took the wizard hat from her head and stuffed it into her bottomless bag, then pushed aside leaves and branches and pulled vines that ripped and tore leaves in their wake. Thorns left slices on her hands and tugged on her robes.
The pleading voice was replaced by a quiet whimper, which Iris used as a guide. She climbed through several feet of the brush before coming upon a small open space, not wide enough for a person to spread their arms out. She lingered on the edge and cautiously pulled aside a branch to peer into the dark clearing. Thick foliage still covered the ground and the canopy overhead remained dense, a dark mass rested on the ground off to the side.
She watched it for a moment, trying to spot the rise and fall of breath. The whimpering had stopped. She felt dread and terror, her breathing stopped and her heart thumped. Her eyes stuck fixated on the shape in the darkness. She realized the fear was coming from a direction.
She blipped blindly, reappearing somewhere in the clearing and tripping over something heavy. She fell to the ground, half-sinking into the crawling vines that covered the surface. Scrambling back, she saw the lump on the ground was the shredded and bloody remains of a man. She then witnessed a tall, emaciated figure releasing its clutches on the leaves and branches where she had just been.
It turned towards her, and with the same soft, androgynous voice, it spoke, "hello?"
She kicked off the ground to scoot away at the same time as she rolled to her hands and knees. She pushed herself to her feet with unsteady balance, and blipped again. The creature had already crossed the clearing and lunged for her, barreling into the brush as she disappeared.
She reappeared somewhere in the thicket, immediately pushing and pulling her way through the mess of intertwining and overlapping plants. She could hear the rustlings of the creature behind her.
"Please, help me!" it cried.
Panic was overtaking her. She gasped desperately, her eyes darted all around and her pulse thumped in her wrists and neck.
"Hello?" It was closer.
She looked up and blipped, appearing amongst leaves and branches. She blipped again, appearing in the air over the thicket. She was too far from the edge. Her final blip brought her to the root-ground beyond the thicket, where she landed with a crouch and a hideous headache as she fought to cling onto consciousness. Her back was to the thicket, but she felt the fear rising behind her.
She turned in horror as the creature climbed over the edge of the roots with long, skinny arms. It hoisted a knee high into the air to place a foot over the edge and swiftly stand tall. Taut, pale grey skin stretched across bulging ribs and boney limbs. The tight skin revealed the shape of its skull, human-like aside from the rounded plate where its eyes and nose should be. A sickeningly wide mouth stretched across its jaw, slowly contorting into a smile that bared sharp teeth.
Its head snapped to the side, a burst of aura catching its attention. Iris felt a warmth in her chest, and a force of bravery pushing back against the oppressive aura of fear projected by the creature. She rose to her feet, breath still unsteady, and blipped away.
The creature whirled towards where she had been. Iris reappeared behind a tree several yards away, and soon felt the creature's focus again as the fear closed in on her. The creature darted forward, briefly dropping to all fours to sprint. It rose to its feet as it reached the tree, reaching out with one hand against the trunk to sling itself around. Iris was already gone.
It snapped its head up, towards where she now stood a dozen yards away, in the open. Her mana hadn't reached capacity since she left the thicket, but now an external source bolstered her recovery and a surge of mana filled her body. She fought the urge to spare a glance in search of Victoria, instead keeping her gaze locked on the creature before her.
She grabbed her bottomless bag and threw it backwards as she withdrew the greatsword Titus had given her. Just as she'd practiced, the bag flew back until it dropped over the tip of the blade, then zipped itself back towards its spot on her waist. The creature was sprinting now, and she blipped.
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She brought the sword to bear as she reappeared behind the creature and it swiped the air where she came from. Its moves were sudden and swift, and fast enough to catch her. She gritted her teeth and steeled her resolve, waiting for the next move.
It turned to face her, rising from a hunch to its full, terrifying height. It took a slow step forward, then another, then lunged. Iris blipped, but not away from it. She appeared beside it as it lunged, swinging the heavy sword in an awkward, upward arc that sliced through its shoulder. She let the momentum of the sword carry it around her, blipping again to the other side of the creature and pushing through the downswing of the arc to slice through its thigh.
The creature stumbled, but her grip had been weak and the blows were glancing. Thick, white blood oozed from the cuts as it recovered and spun around, swiping a clawed hand towards Iris. She angled the blade to block, and the creature grabbed it tight and pulled it from her grasp. The sword was tossed aside as the creature's other hand shot forward and reached for her throat. She reflexively threw herself backwards even as she blipped, and reappeared falling on her ass.
She gasped for breath, and she felt the bravery fade as instead her stamina surged. She nodded in acceptance, and rose to face the fear as the creature flashed towards her. She blipped to the air behind it, kicking out at the back of its head. Her strike connected, and a hand swung around and slapped her boot as she blipped away just before it could grasp.
She stumbled as she reappeared, and the creature was already upon her. Long, spindly fingers wrapped around her forearm, slender claws biting into her flesh as the grip threatened to crush bones. The creature's mouth opened tall as its jaw unhinged. With her free hand, she pulled a headless arrow shaft from her bag and shoved it fletching-first into the creature's gullet.
It gagged and recoiled, but held its grip on her arm. She reached out towards her sword and called it forth, blipping it through the air and into her hand. She brought it out of the blip with a clumsy one-handed swing, aiming to decapitate her foe but instead bashing it in the head with the flat of the blade. Its grip held tight.
"Fuck!" she shouted, fruitlessly tugging back her arm.
Soon the creature dislodged the stick from its throat and tossed it aside. Its free hand then grasped her other shoulder, holding her in place before it as the maw stretched open once more. She tried to raise the sword between them, but there wasn't space. The maw lunged for her face.
An explosion shattered her eardrums and burnt her face. She dropped to the ground with blurry, one-eyed vision. Her ears rang, and her balance swirled. She saw a man land between her and the creature, several more explosions popped off around the creature as he outstretched his hand.
"Wait!" Iris yelled, her own voice coming back distorted through her damaged ears.
The man halted, even as he had the creature on the back foot, and turned towards her.
"Let me," she groaned, rising to her feet with a grunt and a sway.
The man said something, but it was muffled and distorted. She blipped the sword from the ground into her hand, and waved him aside with the other. With a confused and uncertain expression, he stepped aside.
She staggered and swayed as she stepped towards the creature, which was now recovering from a few blasts that had seared patches of its skin into a bubbling mess. Its attention faltered as it focused on her, then the man. She blipped forward, appearing in a sprint with the hilt of the sword tucked low as the blade stretched out in front of her. The creature dodged to the left, and she clenched the hilt tightly as she appeared beside it with a strong downwards swing that severed an arm.
Globs of white blood dripped to the ground as it whirled around and swiped with its remaining arm. The claws raked across her chest, shredding through cloth and flesh before she blipped. She reappeared with a strained yell as she swung the sword horizontally, burying it in the creature's side just below the ribs. She reached out with a kick against its hip as she pulled her sword free and staggered backwards.
She half grunted, half yelled as she brought the sword overhead in a heavy swing. The creature raised its remaining hand towards the blade to grasp it, but it disappeared. Iris and the sword reappeared behind the creature, and she brought the strike down into its hunched back. Her head split as the creature let out a pitiful cry and collapsed to its knees, tugging the sword down with it.
She heaved and slipped the blade free from the creature's spine, then whirled the sword around to a reverse grip as she blipped into the air above the creature. She came down with all her weight on the tip of the sword against its upper back, and even still the blade caught only a few inches deep. She continued down, applying all her strength to push the sword down as she landed. Something gave way, and the sword burst from the creature's chest as she plunged it deep.
Her head swam as the creature's wail stabbed her ears like daggers, her vision blurred from pain, tears and blood. She sighed and half-yelled with each gasp for breath, her chest heaving as her hands still clenched the hilt of the sword buried in the slumped over creature. The wail faded and the creature stilled. With a decisive nod to herself, she placed a foot on its lower back and groaned as she slid the blade free from the corpse. Instantly, she blipped to the side and brought the sword down in a quick swipe, decapitating her foe before its chest hit the ground.