Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 17. Fear within the forest
Walking through this mystical, but familiar forest, Gray, Edward, Soku, and Rosemary focus on finding the Baron's hideout, which should be reasonably close to the outer layer of the Ever-forest. Strangely colored flora, various shades of leaves, long stretching roots to watch out for, and the sounds of animals give off an uneasy feeling.
Gray: “Alright, I’m going to try something.”
Soku: “And that is?”
They all watch as Gray sits down in the grass, focusing.
Gray: “For the past seven months, I’ve been training my spiritual abilities. I haven’t mastered the high-level spells, learned new spells, or come close to mastering the spiritual state, but I have pushed it a bit.”
Gray closes his eyes, then opens them to reveal the white glow of the spirit state. However, instead of just being a white glow with nothing underneath, it’s a little transparent, being able to see a hint of Gray’s eyes. Then an invisible pulse releases from within his body, connecting to the spirit of the forest.
Edward: “Ingenious…to use your spiritual connection to connect to the great spirit forest, it’s like becoming one of the roots, to search the entire thing.”
Rosemary: “I wouldn’t think anything less of Gray.”
Soku: “Yeah, it’s okay I guess.”
Gray’s mind gets pulled into the roots, being spilled across thousands of plants and animals. The great spiritual force that this forest is, is just too much. Gray’s mind suffers so much pain, but he’s unable to pull himself out. Countless thoughts get poured into him that fade just as fast as they appear, so for a few minutes, he’s bombarded with information. Unable to breathe, think, or process anything, his screams are pushed away, submerged with everything else, but then he’s kicked out of it, being left with nothing. Now, lying on the ground with no memory of what just happened, he’s given a goal by the forest itself, as if he’s being pulled in a certain direction. Now, speechless as well as thoughtless, he walks to the destination, completely entranced by the forest.
Rosemary: “Gray! GRAY!”
Edward puts his hand over Rosemary’s mouth, stopping her from taking him out of this state.
Edward: “We need him to lead us to the Baron’s, so let this be.”
Standing in nowhere, trapped by nothing, is Gray’s spirit. As his body forms, as his mind takes hold, root-like lines stretch all around this void. The gold glowing vines grab his soul, about to fully consume it, but luckily a woman pulls him out. Now, out of the vines, his mind starts returning to him.
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Gray: “Thanks…Azalea.”
Azalea’s appearance seems to have changed in the past seven months. Her once black hair now has long brown strands of hair in it, her pure white skin has become darker, her black nails have returned to their normal shade, and her eyes have become normal, instead of the black they once were.
Azalea: “You better thank me, you almost got sucked in by the forest. I recommend you get out of this weird mindscape and hold your mana back. Since your body is being pseudo-possessed, I pulled out your cloak so it’d suppress your mana.”
Gray: “Oh, really? Thanks. I guess I should thank you in advance for all that help you gave me with controlling the cloak in the first place.”
Azalea: “Yeah yeah. I wanna get back to having whatever I want, so you finish this.”
As Azalea is about to walk away, but Gray puts his hand on her shoulder.
Gray: “Your body has been getting more normal, your Sect memories are leaving and your normal memories are returning…my mana control percentage has gone from about twenty-five to sixty-five in seven months…what’s gonna happen when I master it?”
Azalea: “~~~~~~”
Azalea doesn't respond, she pushes his body, causing him to fall upwards, carving through the void, into the sky, and his spirit tumbles back into his body. Everyone is shocked, but not due to Gray returning to his body, but by the light of a campfire in the distance.
Soku: “Gray lead us there…”
Edward: “It could just be Demi-humans. Legally, they’re the only ones able to step foot in here, so it might be a village or town.”
Rosemary: “We’ll have to go in safely to check.”
Gray gasps for air, spooking everyone.
Gray: “Opfh…that was weird…”
Soku: “What are you talking about? What was going on in that trance?”
Gray: “It’s hard to explain, other than I was connected…no matter, let’s go up in the trees.”
Gray extends his cloak effortlessly, snatching up every else as well, pulling everyone up into the thick leaves. Gray then takes a deep breath and seeps into his astral form. He leaves his body, entering the mystical, ghost-like state that is his astral ability, then slowly floats towards the campfire.
Gray {Now, let’s see what’s up.}
Gray gets through the last bit of trees, spotting the strange figures, flowing with a great spirit connection. A large Demi-human man, taking his demi nature from the Arch-Gorilla, possesses tough red skin, four golden eyes, a chelicerae jaw (similar to spiders), and large almost shield-like arm guards. His short black hair is tied into a top bun, and he wears long waist armor, shoulder guards, and a piece of cloth around the top of his chest, covering one of the two sets of pecs he has set the tone of which he carries, one of a barbarian.
Next to him is a male Dark Elf wearing. With various scars on his face, tied-back dark orange hair, and green eyes. His clothing is exactly like the clothing he’s seen in paintings. Dark animal skin with symbols inscribed on it, and golden rings on his fingers, legs, arms, wrists, and neck. His armor is light, being made into his clothing, shoulder pads, leg as well as arm guards, and waist armor, but he’s without any shoes. Then some tattos in the form of dark black lines around his forearms to layer on his intimidating nature. Gray is sent into a fear by the sight, fear that is heightened by them looking right at him, even though he should be invisible to the naked eye. Then, he sees something burst out of the woods, then he hears the screams of his friends, then all at the same time, he’s sucked back into his body.
Gray as well as all of his friends are wrapped in a chain, faster than they can react, and then are pulled right into the center of the three strange figures. They all begin to freak out, trying their hardest to break free from the chains, but the mana running through them is just too powerful. Rosemary attempts to enter the sixth stage, Gray is about to use the spiritual state, Soku plans to surge her wind mana through her mark of providence, and Edward starts forcing the dragon's spirit to awaken, but is again stopped. Though this time it isn’t due to the mana, or an attack on their health, but a sight, a sight filled with horror. Slowly stepping out of the forest, holding on to his chain blade, groans at the group. Grey hair, sharp teeth, sharp nails, and common clothing with a long black coat covering them. Out of everyone, Gray remembers him, thinking of the scar on his lip, but Edward is put into a state much worse than anybody else because he knows the power the figure in front of them holds. Stuttering, he mumbles the name of the man.
Edward: “....Crimson Zhao…”
Zhao: “Yeah, and I want to talk with all of you.”
End of Chapter seventeen