We continue to walk for the rest of the day, approaching the shore on the other side well after the sun had sunk below the horizon. After setting up camp for the night, I crawl into my tent, my body exhausted but my mind racing.
I didn't do much investigating about civilian life while in the city. I was too busy training and trying to find information on the forest, which was sparse at best. I never did look into how divers affect the city or what divers do in general, as I thought I knew everything I needed to. But to think there was an entire industry based around the life and death battles divers take part in? That's a little much. What do they do when a diver dies? And what's a sponsorship? Does me killing a Shell really change anything? I stare at the top of my tent as the drowsiness takes me, questions still bouncing around in my head.
********************
"The mossglow woods, huh," Zack taps his foot against the metal head of the MULE he's perched on, his legs dangling. I sigh, each metallic tap pissing me off even more. We've been walking for hours, a massive canopy of leaves rising in the distance. "They were not kidding about the massive trees," I grunt in response.
As we near the wall of leaves, the mossglow trees start to appear, rising far above the crimson ones. The trunks are multiple times wider than the MULE is long and are so tall they dominate the sky. The canopy far above blots out the sun, only a few beams of light breaking through the darkness, illuminating the ground in large swaths. As we slowly exit the crimson forest and enter the darkness of the mossglow woods, I notice a distinct lack of a border. All the previous locations never crossed into each other's space, but the forest of the steel lake bleeds into the massive forest, pittering out until nothing but a mix of springy soft moss and grass cover the ground, not a single red leaf to be found.
"Fascinating." Azu hops off the MULE to my side, crouching to inspect the ground, "Never have two different biomes intersected before. What is the difference between this forest and everything else?" She furiously scribbles in her notebook, every now and then glancing up at the trees.
I look around me; our caravan has completely stopped as the three inspect the area. Behind us, the sun lights the blood-red leaves just beyond the canopy. While these massive trees block most of the sunlight, they don't completely cover the ground in darkness. It's almost as if there is a green filter over the sun, only cut by the occasional beam of pure light. However, the most unnerving part of this place was the lack of any noise. It's a different silence from the ice forest. There it was almost artificially made due to the cold air. Here, the silence is deafening, like the forest is holding its breath.
Far in the distance, I notice a small blinking red light. Azu must have noticed my gaze as she replies, "That's a recon beacon. It shows us the way to the ruin while also giving us a way out." She snaps her journal closed and stands, "We better get moving. Just follow the lights." I do as she says; the entire team is now on guard with weapons drawn.
I follow the red light, eventually approaching a metal pole about six feet tall with the red blinking light. Beside it, a small black box is hooked up to the pole with wires. It must be the battery pack. I turn, looking for the next light. This continues for several hours until darkness starts to take over.
"Silen, floodlights," Hearon calls from the rear. Without a word, I activate them, the lights coming from where the eyes of the head should be. However, it quickly becomes apparent that the lights aren't needed. As darkness takes the forest, the moss starts to glow. I freeze as a large swath of moss underfoot begins glowing a beautiful dark blue. The trees around us also start to glow, the moss taking a warm gold color, lighting the entire forest. However, everything is patchy, and there is no pattern.
"Sunlight." Azu examines the moss, lightly tracing over it with her fingertips. "This moss reacts to a lack of sunlight. Or, more accurately, it absorbs the light, and when there is a lack of it, the absorbed light is turned into a form of bioluminescence."
"You know this how?" Zack asks.
Before she could answer, a rush of wind blew past us, and the forest came alive. The sound of flapping wings fills the air, and far above, a flock of birds flashes past a large swath of yellow-glowing moss. Animals rustle in the trees, and a group of horse-shaped animals with large, curly white horns step out onto our path. The horns glow a calming white. As I tried to grasp the sudden shift of the forest, glowing bugs lit up the canopy high above like stars in the sky.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"Amazing," Hearon says, his voice resonating in the same awe I was feeling. "Mossglow woods indeed."
We stood there for several minutes, soaking in the fantastical view. Even Zack had nothing to say. But eventually, Azu breaks the spell the forest has cast, "Let's go. We do not want to linger. Who knows what lurks just beyond our sight." We begrudgingly agree and continue on our way, the majestic horse creatures calmly walking away as we move forward.
"Silen, what do you make of this?" Azu calls from the MULE.
"When did you two get buddy-buddy?" A bit of agitation leaks out of Zacks's voice as he complains. Azu ignores him and looks at me expectantly.
"Uh..." I look around me as I walk to the next beacon. "The forest has completely changed. The unnatural silence that existed before must have been something similar to the forest sleeping. The creatures here are something I've never seen before." Almost as if it was planned, a flock of pigeon-sized birds fly by, the edges of their wings glowing blue.
"Many of the creatures here seem to have a glowing element to them." I stare at the moss, every step leaving a blue glowing print behind, "Maybe they eat the moss, and it transfers the glow to them?"
Azu nods, a look of satisfaction on her face, "Good. You are more intuitive than I thought. You are correct. The bottom feeders eat the moss, and the hunters eat them. Most likely, every animal in the forest has some form of bioluminescence. It makes things easy to spot. However, it also makes escape near impossible." She glances back at our trail of slowly disappearing footprints and MULE tracks. A shiver runs up my spine. No escape, huh? I'm sure this won't come to bite us in the ass.
"Hey, you two might want to look up." I follow Zacks's gaze, and my jaw drops. In front of us are two massive trees not unlike the rest. But these are different. Each one has a carving of a tree branch that spans the entire length of the two behemoths and glows with a beautiful white light, not unlike the color of the horned horse creatures. How did we not see these before?
"A tree branch?" Hearon scratches his head, a look of puzzlement on his face. Azu walks up to the carving in the left tree, the main part of the branch eclipsing Azu in size. It's so big she's just a small black dot. She caresses the white vein.
"This...this was made by humans." I gaze up at the carving until it stops at the canopy. I can't imagine the effort needed to make this. And they did it twice.
"But why a branch?" Zack taps the white material with his spear. A sharp thump is heard. It's definitely not wood.
I touch the glossy surface, "could it be the artifact?"
Azu hums in thought, "Not necessarily. We have encountered objects that prominently feature in a ruins history and architecture before. One that comes to mind is a goblet that was engraved into a castle's doors. It was important enough to have imagery in other important places, such as the throne room, but when we found the goblet, it was nothing more than silverware. Instead, the relic was a child's doll."
"We must be close," Hearon comments from behind. I nod in silent agreement. Why does this feel familiar? My eyes trace the carving, and it clicks. I saw this in the library under the Finsal mountains. It was on the cover of a book. But what was I doing? I close my eyes, trying to envision the place, but it's murky, like a memory from when I was a child. Silo was there. I fall to a knee as pain shoots through my skull and the memory fades.
"FUCK!" I stand, kicking the moss.
"What is it?" Hearon pulls his shield out, and the other two tense.
"I've seen this exact symbol before, but I can't remember anything about it."
Azu and Zack share a glance, "What do you mean? That shouldn't be possible," Azu exclaims.
"You guys remember the library under the mountains." The three of them hesitate before agreeing. "I saw this exact same branch on the cover of a book in that place. I can't remember anything about it, though. Or much about the library in general. It's like something is preventing me from remembering anything about that day." I sigh in frustration. I can remember most of the events clearly, but something feels off whenever I try to discern any details.
Azu looks at the glowing carving with a troubled expression, "If what you say is true, then this library has information that we don't. The only way a book about this place would exist is if someone already knew about it. But why would the library be in Titan?"
"You think it was built before End Ciy was?" Zack asks.
She curls her ponytail in thought, "That must be the case. But what is the connection? We haven't had a single above-ground ruin with any references to other ruins, so what is the connection between this library and the carving? Silen, where is the entrance to this place?"
I shake my head, "I don't know if it's even accessible anymore. The mine It was in collapsed. My brother and I crawled through some kind of square hole into a hallway that led us to the library. To get back there, it would require some serious luck."
"We will talk to command when we get back. It may be possible to gather a team to try and relocate this library." I look at the carving. I don't know how to feel about the possibility of going back. My father died there, and so did my old life. I sigh, a mix of unease and dread falling over me like a shadow.
Azu snaps her notebook closed, "But that is something for another time; let us continue. I have seen all I need." With one last look at the two massive carvings, I continue my trek, passing through the two trees as if they were a gate.