Charlie could see, even from this distance and blurred sight, that there was something strange about the mountain. His eyes couldn't make out the details, but they were able to pick up foreign shapes and colours. Even stranger scents filled his senses, not ones of flesh and the musk of fur, but something metallic was in the air.
To get to the source of this, Charlie needed to press on. The journey was going to be dangerous, especially now that he had lost track of the creatures ahead. Charlie’s sleep was broken and a little lacking, but it was long enough for them to slip away. Right now it was a breath of fresh air to not have to be so close to them, but it brought no comfort. They could be around any dark corner, ready to strike and kill.
Charlie was starting to become hungry and thirsty again, which quickly needed to be resolved if he was to make it to the mountain in one piece. Charlie set off in the direction of the river once more, hoping that he wasn't too great of a distance away.
As Charlie made his way towards the river, he kept a sharp eye on the forest floor, looking for the perfect moment to descend and swipe an easy meal. There was enough chaos that a creature disappearing wouldn't arouse any suspicion. Though easy in theory, the execution was proving to be difficult.
This close to the mountain there were a scarce few creatures Charlie could eat without dying, and fewer still of creatures small enough to not overburden him. They were either trampled to death in the wave of bodies, or they were quickly overwhelmed by the far more powerful creatures that surrounded it in every direction.
Charlie would have to try again at the river; there was just too much at stake for him to dive into the maddened creatures below. He still hoped that the river held its wordless alliance.
The woods were difficult to navigate, tightly packed and lacking in light, but Charlie eventually broke through and could see the river a short distance away from the treeline. There were no fights, for now.
Though that didn't mean it was peaceful. Every creature was in a panic, loud bleats and low growls filled the air as if they were the beats of a violent drum. There was blood and viscera pooling at the collapsed bodies, and opportunistic creatures ready to take advantage of an easy meal. Though they didn't look like they'd be happy if an opportunity arose, and Charlie came in to swallow their meal whole.
Evading the larger creatures, Charlie made his way to the riverbank, among the thick and sharp-looking reeds. It was becoming a habit to crawl into them, which proved to be a nearly fatal mistake. Inside, there was another serpent, one with bright colouring and some sort of object on its tail that rattled when swung from side to side.
It lashed out, but came just a touch too short before Charlie was able to react and dodge. Shocked, Charlie involuntarily slithered backwards and created some distance. The unknown serpent took this chance to advance and strike again. Wicked fangs descended down on Charlie’s body, hitting nothing but air as Charlie coiled tightly to evade the deadly strike.
The serpent left itself wide open for a split second, and Charlie was not going to miss his chance. Unleashing [Hollow Fang], Charlie lunged forward and sunk his fangs into the neck of the bright serpent. There was a sharp jerking motion as Charlie’s opponent struggled to release itself from the deadly grip.
It coiled around Charlie in an attempt to overpower him, but it was smaller and shorter, unable to pressure Charlie’s body even an inch. Pungent blood leaked through the holes left behind Charlie’s fangs, sending his stomach reeling. The blood tasted foul.
In the blink of an eye, the fight was over; the body of the serpent creature lay motionless before Charlie. The fight of two serpents lasted only enough time for a single, deadly bite.
If his reaction was but a moment too late, he would be the one laying dead in the sand. If he had been a bit weaker, the other creature might have been able to force itself out of his grasp and bite Charlie back, ensuring mutual destruction.
He kept making the same stupid mistake.
Charlie wasn't sure if it was more frustrating that, even now, after all of these battles, he still made these basic mistakes, or if he was too stupid to learn from them. Was him dying a second time going to be what finally taught him to be cautious? Would he then learn?
Though anger and frustration boiled in his blood, Charlie still had to eat the rancid serpent. He knew he didn't have the luxury to lament for long, especially when he was exposed from all directions. The scuffle would have surely attracted some attention too, so he needed to hurry up.
The thought of eating this vile creature silenced even Charlie’s stomach, which up until now had never protested against a meal. The thoughts of his failures kept resurfacing as he stared at the corpse, until he finally made a decision. The repugnant serpent's corpse was his punishment for learning a stupid lesson a second time.
His stomach protested at the beginning but was quickly quelled as a familiar and welcome stuffed sensation overtook it. The nausea and bile that the corpse brought up paled in comparison to the relief he felt as hunger left him.
The way back to the woods proved easier this time; the size of the serpent Charlie had swallowed whole wasn't too large. It also helped that it was long and narrow, like himself, and folded together without taking up a lot of space. Even still, getting to and ascending the trees proved to be a far more difficult task with an engorged stomach.
The underbrush wasn't close enough for him to safely cross over and hide in, with many frantic creatures in full sprint blocking the treeline. An incredibly large four-legged creature, resembling the one that fought the dark-furred dogs, sped past in a brutal fashion, knocking over everything in its path. It left a quickly shrinking gap behind, devoid of standing creatures.
Seizing the moment, Charlie dove into the forest and made his way into some bushes, not a second too soon either, as he heard powerful hooves trample where he was just moments ago. He had made it, but it was getting extremely difficult to traverse the floor now. If he didn't reach the mountain before he needed to eat again, he wouldn't be able to leave or enter the forest without being trampled to death.
The shadows up in the trees weren't as deep as those on the forest floor, but they were enough to obscure his body from hungry eyes, and even hungrier stomachs. The journey onwards took a toll on his stamina; the weight of the digesting serpent not only slowed him but made traversing the trees far more difficult.
Being more vigilant than ever before also drained his stamina, as many more creatures had decided the forest floor was too dangerous and took to the trees. New shapes and colours dotted the treeline; some were vibrant and playful in hue, others were dark and hid well amongst the shadows. There had yet to be an altercation that he could see, but Charlie wasn't betting on being safe amongst these predators.
Day turned to night, yet Charlie was not going to have the luxury of rest. Everything this close to the mountain was still alive and kicking, or at least they tried to keep doing so. The mass of bodies was slowly losing room to fight in, everything was too squished to even attempt a nibble on easy prey. They were close to the mountain, Charlie was certain; the tension in the air was ready to explode, like a river bursting through a concrete dam.
The chill in the air did little to cool Charlie down; never being able to pause and rest burned his lungs. His body felt worn, tired, and worst of all, hot. The heat never stopped accumulating either; his body didn't sweat, instead he could only breathe heavily in the hopes of cooling down enough to continue. With each hot exhale, he could feel his body cool down just barely for now, but that could quickly change.
The trees didn't make Charlie’s life any easier, either. The once dense and tightly-squeezed canopy was reduced to a sparse few trees still dotting the landscape. Until there were no trees left.
Instead, all Charlie could see was an ocean of bodies, all tightly crammed together, running in the same direction. The base of the mountain was just ahead, but there was something strange going on.
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Charlie could now make out solid shapes and colours, neither of which belonged to the natives of the forest. There were structures in the distance, and they almost looked... human. He couldn't be sure, of course, but why would there be a human settlement here? At the base of the mountain where an incredible number of creatures were madly approaching? It didn't make sense, and he needed to get closer to glean any information about what's even going on, not that he had much choice in where or when to go.
Descending down was suicide, but the creature that was right behind Charlie didn't leave room for much consideration. Instead, Charlie did what he could: he tensed his muscles to their max and propelled himself off the highest point of the tree, aiming for the mass of hopefully soft bodies below.
Wind whistled past his ears, followed by a violent crash that shot through Charlie’s body, landing atop a wide and furry creature's back. The creature's gallop knocked the still recovering Charlie off to the side. [Hollow Fang] shot out in desperation, making contact with the sloped back of the creature, finding purchase and sinking in. The moment [Hollow Fang] sunk in, Charlie was assaulted by an incredible shearing force on his fangs.
Charlie felt like his fangs were about to get ripped out and cut in half from the pressure of holding up his entire body. The creature Charlie had hitched a ride from barely even reacted to the tickle, not that it could do anything about the pesky serpent on its back.
Each second was torture on his fangs; Charlie never stopped moving his body in an attempt to stabilise himself or to find a way to somehow mount the living carriage. Charlie’s body searched and slithered around the creature's abdomen, unable to encapsulate it completely, but it was enough to ease the pressure on his face.
Charlie gasped as a powerful body crashed into both him and the creature he held on to. The crash stole Charlie’s breath, as it was forcefully ejected out of his body, pushing his fangs in deeper and deeper, robbing him of the ability to unlatch and inhale.
It felt like drowning again, that mind-bending desire to ignore everything and breathe was uncontrollable. Charlie’s body writhed and squirmed in panic, trying its best to push apart the vice on his head. His tail and lower body were just about able to push themselves between the two mountains of flesh, giving him a little bit of leverage. Enough leverage to just barely separate them, bringing sweet air to his starved lungs.
In an overwhelming rage, [Hollow Fang] struck out again and found itself sinking into the new mammoth creature. He was going to climb these two monsters, and he was going to repay his near death with their certain death. He didn't care what happened after they fell, these horrific creatures weren't allowed to live.
Having latched himself onto the side of the new creature, Charlie used his body as a piston to ascend upwards, striking out with [Hollow Fang] to stabilise his position. It was crude and often painful, but Charlie was hellbent to see it through, drunk on fury and revenge.
With a final [Hollow Fang], Charlie bit down on the back of the offending creature and felt stable for but a brief moment when he saw it. The base of the mountain was in full open view. They had arrived much quicker than he thought possible, but looking at the speed every creature was running at, it was obvious in hindsight that it would be a short trip for this maddened herd.
The strange shapes Charlie had seen in the distance finally cleared up and started making sense. There was a humongous entrance at the base of the mountain, with what looked like concrete reinforcing the outer edges. Large, fortified buildings behind metal fencing ran along one side of the wall with huge metal grating leading into the opening.
It was like the building was designed to herd a group of creatures directly into their clutches. The mountain started to look a lot more frightening now, like the gaping maw of a titanic creature ready to swallow them whole. Was this how Charlie’s prey felt before his jaws closed around their whole being?
Unfortunately, Charlie didn't get a chance to ponder the ramifications of such thoughts; the creature below him started to abruptly sway. Without a moment's hesitation, Charlie used all of his remaining strength to spring himself across to the back of the other creature, barely latching on with a desperate [Hollow Fang]. Though another [Hollow Fang] would make this ride a short one, as per the previous target of his hate.
The other creature crumpled to the ground and was immediately swallowed by the ocean of bodies behind it. Many creatures tripped and crashed into the body, causing a massive collision that only grew in size with every passing second. It was going to get violent and bloody there in a moment, but Charlie was already long gone.
Carried away on the back of this slowly dying creature, Charlie was almost upon the metal gates. Yet there he had the greatest shock of them all—there were hundreds of humans dressed in some sort of armour, moving frantically about.
There were warriors, or some sort of mercenaries, guarding the gate and killing any creature that got too far away from the entrance. They had utilised longspears that could fit through the metal gate and impale anything in their path, painfully tending to the herd.
Charlie couldn't make out much else as they had already passed the gate and were swallowed by the shadowy cave entrance. The walls were adorned with lit sconces and were made of dark stone, with men that stood high above, atop the concealed ramparts, adorned in light armour and wielding powerful bows. Their arrows made no sound as they shot through and skewered the hundreds of creatures, mercilessly trimming the fat off of the herd.
The bodies that fell to the arrows took out large swathes of creatures still close behind, making them even easier pickings for those distant archers. Charlie took in his surroundings and realised that he was somewhere near the middle of the herd; there was still time to get away before the archers made mincemeat of him.
The creature Charlie rode stumbled for a moment before swaying, alerting Charlie of imminent danger. He needed to launch himself off this crashing beast, but there just wasn't time to stabilise himself enough to jump. The mammoth beast shuddered one final time before falling, its body violently rammed by another from behind.
Charlie had still been latched on to the body when he was violently flung across the herd. He soared through the air and was able to right himself just in time before his underbelly crashed into a massive creature, sending a rotten crunch through his body. He instinctively struck out with [Hollow Fang] but it failed to penetrate the thick skin of this creature, sliding right off.
The creature's massive body was pierced by four steel-tipped arrows, throwing it into the ground before Charlie could hit the floor. The still-charging creatures collided into the sudden wall of flesh, slamming Charlie into the floor with vicious momentum.
Incredibly heavy bodies rolled over Charlie as their frightening momentum continued to push them forward, threatening to force the contents of his stomach out of his body through sheer force. The flesh mountain was quickly riddled with arrows, piercing the thick bodies laying atop Charlie, their blood pouring over him like a crimson river.
The chaos was split by a loud clanging shockwave that exploded from behind, the whole world felt like it was rumbling. An impossibly large gate descended from the cave's ceiling and cut the entrance off from the outside world. Thousands of deep knocks echoed throughout the cave as the creatures continued to crash into the metal barrier.
With the entrance cut off, the massive ocean of bodies was quickly turned into barely a trickle, with the last of the creatures that were let in speeding past him. He could hear and see hurried movement in the ramparts above; the warriors were likely going to descend and collect their bounty. There was little hope in thinking they would spare any of the survivors.
Yet Charlie was stuck. The massive bodies that piled on top of him had restricted his movements and left him defenceless. They barely gave any room to move, let alone breathe. In between what few breaths he could take, Charlie used every muscle in his body to create room, to get any amount of grip or purchase, but nothing changed, no matter how much he struggled.
His head and entire upper body were now drenched in the still warm blood that trickled from above. Charlie’s nerves had been ground down to dust; it was like a scene from a nightmare he couldn't wake up from. Stuck under an impossible weight while an unknown monster lurks in the distance, only to pathetically drown in a pool of blood.
Charlie struggled and fought against his titanic restrictor with a feverish desperation, forgetting to even breathe in his panic. He felt the bodies shift and a painful breath rattled his lungs. A glimmer of hope shot through Charlie as he increased his fervour and found himself wriggling out another inch. The blood soaked the ground and slathered his body, lubricating him and giving him the final push he needed to plop out.
His lungs burned and his body ached, but those warriors weren't going to ignore his struggles; they were going to grab an easy kill if he didn't keep going. Declarations of success, of surviving another impossible situation, needed to wait until after Charlie gained distance between him and the warriors.
There was a slight downward slope to the seemingly never-ending cave, which gave him a perfect view of the still rampaging herd of creatures in the distance. Cave might not even be the right word; it was far closer to a world of its own with its impossibly high ceiling and walls that slowly extended outwards, creating an awe-inspiring environment.
The walls further up ahead looked to have changed materials, with the dark stone giving way to a brown wall made of compacted earth. It was difficult to accept, but it all looked man-made; the warriors must have created an artificial choke-point and have some semblance of control over what enters, or exits, for some unknown reason.
Yet whether or not difficult to accept, the reality was all around him. These walls were unnatural and looked to hide many secrets within. It even allowed the warriors to quickly descend to the ground floor, further confirming Charlie’s suspicions.
Did they lure us in?
It was obvious in hindsight, of course he got lured into this trap. The entire forest fell for whatever this was, and he was no different, just a stupid beast.
Knowing that he was in enemy territory and there were bound to be even more traps ahead, Charlie had no choice but to keep marching on, since the way back was completely sealed and he fared no better against those people.
Whatever was to happen next, Charlie would have to be ready and figure it out as it came. He needed to take everything he had learned up to this point and finally wake up to the reality at hand.
One mistake means death.