The next morning, we decide to continue our travels toward the silhouette in the sky, except this time, instead of mapping out a path through towns and cities, we're going to use the map to avoid humans.

After about half a day of travel, we've completely left the area around the dungeon. The forest we're traveling through right now is pretty sparse, with the closest trees being several body lengths apart. It doesn't take away from the beauty though, the clear view of the sky making the forest seem much more cheerful.

I look up, "Haa, this is so much better than that dreary, claustrophobic dungeon."

"What is 'claustrophobic'?"

I look at Mama, who's looking at me as well.

I think for a few seconds, "Well, somewhere being claustrophobic means that it's like, small and enclosed."

Mama furrows her eyebrows, "But the dungeon was neither small, nor was it enclosed."

"I mean, not really, I guess. I'm actually not sure if it would be considered claustrophobic or not. Man, It's times like these that I really wish I could just look things up on the internet. Anyway, a person can also be claustrophobic if they have claustrophobia, which is the fear of small enclosed areas."

Mama closes her eyes for a bit, then opens them and nods, "I see. What is an 'internet'?"

"The internet is something from my previous world. It's something that a lot of people can use to share infor... wait, what's that?"

I happen to notice something in the distance that stands out from the surrounding trees. It looks tall, dark, and spindly. Other than that, I'm not able to discern much about it.

As we approach it, I'm finally able to tell what it is.

"A dead tree? I've never seen one in this world before."

Mama looks at the dead tree, "I have seen them before. They are not common, though."

I point at another tree in the distance, "Look, there's one over there, too."

We keep walking forward, but the farther we get, the more dear trees start popping up, and even the ones that aren't dead start looking sickly, with droopy, discolored leaves.

I start poking Mama's foot until she looks at me, "So you've never seen anything like this?"

She shakes her head, "Never."

"Huh. Wonder what's causing it."

We try taking a detour by walking around the area with dead trees, but they seem to stretch on forever, so eventually we decide to give up and just walk straight through them.

Within an hour of travel, we're completely surrounded by dead trees, and I start getting some creepy vibes. I look over at Mama, who seems unperturbed by her surroundings.

"Mama, do you feel anything? Like someone's watching you or something?"

Mama shakes her head, "I do not feel any gazes."

"Oh, okay."

Although I trust Mama's judgment more than my own, the creepy feeling only gets stronger as we continue through the forest. It's like something's watching us, following us. I try scouring the area with my soul several times, but every time I do, I turn up with nothing.

'I haven't felt this way in quite a while. I mean, my intuition usually isn't wrong, but there just doesn't seem to be anything there.'

Inevitably, the sun, along with the two daytime moons, creeps closer and closer to the edge of the sky, soon to be replaced by the four nighttime moons. As the sky darkens, something I can barely perceive due to my night vision, the bad feeling only gets worse. As Mama starts slowing down, presumably to stop for the night, I can't help but say something.

"Mama, should we worry about making camp tonight? I mean, there aren't even any creatures here, so we can't really eat anything."

Mama shakes her head, "Do not worry."

She then waves her hand, causing the giant corpse of some sort of snake covered in black scales to appear on the ground.

She smiles proudly, "I have many creatures in my storage rings in preparation for a situation such as this. And they do not spoil quickly in there, so I do not even need to prepare them before putting them in."

I stare at her proud face, and force a smile onto my own, "Right, that's uh... a good idea, Mama."

Mama laughs and walks over to a nearby tree, breaking off several branches and bringing them back. She then arranges the wood and tries to start a fire, but even after several attempts, the wood won't stay lit. It's almost like the dry wood is flame retardant, as strange as that sounds.

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Mama smiles, "No matter, I was prepared for this as well!"

She waves her hand, causing several appropriately sized logs to materialize on the ground. She then looks at me expectantly.

I sit down and clap my front paws together, "Wow, good job Mama. I never would have thought this far ahead!"

Her smile widens, and she begins laughing again as she starts a fire.

'Still, why didn't that wood catch on fire? I mean, on earth, this entire area would be a fire hazard. This whole place just seems really... off.'

Mama proceeds to prepare the snake, and then places it above the fire after sprinkling rock salt, along with several seasonings that we got from Bark's village, on it. The delicious smell that wafts through the air almost makes me forget about the feeling I've been getting.

"Wow Mama, you've gotten really good at cooking."

Mama grins and hands me a bowl, which she also got from one of her storage rings, full of cooked snake meat. I forego all pleasantries and dig in, eating the entire bowl of food within seconds. Mama just laughs and refills my bowl before I can even ask her to.

'I've never tried snake meat on earth. I wonder if the snakes over there taste this good?'

Within minutes, the entire snake is gone, and I feel stuffed.

"Wow, that was delicious."

Mama smiles and pats her lap, "I think so as well."

I walk over and lie down on top of her, after which she pets my head a couple times before she begins meditating.

I've been camping on earth before, so the campfire gives me a subconscious sense of comfort, its bright flames supposedly able to ward off wild animals. But honestly, I get the feeling that if something really is following us, it's not any normal wild animal.

I suddenly wake up with a horrible feeling in my stomach, like my organs want to escape my body. As I look at the campfire, I realize that it's still burning, indicating that I must not have been asleep for too long.

'Ugh, that snake really didn't settle well...'

I quickly realize that's not the problem though, as the feeling starts spreading, eventually covering my entire stomach. I start moving around, changing positions to see if I can get more comfortable, but nothing works.

'Am I sick? I mean, I've never gotten sick in this world before, but you never know.'

The feeling starts traveling up my body, continuing until eventually, it nears the marble on my chest. Almost immediately, the feeling in my stomach disappears, as I feel something rush up through my body toward the marble.

Shocked and disturbed, I do pretty much the only thing that I can in this situation, and try to intercept it with my soul. I just barely cover the marble in my chest before I feel something bash against my soul with a fair bit of force.

Enraged by the sudden attack, I push back violently, expelling the entity from my body. I look around for whatever that thing is, but all I'm able to see are dead trees, the fire, and...

'Right, Mama!'

I start scanning her body with my soul, focusing mostly on her stomach area, but even after several seconds, I'm unable to find anything. As I exhale a sigh of relief, I feel Mama stir.

"Lyna? I felt something, did you do that?"

I stand up, "Mama, we need to leave, now! There's a ghost thing out there, and it just tried to attack me!"

My intuition starts acting up again, only much worse this time. I start feeling several presences, all originating from the same general direction.

I start shouting, "Seriously, Mama! We need to go!"

A solemn expression appears on her face as she nods her head and picks me up.

I point past the campfire into the woods, "The thing that attacked me went that way, and I can feel more of them! They're invisible, and they use some sort of soul attack."

Mama looks in the direction I'm pointing, "I believe I can feel them now as well, but barely. The feeling is getting stronger, though."

I nod my head, "Yeah, they're getting closer. We should really get out of here."

Mama starts running in the opposite direction with me in her arms, but no matter how fast she runs, the things don't seem to be getting any farther away, stalking us from a distance. Although I can't tell their exact number, it's certainly growing, their conglomerated energy becoming easier and easier to detect.

I try dissuading them with my soul, but it's easier said than done. When something's in my body, it's an easy target, but these things weave through the air like spider silk. Forget landing a killing blow, I'm lucky if I can even graze one.

Suddenly, a shiver runs down my spine as I sense something terrible pass over me, the feeling similar to getting doused in cold water. It only lasts a split second before disappearing, but it makes those ghost things seem like ants in comparison. At almost the same time, the ghosts start speeding up, drawing even closer to us.

My eyes widen as I look straight in front of us, the direction that the dangerous pulse came from.

I point beside us, "Mama, try going that way!"

Mama nods her head and starts running in the direction that I pointed, but the ghosts following us immediately cut her off, forcing her to revert to her original course. I feel another pulse flow over us, stronger this time, causing the ghosts to further quicken their pace. Mama speeds up as well, but I can tell by her strained expression that it's taxing on her.

An even stronger pulse flashes by, and another, each one causing the ghosts speed up, forcing Mama closer to her limits. Some of the ghosts start splitting from the group, charging us by themselves, forcing me to create a barrier with my soul.

Finally, as another pulse passes by, making my skin crawl, I grit my teeth and shout, "Mama, stop!"

She doesn't ask any questions, slowing down and coming to a complete stop almost immediately. The ghosts also seem to lose their vigor, stopping not far from us. Now that they're all in one place, I feel like I can see distortions in the air where they are, almost like a mirage.

As I feel another pulse, some of the ghosts break the silence and move in to attack us, slamming into my barrier. I slowly turn my head in the direction we were running. There, in front of us, is a massive crater, completely devoid of even dead trees.

Mama looks as well and mutters, "How did I not see that before?"

I shake my head, "I didn't see it either. I just felt like there was something really bad in front of us..."

My eyes quickly drift to the center of the crater, where I can just barely make something out.

'A sword... no, two swords, one of them is just smaller.'

The larger sword is black and purple, giving off an intimidating, even overbearing impression. The smaller sword on the other hand, although I can't see it very well, I can tell that it's mostly white. It gives off a pleasant, soothing feeling. It makes me just want to stare at it...

'Ah, wake up, me. This isn't the time to get distracted.'

Another pulse rushes by, seemingly originating from the crater, causing the ghosts to get even more anxious.

'I won't be able to hold these guys off forever. What to do...'