Liv stumbled through the woods, her senses finely tuned and aware of absolutely everything that moved. Suddenly, she flung her hand out, a silent wind blade flying out and almost ripping the head off a small bird, which had just taken flight. It chirped, affronted, and flew off into the sky, disappearing in a matter of moments.

  Liv turned her head, noting everything. She felt something watching her, and it was not welcome. The sooner she noticed whatever it was, the sooner she could kill it and be on her way. Liv Whispered a small instruction to a wind spirit, letting it fly off and convey her request to the others in the area. Soon, it came back with a response. There was no one the spirits could find in her surroundings. Liv sighed. Perhaps in a forest it would be better to ask the wood?

  Liv stepped up to one of the trees, grabbing a branch. The smooth bark almost pulsed underneath her hand, seeming to have a heartbeat. She reached in to communicate with the spirits inside. The blood spirits she found refused, saying they did not serve her, but their host. Liv stepped away from the tree, continuing into the forest.

  Wait.

  Blood spirits? Host?

  The tree suddenly struck at her, the branch she was holding turning into a pike aimed directly at her back. Liv released it, stepping to the side. She looked at the forest around her. No animals of any kind except a few small birds. Were the trees killing them all? Liv jumped over a whipping root aimed at her feet as the trees came alive around her. They rose up out of the ground, jagged mouths opening as their bark creaked open. Liv kicked off a trunk with the mouth facing the wrong direction, launching herself over a group of roots aiming to entrap and kill her. The next branch that came at her was too fast to dodge, slamming her side and tossing her through the forest. Liv slammed into a tree which luckily hadn't opened its mouth yet, landing on her back and rolling away from a branch that stabbed into the ground. I need to go faster.

  Wind snapped up around Liv as she Whispered to the closest spirit, her steps lightened and her speed increased. The trees sped up in response, easily keeping up with her new tempo. Another branch caught her, slamming her into the ground. Liv heard and felt a crack. A few of her ribs were now broken.

  She turned over, looking at the trees, now closing in on her. Faster...

  Liv decided to reach for lightning.

  There were no lightning spirits close enough to help. Despite that, Liv reached out into the world, attempting to find one that she could use to survive this crisis. After all, lightning was incredibly fast, wasn't it? Liv Called for the first time, the world answering her plea. A spirit of pure lightning snapped into existence right next to her, fully charged and ready to help. It immediately released lightning into her, supercharging her body, and Liv started to move once more.

  The next branch came for her, and Liv, once again, barely stepped aside as it carved a furrow into the ground. Her entire body suddenly screamed with pain as the lightning coursed through it. "I may have not thought this through," Liv muttered, her muscles locking up under the sudden surge of electricity. "It doesn't matter though. Lightning, I'm speaking to you. I am the person using you. I am not the person you are hurting. You're mine. MINE!," she screamed to the sky, forcing her willpower completely towards controlling the lightning.

  Another root slammed into her, but Liv ignored it. She had other concerns. More and more punishment started to rack up, bruises appearing all over her. The roots weren't strong enough to fling her away, the trees only just waking up and not warmed up, unlike the previous one.

  The spirit finally used the last of its energy, injecting the rest of its power as lightning into Liv's body.

  Another strong swing came down, this branch containing enough force to kill her if it made contact. It approached ever closer, an executioner's axe coming directly for her neck.

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  Liv's mind overpowered the lightning.

  Her right arm was the first to change, letting Liv grab the branch and fling herself away with superhuman speed.

  Liv's left leg was next, kicking off the ground with all the speed of lightning and avoiding an elaborate net of roots set to kill her.

  The rest of her body all changed as one, speeding up massively as the lightning was finally assimilated. The branches and roots now seemed ponderous to her, weaving and dodging, smacking aside any that came too close. Liv had all the time in the world now with her newfangled speed, and she used that time to examine the changes to her body. There was a new marking on her right arm, a bolt of lightning curling down her forearm and ending on her hand and elbow, only visible when she was using her magic sight. Her leg didn't have the symbol, and neither did the rest of her body. What it all had in common was that it was now supercharged. Her blood had lightning spirits in it, as did her flesh and bone. She could sense the lightning within her, electrifying her blood, flesh, and bone. The lightning spirits were dissipating, slowly, but they provided all the evidence Liv needed for a theory. Before, the lightning had been created by the spirits. They had been the 'property' of the spirits.

  Now, it was truly her power. Her entire body now had lightning within, and it was a special brand of lightning entirely under her control. The spirits fizzling out proved that. They were not suited to survive in something that was not their power, fizzling and dissipating into energy, reappearing somewhere else, where they had their own brand of lightning. Liv dodged another root, watching it slowly move past her. The lightning had not just increased her speed, but her strength and reaction time as well. Liv stepped past another ineffective attack. Now to find a way out of this forest.

  Liv started running, sprinting at incredible speeds in a single direction. If she ran far enough, the forest would end eventually.

  The roots couldn't touch her as she dodged them without a care in the world, the trees somehow having sent a message about her fast enough to alert the ones ahead before she got there.

  Suddenly, Liv saw a speck of green fly directly at her from her front, approaching with deceptive speed. She grabbed a nearby branch and swung around it, watching the razor-sharp leaf fly into the distance incredibly quickly. Apparently some things are still faster than I am.

  Liv swung on another branch, correcting her course so she once again ran in the same direction, more wary this time. Suddenly, a blur shot in front of her and Liv came to a stop as fast as she could, grabbing multiple branches and pulling back, the attacks helping her instead of harming her in any way.

  Liv winced as a line of red erupted on her stomach.

  A woman wearing a rotten crown of flowers and covered in a bark dress stood in front of her, wooden claws extending from one of her hands. Slowly, more grew out of her other hand. "Hello, child. Please resist and let me kill you slowly and painfully. It will be fun, I guarantee you," she said, smiling. Her feet were partly embedded within a tree, which didn't seem inclined to eat her.

  Liv snorted. "No, idiot."

  "The power of your lightning isn't going to save you," the woman said, suddenly accelerating at Liv.

  Liv barely reacted, stepping aside and barely dodging the brutal claw swipe. Three lines appeared on her left arm, searing pain erupting from the deep wounds. She stepped back. "What are you?,' Liv asked.

  "Oh, me?," The woman said, smirking. "I'm just a corrupted dryad. I decided to go to evil, as did the rest of this forest. Once all the spirits are dead, and you, we can rule the forests and kill all those annoying elves."

  Liv stepped further back, creating distance. The trees had stopped attacking, but she wasn't sure if this battle could be won even without their interference. The dryad spoke once again. "Well, this is your end, dear."

  The dryad accelerated. Liv's eyes narrowed as she instinctively brought her right arm up, opening it and pointing her palm at the speeding dryad. She blasted power down her arm, directly into the lightning symbol. The dryad's eyes widened, retracting the claws on one of her arms, reaching down to summon a wooden tendril out of the ground. It grabbed the dryad, attempting to toss her to the side before Liv's attack hit.

  She was barely too slow, a massive burst of lightning erupting out of Liv's arm. The golden beam flew forward with immense power, utterly disintegrating the dryad in front of her. A single arm fell to the ground, the claws still retracted. The tree behind the dryad was still alive, a large burn mark visible on its surface. Liv flew back, the power of the shot sending her flying directly into another tree behind her, which didn't immediately murder her. The last thought that went through her mind was that 'not getting eaten immediately was good enough', before she passed out, her back to the tree.