Rane’s eyes opened quickly when a familiar tickle brushed against his mind. Something was coming. Something strong. A different and sharper presence than the axtl hunter. It still did not compare to what he felt in the village, but it still could not be ignored. He had gotten lucky that the honor guard was wounded. He was not going to rely on luck again.

Wasting no time, he poked his head out above his burrow and checked the immediate area before standing upright and gathering his few belongings. A couple blades that would do him little good against any threat stronger than a ferull.

He quickly made his way to the pool to gather his bearings when he suddenly knew that he had been perceived. He turned his head upstream, and through the trees he saw four, yellow, serpentine eyes locked onto him.

It was hard to judge its size from his location, but it was clear that it did not look small, even among the towers of wood surrounding them. This was not even to mention that the creature was likely at least of altient rank. Without a doubt, it could be called a monster.

Rane wasted no time. He ran.

He chose to follow the path of the stream, which he believed was taking him deeper into the Great Wood. Dawn had not fully broken, so he could not easily find his bearing using the sun.

The path was dimly lit, and the stream began to cut into the earth a bit, its bed a few feet down from its bank. Rane kept his path as straight as he could, leaping from side to side as occasion demanded.

His legs were burning even though he had not run for very long. It had been days since he had eaten a proper meal, and it was taking a toll on how much force he could exert. Nevertheless, he continued. To falter here by simple fatigue would spell his death.

The stream began to gain width as Rane noticed that it had been joined by a few other small flows of water as he ran through the bush.

He found himself in the ‘y’ of a fork, the stream now several times increased in depth and flow, still cutting its path through the earth. He stopped for a moment, and despite still feeling its presence, still knowing that it was behind him, he turned to look anyway.

It was slithering across the leaves of the forest with frighteningly little noise, and making good pace. No, it was definitely catching up to him. It flew across the bends and gaps in the creek with its head lifted above the forest floor, flicking a tongue the size of Rane’s arm.

The two eyes on each side of its head were locked on Rane, making him shiver involuntarily. Its body was difficult to focus on, though, with its strange mix of browns and grays blending in with the forest to a degree that nearly gave him a headache as he tried briefly to judge its length.

Rane had no time to backtrack from the fork he found himself in, so he leapt down into the creek, splashing into the water that was now up just above his knees, and moving with a speed just high enough to make his footing unstable.

He needed to reach the other bank quickly. He could feel the serpent getting closer rapidly now. With his mobility hampered, it was gaining on him every second. He couldn't let it happen.

With great effort, he flared his ambient, cycling it around himself as strongly as possible, and pushed the water of the creek away from himself. He picked up his pace and broke into a short sprint through the now ankle deep water, throwing himself onto the opposite bank with deep, gasping breaths.

The creature was closer still, and Rane’s thoughts were impaired by the primal urge to escape. He looked back again, locking eyes briefly with the serpent. Its eyes flashed with something akin to understanding, and it blinked its eyes in unison once, twice, and on the third blink, its presence vanished almost completely as its body began to blur into the forest around them.

Rane couldn’t see it anymore, and he could no longer feel from which direction it was coming. The serpent… Can suppress its ambient and apply some sort of technique to camouflage itself at the same time!? It was simply unfair.

Rane flew down the bank of the creek faster than he had previously believed possible, suffusing his entire body with cycled ambient, trying desperately to increase his physical abilities even by a small margin. Maybe it was working; perhaps it was not. It didn’t matter, as he could no longer sense how close the serpent was to him. He could only flee in the manner of a scared animal.

Stolen story; please report.

Now that he could no longer focus on that which was behind him, he had purchase to focus on what was in front of him. The stream was picking up pace, churning itself into rapids that made him aware that he would not be able to cross the waters again. If he found himself at another fork, he would simply have to choose to give himself to the waters or to the serpent.

He continued to run, and noticed the trees becoming a bit more sparse, the ground becoming less earthy, and the waterway, which had began as a small, flowing creek, was now a churning whitewater run that constantly released the noise of its body crashing angrily against the rocks on which it lay.

Suddenly, Rane burst forward from the forest completely, the dazzling sun of dawn blinding him as he emerged from the tree line. He stumbled, fell, and rolled back up to his feet as his eyes adjusted to his new view.

The waters to his left spilled infinitely over a rocky edge, down into a valley below, in which a proper river flowed through its bottom.

The thought earlier that he may have to choose between the waters and the serpent resurfaced in his mind, and the choice was not difficult.

Rane sprinted forward and threw himself off of the edge of the fall. It was not an act of bravery. It was a simple choice between certain death and almost certain death.

He had never experienced the vivid rush of freefall, but even still, he did not panic. He knew that a poor landing could mean the end for him. Well, that was as long as the bottom of the fall was more than a rock bed.

Rane fell into the deep basin of the fall with a splash that could not be heard over the roar of the cascading torrent.

Far above, a massive serpent seemed to materialize as it reached its snout over the edge of the rocks, its tongue flickering as if tasting the overspray from the rapids. With its four, glittering, yellow eyes, it eyed the valley below with an intense gaze for a moment before turning away. As it slithered back into the trees, it did not even need the help of ambient to be quickly lost from sight.

*****

Rane woke up surrounded by water, inhaling a great bit of it as he twisted his body in shock and fear. He thrashed his arms and producing a racking cough that he hadn’t previously was possible to do with a throat full of water. Eventually, he realized that he was still in the river, and tried to calm down as he realized that he could float just enough to keep his head above the water.

He considered swimming to shore, but quickly found the idea unactionable. His body was somewhat worse for wear, and while the current of the river was not crazed and unpredictable, its subtle strength was far too much for him to overcome in his current state.

He stretched his body wide and closed his eyes as he moved headfirst down the river, facing towards what seemed the brightest sky he had ever witnessed.

It was strange that such beauty existed here alongside such horror.

As he allowed the water to carry him in its embrace, he was struck with a thought, perhaps even a revelation.

Just like the leaves that I tossed into the stream, and just as I am now being carried, was that how one could achieve aura suppression?

He did not know for sure, but it made sense. Of course, it would not be as simple as that. He would have to study the flow of ambient, then match its flow, not with his own cycle, but using the cycle that existed innately.

Rane closed his eyes, excited to test his new idea when he was more rested.

He fell asleep in the river’s care, and did not open his weary eyes until he felt his back scrap uncomfortably against the smooth rocks of the bank.

He tried to open his eyes, but they were crusted shut, and his face felt hot. The river may have been kind to him, but the sun it seemed, held out no such goodwill.

Just then, he felt a tickle on the edge of his mind. It was something close to the feel of another ambient presence, but he could not identify anything other than that presence in his head.

Then the tickle grew to a dull pain, which grew into a splitting headache, which grew into what felt like something boring into his skull.

Then it was over.

And his mind was flooded with an ordered array of thoughts, sights, and emotions.

He saw a body scraping along the edge of a river, small waves lapping at its clothes as it was pushed further onto the bank.

He felt a curiosity as mental images of myriad creatures blasted his mind at once. None matched the one he saw before him.

The curiosity intensified, followed by the sights of many dead creatures.

The curiosity turned to question, and Rane’s mind was again assaulted with visions.

He saw two deer cautiously approaching each other before each making a few odd grunting sounds and turning to walk the same direction.

He saw a buck rabbit hop to another, smelling it a few times before lashing out with a quick bite. It bounded away, the other close in chase.

He saw two axtls spot each other in the deep wood. They made a few guttural sounds and gestures before letting out a loose series of contented barks. They each turned and went their own way.

This… Is a greeting some sort, Rane thought with question.

Rane pictured himself and another human in the place of the axtls. They greeted, clasped arms, and Rane imagined himself asking for food.

Amusement. Excitement. Novelty.

Rane felt the grip of a clawed limb clasp his leg, and soon, he was being dragged away, still unable to open his eyes.