🙡 CHAPTER 3.2 🙣

SOUNDS OF THE FOREST

ZAP! — a refrain of the past 2 hours sounded again. I jumped back so far I hit the barrier again. Whatever the “tree” is, after seeing me run away it quickly lost interest, and closed its eyes again—yes, eyes, as I’ve noticed dozens of them opening—like a drug addict going back to its photosynthetic high dreams.

I’m glad I haven’t learned how to make high pitched sounds yet. Otherwise the screech I would have made would have been a dark memory for years to come.

Hey man consider this- maybe, just maybe, those point markers aren’t there just for show! They have a purpose, as in showing something you actually should pay attention to!

So now I know why someone bothered warding the forest off.

*Rustle Rustle*

*Creak Creak*

And yet, no animals in sight, only “trees”.

You might think at that point I was ready to cry in a corner somewhere. Part of me definitely was. And yet, after a few hours of panicking running away, I couldn’t help, but smile! We are back ladies and gentlemen! Yes, the body might be different, the world as well, and yet we are back to the daily struggle! Risking your literal life in a real jungle might not be the same as doing so in a metaphorical one—but what’s the worst thing that can happen, I will die and go to hell? Bwahahaha! Let’s go!

Actually, isn’t the worst thing that can happen actually becoming a fungus-infected zombie, being eaten from the inside over the period of years? Or just dying of hunger and thirst, finding a scrap of food, only for the process to repeat itself? Oh, and let’s not forget GOING TO ACTUAL HELL THAT YOU NOW KNOW EXISTS AND YOU HAVE EXPRESS TICKET TO?! I need to get out of here fast, it’s not good for my mental state.

My new TODO list:

1. Eat any fish I might have caught

2. Get the F out of this forest.

3. Find a notebook and create a book of grudges, then add Pelican-birds, trees, and barrier makers.

4. Feel productive after making a list, even if it hasn’t changed my situation in a slightest

But how do I get out? Flying over is impossible, swimming doesn’t work, I doubt getting under would work, since these protections are most likely made for these Treants…. But whoever built this must have created some way of going in and out…

From what I could see from my high altitude escapades, this is the only place with two stones—it makes this place the most likely candidate for some kind of gate. Yes, I do know it might be an accident, an additional precaution due to the water stream, but It’s my best lead!

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I floated down, my tentacles flopping up and making me feel embarrassed, so I shyly moved them to hide a general area around my lower half as if I had something to hide. Do I even have anything there? Who knows, maybe my species reproduce like a potato... or maybe by splitting. Wait, I came from an egg!

Well back to the “gate”. I put my face next to the ground, and started snooping around, looking at it carefully, searching for footprints and so on… and couldn’t tell much. Tried touching the ground like in the movies, but it told me nothing. Why exactly are people doing that? I suspect it's to see freshly moved ground, or maybe feel the heat? Or maybe hear the clopping of an army of horses…

Well, unfortunately mother earth decided to ignore me, but lady luck decided to bestow me with a smile—as sun moved down, it shone on an accessory stuck on a branch deeper in the forest. A... hairpin? Ring? Not sure… but I could still smell the sweat.

… that sounded far creepier than it should have...

Well. There are 2 choices in front of me

1. Wait for the owner to come back, making my problems go away by themselves

2. go deeper into the forest, along the stream, hoping to find them

HAHA! Yeah, as if problems ever solved themselves. Not to mention that I have no way of knowing if they even will come back! After all, it might not be the entrance after all, or maybe they are just passing through here! I have to find them. And fast.

I don’t like it. The more I look at the dark depths in front of me, the more menacing they look. The big red point markers above and around different parts of the thick and ashen trees definitely did not help the feeling.

But behind me, was my old life, with all the lessons I learned with my sweat and blood, and even if I did not remember most of them, of one thing I was certain—when life kicks you once, a second kick is coming, so if you don’t want to get hurt, don’t sit down and wait, do something!

And so, I ventured forth!

⁂

...I just hoped I could see where I was going…

About an hour has passed. The path continued along the stream, never diverting. Yeah, a path! After some point, every spot on the ground was covered in many layers of roots, thick and thin—apart from a clearly maintained corridor, about 1m wide, along the stream! And now that the light was dimmer, due to the thicker canopy, I could see why—small pebblestones, glowing with mysterious blue light, were spread around its floor. When I picked one of them up, and threw it on an offshoot slightly to the side, the wood recoiled in pain, moving away from it as fast as it could, until it laid directly on the ground! Another proof of magic. As if being a floating tentacle monster, or being shocked multiple times wasn’t enough of a hint.

And if you are wondering, yeah, once again I’m floating. It just seems safer.. Even if I don’t know what kind of monsters live here. I was considering camouflaging myself as a little bush, but after I noticed the glow, all thoughts of camouflage went out of the window—no matter what I do I would stick out like a sore thumb while around it. And I definitely did not want to try getting off the path—it’s my only clue on how to get out of here!

And exactly as I finished monologuing to myself about that—as If a flag was raised—the path ended.

Well, okay, I’m lying, it took like another 1 hour, but it's a better story this way okay?!

What is not a lie, is a definitely human scream I could hear while thinking what to do next!