TF Chapter 78 Trapped Fish

***Nathaniel***

Also, something else that I noticed was the fact that the ground had become harder, losing the muddy state as we continued on. The mud hid many predators, the flora that devoured even the fauna! Here it seemed that there were no such worries as the hard ground made it a bit harder for the weak plants to even be capable of moving within it.

This section of the forest really gave us the feeling that life was abundant, as opposed to the other gloomy and creepy part.

Though, the fact that it was teeming with life increased the danger level of the place, causing us to be cautious with every move of ours.

There was a lack of birds in this forest, probably because of the fact that they lacked organs that sensed light. Even those critters akin to insects didn't fly, instead having strong feet that allowed them to leap high. What made me interested though, was the fact that they only occasionally ran into obstacles. It led me to a speculation of whether they had some sort of long term memory superior to ours that allowed them to map the place out, but I hurriedly dismissed it after finding out how they were maneuvering in this place.

On Earth, death was typically caused by some predator devouring prey, but here it was instead mostly brought on when something killed itself by accident, and boy, was that almost every second! It was probably why this part of the forest was teeming with life, because of how short every critter's lifespan was!

"This some messed up evolution. Its like a failed scientific experiment. Look at those rabid creatures! They are fighting just because they bumped into each other by accident! Honestly, this is twisted! Why didn't these critters develop some sensory organ for light? The sun reaches this place just fine, but for some reason these critters didn't evolve something akin to sight!" Bora looked like someone had stuffed a bug in her mouth.

***Danny***

There was something wrong with this new place. I just knew it. There was no chill on my back, no shivers, and most definitely, no strange feeling like that of being stalked or anything...but I could feel it within my very bones. This was way abnormal!

All the observations that Bora and Senior Nat were making were already bizarre enough, not to mention the fact that for some reason, these creatures had a lack of specks upon them! The trees had them, that I could tell, yet there was absolutely zero on these creatures!

I could have told them, but that would mean exposing my ability, something that I was very much trying to keep hidden, so how was I going to warn them? Not to mention the fact that for some reason, all this seemed real...wait! An illusion? It couldn't be!!!

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

They had already drummed information about this planet into us! There had been no creature in the records that had been capable of illusions!

"There is something wrong with this!" I whispered as we leaped into another tree.

"Of course everything is wrong here, Danny!" Bora raised her voice, something that told me that she was still not happy with me.

"Yes...the ecosystem is practically broken! Some of the species here look like things that should have been extinct a long time ago due to their imperfections yet here they are!"

Senior Nat chimed in, but the two weren't getting the point I was trying to make here!

Something was very wrong here!

Since I was the only one who had any idea about my own conjectures, I decided to become extra vigilant. There was probably something masterminding this whole scene, something hiding within the shadows.

I tried to spread out my spiritual powers, something that I had done unconsciously, only for my heart to drop down into the abyss.

These creatures, the fake things, weren't randomly moving around as we had thought, no no no, they were closing us in, like a tightly woven net.

"Stop!"

Bora's order signified that she had also noticed the anomaly, though it appeared that we had been too late. It didn't matter much though, because most of them could be taken out by even us who had no intents. We had already fashioned a few primitive weapons from twigs and stones.

But...there was something wrong. There was no way these simple minded creatures had the brains to think of this strategy. So, who or what was behind all this?

"This is weird and bad." Senior Nathaniel's surroundings started to distort, signifying the fact that he had just activated his intent.

"There must be something controlling all these animals. Look at that bug. There is no way it has the intelligence to think up this plan, let alone work with the other creatures." I spoke out.

"We are caught in a trap."

Bora spoke even as we placed our backs to each other in a circle and vigilantly scanned around.

"No matter what happens, we must keep within five meters of each other. I wouldn't be able to protect you both otherwise should the unexpected happen." Senior Nat spoke with seriousness.

How I wished my intent awakened faster!

***Nathaniel***

"I can sense a spiritual aura in the animals, a foreign one."

It was bizarre to say the least. These animals weren't truly living, and were only constructs created through intent infused spirit!

"I don't sense anything!" Bora exclaimed.

Could it be because I had awakened my intent, or was there some other reason that made it so that I was the only one who could detect it? Even Danny was giving me a side eye of astonishment.

"A great observation!!!"

"""WHO?!?!"""

We all shouted out at the same time. The voice hadn't come from just a single place but all around us and was weird as if...I couldn't tell, but it was like it wasn't coming from the person directly.

"I spent years after my close encounter with one of your species, recovering! I wonder, this is our planet, but every single year aliens appear. Where do they come from? Where do YOU come from?"

"A native! Interesting! How did you learn our language?" Danny asked, having calmed down significantly from before. It seemed that finding the origin of the weirdness had allowed him to relax some of his tense nerves, something that we all were experiencing.