The next morning, Jake woke up to a knife embedding itself into the ground next to his head, causing him to jump up with a loud cry.
“You’re a deep sleeper kid. Too deep. Fix it fast.” Rick said in a nonchalant voice as he walked over and scooped his knife up out of the ground without even glancing at Jake, who was now leaning up
against the rocks behind him, panting, trying to recover from the sudden shock. Rick frowned as he noticed the dirt stuck to his blade and removed a handkerchief from beneath his cloak to wipe it clean. As he wiped it clean, Jake stared at him with a shocked incredulous gaze that Rick completely ignored.
“Pack up fast, we're leaving soon,” Rick said after he finished polishing the knife, and with a satisfied nod he pocketed the knife somewhere beneath his cloak and walked away from Jake without another word. Jake sat there for a little while longer, struggling to catch his breath before he started moving. He packed up fast, the book he was reading was easily shoved in his bag and his blanket bundled up easily before being stuffed in on top. The knife that was given to him yesterday he kept on hand, pocketing it in his pants. Thankfully they had a set of rather loose pockets on either side of his waist.
After he was done packing, he slung his bag across his bag and hoisted himself upright with the help of his cane. His leg felt good as new, still a bit unbalanced and awkward but Jake didn’t doubt he could walk on his own now without the cane. He still held onto it though, it was the only source of light he had after all and he didn’t want to bother Lana to make him a whole new light source when the cane was still perfectly functional.
Walking away from the cliff edge he’d been sleeping under, Jake quickly met up with the rest of the group who were by now all packed up and waiting for him.
“I saw Rick woke you up, huh kid?” Leopold asked with a shit-eating grin. Jake gave a curt nod, sparking Leopold to burst out into a huge fit of laughter. Once he was done, he wiped a tear from his eyes and continued talking, “Well be walking to a new campground further inland today that Rick scouted out. I’ve walked the path we’ll be taking, and it shouldn’t be too long a walk. We aren’t pushing too far into the forest yet since we aren’t confident about how severely the landscape has changed. Both Rick and I ran into predators while moving through the woods so stay on guard.”
Once Leopold finished his briefing everyone gave a nod and departed the campsite, moving away from the Largo mountains and pushing into the forest. As Jake walked he took in the sight of the forest around him as light danced from the group's collected magical lights twinkling in the unending dark, casting dancing shadows off the trees around them.
What struck Jake the most was the various states of decay the forest seemed to be in. Some trees looked perfectly healthy while others were rotted-down husks. Leaves of various states of death hung from the branches or littered the ground as dried carcasses that parted from the group's footsteps in crackling sounds that echoed across the empty forest in a cacophony. The ground itself was made of simple dirt, in various states of disarray. In some patches, the ground felt soft and spongy, while in others it felt dry and lifeless. Occasionally Jake would spot sprouts of grass sticking out of the ground, either vibrant and full of life or dried husks withered and snapped like broken hay.
Jake took this bizarre spectacle in, a Forrest composed of both rotted and living plants. Unsure of what to make of it, he took it in with silent confusion till Lana, who happened to look back and noticed the confused expression across his face, said,
“The Corruption is a slow killer. It feeds on its host's vitality driving them mad. Animals and people, they act erratic till they fully devolve and become members of The Swarm. For plants though, the process is slower. They have no thoughts, so it takes longer for them to fully fall to The Corruption and rot away but make no mistake Jake. Everything in this forest is infected with The Corruption’s filth.”
Jake gave a slow nod to this explanation. They continued forward and Jake made a concentrated effort to avoid any trees as best he could, even the healthy-looking ones. The rustling of the dead leaves beneath his feet was distracting but comforting in a familiar sort of way. Reminded Jake of falls back home. Suddenly the group stopped without warning, as Rick who led the group raised his hands signaling for the group to come to a halt. However, though the group came to a halt, the rustling of the leaves in the wind continued.
The sound encircled them from all directions and was rapidly growing closer. Without wasting much time, Leopold unsheathed his sword while Rick pulled a pair of knives from beneath his cloak. The pair, along with Lana, moved together silently till they were standing back-to-back. They left an open spot for Jake who was still standing rooted to the ground. Realizing what they were doing, Jake clumsily removed the dagger from his pocket, almost dropping it, and joined the trio in makeshift formation.
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He felt nervous, like he could be sick as he stood there simply waiting for the approaching unknown. The trio seemed calm to Jake, but he noticed they remained silent, mouths shut in tense expressions and eyes facing out waiting for the approach of the enemy.
The wait was not long, as before long a paw emerged into the light surrounding the group, followed by more and more, and soon a pack of six wolves emerged from the dark of the Forrest to encircle the group. Their skin seemed to burn as soon as they encountered the light being produced by Lana’s magic, and letting out angered howls, four of the wolves immediately locked onto her, moving in a low stance to the ground and producing low growls and spittle from their feral mouths. The other two wolves howled equally as angry before locking their gazes onto Leopold and Jake, one of whom stood steadfast and the other whose hands were slightly trembling.
The trio behind Jake did not stand still and wait for the wolves to pounce. As the wolves slowly prowled around them, Rick caught them by surprise with a sudden flash of movement as two knives flew through the air and embedded themselves into the skulls of half the wolves preparing to maul Lana.
The wolves, noticeably surprised by this action, let out angered howls and charged forward, but it was far too late for them by then. The one aimed at Leopold swung forward with its claws and jaw, hoping to sink into flesh only to be stopped by the rough metal of his armor. Unbothered by the squirming creature trying to maul him, Leopold swung his arm back and smashed the wolf into the ground, before cutting into its throat with his sword while it lay momentarily stunned. Lana, while her brother brutalized one wolf, busied herself killing the other two attempting to maul her. Her hands glowed a bright, electric blue before a flash escaped from them catching hold of the corrupted wolfs who fell to the floor twitching. Black blood flowed freely from their mouth as they squirmed on the ground in pain, but eventually, the squirming stopped and they lay dead.
As for Jake, who was unprepared for the sudden actions of the trio he was left frozen, staring at the wolf charging toward him growing ever closer by the second. He raised his knife, unsure of what to do, or where to cut, when suddenly his eyes locked with those of the wolf gaining ground and getting ever closer to him. All he saw reflected back at him was a desperate desire to kill, a wild fury driven solely by instinct and madness. All he saw was a monster. He felt no pity for the creature across from him this time. Only fear. Fear that paralyzed him and made him feel he was trapped underground again, simply waiting to bleed out and die. His breath quickened and he felt himself take a step backward, the hand holding the knife shaking.
Then, the wolf charging at him lay dead, a knife jutting from the side of its neck leaking blood. Jake stood there, still shaking unable to control himself. He turned and caught sight of the group across from him. Neither Lana nor Leopold were looking at him, they had only just finished killing their own respective wolfs. But Rick caught his eyes, his face a mix of disappointment and pity.
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Jake stood in the new campground, a few yards away from a tree. They arrived about an hour after the wolf attack. The distance traveled wasn’t very far, but they were slowed down by the weight of the wolf carcasses they’d brought along with them for meat. Jake was currently busy trying to practice throwing his knife, with minimal success, to try and keep his mind off the wolf attack. Reeling his arm back, he released the knife again. It flew further than when he first attempted knife throwing but his aim and arc were still terrible, and the knife still landed in the dirt.
“You need to flick your wrist more, kid.” Jake turned and saw Rick walk up behind him, dragging the two wolf carcasses the group had brought with them to camp. Rick had spent the last few hours with the carcasses, watching them bleed properly to make sure none of the black blood remained when it was time to skin them, but now it seemed he was done and had decided to come skin the animals over by Jake. Jake went and retrieved his knife and sat across from Rick, sitting in silence for a while before Rick finally asked,
“What happened kid? You start pitying them again?”
“No,” Jake said, shaking his head and looking down.
Rick nodded and began taking knives out of his cloak, examining them carefully before saying,
“Thought so, that wasn’t pity in your eyes.” He then began to carefully sharpen one of his knives, not looking up at Jake as he continued talking, “Fear is a good thing kid. Keeps you safe, helps you make smart decisions, and in life-threatening situations, it alerts you to danger.”
Rick began to carve into the wolf after he finished talking, still not making eye contact with Jake.
“But kid,” He continued after a while, removing his knife away from the wolf “Fear only keeps you safe if you control it. Don’t fight against it. Don’t freeze up. Don’t just stand there, waiting to die in fear. Don’t die a coward. Fight back. Control your fear. Hunt it down and control it.” Rick finished his speech and resumed his work with the wolf, never once glancing up toward Jake. Jake sat there pondering what Rick had said. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before, he often heard motivational stories about how people conquered their fears and achieved greatness. But now he found himself in the same position, he truly didn’t know if he could do it. Part of him didn’t doubt that if faced with another rabid beast, he wouldn’t freeze up again.
With a sigh, he threw the knife he was holding again, adding more of a flick to his wrist this time. It traveled far farther this time, and though it missed the tree he was aiming for it did embed itself in a tree behind it to the right.
“Not bad,” Rick said with a nod, still looking down at the wolf he was carving. Still deep in thought, Jake retrieved his knife and focused on the work Rick was doing to skin the wolf, knowing soon it probably be his turn to prepare the second wolf waiting to the side.