The Forest (Pt. 2)

" Everyone, keep your eyes out, we're in goblin territory now. We don't want to be caught from behind." I voiced and moved to the front of the group to scout out traps. I began paying extra attention to my surroundings trying to prevent any sort of surprises. The creatures up to this point were simple minded, but goblins are different, they're smarter, they use tools, they plan, and worst of all they learn. This would be more like fighting actual people. I was a little excited, and nervous. Excited because I felt bad for all the innocent little stupid animals, and thought a harder challenge would be fun. Nervous because I was forced to kill a humanoid creature, I wasn't sure if I was ready.

I began to get a little antsy, as I was anticipating the arrival of some green skinned trouble. Goblins were known to be more human like in both appearance and temperament, no matter how crude and disgusting, the resemblance still stood. There was reason for this. They were crafty, deceitful, and cunning. Thankfully goblins were also the weakest monster individually, so we would probably be okay. Every little rustle of the leaves and creak of the trees made me jitter. Finally I made out a small creature in the distance.

" I think I see something." I turned back and told the others. I saw one green form, I'm assuming was a goblin, sitting down, around a small fire place. I assume that it must be some form of camp or base. If that is true then it is likely there could be around five or six goblins there according to the reports about the forest.

"How can you see them? I can't see anything" I heard Carmine complain

Smiling I looked back over to the goblins and they were gone. Alarmed I quickly began dearching for them. I looked carefully around when I saw one heading in our direction and another running in another direction away from us. Trying to find if there were others I was interrupted by an arrow flying through the trees and almost hitting me.

" Shit, they found us!" I yelled back Jumping back to regroup with the other's. The arrow threw me off guard, but moreso did the group of goblins that had amushed us from behind. I was instantly humbled in my ability to see through stealth.

" Yeah! We know! Your warning is a bit late!" Carmine yelled as she side stepped away the rough sword of a goblin.

Teller was fighting with Carmine. Teller stood back being protected by Carmine while she fended off two goblins, and Teller was keeping her openings blocked by creating small shields to protect any spots that Carmine may have gotten hit. Overall they worked well as a team. The problem was they also had a goblin archer that was covering them, making it so Carmine couldn't get rid of the goblins, without risking her friend. If Carmine pushed forward, She would have a greater chance of getting shot, and that would also leave Teller vulnerable to attack should they pass her. Ravi was doing fine on her own. She was occupied with two goblins as well, but she was able to block and Perry enough to keep them at bay her armor serving it's purpose and thoroughly protecting her from any glancing hits. Jumping down, I was about to go and help Carmine with the archer, when I saw something moving in the treetops.

Locking onto the creature I reasoned that it was the one that attacked me earlier, and I was about to ambush it when I got a clearer view. The Green creature was shrouded by the surrounding trees and leaves, but A sharp piece of stone attached to a stick, peaked out of the leaves. Following its path my eyes widened in fear.

" Ravi!" I yelled running towards her. Throwing a knife to try and intercept the arrow, the arrow dropped unnaturally, as if moved by the air itself. Using telekinesis to try and follow the arrow, my knife wasn't fast enough. Tackling Ravi out of the way, We fell out of the arrows path and I thought we had avoided it, but suddenly a pain shot through my foot. The arrow had again changed directions mid air.

" Hiss~" I Yelped, clutching at the wound. Blood dripped out onto my hand as I removed the arrowhead. Trying to stop the bleeding, a stinging sensation in my ankle made it difficult to put pressure on. " You ... Oreo, how about we try your gun form." I growled, as I started seeing red. Swiping my hand near my satchel, I grabbed Oreo. A dim purple glow radiated from my hand before the Goblin that had hid in the tree fell out of the canopy, with half of its skull missing.

Taking a breath I tried to center myself and chill a bit. I was pissed. The injury on my ankle was pulsating with pain that webbed up my leg and along my foot. Worst of all I had started to panic a little. As I blew the head off the Goblin that had attacked me, I felt some sort of relief and regained a semblance of control over myself. My eyes resting on the cold metallic mass in my hands, I got a better look at Oreo's gun form.

I wasn't able to spend too much time appraising him, but He was a relatively compact black pair of pistols. He had streaks of dim glowing purple lining the edges of the barrel, tracing back to the hammer and creeping down the grip, a small paw print was emblazoned on the side. The sights on the pistols were small iron sights with the backmost pair resembling cat ears. Oreo's pistol form was a beautiful form that, from what I could tell, packs a punch. The excitement of holding Oreo's gun form in my hands made me smile, and distracted me from the pain. I couldn't wait to see what he could do.

" Feeling alright Oreo?" I asked, in a voice of excitement laced with a bit of concern, as I analysed my surroundings again. I couldn't imagine what turning into a pair of guns could feel like

' It is a bit unusual, but I'm sure I'll get use to it soon enough.' He affirmed. ' Don't worry about me right now though, You better watch yourself and your team first.'

"Roger." I smiled, and tuned back into my surroundings completely.

Looking back to Carmine and Teller, I locked onto the goblin archer that was bothering them. Raising the other pistol in my left hand I aimed at the goblin and fired. The loud bang of the pistol was like a war cry, warning of imminent destruction. The bulled flew, ultimately missing the goblin but it's effects were still noticable. The magical bullet impacted the tree beside the goblin making a sharp crash, as the tree was left with a sizable dent in its side. Correcting my aim slightly, I shot again this time completely shattering the goblins head. At the same moment Carmine decapitated the goblin she was fighting.

" What in gods name is that?" I heard Carmine cry after seeing the damage it had done to the goblin archer.

I tried to come up with an excuse as the goblin that I had seen before, entered the vicinity screaming, so, on instinct I turned and aimed at it, as it ran completely past everyone. The goblins that had been fighting us, or rather the few that remained, had heard its shouts and also started to run, falling victim to their lowered guard. As the goblins shouting quieted, the faint blare of caws, and wing beasts resounded in my ears, approaching from where the goblin camp had been. Looking through the gaps in the trees I noticed a dark spot covering the ground. Looking closer it was a massive flock of Ringed ravens, in the middle was the the goblins camp. I watched as one of the goblins that were still back there were torn apart by the flock of birds.

" Crap, we've gotta move!" I yelled. There was no way we were going to deal with that many. My best guess was there were probably a couple hundred, at least, and three of these things put Carmine in danger, she would have been fine had I not intervened, but numbers did indeed matter and three vs three hundred was a big difference. I might be able to deal with them, stave them off yes, but I'm not sure exactly, if I could kill them all. Even if I did, it wasn't without me getting hurt or draining a lot of Mana, and we still needed to make it out of this stupid forest.

"What are you talking about?" Carmine asked. " You scared or something?"

"Yes, I'm scared of dying, and the hundreds of ringed ravens coming our way are more likely than not, going to kill us. You, more likely you than me, but still. Now move your asses and follow those goblins, because I'd much rather deal with them than the thing that made them run away in the first place!" I shouted and started to run after the goblins.

Attempting to take the first step, pain shot through my ankle as in the heat of the moment I forgot I had an arrow in it. Bending down gritting my teeth, I pull it out. The pain relapsed and I had to take deep breaths to calm myself and regain control of myself. Focusing on something else, I could smell something off about the wound. Hy head then spaced a bit and my body felt like a weight had just been placed on it. The arrow probably was poison tipped, and it had hit the joint, so bending my foot was essentially impossible, and putting much pressure on it hurt like hell. Nevertheless, I stood and hobbled forward at least to the edge of the forest to try and stay out of the birds sight.

Looking around I realized only Ravi had followed me, Carmine had started collecting goblin horns while Teller was telling her to come on.

" I don't care what that priss thinks, We need points to pass, and she's just scared of her own shadow, now that she actually was hurt by something." Carmine hissed, obviously irritated. "There obviously aren't going to be that many of the birds together in one group. The most ever recorded is what ten or eleven? I don't know what she's playing at, but I won't buy it."

The birds had gotten closer while they sat arguing and as the birds had caught sight of Carmine and Teller they let out a roar of cries, like a muddled symphony of death. Distracted by the noise, Teller and Carmine looked into the forest and saw a fast moving cloud of blackness distinguishable because of the faint streaks of lights passing through from the treetops.

The birds immediately made a beeline to the pair, most likely ready for another meal to fill all the still famished bellies of the swarm.

" How unfortunate. We lost two party members." I said half heartedly. I wasn't really sorry, I honestly disliked the two of them Teller was nice, but his concern for Carmine irritated me, and made it obvious he wasn't going to leave her. I started to leave trying to get away even with my injured ankle, but Ravi grabbed my wrist before I could escape.

" Alice we have to save them." Ravi begged. I could see the desperation in her eyes.

" These two are so going to owe me." I muttered, pausing for a moment. A thought suddenly popped into my mind, and forming a blazing orb of light in my hand I let out a sigh. To be honest it wouldn't sit right with me if they died. " Ravi you can use fire magic right?"

"Yes, why?" She questioned, before my plan dawned on her. Her eyes widened as she nodded cautiously, knowing what I was going to do, and that it was a pretty dumb idea.

"Then lets go save those two idiots." I threw my fireball at the oncoming group of birds. Carmine had fallen on her butt once the flock of birds made themselves known, Teller used his body to block the inevitable attacks of the birds, attempting to protect Carmine rather valiantly. Seeing him reminded me of Eric and I felt a nail go through my heart. I was so going to tear into Carmine about the way she treats her boyfriend when we got back.

Teller had closed his eyes as dreadful anticipation of his death crept down his spine, however the pain he expected was replaced by a sweltering heat. My fireball exploded killing a group of the birds in the front, and causing the rest to fan out into the surroundings, due to the heat and sudden bright light. Ravi ran to the other two pulling them back with her, and helping them to their feet so they could escape. Warding off the birds, Ravi occasionally lit the ground and nearby trees on fire or threw a fireball or two towards the birds, discouraging the mass from pursuing, and masking their escape. They quickly caught up to me, and we ran, or in my case hopped until we noticed the birds had lost us, or at least found us too difficult of opponents, and turned back.

Once the birds had stopped following us we looked back to watch the forest burn. The forest would probably grow back in a year or so, but I couldn't help but feel a little sour at the thought of burning down a forest. I'll admit the plan wasn't overly thought through.

That was when a foul sent entered my nose, distracting me. The smell was repulsive and confusing, I assumed it was the fire, because who knows what could be trapped in the blazing clutches of a man made wildfire, dwelling within a dense forest, however, the sent came from behind us, and it didn't smell of ash or burning, it was more rotten, more cold.

Looking back I strained my eyes trying to notice anything moving, or something distinguishable. I couldn't see anything specifically, but I could tell there was something there. Premonition hung heavy on my shoulders as I could feel the danger hadn't left yet.

"Alice what's wrong?" Ravi asked seeing the contorted grimace, a mix of pain, irritation, and anxiousness. The pain in my ankle was eating more and more of my attention, as the immediate adrenaline began dispersing.

"~Growl~" A low rumble came from the bushes near us, as my eyes caught a glimpse of a moving black mass. Cautiously backing up, away from the bushes, three wolves came out of the them making my eyes widen and my heart rate pick back up. These weren't supposed to be in this forest, they were too strong. And worse yet, I'm almost certain these three in particular weren't supposed to be alive either, but they were moving nonetheless.

The three wolves had claw and bite marks on their sides, and one was missing part of its head. All three seemed to be rotting from the inside out. A foul odor spread from the wounds, making itself even stronger than when it was masked by the bushes. I was forced to cover my nose, or I would have gagged.

The growl had gotten the attention of the others, and they reacted much the same way I did. I started creeping back, but the heat from the forest burning behind us kept us pinned, as the zombie wolves slowly stalked forward, waiting for one of us to make a move.

" Alice, what should we do." Carmine whispered in fear.

I snickered " Now you feel like listening to me?" I muttered sarcastically, loud enough for Carmine to hear.

" Look, I'm sorry for doubting you, but please don't let it out on me now?" Carmine pleaded.

" Wow, and I thought I was greedy." I said stiffly. I could see the wolves desire to pounce. We were running out of time.

" On my count ..." I didn't get to finish as the closest wolf pounced. I dove for cover pulling Ravi along with me, out of range for a potential follow up attack, while Teller did the same to Carmine. Problem is, we were now divided by the wolves.

" Run!" I shouted to Teller and Carmine. This was the best way to deal with this right now. These wolves were strong, and would undoubtedly get them killed. I trust Ravi to cover my back, but they wouldn't stand a chance, unless they worked together and didn't make a single mistake. I couldn't trust that.

"I should have just let them die." I mumbled, to myself directing all my pent up frustration at the two as they fled. Despite my irritation, I Shoot the wolf that had pursued them in the head, knocking it over as the other two escape.

" We'll go get some help." I heard Carmine call out, causing me to laugh a bit.

" That won't mean much if we're both dead." I snorted, as the wolf I shot, shakily stood back up. It had a large hole in it's skull and definitely should have been dead.

" Ravi we're going to have to try to run too." I said standing up. My ankle still hurt and it was difficult to move it, but I would have to make due. Placing Oreo in my inside coat pocket, he reverted back to his plush form.

" What about your foot?" Ravi asked concerned.

" That's why I said try." I laughed dryly. I was terrified, in pain and felt like crap. This was not going to be fun.

"Ready?" I asked softly, to which Ravi nodded.

" Then lets do this ... Run away!!!" I shouted and Pivoted around on my good foot and started running as fast as I could, it was more me hopping than running, but I was pushing myself and just barely managed to keep pace with ravi as every step sent waves of pain from my ankle further into my body. The wolves immediately followed after seeing it's prey try to escape, but little did they know that hunt had already begun. It was time to see how much abuse these wolves could take.