12 The Dark Forest
Zephyr trailed closely behind the others. Once again, the Draegorths effortlessly vaulted over the wall as if it posed no challenge at all. Bull grabbed the Slinktail and tossed him over the structure.
Zephyr's scream died before leaving his throat as the wind whooshed around him, snatching the sound from his lips. The trees slowly reached for him, their spindly branches closing together, but their movement was too slow and missed catching him, their branches flinging back, trunk straightening like a rod once more.
Zephyr couldn't pay attention to the enchanted trees, though- he was mid-air, and gravity was about to drag his ass back to the earth.
Would the snow aid his fall? Would he break a few bones?
The ground rushed up to meet him, his arms and legs flailing. Before he landed flat on his face, potentially fracturing bones or confronting his second demise, Manatee caught him by the back of his shirt that, ripped slightly before he dropped him into the snow. Bull landed with a loud thud and shake of the earth beside Manatee.
Garzon was next, and unlike how Zephyr had been tossed like a sack of potatoes, the leader held onto Fig, setting her aside gently. Zephyr brushed it off that she was his favourite. She must be with those skills…
The melodic tune of a woman's voice caressed his scales, causing him to look at the outskirts of the forest only a few feet ahead. True to its name, it remained shrouded in darkness, the trees almost black, comprising a blend of various species. Some were like burnt pine trees, and others were just creepy-as-fuck straggly trees that Zephyr swore could move, their branches slowly reaching towards him again.
"No turning back now, chicken shit." Bull brushed past him as Manatee mumbled something. Zephyr fell on his side again from the Draegorth's sheer force and lost his balance after the ground rumbled.
Zephyr wouldn't let any of that deter him, though. He was on a mission. "I can carry your stuff!" He chased after them, ignoring the ice trickling down his spine the closer he was getting to the forest.
Bull snorted, producing steam from his nostrils again. "I can carry my own shit. Weakling like you can't carry this." The Minotaur raised his sword, which was the entire height of Zephyr.
No, perhaps he couldn't carry those.
"Here." Garzon tossed a large bow and a quiver of arrows at Zephyr. He caught them, but the weight made him tumble forward.
Bull shook his head at Skullhead, clearly annoyed by the Draegorth entertaining a worthless Slinktail such as himself.
"If you can't keep up or you make a sound scaring our food away, you're dead," Garzon warned, marching ahead into the misty woods. His large form almost disappeared before Zephyr panicked and scrambled after him, struggling to hold the oversized bow and quiver.
Manatee and Bull snickered, but Fig skipped by Zephyr's side while he was trying to pick up his speed. "You're set on dying, aren't you?" Fig questioned in a singsong voice.
"No. This is how I will survive," Zephyr wheezed, already almost passing out from carrying the Draegorth's effects.
Fig shook her head, now walking backwards, not at all fearful of the forest that Dain had warned them about. "How's that? You don't even have a weapon." Her eyes twinkled, amused by him. She reached the back of her head, gathered her turquoise hair together, and pinned it in a messy ponytail before turning away.
"Where's that little shit?" Zephyr heard Garzon call after him further into the forest.
He quickened his pace, determined to persevere. It might seem foolish to everyone else, but he was using this to his advantage. He would learn how these demons worked, what made them tick, how they fought, and earn their trust- however limited that may be- learn how to hunt, get stronger by carrying their belongings and increase his stamina. There was also the part about learning more about and surviving this forest.
The further Zephyr walked, the more sinister the Dark Forest appeared. Gnarled trees towered above them, their branches entwined like skeletal fingers, looming ominously over the forest floor, casting twisted shadows that danced to children's laughter.
There were no children here.
Mist, thick with despair, clung to the air, veiling the path like a heavy cloak. Zephyr tripped multiple times on overgrown roots, reaching out from the ground. A pulse of energy, something Zephyr couldn't quite understand, thrummed in the space of the woods. His body was tense with fear at all the sounds that were like something from a horror film.
The children's giggles, the faint whispers, the unsettling feeling that something moved beyond his peripheral vision, and the sense of being watched kept his entire spine cold while adrenaline coursed through his veins, heating his body further. Zephyr jumped on the spot to the outburst of eerie cries in the distance, heralding the presence of unseen terrors lurking ahead.
"Hey, Tee is right. He's still here," Bull turned on the spot, grinning maliciously at Zephyr.
"Split up from here. We're too loud together," Garzon ordered. "Fig, go to the trees."
Fig nodded once before running towards one of the spindly trees and climbing up it deftly. The other Draegorths split from them, and Zephyr wondered for a moment if Garzon might finish him off there. It would be easy enough.
"Bow," the Draegorth grunted, hand extended towards Zephyr while surveying the area. Zephyr breathed heavily as he raised the bow above his head. His muscles screamed in pain. He half expected it to fall to the ground, his body with it. But Garzon accepted it, relieving his shoulders and back from the strain.
Unlike before, where the forest floor shook from the Draegorth's footfall, Garzon was now as quiet as a mouse. How? Zephyr didn't know. He was fricken 8+ feet!
It was the only thing he marvelled about the creature. Following the demon, he observed him and the area, overly aware that something really was following them.
Could he fight it off? Or would Garzon kill it first?
Surprisingly, nothing attacked them throughout Garzon's hunt. Zephyr also learnt what wildlife was in these mystical woods. He'd never stepped foot outside the city in his past life, but he had seen animals and wildlife on the TV screen, Nat Geo, or just seen a squirrel or pigeon in the park. The creatures in the woods were similar to what he'd seen on the screen, while others were fantastical.
Black deer grazed in the area, as did rabbits with twigs growing out of the top of their heads; they were three times the usual size of what Zephyr would expect. They also seemed to be the Draegorth's favourite. Zephyr was carrying at least fifteen rabbits over his shoulder, dangling from a makeshift sling fashioned out of sturdy vines and woven grasses. They were so heavy the Slinktail was dragging his feet.
He kept his distance from Garzon for fear of disturbing his hunt and receiving a backhand. That was one way to go back a few steps in his little plan.
They'd ventured quite far into the woods, yet Zephyr still hadn't seen what made such horrific noises. He'd tuned some of it out by this point; either he listened to it and what now sounded like a wailing woman in the distance, which would keep him on edge more or accepted that if he was going to die, it wouldn't be from possibly ghost children or whispers in the breeze. The Slinktail remained focused, learning what he could even though the forest layout looked the same.
"Here." Garzon tossed another rabbit at him before tilting his head back, grunting. "Didn't realise how far we've gone."
Zephyr followed Skullhead's gaze and sucked in a frightening breath. Hovering high above them, watching them with glowing yellow eyes, was a cloaked shadowy figure that resembled a strange humanoid, its skull human except for the crooked and twisted antlers above its head. The rest of its body, if there was one, was under a large ebony cloak that flowed in the breeze.
Garzon reached for Zephyr after seeing the expression on his face, the last rabbit he shot landing by his feet. "What do we do?!" He hissed, hating to speak louder than a whisper in the presence of this being.
Garzon snorted. "WE do nothing." He retrieved the rabbits Zephyr had been carrying and flung them over his shoulder. "Good luck." Those were the last words the Draegorth chucked at him before sprinting in the opposite direction, bow in hand, aimed at the creature.
Zephyr had been abandoned in the Dark Forest with some freaky creature searing through his soul, clutching at his heart and turning it icy from its glare alone.
Fuck.
