Flying islands (1010 words)

´Hahahaha! I finally got it! ´With a wide grin spread across my thin lips revealing two sharp white fangs, I sprint through the creepy forest.

The trees around me are strangely twisted and completely leafless, they throw dark shadows onto the dead ground.

With nothing but the dime light of the full moon to guide me I dash through the dark woods, desperately trying to escape my pursuer.

My forest green hair wildly flatters around as I jump over protruding tree roots and slide underneath low hanging branches.

Once again, the perks of being a pureblooded forest elf show themselves as I effortlessly travel through a terrain which normally would have been a nightmare for others.

´I really am lucky we came across this creature just before we started our return back to the city. With its characteristic I will finally be able to start my path to divinity. ´As I fantasize over the awesome powers I'm going to get after I successfully absorbed the core characteristic of the Spirit Cluster Maggot, I just barely notice an unnatural bulge on the trunk of a tree to my left.

´Shit! Treant! ´I don't have time to think of anything else as an almost black branch with many pointy thorns on it rapidly approaches my face.

Acting purely on instinct I hastily throw myself to the ground and roll to the right in an attempt to dodge a following attack and gain some distance.

Not a second latter a black root with sharp tip bursts out of the location I threw myself to the ground.

´Damn! Why does it have to be now of all times? ´I think while getting back on my feet and preparing to bolt into the opposite direction of the stationary Treant.

Sadly, the monstrous tree wasn't about to let me escape, it used our first exchange to block my path of escape with walls of thorny branches and roots.

Seeing this I gave up on fleeing, once you are in the domain of an experienced Treant it is almost impossible to escape except you have the needed powers, but then it would be easier to just kill it.

"Well, you don't leave me whole lot of options, do you? "I ask in a low voice while rummage through a small bag which hangs around my waist with one hand.

´I should still have some spark powder left, if I manage to throw it directly into its face it could deal an appropriate amount of damage. ´I take hold of an even smaller bag which is half empty.

Spark powder is normally used to start a campfire or lit a torch, its offensive capabilities are rather limited, but in my case, it is the best I have.

Cold weapons like swords or daggers have little effect on a living tree whose bark is hard as granite, only fire or another destructive element like lightning have proven to be very effective against those annoying foes.

I take a deep breath.

´Let's do this!´

Like an arrow released from a taut bow I charge straight at the almost black trunk of the Treant.

The unnatural bulge I previously noticed has now revealed itself to be a bloody eyeball with complete black iris.

Some might think that because it is an eye it should be a weak spot that could be harmed by cold weapons, but sadly this isn't so.

The eye is just as hard and resistant as the rest of its body, you could say that it is a trap to lure enemies to try and attack it only to fail and leave themselves open for the Treant to finish them off.

With a natural elegance that only the elves could posses I flip over the incoming sweep of thorny tree roots and dodge to the side right after only to feel how something sharp tears through my right shoulder.

One of the branches from the Treant has disguised itself as a branch form another tree and launched a surprise attack on my chest which I mostly dodged, turning the deadly strike into a minor wound.

´Shit! I'm not even halfway there and I already suffered some damage, if this continues like this I wont even reach it before I'm completely pierced by its roots and branches. ´My previous grin has long made place to a frustrated sneer as the frustration of being so close to fulfill my goal for which I worked seventeen fu*king years to achieve, only to be hold up by this little sh*t starts to boil over.

Most people fuse with their first monster characteristic at the age of eleven, this gives them ample time to digest them and familiarize themselves with the feeling of the remanent will of the monster inside the characteristic.

Characteristic are object that are produced when a monster dies, most monster have strange and scary abilities.

After they die, the core of their ability will slowly manifest into a physical form and be expelled from their body.

These cores are what we call characteristics and they can be turned into equipment or be fused with a person giving them similar abilities as the monster from which the characteristic originates.

Of course there are some negative side effects, one of them is the remanent will of the previous owner of the characteristic, when the characteristic forms it will also trap a part of the soul from the owner, this trapped part of a soul is what fuels the characteristic.

This also applies to people who have fused with characteristics and died afterwards, their bodies will start to expel the characteristics they have fused with and part of their soul will be trapped inside it.

Another side effect is the mutation, luckily for most sapient creatures living in these lands mutations only happen once one fuses with their second characteristic and that also only if the second one isn't compatible with the first one.

But in case one fuses with a second characteristic this also means that another remanent will .