3 Struggling

Emerging from the overside, the first thing they all did was looking over, and nothing was all they could see. Just trees after trees all around them, as if hey were teleport in the forest center.

The sensation was bizarre and not one of them, even the Elders, were perfectly unfazed. When all of them were here, Elder Lilith shouted "GO!" and began to run. The group instantly follow up, and Elder Gur closed the rear.

The run was silent, just occasionally the noise of a branch crackling under someone foot, reverberating in the forest, bypassing the big trunk and propagating kilometers away. The ears of some beast were quickly erect to situate the origin. Some creature began moving, not a noise could be heard even when they jumped from tree to tree.

It was difficult to run on this soil, large masses of leaves formed humus and the feet of some in the group were sinking sporadically, slowing others in their attempts to extract themselves of these natural traps. There was natural mutual assistance between members of the group. They grow up together, in the same generation in the same little old village, of course, there was competition and even a little bit of selfishness, but in a situation like this, everyone made the best of them for all to arrive in one piece at the end of the line.

Alix was as always, particularly gracious in his run, caressing the soil with his feet, his Heart open to what surrounded them in already an attempt to refine it. He was not particularly worried, the Elders were there to protect them and he could already feel an invisible pressure enter his body.

The first day was beginning to end, the sunlight which didn't really light up the forest at noon was clearly not sufficient to see what was in front of them when the night slowly came. Errors appear more frequently, and the whole group was impacted, most of them were trying to repeat the same movements that the adults made next to them, some easier than others.

The trio never drove apart for the whole day, staying between them as if their life depends on it, and in fact, it was. To have people who you can put your trust in it was a must if you wanted to live long enough in this cruel world. Restar was beginning to be tired, his endurance a little bit lower than his friends but they choose to adapt to his rhythm, even if it means slowly move back to the rear.

When the night finally completely put its dark veil on the forest, the firsts growls happened. Some ahead of them, others behind, from a large diversity of creatures if the different noise were a testimony to their number. Whistling, some were gliding above the soil as if they were a ghost or an elemental, others were crawling on the floor, an insect army, with sometimes one bigger than the others at human height, cackling with their mandible. It was the awakening of the forest's creature, a deadly threat for this small group of humans if they even stop for a minute. And the group was perfectly aware of it so they didn't slow their pace, even increasing it for all of the students made a small rush when hearing such threatening noise.

The Elders didn't seem particularly impressed and it calmed the heart of some student, the situation wasn't deadly for the moment and was considered normal compared to the years before. These creatures were the ones seen often in this part of the forest, and the Elders could slay them if they wanted, but the time used to do it would allow others to come in a never-ending circle.

If they were just the two of them, they could do it easily, without someone to protect, fighting was always easier, but here it was the future of the village, and the strategy to run for three days and three nights was the better they found after repeated trials and errors generation after generation.

The group was running during the night, and apart from some attacks easily ward off by the two Elders, no casualty was to count when the first sun rays began to filter through the forest. A general sigh from all could be heard, because even if the creature attacks would not stop, to see a little bit more clearly for humans who depend majorly on their sight was a relief. Conversations had died for a long time now, and the occasional whisper could not be heard, just noise from the respiration, making the effort last seemingly longer.

Suddenly the light seems to increase in front of them and Elder Gur at the rear could be heard "Well, we made it to the Never Canyon, we are approximately at midway! These creatures should not follow us here, but be careful, others inhabited this land and the ground is treacherous."

Soon the soil started to change and the vegetation around them became more and more scattered, no more gigantic trees, they were slowly decreasing in height as if it was a land cursed for them. And it was, the soil was poor, composed principally of stone, and water tends to stream down in the canyon or to the forest, making the surrounding of the canyon particularly dry.

- "It's said that the Never Canyon was formed during the creation of our planet itself," Said Eline " Its name stems from the fact that we don't know its depth and people who tried to explore it never returned"

The mood was changing as fast as the surrounding, people were chatting with their friend, free from the pressure the forest put on without them realizing it apart from the ones who tried to refine their Heart.

- "Shut up you all!!" Elder Lilith interjected "The trip is not finished and this part is not any less dangerous than previously if not more! Run in silence"

All of them quieted down at the same time, not without a little bit of frustration in their eyes. Eline was pouting a little, she did not finish what she wanted to say. Alix smiled to her, conscious of her temperament, she didn't like to be interrupted, even less reprimanded.

They continue to run for an hour or so, the landscape continues to be dryer, shred stone walls could be seen, their tops dressed against the sky, their bottoms invisible in the abyss swallowing it. Strange lifeforms were eyeing them, hiding in between these small cliffs. They had big black claw with a tinge of green inserted in the surfaces next to the cutting edges of stones, big eyes where following the movement of the group but for now, they didn't suffer an attack, time seems to be stopped, waiting for a top.

Some people tripped during the run, Estor, one of the smaller students of the group fall hard on the ground, cutting his palms against the edges. It was like a flair, all best and creature alike suddenly growled, jumped on the group and began their attack. Chaos began to spread and even if the majority tried to stay as one group, some people were quickly separated.

Alix, Restar, and Eline were never far from each other, and they stay as it was but since they were at the rear, they were quickly separated from the bigger group, fortunately, Elder Gur was with them as two students, Ilo and Tror, two of the bottom student.

- "Defend! Make a circle as seen before, weapon, in your hand! Don't stop looking around you!" Cried Elder Gur as he stabs with his spear in a grey creature.

"CLANG"

- "What?!" Elder Gur was astonished, his spear just pierced some centimeters in the grey fur and stopped, the top of the spear was torn, as if he tried with all his power to strike against a rock. The steel penetrates enough tho to make the beast-like creature start bleeding. Strangely the blood that was dripping from the wound was green, shining like an emerald stone.

- "A creature from the abyss!!" Elder Gur was startled "Normally they don't climb to the surfaces at this period of the year! Careful, they are not really dangerous, just particularly difficult to kill! Aim at their eyes, it's their weakness!"

"OK" "Sure" "As your command" "Don't worry" "I will try" The little group answered at the same time, trying to wound the three grey creatures having surrounded them in the meantime. Alix was the one who had the harder time, even if he was better at defending, evading, or even attacking, the fact that he fights without a weapon incapacitated him gravely to be able to injure the eyes of the creatures.

Fist after fist fall upon them but it never slows them down, making him think he didn't even touch them. But for sure his fist made contact, they were swollen, his left pinky already broken, their fur was incredibly resistant, in fact, their entire body was like stone.

At their far-right, approximately two hundred meters they could hear fighting noise, proof of the presence of the other group surrounding Elder Lilith. They tried to go there under the guidance of Elder Gur but creatures after creatures were coming when they successfully killed one. For the moment eight were turning around them, trying to cut, to stab, to munch them. Elder Gur spear made wonder, slashing their eyes with great precision, making them fall in the hole of the landscape or flee for their lives with cries of outrage. The students were not so good, they were all wounded on their arms, but gradually, they organized better, their movements more assured.

Eline was fighting with her twin dagger, particularly efficient in the little group, jumping, stabbing, slashing like the wind without moving too far from her initial position to not destabilize the organization of their fight. Restar was making big moves with a club-like weapon, crushing their eyes when he successfully made contact with them.

The last two, Ilo and Tror were beginning to have the knack of it, on immobilizing a creature with a net, the other quickly impaling the eyes.

For a good half an hour, the fight continued with the groups trying to join the other, gradually coming near each other. When lastly, they saw the group of Elder Lilith, they could see that they were in a much better condition, their group was four times in number, for ten or so gray creatures.

- "Here Elder Lilith! How many students do you have?" ask Elder Gur piercing an eye of a creature that had succeeded in climbing on Alix's shoulders.

- "With you six we are whole, we have to run, but it's strange, they shouldn't be this much abyss creature, I don't know if it's better to continue or not, we have a full day to travel across the canyon!" Elder Lilith was frowning.

- "Well, we have to try, it won't be too late to come back!"

The group suddenly accelerate as the two Elders made way, performing a deadly dance, the grey creature didn't stand a chance with the whole group organized and soon they started to retreat.

For an hour they run, revitalized by this small victory, the student were jubilant and made small talk of their fight between two breaths. It was not the first time that they were confronted with a deadly situation but usually, it happens in a controlled environment so they never really fear for their life. This time their Heart seams to be stimulated and Alix was beginning to feel his advanced little by little even with his poor performance.

He should be the better fighter behind the two Elder in this group and he probably fights the worst of them. To not have a weapon was a part of it but he didn't find an edge against them, which he didn't make sense of, habitually he could understand the weaknesses of his adversary in the blink of an eye. Lost in his thought, he didn't saw the creature that was crawling discretely after them. Elder Gur was together with Elder Lilith at the front of the group, no one but Alix who was not really running was closing the rear.

Suddenly the Elders stopped and all the group gasped in seeing what waited ahead of them. The principal cliff of the Never Canyon was in front of them, or rather under them. A gigantic hole that covers kilometers in width and hundreds of them in length. The bottom could not be seen in spite of its extraordinary dimension, the sun could not light its tremendous depth.

- "How do we cross that?!" asked Ilo without really waiting for an answer.

- "There is a small pathway on our right where the edges of the cliff close on each other, we have to jump five-meter above it at this particular place." Elder Lilith said already beginning to run.

- "It's a thing to hear about it, it's another, truly to see it with our own eyes," said Eline, here eyes sparkling with wisdom.

- "Yeah.." Alix wasn't really paying attention, still in his own little world.

Suddenly a shadow jumped at the rear, on the last person who didn't begin to run already. A grey fur creature bites into the left shoulder of Alix, making him awake with a little cry. Eline who was just next to him a second before just had the time to turn over to see her best friend Alix startled by a creature that jumped on him and lost his balance against the power of the jump. The two of them fall in the abyss that was just a meter next to them, disappearing with an anguished cry.