Jura’s Forest

Felkin looked up at the thick brush, he remembered his time in the dead tree grove and saw the vast difference. He wondered what would cause such a thing to happen to trees. Ellyn had laid the map out and were discussed with Metas on their surroundings. The nearby village was one of a few that border the snowy outskirts, starting from the forest of "Jura" which they were within. The snow receded and the thick forest separated the snowy tundra from the rest of the large cities. A long road stretches from there to the nearest city, and there were a few coastal towns that all lead towards the capitol, "Lodeleth" a holy city that houses the order of knights that Metas was enlisted with.

Bandit camps littered the outskirts of the forest and the cities, and a few dirt roads exist in the forest though seldom used. "We're on the run from the bandits, as well as the knights." Said Metas. "The higher ups have most likely already gained word of what happened at the village and another assassin could be dispatched this very moment." "That fast?" asked Yuria. "Yep." Metas answered.

Ellyn opened the sack and examined its contents. "Hmm… Not much." She quietly said to herself. She pulled out a small box of tools, no doubt for maintaining her prosthetic. She took out a necklace with a strange rock attached to it. A pendant, she remembered the old man telling her. She inspected the few other items inside of the sack and saw more odd trinkets, as well as a few types of medical supplies. As the old man was concerned, science and occult were the same, and he had belief in some irrational superstition.

Still, she appreciated the gifts and knew that the old man put the items for them, to assist them in some way. She assessed the objects. There were a few small glass bottles of white sand-like powder with a label that stated "flammable". There was a jar of yellow tree sap that had a paper label with the old man's cursive writing which Ellyn got used to reading over time. "Dangerous material, do not touch. Only direct contact with a tool is permitted." She also grabbed a chalice with intricate metalwork design. It was silver, and had a flower with roots or tendrils emerging around the sides as a design. It also had a socket for what looked like a gemstone.

She admired the realistic detail before putting it aside amongst the other items. She saw one last thing, the knife she always used for hunting and the one that the old man gave to her when she was young. As Ellyn put each object back into the sack, Yuria noticed the peculiar goblet that she possessed. "Can I have a look at that?" she gestured towards it.

Ellyn threw the chalice and Yuria caught it with both hands. She inspected it, studying the fine detail, and flipped it, seeing the gem socket on the other side. She pulled out the purple gem out of a pocket in her cloak. It glowed brightly, and she looked at it uneasily, remembering the bandit leader.

Metas was reading the map, trying to assess their path and next location. He spotted Yuria holding the stone and the mysterious chalice. "Are you sure about that?" "It might explode." Said Ellyn. "Many of the old man's experiments usually end in something exploding." She added. "Seems like it should fit." Said Felkin looking at it over Yuria's shoulder. Metas, Ellyn and Felkin approached Yuria and with their guard up, and they gave permission for her to try it. The gem slot in perfectly, as if it was constructed perfectly for it. The gem glowed brighter and the silver flower and the other intricacies that were laid in with it, glowed purple as well.

They stood for a while, waiting for something to happen. Then they sat back down with Yuria examining it. "So, what is it about this forest that so many wanted to avoid it?" She asked. "Not many people who enter here, get out alive. Reports and sightings of creatures and beasts as well as the rumors that bandits prowl the area deter most people. In the past, the forest successfully walled off the outer towns and the snowy hinterlands to the large cities and coastal towns. There was a great war and having access to the region was a great priority due to a mine rumored to be situated in the ice. A road was built and the trees were cleared, but not much traffic to the region after the war. The lands past the town after all, aren't even traversable." Said Ellyn. "I remember reading something about that in a book." Answered Metas.

Felkin looked up and saw the sunlight dimming, it was possible that a great time had passed since they went into the village or maybe the brush obscured the light. He also considered a third possibility. "Anyways, we need to move on." Said Metas standing up. "If some creature or foul incantation appears before us, well… We'll fight or we'll die." "Can't we just fight through the bandits and any other knights that come?" asked Yuria. "It's too risky, if there were two of them in the village, we would have been dead." Felkin looked at Metas. As Felkin said this answer and he saw Metas' hand slightly tremble and thought back to their harrowing fight with Siegmund.

As they continued they felt as if the forest closed in on them. The trees looked similar and almost identical and the light of the sun was completely obscured. They walked until they could no longer see any trace of the town behind them and the snow slowly began to disappear from the ground. Ellyn walked with the band of strangers, recalling the few times she had tried to go to the forest but ending up lacking the will to do so and returning. It was so long ago now, and she was walking away from where she had grown up in. She had little attachment or care to the town but thought about the old man.

She shifted her gaze to Yuria who was holding the cup and examining it. She faintly recalled the old man sticking all sorts of gems into the chalice and nothing happening for most of the time. She wondered why he thought it was important for them to bring that along. Ellyn watched their surroundings looking for any sign of danger or wildlife. They passed onto a shallow stream and walked through it. Yuria being bored, scooped some water from the river with the goblet in hand, and spilled it onto the ground. The water suddenly expanded and covered the area in a circular mist as the gem glowed brighter than ever before.

She yelped in surprise, alerting the others. "Are you alright?" asked Metas. "Yeah." She touched it and it felt like a force was pushing her hand back. She took the goblet and tapped the barrier and it instantly dissipated. "How did you learn how to do that?" asked Felkin. "It just felt natural." Yuria said, all the magic she used just felt like instinct and that she was drawn to acting upon it. "Isn't it weird that there's nothing here besides the trees?" asked Ellyn. "Agreed, no wildlife here as well." Metas remarked.

They stepped in water as they noticed the stream of water. "This is the same stream of water as before?" Ellyn said, in disbelief. Metas knelt and inspected the stream. It was the only thing different from the monotonous forest and looks around seeing an unchanging sight. They looked around and were consumed by anxiety and confusion. Felkin and Metas instinctively extended and sent their weapons out as far as they could, and their motions reversed, ending right back up in their hands. Ellyn loosed a shot into the forest and it came hurtling right back, her ducking to avoid it. Yuria used her magic to create tendrils from the ground that extended towards the sky. They did not recede nor disappear.

"Look!" said Yuria. She tried to maintain the object's form, but exhausted the pack of wolf's bone she had. Felkin and Metas tried to aim upward but their weapons came back to them, just as before. Felkin and Metas rummaged through their pockets and found more pouches of wolf remains and gave it to her.

She unleashed her magic upwards and it reached past the tree line. They could not see the sky due to the trees but as the dark tendrils reached upwards and did not recede. "Uhh, what now?" asked Yuria struggling as she maintained the spell.

"Try moving it?" answered Metas. She did as instructed and as she moved them a cracking sound. Felkin realized that it reminded him of the abyssal realm emerging and breaking. "I think we should stop this." He remarked, worried. "This might be our way out!" answered Ellyn. Metas stood undecided trying to think about and choose a decision when Yuria fully expended her magic and the dark tendrils disappeared back into the ground.

The group stood alert as an ominous breeze slowly swept through the forest. Suddenly they heard a great crackling sound from the sky and a shockwave resounded through the woods. The trees receded revealing the night sky above them, adorned and littered by stars. They let their guard down and were almost entranced by the sight. The cracking continued, the bright stars in the sky fusing and coalescing into a fissure of light.

They covered their eyes but Felkin even eyes closed, could see light through his occluded right eye. Yuria knelt and picked up water using the chalice from the stream's surface. She blocked the light with one hand and with the other, poured some on the ground near them. A mist emerged once again, and they lowered their hands back down, the light being slightly stifled by the mist barrier. "I have a bad feeling about this." Said Yuria as the fissure of light exploded.

A vague shape descended from the sky and the party huddled together, their weapons aiming upward inside in the small barrier. The figure of light had many streaks of light that extended from its body. It being slightly obscured made the group's uneasiness grow more. It extended itself as tendrils and it touched the sides of the barrier.

The lights were piercing through different areas of the barrier. As each light spear pushed through it created vortexes on the side of the barrier until it dissipated, revealing the figure in all its dreadful splendor. It had an innumerable number of wings and was glowing golden with light. It had a winged helmet on its 'head' but it did not have a mouth on its 'face'. For each wing it had an elongated hand extending under it. It floated down, its limbs moving akin to blades of grass in a field, when a breeze moves through it. A torso was barely visible under its limbs, and only two legs were attached to it as it slowly moved downwards.

The group had their weapons ready but did not feel the urge to attack. "Lower your weapons, mortals." They instantly lowered their weapons with seemingly no will of their own. They felt a certain ease and comfort, though their instincts told them that the unknown was dangerous. "It seems that you have wandered into my territory." "What are you!?" Metas questioned in disbelief.

"I have been referred to many names, yes." They could not determine where the voice was coming from, but the head of the entity faced Metas. "I have been called an angel, a demon, a spirit and… a god." It glowed brighter momentarily and forced the party to turn their heads away. "I do not know the meaning of these words, only what those who spoke them felt at the time." It then slowly turned its head towards Felkin.

"What are you doing in my territory, infinity?" The symbols on Felkin's sword started to glow and his eye shone brightly enough for red light to seep out his eyepatch. "We're just passing through." Answered Ellyn. "Why does she possess the arts of the abyss?" The entity glowed and brightened, causing the nearby surroundings to become clear and bright as if it was broad daylight. "It is only used for survival and protection; we have no allegiance to it." Answered Felkin, It stared at them, eyeless but facing directly at them.

It folded up its wings again, the light growing dim and the night sky being present once more. "I have received your words and determined them. I see truth behind your answer." The group sighed and calmed down. "Survival. Humans wilt like flowers when faced by the innumerable challenges of the lands and to the passage of time. If it is survival you seek, then means to do so are present in my forest." It lifts the left side of its limbs and gestures towards the forest. "Time moves irregularly here, if you went outside, it would be like you just exited." The ground shook suddenly, lifeless corpses and skeletons in armor rose from the ground.

"These are those who have fallen here, to survive the harshest conditions you must survive death itself." It went up into the sky and disappeared. The undead rushed them. Felkin could not see light from any of them but could still see it in the others. Felkin struck them one after the other, as did the others. The creatures swung their swords and dismembered arms. They feebly shambled and were easily brought low.

Yuria kept her magic to a minimum, going behind the others and brandishing the claw as a makeshift dagger. An undead cut in half swung at Felkin with its sword. Felkin crushed its skull under his boot, the thing stopped moving, and he signaled it to the others. "They don't die without destroying their heads!"

Metas threw his spear and pulled it back at each ghoul's head he pierced through. Yuria used magic to penetrate through multiple heads of them at once. Ellyn was quick with her shots; none even came close before a bolt swiftly struck them and she used her knife to finish off those who were improperly dispatched. A moaning undead raised a sword and swiftly jumped towards Yuria. Before she could even muster a spell a small ball of flame fractured its head aflame. Metas stood drained, Yuria commenting: "That's new."

"I need to keep up." Metas answered as he tosses a spear and brings another undead down. All the creatures laid motionless on the ground and the group stood victorious. "We've faced much harder. These things are just slow." Said Felkin. A rotting creature then sprung forth from the ground. It swung its sword and hit its mark. Ellyn who was caught from behind fell onto the ground. Felkin slashed the creature on the head and brought it down.

The others went to Ellyn who was injured and on the ground. Yuria brought out another bag of wolf bones, the number of which was dwindling down. "Hmph... Felkin, why did you have to say that-" Ellyn's vision blurred, and then she lost consciousness.