The forest erupted into chaos around him.
Nero’s feet pounded against the earth as he chased after the floating orb of light.
Behind him, he could hear the creature crashing through the trees, splintering wood and tearing roots from the ground in its pursuit.
He risked a glance back and imdiately regretted it.
The creature was closer than he had expected, its massive form moving with an agility that seed impossible for sothing so large. Its eyes were locked onto him, and in their depths he could see sothing so bright and pure.
The desire for carnage. To destroy life. Evil in its most pristine state.
The creature let out a soul-splitting screech.
One of its long arms cut through the air, crushing the trees in the way like they were made of rotting wood.
Nero threw himself to the side, rolling across the ground and coming up running in a different direction.
The orb of light adjusted its path instantly, curving through the air to guide him around a fallen tree. Nero followed without thinking, trusting that whatever this light was, it knew the path better than he did.
The creature roared. The sound was unlike anything Nero had ever heard, a cacophony of different voices all screaming at once in harmonies that should not have been possible.
It filled his head with noise, making it difficult to think, to focus on anything except the primal need to escape.
He pushed harder, his legs burning with exertion.
Slowing down ant death.
The light led him off the path entirely, weaving between trees that grew closer and closer together. Nero had to duck and dodge, using his hands to push off trunks and redirect his montum. Behind him, the creature simply smashed through the obstacles, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
A claw swiped at him from the side. Nero saw it at the last second and dropped into a slide, the razor-sharp edge passing inches above his head. He could feel the wind of its passage. The wicked sll of rot and decay that clung to the creature’s flesh.
He ca out of the slide and imdiately had to jump over a root that had been torn up by the creature’s pursuit. His landing was awkward, his ankle twisting slightly, but he managed to keep his footing and continue running.
The orb of light was leading him in what felt like circles, doubling back and taking strange angles through the forest. At first Nero thought it was random, but then he began to notice a pattern. Whenever the creature got too close, the light would lead him into tighter spaces where the monster’s size beca a disadvantage.
It was deliberately using the terrain against their pursuer.
Nero adjusted his strategy accordingly. Instead of just blindly following, he started to anticipate where the light would lead him next. He looked for dense clusters of trees, for narrow gaps between rocks, for any terrain feature that would slow the creature down.
The creature lashed out again, this ti from above. Nero saw the shadow of it falling toward him and threw himself forward into a roll. Its arm crashed into the ground where he had been standing, leaving a crater in the earth.
He scrambled to his feet and kept running. His lungs were burning now, his breath coming in ragged gasps. How much farther to the monolith? He couldn’t see it through the trees and fog, had no way to judge the distance.
All he could do was trust the light and keep moving.
The creature was adapting to his tactics. It started using multiple limbs at once, attacking from different angles to cut off his escape routes. Nero found himself having to make split-second decisions, choosing between paths that all looked equally dangerous.
He felt a hand wrap around his ankle, yanking him off his feet. Nero hit the ground hard, the impact driving the air from his lungs. He tried to crawl forward but the arm pulled him backward, dragging him toward the stretched maw of the creature.
Panic flooded his system. He clawed at the ground, his fingers digging into the dirt, but he couldn’t find purchase.
His eyes widened and beca filled with a golden glow as his body began to transform as well.
He had forgotten for a mont that he was no ordinary human as well.
Within him lay a creature of nightmarish form as well.
With a furious roar, Nero in the Black Body Form, snapped forward and threw a heat blow at the creature’s face. It buckled backward underth weigh of his blow.
Nero twisted around the grabbed at the arm that held his ankle. With a sickening crack, he broke it off and threw it to the side.
The creature shrieked in pain then lunged at him sinking its teeth into his shoulder and ripping off a huge chunk of him.
Nero cried out in pain.
In his rage, he bit down on the creature as well.
The creature’s flesh was slick and disgusting, covered in so kind of mucus that made it want to retch.
But he held on anyway, putrid blood filling his mouth as he pulled viciously.
He tore off a pound of the creature’s flesh as well as both of them fell backwards.
Nero scrambled backward on his hands and feet, then flipped upright and started running again.
The orb of light was already moving ahead of him.
His entire world narrowed down to the light ahead of him and the horror behind him.
Pushing himself harder, drawing on reserves of strength he didn’t know he possessed, he continued to cling onto that light.
Finally, after a long ti had passed, he could no longer feel that oppressive fear coming from behind him.
The roars and snarls had stopped.
Everything was silent.
Nero fell to the ground, his breathing heavy.
His mouth was dry and he felt abnormally cold.
’Damn it.’
His vision swam as he tried to find focus, leaning against the stump of a tree.
He turned up to stare at the glowing orb of light.
A smile appeared on his face,
"Thank you."
It had saved his life. If it hadn’t led him away, then he would have certainly died.
The orb of light swam through the air towards him.
A soft voice ca from the ball of light.
"Nero..."
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