(Ti-Stilled World, 5 Kiloters into the Forest of Death – Team B)
"I lost her. I lost Patricia."
Karl's voice ca out broken and frantic, as he began hyperventilating like a tired dog.
"Keep your voice down," Raiden replied imdiately, one hand stretched out, palm raised in caution, as he tried to peer through the ever-thickening fog.
"I had her wrist! I did! But she just—she let go or I slipped—I don't know—"
"Breathe," Raiden said, voice calm but stern. "Nobody moves, we stay right here. If they're nearby, they'll find us."
Cipher didn't say anything at first, but his eyes flicked sideways, scanning the dense mist swirling just centitres from their night vision goggles, his expression unreadable.
Seconds passed. Then minutes.
Still nothing major happened, there was no movent in their surroundings, and no signs of Leo, Patricia, or Bob.
The silence in the air dragged longer than any of them liked, as eventually, it was Cipher that shifted his stance.
"I don't like staying still," he muttered. "Not in this place. Feels like we're sitting ducks for soone to co and kill."
Raiden exhaled through his nose, then gave the faintest of nods. "Fine. But we move slowly, only one step at a ti, and that too with extre caution."
With Cipher at his side and Karl following behind, the three of them began advancing at a snail's pace, every footfall deliberate, every breath shallow.
The fog continued to get worse.
It clung to their bodies like webbing, and swirled under their armor like worms.
Their visibility was practically zero, and the density of the fog felt weird, like they were walking through swamp water rather than mist.
"Guys…" Karl's voice ca again, softer now, almost a whisper. "I think I hear sothing behind us. Sounds like… fighting?"
Raiden stopped, but didn't look back.
While Cipher shook his head.
"Don't turn, don't listen, it's nothing but Illusions," he said flatly. "That's exactly how the forest of death gets you. Makes you doubt your senses…. Makes you chase ghosts."
Raiden said nothing, only kept moving. Karl followed, though his face remained twisted in hesitation with every echo of tal on tal coming from sowhere beyond the fog.
Then—
*Snap*
The unmistakable sound of twigs cracking, rang from beside them, which was followed by movent.
Three forms erged.
Vague at first, then clearer, though still wrapped in mist.
Raiden's chest loosened ever so slightly when he recognized the shapes— Leo's sharp fra, Patricia's lean stride, and Bob's towering bulk.
They walked forward in a slow, synchronized line, just like the rest of them had been trained to.
"We found you!" Raiden called out, relief flooding his face as he hurried toward them.
Bob didn't say anything, just gave his signature smile, twisting the twig in his mouth from side to side.
Leo raised a hand and gave thumbs up.
While Patricia smiled faintly, as she initiated the touch to Karl.
The two teams rged without hesitation, as Raiden took a quick headcount and counted six.
Finally, they were back together.
"Stay close this ti and don't let go," he ordered. "Let's keep moving."
They resud formation.
But just two minutes later, it happened.
Karl stumbled.
His foot caught on a root, and as he pitched forward, he yanked on the arm of the person in front of him.
Only the arm… didn't resist.
It broke free and ca apart in his hand, before suddenly turning woody in texture.
"The hell?" Karl muttered before dropping it imdiately as he scrambled backwards.
"RAIDEN! Patricia's arm just ca off from her shoulders and turned to wood in my hands!" He declared, as Raiden froze, while Cipher drew his weapon in a blink.
The figure they'd believed to be Patricia jerked— then twisted.
Her smile cracked like glass, her eyes rolled to black, and bark peeled from her skin like dead scabs.
Raiden didn't wait.
"Form up! They're fucking Tree Nyphs!" He warned, as the figures began to unravel.
Each face— Patricia, Leo, Bob— morphed into sothing wooden and warped. Smiling masks over rotting trunks, as their limbs twisted unnaturally, stretching like sap-drenched tendrils as they lunged.
They struck fast, but Raiden and Cipher were still faster.
Cipher ducked a sweeping vine-arm and drove his dagger into the creature's neck, only for it to explode into dust and bark.
Raiden cleaved another from shoulder to hip with a mana-coated arc, while Karl backed away, using kitchen knives to disrupt their balance.
It wasn't a hard fight.
But it was sobering.
As the last of the false figures collapsed and dissolved, the fog began to thin.
Slowly, light seeped back into the space around them, with the surrounding trees becoming visible once again.
But there was still no sign of the real Leo, Patricia, or Bob, as the trio realized their big mistake.
"Shit," Raiden muttered.
"We've walked too far to find them now" He added, as Cipher nodded in agreent.
"Unless there's a miracle that can re-unite us, we have to assu that we are on our own now," Cipher said, as Karl clutched his head in disbelief, behaving like the world had just ended.
"We need to find them…. We need to find them sohow!" He muttered, as Raiden placed a sympathetic hand over his shoulder.
"I want to find them as well, Karl, but look around you? Can you differentiate the next tree from the one behind us?
It's impossible to maintain any true sense of direction in this place— all we know is that we're heading west, though even that feels more like a guess than a certainty.
Our only hope is that, if we keep walking west, we'll cross the forest within seven to ten days.
However, if we don't keep sight of that goal and begin searching all around for the rest of the team, we might actually get lost without a way out.
So unless you want to stay in this cursed place permanently, dust yourself off, man up and continue walking—" Raiden said, as he forcefully pulled Karl back to his feet and urged him to keep walking.
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