Matthew ducked as a green vine whipped above his head, then continued moving away from it.
It was apparently not one of the living plant monsters, it had a body down the hole it pulled its prey into. If he cut the vine, it would simply seal the den and hide till the vine regrew.
The vine surged forward to capture him, it tore past leaves in front of it and whistled softly as it zipped through the air.
Matthew never understood how it could always track its prey after one touch to the vine. Casting it out of his mind, he led it to a particular bush.
He kicked off a tree, soaring over the innocent looking brush of high grass. The living vine gave chase, but kept low to the ground to not over extend.
Cutting through the dark, green grass.
The long sheaves of grass suddenly came to life wrapping around the vine and dispensing its chemical weapons.
The vine shuddered turning black, a strange corruption that spread along the body of the vine quickly.
Matthew followed the vine back, racing against the black rot to get to the den.
The den of the creature was still open and it hadn't cut the vine. Most likely it didn't know it was in mortal danger.
He readied his pike and planted his feet over the den. He gave a simple command to his wandering spirit which was close behind him.
He took a deep breath and plunged his pike into the hole.
The vine shuddered, then vine limply to the ground. The wandering spirit dove down and cut the vine just as the black rot was coming.
I'm scared to even let my spirit touch that.
This variety of Carrion weed seemed particularly horrible, the living vine hadn't even known it was compromised.
I wonder if I can find a way to kill it and process that? Do I even want to try something so dangerous?
A crashing sound broke through the green forest, a sudden wind billowed past the trees with the sound of danger.
Matthew grimaced, he had never heard anything like that before.
"Something heavy, but fast enough to displace so much air? There's nothing like that here."
Then he heard people screaming.
Matthew began running in the opposite direction, it seemed like he wouldn't get to the White temple today.
Abandoning all caution he ran through an uncharted path, it wasn't the fastest he could run, but it was a gamble in the trap filled forest.
To his horror the people screaming ran in his direction, breaking through the green foliage at top speed. The bare white lights of the moss flickered as he counted the shapes hurtling towards him.
Six people, no monsters that he could see.
They kept looking up however, a thought crossed his mind and his entire body turned cold.
No, no, no. I need to leave these condemned fools behind.
He turned and ran even harder through the forest back towards the exit of the dark forest.
I should be off the path of whatever's chasing them. I'll circle back to the Dark Forest's exit.
He glanced back and almost screamed from the frustration.
They were still following him, for some reason they had abandoned their original route to stay behind him.
He was quickly losing them, but he had to keep his eyes in front of him for any loose root or suspicious bush. He also had to keep his ears active, straining track of every rustle and crack in the forest.
His heart leapt at every patch of grass too deep or strangely placed puddles of water.
He sneaked a look behind him and saw only three people left behind.
Whatever was chasing them had dealt a blow either that or the forest had taken them. He wanted to stop running, it must have had it's fill by now.
But something told him that there was something horribly wrong, his breath crawled from his tired lungs weakly and the forest was too quiet.
Everything had hidden or ran off sensing something bearing down on this area.
The dark world suddenly felt like it was closing in on him, a dark shape flickered above him and the wind just kept whispering into his ear.
Death had finally come for him, his false domination of the forest had come to an end. He saw the cliff wall leading to the upper terrace, after that he would have escaped the dark forest.
But it was in an open field.
The grass crept to a stop here, turning into craggy grey stone as the strange green infection halted. Matthew suddenly felt regretful that the forest ended there.
Never thought, I'd want this hell to reach the White temple.
He stopped, his breath crawling to a halt as his mind raced to find an escape. Scowling he turned back to the foolish people following him.
They hadn't stopped running and there was one less boy, just two boys drenched in sweat. Eyes rabid and wide like they had seen a ghost.
Suddenly, Matthew surged forward and snapped the boy's leg back with a devastating kick to the knee. While the boy fell screaming he rushed the other boy.
"Wait, we aren't monsters!" he screamed as Matthew pounced on him.
There was no reply, in a second the boy was thrown to the ground and Matthew stomped savagely on his ankle.
As the two boys groaned and shouted at him, he turned and began an all out sprint to the climb back up to escape.
"Wait! please you can't leave us here!"
"We returned what we took! We don't understand why it's still chasing us!"
Matthew ignored their pleas for help, silently cursing them in his mind.
Deal with your problem on your own, don't bring me into it and expect me to help.
He looked back just in time to see a dark shape swoop down through the canopy and take one away. The other boy screamed even louder.
"Wait! No, no please. I just wanted to go home, help me…. Oh god. I just wanted to go home."
Matthew climbed the last of the steps as the boy's screams died off, relaxing as he stumbled into the tunnel.
He sighed in relief, looking back at them and freezing as his heart stopped.
A great vermillion bird towered over him, its beak glistened like bronze under fire and its eyes burned with the same cold fire. It sat in front of the edge of the tunnel, just looking at him.
Cocking its head at the little spirit floating beside him, it's golden eyes became colder and the wind followed suit coiling around him like a transparent cloak.
The Red seeker's majesty left him in awe, he had always wondered how it had gotten the name the White temple denizens had given it.
The red of its flowing feathers were striking and the intelligence in those golden eyes was ancient. The creature had four powerful wings and feet lined with deadly, black talons.
It seemed offended by Matthew's wandering spirit, stepping forward slowly.
Matthew raised his pike, shivering as the creature neared him. His arms felt weak and impotent before the beast that bent nature to its will.
The creature saw this gesture, and let out a strange scoff, batting its wing a surge of wind threw him through the air like a ragdoll.
The world spun and twisted as the gentle wind picked him up like he weighed nothing.
Crashing into the ground, for a second the impact was overshadowed by the deafening pain in his ears. The gentle winds had left him almost deaf.
His blue eyes fluttered open just in time to see the bird draw a long line in the stone at the edge of the tunnel. Black talons cutting through the weak grey stone like butter.
His ears rang with piercing tinnitus, and his arms screamed as he forced himself off the ground. He stumbled up, facing the proud bird once again.
Golden eyes gazed down at the little creature disappointed, it stamped it's foot twice on the line at the edge of the tunnel and turned away from him.
Its form blurred as it launched into the air and drifted away from the pitiful creature like a horrible dream.