Monster World

I stood on the side of the road heading out of a small village called dunes burrow, awaiting my current client. She was a flaky air-headed woman but she seemed kind enough. Her position on the council elect gave her more than enough reason to hire me on her journey from Dukeswatch back to Mildura. She wasted so much time on the journey so far, that now she insisted we cross through Willfell forest instead of around. A dangerous trek even by myself. She seemed confident in my skills, but I was worried about the trials that lay ahead. I am a skilled tracker and I move swiftly through areas otherwise unreachable by other scouts. My ability to use the plants around me to my whim gives me a great advantage. But even so, Willfell forest is mountainous and filled with monsters. It is not a place one takes lightly. I stare intently at the edge of the forest where the light of the sun seems to vanish without a trace. The depths of the darkness, setting a stone deep in my stomach. I was not usually this un-easy before a job, however, something about this particular job made me feel incredibly un-nerved.

“Are you reeeaady?” A sing-songy voice broke through my concentration and I turned to see Mira. A short and particularly bubbly lady. She had a short wavy bob and dressed like a comfortable old lady. I gave a nod in response and turned back to the forest. “Are you sure I can not convince you to take a safer route?” I asked one last time.

“No I can’t afford to be late. We must go this way. I trust you can get us through” she sang, seeming to have no concept of the dangers that lay ahead for us. I heaved a sigh. We would have had time if you had not dawdled all the way here I thought with a frown. Mira happily headed towards the forest. I swung my pack on my back and followed closely behind her.

We had barely travelled for five minutes, but it was so dark, it was difficult to tell that it was still early morning. Willfell was notorious among travellers and locals not just for monsters, but for ghost sightings and mysterious disappearances as well. I figure if we walk along the base of the two mountains and cut through the gully we have a chance of getting through in just two days. I heave another sigh as I notice I am walking alone. Backtracking slightly, I find Mira a little ways from the barely visible track, holding her lamp over a vibrant forest flower with beautiful white and blue petals. I stand behind her my hands on my hips, a frown thoroughly planted on my face. Mira went to say something and I simply pointed at the path. “You cannot wander off…, unless of course you want to be killed.” I barked. “You don’t have to be so mean.” She pouted like a child. I raised an eyebrow at her before continuing on the path. “You could stand to smile a little more you know,” She remarked matter-of-factly. I chose not to respond. “You know I just realised. I know so little about you, why don’t you tell me something about yourself,” She asked in her cheerful tone. A long silence followed. People always ask, they don’t really want to know. Not that I ever know what to say anyway. I was still thinking when she blurted out. “I’ll go first then. I am a member of the council elect. I got there by fighting for the rights of non-powered citizens. That much you knew already. Let’s see, I love the colour yellow, it’s so happy. I have two Kaigons one black and one ginger. Oh are they feisty or what? Ha-ha. I have two children a boy and a girl and four grandchildren and, ah that’s me in a nutshell,” she trailed off expectantly. I suppose I should give her something.

“I am a scout. It’s my job and I’ve been doing it for four years. I have done 124 escort missions and have only ever failed once. I am skilful in combat; I can manipulate plants as well as being stealthy where needed.” I stated simply. Another silence fell and I could feel her eyes burning into the back of my head. I turned around to see her looking at me questioningly practically begging for more personal information. Rolling my eyes, I begrudgingly followed up with, “My favourite colour is orange; I have no pets, can’t afford to leave them alone for long periods of time. I do like Kaigons though, and I don’t…. don’t have any siblings.” I trailed off at the end that’s all she needs to know. I keep my personal life to myself for a reason.

We traveled silently for some time when we reached the valley where a river separated two large mountains, which made it slightly more dangerous to pass through as predators pick off prey at the rivers edge. But it also minimised our time in the forest, so I figured that gave us the best odds. “Oh this place is beautiful.” She called out from behind me. I turned and held my finger to my mouth to tell her to be quiet. We traveled a little way up the river when I spotted a large tree with a tent-like opening in the trunk. “We will stay here the night.” I said pointing at the tree. “The night?” Mira asked with a pout. “Yes, there is no way to travel the whole forest in one day.” She sighed and headed towards the tree. The river area created a slight gap in the canopy enough for me to see clearly that it was near sundown. We both walked into the tree and I set up a camp. I pulled part of the wood of the tree down to hang a stone lamp. No scent means it won’t attract monsters. I placed a warmer pot in the middle. A warmer pot is a potion made by specialists to create heat like a fire with no smoke or scent. Then I manipulated the mouth of the tree to close. I handed Mira packaged foods that had little smell. “What is this?” Mira asked her face twisted in disgust. “The only kind of food you can eat. In this forest you want to have as little scent as possible.” I said as I pushed the food on her again. She reluctantly accepted. After food we both retired to our sleep-bags. We were to get up early tomorrow so we would need as much rest as possible. Sleep came to me more quickly than expected.

I awoke with a start to an uneasy feeling. Something was wrong I could tell, but what? Placing my hand on the tree, I tried to see what might be out there. My powers allowed me the ability to see right through the trees. I looked through the bark and there staring straight back at me was the warped face of a monster. Its eyes cold and lifeless yet set directly on mine as though it not only knew I was there, but knew exactly where I was inside. It pulled back its ginormous misshapen fist. With only seconds to react, I quickly opened the backside of the tree strengthening the side facing the monster as I grabbed Mira and jumped hard away from the monster. Mira awoke from her sleep being thrown against the ground as a thunderous sound ripped through the air. The monster had slammed the entire tree over the canopy, scattering our supplies to the wind. It was large. Standing as tall as a single-story house, with three arms one protruding from the base of its chest as its body dripped with ooze. It locked its greyed eyes on us as it let out a bellowing howl. “It’s calling others!” I shouted. Mira fell to her knees as fear paralysed her and pulled the voice from her breath. I picked her up and leapt into the nearby trees. The monster was surprisingly fast for such a large creature. It shook the trees as it smashed into them seeming not to care at all. I can’t just run forever I need to do something. Turning briefly, I could see the monster only a few meters away. Quickly I manipulated some vines to tangle its large body. That’ll buy me a little more time. “Mira I need you to hold on to my back it’s the only way I can fight it.” I could feel her shaking as she clung to my back. The monster was almost free. I used my power to send a flurry of tree branches piercing into its body, all anchored at the trees they came from. That should do it but we need to keep moving. Turning to continue running, I heard it bellow once more. This time it felt like it shook my very being. I was stuck in place my mind going completely blank. Close behind me was the sound of branches breaking. SNAP OUT OF IT! I begged myself. MOVE! The monster pulled free of my spell and launched towards us in full force. MOVE! Its hand came crashing down from above. MOVE! I screamed at myself just barely forcing myself to push back off the branch flinging the both of us blindly backwards.

There was a thud as Mira’s back hit a branch sending us careening to the ground. I caught us before hitting it and used a vine to tie a now breathless Mira to myself. It’s coming again. This isn’t good. Even with my skills, I’m not able to fight a monster of this calibre and it looks like I can’t outrun it either. Desperate, I reached to my belt for one of my explosive potions, only to realise it was all left behind when we fled. “No!” The monster was fast approaching. It takes a lot of stamina but I have to do it. I stood my ground and threw down a large magic circle as its fist was nearing impact. Once again it was encased in a spiralling vortex of thorns vines and spear-like branches. “That should hold for a time” I huffed as I pulled us back into the trees. I have to put as much distance between us as possible. I don’t want to go up the mountain, I need to travel along the river. It’s our only guarantee for getting out and even then it doesn’t look good for us. Once we had cleared some distance Mira shrieked and sobbed behind me. I can’t really blame her that would have been traumatising. In a daze I leapt from tree to tree only thinking about putting distance between us and that monster. My mind was still fuzzy from whatever it had done to me. It was clear I was hastily moving instead of precisely planning each step like I normally would. I need to get my bearings. Stopping on a large high branch, I scanned the scenery. No this can’t be I thought, I must have gotten turned around. Damn it. The ground was slanting upward we were obviously partway up the mountain, we need to start back down to… I heard an all too familiar sound. A grotesque fist was only a few cm’s from my face. There was no time to react. The two of us were

sent free falling to the forest floor. We landed very ungracefully on the ground. Another small and nimble monster dropped down from above. I pulled at some branches using my power to swipe at it. Somehow it vanished out of the way landing nimbly on a nearby branch. “Not again” Mira whimpered as she clung desperately to me. It dove at us once again. I swung branches and vines at it to no avail. It was so quick it just dodged all of my attacks and made it look easy. As it got closer, I used a newer technique that I was still refining. “Leaf-Blades”. I sent a flurry of small blade-like leaves at it in a burst managing to land several minor cuts on it. The monster leapt back, basically unfazed. I sighed heavily. At this rate I am going to burn through all my stamina. I need a better plan. As I looked up an idea hit me. The monster raced towards us again. This is it. I went to pull off my plan but as I lifted my weary arms, the monster was sent hurdling into a tree, rammed by a larger bull like monster. “Two?!” I gasped. But the two began to brawl each other hissing and screeching as they tore each other apart. I wasn’t about to let this opportunity go. I leapt back into the trees eager to put distance between us. I knew this place was bad but I had no idea we would have this much trouble. How did it know we were in the tree? It makes no sense. I could no longer hear the two fighting monsters so I took a second to catch my breath. As though this night couldn’t get any worse already, it started to rain. “AAAUUUGH!” Mira groaned behind me. We need to find another camp tree and just hope that we aren’t spotted again. I heaved a sigh as I pushed forward. I feel like I have been heading down this mountain way longer than I was heading up it and we still haven’t reached the river. The memory of the huge monster popped back in to my mind, perhaps it was for the best.

We came to a spot with a large solid tree. Next to it was a fallen tree with half the base opened wide and a small dimly glowing plant, or something hanging inside? Mira has been oddly quiet considering all that’s happened I’m not surprised. I created a nook for us in the standing tree and pulled the wood closed as I had before. This time it was pitch black. I could see quite well in the dark. Mira was obviously exhausted, scared and bruised from the attacks. This will be easier when daybreak comes plus I must have closed a lot of distance while fleeing so it shouldn’t take too long. I tried to stay awake to keep watch, but I could feel my consciousness drifting. I know I need to fight it, but my eyelids felt so very heavy. I could no longer fight it, blackness consumed my vision and dreams took hold. This dream was one I had not had in quite some time. Why now? It was my home in the snowy mountains. My brother and I were at home. Our father and mother had passed from illness some time ago. The fireplace was going sending a warm orange glow through the small wooden house. The smell was so nostalgic, so real, it was father’s cooking. Wood burning and softly scented oils that we used to help soothe my brother to sleep through his illness. “He needs medicine,” father said as he stood beside me now. I turned and I was standing above my young brother. His face pale, his cough worsening. Then, I was standing outside, a pack on my back and my father stood above me. “Make haste we need that medicine as soon as possible.”

The trail blurs passed hills and trees I never took much notice of, until the first monster I ever faced. But for some reason it was the bull like monster I saw tonight. I felt the same panic now that I did back then. Using the spells I know today somehow I managed to take down the monster only to notice a young man on the side of the road sheathing his sword. A protector I think, he never said anything to me but I am fairly certain he was the one that took care of the monster back then. I never did get to thank him. I was now at the potion shop and bought the medicine for my brother. The scenery blurred once more before I was once again halted by bandits. They held out weapons, I felt so much fury as I could do nothing to stop them taking everything including my brothers medicine. I followed them determined to get it back. But I would not be stupid. Once night fell I used the stealthiest techniques I could and quietly stole back my stuff. Too easy, well nowadays anyway. It was such a triumph back then, I hadn’t even come into my powers yet. My powers bloomed later than most, that’s what father said. Returning to the house, I could feel the darkness looming overhead. Not again I don’t want to see this again, please! Inside My brothers room I look upon my fathers anguished face, I know I have not made it in time. Looking down at my brother he seems so peaceful. He opens his eyes as the world around me falls away. He looks right at me “wake up Elaniyah it has you in its trap, haven’t you noticed it draining you. Wake up, wake up!” He shouted startling me awake.

No not again. I fell asleep, Is it daybreak? Are there more monsters outside? What is this? A small vein like root system was coming in below the tree. It emitted a very dim glow and was under both of us. Was the forest itself draining our life energy? Did it alert the monsters to our location? That explains the sightings of ghosts. Hallucinations created by the forest. How has this happened? No. There’s no time for that now. I peeked through the tree fearing the worst but my stomach dropped at the sight that confronted me. A swarm of monsters surrounded the tree screeching, snapping and swiping at each other just waiting for us to come out. I removed my hand from the tree, Mira won’t last much longer with her life force being drained like this, but I can’t take her out in that either. My best bet is to lead them all away and come back for her as soon as possible. “Mira” I shook her awake “what? Are we out, is it over?” She begged. I couldn’t hide the dark look on my face. She sank back down to the ground and noticed the roots. “What are these?” She gasped. “Never mind right now we are surrounded.” Mira gasped in a panic. “I am going to lure them away and come back for you. We covered a lot of ground last night so it should be quick enough to get the rest of the way. You just have to bear with me a little longer.” When I go, don’t make a sound ok?”

“What happens if you don’t come back?” Mira asked with a quiver.

I looked at her unsure as to how I should answer. “I’ll be back,” I said as I tried to prepare myself for the coming chaos.

I took in a deep steadying breath and as quickly as possible, opened the tree just enough to jump out, then quickly sealed it behind me. The monsters noticed my presence immediately. I pulled myself into the trees barely dodging two leaping monsters that slammed into each other as I passed. I landed on a tree branch another lunged at me, I rolled under it impaling it with a branch. I need all of their attention. I grabbed two sticks and began banging them together as I screamed at the top of my lungs, “hey over here!” The ground-bound monsters had finally caught on and started pursuit. A small monster surprised me from behind knocking me down. I used yet another vine to swing away from the clawing hands below. This is suicide, I thought as I once more just barely dodged a lunge. Smaller monsters began scrambling down the vine I was on, I forced it to spike out in all directions impaling a few as I jumped on to a nearby tree. The large tree provided just enough cover for my next desperate ploy. Pulling the wood from the trunk I made several duplicates of myself and sent them off in all directions they still looked like wood but they had my scent. Some were dragged down immediately others were able to lure small mobs away from my location. I leapt down to lower branches making sure to keep the non-climbing monsters attention on me. A small glistening object on the ground caught my eye, as a diving monster nearly caught me off guard.

I leapt back and using the trunk behind me swung out multiple spear like arms stabbing two monsters and forcing more away. Using this opportunity I slid down the side of the tree using my grappling hook. Once on the ground I created a flurry of blade like leaves around me to give me enough time to leap towards the explosive potion. The amount of relief I felt when that potion was in my hand was immeasurable. My leaf barrier fell as I could feel my stamina quickly fading. Thankfully some of the doubles that I created earlier, were able to take a number of the monsters far enough away before perishing, but that means I only have so much time to get back to Mira and escape so they don’t encircle us again. Up ahead I noticed a small cliff side with an unstable looking rock face. My powers are limited at the moment as my stamina was very low but more monsters were closing in so I needed to move. With a very bold move I pulled a vine from above the cliff ahead, it took longer to get to me but required less power as I only have to pull one. Several monsters swarmed down at me as I grabbed hold of the vine, and swung my short blade that I kept in my boot in a wide arc cutting down those in front, which allowed the vine to flick me quickly toward the cliff face. I landed heavily, as small rocks crumbled down beneath my feet. With a few deep breaths I released the cork of the potion and set it in the rocks. I have to stay long enough to get them close to the blast but I don’t want to get caught either. The potion was nearing the point of explosion and many of the monsters closed in. Hold it just a little longer. They started to scramble up the rocks and encircle me from behind. Now! I pulled myself directly up with the same vine barely missing a set of teeth, while claws dug through my left leg. I pulled my knees up, my only concern the explosion that was about to go off below. With an ear splitting bang, fire, rocks and debris flew in all directions. I closed my eyes tight as the chaos ensued below. Once the sound had died down I looked down to realise that many of the monsters had been buried, some had been injured and were limping away others had already fled.

This is the reprieve that I had needed. I headed back to Mira unable to contain the joy inside. I did it, we may actually survive this I thought. Until the tree we had been hiding in came in to view. No! My heart sank and tears welled up in my already burning eyes, it can’t be, not like this. I pleaded to the inky black abyss around me. The tree had been torn open and pushed slightly over, and just a few feet away lay the bloodied body of Mira. I ran up to her hoping, begging that she may still be alive. Her eyes had gone dark. Her abdomen was torn open. Her face and arms were scratched up showing that she had fought back. “I failed… I failed you..” I whimpered. On my knees, I leant back and wailed to the sky as tears streamed down my face. Why, why did it have to end like this?! I stared down at Mira the chirpy overly affectionate woman I had been escorting for two weeks now. This place was always dangerous but never like this. I have to let the other scouts know I have to get out of here and tell her family what happened. I noticed a necklace around her neck. I can’t take her with me and it’s too risky to try and bury her, so I will take the necklace to her family. Attempting to get my bearings I looked around and finally noticed what I had missed when we arrived. How did this happen? Next to the tree we were hiding in was the fallen tree that we had originally stayed in that flew not too far from where we were. Had we been going in circles all night? I don’t even know which way we entered from anymore. I heaved a sigh my body felt heavy and my stamina was very low. Throwing all the energy I had into it, I blindly ran along the trees until I finally breached the line of the forest. I winced as the rising sun stung my dry eyes. I walked as long as my legs would carry me before my eyes began to fall shut, my knees buckled and I felt the ground collide with my body and the world sank away.

My eyes did not want to open, as I blinked I saw a room. My body was still heavy on what I assume was a bed. I could hear muffled voices as a young woman leant over me. Someone found me thank goodness. My eyes fell shut once more. I awoke some time later. Golden beams of sunlight poured in the window beside me. I thought over the events of that night. Come to think of it, why did I take my equipment off? I never do that. Should I have done things differently, could I have saved her? I turned over with a huff, tears welled up in my eyes. The forest has gotten so much worse and I took her in there I should have insisted on another route I should never have taken her through. The door opened behind me. I wiped my eyes and rolled over to see who was there. “You’re awake, that’s good. How do you feel?” “Like I was hit by a stampede making one horrible decision after another.” I sighed heavily.

“That’s to be expected I guess. My name is Dr Amanda. You were brought to us by some of the villagers. You have a large wound on your leg, two broken ribs, a head wound that I want to keep an eye on and many cuts and bruises over your body. What happened?”

“I hadn’t noticed how many wounds I got, I was too busy trying to keep… Ah the necklace did you see the necklace I was carrying?”

“Yes it’s on the dresser. You were clutching it tight. We assumed it must be important.”

“Thank goodness. I have to go I have to tell... Aaahh!” I grunted in pain as I attempted to pull myself into a seated position. “You are not going anywhere not for a while. If your information is important we can get a courier to carry a red letter for you.”

“Yes please,” I requested as I stared vacantly at the floor.

“I will get you ink and parchment. Until then please rest.” The Dr went to leave the room “Wait, what village am I in?”

“Dunes Burrow” she stated and left me to my thoughts. Of course I ended up exactly where we started. Something about that made it even more defeating. I can’t tell her family what happened by letter, but I can let them know I am coming, and I have to tell the scouts to avoid Willfell at all costs.

A few weeks passed and I was finally ready to travel. The scouts got to work quickly making it so no scout would cross Willfell forest as I had. Now I traveled the long way to Mildura, It took a week to get there but it was much safer. Once there I went to the house of Miras daughter, she called the rest of the family. They introduced themselves to me so politely, I wish I did not have to give them such news. “What happened?” Her son asked, he sounded upset. I held out the necklace of their mothers, a locket with a picture of her family. “I am so sorry, your mother passed in the forest of Willfell. I am deeply sorry for the news I bring I have failed her and all of you.” I bowed my head to them, as a gesture of my sorrow. Tell us exactly what happened they asked, and so I did. They were distraught, but they surprisingly did not take it out on me, though I was promptly asked to leave so they could grieve.

I have written this journal entry for my own peace of mind. Not only as a lesson but to remember one of my greatest failures. I will not be so willing to ignore my feelings of dread in the future. I hope others will learn from my mistakes as well. But to be honest something still bugs me, how did the monsters act in unison? Almost like they were actually thinking. They didn’t act like monsters I had faced in the past, which typically move and attack on pure animalistic tendencies. How did the vines show them where we were and how did they sap our life force. What was making them do that?

Part of me considers going back in alone to figure out what could be going on in there. Perhaps I will, there is no one to morn my departure from this world and who knows, maybe I can repent for my failure.

Until next time Elaniyah.