It was daytime, the sun must risen by now. Yet, the whole forest was drenched in darkness. The thick clouds curdled above us and the wind battered us and trees relentlessly.
"This weather is crazy!" I commented.
Kaya and I ran through the forest a brisk pace and without a break. She lifted her bow and shot an arrow into the distance. A loud howl broke through forest as a wolf, who evaded my sight, fell to the floor dead. "Sorry, but we need to move on," She said.
"It's alright. They are not worth much XP anyways."
More wolves jumped out of the undergrowth but each one went down with a single arrow and a howl. "Hungry wolves feast on those unfortunate enough to cross their paths," Kaya said.
Droplets of rain began to fall from the sky. Something I would have usually hated, but now I am glad to have happened. A pack of wolves appeared behind us, trying to chase us down. When Kaya caught sight of them, she immediately paused and spun around saying, "Get back!"
"No wait!" I replied. I cast a simple fire spell, setting the forest before me in an arc of short but powerful burst of flames. The wolves were thrown back, some of them burnt enough to fall to the ground dead, while others retreated into the bushes. The rain grew heavy, smothering the flames before they could grow out of control.
"Clever," Kaya commented.
We continued on the path, reaching an old tree, standing a top a cliff. Looking over the edge, there was just more trees. However, about half a kilometer or so, we spotted the ruin, a square stone mess cutting through the sea of trees.
"There. I can see it!" I said.
"We are close. Let's get moving," Kaya replied.
Just as we were about to leap off the edge, the root underneath us tore off the ground. "What the hell!" I exclaimed, trying to maintain balance. The tree shifted, begining to twist and turn as it roared like a beast.
"Treant!" Kaya said. "Jump!"
And we did, off the cliff and seemingly to our death. That was until I felt something wrap around my waist, before pulling me back up and throwing me back onto the cliff.
Kaya landed a few paces away from me. She got on her feet quickly, preparing to strike. I breathed a sigh of relief before looking at the giant tree walking towards me, its vines beginning to creep out.
I slowly got up on my feet just one of the vines lashed out at me, forcing me to duck back onto the ground to avoid it. However, the vine proceeded to thrash relentlessly as tried to evade them.
It didn't hit hard, barely making a dent in my health. But they definitely stung like a bitch. Kaya too was forced to jump and parry the veins to avoid them.
I quickly pulled out my dagger and turned the blade red hot. With one quick swipe, I cut through the vine. The Treant retreated in response, appearing to scream as it did. It then used the same vine to send broken rocks and tree bark my way. I quickly cast a protect and stopped the debris from causing any damage.
Three arrows struck the Treant, right in the center of the trunk. But they barely made a dent. Kaya grunted hard, looking pretty annoyed. So, that is where it's heart is.
The Treant reacted to our attacks by lashing out it's roots this time. I cast another protect to block the root but it shattered on first impact with it. Fuck.
My Mana well began to grow hot. I thurst my palm forward, discarging a powerful fire stream towards it. The stream crashed into the tree trunk, throwing it off balance but the wetness from the rain prevented it from catching fire.
I had to act to quick. I followed up the fire spell with a simple decimation spell aimed at the heart. The Treant tried to wack the ball away with one of its root but the decimation ball simply chewed through it. A huge gaping hole appeared on the trunk, exposing the glowing heart.
"Kaya! Now!" I shouted.
Without any delay, Kaya fired an arrow throught the heart, shattering it. The treant slammed down onto the ground before tipping over. Its branches hung over the cliff edge, lifeless.
"Nice shot!" I exclaimed.
Kaya had a wide grin on her face. "Thanks. Shall we proceed?"
We walked over to the edge and saw that the dead Treant had let down a vine that reached the forest below. Nice.
"After you," Kaya said.
I hopped onto it and slid down into the thicket below. Streams of water flowed down the walls of the cliff, soaking the forest beneath with a layer of rain water. The rain fell steadily, neither too heavy nor too light. Just enough to keep us wet.
We paused for a moment, to take a breathe. Kaya stood beside me, her bow leaning against her legs, as she wiped the excess water off her body. For moment, I was lost. I always thought of Kaya as a beautiful woman, but didn't try too hard to think past that. However, the more we talked, the closer I felt to her. Uncomfortably close.
She looked back at me with a puzzled expression. "What happened?"
It was at that moment, I realized I was staring at her with a gaping mouth. I immediately shut it and shook my head. "Nothing. Nothing. Shall we continue?"
She frowned faintly before turning towards the path in front of. "Gladly." It seems like I managed to get on her bad side. Yikes.
We continued forward, when I noticed something strange about the forest. "Say. This appears to be a path to the ruins." The forest appeared to be bisected, creating a twelve feet wide path covered in soft grass. The canopy above also had less cover.
Kaya came to a sudden stop. "You are right." She picked an arrow out of her quiver and shot it to the ground a few feet ahead of us.
A hand protuded from the ground, fingers sharp as knives. Before long, a humanoid figure dug itself out of the ground, followed by a few more. They were thin and without skin or hair. Their bodies mutilated and red as dried blood.
"Ghouls," Kaya said.
"Zombies?" I asked.
"I don't what are those..."
"Dead humans brought back to life."
"Not sure. But they will certainly put you down if you aren't careful," Kaya said.
They didn't charge towards, instead roared and screamed while patiently waiting for us to attack them.
"Hold on. Let me give this a shot," I said. Kaya stepped aside. I streched my hand out and tapped into my Mana well. As it swelled, a decimation ball formed before my fingers. Just before releasing it, I tried a new trick. Letting my well heat up, the decimation ball began to grow red hot. Suddenly the ball caught fire, with sparks flying off it.
Kaya stepped back, looking at it in awe. The Ghouls, however, were not roaring anymore.
I sent ball flying in a straight path, cutting through the crowd of Ghouls before exploding in a glorious orange flames and blinding us momentarily. When our sight returned, all that was left of the Ghouls were torn limbs and burnt corpses.
I turned to Kaya looking at the battlefield, there was a faint smile of her face and a spark in her eyes. "What happened?" I asked.
"You impress me everytime you fight," She said bluntly, her smile widening. My heart swelled in happiness as butterflies fluttered in my stomach. "Let's keep moving," She said before dashing off towards the ruin.
Just as we were about to reach the ruins, the ground beneath us shook violently, forcing us to come to a sudden stop. "What is that?" I asked.
Kaya didn't answer, instead she pushed off the path and into the bushes on the side.
I fell quiet and closely observed the ruins that sat a few feet away from us. Two giant stone legs appeared out of the blue, whose steps created mini-earthquakes. I looked to see a giant, at least twenty feet tall, made entire of stone, walking towards the center of ruin where upon it took a seat on a tipped over pillar. It looked like a child's drawing, with a rectangular body, arms, and hands, made entirely of stone. It had two large spherical eyes on the top of its body, whose dead eyes look sent chills down my spine.
"It is a troll," Kaya said.
"A troll, huh? Looks mean. Is its body entire made of stone?"
"It is. But that is not our problem. It is its eyes."
"They do look scary. But what do they do?"
"One look from those things and you turn to stone," Kaya explained.