~ Yumeiseki Empire ~

Chapter 3: The creature agreed.

(Changed the pacing and added more detail to this chapter.)

"Haven't you heard? There are bad monsters in that forest.. my mom told me!"

"That's scary! Let's play somewhere else.."

Mysticus forest. As I said, one of the empires' strangest places to go. People often get dizzy, confused, or even lost in there.

That's merely a side effect, though, like a side effect or a bonus to the already terrifying place that is this dungeon of nature.

It's the beings that lurk in the darkness of the forest.

"You ready to go in?"

I asked, tying a rope I had on me to one of the trees so we could come back easily. It's better to not get lost, and we could just follow the rope back to where we came from.

"I guess so..." Socket nodded nervously, going behind me so we don't get separated.

I tied my long white hair into a ponytail so I could see better and not possibly get it stuck in a branch.
And just like that, we were off to the deeper parts of the dense forest.

Surprisingly, Socket seemed to navigate himself quite easily. After all, he was a changeling. Changelings usually lived around these types of forests where most people couldn't. It was something I had admired the other for.

Despite being somewhat disturbing and unnerving, it was also alluring. It welcomed you in a way. The trees being tall and astir with life, it was magnificent. It's a shame most wouldn't even think to try and explore here, but it was also understandable. Better safe than sorry.

Socket also seemed to admire it with me, I'm sure he had the same thoughts as I did, and I'm sure the person in the trees agreed.

.

Wait, what?

What person?

My stomach churned. I felt like I was being stared at. Someone's gaze was piercing through me like a knife and burned an imprint in my skull. I stopped in my tracks, the sound of my shoes against the grass dying down.

Socket stopped, too, and I felt his lanky fingers reach for my hand to hold it. I let him.

"You hear it too, don't you, Eliott?"

I nod.

"Run."

I instantly threw the smaller man over my shoulder, running as fast as I could. I could hear another pair of footsteps running behind us.

This couldn't be happening, not now.
I couldn't bother looking back, I was going to run and run until I felt safe.

I almost tripped on a rock but I kept running. I was growing tired and I kept running.

I heard the rope tied to me break. Whoever- whatever was chasing us must have done that to disorientate us. I didn't care at the moment, I was filled with too much fear. I needed to survive first.

Socket was clinging onto me tightly. I could have sworn he was muttering something to the God of the Sun, though I couldn't hear it.

I kept running... and running... and I went through a gap in the trees, pushing a rock to block the way. Whatever was chasing us would have to take a different route.

...

What just happened?

My mind hadn't even registered everything. I put down Socket and I stumbled forward, but eventually let myself fall to the ground while panting. My adrenaline was wearing off. Socket seemed fine, at least.