The Crossroads

2 | Rescue

WC: 2766

Warnings: A bit of descriptive violence (describing mob attacks, minor injuries)

Etho gets himself into trouble again when he tries to retrieve the soul flame in the Forest a second time. This time, though, help arrives.

-

You'd think just one time in the Forest and experiencing its horrors firsthand would be enough to deter Etho.

But he hadn't been inside the Forest just once. When he was younger, before everything changed, before the Forest was what it was today, he wandered it freely. He used to spend most of his days there, choosing it over the Keep because of its quiet, peaceful feel, exploring every inch of it and learning every secret he could.

That was why he knew the layout well...or, at least, he did. Back then, the Forest had been completely different. It had fallen far from its sunny, airy, welcome-to-all days Etho had remembered.

This was different. Very different. This forest was dark, overgrown, claustrophobic, and absolutely deadly to anyone who dared to venture into it. Trees and foliage, with no one to tend for them anymore, grew out of hand. The grass was up to Etho's knees. He could barely even see the sun because of how thick the canopy had grown, so all natural light was gone. Plants that couldn't grow tall or fast enough withered and died, unable to sustain themselves without any proper sunlight.

And, because of the darkness, monsters liked to roam around in the Forest now, too.

As Etho had learned, you couldn't walk two feet without encountering some kind of monster. Each was deadly in its own way. Giant spiders pounced on you and tackled you to the ground, sinking their fangs into you. Skeletons had bows and could hit you even if you couldn't hit them. Zombies traveled in packs and would easily overwhelm the unsuspecting person.

But did all this information--dangerous monsters, darkness in every direction, a deadly reputation, and an unknown layout--stop him from entering the newly changed Forest a second time? Even when he had seen all this happen before and was unprepared to face it again?

Absolutely not.

Etho quietly slipped into the Keep's graveyard: a dark, dismal place that no one really bothered visiting. It bordered the Forest, and even though it was protected by an iron gate, people didn't want to take any chances.

...And then there was the fact that the graveyard now held tombstones that represented people who had gone into the Forest and never came back. It wasn't exactly a hot tourist spot for the Keep.

But Etho knew that he could enter the Forest easily, without anyone noticing, through that iron gate inside. Just like the one that surrounded the entrance from the Crossroads, this gate was old and had been worn down over time. It wouldn't be hard to find a space that had been opened up, thanks to the zombies. They liked to bang on the bars from time to time, even if they couldn't come in.

Etho picked up a dim torch that lay on one of the tombstones and blew on it for a bit to strengthen the flames. He held up the torch to the gate and, after a bit of searching, easily found a hole big enough to fit through.

As he stepped foot into the Forest again, he noticed a small, decrepit tree--one that didn't stand out unless you knew it by memory. It was mostly hidden by the taller trees surrounding it.

A disjointed memory floated to the surface seeing that tree--one that Etho hadn't thought about in years.

"Come on! I have an idea for what we can do today."