To Rhial

10

Vetia

I was just chilling, having a relaxing walk through the woods with my friends. Nothing to worry about. The day was warm, and the sunlight warmed the forest floor until brisk breezes slinked through the trees, cooling us off.

But what really grabbed my attention was the wildlife. I was intrigued by how dissimilar it was from the wildlife of Earth. Hell, the size of the trees made the forests feel prehistoric, like we were millions of years in the past when forests were allowed to grow completely unobstructed.

The tree leaves were easily two to three feet long with thick stems and shaped like long jagged teardrops. There were needle trees mixed in, but they were hardly needles. They gently swayed with the breeze, dangling like strings. When I ran my hand over them, they hardened and the stringy fibers shifted so that the needles were like sharp little swords that would cut you if you kept messing with them. I stopped at a cluster of trees by the edge of the cliff and poked at one, running my fingertip against the jagged edge of the strange needles. A clean, fresh and earthy aroma wafted off of these little swords as they calmed back into their loose bunches.

Around most of the trees were pale blue fungal formations that twisted upwards into little spires. They jutted out of the ground and got as high as three feet tall, but always pointed straight up. Large collections of them grew from the tree roots that broke the surface. I leaned down and stepped on a smaller one, which snapped like brittle styrofoam. The fungus bursted, emitting a cloud of light blue spores into the air that smelled oddly like cotton candy.

"Stop! Get your asses off the edge! Behind us!"

The hell was Desmond yelling about? I turned my head toward the group I had wandered away from and before my head finished its pivot, a terribly cold sensation ran down my spine. Three of those things.

They shouldn't have... but- those things- they followed me?

My head spun and that same fear curdled my blood. I caught myself on the trunk of one of the sword trees and glanced toward my friends as the bugs rushed them. Adam's knee buckled from being slashed. Brenden got chased into a standoff. Desmond took bow shots at them, and Tells was running toward me. There was a third, somewhere.

A chill shot down my left arm.

I quickly looked over my shoulder as one of the insectoids charged me on all six of its legs. I didn't have any weapons, and none of my sigils were useful in fighting. All I could do was run.

I raced around the side of the tree cluster with the bug close behind. Little yelps escaped my throat as I danced away from its snips at my ankles. Around the tree it chased me. One rotation around and it countered to cut me off, catching my shin with its pincer. I haphazardly turned and staggered away. I couldn't run fast enough to get away, not in this body.

So much for all that exercising last life! Now I'm gonna die because I got stuck with an unathletic woman's body?! What a load of-

An arrow zipped between us and lodged into the tree cluster, giving me a little extra distance from the bug.

Suddenly, I clipped shoulders with Tells and screamed in shock as she darted past me. She jumped into the air and slammed both her feet down on the insect, crunching its abdomen, but not causing any noticeable damage. The creature chittered at us and wriggled under Tells' feet, trying to free its pincers as Tells wailed on the back of its neck with her scimitar.

I stopped and raised my hands to do something, but what the fuck was I supposed to do? Intervene? Cheer on Tells? I couldn't do magic, I hadn't memorized any of it yet.