(Outdated) The King of Elements

Into the Edge Walker's Forest

The sunlight quickly became consumed by the darkness of the tree limbs above as they sprinted into the forest. The only light came from the large orbs of light that floated among the hundreds of students. Their yelling had ceased once they arrived at a large clearing, where they huddled close together, barely able to breathe due to the thick humidity. There were six large paths, including the path they had taken to get there.

Dre had never before been in a situation such as this. It felt as though any positive thought that he had in his mind had vanished completely, only to be replaced with the presence of looming evil and death surrounding them. He gasped for breath as he looked around at the cowering students.

Apart from the heavy panting and whimpering of the students, the forest was silent. There was no gurgling screaming of the Edge Walker's, no sounds of any wildlife, or sounds of any running water. Only the inhuman silence.

"We'll be sitting ducks waiting for the picking in a big group like this," Michael whispered as the rest of the group plopped down onto the ground. "For now, we should look for a branching path and think of a plan, before those things show up."

"Excusez moi?" Rose said through a pant in her thick French-Canadian accent as she ripped off her beret. "Why should we separate from the group? What happened to 'Strength in numbers'?"

"Believe me," he began, "if we remain in a group this big would be preferable if they had any actual experience. Judging by their screaming, I can already tell how untrained most of them are. Keeping them around would only attract unwanted attention." He looked around as he lowered his voice. "We'll go through the path to my right. Now."

The group swiftly stood up and silently made their way down the path. Michael and Keiko were in the lead, followed by Dre, Megumi, and Kim, with Ian and Rose at the rear. Michael stopped, almost making the group run into him. "Dre, Kim," he began over his shoulder, "you two watch the sides. If you see anything out of the ordinary, make some type of noise. Megumi, you watch the front with me and Keiko. And Ian and Rose, you watch the back. Walk backwards if you have to, so long as you keep on lookout."

"Do you know what are we on the lookout for?" Kim asked as she stalked her side of the forest.

"Yeah. We've dealt with an Edge Walker before we came here," Keiko said. "They are very tall creatures with arms this wide-" she extended her small arms as wide as they could, "and they have humongous nails, too! And they yell like this-" she imitated the gurgling cry of an Edge Walker very poorly. "And... and..."

"That'll be enough, Keiko," Michael said blandly. "Though that is the gist of their appearance. You would know well enough what they are if you see any of them." He looked back at the path ahead of them. "When you see any of them."

The orbs of light eerily floated down the path like will o' wisps, making the path barely illuminated. One of the orbs flew close to Dre's face; he squinted as he looked at, and saw that they were actually butterflies. Definitely not the kind that Dre was used to seeing back in Arkansas. He held out a hand, hoping that it would land on his finger, but it quickly fluttered away in the opposite direction. Dre pouted. "Let's move." Michael and Keiko began walking. The rest of the group obediently followed, with Ian walking backwards beside Rose. "Keep your eyes and ears open, and try to remember what they sounded like. Our survival counts-"

He suddenly stopped speaking, and the rest of the group didn't have long to figure out why. Somewhere behind them, deep in the distance, they heard the disembodied roar of an Edge Walker, quickly followed by the terrified screams of the students.

"Yo. Eff that noise. Ya'll ain't here that shit?" Ian said over his shoulder to the darkness.

"It sounded pretty far from us, though. Right?" Rose said shakily.