Indigo Elf

Ch. 19

Ch. 19

Arlen

As soon as I stepped inside, I could feel the temperature drop. Just as I wanted, the cloaking spell masked me completely; I couldn't even hear the sound of my own footsteps, which was a little eerie. Despite having activated my cloaking spell, I was still paranoid that my heart would alert the undead of my location and they would come for me. It was then when I realized that Gabriel gave me no hint of where he would be or how I was supposed to find him. I clenched my fist and pulled out my spell book. Before Casper left to visit his parents, I vaguely remember us having yet another conversation about spells. One spell that found myself taking interest in, but forgetting about was a spell called Search.

I read over the letters, realizing that in order to use Search, I had to have something that belonged to the person of interest. I pursed my lips. I had nothing that belonged to him. My eyes widened as I grabbed my pin. Technically, this pin didn't belong to me yet, so that meant that it still belonged to the guild master! With my fingers brushing against the smooth gemstones, I activated the spell. Since the forest was so large, it took a while to pinpoint his location. I wanted to scream as I noticed he was located all the way on the other side of the forest and that I would have to cross a river to get to him.

With narrowed eyes, I promised that if I met him without dying, I'd give him a taste of my lovely fist.

With his location marked on my minimap, I started to move again. As I walked, I took the time to take in my surroundings. The forest was dead as well, just like its inhabitants. There weren't any flowers or green grass to be found, and the rare plant I did stumble upon was black and dripping with this foul smelling slime. The trees were also bare of any leaves. I flinched as a distant groan reached my ears. I took a deep breath and kept moving.

"You there," I suddenly heard a hoarse voice groan, "Cut me ... cut me...down."

My heart squeezed painfully in my chest in fear. I quickly looked up, gagging in disgust when I saw a corpse swinging from a low hanging branch. Slimy, blackened flesh dripped from her bones, hitting the ground with a disgusting splattering sound. She hang limply from the branch, swinging slightly from a thick rope wrapped tightly around her neck.

Anything that would have told me her gender was rotted away, but I knew because of the medieval-looking dress she wore and the jewelry she wore.

Even though I knew she couldn't see me, I felt as if those two dark holes in her skull were staring into my very soul. Her blackened arms gripped at the rope around her neck and her legs kicked weakly as she tried to wriggle free.

"I can't....breathe. I can't....BREATHE!"

I covered my mouth as a scream so loud tore through her mouth, traveling through the forest. I looked around frantically, hoping that no other undead would come, attracted by her screams. My body shook violently as I watched her thrash and scream. It was like I was frozen. I couldn't turn away and my feet seemed as if they were glued to the forest floor.

"I'M....I'M....I'M... HUNGRY!" she roared, "YOU THERE.....CUT ME DOWN......SO I....SO I....CAN EAT!"

Unable to watch anymore, I broke into a run, wanting to get as far away from her as possible. Tears streamed down my face and my hair whipped violently behind me as I tore through the forest as if I were being chased by the devil himself. I kept running, dodging the undead that seemed to appear out of nowhere until I suddenly tripped over an exposed root.

I face-planted into the forest floor with a loud thud. I laid there for a moment before slowly sitting up and catching my breath. I hissed in pain as I rubbed the freshly made cut on my forehead. For a moment, my heart nearly burst out of my chest because as soon as I saw blood, I just knew that I would draw in every zombie for miles, but then I remembered my cloaking spell. It made me invisible and untraceable to anyone and anything I didn't want knowing that I was there.

"I'm alright," I whispered to myself, "I'm okay."

Grabbing the base of the tree next to me, I used it to get back on my feet and continued onwards. Since my state of panic drove me to run blindly through the forest, I was startled to see that I had gotten quite a ways off course. I sighed and slapped my forehead in annoyance. I had to get myself under control. Seeing as this was a forest filled with walking corpses, it was inevitable that I would see some crazy and scary things, but I would have to get myself under control. If I kept running like a madman from every single thing, I'd never reach Gabriel before 5 pm.

"Get your shit together," I whispered as I activated my calming spell for the second time.

After a minute or two, I started walking back towards the course I'd strayed from in my panic, passing multiple undead as I did so. They were everywhere, and judging by their equipment, I could tell what classes they were. I could also make out the red pulsating organ that gave them their artificial life.

I held my breath as an undead centaur slowly approached me. His head was lolled to the side, swinging unnaturally from what had to be a broken neck, and his left arm was gone. Although he was dead, I could see that he was one of the fresher ones. His skin was mostly intact and I could make him out without any problems. He was once very handsome, and like Casper, had dark skin. His ears were twitching frantically, and his glazed over eyes were darting in all directions continuously.

His fur was still pure white, with the exception of the dirt and mud that had accumulated over his time of being here. Unlike the others, he had no equipment and only wore a pair of pants. His skin was covered in what looked to be marks made with a sword, leaving me to believe that there was foul play involved in his death.

"I'll get revenge," he muttered as he slowly walked past me, "Madison, don't worry....I'll find my way back to you."

I clenched my teeth as I saw the hundreds of maggots feasting on his rotting flesh. Bile threatened to spill past my lips as I heard the maggots eating at his flesh, reminding me of my very first quest with Casper and Helen.

God, I would give anything to be with the both of them back at that maggrit pit than in a terrifying place such as this.

Despite the fear I felt, I couldn't help the sadness that welled up within me. From his words, it was clear that he was murdered, and left someone special to him behind. Those murderers must have taken his equipment as well, seeing as he had nothing on but a pair of pants.

"Poor soul," I whispered quietly.

His head suddenly whipped around so fast and so violently that the flesh tore and stared right at me. My eyes widened and I froze in place. It was like my lungs turned into cement, making breathing absolutely impossible. Our eyes met and we stared at each other for what felt like forever before he slowly turned back around and started walking again. 

"So...hungry," I heard him mutter as he disappeared into the ghostly mist.

I clenched my chest and kept moving, trying not to let my trembling body buckle from the weight of the sheer fear rising within me. What the book said was true. Fresh zombies were very dangerous. It made me think that the zombies who were freshly turned could be even more dangerous. Perhaps they could even plan strategies and possibly deceive someone who was unaware. I then made the decision not to speak anymore, and I definitely wouldn't stop for anything.  

With a determined nod, I clenched my staff tightly in my fist and continued on. I was going to get out of here, no matter what it took, and that Gabriel bastard was going to feel my wrath. 

_Gieo_

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