Hidden Before Their Eyes

Chapter 26: Through the Forest at Night

I can instantly tell when we are grouped in the forest that more than just succubi and those on said level are taking part in this. I also notice that there are so few humans that the entirety of their level is clearly not here. I have an unnatural nervousness about me, my hands are shaking and it is not cold enough for that to be the cause. Looking around I see the same unnatural nervousness amongst everyone else as well. I have a feeling this is not just a race through the forest. Something else is going to make this just that much more difficult.

"Run," a breathless voice echoes though my mind.

Simultaneously we all start running. This fear, this nervousness causes panic. Some people start pushing others, as if their bodies on the ground will slow whatever this thing is. I slow, wanting to distance myself from the pack. Soon I am merely walking as I feel the first come alive behind me.

That is when they start rushing past me. Beasts as black as midnight. Sized as large as horses. Fur coats as smooth as water. Twin tails whipping violently. Khetyrath beasts.

And once more I run. Dodging trees, avoiding rocks, and jumping over obstacles as quickly as my legs can carry me. I dive between the paths of the khetyraths, knowing that if I get in the way of one I am as good a meat scraps.

They are not running at full speed. I can tell in the fact that I am able to keep pace with them at full sprint. Soon I can see the back of the pack of running students. The lagging ones not able to outrun the speed of the khetyraths. At around twenty miles per hour when not sprinting, your average person is not going to be able to out run them. If they hit their maximum speeds of around sixty to sixty-five miles per hour no one here would be able to hope to keep up.

The only salvation of this situation is that they do not seem to be hunting us down. Which can only mean a greater prize awaits them somewhere down the line.

My legs are burning and my lungs exhausted. Yes, I can run faster than your average human, and a bit faster than your average succubus as well, endurance and sprinting speeds where never made to coexist. Already I have seen many fall behind the khetyraths and me. The pack that was once right knit has crumbled apart. Split mostly between still in front of the khetyraths or trailing behind them. Few risk running among them as I do.

To my left a good number of feet away I see a familiar face, grinning from ear to ear. Cora is clearly enjoying this run with apex predators. As nice as it is to see her, as I have not since the end of our quest, this is not exactly the time to reunite with old friends. Or speak at all for that matter.

As I push on, ever so slowly loosing ground to the khetyraths, I occasionally spot scavengers that join the pack before being left in the dust. The forest also begins to become denser, making the run trickier than before. I slow slightly, attempting to pace myself better as my lungs begin to burn. I might have thought to think of that earlier, but better late than never.

As the night passes by I become more and more exhausted, and eventually I can no longer see the khetyraths before me, the dark as well as the trees obscuring them completely. Soon enough the sky begins to lighten, if only slightly. Indicating maybe a half hour before the sun will have fully risen. Now that I think about it, I have no idea where the end of this race is.

When the sun, from what I can tell through the trees, by the coloration of the sky, begins to peak over the edge of the horizon, I see before me a good hundred or so other students and not all that far after them the pack of khetyraths tearing apart their prey.

Just how far did we just run? I have very little time to contemplate the idea before I fall to the ground thoroughly exhausted. Sitting, I lean against the closest tree. How I ran that long at that speed I cannot comprehend, it is as though magic had been used to extend the limits of capability.