Chapter 476: This isn’t quicksand, is it?
Kellen had already had to fight off several plants from trying to swipe him from his feet, steal his bag, and to wrap around him. It was horrifying to realise that the forest he had been walking through during the night had a damn second phase.
It was alive before, but now it was awake.
Kellen stopped slicing and dicing the pitcher plants, more because he had a sneaking suspicion they would fight back now. He also noticed how the forest was getting denser, the trees closer together, harder to move through without touching them. Kellen did so, but he could see how this could be difficult for a group.
He kept moving, following the trail made by his people, but at a severely reduced pace. Kellen had a feeling that they might have had the same issue that he was because the next camp wasn’t too far away.
One thing he found out is that there was clearly a struggle of some kind, but no body, and no evidence of anything related to a body. Some torn fabric, but it looked to be too little to say that something major happened. Kellen did notice how the fire pit was much bigger, and not being a fool, he took that as a sign.
He began gathering things for a fire. He hadn’t set up a tent or anything yet, since he wasn’t sure he could sleep like that, or if he could even sleep fully. Fighting trees and plant life for ’dead’ wood was a task in and of itself, and it took Kellen a while to do so. Once he’d grabbed enough to light a fire pit, he turned back and used his flint and steel to do so. It was in one of his pockets on his person because it was a vital tool. As soon as he had done so, and the fire caught the wood, he could feel how the forest around him shivered and shrunk.
Kellen felt his lips curl up in a small moment of victory.
It seemed that when awake, the forest knew what its greatest fear should be.
And Kellen, and hopefully the others, had used that to their advantage.
Even though the sun was now high in the sky, Kellen sat next to the fire, setting himself up so that he could have a small catnap while he had the time, and to conserve his energy. He felt good, even after finding the body.