I Can See Evolution Paths

The deeper they went, the less the forest looked like a forest.

Melo continued forward at a steady pace, her five tails flowing behind her as dream mist trailed across the ground. Luna remained on her back, holding the Light Mirror high enough for its golden radiance to surround everyone.

The Light Zone moved with them. Without it, the group would have already been swallowed by the Miasma.

Arthur could feel it even from inside the barrier, the purple fog pressing against the golden light constantly. It never stopped. Every few seconds, another wave of Miasma rolled through the trees and struck the barrier before being pushed back.

Arthur glanced at Luna. She was still maintaining the Light Zone, but her expression remained tense. "How is it?"

Luna looked at the Mirror. "Still stable." She paused. "For now."

Sun sighed. "You really like that phrase."

Luna glanced at him. "Because it keeps being true."

Mithra smiled faintly. "She’s not wrong."

Sun looked around at the purple forest. "Unfortunately."

A low growl came from ahead. Everyone immediately became alert. Vedas raised Dusk. "I hear something."

Arthur held up his hand. "Wait."

The sound came again. Not one creature. Several.

Melo slowed down, the dream mist around her paws drifting across the ground as she carefully approached the next section of forest. Arthur looked ahead. At first, he saw nothing. Then a pair of purple eyes appeared between the trees. Then another. Then another.

Mithra’s expression hardened. "Corrupted Beasts."

Three creatures slowly emerged from the fog. They had once been deer, at least Arthur thought they had. Their bodies were thin and twisted, their antlers covered in purple growths, their eyes completely lost of their natural color.

One of them suddenly charged. Vedas stepped forward, and Dusk flashed. The corrupted deer was knocked sideways before it could reach the barrier. But instead of retreating, it immediately stood again and charged. Again.

Vedas blocked it, the creature slamming into his spear. It wasn’t trying to survive. It wasn’t even trying to escape. It simply wanted to reach them.

Vedas frowned. "Something is wrong."

"Obviously," Sun said.

Vedas shook his head. "No." He looked into the creature’s eyes. "It’s not behaving like a corrupted Beast we fought before."

Arthur’s expression became serious. "What do you mean?"

Vedas pushed the creature away. "It doesn’t hesitate."

The deer lunged again. Vedas struck it down. "It doesn’t react to pain."

Another deer attacked from the side. Mithra intercepted it, her weapon slamming into its body. The creature spun across the ground, then immediately got back up.

Mithra stared. "That should have stopped it."

"It isn’t fighting normally," Vedas said.

Arthur watched carefully. The creatures weren’t hunting. They weren’t defending territory. They weren’t even protecting their own lives. They were simply attacking.

Anything.

Arthur’s gaze shifted toward the surrounding forest. "That’s the Miasma."

Mithra looked at him. "What?"

Arthur pointed toward the beasts. "It’s affecting their behavior."

Sun’s expression darkened. "So it’s not just changing their bodies."

"No." Arthur watched another corrupted creature bite into a tree. "It’s changing what they consider an enemy."

The deer suddenly turned toward one another. One attacked the other. Mithra stepped back. "They’re fighting each other again."

Arthur nodded. "They normally wouldn’t."

Vedas’s grip tightened around Dusk. "Then we shouldn’t stay."

"No," Arthur agreed.

Melo immediately began moving again, and the others followed. For several minutes, nobody spoke. They didn’t need to. The forest was showing them enough.

They passed the remains of a large Beast lying beside a tree. Its body had been dead for some time, purple markings covering almost every inch of its hide, roots grown through its body.

Sun slowed. "Was that..."

"A Beast," Athena answered.

Sun looked at the corpse. "How long has it been here?"

"Hard to tell."

Mithra crouched nearby without touching it. "The corruption reached the corpse too."

Arthur looked closer. Purple lines ran beneath the dead Beast’s skin. Even after death, the Miasma had not stopped spreading.

Eden quietly asked, "Can it affect dead things?"

Arthur shook his head. "Not exactly."

Everyone looked at him. Arthur pointed toward the roots. "The corpse is feeding the corruption."

Mithra’s eyes widened. "The plants?"

Arthur nodded. The roots surrounding the Beast had turned purple, some wrapped around its limbs, others pushed into the ground. The Miasma was moving through the dead body and into the surrounding vegetation.

Sun’s expression became uncomfortable. "So even killing something doesn’t necessarily stop it."

Arthur didn’t answer.

He didn’t need to as they moved on. The next section of the forest was almost completely dead. There were no birds, no insects, no normal beasts.

The plants had changed, vines hanging from the trees like ropes, covered in purple thorns. Large flowers had opened across the ground, their petals slowly turning toward the group.

Mithra stopped. "Those flowers are moving."

Sun stared. "I don’t like flowers that move."

One of the flowers suddenly snapped shut.

CLACK!

Sun jumped. "See?"

Melo glanced back at him. "You screamed."

"I did not."

"You did."

"I made a tactical noise."

Kong shook his head from atop Sun’s head. Mithra laughed quietly. Even Arthur couldn’t help smiling. But the humor disappeared when another flower opened, revealing the bones of a small animal inside its petals.

Sun’s expression fell. "...Never mind."

They continued. The forest eventually opened into a large clearing. Arthur stopped, and everyone behind him did the same.

There was something strange about the clearing. It was empty. Not merely abandoned.

Empty.

No beasts. No birds. No insects.

Nothing.

A large territory stretched before them, filled with dead trees and purple grass. Mithra looked around. "Where is everything?"

"There’s nothing here," Sun said.

Athena studied the ground. "That isn’t natural."

Arthur nodded. "No." He looked at the trees, where the purple markings were much thicker here. "The Miasma consumed it."

Vedas stared at the empty territory. "A whole Beast territory?"

"Probably."

Mithra frowned. "Wouldn’t the Beasts have fled?"

Arthur shook his head. "Some might have." He looked toward the distant forest. "But others probably became corrupted."

Vedas was silent. Arthur noticed. "You okay?"

Vedas didn’t immediately answer, continuing to stare at the clearing. Finally, he said, "I remember it."

Arthur looked at him. Vedas’s expression had changed.

Not fear.

Something closer to disgust.

"When the corruption took hold of me."

Nobody interrupted. Vedas lowered his spear slightly. "I remember attacking you."

Arthur remained silent.

"I knew you were there." Vedas looked down at his hand. "But I couldn’t stop myself." His fingers tightened. "I knew I was hurting you."

Mithra’s expression softened.

Vedas continued. "That was the worst part."

Sun lowered his staff. Vedas rarely talked about what had happened.

"I wasn’t unconscious," Vedas said. "I could see everything. I could hear you. I knew what I was doing." He looked toward the corrupted forest. "But something inside me kept telling me to attack."

Arthur understood. That was why Vedas had reacted so strongly to these creatures. He recognized what they had become.

Arthur placed a hand on Vedas’s shoulder. "You stopped."

Vedas looked at him. "Because you didn’t give up on me."

Arthur shook his head. "You did the same."

Vedas was silent. Arthur smiled slightly. "You fought it."

Vedas looked down, then nodded. "Yes."

Mithra smiled. "Then don’t forget that."

Vedas looked at her. "Forget what?"

"That the Miasma can affect you." Mithra’s expression became serious. "But it doesn’t automatically control you."

Vedas looked at the corrupted forest again. "I know." He raised Dusk. "And that’s why I won’t underestimate it."

They moved again. This time, nobody joked.

The further they traveled, the more remnants they found. A broken weapon lay beneath a tree. Then another. A torn backpack. An abandoned Beast Tamer badge. A piece of armor half buried in purple soil.

Athena stopped beside it. "These aren’t ancient."

Arthur crouched beside the armor. "No." He brushed some dirt away. There were scratches across the metal.

Mithra looked around. "Explorers?"

"Probably."

Sun’s expression tightened. "So other people came here."

Arthur nodded. "And they didn’t make it back."

Silence.

Luna looked toward the surrounding forest. "How long ago?"

Arthur looked at the condition of the equipment. "Not that long."

Melo’s ears lowered. "So we’re following people who disappeared."

Athena picked up the broken Beast Tamer badge. Her eyes narrowed. "Not disappeared." She looked at the purple marks covering it.

"Consumed."

The word hung in the air.

Arthur slowly stood. He looked at the endless purple forest. The corrupted beasts. The dead territories. The twisted plants. The remains of explorers. Everything followed the same pattern. The Miasma wasn’t simply spreading through the Everglades. It was changing the region, changing its creatures, changing its plants, changing the behavior of living things. And eventually, consuming everything that couldn’t resist it.

Arthur looked at Luna’s Light Mirror. The golden barrier flickered. Just once.

But this time, everyone noticed.

Luna’s expression tightened. Arthur looked ahead. Somewhere beyond the ruined forest was the Phanetium they needed. He tightened his grip around Dusk. "We need to find it quickly."

Mithra nodded. "Before this happens to us."

Vedas looked toward the purple fog. "It won’t."

Sun glanced at him. "You sound very confident."

Vedas looked at Arthur. "Because we’re not alone."

Arthur smiled faintly.

Then the ground ahead suddenly cracked.

CRACK!

Everyone stopped. A massive purple vein burst through the earth, and the surrounding trees began trembling. Melo immediately backed away. Luna raised the Light Mirror. "Something’s coming."

The purple vein pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

Then the entire forest ahead began moving.

Arthur’s expression hardened. The Miasma wasn’t just surrounding them anymore.

It was coming toward them.