Chapter 230: Redwoods
Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Dasha’s gaze remained steadfast. Finally, he took his first step. The crunchiness of the soil, the taste of the air and the slight acidity. Fog was supposed to be pure and tasteless. This was not. This was magical in nature and seemed to absorb everything but sound waves.
With each step, he matched his heartbeat and listened to his surroundings. The difficulty couldn’t be overstated. The slightest delay in rhythm could ruin his concentration. His range grew further and further, detecting trees and tiny rocks in the ground. He approached a specific tree. Coming closer, at three metres away, he was able to see it.
"Coastal Redwoods," Dasha muttered. "They grow in places with high precipitation like mountains. Could this based on a real place? Or an aberration like the Shadow Hall?"
He needed a hint. He needed something. He read up on the legends of the monsters that roamed the Silent Forest and conjured up several theories. Theories, however, did not matter if he did not get to encounter monsters or players. His mutterings garnered deeper insight into his surroundings. He continued walking.
He visited the Redwood National and State Parks to help a professor once. As the distance between trees became apparent, so did the inaccuracies. The spacing of redwood trees, generally speaking, wasn’t this vast. His journey through the mist of white was intensely dull. Nothing but trees lay in his wake.
A whole hour passed until his ears caught another crunch. Ten metres ahead, someone was there. ’No, not one. Three? Four?’ The footsteps had momentarily stopped. Dasha stopped with them. Seven metres lay between them. Vaguely, he could make out an outline of them.
He heard barks, deep and harrowing. Its bass was like the Doberman Pinschers except twice as loud. Dasha’s ear drums rattled as the barks kept going.
"Get your hellhound in control!"
"I-I just got him so..."
"I know! And I don’t care!"
"S-sorry."
Two voices, one confident and the other meek.