A shrill squeal interrupted my incipient existential crisis. My claws dug further into the ground but otherwise I was absolutely still, straining to hear more. The edge of the clearing seemed still as ever, but I looked harder and-

There!

Something roughly the size of a dog burst out of the trees and continued into the open at a diagonal that would take it back into the forest ahead and to my left. It was fat and fuzzy, but the thing that really struck me was that it was a brilliant purple.

Hard on its heels was something straight out of my nightmares. It was part snake, part bat, and something else that was just far enough off from humanoid to make me shudder, and at all parts where the incongruous bits came together there were twisted silver-pink scars like ropes. Two oversized arms helped drag it along the ground even faster than its outsized snake tail should have been able to propel it. A series of bat-like wings of decreasing size had been placed at regular intervals from its shoulder blades to halfway down its tail, pushing the air to make it even faster. It reared back and lunged, arms stretched out like a football player trying to snatch up an incomplete pass.

The purple thing didn’t stand a chance.

The creature coiled the lower half of its tail and settled back, nearly upright. With a twist and a tug, it ripped the purple thing in half. I swallowed hard to keep from vomiting as brilliant red blood sprayed into the air. One-half of the animal ended up curled under an arm, the other half it brought directly to its uncomfortably human face. A very long tongue extended from its gaping mouth and began delicately probing the purple thing’s head. After a moment it awkwardly reached up its other hand to cup the skull and-

CRUNCH

Was it-? Oh. Oh, god. It was eating the purple thing’s brains.

Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

Okay, so.

The snake-bat-person-Frankenstein’s-monster-thing was also a zombie(?!).

My whole body prickled and I heard a loud, threatening growl.

The creature jolted and in other circumstances, I might have made a Tigger joke about the spring-like qualities of its tail. Unfortunately, in these circumstances I was terrified for my life and trying not to freeze under its dark-eyed stare. The growl increased in volume and ferocity, my hind-brain screaming predator and bigger than you and-

Oh, well…fuck. That growl was coming from me.

The upright remains of the tower were about forty feet to my left. The forest was closer. Could I rely on the creature not following me into the lab? Could I lose it in the forest?

The decision was made for me when it dropped the remains of the purple thing and came at me.

I bolted for the trees.

The forest had been restless of late.

Of course, the Core Woods were never quiet. There were too many bones buried underneath the trees, too much magic had been worked over the land.

Karl had heard many theories about the origins of the Core Woods. It had grown over an ancient civilization, brought down by its own hubris. It was the site of a cataclysmic battle between warring deities. It was the source of all magic. It was a cancer on the earth, doomed to grow until it consumed the world.

Karl thought it was all of these things, and perhaps none. In his wanderings, he had seen ruins aplenty. Some looked like cathedrals of glass and stone, some were made of trees twisted and bent by a magical purpose that yet lingered in their roots. He had seen fields of bones, whole sections of the forest where trees had grown too quickly: those trees wore the remnants of the dead, embedded in bark and branch.

It was true that parts of the forest were gods-touched, but Karl doubted that any truly wished to make a claim here. These lands were not cursed, but they were certainly wild. The Core Woods was near an entity unto itself. Perhaps in a millennia or two it would become a god in its own right.

Karl didn’t know. Karl didn’t care. Karl would not be alive to see his speculations born out.

Karl focused on the more immediate dangers: the forest was restless. The living trees were on the move, months too early for the pattern. The herds had been displaced, which in turn moved the hunters. More than one of his naps had been disturbed by the cacophony of a fight for territory.

He had traveled towards the source of the change, more curious than cautious. Whatever caused such upheaval was bound to be interesting, and Karl was old enough and eccentric enough to follow a whim when it caught him. The explosion several nights ago had confirmed that he was going in the right direction and that whatever he found was likely to be worth his time. The light had lit the sky and the boom had shook the earth.

Karl wanted to meet the architect of such a great piece of magic.

Then, perhaps, eat them. He was undecided.

Karl would see where his whims took him.

The upside of finding a densely branched thorn bush was that the creature couldn’t get at me without stabbing itself. The downside was that I had gotten stabbed repeatedly in my mad scramble to get under its protection. I was huddled on the underside in a convenient hollow formed by the roots. While I was still small enough to fit, the creature was not.

I could add ‘freakishly limber’ to my list of new talents because I was curled into a pretzel that would make a contortionist blanch. Discovering new abilities was fun. Doing so while in fear for my life, less so. The crash of branches and trees had settled down over time, but I was not inclined to budge. I was, in fact, seriously considering setting up shop for forever. This looked like a nice place to live.

Or die.

“Ssssissster,” the creature cooed at me. Its voice a combination of basso rumble and threatening rattle. “Come out. You are ssssafe.”

You’re fucking drooling, mate. No way in hell.

“There’sssso much I could teach you, little one.”

You’re too much Nagini to be my Yoda.

“I know you are sssscared. Do not fear. I can wait.”