Three days of hard travel had us finally at the edge of Death’s Forest. Dark and gloomy, the sun’s rays could not find a path to the forest floor. Unlike what trees were meant to look like, upright with twisting branches, the trunks themselves could not be straightened. Twisting in every direction imaginable. Up, down, towards the right, towards the left, and everything in between. There was only a single way in and out. An open path that wound down through the murky forest further in.

The squawks of ravens and crows echoed in the otherwise silent forest, giving it a dark atmosphere that had even Jax unnerved. Having been traveling on this path, and seeing the woods itself for the last kilometer, the only choice they had to continue forward unimpeded was through and not around. Just a day ago, they had reached a separating path, splitting into two directions. The one they had meant to take was covered in what seemed to be an endless number of horses and men, stretching back much further than sight allowed.

“Are we really going to go in there?” Agata said, worry in her voice.

“Yes, we have too. Or we can face down the army on the other end of the road,” said Michael, eyes focused on the depths of the shadows.

Unlike the death and gloom everyone saw and felt from the forest, Michael saw a completely different image. He heard a desperate call of need, of help to escape the insanity that surrounded it. Forced without choice to guard what belonged to others. The voice was shaky, weak and battered by constant battles to the death. A theme that all inhabitants of the forest followed as though holy orders from a divine. Or maybe it was just that.

Help!

Help us!!

Help us, please!!!

Looking around him, not wholly mentally with them, he watched as the men dismounted and prepared to free the horses they rode on into the wild. The wagons were not capable of being drawn in the root infested floor. It was almost a guarantee one of the animals would twist its legs, or a cart lose its wheels to the constant battering they would receive.

His honor guard quickly got into a wedged formation surrounding him. Prepared to brave the endless dangers to reach the other end all the while protecting their liege. As one, with Jax at the very tip and Bialo and Agata standing next to Michael behind the guards, the entourage moved forward into Death’s Forest.

Just as Michael stepped into the threshold that separated the twisted fauna from those that were much more normal, a screen came into existence, warning him of where he was walking into. Startled, he almost fell face first to the hard floor.

“Everything sound?” said Bialo. A bushy eyebrow raised at the weird entrance.

“E-everything is alright. Just tripped on a branch, that's all,” said Michael, laughing the entire time awkwardly.

“If you say so,”

Now focused on the screen only he noticed, Michael was left surprised at its contents.

System ~

Entrance of Domain ~

Welcome to Death’s Forest, domain of Senzard of Seven Centuries. In his domain, only the strongest survive. The foolhardy and weak will find nothing but the gates of the spirit realm welcoming them with glee. Home to a menagerie of predators, other than Senzard, there are no true apex predators. Each feeding off the other population.

Darkness Affinity ~ x2.5

Life Affinity ~ x1.35

Earth Affinity ~ -1.35

Light Affinity ~ -2.5

But, more so than that, the fact that no one else got the same message left him confused. He distinctly remembers times in Ruthar’s life when Bialo or his father had spoken about statuses and system screens. Not to mention that Bialo himself was a Status Revear. How would he steal and take others skills and traits if he couldn’t see system screens?

As Michael contemplated his new discovery and the different possibilities it opened up to him, his group continued to slowly trudge through the forest in a tight defensive formation around him. Each guard cautiously studied the twisting trees that wrapped around each other. All doing their utmost diligence to stay aware and prepared for any surprise attack or unfortunate happenstance.

It was this diligence that helped them catch sight of three massive creatures hidden behind the trees a bit further into the forest. Waiting for them to pass by and take advantage of their lapse of awareness. The same guard who had pulled Michael back during the bandit attack was the one who saw the creatures first. Quietly pointing them out to Jax, who gave the signal to stop; merely raising a hand into the air with a fist.

The sign was one they were familiar with, danger up ahead. Noticing the sign, Bialo’s eyes began to glow. From his body, a transparent film of energy expanded rapidly all around him. Michael also noticed that no one else saw the energy coming into existence, or if they did, they made no sign they had seen it.

With one word, quiet murmurs of disbelief came from the guards. They were trained well, given great resources to become stronger, and placed into an environment to grow stronger as quickly as possible. This made them some of the strongest Honor Guards in the world, especially if lead by two of the most powerful men alive. Yet, there were still monsters out in the wild that gave them unnatural fear. The stories and legends were quite clear on what they had been and how strong they were.

“Cyclopses,” said Bialo, his voice but a quiet whisper everyone had heard.

“Cyclopses? I thought they were extinct?” said one of the nameless guards, though he clearly attempted to keep his voice even, a bit of wariness did invade his words.

“Not anymore,” said Jax, his stoic voice firm and commanding. Quickly quashing any form of cowardice by the bud, making sure none would be found in his liege’s guard.

Michael staying as quiet as he possibly could, nudged at Bialo. It took quite a few of them to bring the older man back from his magically induced stupor. But he eventually did, getting a noncommittal,

“Young Master,”

“What do we do? Do we prepare to fight?” said Michael in reply.

“No, young master. One does not simply fight a Cyclops hunting party, or so says the elder books. Instead, we will slowly back away and take another open path deeper into the forest,”

“What if they follow?” said Michael.

“In the elder books, Cyclops hunting parties were noted to follow adventuring parties for a while. As long as we do nothing to aggravate them, they should lose interest and find easier prey to hunt,”

Nodding his head and storing the small tidbit of information into his head, Michael followed the group as they made a fast walk retreat. Yet, no matter how far they moved, the Cyclopes followed. Their faces were hidden by the tall canopy and bodies crashing through any underbrush that came in their way. Yet, they were unnaturally quiet. No sound of crushed roots and bushes sounded out, nor did any birds make an escape.

Of course, they irritating cackling of the crows and ravens stayed in the background, also not changing. But, the appearance of the monsters that followed them made the songs they sung more ominous. Like they knew beforehand of the impending death that will take place.

For two long and arduous hours, Michael and the others moved through the forest, but hot on their trail, they were always followed. Eventually, even the tiny bits of sunlight, that made time telling even possible, began to fade and true darkness crept its way towards them. Deciding it would be foolish to sit in the absolute night without an ability to see, they set up camp.

Unlike before, Bialo had raised large spikes that tilted towards the outside, completely encircling the camp. At the very least they would delay any attack in time for them to respond in a mannerly time frame. The group also started a fire in the middle to keep warm and for light. But, that had been a mistake.

Instead of the safety, the fire had inherently promised them, it instead did what they had not expected. As everyone began to calm their nerves and sat down in a protective circle, Michael’s tent in the middle, the hunting party of gigantic Cyclopses stepped out from behind the tree line and into the camp just outside of the spiked walls.

At least seventeen feet tall each, with the one in the center more than a Cyclops head taller (twenty feet tall in total), it was scary to know that they had barely been able to find them in the forest. They were way to close for comfort, especially with how quiet they were in what was supposed to be a forest floor filled with things to crack and snap.

They each wore ragged loin-cloths and the hide of some furry creature. Their skin was a dirty yellow that resembled puke with the dotted browns, purples, and blacks covering them. Holding large clubs that were the size of small trees, the one most distinct characteristic they had slowly blinked at the center of the camp.

At a single person whose heart was about to pop from his chest. Michael slowly inched towards Jaz who had been seated next to him around the fire.