"Whooooooo-man, you whoooooo-man. Why whoooooo-man here? Why whoooo-man on shoulder? This place dangerous for seedling like whoooooo-man? Whooooo-man should hide."

John kept a smile but it was under increasing strain while listening to this treant talk. It was as loud as a truck horn positioned two inches from your ear.

Niera had an easier time with it as the nightmare armour she wore was negating the sound force. The armour did glimmer more and threaten to reveal her but still, continued to hold her near invisible state.

"I am John Ryder and I do not wish to hide, if possible I'd hope you could take us in that direction."

The treant turned his head as John pointed and followed the finger.

"We no want that place. Whooooo-man foolish to ask. Darkness, great darkness."

"I understand, as a fellow walker within the light I only ask that this forest take me as far as it can without harming itself. The forest lives to support its creations as its creations supports it, I only ask to join this cycle for the brief moments of my stay."

The treant went silent then spoke.

"whoooo-man's words hold the intent of the forest. Whoooo-man is foolish and strange but not seeking us harm. We will take. But not into darkness."

"This one gives thanks to you, noble forest."

"Whoooo-man, do not die. Meaningless death serves no purpose."

And with those words the treant began to move, forcing Niera and John to grip branches in fear of falling off. With its large movements, it travelled through the forest like nothing else could. Even with bodies reinforced with mana, one could still feel the geforce seemingly squish their veins and muscles like an over ripe tomalli.

*Thump, crack, bang.*

Treants were massive and not subtle, John witnessed a wake of smaller creatures scrambling to get out of the way.

There was plenty of rich succulent fauna in this forest which attracted many peculiar herbivores. While carnivores, which should of been logical to follow, dwindled with many fauna capable of luring, snaring and devouring them.

The green snapper snap that grows sticky vines which slowly dissolves what sticks into a paste that slides down its vines and into its roots. The red eyed white rabbit is actually very similar to a white rabbits found on earth, save the very distinct red eyes and elephant sized bodies that could kick a bus over 4 football fields. And of course, plants of poison like the hell marked flower. It's 5 petal design actually grows into a working magic circle, making it near impossible to defend or cure. Be it plants or animals, nothing survives when a hell marked flower is agitated, making the aftermath appear as if hell itself had swallowed the land and left.

This place followed the law of the jungle, and deserved in every right the danger level of 11.

Finally at a constant speed, John was able to help pull himself and Niera into a more comfortable position. Well... At the very least comfortable for John.

The invisible Niera sat with her knees tucks under her arms and her back against John's chest. Like this John could support her without holding an invisible body. She was securely fit into his lap where the flower like smell of her hair could reach John's senses.

John knew she wasn't real but what was real these days? Much of people's lives were spent in first or watching first these days. Niera was a program in First and he saw no reason for First to bring her back if she disappeared. This made her mortal and unique, possibly containing more humanity then what humanity had become.

John's legs subconsciously squeezed Niera's body tighter, possibly out of worry, possibly out of something else. In turn, Niera's already beat red face went volcanic though and she was glad it went unnoticed.

The nightmare armour Niera wore was relying on a core John had made and more over was the last to charge it up. As such he had an affinity with it, which allowed him to perceive the armour in a different way. Wherever the mana in the armour went, John could see it and it went everywhere virtually revealing Niera's entire form. This is why John missed Niera's demeanour as the colour of her skin and the direction of her eyes were not things revealed with the flow of mana or armour's shape.

*thump, crash, bang, boom!*

Clumsier then a giant fiddling with human tools, the treant collided with the majority of a tree's trunk. John grabbed Niera around the chest and opened his wings as they were launched forward, slowing them down. The treant wasn't slowed much or long and their feet were soon back on its shoulder, with the damaged tree falling behind them.

John was reminded of dominoes as the now falling tree collided with another and then another while Niera felt like dying of embarrassment and fright. It was a catastrophe in a multitude of ways and managed to happen a half dozen more times while this treant continued to miss the gap between trees, that was at least four times larger then it's massive self.

Looking up one couldn't see the sun or the sky, the high canopy let none of it near the forest's floor. Instead there was an insect like creature fulfilling the roll of light. At about the size of a large watermelon, they released off of themselves sunlight, yes real sunlight, not some fluorescent goo. The glutinous little insects during the day used their bodies to harvest sun essence high above the canopy and travelled below it during the night to digest, the process leaking sunlight as a result. Absorbing so much energy, they were tasty targets but were protected by most of the forest for their vital role. Their cycle of flying low then high reversed day and night within the forest.

As those insects were appearing now, the blue, green and purple hues began to disappear from the forest that had since leaving Icarus, lit their way. It warned that night had begun which would wake the creatures of the night.

John knew they wouldn't leave them alone, though many would with the treant as a deterrent.

Baby plant dragons appeared in John's view, they were flying right at him.

They were the youngest aspirations of the dragon lineage and not many would make it to maturity because of their reckless actions over a long period of time. The pecking order was baby, young, adult, mature, elder and primordial. Though grouping primordial in with them may be unfair as their strength was on the celestial scale and far beyond that of elders, they were still dragons.

Baby dragons were clever, strong and fast but rash and rarely sized up or tested their opponent. They entirely relied on their dragon lineage which was in all fairness, formidable.

Getting closer the baby dragons looked like a moss covered interwoven vine. Their form twisted together and streamed through the air on large plant looking wines. They had something like eyes and John took note that they were now not yellow but beginning to glow green.

"Arcane shield!"

The reliable purple sphere enveloped John as spears of wood, out of nearby trees, grew like lightning towards him.

They struck but the shield did not yield while the ones that strayed into the treant did no better. The treant didn't even seem to notice or even react to the creatures assault. To it, they were even less then mosquitos because in addition to not bringing harm, they didn't buzz.

John didn't like having them around though and moved to dispatch them.

"Arcane spears!"

Arcane energy gathered in his palm, forming an object similar to the length of one arm and brought to a point at both ends.

Gripping his creation he immediately threw it, sending it straight into one of their mouths and out the end of a tail. With that, one baby fell lifeless to the forest floor, with a charcoaled hole straight through its being.

Meanwhile John already had another spear in hand and was repeating the process. Two down, three, four, five, they all went down one after the other. They never stood a chance but they were not the only threat.

What could only be thought of as a flying stingray had lost its prey, the baby dragons, and had turned its attention to them.

It was faster then the treant but not its match and so was taking advantage of it by weaving through. Unfortunately for it, that extra maneuvering and divided attention proved fatal as it ran into the vines of a green snapper snap. It was a terrible and antagonizing way to go and John took pity on the creature, firing a single shot through what he thought was its head. Its wailing faded and it was clear that it had died.

This was no time to relax though. A variety of creatures were attracted to the commotion and began filling the area will killing intent. Though it was repeatedly snuffed out as what was likely plants reacted to the abundance of life.

It was a plant war. The result of which agitated surrounding plants in a wide area, making them vigilant.

The plants in this state began to reach out and found something foreign, namely John. Thankfully John was moving and they could not take notice of the treants actions, as it was one with the forest. In this way, the plants could only grasp a flicker of his presence before it disappeared from that particular plant's range.

A few exploding cacti that were growing on trees did set off as the treant came too close but John's shield remained strong.

The one constant was that the treant kept moving forward, consistently and unceasingly. It didn't care if John died, it wasn't going to fight anything that was of the forest and only sought to finish its task.