How do you run from an abomination that seems to bend space around it, covering a disproportionate distance with every long-legged step it takes towards your poor mortal body?

The answer to the question John had woefully never thought to ask himself, was that you shouldn’t ever put yourself in a position to try.

Every time they had stopped to see if the deer had stopped following them, its figure quickly appeared reshaping the forest around it with deceptive speed. By now, John was beginning to worry that running them around like this was more of a method to tire them out than of genuine pursuit.

If it was, it was working fantastically and that only made John more worried. The entire group was exhausted. He himself hadn’t been much of a runner in decades, and his daughter was no exception. Judging by how Sam and Melanie were struggling to breathe, he assumed they were in a similar boat. Charlie was in an impressive shape for his age, but he was certainly struggling as well.

For the most part, the five didn’t bother with any attempts at conversation as they were too busy trying to catch their breath. Even Tim was remarkably silent, though John suspected he was busy ‘recalibrating’, whatever that meant. Nevertheless, it was clear what the outcome would be if they kept running aimlessly around the forest.

It could not be allowed to continue.

“Charlie,” John called as loudly as his haggard lungs could manage, “we need to get to the Tree of Warding!”

“The what?” The larger man asked between haggard breaths.

“Tree of Warding! Tim said you should have— should have felt it— by now,” He barely managed to get out the sentence as his lungs screamed at him to focus only on breathing. As his throat gratefully returned to guzzling air, he thought about how Luna described her own experience. It might not be the same but it was all he had to go on. “Follow its pull,” he finally managed to say.

But Charlie didn’t respond. He continued leading the group of five in their directionless, desperate dash through the woods.

“Charlie!” John yelled again.

“Damnit!” The man finally said with a cough. “I didn’t ask for— for fuckin’ magic!” He grit his teeth silently for a moment before he yelled, “Turn right!”

They didn’t quite make a ninety-degree turn, but it was near enough. John hoped the change in direction wouldn’t give the beautiful monstrosity behind them the opportunity to catch up.

He didn’t have to hope for long, however, as a quick glance to their rear ascertained his fears. It was behind them, long legs maintaining a steady trot through the woods. The effortless movements of the animal as it strode through the twisted space began to piss him off, as his own body screamed at the abuse he suffered.

“How close are we?” John asked as he dragged his eyes from the looming form of the beast and returned his focus to the ground in front of him.

“Do I look— like I’d know?” Charlie responded through audibly grit teeth.

Damnit was right. If the deer could keep up with them so easily now, John didn’t want to imagine what would happen if it got serious. If they got close to the Tree of Warding, would it back away? Unfortunately, John had no idea how exactly the tree warded things at all. If it slowed them down, it would end up putting them in a lot of danger as well.

If John weren’t sweating already, he’d be sweating now at the thought. For now, Tim remained silent on the matter. Whether that was a good or bad thing was unknown, as their guide had a tendency to be quiet first and answer questions later.

He would be useless then, John determined.

“Dad, I could try to—”

“No! Save your strength, John cut his daughter off before she could suggest doing something magical. She was the most energy-exhausted one of them in the group. “We can’t afford to carry you if you drain,” he explained when she looked ready to counter him.

She seemed to accept that, biting down whatever move she was about to suggest. Not that John thought she had anything capable of fighting that thing behind them, which was beginning to sound like their only option. He wasn’t sure he did either, and raw firepower was about all he had.

All the same, he’d have to figure something out.

He went over what he was capable of so far. A fireball he was still terrible at controlling and a fresh-water generator that he couldn't imagine doing much more than tickling the beast. The ‘force blast’ was technically an option as well, but he had no idea how to replicate it. Fire and water were material concepts, but force? John had no idea.

He wondered if he could even manage a fireball-like spell right now. He hadn’t exactly had the time to analyze his recovery rate, but it had thankfully been many hours since his last large expenditure. Unfortunately the low-cost water spell would surely be useless here. Something about watering plants didn’t sound like the right move in this situation.

No— fire was his only real option at the moment. The means by which the deer traversed the forests were totally unknown to him, but it was obviously some kind of nature-attuned process. Wasn’t fire supposed to be the antithesis of nature, life, and grass typed creatures?

His train of thought was derailed when they crashed into a maze of chest-high bushes. There was some space between each bush, but it was incredibly tight and they hardly formed straight lines.

“Follow me! Fastest way,” Charlie brusquely yelled, wisely saving his breath as best he could.

But it still slowed them down, John realized despondently. He grasped his daughter’s hand roughly as he pushed through the underbrush. He dragged her along behind him as he tried to follow the wide-backed man and two kids in front of him. They weren’t making terrible time, but John was becoming increasingly aware of the presence bearing down on them from behind.

He remained focused on pushing forwards with everything he had, and was excited to discover that they had made it just over halfway through. At least, until their lead man fell down with a deep scream and a curse.

He decisively pulled Luna past him and towards the others before he whipped his head around.

“Dad!” Luna yelped as she nearly plowed into Sam and Melanie, who stood protectively over the fallen figure.

“Help Charlie! I’ll be right there,” he promised.

John quickly met eyes with their pursuer as it steadily approached from the edge of the bushes. He gulped as he witnessed the chest-high foliage part just like the rest of the forest to make way for the deer. He felt like he was witnessing the second coming of Moses, only this time the split sea was green instead of red.

Not that the red sea was really red, he thought. But a small fire was lit in his heart as he realized that he could fix that.

At this point, there was no other option. Charlie was down, the kids were exhausted, and they had more bushes to push through in very little time. The only way they were getting out of here was to stop running just long enough to slow the monster down. John grabbed a a nearby stalk of bush and ripped it from the ground with more strength than he knew he had. In his hand was a many-limbed branch of green wood and budding leaves.

He didn’t care for its flammability, however, as he desperately needed something more permanent than the transient flames he got without a focus. He stood panting, stick in hand, as his energies rose. The deer slowed for a moment, but John was too focused to pay attention to it.

A sea of red was what he wanted. A wall of fire that would separate the two. He pumped warm energies into the branch in his hand, and remained focused even as the green wood began smoking vehemently. It started screaming in his hand as liquids began boiling from its seams like a teapot. Small flames then burst from the supple bark as John filled the branch with more fire energy than it was ever meant to contain.

With a pitch, the burning branch hurtled to a location in between him and his target. Even as it twisted through the air, chunks of solid fire split from the quickly charring wood and leaf buds. The offshoots of flame latched onto their surroundings, causing more smoke and fire to spread. When the main branch finally collided with one of the bushes, the contained energies couldn’t be held within anymore.

A flash of heat and light exploded from the point of impact as red hot embers launched themselves in all directions. Thick, black smoke began billowing from the point of impact, and it soon formed a wall of smoldering heat.

An angry cry resounded over enhanced squeal of burning wet wood.

It wasn’t quite what he had intended, but John was happy to find that it worked well enough. The combination of fresh wood and leaves with fire created massive amounts of hot, air choking ash. The fires began to spread as the nearby bushes were quickly dried and then set aflame. John didn’t waste any more time watching. He turned and fled in the opposite direction, after the hunched silhouette of the larger man that was now flanked by Luna and Melanie. Sam was wielding a large stick and facing his direction.

He gave the boy a nod, and they were soon out of the bushes. John spared the heated scene behind him another glance, only for his eyes to widen in shock.The deer’s deep black eyes glared back at him as it stood still within the midst of the smoldering flames. It’s bubble of living space remained clear and untainted even as fires licked at its surface. The two stared at each other for a moment as John encouraged the others to run.

He suddenly felt the belated dizziness of drain, and he knew he would have at most one more such attack in him. Unfortunately it would completely drain him, which was absolutely out of the question. Considering that the deer could part his flames as well as it could part trees, John wasn’t sure how effective a second fire was going to be.

That point was reinforced when he witnessed the fires around the deer begin to diminish, as if they were being slowly oxygen deprived.

So much for natural counters, he sighed.

Still, if the king of the forest candidate was going to spend time cleaning up the mess, John was willing to bet it was worth it. Even if John could feel the pride burning within the deer’s eyes as if it were a master looking down on an unruly servant. The deer wouldn’t allow the forest to burn, but from the way it stared at him, he was positive it was promising to chase him down.

It made him shudder.

Whatever happened to deers running away from humans? From fires? John finally unlocked his gaze from the oppressive contempt he felt in what he used to consider a lesser animal. He made a mental note that he and Tim finally agreed on something.

Earth was fucked.

But for now, at least, they had gained some time.

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The two-legged monsters ran away from the fiery mess they engendered. Licks of burning heat and dangerously flickering lights were accompanied by choking ash and smoke. Things that once inspired fear deep within its being. It was a wanton, unnecessary damage to the forest.

Its forest. A rush of indignation filled the deer’s being.

The dishonour would not be left unchecked. Two plumes of white fog billowed from its nostrils as its body worked overtime to reverse the damage. The small plants were too weak to fight off the bipedalled creature’s strength alone, and required his immediate attention.

It had been weak too, once. Too powerless to fight back against those who encroached upon its domain. Too scared to challenge those who fired their unknown weapons from the trees. Those who reaped the lives of its kith and kin and stole their bodies from the natural cycle of the forest.

It was, in fact, the moon before last that one such attack was levied against itself. It had been too weak then, and was forced to flee with a whimper. Now it was like a veil had been lifted from its eyes. The distinction was meaningless.

It was not weak anymore.

The Voice had called to it, and it felt the words—yes, words— come unbidden from its very blood. Words were a new concept, full of thought and expression that it never knew possible.

It found them apt.

The deer felt as if it had been reborn, as if its previous existence was but a parody of its true self. And from this true self came words. A calling more grand than any instinct.

They told it what to do. They told it how to grow stronger. They told it how to fight back.

The tricky abominations that terrorized the forest with their fire were headed for the Danger. Just like its body taught it how to grow stronger, so too did it tell it to stay away from the place. An intrinsic scream that rejected the unnatural, even though the deer felt equal parts nature and manufacture from the Danger.

It was an amusing twist of fate. The two legged ones engendered the same response, being both creatures of life and disgusting disruptors of the natural order. The deer had encroached upon the Danger once, and witnessed visions it hoped to never experience again. For all it could care, the two mistakes of nature could have each other.

It would make no difference in the end.

They would return to the forests soon, and once they did…

It would not let them go. Something deeper than any fear demanded it. An alien word that came to it from its blood. One that held no meaning in its previous life. Unlike fire, unlike life, unlike strength, there were no correlates to help it understand.

Yet the word filled its body with every pulse of its heart.

King.

A wave of conviction flowed through it with a shudder. That’s what it was. Its body demanded it. King of this forest, and of all the forests beyond it. The flames slowly died down around the deer until there was nothing left of the unnatural attack. As they did, the plants began to lower themselves one by one in acquiescence.

That too was apt, though it understood not why. But the deer didn’t need to understand. It knew.

It was King.

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“Hold it! We’re— almost there,” Charlie yelled after a few minutes of running on his own. Luna and Melanie had only just guided him from the underbrush when he pushed the two of them away and declared he was fine. His voice shook, and his face was flushed with pain, but they said nothing.

They ran. The old man clearly didn’t want to rely on others, and John wasn’t about to stand around arguing with him about opening up as some monster decided whether they were worth chasing for the moment or not.

When finally they did stop as per Charlie's advice, Sam and Melanie immediately fell to their knees panting. Despite being two decades younger than he, the two were obviously not the athletic type. Why, back in his day—

John stopped himself before he started sounding like an old man. He was still young, even if his body protested greatly.

“Is it-—” John stopped to cough, half out of awkwardness and half out of strain, “is it still following us?”

“I don’t... think so,” Charlie responded with a wheeze. “Anyone?”

Luna gazed into the forest, and John felt her energy move subtly. It continued for a few moments, which was just enough time for him to notice that Charlie reacted to the movement as well. Mostly with surprise, and some amount of— fear? John admitted he probably wasn’t very good at reading the man. Unfortunately, the other two kids either couldn’t feel it or were preoccupied with not dying of exhaustion. It was most likely a bit of both.

Luna ultimately shook her head. The motion brought a deep sigh of relief from within him. John didn’t really understand his daughter’s abilities, but they hadn’t led them astray earlier. The five of them would have time to take a breather, at least.

He removed his bag from his back, and from it he pulled three water bottles. They were filled with his magic hours ago, and back then Tim had said they were probably safe to drink. The fact that the water hadn’t denatured back into whatever energies called it into being was a good enough sign to him for the moment.

He tossed one to Charlie, one to the young couple, and downed a third of the remaining bottle. The taste immediately made him frown. He remembered hearing something about not drinking from water bottles that tasted like this. It was tainted with the undesireable tang of a hot plastic water bottle. That was exactly what it was though, so he passed the bottle to his daughter anyway. They would die in the forest without the water anyway, so he figured they may as well put the old tale to the test.

He'd rather drink a bit of plastic then die of thirst at least.

After a few minutes of watering themselves and catching their breaths, John finally thought to look for Tim. The little fairy had followed them silently during the entire chase, as if he too were saving his breath. The iridescent bastard didn’t need to breathe though, not that John knew of at least, which meant he was just trying to blend in.

There was no way he was so distracted by ‘recalibrating’ that he failed to guide them through their mortal danger, right? Not unless surviving that on their own was all a part of the Questing Experience. He sighed, and realized that it was probably exactly that. Tim had said as much early on in their expedition when he refused to help them choose which path to take.

When he finally spotted him, John noticed that he was actually quite far away from them. He danced and weaved between a few trees off in the direction that they were running. It almost looked like he was beckoning them, which left John scratching his head.

So much for not helping at all. John slapped his knees and stood himself up with a groan, his legs protesting against further use. Unfortunately, they needed to push forwards just a bit further. He wouldn’t believe they were safe until he could see the Tree of Warding with his own eyes, and even then he would be demanding some straight answers from Tim.

“Alright, we don’t know if that deer thing will be looking for us again, so we need to keep moving,” John said with a quick glance behind them.

“Easy for you to say, old man. You were only chased for about half the time we were,” the boy named Sam said as he spread himself out on the forest floor. John regarded him coolly as the others stood up one by one. Luna stuck by him, Charlie grit his teeth silently, and Melanie gazed in the direction John looked with fear in her eyes.

“Suit yourself,” he said as he started walking away. The old hunter soon followed, and Melanie chased after them slowly with a conflicted look on her face. Sometimes, John thought with a wry smile, the best way to win an argument was to not argue at all.

He heard a groan and a scuffling of leaves before another set of footsteps fell in behind them. Just like that, the five of them began moving once again. This time they didn’t need to run however, and instead they shook out their various limbs that had grown stiff from the short break.

The Tree of Warding awaited them, whatever it was. John stared at Tim’s flitting figure between the distant trees as he found himself hoping that the tree would be normal. It would be a little anticlimactic, but he was beginning to feel like that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Just a tree in the middle of the forest that happened to be a safe area for them to set up camp.

Was that too much to ask?