Chapter 28- Falling through

"-Hhhuuuaaaaa!" I scream at the top of my lungs as I continue to pick up speed as my free fall towards the tree continues unabated. It only takes moments before I am falling at speeds way faster than I am comfortable with, and I am only picking up more speed as the moments pass. The tree is only two dozen meters or so away now, and it is startlingly quickly getting closer and closer by the moment.

"Slow down! I need to slow down!" I yell out loud as I focus my mind on forming a spell to do just that: Slow me down. I form an image in my mind of me being slowed down by a strong upward current, a whirlwind of wind to cushion and blunt my momentums.

Another moment passes as I gather and condense mana and start processing it to conform to my image. When the mana finally conforms to my image, I hurriedly deploy the magic to reduce my momentums.

Yet another few moments pass with no change forthcoming; By now, my heart is trying to beat its way through my chest as I wait for the spell to come into effect. Finally, the spell manifests and a powerful whirlwind start pushing me upwards and slightly backwards and noticeably reduces my momentums; By now, I am only 10 meters from hitting the branches of the tree which isn't exactly comforting as I still am still moving downwards at a significant speed; Even though the speed is now noticeably decreasing, it unfortunately, isn't currently decreasing fast enough for me to avoid slamming into the tree branches at crippling speeds.

"Shit!" I exclaim as I hurriedly build an image of an air cushion to cushion my impact before I quickly gather and condense mana which I start molding it into the image held in my mind.

A quick glance towards my destination, I realize that I am only 2 meters away from hitting the first tree branch now and panic starts bubbling up and chills my stomach. 'Come on, come on!!' I yell in my mind as I redouble my efforts to physically manifest my spell before I hit the solid wood that I am quickly approaching.

Finally, as I am but half a meter from hitting the tree branch, the cushion magic manifests and I am enveloped in a soft bubble of air that quickly absorbs all of my momentums, until I stop completely and hover in the air. My hovering experience only lasts for a brief moment however, as the magic quickly dissipates and I am once again set to falling as gravity reasserts its presence and promptly pulls me down the half meter to the tree branch under me.

"Whoo… Close one" I mumble as I take in my new surroundings once I was back on my feet. The tree branch is huge I realize, going from easily being 7 meters across at the tree stem and narrowing down to 1 meter at the top of the branch, the total length of the branch I estimate to about 20 meters long. Also, the branching branches are also quite thick and branch out like a fan from the main branch, reminding me of pine trees; These trees however, have big green heart shaped leaves.

After I confirm my surroundings, I carefully walk along the branch while I search for a relatively safe passage way down; either to another branch I can jump to, or perhaps a vine that I can climb down.

A few minutes later I spot a vine that has grown attached to an adjacent branch, which I carefully make my way over to by taking a magic aided jump. Once I make my way to the vine, I start my long and tiring climb down towards the ground.

----------✓(#_#)-----

Once finally back down on the ground once again, I promptly plomp down onto the ground to give my wrung out, sore and hurting body the rest it deserves. The climb down took way longer than I had imagined: Hours must have passed, as the sun has started setting now and I soon need to find and set up a camp, or I won't be able to relax and rest properly.

Therefore I force myself to stand up once again after a few minutes of rest and promptly set out to search for a good campsite for tonight.

----------------

An hour passed before I decided upon a campsite: I chose a small open hill which the surrounding trees seemed to avoid, which results in a relatively open and easily monitored area that would give me a good vantage point with relatively good oversight of the immediate area.

With the campsite site decided, I promptly get to work on setting the campfire up and gathering a stockpile of firewood for the night; Half an hour later I have a decently sized campfire going with a nice stockpile of firewood to get me through the night neatly stacked a safe distance away from the roaring fire.

"I'm getting pretty used to his whole 'camping' thing… I never went camping when I was still on earth. Didn't go play in the forest, either; Since I lived smack dab in the middle of the city all my life." I mumble quietly to myself as I stare absently at the roaring fire. " I wonder how mom and dad are doing? ... Wonder what Nana is up to now that I am gone." I muse aloud as I sweep my gaze around the area, looking for any dangerous beats or monsters. "While it's true that she was always annoying me, I know she doesn't have any bad intentions…Though I usually have no idea what those intentions are, so maybe I'm just projecting here." I ponder aloud as I let my thoughts drift from one thing to the next while I absently keep an eye on my surroundings.

Darkness has fallen by now, and it has become dark and murky, making me unable to see further than half a dozen meters around me; I can't really see much at all except around the immediate area of the campfire, so I have to rely more on my ears than my eyes to be able to pick up any movements. Which is quite unsettling, really, but since there's nothing I can do about it, I force myself to put it out of mind and instead focus on my thoughts as I munch on some of my rations.

---+(¥•¥)-----

An uneventful night's sleep later, I eat a quick breakfast before I put out the campfire and set out once again.

As I keep going deeper and the mana density increases, strange mutations are becoming increasingly common among the plant life; It is as if the very plants and trees are… breathing, for a lack of better word; It is almost as if they were alive and breathing, almost as if they are, dare I say it? Alive.

Yes, almost as if they are alive; But… Surely they can't be, right?

…

…… Right?

Ok, now I'm a bit scared.

"How do you fight living plants and trees?" I mumble quietly as I keep an extra careful eye on the vegetation around me to see if they move or respond to my passing presence or not.

Thankfully, I am left well alone, as I continue my trek toward the origin point of the woodland.

---------+('-')/-------

End of chapter 28