"Man...We've been running for hours!" Hisa kicked down a tree in frustration, sending tremors through the forest.

"Wow..." Colt sat down on the leveled tree and let out a sigh. "She's right, Jax. It's already two in the morning..."

"Don't complain!" Jax retrieved a map from his pocket, which appeared to be custom made for navigating the forest. "You both knew what you were signing up for since the beginning! We're currently in unexplored territory, so we should find something..."

Hisa sat down next to Colt and dug into his book bag, "Can I have something to eat Colt?"

"You'd normally ask before just going in..." He took off his book bag and handed her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Will that work?"

"Mhmm! Thanks!" She grabbed the sandwich and took a good bite out of it. "It's good!"

Jax stomped his foot, getting their attention. "This is why we're taking so long! You guys keep taking breaks!"

Hisa shook her head, "Nuh-uh..."

"Hisa...We had to take three stops because of you alone...and Colt had to use the bathroom that one time!"

She scarfed down the last bite of the sandwich, "I thought I saw a ghost, Jax!"

Colt took a sip from his canteen of water, "Using the bathroom is a basic necessity..."

Jax snatched Colt's bag from him, "Did you pack anything but food?"

"It's mostly food." said Colt, "What else do you need out here?"

"Fatass..." Jax tossed him his bag back before he went to look back at his map, "Let's just make this our last break. We won't get anywhere if we keep stopping!"

Hisa stood up and tugged on one of Jax's dreads, "No can do! What if we run into a swamp monster?"

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

Colt stood up and put his book bag back on, "Just relax dude. It's not like there's some time limit for this."

"It'd be better if we get finished with this sooner!" said Jax. "Dakota isn't stupid, she'll figure us out eventually..."

"Ok mom." sighed Colt, "We're going."

Colt and Hisa continued walking down the path Jax led them on.

"Bastard..." Jax followed them.

Colt looked back, "Jax, why is this place called the Serpent's Forest?"

"It's dangerous. It's rigged with traps, bandits, poisonous plants...It's literally a cesspool of chaos."

"Damn..."

"That's why most people avoid this place. You either die by the villagers, or the cruel forest elements." Jax ducked beneath a loose hanging branch, ensuring not to make any contact.

"I can see why. With all of this negative stuff, it's easy to give up on some miracle matter at the village. It's really not worth the risk." He paused, "Well...to normal people. That just makes us insane huh?"

"I hate to admit it, but yes." said Jax, "Even so, I wouldn't rank us on the same level as her-"

Hisa yelped as she was snatched into the sky by her ankle.

"Hisa!"

"Hisa!"

Scales began to cover Jax's arms as he put his map up, "Are you okay up there?"

"Yeah!" Hisa snapped the wire that was tied around her ankle and landed on her feet. "Someone set up a trap."

"We need to be careful out here..." muttered Jax as he scanned his surroundings.

Colt held his hand out, silencing Jax and Hisa. "I hear someone..."

Clearing through the bushes, a man brandishing a wooden spear emerged from the shadows. A flash of heat shot through Colt's arm as the spearhead pierced his shoulder, prompting Jax to swiftly snap the handle from the spear, freeing Hisa to smash the man's face in with her fist.

"Colt, you okay?" asked Hisa.

"Yeah..." Colt snatched the spearhead out of his shoulder and let the wound heal. "He just caught me off guard..."

Man, I barely was able to react to that. Jax and Hisa are monsters.

Jax readjusted his glasses, "That trap Hisa set off must've alerted the villagers! I think we're getting close to the village."

As the words left his mouth, more men armed with spears charged out towards them.

"Don't kill them," shouted Jax, "We're taking them in for interrogation!"

"Who cares? I still get to fight!" Hisa lifted up her axe and lunged towards the crowd.

Colt channeled his core energy into his fists, "I'm kind of pissed now...bring it!"

With one furious swing, Hisa smashed through the men's spears, freeing Colt to deliver a series of explosive blows to their skulls.

The men fell into the ground like sacks of discarded bones.

"No Colt! You knocked them out too fast!" Hisa pouted and stabbed her axe into the ground.

"My bad...I thought we were going for efficiency..."

This was actually my first time using core energy on a human...I hope I didn't kill anyone.

Jax retrieved a large roll of wires from his book bag, "Make sure no one gets up."

Colt stared at the men's absurd attire and furrowed his eyebrow, "How do we know if these guys aren't bandits?"

"I don't know. These guys are wearing leaf skirts...so I'm assuming they're from a village." said Jax.

"I guess you're right."

Jax had tied the men up, and they were all starting to wake up.

"Look!" Hisa stomped down on one of the men's knees, crunching the bones within like a bag of chips would surrender beneath someone's foot. "We've got some questions for ya, punk-"

Jax threw Hisa out of the way, "Sir...I'm sure that you're aware of what's happening, so make this easy. Are you from a village?"

The man growled at Jax, gritting his teeth to the point of cracking, "Yes, we're from the village, so you should fear us! Do you know what's going to happen to you?"

Jax sighed, "Dude...you're nothing to be scared of. Did you see how fast you got bodied?"

"You bastard..."

"Tell me where the village is, or I'm gonna let her off the leash." He pointed at Hisa, who was practically itching to kill them.

"It's further North...you'll see a large wooden gate."

"Thanks. And if you're lying, we'll return and kill all of you." Jax turned to Colt and Hisa, "Let's go."

"We're not going to untie them?" Colt looked at one of the men, who was wincing as the wire dug into his skin.

"Hell no. What use does it have for us?"

"Well...I'm gonna fix this guy's wire. It's cutting him." Colt walked over to the man and bent over to loosen the wire.

As he did, the man headbutt him in the nose.

"Ah! You dick!" Colt stomped the man's head into the ground, knocking him out.

"Why did you even try to help him?" Jax shook his head and ran off.

"See Colt?" Hisa walked over to him and leaned on his shoulder, "That's why I said we should've killed them. Look at what being nice does..."

"What? Why do you want to kill them so bad?" he asked.

"I don't know. I just feel like it." she paused, "Why do you breathe?"

He felt a chill creep up his spine, "Um...I'd die if I didn't."

"Not that. I mean-You've been doing it ever since you were born, right? It was a survival instinct. You were a baby, without knowing a thing about the world, but you knew how to breathe."

"I guess so..."

"It's instinct. My instincts make me want to kill."

"Are you sure? There's no reason behind it?"

"Nope. You breathe so much that you do it unconsciously. That's how the urge of killing comes to me. And...it's a survival instinct just like yours. I wanted to kill these guys, and if we did, you would've never gotten hit."

"That's true...but we would've never found where the village was."

"Nah." She playfully blew a raspberry, "We would have found it eventually."

"If you say so, but we should catch up before Jax ditches us."

"Right! Come on!" Hisa ran off, leaving him alone with the tied-up villagers.

She's way more insane than I thought she was. I'm glad she's on my side.

He shook the uneasiness from his body and looked around the forest. There was this insurmountable sense of danger looming over him now. The shadows of the large trees had consumed everything for as far as the eye could see. Both Jax and Hisa had vanished.

"Guys?"

No response.

I can't believe we just got separated!

He continued to run through the darkness. Even if he wasn't with Jax and Hisa anymore, the village was out North. If he kept running, he'd meet up with them eventually.

Each step he took sent waves of fear through his body. The breezy air was filled with the sounds of his shoes hitting the hard dirt path. The leaves bristled as time moved forward.

He came to an abrupt stop and turned around.

Nothing's there...

Why am I getting so anxious? It's just a forest.

Clearing his head, he resumed his frantic sprint out North.

"Damn...I can't breathe..." He pulled out his canteen and twisted the top off. Throwing his head back as he poured the scarce drop into his mouth. It served him no better than a snowflake hitting the sand of a desert. "Come on...I drunk it all?"

He put his canteen away and groaned in frustration.

Wait-I could try using my core energy to find them. I'll have to expel my energy out pretty far though...

He closed his eyes and expanded his core energy.

Two people? That must be-

He concentrated on the two wavelengths he was picking up. He was confident that Jax and Hisa were far away from him, but their readings were pretty close to him. A little too close for them to not be able to hear his calls from earlier.

On top of this, the wavelengths were...

Behind me-

His head cocked forward as a flash of heat inserted itself into his skull. The pain was fleeting, yet never-ending all the same. He suddenly found no reason to be anxious anymore.

All thoughts ceased to exist.

Despite not being able to think, he desperately fought to make sense of the situation.

Or at least, something fought to make sense of the situation.

All that could be heard, felt, tasted, or even seen was pure static.