After having moved through the rapidly regrowing plant-life of the titanwoods forest floor for several hours already, Niko was beginning to doubt the veracity of the map that he and Skye had found on the corpse of the Dawr Goblin. While it wouldn’t be particularly surprising to find that the goblins were poor map-makers, it would most certainly throw a wrench in their current attempt to make their way out from the lower forest. Worse, as they continued to try and find any clue as to where on said map they even were, the ambient essence only gradually increased as they went.

“There’s some kind of peculiarly shaped tree, or something, on the map here,” Skye gestured to the location in question, speaking through her mind to Niko in order to try to mitigate as much sound as possible.

Niko glanced over to the paper in question, before giving her a small shrug, “Maybe we’re close?”

Neither were especially hopeful of that at this point, but it wasn’t as though they could simply give up on finding a route to the upper forest. Given the danger of the area, it was more likely that it’d be easier for them to exit than it would be for a rescue team to enter. With any luck, most high tier creatures would ignore them. Niko knew that at least tier four beasts would probably leave them alone, save for any that were especially territorial. The monsters, on the other claw, would undoubtedly continue to pose a threat regardless of their relative power level. Aggression was baked into their being, and while there were times when said aggression could be suppressed, as with the situation with the flood, that was a rarity that they couldn’t rely upon.

The two paused at the base of the next tree, immense roots providing them some measure of walkway. They’d been moving as quietly as they could for hours, and both were beginning to fatigue mentally and physically. Ordinarily, they’d be able to continue their modest jog easily, but having to hop from root to root, over the rough terrain, was a taxing venture.

The pair slipped down into a depression in the roots, tentatively testing the supposed floor to ensure there wasn’t an empty space beneath a layer of barely-held soil. When it appeared stable, the two sat down and rifled through their packs for rations of dried jerky and fruit, along with water to go with it. They shared in their watch in companionable silence, peering around and listening for signs of any encroaching life.

So far, they’d managed to avoid the notice of anything much stronger than them, and had avoided any altercations with the few things that might have detected them. Niko counted themselves fortunate that neither were novices when it came to traveling subtly.

“Think the others are looking for us?” Skye asked, her voice sounding in Niko’s head.

“Almost definitely,” Niko nodded, “Whether or not they’ll be able to find us, I don’t know. We don’t even know where we are relative to Riizen, could be that we’re near the edge of the forest, could be that we’re under the city.”

Skye gave a slight ‘hmm’ to that, gaze drifting up to the fog overhead.

A dull noise brought the pair's attention farther afield, though the only sight that greeted them was the ever present and towering monoliths all around them. Still, both stopped moving, with Niko’s Aether Sight piercing through the fog. Skye silently watched him, her own ability to detect things not as useful through the fog itself. She could hear things that were actively making noise, of course, but nothing drew her attention.

“I see something,” Niko stated, parsing the essence in the air, mentally clearing away the clutter to focus on what was beneath. Unlike in other locations, the essence seemed to be unusually still, on a casual, unwary glance, he might have missed it. Considering their situation, though, it stuck out to him, along with a subconscious notion that whatever he was looking at was a sign of danger.

Uninterrupted, Niko peered further, finally managing to push his senses past whatever was blocking him. He felt his mouth go dry as a large image came into view, an oddly geometric, familiar form now apparent to him. Powerful essence – tier four, if he wasn’t mistaken – was tightly controlled around the body of the thing, with a low burning pattern keeping even the ambient essence calm around it. It had other qualities to it, though Niko wasn’t certain what they were. What really mattered was the fact that the Thimurge was five times the size of the ones they’d seen before, perhaps larger.

A small house would fit on the creature’s plated back, and while Niko couldn’t tell with any definition what its body really looked like, he could tell that the thing radiated a kind of deadly power.

Niko’s feathers fluffed up in alarm as he took a look around, trying to find any other obvious indications that there might be more of these things around. In the seconds he looked, nothing became evident, but whether that was because they were alone, or because their ability to hide from detection was better than his capacity to reveal them, was uncertain.

“There’s a large tier four Thimurge sitting on the trunk of that tree ahead.” Niko spoke through the mental connection he and Skye shared.

A short cringe and equally short nod met his words, followed by a question, “We’re going around it?”

He looked around more, still failing to find anything else that might warrant their concern. Finally, he nodded, “Back up first, just in case. I don’t think it’s noticed us yet.”

They did just that, slipping backwards as silently as they’d come. Niko counted his lucky feathers that actually seeing essence seemed to be an incredibly rare ability, otherwise they might have been found by any number of creatures by then. While he was confident in his ability to fight tier three opponents, so long as they didn’t vastly outnumber him, he was markedly less enthused with the prospect of fighting tier fours. Perhaps in the future, he might have more of an arsenal to do so, but certainly not now.

The detour went smoothly, leaving both relieved, before they continued onwards. The damp, verdant, gnarled terrain never broke as they moved, and Niko glanced over as Skye left mark after mark behind them, ensuring that if nothing else they had a route to come back. There were a few stone outcroppings that looked promising for shelter, but if their vegetarian spider friend was any indication, they likely weren’t uninhabited.

Ahead of them, Niko detected a small group of Thimurge, these ones of a lower tier. He shared his findings with Skye, but neither of them rushed ahead, taking the time to check their surroundings. They were gathered around a corpse, gnashing fangs and clacking mandibles working at the bones. After a minute, Niko found nothing in the area that gave him cause for concern. It seemed that there was no higher tier monster presiding over the group.

“Go for it?” Niko asked his companion.

She nodded, her pattern activating and covering much of her body in slender and pale bark. Claws grew from her gauntleted hands, and Niko himself willed additional essence into his Wyldstrider pattern.

There were five of the creatures, and as much as they wanted to get out of the forest, there was always the chance that they would be stuck down here for longer. As such, they wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to get stronger. He felt he’d already been in tier two for too long, though he knew that his perception warped things. It wasn’t uncommon to take a great deal of time in each tier. That said, he and the rest of his team were working in high essence areas and fighting things much stronger than them. There was something to be said about how rapidly one could advance with a little bit of risk.

He refocused his attention on their quarry, a silent count going between the two of them before Niko burst forwards. Even masked by his Wyldstrider pattern, Niko could feel how hard his taloned feet were striking the wood beneath him. He gripped and launched himself farther with every step, less like walking and more like horizontal leaping in this terrain. In seconds, he closed the gap between himself and the Thimurge, only one of which propped itself up from their macabre feast, detecting something amiss by sheer luck, or some extra sense uncommon to their tier.

It was rewarded with being the first one that Niko hit, his leap carrying him just over the backs of the other three Thimurge, allowing the Phorus to crush his intended target under his bulk. He felt the exoskeleton of the insectoid monster crack under his weight and piercing talons, and before they’d even come to a stop, Niko struck down, his beak moving in a blur and enhanced by his Sharp Strike pattern. The monster beneath him screeched in fury, limbs flailing about in a blind attempt to strike back at its attacker. Niko made sure to keep tabs on the situation around him, even as his second strike with his beak came down, piercing through the abdomen of the insect again.

The other three monsters were stunned for a critical moment before any movement at all happened. By then, Skye had come up behind the one furthest from Niko now, and with a smooth motion, raked through the hind-legs of the insectoid monster. Startled and in pain, the screech of the injured one distracted the other two Thimurge.

They did not feel fear, not as Niko thought a normal creature might, but instead seemed to be at a loss for which target to go after first.

‘Let’s try this.’ Niko thought to himself, before slamming his beak down a third time into the Thimurge struggling beneath his weight. It was strong, but between Niko’s posture, applying leverage on the thing and not allowing it to get its legs under it, the creature had no ability to throw him off. While he wasn’t keen on causing more suffering than necessary, Niko twisted his beak while it was still in the wood, biting down on something and twisting. The chittering cry of the beast finally roused its two undecided kin into action, both rushing towards Niko with the mindless aggression that marked a monster.

‘Skye was closer, but they went for me. Was it the pain the thing was in, or because I was just closer to winning?’ Niko wondered to himself, but didn’t grow complacent in his actions. Before the two reached him, he charged his Sharp Strike, digging deep for the last time into his prey’s abdomen. This time, something snapped, and Niko felt a rush of essence and blood energy flood into him. The first he passively drew in, doing his best to capture as much of it as possible rather than let it bleed into the environment. The reddish energy surged around him at the same time, lightly coating his talons and claws, with the edge of his beak flowing with an even more significant amount.

He felt his body strengthen under the effects of the energy, but Niko wasn’t blind to the fact that he suddenly felt too good, like a drug had been dumped into his system in bulk. Immediately he felt like he could fight anything, and more, he wanted to fight. That much he’d been prepared for, though, as Niko took a deep steadying breath to master himself. The energy didn’t so much as calm, but he felt the thrum of violence in his mind simmer down to something more usable.

The first of his quarry down, Niko met the second with a feint, darting forwards with his empowered body and Wyldstrider pattern. He overshot, mistaking how far he could go, but that only served to bring his prey up short, startled by how quickly he’d approached. Niko stabbed before it could react, empowered beak tearing through its head with ease. Even more surprisingly, though, was the burst of power that struck alongside the Sharp Strike, the red energy hitting with equivalent ferocity. The blow cracked the tier two monster open, immediately sending a surge of essence outwards. Niko barely caught a hold of it, along with a new surge of crimson energy, before the final Thimurge crashed into him.

Niko was surprised when he himself had barely moved, whereas the insect seemed to have dazed itself. It only took a moment for Niko to realize that the bloody energy had an effect on more than just strength, amplifying what was already there. He did, however, feel a peel of that energy dissipate, a not insignificant portion of what he’d reaped in the battle vanishing. Unwilling to give the insect another attack, Niko kicked out with his gouging talons and a charged Wyldstrider kick.

Even more blood energy rushed with the strike, augmented by two kills, and Niko balked in shock as his strike blasted it backwards, sending it crashing head over abdomen into the roots. Yet another burst of essence flared outwards, followed by another farther away, marking that the battle was done. Niko pulled on the energy automatically, but couldn’t help but blink at the sight of the battered, heavily damaged corpse that he’d sent flying.

“That was quite the kick.” Skye commented, looking unruffled by her fight as she followed Niko’s gaze. She then eyed the Phorus, “You doing okay?”

Niko looked down, realizing he was covered in a large amount of crimson energy. It didn’t cowl him entirely, but the ominous stuff certainly did him no favors in looking sane and harmless.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Niko pulled inwards, forcing the energy into the mark on his soul and feeling the pressure against his mind lessen almost instantly. “It’s not too bad, but I definitely don’t want to use too much of the stuff at once.”

Skye gave him a slightly longer look than necessary, before nodding to him. “I’m still not completely on board with you using it, but I won’t stop you. Just promise that you won’t touch it if you start getting the desire to run at the nearest tier four, okay?”

Niko snorted, “Don’t worry. But, if you ever see me frothing at the mouth and screaming ‘Witness me!’, please, slap me to my senses.”

The half-elf had a confused look on her face before shaking her head with a chuckle, “Well, that’s an image.”

Niko cackled a laugh before they began harvesting some meat from their prey. It was unfortunate that Skye wouldn’t really get any of the jokes that Mithel would, but she got the gist at least.

“So, you know how to cook any of this?” Niko asked as they collected the more edible parts. They didn’t bother collecting the rest, not knowing how long it might take to get to Mithel, and wanting to ensure what storage they did have was dedicated to keeping the small amount of the Memory Thief’s remains they had, and for anything else that might be edible.

Skye gestured with her hand side to side, “Somewhat. I’ve seen it often enough and have had enough practice not to burn it. Probably.”

“Well, at least we ended up with the camping kit.” Niko chirped, “Could be worse.”

With a snort, Skye helped tidy up the bags and ensure they weren’t betraying their positions with the scent of their kills. There wouldn’t be much point to all of their stealth if they were found by their stench.

As they traveled yet more, Niko couldn’t help but wonder how the others were doing right then…