CH67

“Ben for the love of your god can you try and watch where you’re going!”

“I can’t help that yours was some sort of sadistic ass when they made this place!”

He wasn’t sure if it was spending the night in the woods or the stress of the previous day catching up to them, but when morning came they were both in terrible moods. Moods which only got worse as the day went on and they continued to face the risk of plummeting to their deaths.

Worse was how little progress they’d made since entering the trial. If they didn’t need to keep themselves from falling to their deaths every five or ten minutes they would have gotten significantly farther, but then again it was part of the trial, he wouldn’t be surprised if that was just meant to wear them down mentally, and if that was the case it was succeeding. With every near-death experience they started to bicker more and more. In the back of his mind Ben couldn’t help but find it a bit out of character, they’d never really fought before, but his worsening mood pushed it away.

Finally, as if to grant them some peace, that branch of the trial seemed to end. A good twenty minutes had passed without them falling over whatever littered the ground, and the earth was content to stay in place instead of giving way to unending pits, but neither of them could enjoy it. They were both too annoyed with each other, Thera for his inability to keep himself safe, and Ben for her attitude, that neither of them were in the mood to speak.

Why’s she got to be like this? I’m in the stupid life and death scenario to help her! And I’m just a freaking craftsman! Well, priest but that’s not the point. Why’s she being so-

“What was that?” He asked all of a sudden, leaving his thoughts and breaking the silence.

“What was what?” She said while looking around.

“Something just ran through the trees.”

She immediately went on guard and raised her staff, but neither of them saw any movement.

“It must have just been the wind.” She told him dismissively. “Come on, I want to enjoy this peaceful area while it lasts.”

“I’m sure I saw something.” He immediately felt defensive. He knew there was something out there.

“Well if you see it again let me know but otherwise let’s just go already.” Her harsh tone didn’t help anyone’s mood, but with nothing coming out at them there was no point in arguing.

They resumed walking for another 10 minutes of peace before Ben saw it again.

“There! In front of us!” He pointed as something ran by, just through the trees ahead, but he was still alone in his sighting.

“Ben, I was looking that way the entire time! If you needed more rest you should have said so before we got started.”

Anger filled his voice when he heard her response. “This isn’t a me being tired thing! This is a me not wanting to get eaten thing! How did you not see that?”

“Cause there was nothing there!” She yelled back before trying to calm down. “Look, do you see anything now?”

“No.” He begrudgingly acknowledged.

“Then come on, let’s get going already.”

He could tell from her tone she wasn’t going to listen until she saw something too, so he gave up for now. “Fine.”

He wasn’t happy that she wasn’t taking him seriously, especially with their lives on the line, but all he could do was keep vigilant.

As they continued on for the next four hours he thought he kept catching more glimpses of a figure or multiple figures passing through the trees in the distance, but each time he was alone in his sightings.

Thera only grew more annoyed as the time went on and eventually stopped. “That’s it. Take a nap and clear your head. I can’t put up with this until nightfall.”

“I’m telling you somethings out there!”

“Well it’s only bothering you. Now just lay down for a bit and I’ll keep watch.”

She pushed him down and despite his annoyance, he gave in. He admittedly hadn’t slept as well as he would have liked to anyway the night before so he closed his eyes and let sleep take him.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been out. With the sky covered by trees he couldn’t use the sun to judge, but he felt significantly more rested, though as he sat up though his heart froze.

Sitting maybe 30 feet away was some sort of humanoid creature, and when he locked eyes with it, it began to get up, as if it had been waiting for him to awaken.

Standing at around nine feet tall, he would have mistaken it for a person at a distance. But its long arms dragged across the ground as it stood upright, with two empty holes where its eyes should have been.

“Holy shit Thera I’m pretty sure you should be shooting that!” He said in a panic.

“Oh you’re up? Wait, what are you talking about?”

“Giant monster walking towards us and my intense desire to not die mostly, now if you would please.”

She looked to where he was pointing and her expression changed from one of annoyance to concern. “Ben there’s nothing there. Is the trial making you see things?”

As she said this the creature’s mouth curled up into a cruel grin, like it was enjoying his fear and her dismissal as it approached them.

Not wanting either of them to die, Ben grabbed her hand and forced her to run with him like their lives depended on it. As far as he was concerned they did.

“What the hell are you doing?” She yelled.

“Look I don’t know if I’m seeing things but I don’t want to take the risk! Now please come on!” As they ran he spotted more creatures coming out of the woods, all with the same hollowed eyes and taunting smiles, and all of them simply walked towards them, though with their height he wasn’t getting as much distance as he would have liked.

6 of them. He didn’t like their odds but he had an idea at least.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Thera I’ll cover the burden on your staff if you can open a pit in the earth about 20 feet back?”

“You said we should only do this in an emergency!”