The landscape felt so over grown, The Operator climbed over and under roots the size of his own body. His body ached more than he could explain, but somehow he began to feel better as he climbed. The Operator thought to himself," That crazy bastard must have done something to me..". The roots were too thick that at some points he would have to squeeze through a little at a time. After a few too many times getting dead ended and struggling to back out he decided he would try to rest. The idea of resting created a whole new type of fear he was sure humans hadn't experienced in quite some time. A fear that he was like a rabbit to a wolf. As if some horror waited for him if he rested without first concealing himself. He didn't like that feeling at all, but in a forest with tree roots the size of himself he could only imagine what might occupy the land. He didn't like any of it.
The operator found himself a nook he had backed out of prior and squeezed through. He hoped the roots would act as a shelter from what ever may pass. The storm had eased and as the last rain drops fell, The Operator became uncomfortably aware of his own breathing, and the lack of any other noise. "Just like that church." He thought to himself. "Has everything but the plants been turned into those creatures?" He shuddered remembering the horror he felt seeing all the faces and extra parts coming out of the beasts severed head. Some of the eyes were cloudy, but he could still see the color in a few. He shuddered to think of what other mixed horrors might be waiting for him. He decided to lay his head down against his uninjured arm hoping he could rest now that he wasn't being rained on. The eerily quiet forest didn't do much to sooth his nerves but he found he was able to get comfortable enough.
"SCREE!"The Operator awoke in a sweat pressing to the wall of the nook. "Somethings out there! Fuck! What kind of horrible creature made that noise?!" He thought to himself in a panic. The noise sounded again, and he couldn't explain it. It sounded like a crow almost, but gargled and guttural. Once more it sounded. Curious, The Operator slowly creeped towards the nooks entrance, but before he could he heard the sound of wings. He stopped, listening, he heard another call. Followed by a deafening sound of hundreds of calls and beating wings. The noise was so loud it brought him to his knees and had him covering his ears. " This is awful!" He thought to himself. The sound quickly faded, and another storm started thundering in the distance. "I should try and rest more..before the rain" he thought to himself laying back against the roots. The rain never came, but The Operator never knew that, the damp roots hid that as he awoke. He slowly climbed out, feeling slightly better than before. What he saw shocked him, but scared him even more. Trees were broken down ahead in a path. "What the hell.." he said stunned.
"What could of done this?" He said, fearing moving forward. "Still dark?" He wasn't sure how long he slept, so the dark sky made him think he'd slept all day. The trees that had been laid down had large scars on them."I'm glad it missed my tree or I would have been dead for sure." he thought to himself. He wasn't sure where to go next. He knew he couldn't follow whatever made this mess of these massive trees. Eventually he decided on going where it came from. Hoping that it had scared off most creatures from the area he walked down the path. Climbing in and out of massive ruts. "If these are footprints, they don't look like any I've seen.." The Operator thought. Blood like black glass coated the sides of the ruts and The Operator did his best not to get cut by it. He feared what might happen if he were to get the blood in his system. Sometimes when the sky was bright enough, he could see more awful things crusted in blood. Fur, claws, animals teeth, bits of bones and guts. Every rut held a new horror and The Operator couldn't help but vomit. After regaining his fortitude he decided it was best not to look down except to climb.
"I need to rest.." he thought. Unsure of how far he'd traveled he looked for a root system large enough to crawl into, and protect him from being seen. Leaning back let out a deep sigh. Darkness overwhelmed him.
"VESSEL"
Flashes flooded his mind. Mutated creatures stumbling around the forest. Extra limbs making its movements awkward and causing it to shamble around aimlessly. Darkness. Flashes of manlike creatures stumbling around through the woods, a familiar image. Flashes of these creatures being caged by soldiers. Gold coins with black specks on it passed from hand to hand.
"Fuck" The Operator sat up, head pounding, with a better understanding of how this world came to be. "why cage them?" He wondered. He looked down at his left arm. The flesh was still scarred, but had grown around the gem. It left some gem jutting out like a small spike. He shuddered at the memories of how it got there. The hot breath of The Monk on his face. The burning pain of the gem being shoved through a bite wound felt almost as strong in his memories. "That crazy bastard, I'm not some vessel. I don't even belong in this place.." he thought to himself as feelings of fear and loneliness bubbled up again. "This hellish place can't be real, maybe I died when I fell..." he hoped to himself that was true, but the pain was all to real for him to believe it.
"I still haven't seen the sun" he thought. He was certain plenty of time had passed and yet the sky remained dark. He had waited for what felt like hours and still nothing. "I can't wait here forever..I have to get out of this place." The Operator thought to himself, standing up and peering out into the darkness. His eyes had adjusted more, and he began to understand why the creature had been blinded by the flashlight. "Imagine living in perpetual darkness..oh.." he rationalized with a sudden deep fear."They live like this, they can see.." He knew that meant that if he came across a creature, he would likely end up like the bones in the ruts. A new wave of nausea struck him, but he had nothing to puke up. "When was the last time I ate? I don't feel hungry..I'm not sure I can with everything I've seen." He didn't feel hungry at all though. It was if the sensation had completely disappeared. He stepped into a rut and began climbing again.
Climbing over and over always held some bits of people or creatures. As The Operator climbed the edge of a rut and with a root at the edge he froze in fear. He couldn't see details but he definitely saw something hunching over in the next rut. It looked smaller than a man. "Is it..eating?" He could hear crunches that sounded like bones being chewed and a nasally fluid filled breathing that resembled the dying breaths of someone with fluid in their lungs, yet it kept breathing, and eating. "I need to get away.." The Operator thought to himself and he started backing down into the rut he climbed out of. As he started climbing out the other side until he heard the breathing again, turning back he could see the shape perched on the root. He couldn't tell if had seen him, but his fears were quickly answered with a shriek followed by the creature jumping down into the rut clumsily toward him. The Operator froze for a moment and wanted to run, but it instead watched it roll on the ground, unsure if it could get up. Then he heard the sickening pop of bones dislocating. It's body reordering the mess of parts into something usable. This horrified The Operator who watched it like a bloody wreck. The creatures head snapped towards him and shrieked, prompting him to turn and run as fast as he could into the forest. The cracking sound of bones, relocating as the creature pulled itself out of the hole after him, followed him.
The whole time it screamed, and he found that he did too.