{DEM ~ Cipher stop...we are about to enter Nightmare Valley!}
Coming to a complete halt Cipher stopped thinking about the mushroom and focused on the area around him. The area around him didn't look that different from the Laughing Forest, so he wasn't sure why DEM made such a big deal about him stopping. {Dem ~ First - Cipher I can hear your thoughts, Second this is known as Nightmare Valley for a reason don't relax just because the scenery hasn't changed that much.} Cipher shook his head then taking both his hands slapped his cheeks, "Focus and remember your training....oh and sorry DEM". DEM wasn't mad Cipher had a tendency to space out when introduced to new things. Ciphers mind would completely focus on the new thing, analyzing everything about it. Cipher continued walking forward keeping an eye out for any potential danger that may approach.
Cipher noticed that the air was slowly getting thicker and the smell of mold had started permeating it as well. Cipher could handle the air, but good god the smell just kept getting stronger. Cipher started to notice purple flowers popping up all over the ground, they were very pretty and reminded him of the Aster Flowers found on Earth except these were glowing. Cipher was tempted to pick one of the flowers, that was until he realized what they were. As Cipher bent down to pick one of the flowers he had used his Appraiser Skill, it was then that he saw the text pop up...(C-Class Man-Eating Plant). Cipher didn't know what to do, he was surrounded by the plants. Cipher slowly drew one of the Twin Stars, the blade glowed in the dark. Cipher stood still and spoke to DEM, [DEM why didn't these show up on the map I don't have a single red dot, yet here we are within a field of these things.] Before DEM could respond a vine shot out toward Cipher, narrowly dodging it Cipher sliced the vine as it passed him cutting off a large chunk. Cipher then heard a shrill scream coming from around him the scream echoed through the valley.
It was then that Cipher felt the ground start to shake, the area around him vibrating and the flowers were swaying from side to side. The only thought that was crossing Ciphers' mind was [RUN!], Cipher bolt in the direction of Future City. It was directly after that the Man-Eating Plant burrowed up from underneath where Cipher previously stood. The plant's vine acted as whips slapping the ground before shooting out toward Cipher. The body of the plant was purple and looked like a vase that had been infused with a blender. Cipher looked back for only a moment, and to his horror was the vase shaped plant's mouth facing him teeth grinding anything it came in contact with.
Cipher's only saving grace was that Man-Eating Plant was territorial and couldn't travel far from its rootsCipher kept running eventually getting a good distance from where the Man-Eating Plant was. Looking around now though the area looked desolate, dark, and gloomy. The had only progressively gotten thicker as he traveled toward Future City, and the area around Cipher had slowly started to grow desolate. The ground looked grey, Cipher couldn't see any plants on the ground, but he could see a tree every once in a while the only issue being...they were all dead.
Cipher continued forward like this for some time, just walking silently through the valley as the air grew constantly thicker. After Cipher had walked about a mile, he noticed that the sky had gotten dark, much darker. A fog had slowly formed in the area making it extremely hard to see anything in front of him while walking. It was then that Cipher could hear someone softly sobbing up ahead. Cipher had seen a few horror movies before so he stayed on guard as he continued forward, eventually seeing a woman squatting on the ground hands in her face as she cried. Cipher knew something didn't feel right, but he couldn't just leave the women there by herself. Cipher slowly approached the woman when he was about four feet away he spoke to her, "Excuse me is everything ok? How did you get here? If you like I can take you out of here I am on my way to Future City."
There was not a single moment while Cipher was speaking that the woman stopped sobbing, if anything she just got louder turning into more of a wailing sound. It was at this moment when Cipher was about to tap the woman's shoulder that she turned to face him, causing him to immediately regret his choice. The woman's head slit in half tongue hanging out the side as he wailed through her throat. Cipher stumbled backward and attempted to run, but not before the Wailing Woman lunged at him grabbing Ciphers leg. Cipher turned attempting to kick the woman's hand off his other leg. This worked and Cipher was able to free himself, however it didn't' stop the Wailing Woman from attempting to grab Cipher again. Unsheathing the Twin Star's Cipher jumped back swinging the blades as he slicing the hands off the Wailing woman. This did little to stop her though, cause Cipher to make a quick decision to stay and fight, or run and try to come up with a plan. Cipher decided to do the later running at full speed in the direction of Future City. The only issue was that it was getting progressively darker as he ran making it almost impossible to see the ground.
Once Cipher couldn't hear the Wailing Women he took a moment to look back, he just wanted to see if he had actually lost her. It was then when Cipher looked back, that he fell forward hitting the ground hard as he rolled down an extremely steep hill. Finally stopping at the bottom of what seemed like a pit Cipher righted himself. It was so dark that Cipher couldn't see his own hands. Cipher remembered he had a magical flashlight that only required a small amount of magic to run. Cipher reaching into his dimensional storage he pulled out the flashlight, putting a bit of magic the flashlight gave a bright flash before staying lit. It was at this point the CIpher wished he had been more careful because not more than 4 inches from his face was the face of a large Nightmare Beast at eye level with Cipher.