The moon illuminated the forest with its ghostly light as Nazurak, Dylan, and Sora hastened through the chilly woods. Using their monoculars to navigate the dim surroundings. The stillness of the night was unsettling. Usually, the parasites that roamed at night would alter the sounds of the forest, but tonight it was ominously silent.
"This forest really freaks me out at night, we should have left earlier!" Dylan exclaimed.
The group had been so occupied with killing parasites that the night had crept on them sooner than expected.
Right behind Dylan, Sora was finding it difficult to breathe from the continuous running.
"Can we take a short break please?" She huffed. "I just need to catch my breath for a moment"
Leading the group, Nazurak replied, "We'll slow down a bit, but keep a steady pace, it's just a few more minutes until we're there."
As they approached the base, the group breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the blue glow emanating from the mushrooms. Reaching their destination, they stowed away their monoculars and called it a night.
***
Nazurak woke up on the soft grass shaded by giant mushrooms, and upon hearing only the sound of the wind, he noticed an unusual silence.
'Strange...' He thought, getting up to observe the area. 'It's silent just like last night.'
After a moment of contemplation, he woke up his comrades, whispering that something seemed off about the forest. Sora got up rubbing her eyes and asked what he meant, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
Nazurak gestured to his ears and instructed them to listen, then closed his eyes. Both Sora and Dylan followed suit, and after a few moments, Sora quickly opened her eyes with a concerned look.
"It's quiet, too quiet." She murmured.
The three had been on Loctus for almost a week now and had not experienced a moment of silence from the parasites until now.
After the group quickly ate breakfast, they headed back into the forest following the same path as yesterday. The forest felt odd, and as a result, they decided to stick to the area they were somewhat familiar with.
They spent over 30 minutes retracing their steps to the site of their last fight. The silent atmosphere made it difficult for them to talk, except for brief exchanges of words. The only sounds that punctuated the quiet were the occasional crunch of leaves underfoot and the rustle of branches in the breeze. So their walk was mostly silent.
Nazurak surveyed the area and noticed the remains of the parasites they had slain the day before, but found no indication of any others beasts being in the area to feed on the corpses.
Debating on whether they should push forward, he turned to his group, and at that moment, their attention was diverted by a sound that wasn't merely the rustling of leaves in the wind or the snapping of twigs beneath their feet.
In the far distance, the sounds of birds taking off could be heard; first one, then two, and eventually a large group of them. At that very moment, a chime resonated from their life band.
This took the group by surprise but before they had time to talk about it, a robotic voice was heard coming from the band followed by a human voice.
"Alert! Alert! Alert!"
"Ahem...Hello platoon 4. This is Griffin, the overseer of your exploration task. I will keep this message short and brief. Our satellite has picked up that the thorns of the forest is currently northeast of the forest, and appears to be moving directly south. Be sure to check your threat scanners as they will tell you where to safely move. If you are in the current path of the thorns, you will be contacted shortly after this message. That is all."
The message stopped and another chime was heard on their life bands.
"Alert! Alert! Alert!"
"Hello, Nazurak, Dylan, and Sora. Congratulations on almost surviving your first week. Unfortunately, there is no time for celebration, you three are alarmingly close to the thorns and they are rapidly closing in. You are to immediately evacuate the area and move locations! Check your scanners on where to go. I wish you the best of luck."
With that, the message ended.
The trio stood in silence for a brief moment until Dylan spoke.
"What the...?" He grunted in surprise, as he touched his life band to check for buttons. "You can send voice messages through these?!"
Sora was doing the same, trying to find a button of some sort to call or message Griffin back.
"I don't understand, why didn't they tell us such an important feature? Were they in that much of a rush to send us out?" Giving up on finding a button she thought for a bit. "Well, if I remember correctly he did say to contact them if we encounter an Aberrant" She added.
Snapping them back into reality, the rumbling got closer and louder.
Bringing his monocular to eye level, Nazurak didn't want to waste any time. On the top of the viewfinder, displayed a compass with a green indicator west of their location.
"Stop standing around let's go!" He yelled, already starting to run towards the green marker point.
As the group ran, the rumbling grew louder, and as the source of the noise finally came into view, they realized it was not just one, but multiple sources.
Hundreds of parasites were seen scurrying towards them, heedless of colliding with each other, in a frantic bid for survival.
By the time the trio realized what was happening, it was too late to react. Within seconds, the horde of parasites caught up, pushing and shoving them aside in their frenzied rush, but it was clear they weren't the targets, just obstacles in the way.
"Guys!" Nazurak shouted.
The struggles and yelps of his comrades echoed in his ears, but he was powerless to aid them against the crushing wave of beasts.
Sora was struggling quite a bit due to the fact that she had no weapons to deter the rushing beasts. All she could rely on was how well she could predict their movements and hope there weren't many coming in her direction.
Dylan was making the most progress, utilizing both his weapon and trait to his advantage. Each slice made by him enchanted his strength slightly as he got more tired.
Nazurak found himself in the most troublesome position among the group, despite initially being ahead. He had been struck by the stampede and was forced back into the midst of the chaos. With each subsequent fall, he was pushed further back, struggling to make any headway against the tide of beasts.
Knocked down once again, Nazurak gritted his teeth in frustration and slammed the Relentless Bayonet into the ground, commanding it to transform into a spike. This created a temporary barrier that he could use for cover and get a chance to catch his breath.
His thoughts bounced around everywhere but he quickly regained his composure and pulled out his monocular to scan the area. Through the lens, he saw an immense amount of red that highlighted the parasites. But looking closer he saw two blue outlines, both separate from each other but nevertheless moving closer to the safe zone.
Unfortunately, Nazurak had little time to inspect his comrades condition through the scanner due to something colliding with the spike, causing it to crumble and briefly stunning him.
He took a moment to regain himself then willed the remains of the Relentless Bayonet back into the ground, taking form into a spike once again slightly in front of him.
With all his determination, he propelled himself off the ground and dashed towards the marker, while the Relentless Bayonet kept pace by sinking into the earth and swiftly reforming ahead of him, truly testing the limits of the weapon's speed.
There were still some parasites that manage to slip past the Bayonet, fortunately, Nazurak was able to evade them.
As he continued ahead, the environment became increasingly familiar, although it was difficult to ascertain with certainty, it was evident that he had entered a location they had explored not long ago.
His suspicions were confirmed as he kept running - on top of a small hill, shrouded in vines, stood a tree with curved branches that appeared oddly peculiar. Adjacent to the tree, a humanoid figure radiating a soft blue glow stared directly at him, undisturbed by the chaos that ensued around them.
Nazurak instantly remembered this eerie apparition during their first night on Loctus, but focused more on his current situation.
He strained to hear over the chaos of panicked parasites, yet became aware of another ominous sound. With a growing sense of dread, he turned around and finally saw what had been driving the parasites into a frenzy - the very same thing that overseer Griffin had warned them about.
The thorns had caught up to him.