In the heart of the Bialowieza Forest, where time seems to have stood still, the evening sun bathed the ancient oaks in a soft, golden embrace. Each beam filtered through the dense canopy, painting dapples of light on the forest floor. The serenity of the place contrasted sharply with the small group navigating its paths.
Kimberley led the group, her eyes wide with wonder. "Isn't this place just... breathtaking?"
Alko countered with a dismissive, "Meh."
Ren smirked, "Still bitter about the beer?"
With an indignant huff, Alko retorted, "Damn right I am! Polish beer?" He held up a can disdainfully, trying to decipher the brand, "What in the world is Zy...wi...ec?"
Kimberley sighed, attempting to redirect the conversation, "Can we focus on how magical this place is?"
But Alko wasn't having it. "Kim, give it 2 minutes before we get our arms munched off by some weird beast."
Kimberley teased, "Aww, are you scared?"
Alko's smirk returned, "Terrified. At least that would add some excitement to this trip."
Ren interrupted, "Before we get too ahead of ourselves, how do we find this Izaak person?"
Kimberley nodded in agreement, "Good question. What's the plan, Udo?"
Suddenly, the weight of the group's expectations fell on Udo. Every pair of eyes fixed on him.
He blinked in surprise, "Huh? Why're you all looking at me?"
Ren, slightly exasperated, reminded him, "This is your trip!"
Udo bristled, "So what? I'm supposed to magically know his exact location? Although..." He paused with a smirk, "I could easily do that with my Ukwa Oba technique..."
But Kimberley was having none of it, "No chance. We can't have you using your Fiend Vibration anymore."
"Come on! Just once?" Alko pleaded.
Kimberley, her voice rising in alarm, shot back, "What? No! Are you crazy?"
Ren stepped in, his face paling, "Jesus, Alko, did you not see what he did the other day?"
Alko rolled his eyes, "No, Ren. I was paralyzed."
Kimberley interrupted, "Enough. Let's keep moving."
Alko groaned in exasperation, "I'm dying of boredom here!" In a fit of petulance, he hurled his beer can deep into the forest.
"Wow...good throw," Kimberley remarked, eyebrows raised.
Alko gave her a smug grin, "Why, thank you."
Suddenly, the world seemed to slow. The discarded beer can rocketed back towards them. The seconds stretched as the group watched it hurtle towards Alko. With mere milliseconds to spare, Alko contorted, leaning far back, evading the can by a hair's breadth. The forest echoed with the group's collective gasp.
The forest grew silent in the aftermath of the thrown can, and for a moment all that could be heard was the gentle rustling of leaves. However, that peace was quickly shattered by an unexpected presence.
"What the hell?" Ren's eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what he had just seen.
Kimberley, equally taken aback, asked, "Was... that the same can you just threw?"
Alko couldn't suppress a sly grin, "Yep."
A few meters away, a silhouette began to take shape – a lean humanoid figure with piercing red eyes, its arms undulating like ribbons in the breeze. The shadowy form was unmistakably non-human.
"What the fuck is that?" Ren exclaimed, pointing at the distant figure.
Udo, his voice measured but laced with concern, explained, "The sloth beast, Navia. Normally found in relaxed areas like these. Should've known we would run into one of them."
Alko, quipped, "Well, he has a good throw. I'll give it that..." But before he could say more, the Navia vanished in a flicker of movement.
"What the-" Ren began, but his voice was lost amidst the ensuing chaos.
The forest became a whirlwind of activity as the Navia, using its elastic limbs, ricocheted from tree to tree, its movements as fast as lightning.
"Stay on your toes," Kimberley warned, her voice steely, "They're fast as hell."
Alko, never one to resist a pun, chuckled, "Fast as hell, aye?" He brought his hands together and summoned his power. "Kalo: Smaak van Doel."
From the ether, two beer cans materialized in Alko's grasp. With dramatic flair, he clinked them together and chugged their contents, a smirk playing on his lips. And then, as if he possessed the speed of the very beast they faced, Alko disappeared in a flash. He reappeared beside the Navia, delivering a powerful kick that pinned it against a tree.
Dangling from a tree branch, Navia lifeless in one hand, Alko crowed, "Got 'em."
But the forest wasn't done with them yet. Another Navia burst forth, its limbs stretching and retracting as it hurtled between the trees.
Without missing a beat, Kimberley invoked her power, "Kalo: Eternal .45." A sleek, double-action revolver appeared in her hand. Just as the Navia lunged for Alko from behind, Kimberley's aim was true, and she sent a bullet tearing through its skull.
Alko shot her a grateful look, "Well played, Kim."
She responded coolly, her eyes scanning the surrounding woods, "Stay alert, Alko. That was just a preview."
One by one, multiple sets of red eyes began to appear amidst the trees. The forest, it seemed, was teeming with Navia, all waiting and watching. The group knew they were far from safe.
The canopy of Bialowieza Forest rustled, the sounds of leaves whispering secrets known only to the age-old trees. As Ren and Udo, stunned by the rapid events, stared at Kimberley and Alko, a sense of urgency tinged the air.
"Ren, drive away with Udo. We will take care of them," Kimberley ordered, her voice echoing authority.
Udo, disbelief evident in his eyes, stammered, "What? Drive away?"
Kimberley shot him a look, piercing yet caring, "You can't fight, Udo. That's literally why we are here."
A momentary pause fell over them, and Udo sighed, "Oh...right."
Ren, acting quickly, clasped his hands together and invoked, "Kalo: Zhang Wei."
In the midst of the dense underbrush, a brown 4x4 appeared, gleaming even in the filtered forest light. Without hesitation, they clambered in, and the next invocation echoed inside the vehicle: "Kalo: Iron Hide." With a metallic hiss, the entire exterior transformed, becoming an armored shell.
Inside, as they braced for action, Udo's disbelief shone through once more. "H-how do you plan on driving with all these trees surrounding us-"
Ren simply muttered, "Benedi: Nitro."
Outside, there was a palpable tension as the vehicle suddenly burst into motion, tearing through the forest with unmatched power, the towering trees nothing more than mere toothpicks in its path.
Udo, gripping the sides of his seat, looked over at Ren with a mix of fear and admiration. "What the hell...?" he whispered, the sight outside overwhelming.
Left in the dust, Kimberley and Alko, the forest's remaining defenders, stood strong, facing the menacing eyes of the Navia. The air between them crackled, charged with a mix of danger and camaraderie.
"You ready, Alko?" Kimberley asked, her eyes scanning the perimeter.
Without skipping a beat, Alko responded, "I was born three months early."
Her head whipped around, surprise evident. "Wait, actually?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
Curiosity piqued, she pressed on, "How come you've never told me about this?"
He simply shrugged, his casual demeanor at odds with the threat surrounding them. "I don't know. Just never felt the need to."
The Navia, creatures of twisted limbs and eerie agility, began their relentless assault on Kimberley and Alko, two figures resolute in their determination.
Kimberley and Alko seemed to dance with each other, their movements so harmonized that they seemed to predict each other's actions.
As the Navia hurled themselves toward them, limbs extending like elastic cords, the duo dodged, weaved, and retaliated with a mastery that spoke of long hours of practice and battle-hardened experience.
The echo of Kimberley's gunshots resonated, a staccato rhythm of defiance against the Navia's aggressive symphony. Each bullet, launched with impeccable accuracy, halted a Navia in its tracks, crippling their limbs and severing their torsos.
Beside her, Alko was a force to be reckoned with. His agility was unparalleled, each movement fluid yet devastating. It was like watching a lethal ballet, his limbs delivering punishing blows to the Navia with such rapidity that they barely had time to register the attacks.
Using the ancient oaks as her partners, Kimberley pirouetted among their branches. Her movements were elegant, as she darted between trees, her gunshots coming from impossible angles, ensuring the Navia were always off-balance. When one particularly bold creature lunged from her blind spot, her instincts took over, and with a swift twist of her torso, she incapacitated it with a bullet, never missing a beat in her dance.
Alko's combat style contrasted Kimberley's grace with unabashed brute force. At one point, surrounded, he unleashed his raw power, charging headfirst into the fray. Navia, disoriented by his sheer intensity, found themselves caught in his maelstrom of punches and kicks. With a roar, Alko seized a Navia by its elongated feet, using its own body as a deadly weapon against its brethren.
The clearing became a tableau of Kimberley's artful agility juxtaposed against Alko's primal might. Together, they seemed an unstoppable duo, proving to the Navia that they were forces to be reckoned with.
Amidst the thick canvas of Bialowieza Forest, Ren's 4x4 roared, carving a brutal path of uprooted trees and crushed underbrush. Inside the vehicle, tension brewed like a storm on the horizon.
Ren's voice cut through the interior of the car, dripping with sarcasm, "So how come you are the only one who survived the sealing of the Iche clan?"
Udo, seemingly lost in thought, hesitated, then murmured, "I...I'm not quite sure."
Seizing the moment, Ren pounced, the disdain evident in his tone. "Oh, you're not quite sure... So once again, you just somehow managed to escape a situation without a single scratch while everyone else had to suffer?"
Udo's confusion was palpable. "What are you talking about?"
Keeping his eyes on the path ahead, but with a voice sharpened by insinuation, Ren recounted, "I mean you know, like now? Like earlier in Watford? Like with Bowen?"
"Ren, stop," Udo's voice trembled, a mixture of anger and pain.
Ren, however, was relentless. "What? Don't you see a pattern? It's almost like you're a curse... I heard Eze Iche's wife wasn't actually included in the sealing either, as she died before that..."
Fury simmered in Udo's eyes. His hand clenched into a tight fist, knuckles white.
As if prodding a wound, Ren teased, "If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say she died...protecting you."
"Pull over, now," Udo's voice held a dangerous edge.
Wearing a smug smile, Ren responded, "As you wish."
As the car came to a jolting halt, Udo's emotions were at a breaking point. Without hesitation, he flung open the door and stepped out, putting distance between himself and the source of his distress.
But Ren wasn't finished, his voice dripping with venom. "What? You're gonna continue the journey on foot? You think you'll survive in this forest? You're gonna get ripped to shreds!"
Udo's back was to Ren, but he could still feel the piercing weight of the words. Ren continued to mock, cupping his hands and raising his voice, "But that would actually be good news for us, though, right? I mean, everyone you've associated yourself with has ended up dying! So the beasts would actually be doing us a favour!"
The forest seemed to hold its breath, the silence only broken by Udo's fading footsteps. As he retreated, the weight of the words sank in, and a soft whisper escaped him, "It's not even about the nature of the things he's saying. It's the fact that..." tears welled in his eyes as he finished, "they're probably true..."
Lost in a tangle of thoughts and regret, Ren retraced his steps back to the 4x4. Each stride weighed down by a crescendo of guilt. "What am I even doing?" he thought, eyes clouded with doubt. "None of the things I mentioned were even his fault, and now I've basically just sent him out there to die. How will Kimberley react to this?"
Approaching the 4x4, his thoughts darkened further. "Oh well, his fault or not, we're still better off with him dead." But as he reached for the door handle, a sharp instinctual alarm jolted through him. He felt a presence, looming and ominous. Freezing in place, he cautiously turned his gaze to the right.
His heart raced at the sight of a Navia. But this wasn't like the others. This one was bulkier, a clear dominant presence. A cold dread settled into the pit of his stomach as Ren barely whispered, "Huh...?"