The sun was starting to set. The sky was blood orange. It allowed for an ominous feeling to envelope the forest.
Emrys, along with Thoko, and Indigo the Griffin were making their way through the desolate forest. Although they were in some what of a hurry, they still kept a walking pace. Neither of them had the energy or the strength to sprint right now.
"So just so I have this right, what is our goal anyway, guardian?" Indigo said, breaking the silence.
"Well, our overall objective is to save as much of the forest as we can, and to also save as many creatures as we can isn't that right, guardian?"
"Yes...we must...save them." Emrys added.
"It's not like I don't want to save the forest, but I mean, just look at this place. It seems like a lost cause to me." Indigo shook his head.
"Even...so."
After that, there wasn't much else to say for a while. As soon as the sun fell past the horizon the group stopped to set up camp. Sadly there wasn't any uncorrupted wood that they could use to start a fire or build a shelter.
Although, since they have spent their entire lives living out in the wild it would be no problem for them.
They decided to stop here for the night. Indigo looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion and his injuries.
Emrys tried to find a good spot free of corruption but their wasn't one, so they opted to rest in a spot clear of trees and plants. The entire forest was corrupted sure, but the trees and various different plants were the ones that continued to produce the corruption.
So as long as they didn't touch them then they could rest easy. Indigo curled up on the ground like a dog, a really big dog.
Since there wasn't any water nearby Emrys decided to plant himself, literally. Both of his legs already looked like tree trunks anyways. So he stood a small distance away from Indigo and extended the roots from his feet as deep into the earth as he could.
This would allow him to absorb some water from underground. It wasn't as efficient as drinking from a water source but it was better than nothing. It also let him blend in with the rest of the trees except for the corrupted ones so maybe it wasn't that useful for camouflage now.
Emrys was also able to sense any disturbances in the immediate area by feeling the ground with his roots.
This was how he planned to spend the night, but he didn't feel safe just yet. If there was one thing he learned in all his many years in this forest, is that it is very dangerous. Although he had never seen any other forest and had no reference to compare to this one.
He still believed that this forest was special.
The next thing he did was extend both of his arms forward facing the ground in front of him. Then, a mass of roots grew incredibly fast from his hands and began to take on the shape of a bird with a wingspan of around two feet. Its body was not solid wood, but instead was just a bunch of roots in the shape of a bird, so it was mostly hollow.
Its wings were made of dark green leaves that allowed it to take flight. The first time Emrys discovered this ability he tried making a solid wood bird but it was unable to move quickly or even take flight due to its weight.
So now he makes them like this and imbues it with a small part of his life force so that it not only comes to life but also becomes sentient. Meaning it can take simple orders from Emrys. As soon as he imbued his life force, the birds eyes glowed a bright yellow, just like Emrys's eyes.
When he finished bringing the bird to life, he used telepathy to instruct it to patrol the area while they got some rest. The telepathy only works with things he imbues with his own life force because it connects both of them together.
With that, the bird took flight and circled them from above. Finally Emrys could get some rest. He closed his eyes and went dormant. Interestingly, he is not the type of creature that required sleep. When he goes dormant it only preserves his energy. If he wants to actually gain energy then he needs to drink water.
The night went on like this for a couple of hours. Everything was quite and peaceful, until he felt something with his roots that were planted in the ground.
He couldn't tell what it was at first, but then it got closer and closer. It could only be one thing then, footsteps.
His eyes shot opened, but before he could make a single move his bird returned and landed on his shoulder with its pointy talons.
"What is it?" Emrys asked with his mind.
The bird didn't say a single word, instead it projected images directly into Emrys's mind. What he saw completely caught him off guard.
It was a large group made up of different creatures. There were giant snakes, goblins, Dire Wolves, and he even saw a Griffin. He didn't recognize this specific Griffin though.
At first he felt happiness, that so many creatures were able to escape the demons wrath and stay safe. But just as the thought popped in his head, his familiar the bird smacked him in the face with its wing and projected another image.
This one was zoomed in allowing for more details to be seen. This made Emrys's heart tear in two. The creatures were unfortunately not alive anymore, just their bodies were moving.
Some had large gashes here and their, or had missing eyes and appendages. In other words, they were like zombies.
Emrys had only ever heard stories of such a thing from his parents many years ago. If the demons gained enough power by corrupting the land around them, then they would be able to control the bodies of creatures they killed.
They would only need to input a massive amount of corruption in the body of whatever creature they wanted. The more powerful the creature, the more corruption would have to be used.
For a demon to resurrect such a large group of creatures they would need an immense amount of power and time.
Emrys cursed himself for losing so much time and being absent for so long. If he had never almost died and were able to continue to protect the forest, then none of this would have ever happened and his friends would still be alive.
He shook these thoughts from his head. He needed to do something, and fast. This group of zombified creatures were heading straight for them.
Emrys retracted his roots and knelt down to wake Indigo. Sadly they were only able to get a few hours of rest but it will have to do.
"Indigo!" Emrys whisper shouted.
"Huh? What is it, guardian?" Indigo responded groggily.
"We must...go! Trouble!"
Indigo was surprised but managed to stay silent. They both went to escape in the opposite direction but before they could make it, they were unfortunately spotted by the group of zombies. Specifically, they were caught by the snakes that were leading the group.
These weren't just ordinary snakes either. They had blood red scales, night vision, and could spit their venom from a distance. They were a truly terrifying creatures.
The red snakes were able to see Emrys and Indigo with their night vision. They let out a loud hissing sound most likely to alert the rest of the zombies.
Multiple loud roars could be heard in the pitch black forest.
Emrys stopped running. "Indigo...keep...going..."
Indigo looked back at Emrys. "What are you saying? I cannot leave you to fight these monsters by yourself. Even if you are the guardian, you cannot take them all at the same time." Indigo thought for a moment. "I shall fight with you."
"Your...injuries." Emrys showed a concerned expression. He didn't want Indigo to die in this fight. But he knew he could not fight them all alone either.
"It is nothing. Here they come." Indigo stomped his front right foot on the ground and let out a roar of his own. It was so powerful that everyone nearby could feel the ground shake.
The group of zombified creatures paused in their tracks and held their ears. It lasted for only a few seconds but it was the perfect chance for them to turn on them.
Emrys charged forward and just before he met with the front line he jumped and slammed down right in the middle of the group. The ones nearest were thrown off their feet.
"Thoko...do it!" Emrys shouted.
"Yes, guardian!" Thoko quickly used as much mana as he could and extended his thorny vines in all directions attempting to trap as many as he could. All in all he was able to wrap his vines around half the zombies.
Emrys took this opportunity to strike. He focused his mind and used his mana to grow long whip like vines from each of his fingers and swung them all around leaving cuts on all the nearby zombies.
Unfortunately, zombies don't actually feel any pain so attacks like this were pointless. Unless they could incapacitate them some how, they would keep fighting.
All of the zombies that were not trapped by Thoko were finally able to react to the situation. They pounced on Emrys with blood red eyes.
It only took a few seconds for Emrys to become covered in gashes from the claws of these beasts. If it wasn't bad enough their claws and teeth were covered in corruption so that every attack was poisonous.
Emrys tried to dodge as many of these attacks as he could but it was no use. He was surrounded on all sides so he instead focused on counter attacking. For every attack he took he lashed out with his vine whips.
Indigo rushed forward to try and assist the guardian but was intercepted by the red snakes.