The march continued for hours. Daylight turned to moonlight and the thick canopy of tree leaves did its best to obscure how much light came through to light up their path.
For a while, they all walked in near darkness, but their eyes had already adjusted to the conditions, so it was fine. Following Centshuu had enabled Avery to travel the forest without coming in contact with any wild animals which he would have if left on his own and for that he was grateful.
They continued on their path to the exit until finally, they approached one of the forest's openings where the luminescence of the moon up above was more appreciated.
"Look alive boys, we're finally getting out of this damn maze," Centshuu said to cheer them up.
"Finally! This fucking forest can kiss my ass" Shieve commented, while Kove and Ripply just quietly walked.
From the back of the line, Mosey said to Avery: "Good going pug, you were able to keep up till now. I won't lie, with how weak you look, I thought you were going to collapse after the first hour and I would have to carry you on my back for the rest of the journey, but I'm happy to say that I was wrong. Anyway, how's your leg doing? Think you can walk on your own now?"
Avery, who was happy about proving Mosey wrong about him, looked down at his legs, grimaced, then looked at Mosey and smiled.
"Thanks for the help so far, but I think I'll be good on my own" he said.
"Alright pug, help yourself out," Mosey said with an ounce of doubt, then gently stopped supporting Avery's weight while observing to see if he was okay supporting himself.
Mosey's eyes widened with surprise when he saw that Avery could actually walk on his own.
"Wow, I didn't think you'd be able to do it but I guess I was wrong. That's twice I've been forced to eat my words now. Keep going at this pace, and we'll be good on that issue too", Mosey said, and Avery smirked.
Suddenly, Mosey looked down at Avery's legs as he took his steps and creased his forehead. Seeing this expression aimed at him, Avery grimaced with confusion.
"What's the problem?" Avery asked.
"Nothing, I'm just surprised at how fast your recovery time is. From how high you fell, I thought you would need my help with going places until tomorrow. You're a lot stronger than you look, pug" Mosey said, and Avery started to dwell on his words.
'He's right and now that I think about it, not just my legs but the other parts of my body that used to hurt when I woke up don't feel as bad anymore' Avery thought, then took a deep breath and exhaled.
'Hmm, is this one of the benefits of having more oxygen entering your system—' Avery thought, but was interrupted by Mosey, who had gotten a few paces ahead of him.
"Hey pug, you're falling behind. Sure you can walk on your own or do you still need help doing something as simple as that?" Mosey said with a slightly taunting tone and Avery rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry about me, I'm good. You should focus on yourself and where you're going before you trip on a leaf and land on your face. Well, with how big your beard is, I'm sure it'll cushion your fall", Avery said, then chuckled as he picked up the pace, catching up to Mosey, with whom he had exited the forest at the same time as.
Once he went through the wall of trees, Avery saw Centshuu, Ripply, Kove, and Shieve—albeit reluctant— all waiting for him and Mosey to join them while the bright and beautiful moonlight highlighted them.
With a smirk, Centshuu said "Congratulations pug, you finally made it out. How does it feel?"
Avery smiled, using his hand to cover his sensitive vision, which was that way, because his eyes had gotten used to the dim light provided in the forest.
"It feels good, thanks. Now I can focus on the next—" Avery said, but stopped talking when he dropped his hand from covering his eyes and saw the looks they were all giving.
"What's the problem? Why are all of you looking down?" Avery asked, then filled with curiosity, he also looked down.
With his line of sight focused beneath Avery's feet, Centshuu chuckled with surprise and said "For someone so scrawny, you sure do have a powerful-looking shadow. I mean, look at that. It's more than twice the size of any of ours. The moonlight must really love you"
Avery, who was also seeing how different his shadow was to theirs, in terms of size, grimaced. He had a strange feeling gnawing at the back of his mind as he looked at it, but he couldn't quite put his finger as to what that feeling was.
In the end, he grunted and then said "I guess it does."
Centshuu smacked his tongue, taking his sight away from Avery's shadow, and looked in the direction they were to head toward. He said "Alright, the Joint is just up that slope. Let's go"
One by one, they all followed behind, heading up the slope to their destination.