A small flame ignited on the tip of Chase's finger for only a couple seconds, as he sat on top of a large branch. His mind was quiet as he lit a ripped-up piece of paper from one of the books he had been using in an attempt to teach himself Elemental Energy control.
He gritted his teeth as he shivered underneath his layers of makeshift clothing.
I need to leave before dawn today...
Chase thought to himself as he lay down on the cold tree branch.
He watched his cold and ragged breaths escape his lips. He had rarely gotten sleep these days, as the reason was pretty self-explanatory.
However, there was one more reason that the tired boy could not bring himself to sleep.
As of recently, Chase had been remembering odd fragments of a dream that foretold the future. It was not a common experience; in fact, he rarely dreamed at all.
The remembrance of seeing his village burning to ash after having a dream about it was not a pleasant memory.
The remnants of forgotten dreams felt like fragments of a warning he was too weak to understand, a message slipping through the cracks of his fractured memory.
In his defense, he nearly instantly forgot most of the dream; however, the realization that he had forgotten one made him fear a certain realization: what were the chances that he had dreamed of the future before?
This prompted Chase to just sleep as little as possible, just as he had already been doing. It wasn't until about two or three weeks inside the Dark Forest that he finally drifted off to sleep.
Ever since, he had been taking about an hour or two of sleep in the middle of the day. The branches were actually quite a peaceful place to rest during broad daylight.
He quickly sat up and looked over his shoulder to see a centipede about three meters long climbing up the tree that he was currently staying the night on.
Chase gagged from the sight of the terrible-looking creature that was inching its way up the massive tree; however, he stood up and clenched his topaz dagger tightly, while awaiting the towering bug.
The centipede's segmented body gleamed like polished obsidian, its movements a sickening rhythm that made Chase's skin crawl with every inch it climbed.
The bug slowly crept up the massive tree. He could not see the monster well; however, as he stared into the dark abyss below the trees, he could faintly see its wide black eyes piercing into the crumpled-up paper that burned next to him.
Chase took a shaky breath as he lifted the tiny dagger up to his chest, preparing for the centipede to attack him.
Suddenly, a cold feeling washed through his body, freezing him in place. All he could feel were loud and painful beats of his own heart.
He took a step back, gathering his balance on top of the wooden branch.
The centipede had stopped and was now positioned horizontally across the tree. Chase assumed that the bug was no longer looking at him, as he no longer felt its creepy gaze upon the branch.
At that moment, a faint purple glow illuminated the forest drowned in shadows. Chase now understood why he felt a chill go down his already frozen back not even a minute ago.
The violet flames licked the shadows with an eerie grace, casting flickering shapes that made the trees seem alive, their twisted branches clawing at the night sky.
He tightened his grip on the handle of his father's blade.
Maybe it's just a friendly visit?
Chase hoped as he stood still, waiting for something to happen.
Just as he thought that, the purple flames surged to life, illuminating nearly the entire forest. A dozen or so of the horned wolves had begun to slowly trot into the light of their own flames.
Some of them growled, and some of them silently crept toward the towering tree that he and the centipede resided on.
Each growl reverberated through the frozen air, a low rumble that gnawed at his composure as the violet light cast their elongated shadows into monstrous forms.
The wolves moved with a predator's patience, their glowing eyes cutting through the darkness like embers waiting to ignite.
"Okay, so not a friendly visit," Chase frustratingly yelled as he slid down the long trunk of the tree. His hand was torn open from the bark as he quickly grabbed onto things, his slide turning into a fall.
He held his breath as his body plunged into the blanket of snow below the tree.
The monstrous centipede, now fully visible from the violet light, let out a terrible scream as it pushed itself off the tree and toward the pack of cursed wolves.
Chase would have thanked the weird-looking bug for the distraction if his own situation wasn't as dreadful as it was.
The forest was easily most dangerous at night, and he had been smart enough to avoid being on the ground at that time.
However, now he had nowhere to go as he pulled himself up from the body-shaped crater in the thick snow.
It was pitch black in any direction that was not toward the violet flames, which did not excite Chase in the slightest.
He tiredly ran through the snow toward the tree that the centipede had recently attempted to climb up. He put his hand on the tree and let the tip of his finger catch flame once again, causing a terrible pain to spread throughout his poorly nourished body.
Fear clawed at his chest like a living thing, but he forced it down, letting the steady warmth of the flame at his fingertip anchor him to the present.
He gritted his teeth and ignored the pain. The small flame on his finger danced around his hand as it revealed a small arrow in the tree.
North...
As soon as he was able to barely see the arrow carved into the dark oak tree, he had already booked it into the forest that had been drowned in shadows.
Loud screams and roars could be heard from behind the boy as the cold wind blew against his face.
The forest seemed alive in its silence, the whisper of the wind through skeletal branches merging with the crunch of snow beneath his trembling feet.
His legs burned with every step, but the promise of daylight ahead was the only thing keeping his body from collapsing into the snow.
He did not stop running and would not until he had seen the light of day break through the roof of the forest.