Star’s group journeyed through the luminous forest with vigilance. Surrounded by cluster trees, each of them eyed warily of lurking foes. They would not risk another sneak attack.
They eventually stopped upon a steep ravine that resounded the sound of crashing waters below. A bridge connected the two sides. Its condition was in excellent shape, almost as if someone had replaced it with new woods.
“How far are we from the Cosmic root now?” Chip asked Ratty.
“Very close,” Ratty answered.
Yori swiveled her head about but saw nothing worth her interest. “Is it across the bridge?” she asked.
“No, it’s actually under it.”
“Under?” Yuki questioned. The group looked into the ravine aside from the bridge and found a river roaring below. A many yards fall like that could cause severe injury to any careless traveler.
“You see that hole over there?” Ratty said. He pointed to a narrow opening within a wall on the opposite side of the ravine. “All we gotta do is hop in there and we’ll be right where the Cosmic root is.”
“Isn’t there a simpler path we could take?” Yuki asked.
“If there was, we'd be there right now.”
“Well, this is rather unorthodox,” Chip said. He lit his horn and summoned stones from the ravine walls to form a stairway down the ravine. He then installed the stairway with stone railings. “But I think this should do. Alright everyone, stay close to each other in an orderly line.”
“This is supposed to be an adventure,” Star said. “Not some tour.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Is my guarding not to your taste?”
Star chuckled. “Oh, so now you have jokes?” She strolled in front of Chip, taking the first step down the stairway.
The others lined behind her, descending into the ravine. Yuki, who was the last to enter, anxiously observed the construct of the bridge. “Hey, do we know this is safe?” Yuki asked. “It won’t break, will it?”
“Oh Yuki,” Yori laughed. “Don’t be such a scaredy-cat. You gotta learn to live a little.”
“I’ve been living every day of my life,” Yuki retorted. “I just hope this is not where it ends.”
Yuki inevitably relented and joined them. As they continued their descension, an enormous sound of a crack sputtered the group to a halt. “What was that!?” Yuki asked. “Chip, you better not be losing hold.”
“That wasn’t me,” Chip answered, scanning around the bridge for any anomalies.
Another crack reverberated near the group, and then another, inching closer before the group. The sound of cracks then subsided, leaving the roaring rivers to fill the air.
“Star,” Chip said, rounding in front of her. “Stay behind me.”
A yellow root emerged from the stoned stairway. It began small but soon came with bountiful tendrils before Star’s party.
“I had a feeling this would happen,” Yuki said. She harnessed her horn in blue light and shot a beam upon the tendril for roots. Her magic encased a few of its curls in ice, breaking off from the group and falling down to the bottom of the ravine.
The group retreated back from hordes of roots springing from their path. Chip raised a wall of stone to block the tendrils’ reach.
“What’re you backing up for?” Star questioned.
“We need to get back up to land,” Chip said. “We won’t be safe in this confined space.”
“But the hole is right there!” Star pointed at the narrow entrance, a few feet below them.
“Will you stop thinking about that and worry about our safety!?”
“I need to see that spirit, Chip! I won’t let some stupid plant stop me from getting what I deserve!” Star jumped past Chip and climbed the rocky wall that Chip made.
“Star, come back!” He called for Star, but the mare had her eyes on one thing.
On the other side of the rocky wall, Star found knots of roots already rounding the bridge. With a powerful kick, Star jumped over the roots and landed inches away from them. One, however, grabbed her hind hoof, but she charred it off her with a beam.
She made a run for the hole, but then an enormous collection of roots emerged beside the stairway and whipped down before destroying her path to the hole.
“Okay, Star,” Ratty said. “This is getting a bit too dangerous for my taste. Maybe we should make for a tactical retreat.”
Star gazed at the hole that was a few distances away. If she had a running start, she could probably…
“I’m going for it,” Star declared.
“Wait, what!?”
Star ran back a few feet. She took a breath and exhaled.
“Star, you’re thinking crazy right now,” Ratty said. “Those roots are definitely going to grab us.”
“Too bad for it, I have a trick up my sleeves,” Star said before galloping down the stairs. At the broken edge, she leaped with all her strength.
The large root rose before them intending to slap her into the unknown. However, Star had already predicted this.
Her horn turned pitch black, igniting black flames around her and Ratty. When the root eventually met with her, their body phased through it as if they were ghosts.
“Hah, I told you I–” Star had reached the hole, from a bit too high. Her black flames had dissipated before her head smacked upon the top of the hole. And then everything went black.