When Nature Calls

by SwiftEthan

Timber

Where the hell am I going?

I had been wandering about aimlessly in the forest for the best part of four hours. Apparently, there was meant to be some kind of monster causing havoc somewhere nearby, but the entire place was deathly silent. This was worrying, to say the least. Either everything in the area had run away or something had silenced them all. I sighed. At least I was probably in the right area.

I wondered what kind of creature it was. Probably something pretty horrifying, to say the least. I had no idea what the mind of a bored Daedra was capable of cooking up.

It didn't help that the light was starting to fade, either. The canopy was thick enough to block out the majority of the sunlight in the first place, I didn't really want to be trying to find my way through the forest in complete darkness. That would only make it even more boring.

My mind drifted to what Clavicus had meant by 'powers'. Specifically, the fourth one. The green, gold and purple lights each represented a level of power spriggan held in the game, each level being substantially tougher than the last. Maybe the fourth would just be another level?

I shook my head. It wasn't doing me any good wondering about that now. If anything, it would just serve as a distraction while whatever boss was supposed to be skulking around crept up on me and tore me limb from limb. Wasn't that a lovely thought...

A rustling sound behind me caught my attention, and I spun around to face whatever it was. At first, I couldn't see anything, but then a pair of yellow eyes shone through the gloom, staring right at me. Before I could react to this, however, another rustle emanated from a bush just off to my left, and I turned my head to that one. Another pair of yellow eyes.

Well, this was nice and creepy. I backed off slowly from the ominous glowing orbs, only to be distracted by yet another rustling to my right. Of course, there was another pair of yellow eyes peering out at me from the darkness.

I sighed. Being surrounded by a bunch of unknown creatures wasn't much fun, as it turned out. As I backed up further still, my progress was abruptly cut short by one of the many, many trees that made up the forest, blocking my retreat. I stood still, my back pressed up against the rough bark, and briefly wondered how fast I'd have to shimmy in order to start a forest fire.

That thought made me question where my priorities lay. Here I was being hunted by a group of strange predators and I was thinking about setting myself on fire. Not really the best frame of mind to be in, especially in a situation like this.

I dropped down lower, moving away from the tree to give myself some space as the creatures finally decided to make their presence known. I was prepared to take on whatever they were...Despite knowing it would probably not end at all well for me.

The level of confusion and surprise that shot through my being might even have been visible on my expressionless, carved face when I saw what had been stalking me. Three large canine forms emerged from the foliage, glaring hungrily at me. That wasn't the surprising bit. Well, not quite, anyway. I mean, what kind of creature would see a walking tree as potential food? Apparently, these things did.

It wasn't the fact that they saw me as prey that surprised me so much as the creatures themselves. They were definitely canine, sort of wolf-like by the looks of them, but they weren't at all like anything I'd ever seen before. Not even as sculptures. The weird thing about these wolves was that they were completely made out of wood. Like...Kind of like a wolf version of myself, almost. Only these things had working jaws. With very sharp teeth.

Well, this day was going fantastic so far. I kept a close eye on all of them as best as I could manage, my gaze flicking between them rapidly while they stood still, staring. It was pretty intimidating, given the lack of pupils in their eyes.

...We must have stood there, staring suspiciously at each other for at least ten minutes before I got bored. I stood up straight, dropping my hands to my sides, and shrugged.

"So are you lot going to attack or what?"

The three creatures looked between themselves, seeming to communicate with their thoughts. I mean, they didn't make a sound that I could hear, so telepathy is the obvious conclusion, right?

After a brief deliberation, the wolf in the middle of the trio stepped forward, cautiously approaching me. I found myself stepping back again, only to find that the tree that had blocked my path earlier was, in fact, still there. The creature sniffed tentatively at my stomach, then seemed to shrug and back up a step, staring up at me.

...Wow, I felt tall.

I stared back, unsure of what to do next. Apparently they weren't going to eat me, which was nice, I could deal with that. But now it looked like they were expecting a conversation...Which wasn't exactly my forte.

"Uh...How's it going?"

What are you doing here? A voice in my head snapped.

I would have blinked. As it was, I just stared blankly at the creature before me, suddenly experiencing a whole new level of weird. Talking wooden wolves. Why not?

"...Um." I shook my head in bewilderment, searching for what seemed like a suitable answer. "I...Got dropped here?" It sounded more like a guess than anything else.

When? Where? The other two wolves advanced to join the first, standing in a line staring at me intensely. It was pretty creepy, the way their blank eyes were all focused on the same thing. I couldn't even tell if it was just one speaking or if they were all talking at once.

"About..." I scratched my head. Not sure why, really, but it conveyed the appearance of deep thought. "Five or so hours ago? Somewhere around..." I waved in a vague gesture off in the direction I had come from. Not that I could remember where the castle was, but it was something, at least. I had to appear to know what the hell I was talking about. "Around that direction. Sort of."

They each turned to each other, seeming to share a moment of deliberation between themselves. After a moment, they turned back to me as one. From a castle?

Huh. Well, not too surprising that they might know about it, considering it was inside their forest. I nodded.

They shared another suspicious look with each other before taking a step back warily. What are you..?

The sudden switch from intimidating to intimidated threw me for a loop. They still outnumbered me. They still had teeth. We were both still made of wood...It'd be interesting to see how that played out in a fight. I mean, would I even feel pain? Would their teeth even be able to cut into my...Outer layer enough to do some damage?

I shrugged. "I'm a spriggan," I sighed. No sense in beating about the bush, anyway. Might as well tell the truth. If they knew what that meant, then great. If not I lost nothing. "What are you?"

When they fell out of their aggressive poses to adopt a more proud one, I inwardly rolled my eyes. I really hoped this wasn't about to be some long-winded explanation about how they were the 'guardians of the forest' or something...

We are the Guardians of this forest...

Great.

Used to be that we needed the influence of some goddess of this planet, but... There was a cackle. As unnerving as it was having something talking to you directly through thought, hearing that same creature laughing maniacally inside your head was closer to downright horrifying.

We don't need her anymore. We never did...She was holding us back. Now, we are free. The voices gleefully explained.

Personally I had no interest in finding out who this supposed 'goddess' was. And clearly these creatures were a little...Unhinged. No, it would probably be best if I just went along on my merry way.

"That's...Lovely. Now then, I'm in a bit of a hurry, stuff to do and all that. It was lovely chatting with you lot. Bye then!" I cheerfully told them while edging around the tree to leave. Fake-cheerfully, of course. I was still freaked out by the whole situation.

No! The voices snarled, and in an instant I had two wolves blocking my path. Blimey, these things were fast. I took back any and all interest I had expressed towards a fight with the creatures.

"...What?"

Where are you going now?! They made it sound like I was planning to set the entire forest on fire.

"Well..." I sighed again. "I was told about some creature in this forest who's been making trouble. I'm supposed to go kill it." I don't think I could have sounded any more jaded if I'd tried.

They looked at each other in confusion, once again seeming to share a moment of thought before reaching a decision. You know of that creature? How? Still suspicious, though. Of course.

I shrugged. "Someone told me about it."

I had expected to be questioned further on that topic, but that seemed to be a satisfying answer to them. Really..? Well, good...Good. We will take you to it.

"...You will?" At this point, I wasn't sure if this seemed more like a tutorial mission or an outright trap.

They all nodded in unison. Eurgh, that was creepy. We will. Follow. And with that, they took off through the forest at a sprint.

Grumbling, I set off after them, annoyed that they couldn't slow down even a little bit. Very considerate. Still, at least things had gone much more smoothly than I'd been expecting. I wasn't being digested right now, for a start.

I chuckled. Yeah, this day was going just great.

Comments

[Discordedshados]

if convenient
if not more anyway
7/5

[Fireeaters]

Neat!

[Zarord]

denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw9071-29373_390189731056787_1201167898_n.png

[SwiftEthan]

2782102

Not dead, just...Well, barely clinging on. I really want to get chapters out, but distractions are rife. So, yeah. I'm still trying to work on it, it's just slow-going.