Theo looked over to Sabine once she spoke, wondering what she was referring to. He watched as what looked thick dripping blood poured out of her canteen. But it wasn’t just blood. It seemed… alive somehow. He took a step closer, looking around Sabine as she observed it. The strange thing seemed to crawl into the soil, or maybe it was absorbed into the soil. Theo stepped back again near his original place, shaking his head. If the forest could manipulate things like that, was anything safe from its eerie power? He quickly pulled out his pocket knife and inspected it, making sure nothing had happened to his precious knife. It just looked a little dull, and he dropped it back into his pocket relived.

When Trent asked a follow up question, his eyes widened a little. Was that just water? Sabine didn’t seem to think it was water from the way she was looking at it. Maybe all three of them had seen something completely different. He wondered why that might be. Maybe there was some sort of pattern or connection. Maybe some were more sensitive than others. Maybe it had to do with how mentally stable someone was, but from Theo’s perspective, it wasn’t that he thought Trent was mentally stable. Then again, maybe it was specifically changed for each of them depending on what might unnerve them. Maybe something like that wouldn’t affect Trent at all, so whatever was causing these strange occurrences didn’t bother with him.

That line of thought quickly led to another. What was it then, that might threaten each of them specifically? And would the forest be so specific as to target them individually? Did this malicious being have a power source, that once it depleted it took time to ‘recharge?’ Somehow, the analytical side of Theo’s brain had awoken since their entrance into this forest. That alone was a thought that made him shudder again.

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“I- what? Dish Soap?" Sabine stammered, her words trailing off as she grappled with the unsettling encounter. “That was not water.” She said with a touch of defensiveness in her voice. The gears in her head turned, and her brow furrowed in thought. Then she directed her gaze towards Theo, who seemed to be lost in thought himself. “Did it look like plain water to you too? Am I already losing it?” She chuckled uncertainly, a nervous edge to her laughter.

Either way, that was the last of her water that she had dumped out, so she had to rely on finding some untainted stream or well. Even if they did eventually come across a source of water… would anything from the Malvada forest be safe to consume? She shook her head, brushing off the thought. That was going to be a problem for future Sabine. Only fate knew what could come first, she could go insane and run out the forest screaming just as Rachel had done, or she could die of thirst. But what good would worrying about that now do? Not much, she silently concluded, ignoring her anxious thoughts and instead waiting for an answer from Theo.

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Trent frowned and scratched the top of his head, not liking the implications of what was happening at all. Sabine said it wasn't water, to him it obviously was, to Theo.....Well he had no idea what anything was to Theo, the kid was so quiet and reserved. He hoped that didn't cause problems going forward.
"Well, water or not it doesn't matter now, we shouldn't linger in one spot for to long," he stated, wanting to keep moving while the sun was still visible. Reaching along the side of his backpack, grabbed a spare bottle of water and tossed it to Sabine. "Lets hope its actually still water in that one," he muttered and turned to start walking again, but the second he did, he froze.

Just a foot or so away, there was a woman. She was just standing there next to one of the redwood trees, staring at the three of them. She was beautiful, with long golden locks and bright blue eyes. She wore a pure white cloak that currently hid her body from view. She met all three of their gazes briefly, before locking back on Trent, making his heart skip a beat, even though his instincts were screaming at him for some reason.
After what felt like an eternity, but was in reality on a few seconds, the woman started to smile at the trio. A slender hand emerged from the white cloak and lifted to point a dainty finger at him. As she did so, the smile on her face stretched to unnatural proportions, splitting her face nearly in two and revealing rows of pointed teeth.
Her flawless skin sagged, becoming grey and wrinkled, while her blue eyes bulged and turned liquid, melting out of her face and leaving trails of black sludge.

Trent's expression was one of horror, and he took a step back as the woman's body contorted. The sounds of bones snapping and rearranging making his stomach churn. All the while she somehow never stopped pointing at him.
Opening her mouth wide, much wider then should be possible, she roared at them in a screech that was liken to nails on a chalk board, and words could just barely be understood.
"Ge-e-e-T OU-u-ut!"

The scream rang throughout the woods, making crows take flight in a flurry of feathers and panicked caws. Trent didn't move, but not for lack of trying, he would have took off long before. Something was restraining him, and looking down, there were boney hands that had bits of skin and muscle that were reaching from the earth itself. They were grasping at the trios legs with claw like nails, pulling and yanking as if to suck them down into the dirt.
The blood pounding in his ears, Trent fought not to panic. He uttered a primal scream of his own and snatched at the side of his backpack, unhooking a machete. He hacked and chopped and the hands, trying to loosen their grip and get free.

Meanwhile the banshee woman was still pointing her boney finger and screeching, seeming to be the source of the hands currently trying to pull them down. They needed to stop her somehow, but how?!

[Linkie to the new OOC thread <3]

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Theo slowly turned his gaze back to Sabine, hesitating. He looked back down at the spot on the ground. Just as he was about to speak in response to Sabine, he noticed Trent staring at something. At first, Theo thought he was staring at the tree, but soon he noticed a strange flickering shape near the tree. It wasn't unlike the shapes Theo had seen earlier around the edges of the fog, but from the way Trent was staring, he got the idea that there was something more to this form. It almost seemed to Theo, that the strange shape was troubled in some way. It kept flickering and twitching like it was fighting against something. Then suddenly the shape of the woman blipped into place, like someone had turned on a light switch. Theo stared at her, and when she met his eyes, for the briefest moment, he felt a deep sense of loss and longing. But that sensation was gone as soon as her eyes locked back on Trent's. He watched in silence as the beautiful woman morphed into some terrible beast. His eyes flicked back to Trent. He stood fixed to the spot, staring back at the woman. Theo had a moment to wonder what Trent was thinking before the scream started.

Theo immediately clapped his hands over his ears, wincing at the terrible noise. He intended to take a step backward, but with the hands in place, he only lost his balance and nearly fell over. Now that he saw the hands though, He inhaled sharply, keeping his own hands firmly covering his ears. He looked between the hands and the banshee, wondering what the connection might be. She was only pointing at Trent, from what he could tell, so would that mean that her powers were focused on him? Theo flinched as he watched Trent hack away at the hands. Each hit upon the bony claws seemed to make them tighten around his own legs.

From what Theo could remember from old stories, a banshee's main weapon was their scream, so logically, if they could shut her up, they should be fine. But how might they do that? All three of them were held in place by the hands. Maybe if they were to throw something... Theo did have his knife, and he always thought he had pretty good aim, but to throw something, he'd have to uncover his ears... and sure, Trent seemed... 'fine' being blasted with the full force of the scream, and well, he couldn't quite tell with Sabine, he didn't want to risk it. The terrible sound was already enough as it was. One of his other, older, teammates might come up with something better even.

But before Theo could content himself with just waiting it out, the hands suddenly yanked harder, trying to pull him into the soil. He gasped, refusing to scream. The force was enough, and he lost his balance. He finally dropped his hands as he fell to his knees, slamming his hands down on the earth to catch his fall. He looked up, now panicked, but the banshee wasn't paying any extra attention to him. Luckily for Theo, the woman continued to focus on Trent, her terrible empty gaze locked on the oldest member of their group. Theo looked to Sabine, trying to get her attention.

"What should we do?" He yelled at her, hoping his voice might carry. "Do we throw something at it? It seems like it's more worried about Trent than anything."

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Catching the water bottle, Sabine began to thank Trent, but her words caught in her throat when she noticed his fixed gaze, as if in a hypnotic trance, directed towards something near the redwoods. She followed his line of sight, and that's when she too saw the woman, bathed in a soft, eerie white glow. However, the woman's appearance quickly transformed before Sabine's eyes, revealing a decrepit, nightmarish figure. Tattered hair framed the woman's ghastly form, and she seemed to be deteriorating right before them.
Repulsion surged through Sabine, and her first instinct was to book it from the clearing. She glanced back at Trent, wondering why he wasn't already running, but her question was answered when she felt bony hands clawing at her boots, anchoring her to the ground. Panic set in as the skeletal hands sprouted from the earth, reaching not only for her but also for her teammates.

Sabine's attention snapped back to the Banshee just in time to experience the full force of her horrifying scream. It struck her with overwhelming intensity, hitting her all at once like a tidal wave. Sabine's immediate reaction was to claw at her ears in a desperate attempt to block out the deafening sound. However, her efforts were in vain; the piercing scream felt as if it was from within her own head, rendering any attempts to muffle it futile. It reverberated in her head, making her feel as if her skull would shatter. The sensation was excruciating, and Sabine could feel the ticklish trickle of blood seeping from her ears, a painful reminder of the urgent need to silence the monstrous entity before them.

She twisted her torso to see Theo on the ground, struggling against the grasping hands. Reading his lips over the deafening scream, she nodded vigorously in agreement when he suggested throwing something.
"We need to shut it up!" She yelled back. When he mentioned Trent, she glanced at him, witnessing his frenzied battle with his machete against the grasping hands. Searching for a weapon, Sabine spotted a hefty rock and pointed at it while locking eyes with Theo.

"We could use this— i’ll roll it to Trent, and he can finish her off." By now, the hands had breached her heavy-duty boots, clawing into her shins. She winced as she continued to communicate with Theo, desperate to devise a plan.
"We have to stop the scream first. If we go straight for the rock, she'll block it. Do you have anything precise to strike her with?“ Sabine ran her finger across her neck, mimicking a throat-slitting motion, her mouth shaping the word ‘KNIFE,’ and pointed behind her at the Banshee, emphasizing her message.

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Theo squinted at Sabine, she was now trying to say something back. He just looked at her in pure confusion until she motioned across her neck. He looked over at the banshee, then back to Sabine. So, something about a rock, the creature's neck and maybe she had said... 'KNIFE'? His eyes widened in understanding and he nodded vigorously to convey he got the message. He quickly reached into his pocket for his knife, but as he did so, one of the hands decided to no longer hold his leg, and it lurched for the knife. He yelped in surprise as the bones cluttered against his own hand. He pried the fingers free, gasping as one of the finger bones snapped under his grasp. He pushed himself up to his knees, holding the knife up and away from the flailing hands.

Now came the difficult part. He took a deep breath, running a finger along the edge of the blade. The screaming intensified, and Theo grit his teeth, taking aim. All those days spent out in the wilderness playing around with this knife better be worth it. He drew his hand back slowly, before hurling his beloved knife directly towards the terrifying monster. Theo watched it almost in slow motion as it flipped end over end, past Sabine, past Trent, and finally to the banshee's neck. It easily sunk into her rotten flesh with a squelching noise, and the screaming cut off abruptly, giving away to a silence that seemed even louder than the scream itself. The banshee finally took its empty, hollow eyes off Trent and staggered a step forward, the impact stunning it for only a second. It then inhaled as to scream again, but the knife had managed to destroy whatever it had for vocal cords. It still wailed and screeched but with a dry wheezing voice. This sound echoed through the empty space around them and pounded into Theo's head. How could this broken version of a banshee's scream be almost worse? Theo bent over on the ground, even more desperate to block out the noise. The rattling breaths sounded too familiar... too close... too much like death.

The banshee itself would not take this as a defeat. It continued trying to scream, now taking lurching steps toward Trent, its hand reaching out as if it was calling for help. It didn't move very fast, but its gapping mouth and hollow eyes carried an arua of rot and decay. It stretched its hand closer and closer, reaching for the nearest living thing.

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"Trent!" Sabine called out, her voice desperate, hoping to catch Trent's attention. She understood that time was of the essence now that the Banshee fixated on her teammate, moving in his direction with an unsettling determination. At this point, the undead hands had reached her waist, forcing her to stand upright. The hefty rock lay just a couple of feet away, frustratingly out of her reach. Sabine thrashed wildly, fighting to break free from their relentless grip. She grabbed one of the skeletal hands, wrenching it from the writhing mass.

With the severed hand in her grasp, she began to strike at the others, using its bony fingers to pry away a few, gaining herself a couple of precious inches of movement. Her heart pounded with urgency as she bent over and hurled a loose stick towards Trent to catch his attention, unsure if he could hear her amidst the Banshee's tormenting attempt at a screech. Summoning her last reserves of strength, she pushed the hefty rock in his direction, fully aware that it could be their only hope to vanquish the wailing menace.

As the rock rolled away from her, Sabine tumbled to the ground. She quickly propped herself up with her hands, but her efforts were in vain. Before she could regain her footing, fresh skeletal hands emerged around her, holding her firmly to the forest floor. They clawed at her forearms, gripping her wrists tightly, leaving her unable to retaliate. She watched as the rock moved towards Trent, and she hoped he could destroy the banshee before their situation worsened. In a determined whisper, she uttered once more, "It's now or never." Her face bore an unwavering resolve amidst the chaos surrounding them.

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Still hacking furiously at the hands that held him in place, Trent tried not to despair at how fruitless it seemed. For every skeletal hand he struck down with his machete, two more seemed to spring from the earth and take its place. On top of that, the banshee's incessant shrieking was filling his cranium, causing a nearly unbearable pressure, as if his brain was becoming to big for his skull to contain. He could not hear what his teammates were up to behind him, and only knew they were fighting similar battles against the undead hands currently trying to drag them into a dirt grave.
When his nose started to drip blood and he thought he could take the pressure no more, the banshee's deadly scream was suddenly cut off, a horrific wheezing noise taking its place.

Trent's head lifted up from his battle with the hands, and he stared in shock at the banshee who now had a knife lodged in her larynx. His green eyes would cut over to look at Theo, who was still in the position of having thrown said knife, before the younger guy doubled over at the rendition of the banshees scream. It was quiet, yet somehow more deafening than before. It made him feel as though his head was going to explode.
To make matters worse, the banshee was now stepping purposefully toward him, her movements jerky and supremely disturbing, and her bony fingers reaching out to him.

Feeling his blood run cold as the banshee drew closer, he renewed his efforts to get free of the hands gripping him, yet made no more progress then his first attempt. In fact he came out of the attempt worse than before as three of the hands managed to grab hold and yanked the machete from his grasp. That was it, he was utterly defenseless, but he'd be damned if he went down without a fight.
"F*ck it! You wanna go, lets go you ugly B*tch," Trent yelled, brandishing his fists in preparation of a hand to hand altercation. It was then that he heard Sabine's desperate call of his name, the sound incredibly muted in his pounding eardrums, and looked over as she tossed various debris at him to get his attention.
The poor girl was basically pinned to the ground by the skeletal hands, and yet had somehow managed to send a huge rock rolling his way.

Trent understood immediately and he leaned over to grab at it, barely managing to stop it from rolling out of reach as its direction had been slightly askew. The skeleton hands clutched at his arms when he reached for the rock, but he ripped them out of the ground with sheer, adrenaline fueled strength as he straightened back up, the rock held over his head in preparation to throw. He wouldn't have far to chuck it however, as the banshee had become a mere arms length away in the time it had taken him to retrieve the rock.
The smell of blood and rot was so overpowering at this distance that he couldn't stop the gag even if he'd tried, he nearly dropped the rock to cover his still dripping nose. The muscles in his arms bulged and trembled with the effort to hold it up.
The banshee, still uttering her horrible, wheezing scream, reached with her boney fingers to gasp his face, in what almost seemed to be a caress, if she weren't digging sharpened fingernail into his cheek that is, drawing blood. Her gaping eye sockets stared into his soul, and he felt the strangest lurch in his body, as if some force was trying to suck it out.
Revulsion causing him to jerk violently, Trent finally slammed the huge rock down on the banshee's head with out letting go, wincing at the crack of bone. The creature dropped to the ground with a terrible gurgling noise that caused a sharp pain his own head, as if he too had been struck a blow. He shook the feeling off to the best of his ability, as the banshee was obviously not dead yet, and Trent would not give it enough time to recoup.
Lifting the rock high one more, he then it hurled it down on her head with all his might. The huge rock smashed her skull and snapped her neck, and the forest was suddenly quiet, truthfully quiet.

The undead hands suddenly contorted and disintegrated into an ashy dust , finally freeing their captives.
Not taking any chances, his heart still pounding loudly in his ears, Trent would retrieve his machete and circle around the side of the downed banshee. The he brough the big knife down on what he could still see of her neck, severing her head from her body.
The banshees beheaded form twitched once, before it too withered away into dust, leaving behind Theo's knife in the dirt.

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Theo was pretty much curled into a ball, his arms folded over his head. The hands still pulled at his sleeves, but they were much weaker now. Even a few seconds after the horrendous wheezing stopped, he remained where he was, breathing heavily. When the final blow was landed, and the banshee shattered to dust, he finally relaxed a little bit, looking up at the scene. He was breathing rapidly, close to hyperventilating. He stumbled to his feet and ran to pick up his knife, before backing away and leaning against a tree to catch his breath. He sat down next to it, drawing his knees up close and leaning his head on them. That… that was real. To point where they could have died. But it was at least real. Something you could touch, something you could feel.

He lifted his head again, looking at his knife. He brushed off a few particles of dust that still clung to the blade. As the tiny particles fell to the ground, he scoffed. Then laughed. It was only one strange choked sound, and he rubbed his hands over his face.

“This is what you came for, isn’t it?” He muttered to himself. He then took a deep breath, held it for a second, trying to compose himself. He let it go as he got to his feet, turning to his teammates. He put his knife back into his pocket and folded his arms.

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Once the skeletal hands withered away and disappeared, Sabine collapsed, landing on the forest floor with a heavy thud. She groaned, rolling over onto her back and bringing her hands up to her face. Brushing her sweat-slicked hair off her forehead, she also wiped away the majority of the dried blood around her ears. Sabine took a moment to simply breathe, covering her eyes with her forearm as the adrenaline high gradually wore off.

After a moment, she managed to sit up, surveying the state of her torn pants and the various scratches and wounds on her limbs. A smirk graced her lips as she muttered, "Those will make cool scars." attempting to distract herself with some cheap humor amidst the intense aftermath.
Interrupting her thoughts, she heard an odd choked laugh from Theo. She looked up at him as he stood a bit ways off, his arms folded. Deciding to follow suit, Sabine stood up as well. Before doing so, she sighed, untied her hair, and ran her hands through it, pulling it back into a more composed ponytail.

Finally, Sabine sighed again and got up, still fiddling with the loose front strands of her hair to relieve her still jittery nerves. She decided to break the lingering silence, her voice coming out quieter than intended given that her ears were still ringing slightly from the banshee's horrible cries. "You guys alright?" She asked, looking at both of her teammates.

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Trent was still standing over the spot in which the banshee had disintegrated, staring at the pile of ashy dust that was all that remained as proof of what had just gone down. Well...that, and the torn clothing, oh and the wounds, yeah the wounds sucked.
Lifting a hand to touch his cheek where the disgusting banshee had sunk her nails in, he pulled it away and examined the small amount of blood on his fingers. He shuddered as he recalled her cold touch and wiped his hand on his pants.
What a shit show that had been. Barely even a hour in and they'd already almost been had. This did not bode well for the rest of their trek.
Shaking his head, Trent would move to put away his machete and looked over when he heard Theo's choked laugh. He watched for just a moment as the kid seemed to be coming to terms with what had happened and realizing how incredibly real it was. He for one was thinking that they were probably in way over their heads, but what choice did they have. Only the desperate or stupid would bother to risk their lives for the chance at three fabled wishes.
Looking away, he wiped his nose and cheek clean of blood with the sleeve of his hoodie, and took a deep, steadying breath of his own.

When Sabine spoke up, asking if they were okay, he responded with a lopsided smile that was mildly sarcastic in nature. "Okay? Yeah, great, fantastic even," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I suppose we could have come out of that a lot worse for wear...or dead, if it wasn't for Theo's knife throwing abilities, and that was quick thinking with the rock Sabine...though i guess it's a good thing i never skipped upper body day at the gym, damn thing was heavy," he tried to joke, realizing that his earlier response hadn't been to friendly. They'd made a pretty decent team after all.

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Theo took a deep breath and nodded to Sabine’s question. He was alright enough. He then promptly tried to not think about the whole thing. He shifted on his feet, rolling out his ankles and running his hands up and down his arms. From a quick glance at the other two, he could see he had gotten out of that fairly easily in terms of physical injuries. Both of his teammates had blood visible from a combination of the bone hands and the banshee herself. His looked down and kicked at the dirt, partially testing how he felt. Sure his ankles stung a little, even along his arms, and his head still rang from that wheezing, but he knew it could have been worse. He eventually wrote it off as being furtherest away from the monster, and turned his attention elsewhere. Namely, to the sky.

Theo lifted his eyes to where the sun had sunk considerably lower. He squinted up. Hadn’t that whole fight only been a few minutes? When they first came into the clearing, Theo could have sworn the sun was directly in the center of the sky. As he watched a dark cloud formed itself from the blue sky and slid across to cast a shadow down. As the light and warmth faded slightly from the sun, Theo shuddered. He looked back down, his eyes catching on some movement in the distance.
Far through the trees, there seemed to be a figure walking. Its shape was vaguely familiar, long thin arms trailing behind, nearly dragging along the ground. The figure stopped, and turned toward the group. It had no facial features, but Theo took a sharp inhale as he remembered seeing this thing not too long before the banshee appeared. Within seconds, like before, the creature withered away into a foggy mist, then it was gone, leaving nothing behind.

Some quiet part of Theo’s brain questioned whether this creature may be a sign of something to come, just as it had appeared before the banshee. But… maybe it was this thing’s presence that caused something happen to Sabine’s water. Or maybe it was simply wandering by, taking interest in the three. It surely didn’t seem malevolent. Not yet at least.

Either way, he focused back on his teammates. “Who was saying that about not staying one place too long?” He asked quietly, casting a quick glance at the sky.

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As Theo's gaze remained fixed on something that appeared to be in the distance, Sabine followed his line of sight. However, to her concern, there was nothing there, just the silent, imposing trees and the mysterious forest, shrouded in a ghostly haze. It sent a shiver down her spine, almost like the forest itself was watching them. An eerie feeling washed over her, raising goosebumps on her arms. Slightly put off by Theo’s empty stare, she tried to brush off the unease by reminding herself that he was probably still shaken by the banshee encounter.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Theo spoke up quietly about leaving the area. “Um yeah-“ She nodded towards Trent, naturally assuming he’d continue taking the lead. “Shall we move on?” She scratched the back of her head, wanting to get out of the creepy grove anyways. The longer she lingered, the more her instincts urged her to run, yet she stayed in the horrible forest—after all, the chance for a wish was too valuable to abandon.

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Unaware of whatever it was Theo was staring blankly at, Trent was busy glancing over his own shoulder. There was that sensation again. That creepy feeling that something was staring at them. It was the same as before they'd entered the gates, and when they'd first entered the glade. It was the heavy feeling that eyes were boring into the little group, and he was fed up with it. Gripping the strap of his backpack tightly, Trent looked back at his teammates as they spoke of getting out of the area.
"You don't have to tell me twice," he muttered and began walking, heading in a direction that was generally left of the sun that was sitting much lower in the sky then he felt it should be. Not to mention said sun was being partially blocked by a strange dark cloud.
The dimmed lighting doing nothing to help his nerves in this damn cursed wood, he resisted the urge to light a cigarette, and kept pushing forward, his pace brisk.
The faster they moved, the faster they got their wishes and could get the hell out of dodge.

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Theo quickly hurried to catch up behind Trent, and was so close behind him, he kept having to avoid kicking Trent’s feet. He wasn’t sure why, but they needed to move. And fast. The cloud in the sky seemed to grow, stretching along the sky like a streak of paint. The humidity rose, until the air was thick and it was almost hard to breathe. A low rumble echoed through the forest, similar to the sounds of thunder. Theo glanced back and looked up to the sky. He wasn’t watching forward and a few quick and even steps caused him to bump into Trent’s back. He jumped back, startled, and mumbled a quick sorry, before turning back to look at the cloud. He stopped walking entirely as he watched it. A strange silence settled around before another crash echoed and one single strip of light streaked down from the cloud. The lightning struck the earth, back near the grove where they had been standing earlier. The earth rumbled and crumbled away as some strange creature emerged from the earth.

It was a sickly red and grey color, its body looked like it was made of rubber but then dunked in slime. It had six fleshy legs that sat at unnatural angles. The legs were so thin it didn’t look like it could move at all. It had tiny little eyes that poked out from what could be assumed as its head. It was terribly out of proportion. The only thing Theo could relate it to was a slug. A terrible, giant, evil slug. It sure radiated a sense of evil. The type of thing that you immediately knew you needed to stay as far away as you could from it. The clouds in the sky expanded yet further, casting the whole scene in a dark blue light. It felt like it should be raining, but it wasn’t. For a moment it was like everything was hanging off the edge of a cliff, about to fall. Then the slug groaned a painfully slow, drawn-out noise. Then it inhaled. Or it did… something. Theo wasn’t exactly sure what, but even with their distance there could be felt a force like gravity pulling things towards the slug. The trees around the massive creature bent and creaked, moving toward the slug’s body. Their branches shook and reached for the sky like the trees themselves were trying to grab something to save themselves. They looked alive.

Suddenly the strange pressure stopped, and the trees froze in their broken state. It seemed it was over, but the slug wasn’t done warming up yet. The eyes looked around, locking on one of the nearest trees. The slug crawled over to it, then suddenly pounced. Its mouth stretched open, revealing rows upon rows of tiny razor sharp teeth. The tree vanished beneath the slug with a deafening crash.

Theo shuddered. The whole thing was an abomination. There was nothing even slightly logical about its existence, and that made him extremely uneasy. He stood frozen, simply staring, partially unable to comprehend what he was looking at. It was deeply disturbing. Something about it was wrong. He clenched a hand at his side, desperately wishing to be anywhere but here. Anywhere but in front of this terrible beast. But he couldn’t move. He would give anything to be back in front of that banshee, but this, this was too much. There was now way of explaining the deep void of dread, but it froze Theo in his place, staring at the beast.

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