The haunted forest

It's a new day in the nature area.
I'm lying next to my new friend Water, a younger blue haired girl.

When I open my eyes, I realize she isn't here anymore.
She must already have gotten up.

So I get up as well, take my stuff and look for her.

I notice her in the distance.
As she notices me, she slowly approaches.

Hey, good morning.
You know, about yesterday...
Don't worry about me. If you really manage to save my old settlement, you are free to do it as much as you want.

What is she talking about? Why would she say something like that.
Is she talking about me touching her there...?

Maybe it was too much for her?
I might have totally misinterpreted the situation.
I thought she was used to doing this with boys.
And she wanted me to sleep with her because of that.

So today you'll go to the haunted forest to save us, right?

Yeah, that's the plan. Will you show me?

Uhm...
I alreday asked somebody else.
I really wanted to show it to you myself, but now I don't really feel comfortable...

I'm so sorry. I must have traumatized her.

He will be better suited for that anyway.
A young girl like me probably shouldn't get close to that forest.

Okay. Where...

She already went away. I follow her to two guys standing around and talking.

Hey guys, stop talking! Telo wants to go now.

After some seconds one of the guys turns towards me while the other one leaves.

Hey, I'm Bog. I'll show you the way to the haunted forest today.

He is definitely the guy who had some dates with my girlfriend yesterday.
Why does it has to be exactly him?
Did Water want to tease me as a revenge for this night?

Hey, thanks. I really need to get there.

Let's go already! It's only a few hours of walking, but you'll probably stay there for a while, too.
It's dangerous after all.
Nobody who went in too deep got out again.

Yeah, I'll have a look first. I don't want to risk my life in there. I have to be sure I can make it.

That sounds reasonable.
But you won't back down, will you?

I can't. It's a mission I got from my master.
He must be sure, I can make it. So I will, whatever it takes.

I want to meet the princess after all.

Bog starts walking.

What are you waiting for?

I'm coming!

We start to walk.

After a while, some of the trees become weird.
Their branches are already moving like crazy.
They must really be living.
I already draw my sword, so I can defend myself in case they attack, just like these plants did yesterday.

Oh, I'm glad you brought that girl with you. Pira.
She's really fun. Thank you very much!

Oh, uhm...

Why does he have to remind me of that?
He probably didn't know she was my girlfriend, so I can't blame him.

Oh, we're there. See?

The forest is getting really dense, and now all of the trees seem to be living. They are more like animals than plants.
And in front of us there's a huge wall made of living trees.

It looks more like a huge living creature to me than a forest.

So that's it? That's the haunted forest?

Yeah. All the ghosts must be living there. They possess the trees and other plants.
So do you think you'll be able to enter it?

I walk along the tree wall at a safe distance.
And once in a while I see a gapp between the trees, which looks like an entry.

I hope so. I'll just go in and when something happens, I leave again.

As I'm getting closer, Bog stops to accompany me.
He wants to keep some distance.

I'm standing directly in front of the wall of trees.
I could enter this thing throgh one of the gapps, but instead I decide to attack it first. Maybe I just have to kill it from the outside.

So I slash the wall to cut it into pieces and try to create another hole.
And it seems to work. The cuts look more like wounds in humans or animals in general than cuts in plants.
But suddenly weird tendrils start to grow from these wounds and start to attack me.
I fight back, but it's just making it worse.
So I run away.

These tendrils follow me for a while.

Run!

As I approach Bog he realizes the danger, and starts running, too.

After a while, I'm far enough, and these tendrils stop growing.
We should be safe now.

As I look back, the tendrils look like they're dead.
That's good to know. If I attack it, it will defend itself.
But these things aren't that powerful, if they can die.
Maybe this weakened it?
But just attacking it like this might not be worth it.
It's probably too large.

Oh, what was that?

It tried to defend itself.

I guess, I should stay further away.

Yeah, good idea.

Will you try again?

Sure, I have to inspect it more closely.

It's really exciting. I never got to experience something like that in the city.
I feel like I'm in real danger. I never felt so alive before.

I'll go again. I'll try to go inside. Are you waiting or will you go back?

I'll stay for a while. But if you don't come back soon enough, I'll just leave.

Okay. Wish me luck!

I get closer to the creature again.
It doesn't attack me. But the wound almost healed again.
There's still a little scar, though.

I decide to enter it through one of the gapps.
If it's really a creature, it might be its mouth.
Or its butthole...

I get inside.
The ground there is still made of soil.
It's getting dark. Despite the bright day, it almost feels like night now.

There are many different paths.
It's some kind of labyrinth.
But as long as I don't attack, it doesn't fight back.

After walking through a few corridors, I get into a larger room.
It's much brighter there.
Light is coming in from a hole above.
It's almost like a clearing in a forest.

And inside, there are a bunch of colorful... things growing.
I'm not sure how to describe them.
They might be exotic plants or the intestines of an alien.

I cautiously enter the room, but suddenly some of these things start moving.
One starts to emit some smelly gas.
Another one starts to shoot some slimy liquid at me.
And at the ground more tendrils of a different kind than before are trying to grab me.

I get all dizzy from the gas.
And the slime burns on my skin.
I try to get away as quickly as possible, but the tendrils already grabbed my feet and I fall to the ground.

I immediately cut them off and get up again.
I start to run and keep slicing everything which comes close to me in half.
But it just makes it worse. More and more tendrils start to follow me, as I run back.

They are really dangerous. They even have sharp thorns on them.
So they scratch me.

I think about what I should do. I don't know if I'll be able to make it out if I just use the normal path.
So as soon as I'm back in a corridor, I try to find one of the outside walls there and pierce through it.

I just keep slicing the wall in order to create a hole.
The tendrils behind me are already getting very close.
The hole is not large enough yet, but I can already see the outside.
So I just try to run through the wall. There's no other chance.

It's pretty difficult to squeeze through that hole, and tear the damaged branches and tendrils apart, but it works.
I'm able to run the wall and leave the creature.
I'm completely slimy now. And it hurts. But I'm still okay.

But even more tendrils are already trying to attack me.
Some of them even scratch me.
So I run away immediately.

But as I'm running, a few tendrils are still able to scratch me.
As I look down at myself, I notice I'm bleeding a lot.
And I start to feel very weak.

Is it because of that smelly gas?
Or did these plants poison me?
Or did I lose that much blood already?

Luckily the tendrils are getting slower.
And soon I even see Bog in the distance.
As he notices me, he immediately comes for my help.

He immediately takes me piggyback and starts to run away.
I'm really glad. I couldn't go much further.
And I already feel tired and fall asleep.

As I wake up again, I'm back in the settlement.

Pira is taking care of me.

Why you?

Bog brought you to me. And as my friend, I don't want to let you die.

We're still friends?

I'm pretty good at this. I've been an explorer for some years already and so I also had to handle various injuries.

How long will it take to heal?

You should already be okay again. It's only a few scratches.
So if you want, you can get up already.
But I'd recommend you to rest today.

It must be late in the afternoon.

I get up. As soon as Water notices I'm awake, she runs towards me.

You've really been there?

Yeah.

Looks like you got hurt a lot. It must really be dangerous there.

Yeah, but I entered the haunted forest after all. I knew it would be dangerous.

You even entered it!?! You entered it and came out alive?!?

Yeah. It was really close. Without my sword, I wouldn't have been able to get out again in time.
And I don't know what would have happened to me if Bog hadn't saved me and brought me back.

Water hugs me.

Isn't she mad at me anymore?
I thought, she didn't want to get close to me anymore.

And do you still think you can make it?

I can't promise anything. But I'll try as long as necessary.

Water looks at me and smiles.

But I really need some rest now. I'm still exhausted.

Of course. Just get in my bed.

You don't mind?

You're trying to safe us. Of course you're still allowed to sleep at my place.
At least as long as you don't..., you know...

Yeah, I'm really sorry about that...
I really didn't know...

It's fine.

She really forgave me.
She might still feel bad about it, but she doesn't seem to blame me for it.

So I get into her bed and lie down.

It doesn't take long until she also lies down next to me.

So do you need anything? Should I take care of your wounds?

I think, it's best if you just let them heal.
Pira already took care of me.

She closes the door and gives me a hug.

Does she even still like me?
I thought, I messed up completely already.

But maybe she's just being nice because she really thinks I can save them.
Whatever the case, I'm glad she doesn't hate me.