We continued running for a long time, although we had to slow down within minutes as Eliandra and Haltir couldn't keep up the high pace. When Haltir couldn't move past a tottering jog, I called Laurel.

"We have to stop and rest! Or we can't even fight if we run into something!"

Laurel stopped, turning to look at the others. Her face showed she didn't want to stop, but after a moment, she nodded.

"Fine. We can rest for a few minutes."

Haltir and Eliandra crashed onto the ground, gulping in deep breaths. I moved to Eli and sat down, rubbing her shoulder. She didn't respond, her head bent between her knees, and I wondered if she was going to throw up. Turning to Laurel, I saw she was still standing, staring back from where we came.

"What happened?"

She shook. "The whole forest is crawling with Preyatar's hunters. I think I even saw some Primes! They have a massive camp and are torturing more of those wights."

Are they here for us? How would they even know? I thought before realizing something else.

"Wait, aren't Preyatar and Lischen allies?"

Haltir laughed, but it quickly turned into a cough.

Laurel shook her head, turning her attention back to the woods. "Wouldn't call anybody Lischen's ally… She and the other big ones don't fight, but their followers do. Nobody knows exactly why, but it's been like this forever. Kill each other all the time, except when they attack other deities' followers, cities, or towns. Then they band together as one and decimate anything in their path."

"That's… what... happened... to... Dursic…" Eliandra added, gasping for breath between each word.

So, they just make sure none of the other deities get a big following, but in between, they vie for dominance, I thought. That could work to our advantage.

"Did you speak with Rathica," I asked, suddenly remembering I hadn't been able to reach her.

Laurel shook her head, turning to me. "No! I tried but got no response. She wasn't talking with you?"

Rathica! Are you there? I shouted in my mind.

There was no reply, and trying a few more times, my worry increased. Looking at the map, I saw we had deviated far from our shortest route. It would cost us another half a day if we continued along this course.

Looking at Eliandra, I saw her breathing was better and got up.

"Let's continue, but slower this time," I reached out and pulled Eliandra to her feet. "You alright?"

"Course I am!" she said, grinning at me weakly. "Don't think just because you've got some stats on me that you can start babying me!"

I grinned, shaking my head. "Some stats?"

Eli just sniffed and we continued forward, slower than before, but still at a brisk jog.

"We need to look at that arrow soon," I said, looking at Laurel.

"No need. It'll be fine for now. Let's just continue until it's dark."

Seeing her set jaw, I nodded and began moving at the head of the group again. I heard Laurel and Eliandra whisper while Haltir had taken the back position.

--

We didn't come across any wildlife, dangerous or otherwise, and camped below another fallen tree. Again without fire, but this time nobody even brought it up.

I took the first watch and used it to look around for some useful wood. There was none, and I was reminded of my time with Agga and the search for wood.

After a bad half-night of rest and a light breakfast, we continued on.

Just past morning, we came across the first Wirg corpse. It was skinned and left below a tree, already stinking. An hour later, we found another two, and before noon I had stopped counting. We traveled in silence, the mood souring with each step.

The constant fear of running into a patrol of Preyatar hunters had us all on edge, and when it became dark, I was glad for it. I could barely wait for the next day, which would mark our departure from the dark, dank, and ominous forest.

Crawling in the sleeping bag with Eliandra, I sighed as I held her and closed my eyes.

--

Something shocked me awake. It wasn't a sound or something pushing, but some sort of mental poke. It was still dark, and Eliandra was breathing softly beside me. I tried to pinpoint what had happened when I felt it again, like something pulling on my mind. It was new, odd, and resembled the sensation I had felt when I was pulled back from my earth body.

I was about to get up when the pulling intensified, and my body tensed up. A sound like something hitting the ground came from a few meters away, and my heartbeat accelerated. I resisted the pull, pushing back as best I could, but it felt unnatural, as if I was using muscles I'd never needed before. Invisible hands wrapped around my mind, slowly compressing it. Feeling the edges of my mind fray as if I was about to fall asleep, I panicked and started mentally flailing around, pushing against the pulling sensation with all my force. As I did, I felt a small stream of energy that had been there all the time begin to slow down. I hadn't felt it before until just now, and then I felt the hands wrap around the stream, squeezing. As they did, I felt an energy in my mind weaken. The hands felt odd, vile, slimy, like worms wriggling in the mud, and a soft giggle came from all around the camp.

A gasp from Eliandra made my heart skip. Her body had gone rigid at some point, and I could hear her breathing had become labored.

I growled, pushing and shoving at the hands. Instinctively I knew that if they managed to stop the energy completely, I wouldn't be able to resist anymore. Gripping the small string of energy, I began wrapping my mind around it. I had no idea what I was doing, but as soon as I did, the hands seemed pushed away while my mind became a little clearer. The energy output increased, seeming familiar.

Crawling and shuffling came from all around, drawing closer quickly.

As my mind wrapped closer and tighter and more completely around the string, it thickened until it was a thick cable, and with a snap, my mind became clear enough that I recognized the energy. It was the same I felt when Rathica was close!

Rathica! I roared as loud as I could. As soon as I did, a burst of energy shot through the cable, thickening it so much that my mind couldn't cover it. The slippery hands in my mind drew away, and I felt them flee my mind. As they did, they left behind a sense of scale, of proportion.

Hold on! Rathica's scream tore through my head, removing the last shred of fog that had been left.

I felt control over my body return, and I began clawing my way out of the sleeping bag until my upper body was free and I could look around.

Through the small triangle at my feet, I saw dirty legs, grey flesh covered in yellowish spots, and ripped and frayed brown rags around the ankles.

My ax was beside me, the only thing I always brought in the tent, and I grabbed it and kicked my legs free. I felt Eliandra's body weigh down the sleeping bag, but I had no time to worry about her now. I jumped up, the ax above me, slicing the tent open before jumping forward. Dozens of night wights stood around me, their hands raised and dimly glowing with a sickly green light.

"He wakes!" A multifaceted voice rang from them together as I looked around. "Too late, little Priiiiime! The mistress is dealing with that upstart, so you are-"

I didn't bother listening but jumped forward and slashed my ax around to get some space. I'd anticipated the wights would dodge, but they just stood still as my ax sliced across bellies and chests. Those I hit just swayed, a small trickle of a green and white puss oozing from the wounds.

"Rude!"

The voice was so dissonant my hairs stood on end, but I noticed that the sound wasn't coming equally loud from all of them. There were four wights a bit further away, and their hands weren't glowing. The rest of the wights began swaying like leaves in the wind, their hands moving in unison.

I stepped forward, focused on my shins, and drew in vengeful spirits. The familiar wave of angry minds swirled around me, and two rushed inside the small bodies wrapped around my shin. Without waiting, I kicked forward twice, flinging them at the four wights.

"Gut them," I shouted as two small demon-like figures unwrapped themselves mid-air. With slender bodies, razor-sharp claws on their hands and feet, and a tail with a spear-like point on it, they looked like imps. One hit a hag on the chest and scrambled up and around, slicing at her with wild abandon. The other dropped between them and began slicing at legs. The wights screamed, kicking and grabbing for the small menaces.

Seeing the swaying wights slow down, I stepped forward and brought my ax down on the neck of the closest wight. I cut deep through, but the ax blade got stuck halfway. Before I could yank it free, the wight's hands shot up and grabbed the ax.

"The hell!" I hissed, my muscles bulging as I tried to rip the ax free from her hands. The night wight hung on, and I flailed her around twice before finally dislodging her.

The other wights were moving faster now, and a yellowish mist began floating in the air. There were small black dots inside, multiplying quickly. Feeling my throat begin to itch and burn, I held my breath and cast Entangle with two hands while jumping towards the nearest low bush. As soon as I touched it, it shot outwards, the branches winding and wrapping around the closest wights, squeezing.

Coughing behind me showed Eliandra and the others weren't spared the horrible spore attack.

The itch in my throat increased, and I coughed twice, inexplicably drawing in more of the black spores. I felt like something was squeezing my throat shut. My ax dropped from my grip as I felt my arms weaken, and I scrambled towards the nearest plant, a wide, thorn-covered bush. Casting more entangles, I began moving from plant to plant, my vision turning blurry.

Scrambling forward, I saw I was almost at a wight, and without thinking, I grabbed her ankle and cast Share Lifeforce. A massive jolt slammed through my arm as if I had grabbed a live wire and the wight went rigid; her arms stretched out. A similar hand shoved into my mind, but only one, and with little effort, I gripped it with my own mind and squeezed. The wight began shaking, dropping on the floor as drool and spittle erupted from her mouth.

"How dare you take from the mistress!" the voice screeched as I felt a stream of energy flow into me. It was cold and slimy, like the hands, but the itch in my throat lessened.

Looking up, I saw four wights point their hands at me, and mushrooms grew on their palms like overripe fruit. Realizing what would happen, I tried to jump away, but the mushrooms burst, and a stream of yellow ichor sprayed across me. I wasn't wearing my whole armor, just my leggings and a simple tunic, and where the ichor struck me, I felt it eat away at my skin, burning holes inside.

Pain shot through me, but with it came a calm. Hissing through the pain, I got up and ran to the next wight, grabbing her arm and casting Share Lifeforce. I squished another mental hand and felt another stream of energy course through me. The pain lessened, but then all the remaining hags turned my way. Seeing the mushrooms on their palms, my calm shattered.

ANY TIME NOW, RATHICA! I screamed.

An unintelligible roar of anger answered me. It was so loud, my mind shook from it, and the sound of a shattering stone and explosions came from far above in the sky, like a meteor ripping through the atmosphere.

A high-pitched, angry scream followed it, and an intense green light shot across the forest, like some missile, before slamming into the ground far away. A second scream came from there, and then a blue lightning bolt struck the ground beside me. Rathica materialized, bleeding golden ichor from dozens of wounds across her face and arms, her eyes blazing in fury as she looked at the wights.

"Begone," she roared, slashing her sword horizontally through the air. A wave of golden energy flashed forward, pushing away the cloud of yellow and black, and slamming into the wights. They were hurled back, slamming into each other and the trees, before rolling across the ground and staying motionless there.

Rathica turned to me, waving her hand towards the others. Their coughing stopped almost immediately.

A massive roar came from far away, followed by a burst of high-pitched laughter.

"I can't stay, those three are after me, and the others are too scared to help!" Rathica shouted, turning to me. I felt a rush of energy from her, more than I had ever felt before, and a series of pings came from my status window.

"This is all I can do now!" she said, turning in a bolt of lightning that shot away. As it rushed through the forest and up into the sky, it turned bright enough to cause the whole area below it to be bathed in a bluish light. A second later, a red bolt shot after it, then a green bolt.

Get to the hills, fast! If Ulderion doesn't help soon, we are going to be in trouble! No more resting; move full speed, even if you have to leave the others behind!

I felt an incredible drive to move, as Rathica's desire overpowered my own. It was the first time it had happened, and as it did, the slight fear it brought was snuffed out instantly.

Rathica's voice faded, and a second later, it was quiet in the forest. Looking around, I saw the wights struggling on the ground, mewling incoherently. I ran forward, snatching my ax from the ground.

A minute or two later, only decapitated bodies lay behind me as I rushed to the remains of mine and Eliandra's tent. She was struggling to get out, blinking while constantly rubbing her throat.

"What the hell just happened?" she whispered, her voice rough.

"No time to explain," I said. "Grab your stuff, but leave the tent. I'll get the others. We need to get moving, right now!"

Half a minute later, I was jogging through the woods, my eyes sharp and blazing, a bleary-eyed and confused trio behind me.