Chapter 2

The team followed Darren as he ran lightly through the forest, he smoothly and effortlessly ducked and weaved, flowing past low hanging tree branches and roots with an almost preternatural ability.

They followed him for at least an hour, in that time the forest began to change, getting thicker with more foliage, thicker undergrowth, and a greater variety of different flora. At first it started with patches of grass and moss here and there, but then more and more different types of plants began appearing as they ran deeper into the Dire Woods. Some of the growth looked like normal plants one might find in the normal world, but other forms of growth most certainly did not. For instance, Jack made sure to keep a wary eye on a red bush that somehow looked like its leaves were made from flesh, it also seemed to be moving under its own power and let out dissonant burping noises.

They passed various forms of luminescent fungi adding a blue glow to the dim twilight, floating plant-like growth, things that looked like they would be found on an alien world or in a sci-fi movie and even more besides. More than a few plants appeared to be moving under their power more than Jack was comfortable with.

The further into the Woods they travelled, the louder and more apparent the ambient noises of the forest became. Countless animal and monster cries filled the air in the distance, the screechings of birds and buzzing of insects were all around, some sounds were familiar, some were completely alien. It was as if a dead zone surrounded the Dire Woods entrance and the further they got from it, the more the Woods seemed to come alive.

Just ahead of him, Darren slowed down and held out his hand to stop. As the group came to a halt, breathing lightly, Darren turned to them.

“Hey guys, we’ll stop here for a breather, I just need to scout ahead to make sure the way is clear,” he told them. He turned to go but Nate called him back.

“Hey! We don’t need a breather, we’re fine to go on,” he protested.

“Hm? Oh I know you are, but I still need to scout ahead. We’re about to pass through some dangerous territory, I need to make sure the big guy is nowhere near so we can pass through safely,” Darren grinned as he spoke.

“The big guy?” Meredith said quizzically, cocking her head.

“Yup, the bug guy. I’ll be back soon. Oh, just a bit of advice while you’re out here; touch nothing. Especially the stuff that moves or glows. ‘K, see ya in a bit.” With that Darren disappeared through the underbrush. He blended seamlessly into the thicket and they lost all sight and sound of him a moment later.

“What did he mean by the big guy?” Katie asked wonderingly.

“Hmm, we’re probably near the territory of some powerful monster, one that hasn’t been taken down yet,” Noah mused.

“Powerful monster you say?” Nate perked up with interest.

The group continued to discuss various things while they waited for Darren to return. While they waited, Jack took off his helmet and wiped his face of sweat, enjoying the cool air across his sweaty brow. Suddenly however, he felt something stunningly painful across the left side of his face, like he’d been punched, slapped, burned, stabbed, bitten and electrocuted as the same time

“Argh! Fuck!” he exclaimed as he instinctively stumbled away from the source of the pain, dropping to one knee, grasping his face.

“Huh? What is it Jack?” Meredith asked in concern. Everyone else tensed and got their weapons ready, looking around warily for an attack.

“Urgh…I don’t know, something just…..I don’t know…..my face.” He rubbed the left side of his face, it was tingling now but was slowly starting to go numb.

“Oh, I can see it, it looks all red. What did that?” Meredith peered at his face with a frown of concern as she knelt down in front of him.

“Everything okay guys?” Darren had returned through the brush, he looked at the group questioningly until he saw Jack. His face lit up with alarm.

“Oh crap! Everyone duck! Get low!” he urged them as he squatted and hobbled over to the bush he’d just emerged from. After a brief moment of confusion everyone followed his lead, even Jack who was beginning to feel rather groggy.

“What is it Darren? What's happening?” Meredith asked him worriedly.

“Sorry guys, this is my fault. I should've checked this area before leaving you here,” he told them sheepishly, seeming genuinely embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head.

“Er..it’s okay, but what happened,” Meredith asked again, now confused. She thought they were under attack and about to enter another fight, but instead they were all squatting down in the bushes confronting an embarrassed Darren.

“Erm, they’re a little difficult to see unless the light is just right, but take a look at the space beneath the tree branches above, look at around head height, there’s more of them coming down now.” Darren pointed to where they’d just been standing a few moments ago.

Everyone looked, at first they didn’t notice anything but then they began to catch sight of faint string like tendrils hanging from the tree branches above, they were extremely thin, similar to how single gossamer strands of a spider web look, almost invisible unless you know they’re there. Darren was right, you could only really see them if the light caught them just right.

“What are they?” Nate and Katie asked at the same time.

“We call them Jelly spider legs, because just like a jellyfish, they deliver a potent toxin that can incapacitate their prey,” Darren explained grimly. “Yep, there's a bunch of stuff like that out here, gotta watch out.”

“Whoa, what sort of toxin is it? Is it lethal? Do the Jelly spider legs directly consume their prey? Or are they symbiotes of something else? Do they -” Meredith questioned him excitedly, rattling off one question after another only to be interrupted by Darren.

“Whoa whoa whoa, easy. To answer all your questions; I have no idea,” Darren told her, holding up his hands placatingly.

“How can you not know? Haven’t you studied these things? Taken samples? Performed experiments?” Meredith frowned.

To that Darren chuckled. “Experiments? Studies? Miss, sometimes it's all we can do to survive in this place while still barely reaching our quotas, we don’t have time to be doing experiments in some fancy lab. Hehehehe,” he chuckled again.

“Ids thur ah enthedock? Ahm I goa dah?” Jack mumbled sleepily. The left side of his face was now completely numb. Half of his mouth including his tongue no longer cooperated with his brain, he felt drowsier and drowsier.

“Huh? What did he say?” Darren asked. Nate answered him.

“Er, I think he said ‘is there an antidote? Am I gonna die?’. Something like that right?” Nate turned to Jack for confirmation.

“Ankoo,” Jack nodded in thanks, rubbing his face.

“Now he said, ‘Gosh Nate, you’re so great, we’d be doomed without you, seriously, this entire endeavour would be fruitless if you weren’t here. I’m going to name my first born after you, even if it's a girl.’ Wow, thanks man, I appreciate that. I don't know about naming a girl Nathan, but I can understand the sentiment.” Nate grinned and slicked back his hair, looking like he was preening.

“Ah dnt see anoh o thath!” Jack indignantly protested, some drool escaped from his mouth.

“Now he said-” Nate began but Jack tiredly swatted him.

“Enough,” Noah interjected before the two could begin squabbling. He turned to Darren. “Is there an antidote? It's not lethal is it?” he asked.

“No don’t worry it's not lethal, well..in large doses it is actually lethal, but it looks like your friend there only got brushed with one arm. He should be fine after a few hours, I got brushed with that stuff a couple of times myself, it hurts like getting kicked by a horse, but after that everything goes numb and you feel sleepy. A little trick I learned though is to cycle some of your elemental energy through your body, that seems to make whatever poison is in you burn out faster,” Darren explained, turning to Jack. “But um, probably don’t do that with every poison in this place, for some poisons and venoms it works but for others, channelling your elemental energy actually makes it way worse. So generally it's best to use an antidote pack, especially if you're unsure about the sort of poison you’ve been stuck with. But like I said, I've been hit with this stuff and I know that channelling your energy is a good way to get rid of it,” he added.

“Hu, ankku,” Jack thanked him and then reached into his lightning core. He took out a few strands of lightning and began cycling it through his body, as if he were augmenting his body or weapon in preparation for a fight. Glowing blue arcs of lightning began travelling up and down his limbs and torso.

At that, Darren’s eyes went wide again. “What the? Is that lightning? Is he a lightning cultivator?” he asked the group in surprise. They all nodded smugly. “Oh wow, I’d heard about a guy who could cultivate the lightning element from some of the new guys. But I thought they were just messing with me! Ha!” He looked back at Jack in delighted surprise, Jack meanwhile just gave him a small mirthless smile and grunted as he continued to run lightning through his body, purging the toxin, he slowly started to regain feeling in his face as the numbness was replaced by pins and needles.

“You thought they were messing with you? People have known about Jack for months now, it was all over the news. Even right up until we entered the Dire Woods there were journalists following us,” Katie told him.

“Hey we don’t get a lot of contact with the outside world, and I’ve been here almost a year,” Darren protested.

“A year? Wow, that seems like a long time for a place like this,” Meredith remarked. “Isn’t the standard rotation only four months?” she asked.

“It is, but I helped build the outpost from the ground up ya know. I was here from the beginning, and besides, I….never mind. Right, you starting to feel better there buddy? Jack, right?” Darren asked.

Jack could now feel his face, it did not feel good. It was the most severe case of pins and needles he’d ever felt, he grimaced, rubbing and massaging his face to clear the feeling.

“Urgh, yeah, I feel fan-fucking-tastic,” he answered grumpily. “Can we go now?”

“Er, right. I checked ahead and I think the way’s clear. So everyone follow me and stay close, try not to make too much noise.” Darren stood up and moved through the bushes, everyone followed close behind.

They trailed behind Darren for a few minutes, picking their way through the thick forest undergrowth until they came to an area filled with flattened ground and broken branches. Many of the large tree trunks had enormous claw markings and scapes covering them and the usual ambient sounds of various animals, insects, birds and monsters were conspicuously absent.

Darren hunched and looked far more furtive than he had before, he briefly turned back to them and put a finger to his lips, signalling for them to be quiet. They continued to move through the area, Darren led them at a swift pace across an open part of the forest floor strewn with broken tree branches and shattered stone.

They crossed that area quickly and made their way back into a part of the Woods with thicker undergrowth. Everyone stayed silent, not wanting to make too much noise. Eventually the ambient sounds of the forest returned, Darren kept moving forward but his demeanour became more relaxed, his shoulders were no longer hunched up and tense and he stopped looking around so furtively.

After a while the terrain he led them through changed from flat ground and thick undergrowth surrounded by giant trees to a slight rocky incline. They ascended upwards, large craggy boulders dotted the slope alongside the usual colossal trees which they wound their way around.

Shortly after they began their hike upwards, they came to a rough cliff face. The cliff ascended vertically and just like the giant trees, no one could see the top where it disappeared from sight into the twilight above.

Much of the cliff face and surrounding boulders were overgrown with some sort of green vine-like growth, however Darren led them directly to a part of rock that was clear of growth. At first nothing seemed special about this location other than the lack of vegetation, but as they got closer and stood directly in front of it, they saw that there was a circular opening into the rock about three metres tall and wide.

Stolen novel; please report.

The entrance, for what else could it be, had the tell tale signs of having been moulded by an earth cultivator, they had cleverly constructed it to seem invisible unless viewed from a very specific angle and distance. However the stealth effect seemed somewhat ruined by the fact that there was a noticeable dead zone and lack of vegetation immediately surrounding the entrance in comparison to the rest of the area. In place of any vegetation were blackened scorch marks covering the rock. Nate made sure to point that out to Darren.

“Yeah, we noticed that too,” Darren told him, rubbing the back of his head with a chagrined grin. “But those vines are poisonous and will wrap around you if you stand near them too long, so we use fire every now and then to burn them away, luckily we’ve got no shortage of flame chuckers here.” He smiled at them. “And anyway, we’ve found that monsters don’t really pay attention to what's there and what isn’t, if they can’t see or smell the entrance then as far as they're concerned, it isn’t there. I helped make it, you know.” He gave them a proud smile.

“So this is the entrance to the outpost then?” Meredith asked with a frown. Darren nodded proudly, however neither Meredith nor anyone else seemed impressed.

“Uh huh, why is it so far from the Dire Woods entrance? Why didn’t you set up the outpost right next to the entryway point? I mean, your lines of supply are non-existent, we just had to run through miles of dense forest to even get here,” she said, still frowning.

“Oh, well er….I should…probably let the commander explain, erm…follow me.” No longer seeming quite so confident and a little deflated, he led them into the rock face.

They walked down a tunnel, after several metres they came to a turning that took them out of sight of the entrance, from there they began to see man made lights connected by black wires that ran along the rough stone walls.

Another twenty metres along took them to another turn, they then saw the end of the tunnel and more light shining from up ahead. As they emerged from the tunnel, they got their first look at the Dire Woods ‘outpost’.

It was a massive cavern, lit up by large flood lights attached to the cavern walls and ceiling high above the ground floor. Here and there were luminescent plants and fireflies flitting around, adding to the light. Down on the cavern floor, just below the tunnel entrance were clusters of tents and earthen shelters created by earth cultivators. Dozens of people were walking or standing around, going about their business, some wore the armour of monster hunters, others wore a mix of different clothing from plain clothes to white lab coats.

Darren walked down a short set of steps carved into the gentle slope down to the cavern floor and beckoned the group to follow him. He led them across the cavern, they passed numerous people who all took note of their presence before going back to work. The various hunters and other outpost personnel didn’t seem particularly happy, they had a grim determination set into their features, a very different atmosphere in comparison to the usual jovial one at the North Yorkshire guild branch headquarters.

They passed by a large open wall marquee tent that looked like it served as the outpost canteen, judging by the numerous chairs and tables set up there. Jack hung back and took a closer look, at the back, built into the cavern wall there seemed to be a busy kitchen, with people entering and exiting it carrying platters of food. He took a whiff and detected multiple delectable smells emanating from within, some he recognised as coming from various different monsters and other ingredients. A cursory glance around the canteen allowed him to see several groups of people sitting down and eating happily. Whatever the people of the outpost were unhappy about, it certainly wasn’t the food.

He turned away from the canteen and hurried to catch up with the team. They had just reached the entryway into a large white tent at the centre of the cavern. Two hunters by the look of their heavy monster bone and metal plate armour stood guard on either side of the entryway.

“Hey guys, I’m back. Look who I found,” Darren greeted them with a grin. The two male hunters simply stared at him for a moment before one of them pushed back the tent flap, allowing them entry.

“He already knows you're here Darren,” one of them remarked.

“And he’s pissed,” the other said.

“Aww, still? Damn, thought he would’ve calmed down if I’d given him enough time. I knew I should’ve taken us on that detour. Oh well, let's go confront the old coot.” With that Darren ducked down slightly and marched into the tent. The team followed after sharing some uncertain glances with each other.

It was a large tent, with multiple compartments all of which had different people performing various duties within. Some people were hunched over maps, others operated different pieces of machinery and instruments like radios and computers, others sat at tables and looked to be sorting and cataloguing different materials.

Darren led them all the way to the back where the largest compartment was located. The compartment held a large map table where a grizzled looking middle aged man stood, leaning over it with two clenched fists resting on the map. He studied the map with a furrowed brow, gazing at it intensely, not looking up at them or even acknowledging their presence at all.

He wasn’t a particularly large man, he looked to be barely six feet in height with a slim build. He had short black salt and pepper hair with a matching beard and pale white skin, though just beneath his beard across his neck were some severe and extensive burn scars. He wore a faded dark green shirt that had its sleeves rolled up, numerous burn scars also marred the skin of his forearms.

The group stood in front of the man for a few moments without being acknowledged. Darren hesitantly cleared his throat. Jack frowned at him from the back of the group, wondering who starts a confrontation like that.

“You disobeyed me,” the man quietly growled out, still not looking up from the map. He picked up a pencil and jotted down something on a clipboard next to him.

“Erm yeah, but -” Darren started but the man didn’t let him finish.

“But? But what? You thought you knew better? You thought going out there alone would be a good idea?” the man quietly growled as he looked up at them and turned his intense angry glare upon Darren.

“Hey, I got them here didn’t I? I thought that we -” The man suddenly slammed one of his fists onto the table. The table, which was a solid block of stone, cracked. Everyone jumped.

The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. He opened his eyes and began speaking again, though his voice sounded strained, as if he was literally trying to reign in his anger.

“Darren,” he began before needing to take another deep breath. “I need you to stop thinking and to start doing what I say. Time and time again you’ve disobeyed a direct order, it's a miracle you’ve not been killed yet. I’m not sure whether I should be terrified or grateful that you always do this stupid shit by yourself, so that way if you do get yourself killed at least you won’t drag anyone else down with you.” The man stared at Darren for a moment.

Darren glared back sullenly. He opened his mouth to speak but barely got a syllable out before Noah slapped him on the back of the head to make him shut up.

The man nodded briefly to Noah before continuing his reprimand.

“What did I say earlier today Darren? Hmm?” he asked but didn’t allow Darren to respond. “I said no. I told you we had a contingency plan in place if something happened to Norman, we had a hunter team and surveyor ready to go in order to retrieve the new arrivals. But you told them to stand down, using my authority, which you do not have, and went out by yourself, which we never do. You not only risked your own life but you also risked theirs as well!” he growled, pointing to Meredith and her team.

Darren tried to hold his defiant glare but after a while his shoulders slumped and he stared down at the ground.

“Look me in the eyes boy!”

Darren gulped and looked up quickly.

“Now, normally I’d have you transferred out of the Woods and back into North Yorkshire, finding you somewhere nice and safe and quiet,” he began and Darren’s eyes widened in panic. “But we need all hands on deck and we can’t afford to lose any personnel. So, your punishment will be a time honoured tradition, you’ll work at the kitchens, cleaning pots and pans, peeling potatoes, washing up. Essentially anything no one else wants to do, you’ll be the one doing it, I’ve already informed Mara,” he told Darren with a small smirk. “You also won’t be allowed on any hunts or missions for a month,” he said firmly.

“What!? But what about the operation? I’ll miss it!” Darren exclaimed in a panic.

“No you won’t, you’re still a part of that, but other than that for all intents and purposes for the next month, you work in the kitchens. Now go get cleaned up, you’ve got an hour before Mara will be expecting you. Go,” he ordered, not caring at all about the aghast expression on Darren’s face.

Darren slumped out of the tent with an air of dejection about him, he glanced at Meredith and the others mournfully before leaving the tent compartment.

Just before he left he muttered sullenly, “We don’t even have any potatoes left anyway.”

When Darren was gone, the group of hunters stood around awkwardly and the man who’d just told him off looked at them expectantly, again not saying anything. However, after a moment Meredith seemed to pull herself together.

“Erm, hello sir. We’re the new team transferring from North Yorkshire branch headquarters.” She dug around in a small pouch on her belt before withdrawing some folded up pieces of paper. She handed them over to the man who took them wordlessly.

He looked through them briefly before looking up. “Team Meredith? Composed of Meredith Shriverston, rank B. Noah Blaces, rank C. Nathan Roshton, rank D. Katie Aziz, rank D and Jack Errant, rank D. Can I see your licences please?” he asked.

Everyone dug around in their belts for a moment before retrieving them and showing them one by one to him. After a minute he was satisfied and looked up from studying Jacks, which he looked at with particular scrutiny.

“Very good, I’m the outpost commander here, the name’s James Harren but you will address me as commander or sir, am I clear? Welcome to the Dire Woods outpost,” he said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh, thank you. It's very er…impressive,” Meredith attempted to respond politely, however everyone could tell she didn’t mean it.

“Haha!” the man barked out a harsh laugh. “Yeah! It's a shit hole isn’t it? We’re literally hiding in a cave. All that fancy gear we came in with and we were only able to save a few tents and supply crates! Haha,” again he laughed but it had no mirth within.

“Hahahaha!” Nate joined him in laughing. Noah and Katie looked at him in annoyance. “What? It is a shithole, he said it not me,” Nate said defensively.

“Can I ask? What happened, exactly?” Meredith spoke up. “I would’ve thought it would be better to have the outpost far nearer the Dire Woods entrance rather than ten miles across a dense forest, and I think Darren led us through the territory of some giant beast. And you said saved, you were forced to save your gear? What happened here?” she asked again.

James sighed. “Believe it or not we did actually manage to get a rudimentary outpost and encampment set up right at the Dire Woods entry way, we called it site alpha. Everything was going well for a time, but then the camp came under attack, again and again and again. Each attack more vicious than the last. You probably saw them on your way here actually, large insectoid monsters that throw themselves at you no matter how many you kill? Yeah, we call them Vellast, they forced us to retreat here, to relative safety,” he informed them bitterly. “The larger the group of prey then the greater the number of Vellast that come after you,” he added.

“Wait a second, so is this the outpost or not?” Jack asked. “We’re miles away from the Dire Woods entrance, how are we supposed to transport anything we find here to the outside world? Or transport anything in for that matter,” he pointed out.

“All good questions, Errant. But I assure you this is just a temporary setback, we’ve plans to retake the original site,” he told them confidently.

“Plans? You mean the operation Darren mentioned?” Noah asked.

“Yes, very astute. The operation is something we cooked up that will help us take care of the Vellast infestation and render the location safe enough to build up a proper fortifications and infrastructure, as well as having direct access to the outside world again,” he informed them, still sounding very sure of himself.

To Jack and the rest of the team however, the entire situation seemed like a bit of a fiasco, maybe it was unavoidable and no one's fault but even still. They and the whole world had been informed that there was a proper outpost set up here and it was fully operational. Many different corporations, governments and organisations were looking on with interest, wanting a piece of whatever lay in the Woods and they were relying on the guild to go and get it for them. Somehow Jack doubted anyone except the hunters guild knew what was going on here.

“Um, I….” Katie hesitantly raised her hand. James sighed before pointing to her.

“You have a question Aziz?”

“Erm, why did you retreat further into the Woods rather than leaving entirely? It just seems erm….” she trailed off nervously at the look in the commander’s eye.

“I had a decision to make, we’d been trying unsuccessfully to establish a base in the Woods for months. Another failure would’ve seen our investors back out and put the entire endeavour at risk,” he replied tersely, defensively.

Everyone shifted uncomfortably, but kept quiet. Jack found it a little hypocritical that the man had been reprimanding Darren not five minutes ago for putting himself and them in danger, but he himself had decided to lead the entirety of the outpost personnel deeper into a death zone in the face of an overwhelming monster attack. He kept that thought to himself though.

After a tense few moments the outpost commander decided to break the silence.

“Right then, you’re here now and that's the main thing, but don’t tell Darren I said that. Which one of you is the lightning cultivator again? Errant right?” He looked at their group until he spotted Jack raise his hand slightly.

“That's me,” Jack said.

“Good, before we abandoned the last location I had all sorts of requests come in from all sorts of organisations regarding you and your ability to attune and keep whole monster corpses intact. That's good because once we reclaim the original outpost location you’ll be able to give the rest of the hunting teams some breathing room,” he stated.

“Erm…okay, I think I get what you want us to do; obtain intact monster corpses for sale. But how is that going to give others breathing room? What does that mean?” Jack asked with a frown.

“It’ll give everyone breathing room because the money that will bring in should go a long long way to fulfilling our monthly quotas in terms of money and monster harvesting. And while you’re doing that, the rest of the base can focus on building up the outpost,” James told him.

“Oh, okay then, I suppose.” Jack shrugged, looking to the others in the team who simply shrugged back.

“Right, well then, it was good meeting you all. If you take a left from here outside the command tent, you’ll see a stone building, that's the barracks. Go there and ask for someone called Sarah, she’s in charge of accommodation and she’ll sort you out.” He nodded to them and everyone took that as permission to leave. But before they could head out he had one more thing to add. “Also, Errant? Just to warn you, some people here may react….strangely, to your little ability,” he said enigmatically. At Jack’s quizzical look he simply said, “I’ll let Sarah or Darren explain it to you,” he told him before turning back down to the map table.

Now they knew they were definitely dismissed, the team hastily retreated from the command tent. As they stood outside its entrance, they looked over to the left and saw the stone building the commander had told them about. Meredith led the way over to it.