In the blink of an eye, the forest that had once swarmed with those creatures was now nothing but destruction as far as the eye could see. At the sight, both Lirien and Selena were struck, and even a little terrified, since neither had any idea what was happening.
The forest seemed to be collapsing in on itself. The ground erupted in several places, clumps of earth heaving upward as if something beneath it were pushing with unstoppable force, followed by geysers of dust and debris that darkened the air.
Selena and Lirien certainly didn’t just stand there and watch, with the disaster spreading like wildfire, staying put meant risking being buried alive under tons of earth and splintered wood.
They rushed through the flying debris and falling trees, putting as much distance between themselves and the destruction as possible. They jumped from one relatively stable spot to another until they finally found a moment to stop and look back.
Only then did they truly see what was happening.
Their eyes went wide.
Before them stretched a scene as bizarre as it was terrifying. Thick roots were emerging from the forest floor, so thick that the earth itself had split open where they’d burst through, deep cracks radiating outward in every direction like open wounds in the ground.
But that wasn’t what left them breathless.
Those roots were all converging toward a single central point, twisting around each other as they rose, higher and higher, reaching a height of several hundred meters before beginning to spread outward laterally.
From there, dozens of branches split off, and from those, many more still, until leaves finally bloomed, covering what had, within only a few moments, become the canopy of a tree.
A monstrous tree, grown from nothing in less than a minute.
But it wasn’t a normal tree. Its leaves were black, covered in glowing dark-purple veins that seemed to absorb the light itself. The massive roots that formed it, from the base of its gray trunk all the way up to the crown, were covered in those same veins, resembling scars that pulsed with a strange energy, almost as if they were alive.
An energy that seemed to make the very souls of the two girls tremble.
They stood frozen, unable to look away, hearts pounding hard in their chests as they watched the thing keep growing before them.
"W-what in the world is that thing?" Lirien murmured, her voice barely above a whisper, as if she feared speaking any louder might draw its attention.
But it seemed this was only the beginning, because moments later more changes began to unfold. Strange murmurs began echoing through the area, murmurs that gave both girls a splitting headache, and at the same time, some strange, enormous mass seemed to be drawing closer and closer to this place.
They were up high, and with the earlier destruction, the tall trees that had once blocked the view no longer did, making clear what was happening in the distance.
All of it terrified the two girls even further, who by now were lost, caught between the headache and their own confusion.
Just as that strange sound in their heads seemed to be starting to do something to them, a golden glow shot out from some unseen point and struck them both, wrapping them in layers of golden light from head to toe. The moment it did, the murmurs vanished, and almost immediately, both of them felt revitalized.
Just as they were catching their breath, wondering what had just happened, a calm feminine voice rang out inside their heads.
"Unless you two wish to meet a tragic fate, I suggest you leave this place immediately."
The voice was calm, strangely pleasant even, but neither of them paid that any mind, the words themselves were enough to put both of them on high alert.
They had no idea who or what that had been, but the fact that this strange voice had just protected them was enough for both girls to decide to listen to it.
Without hesitation, both of them sprinted again, faster this time, but neither dared look back.
They didn’t know what was happening, but it didn’t take a genius to understand that whatever it was, it was extremely dangerous.
They could feel that if they stayed there any longer, they would almost certainly die.
With that thought in mind, there wasn’t much left to consider, if there was a chance to escape, then that was exactly what they were going to do.
They shot off at full speed, drawing on every bit of mana they had, desperate to put as much distance between themselves and that place as possible.
If this had happened earlier, Selena might have feared running into those creatures again, but it was obvious that even they seemed to fear that strange tree, so it was unlikely they’d show themselves now. And sure enough, they didn’t.
They kept running like that for several minutes, until they’d left the forest completely behind them and reached the outskirts of the city.
With one last burst of speed, they climbed to the top of one of the nearest skyscrapers, and there, finally, they stopped to catch their breath.
"T-that thing... what was that?" Lirien asked, her voice a little breathless from exhaustion.
Selena didn’t answer right away, her gaze fixed on the direction they’d fled from.
The skyscraper was tall, tall enough to see past the canopies of the tall trees in the nearby forest.
They could make out, in the distance, the silhouette of that strange tree, and not only that, it seemed like other things were beginning to appear too, things that, even from this distance, sent chills down both girls’ spines.
Lirien’s expression was complicated as she answered her friend,
"I don’t know, and I’d rather not find out," she said.
The memory of that murmur in her head was still fresh, it had sounded almost like the wail of a newborn, but strangely, the more she felt that cry, the more she felt her own soul tremble, as if something malignant were slowly gathering inside her.
At that moment, she had truly feared that she would die, but that sudden voice had seemed to push back against whatever invisible influence had been affecting them both, breaking its hold.
She wasn’t curious to know what exactly had nearly struck them. She was far more curious to know who had saved them.