The jungle was not just a collection of trees; it was a hostile entity that actively hated them.
The air was thick enough to chew, a suffocating soup of humidity and decaying vegetation that clung to their skin like a second layer of sweat.
Every surface was wet.
Every leaf had thorns.
Every sound was a potential predator.
Kael trudged through the undergrowth, his boots squelching with a wet, sucking sound that grated on his nerves.
Squelch. Squelch. Squelch.
He was fairly certain he had developed trench foot in the last twenty minutes. He was also fairly certain that if he stopped walking, he would simply decompose on the spot and become fertilizer.
Ahead of him, Seraphina was fighting a losing battle against the flora. The Flag was a magnet for every vine, branch, and briar in the forest.
It snagged on everything.
She stumbled as a root caught her injured leg, but she caught herself on a tree trunk, hissing in pain. She didn't complain. She just yanked the Flag free and kept moving.
"You know," Rylen's voice piped up from behind Kael, shattering the momentary silence. "This mud is actually great for the pores. Very exfoliating. In some spas, people pay good money for this."
Kael didn't turn around. "Rylen, if you say one more positive thing, I'm going to trip you."
"I'm just saying!" Rylen hopped over a fallen log, his energy seemingly restored by sheer delusion. He wiped a streak of green slime from his cheek. "We have to look on the bright side. We're alive! We're escaping! It's an adventure. Do I look rugged? I feel like I look rugged. Like a survivor in a romance novel."
"You look like a swamp goblin," Kael deadpanned.
"A handsome swamp goblin," Rylen corrected, swinging a dagger at a oversized fern. "Take that, nature! No one stops the three swamp goblins!"
Kael sighed.
He missed the silence of the waterfall.
They had been walking for an hour, aimlessly heading away from the river in search of higher ground.
They were navigating by Seraphina's "instincts," which Kael suspected was just her choosing the path that looked the least likely to kill them instantly.
"Hold up," Seraphina whispered, raising a hand.
She leaned against a massive tree, her chest heaving. Her face was pale beneath the grime. "We need... five minutes. My leg needs to stop bleeding."
"Finally," Kael muttered.
He spotted a large, moss-covered root formation that curled up from the ground like a giant wooden armchair. "I claim the seat."
He shuffled over to the root and collapsed onto it.
It was surprisingly comfortable.
Soft, spongy moss cushioned his aching back. He closed his eyes, savoring the momentary cessation of movement.
Rylen flopped down on the ground next to him, prodding a weirdly pulsating mushroom with the tip of his sword. "Hey, Kael. Do you think this is edible? It's glowing blue. Blue usually means mana, right?"
"Blue means death. Don't eat the glowing fungus."
"Yeah you're probably right."
Seraphina sat opposite them, untying the bandage on her leg with grim determination. The wound was ugly—a deep gash from the wolves. She winced as she tightened the fabric.
"We can't stay long," she murmured, checking the sky through the canopy.
"Just five more minutes," Kael bargained, leaning his head back against the mossy wood. "Just let me..."
He frowned.
The mossy wood felt... warm.
And it was vibrating.
Kael opened one eye.
The root he was sitting on wasn't wood. It had a texture that was slightly too rubbery. And the "moss" felt less like plants and more like... fur.
"Um," Kael said.
"What?" Rylen asked, still poking the mushroom.
Suddenly, the "armchair" constricted.
The roots on either side of Kael curled inward with terrifying speed. It wasn't a root system. It was a hand. A massive, wooden, moss-covered hand.
"Move!" Kael shouted, rolling forward off the seat just as the fingers slammed shut where his head had been a second ago.
The ground erupted. The "tree" they were resting under wasn't a tree.
It was a freaking monster.
And it had just woken up because three snacks had sat on its face.
"ROAAAAAR!"
The sound wasn't a roar; it was the creaking of a thousand splitting branches amplified to a deafening volume.
Rylen yelled, scrambling backward as a root the size of a python lashed out at him. "Why does it sound so angry?!"
"Because you poked its mushrooms!" Kael scrambled to his feet, dodging a swinging branch.
"Run!" Seraphina ordered, abandoning her bandage and drawing her blade.
They bolted.
The jungle, which had been passive before, now seemed to conspire against them. Roots tripped them. Vines slapped their faces. Behind them, the Treant was lumbering after them, tearing up the earth with every step.
"Left!" Seraphina shouted, veering toward a dense patch of bamboo.
They crashed through the stalks, splinters flying.
Kael's lungs burned.
He hated running.
He hated cardio.
He specifically hated running from sentient lumber.
They broke into a small clearing—and stopped dead.
Blocking their path was a ravine.
It was only about ten meters wide, but deep enough to break legs. A single, rotten log spanned the gap.
"Cross it!" Seraphina yelled, shoving Rylen toward the log.
Rylen didn't hesitate. He sprinted across the rotting wood with the balance of a cat. "Easy! Come on!"
Seraphina went next. Her injured leg dragged, but she gritted her teeth and hobbled across. The flag on her arm fluttered, nearly snagging on a knot in the wood, but she yanked it free and rolled onto the other side.
Kael looked at the log. Then he looked behind him. The Treant was smashing through the bamboo, its wooden maw gaping wide.
'I really, really hate this exam.'
Kael stepped onto the log.
It creaked ominously.
'Common, common. Don't you dare break.'
He was halfway across when the Treant reached the edge. The monster didn't stop. It slammed its massive fists into the ground, causing a shockwave.
Crack.
The log snapped under Kael's feet.
"Kael!" Rylen yelled.
Kael started to slowly fall, but his instincts kicked in and he reached out, grabbing a trailing vine that hung from the opposite cliff face.
His momentum slammed him into the rock wall with a bone-jarring thud.
"Oof."
He dangled there, suspended over the darkness. Above him, Rylen and Seraphina were peering over the edge.
"Grab my hand!" Rylen lay on his stomach, reaching down.
Kael looked at the vine. It was tearing. He looked at Rylen's hand. It was just out of reach.
"Pull me up," Kael grunted, swinging his body.
Rylen grabbed Kael's wrist. With a grunt of effort, the young knight hauled Kael up and over the ledge.
Kael flopped onto the muddy ground, gasping for air.
"That was close!" Rylen laughed, slapping Kael on the back. "My heart is pounding! Do you feel alive, Kael? I feel alive!"
"I feel like dirt," Kael muttered, face-down in the mud.
"Move," Seraphina hissed. "It can't cross, but it can throw things."
As if on cue, a massive boulder sailed over their heads, crashing into the trees behind them.
'Fucking bastard.'
They scrambled up and ran again, deeper into the shadows.
◆ ◆ ◆
Twenty minutes later the rain started.
It wasn't a drizzle.
It was a torrential downpour that turned the jungle floor into a slushy nightmare.
The temperature dropped instantly.
They were walking slower now.
The adrenaline from the Treant had faded, leaving only exhaustion.
Seraphina was stumbling more often. Kael noticed she was shivering. The blood loss was getting to her.
"We need shelter," Kael said, wiping rain from his eyes. "You're going to pass out."
"I'm... fine," Seraphina slurred slightly. "Keep moving."
"You're walking in circles," Kael pointed out.
"I'm taking the tactical route."
"You're walking toward a cliff."
Seraphina stopped. She blinked, looking at the steep drop-off ahead of them. "Oh."
"Let's rest here," Rylen suggested, his voice unusually subdued. The rain had finally dampened his spirit. "Under that overhang."
He pointed to a rocky outcrop that offered some protection from the deluge.
They huddled under the rock. It was cramped, cold, and smelled of wet dog, but it was dry.
Seraphina slid down the rock wall, clutching the Flag against her chest like a blanket. Her eyes were glassy.
"Rylen," Kael whispered. "Check her temperature."
Rylen touched Seraphina's forehead. He pulled his hand back, frowning. "She's burning up. Maybe infection?"
Kael looked at her leg. The bandage was soaked through.
"Great," Kael muttered. "Just great. No healer. No medicine. And our leader is delirious."
"I'm not delirious," Seraphina mumbled, eyes closed. "I'm just... strategizing with my eyes closed."
"Sure," Kael said. "What's the strategy?"
"Win," she whispered. Then her head lolled to the side. She was out.
Kael and Rylen exchanged a look.
"What do we do?" Rylen asked. "We can't carry her and fight at the same time."
Kael looked out at the rain. The jungle was getting darker, more oppressive.
"We wait," Kael said. "We wait for the rain to stop. Then we move."
"And if something finds us?"
Kael looked at the sword at Rylen's hip. He looked at his own hands—blistered and shaking.
"Then we die tired," Kael said.
◆ ◆ ◆
One Hour Later.
The rain stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The silence that followed was heavy.
"Kael," Rylen hissed.
Kael jerked awake. He hadn't realized he'd dozed off. "What?"
"Look."
Rylen was pointing through the foliage, down the slope of the hill they were perched on.
Below them, in a small valley clearing about two hundred meters away, there was light. Not fireflies. Not glowing mushrooms.
Campfires.
Kael squinted. Through the mist, he saw tents. He saw banners.
"Rylen," Kael said softly. "I think our bad luck just leveled up."