“Anybody has a map?” the Summoner thought aloud, his words ringing throughout the MC’s mind as he gazed throughout the area, incredulously and calculatively. “We could’ve at least attempted to think of an alternative rather than go.. in here…”

The Summoner audibly shuddered as he placed a grimace on the MC’s face.

The forest’s thicket of ivy and foliage ran deep, seeping into crevices within the ground, the eerie winds scattered and dispersed, swaying the leaves shadowed by the darkness. There was an ambient dread in the atmosphere--as if the entirety of the forest itself was restless… and terribly angry.

Roots ran deep within the ground, stemming off from the pitch black-shaded barks of trees, appearing as if they were bundles of serpents.

Leaves strewn within the air, adrift, fluttered down towards the ground in spirals, joining the heaps among heaps of decaying, ashen brown discarded leaves upon the pallid soil.

“No one has a map. We didn’t even take one, stupidly enough.” Vaati said, grumbling, swishing the opened palm of the MC as a smoke-like mist began to envelope them the further they went. “What the hell is up with this fog?!” he exclaimed, raising his fist high--just barely missing grazing the loosely-hanging vines of trees just inches away from the MC’s head.

The pathway of dirt, leaves, and vines became narrow. Choking, the mist seethed within the throat of the MC, causing a fixating cough from them.

“Bleh,” the Summoner blurted out, hanging a clenched fist just below to cover the MC’s mouth. “This mist is quite troubling indeed… but if we were to ignite a light right now, I bet they’ll catch us.”

Ral spoke up, warily darting the MC’s head left and right to scan whatever was left unobscured by the hazing fog--unfortunately, he could only make out silhouettes of trees and vines. “True. Our pursuers are no doubt so dead set on finding us--and promptly killing us--that they too have probably blindly delved into this place… just as we did.”

“For once, however, I agree with short round.” Malideus snided a chuckle. Vaati responded accordingly as he folded the MC’s arms in agitation. Malideus added, “It’d have been a wise move to take a map while we had the chance.”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have spent all our points on a dumb staff, Malideus.” Ral pointed out, causing Malideus’ sprite to flare up.

“It was a versatile weapon! I was looking out for the team! You’re the one who was bitching about your dumb book!” Malideus retorted, his sprite increasing in size and intensity as he argued with Ral Zarek.

“My book has proved far more useful than your damn stick! And even if you say its all powerful, since we aren’t this Volederemis-whoever we’re better off with an actual stick!” Ral snarled.

“Oh yeah? Well, at least it has power! You’re dumb book is pretty useless unless you plan on BORING SOMEONE TO DEATH!” Malideus bellowed, quite angry.

“Enough, Both of you! You sound like a couple of schoolgirls!” Audrey at last intervened, silencing the two before they came to psychic blows.

“... Pfft, you would know.” Malideus retorted, invoking the girl’s ire.

“Bitch,” Audrey spat out bitterly, stomping the MC’s foot towards the ground as she halted their pace, kicking off dirt, buried leaves, and a few pebbles as she clenched the MC’s fist shut, “If I could, I’d rip out your throat… with nothing more than my pinkie finger.”

“Your throat is our throat…” reasoned Summoner, shrugging a bit as he did. “You’d kill all of us in the process.”

Audrey growled a bit, letting out mumblings of curses and other hushed angry words. “Fine. I’ll piss off from these idiots for now… but don’t blame me if they end up drawing attention to us with their bitching.”

Vaati choked once more, staggering a bit as he placed a palm on the MC’s throat. Rubbing it a bit, he attempted to relieve the sting of the mist.

“Dammit! What’s up with this!?” Vaati yelled out as he looked around--nothing more than a black ink-like smoke for as far as he could see. “The fog got worse!”

“This feels familiar… Where’s the basilisk?” Malideus grumbled.

Choking, Ral spoke up, albeit coarsely, “I feel as my--our throat is going to dry out.” He stifled a choke before continuing, “There’s no helping it. We have to dissipate this fog somehow.”

Summoner added weakly as he faltered in steps as he resumed the MC’s pace forward, trembling in each step he took, “Or else we risk either getting nauseous enough to faint, have our throats become critically injured, or if this fog is anything more than just a nuisance, we may die from inhaling it excessively.”

“We gotta find the source of this ominous air,” the Fat Friar concluded, his voice scathed as well by the choking mist. “I’d figure this kind of stuff isn’t just made naturally.”

“Oh.” Ral flared up, attempting to grin--but the suffocating air coerced him to otherwise frown. “There are a lot of natural mists like these, actually. But… most of them are fatal upon inhalation--so this one is very new to me.”

“Wait,” the Summoner interjected abruptly, causing the MC to stand still amid the darkening pitch of rasping wind. “You knew that this mist could’ve killed us the moment we inhaled it, but you didn’t forewarn us anyways.”

“Oh…” Ral shrunk back a bit mentally. “For two reasons of course,” Ral defended himself, feigning fervor in his tone. “One: because the killer mists that I’ve read up always need some sort of catalyst for their existence, and aforementioned catalysts are not apparent here.” he stated with an affirming vocal flourish. “And two--I somewhat forgot while we were running away?” He finished sheepishly.

“That’s… somewhat underwhelming.” The Summoner deadpanned a facepalm as he sighed. “Anyways… we don’t have much of a choice; we need to use a form of lightning to find either the exit or whatever is exuding this black air.”

“Very well then.” Malideus nodded in agreement with a nonchalant wave of the MC’s hand. “We can use the no-name Trident… You know, spark it up a bit; use the electricity as a torch or something.” Without more than a warning, Malideus gestured the MC’s hand to his back.

Gripping onto the cold, tingling metal of the trident’s handle, he arced it forwards, presenting the Trident in front of the MC’s view. Brandishing it with a swirl, Malideus added, “Ral… not so sure on how to activate this. You do it.”

Shaking his head a bit in skepticism, Ral took control. “Not the nicest way of asking for something…” Ral lifted the Trident high, channeling magic within it as he raised it, its tip trickling with sparks. “Anyway, here goes nothing.” Slamming it down, the Trident’s three tips kindled with electricity as it thumped against the ground.

Cascades of lightning ran through the prongs of the Trident, dancing like turbulent waves as it illuminated the darkness, melting away the shadows--and also searing into the eyes of the MC.

“Ow. Ow. Ow!” the Summoner crined as he hissed out. “It’s like staring into the sun!”

“Paf.” Audrey cursed out. “Reminds of that one time that I had to-”

“Yes!” everyone’s voices, save for Audrey, shouted in a cursing menagerie--sounding not too far off as a chorus.

“We get it,” the Summoner stated. “You kicked a lot of ass.” The Summoner shrugged a bit stoically. “So what? We all kicked ass in some way… I shot down flying dreadnaught ships… while riding a damned zombie dragon.”

“Yeah, and I was Duke Nukem for a day…” Malideus snarked.

Vaati responded, “I blew up the entire Crystal Kingdom in my Equestria.”

“Mmm… Point made…” Audrey murmured.

“Ugh…” Ral, brushing off the freshly made tears of the MC, blinked. The MC’s vision returning as, Ral swiftly examined the surroundings. “Wait.”

He was stunned for a moment as he spotted what was in the middle of where they were at. He blinked his eyes once more--attempting to see if it was merely a trick from their minds.

Unfortunately, however, Ral, and subsequently the others, have found out that it’s in fact not a phantasm casted by their minds.

Within where they stood, an arena-esque ring surrounded by forked trees whose jagged leaves were like knives. Charcoal-painted wood, the trees had spiked protrusions instead of branches. These protrusions were needle-like and were thorned with even more spines.

They, without mention, looked menacing.

The middle of the arena, however, stood stationary a behemoth version of this tree. Its trunk was roughly just wider than a skyscraper’s, and it stood just relatively just perhaps half the length of one as well.

Hollows upon the tree were apparent--seeming as if they were crevices. Black mist was pumped out of these crevices, spiraling into the atmosphere like billows of smoke as they melded into the air.

Running across from its base were vine-like roots that were perhaps larger than the MC’s body. Spiraling across its trunk were slits, apparently. The tree itself retracted and expanded--as if it was breathing. Pounding from within the colossal tree, rhythmic and continual, was what seemed to have been a heartbeat.