Volume 2 - Chapter 2: Out of the Darkness

In no less than a few seconds, the Tizelle could just leap out and devour Roxanne whole if it ever wanted to. Roxanne's entire life flashed before her eyes, but considering she had no memories other than waking up and running away from predators inside this forest, it was quite a short flashback.

Instead of panicking like a normal human being, Roxanne couldn't feel anything.

Her heart was beating normally, no different from a casual stroll in the park. There was no terror, no lack of breath, no urge to run for her life.

"Ah, I'm dead." Roxanne said in a flat tone.

A screen with the heading 'Tutorial' popped into view. "Plant Control - a skill that allows you to control plants within a 100-meter radius. The range increases with your level." Below the narrative was an outline of the plants within Roxanne's range, which was needless to say, composed of the same gigantic trees which seem to tower towards the heavens based on her limited point of view. Something within her seemed to click and all of a sudden, with every inch of her consciousness, she can sense all the plant life within 100 meters, eager and willing to execute her every bidding. With her skill, she could actually confirm that the trees surrounding her weren't reaching up to the heavens after all but were exactly 150 meters tall.

Not sure how a blue screen could possibly be of any help in the current situation, Roxanne wondered if she was meant to bash the thing on the Tizelle's head or maybe it can serve as some sort of shield or force field against the hungry predator. The Tizelle pounced at Roxanne, passing through the blue screen, debunking her force field theory. She barely dodged the Tizelle's attack and got a gash on the leg from her attacker's sharp claws. The color on her blue HP bar dwindled by a quarter of its original size.

The tutorial screen began flashing and pointing at a strange outline on the on-screen depiction of the flora in the landscape. Contrary to the common population of plant life in the forest, this one was an odd assortment of thick, leafy tendrils, spiraling upwards.

"Maybe that would help," she though aloud.

In cue to her words, the words on the blue screen changed.

"Activating skill: Plant Control"

Out of nowhere, a deep rumbling underneath the ground made the Tizelle jump back and look around, searching for the source of the tremors. The ground split off in two and a huge beanstalk emerged from the ground, its leafy tendrils rocketing skyward and separated Roxanne and the Tizelle.

Luckily enough, each of the beanstalk's intertwined stalks were wide enough for at least five grown men to wrap the arms around it, and blocked Roxanne from her attacker's view.

Roxanne got thrown off the ground and landed on her face, indifferent to the fact that blood dripped from her head and trickled down her cheeks. She's safe.

Or so she thought.

An atrocious snarl of an angry feline pierced the air. Roxanne shifted slowly and turned her head left and right, searching for the source of the sound.

The creature was black as death, blending into the shadows of the forest and perfectly camouflaged by the coat of darkness. It had a panther's sleek, black fur and sharp claws that looked like it could easily slit Roxanne's throat into pieces once it could grab hold of her neck with its huge talons.

It had a raven's head and heavy, curved beak. Instead of a raven's beady black eyes, it had the feline eyes of a panther, glowing brightly like flashlights left on inside a pitch black cave.

The bizarre creature had enormous black wings sprouting from its back. Each feather looked rough and coarse, with a few uneven patches and missing parts plucked out.

Another HP and SP bar appeared over the creature's head with the name Raventher atop it.

If the Raventher's eyes hadn't been luminous like flashlights in the pitch black darkness, Roxanne wouldn't have seen it moving silently towards her, with its glowing yellow eyes narrowed into slits and trained on her every move.

Roxanne stared at the creature, unmoving and undaunted at the sight of another predator that has her trapped.

In her mind there was no panic, no fear, no thoughts of screaming like a madman and crying "goodness gracious, I'm going to die!" swarming inside her head. In fact, all Roxanne could think of was "pretty kitty-bird".

With each step the Raventher took, Roxanne made a corresponding step backward. This continued on for at least five steps until her back collided with the beanstalk. She looked up and realized that the beanstalk was still growing and was becoming as tall as the other trees in the forest.

Trapped.

As if to heap coals of fire on her dilemma, the Tizelle's growls reverberated throughout the forest and fought for dominance over the loud sounds the towering beanstalk's exponential growth was making.

Roxanne could hear the Tizelle clawing its way out of the thicket of leaves and vines to get to her, its herculean paws scratching away the thick barrier that interrupted its meal.

Its razor sharp claws were hacking away every inch of the beanstalk as easily as a chainsaw could cut through tiny little twigs.

"Ah, I'm trapped." Roxanne said once more in her flat, monotonous voice.

Another screen appeared with a Yes and No button below.

"Deploy emergency rescue vines?"

Roxanne pressed 'Yes'.

"Activating skill: Plant Control"

Vines with a red glow dropped from the gigantic beanstalk. It loosely wrapped its tendrils around Roxanne's arms, as though waiting for her command.

"Okay, take me up," she whispered to the vines.

The moment Roxanne asked the vines to pull her up, the Tizelle emerged out of the huge hole it successfully dug from the beanstalk's base. About a quarter of its HP was gone from the damage it took from the beanstalk.

It was snarling and glaring at Roxanne, angered at the interruption, the saliva foaming at its mouth while it readied itself to pounce.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, the vines hastily coiled itself around Roxanne's chest and arms, forming a makeshift vest and harness, and hoisted her upwards.

When it pounced, Roxanne was already up in the air. The Tizelle missed by a few inches and it roared in anger at being denied of its meal for the second time today.

The vines reeled Roxanne upwards and the Tizelle was getting farther and farther away.

Until she heard the creak.

Instead of moving upwards, Roxanne noticed that she was starting to swing as the beanstalk began to tilt. The hole dug by the Tizelle at the base left the beanstalk unbalanced, and it began to sway and creak to find its equilibrium.

The Tizelle's eyes narrowed into tiny slits and it began to eye her warily, waiting for her to fall into its grasp. Roxanne was falling and the Tizelle positioned itself directly to where she was about to land.

Leaving herself with no other options, Roxanne swung her body with all her might to reach the nearest tree branch she could find. She held out her hand, and stretched out as far as she could, drawing closer and closer. Just a few more inches. Just a little more. Reach. Reach.

She missed.

Gravity got to work and dragged Roxanne back down. The beanstalk gave up under its massive weight and let out one huge crunch and snapped into two.

Roxanne could do nothing as she was falling and getting farther and farther away from the safety of the tree branch. The Tizelle's mouth was getting bigger and bigger as the ground was getting nearer.

But then something happened.

"New skill unlocked: Morph"

The hair attached to Roxanne's head, no longer looked like the platinum blonde waves that reached up to her thighs. Her entired body was

engulfed with a red glow as her hair elongated into thick vine-like extension and wrapped itself around the tree branch she couldn't reach before.

The Raventher spread out its wings and zoomed upwards in order to catch Roxanne but bumped into the Tizelle instead, which also sprang on its hind legs with hopes that it could still reach her.

The vines that materialized from Roxanne's hair quickly reeled her upwards before either predators could jump up in the air and take a huge chunk off her feet.

The moment the branch was within reach, Roxanne reached out her hand and hoisted herself up and clung on to the safety the tree branch offered. Roxanne looked down and witnessed a new battle.

The Raventher and Tizelle was battling each other to the death to win the right to go after their prey. They slashed and bit at each other. Blood spilled everywhere and their ferocious roars and growls filled the air with chaos.

The Raventher had the upper hand because of its wings. It changed its tactic, realizing that both it and its opponent were on equal footing on solid ground. The Raventher flew so fast that Roxanne's eyes could barely follow its blurry trail.

It swoops down out of nowhere, digs its razor sharp claws into the Tizelle's body, and disappears back into the shadows once again. Each attack

caused critical damage to the poor Tizelle.

The Raventher repeated this strategy about three times until the Tizelle breathed once last whimper that marked its defeat, then it fell on the

ground with a heavy thud. It's blue HP bar was no more, and its body started disappear from foot to head.

Then the Raventher locked its eyes toward Roxanne.

One second.

Roxanne only had a one second head start before the Raventher spread out its wings one more time and flew up towards her temporary refuge. Roxanne didn't even have time to think before she involuntarily stood up and ran.

When her brain caught up with her body, she realized that she was standing on a tall tree, atop a lofty tree branch with nothing else around her. Her mind didn't even have time to process what was happening.

"Activating skill: Plant control"

Tree branches glowing red magically grew in places that it didn't before and weaved itself to form a bridge in between the wide span between the forest trees. It formed a bridge or some sort of walkway for Roxanne to walk in, so that she would have a walkway to escape from the Raventher.

Roxanne ran without even breaking out into a sweat, her heart wasn't pounding inside her chest, neither was there a stitch in her side. The gash on her leg from her unfortunate encounter with the Tizelle didn't even bother her. She ran consistently like a marionette, not feeling the slightest bit of fatigue or inclination to stop.

The Raventher let out a loud feline's snarl despite having a bird's body. Its roar sounded nearer and nearer by the moment and Roxanne can only deduce that the Raventher was gaining on her. She ran and ran, as fast as her tiny little legs can take her.

The bridge of branches followed her thoughts and made a path whenever she wished for it to veer left or right, believing it might deter her pursuer, even just for a few seconds but her plan was for naught. The Raventher came closer and closer that Roxanne knew it would overtake her in a few minutes.

Out of nowhere, a beam of light darted towards her. It appeared suddenly without warning that if it was a gunshot, Roxanne would have been hit squarely in between her eyebrows and died on the spot without knowing what hit her.

The light distorted the monotony of darkness and drew her in like how moths are attracted to the brightness of a scorching flame.

Roxanne willed the branches to make a straight path towards the source of light, and ran, not even wasting a single moment to breathe lest the Raventher would catch up to her and devour her in one gulp.

The Raventher roared in delight as it was getting closer to its prized meal. The swift flapping of the Raventher's wings blowing her long blonde hair everywhere and covering her face, warned her that her time was almost up.

Roxanne could sense the creature's hot breath on her neck, merely inches away from reaching her. Roxanne maintained her speed despite the visual impairment and propelled herself forward, undeterred by fatigue or muscle pain.

The beam of light gradually widened until it seemed to swallow Roxanne whole.

Just as the Raventher attempted to grab at her with its sharp talons, Roxanne jumped from the last branch in the bridge and dived into the unknown, leaving behind the darkness and the angry roars of complaint from the Raventher she escaped from.