Escape

Stella and Rachel were startled by the loud roar that echoed through the forest. "The bear is awake and close, we should go back," Stella said, her voice tinged with panic.

"We're not even that far in," Rachel replied, trying to keep calm. "It must have expanded its territory in search of food, let's get out of here."

They quickly turned to head back toward the forest's edge, but their retreat was abruptly blocked. "What is this?" Stella muttered, reaching out her hand and encountering resistance. "It's an invisible wall."

"That's impossible," Rachel whispered, her mind racing. "I don't know what's happening, but this story is improving by the second!"

"Rachel, this isn't time for your stories!" Stella snapped, fear creeping into her voice. "There's a bear somewhere nearby and an invisible wall that shouldn't exist!"

Rachel took a deep breath. "We don't have many options."

"We have no options!" Stella retorted.

"We do: We can stay here and hope the wall disappears, or we can go deeper into the forest and try to find the source of this barrier," Rachel suggested.

"Both of those options are terrible, and what do we do if we find the source? What if it's something malicious and it wants to kill us? We wouldn't stand a chance," Stella argued.

"One step at a time," Rachel said, trying to remain calm. "And what other choice do we have?"

Stella fell silent, contemplating their predicament. After a moment, she said, "Let's wait here for ten minutes. If the wall doesn't disappear, we'll slowly move deeper into the forest and try to find another way out."

"Sounds good to me," Rachel agreed, appearing more relaxed than she felt. Stella rolled her eyes, If only I could be as calm as you in this situation.

Five Minutes Later

Stella and Rachel sat by the barrier, anxiously waiting for it to disappear. As they did, they began to feel a rumbling beneath their feet, and distant roars echoed from deeper within the forest, the sound of falling trees and whipping air surrounded them. The air was thick with the smell of damp earth and the sounds of the forest were amplified, adding to their unease.

"Do you know what that is?" Stella asked, her voice trembling.

Rachel shook her head. "No, but it sounds like creatures in the forest are fighting."

"There should be nothing that big in this forest that could make the ground shake like this," Stella said, worry etched on her face.

They exchanged a look, realizing what they had to do. "We have to go deeper," Rachel said.

They stood up, brushed the dirt off their clothes, and slowly moved deeper into the forest.

As they walked, the rumbling grew stronger, and the forest sounds became louder, almost unnatural. To their surprise, the temperature began to drop.

"Should the forest be getting this cold?" Stella asked, shivering.

"More trees are blocking the sunlight, so it should be a bit cooler, but not this cold," Rachel replied, her breath visible in the frigid air.

They pressed on, their fear growing with each step. Suddenly, out of the corner of their eye, they saw a white blur that brought forth a powerful gust of wind, followed by the sound of snapping and breaking.

They turned to see at least five of the massive trees had been felled, and the culprit—a single arrow— lodged in the ground.

"We almost died, we almost died, we almost died" Rachel whispered, her voice trembling as she repeated the words over and over, caught in a trance.

Stella grabbed Rachel's shoulders and shook her. "Get a hold of yourself! We're going to make it out of here alive, but I need you to pull it together."

Rachel nodded, trying to steady herself. She then turned her gaze to the arrow. "Should we check it out?"

Stella hesitated but then nodded. They carefully navigated the debris of fallen trees and approached the arrow. The ground around it was covered in frost, the air so dense and cold that breathing became difficult. They shivered as they got closer.

"How is this possible? How could something shoot an arrow made of ice?" Rachel wondered aloud, her curiosity piqued. She started to move closer, but Stella pulled her back.

"Look at the grass nearby," Stella said, pointing. The grass around the arrow wasn't just covered in frost—it was utterly frozen, dead to the core with the frost was spreading slowly.

At that moment, a squirrel fell from a tree and landed on the frozen ground. As it tried to move, the frost quickly crawled up its legs, encasing it entirely in ice.

"What kind of force could do something like that?" Rachel asked, turning to Stella with wide eyes.

"I don't know, but now I'm worried about going deeper. Whatever is fighting in this forest is beyond our understanding. Just the byproduct of one of their attacks can cause this much damage. What would happen if we got hit? We wouldn't even know how we died. And worst of all, what happens if we meet them? Do you think they'd let us go after knowing they exist?"

Rachel paused, a sullen look crossing her face. Stella was right—there were too many unknowns, and the scale of their dealing was too large for them to involve themselves. But what could they do? If they went deeper, they risked dying. If they stayed, they might still die, trapped by the barrier.

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but then they noticed the ground had stopped shaking.

Meanwhile, at the Core of the Forest

"A four-armed bear? You've got to be kidding me, the report said nothing about this," one of the shadows said, their voice laced with frustration. "This creature has a Tier 4 bloodline."

The other figure, dressed in a dark cloak, was busy retrieving arrows of frost from the ground. "You're right. The situation is getting out of hand; these creatures show signs of bloodline awakening before the resurgence. Imagine what will happen when it does begin."

The shadow wearing the cloak turned and looked toward the outskirts of the forest. "I sense two signs of life within the barrier. They're regular humans, but one gives a strange aura."

"Should we eliminate them?" the other asked, drawing their bow.

"No, it doesn't matter much. The resurgence is happening soon, and we'll no longer have to hide in the dark, but we need to clean up our traces and care for the body."

While they're saying that, a powerful gust of air is felt behind them, only to find that the arrow nocked on the bow is now gone.

The other shadow looks at him with a guilty expression, "Don't worry, I missed after hearing what you said, plus I reduced the power by like 90%, they should live as long as they don't touch it. Who would touch a freezing arrow that was flying towards them."

The clocked shadow sighs, "it doesn't matter, a few casualties just means extra paperwork after they investigate the scene"

"Not paperwork!" The other shadow moans and groans. "At least with this harvest, we should be able to get some new equipment. I've been using a construct for too long."

"You? I've been using mana in its crudest form," the cloaked figure replied.

"Who told you not to train visualization?" the first shadow teased.

"I was ranked in the top ten of the program," the cloaked figure said indignantly.

"Why not number one?" the other scoffed. They continued their banter as they finished cleaning up before vanishing into the forest.

On the Other Side of the Forest

"The tremors have stopped. Should we still head towards the center?" Stella asked, turning to Rachel.

"No, let's head back to the edge and see if the barrier has been removed," Rachel suggested.

Before they left, Rachel quickly took a picture of the arrow made of ice. Then, they cautiously made their way back toward the forest's edge.

(Fifteen Minutes Later)

"Here we are," Rachel said as they reached the spot where they had been trapped earlier. "On three. One, two, three."

They stretched out their hands, and this time, they encountered no resistance. "We're free!" Stella exclaimed, relief washing over her.

They ran toward the forest's edge and finally emerged by the road.

"Oh my god, I thought we'd be trapped there forever," Stella said, her voice full of relief.

"Me too," Rachel agreed. "But what do you think all that was? Roars from unknown beasts, devastating arrows of ice, invisible barriers… These are things from stories. How could they actually happen?"

Stella shook her head. "I don't know, but I think it might be connected to your research; whatever is happening is affecting plant life; who's to say it can't affect animals? That might explain the loud roars. And who's to say these changes are only happening now? Maybe they've always been there but only showing these side effects now. If that's the case, why have people never noticed, why haven't we heard about it? Maybe they didn't want us knowing, what if—"

Rachel grabbed Stella's shoulders and shook her gently. "Stop. You're going down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, and that's not good for you. We'll figure all this out one step at a time. But first, let's get going, I'm really drained after all of this."

"Agreed," Stella said, nodding.

They made their way back to the bus station and took the bus back into town, they got off at their stop and went their separate ways home.