forum The Forest Has Hazel Eyes // O/O // Closed

Started December 12, 2020 by @MarDeColores this is not it kids

tune

(Apologies for such a late reply, life has been wild lately.)
"Um… apparently not." Ellis accepted Antonio's help and stood up. He was feeling slightly dizzy, maybe because it was the first time he'd done… whatever it was he'd done. Ellis blinked a few times, then glanced around with confusion. How had he brought the two of them here, and where even was 'here'? "Um, I'm sorry. I think I basically abducted you." Ellis tugged on the end of his braid, looking at Antonio with a slightly embarrassed look. "I'll try to get us back, but–" He frowned, a memory suddenly floating to the surface of his mind. It must have taken place sometime during the time he was in the lagoon. Ellis was being taught something… something about reality. And how to bend it. Maybe… maybe that was what he'd just done. The problem was that he couldn't exactly remember how to do whatever it was he'd been taught. Their escape was extremely lucky, then. If only he could retrieve the memories. It might help with anything that came after him.
As if on cue, a roar echoed from the woods around him. "You've got to be kidding me." Ellis pressed his lips together and turned towards the noise. He wasn't very confident that he would be able to deal with whatever that thing was, but he apparently had the skills. Maybe muscle memory would be able to help him. Either way, he would do his best to keep Antonio out of danger.

(ah don't worry! Sorry too for replying so late!)
"don't worry about it, I'm just glad I'm not alone." He tried offering a smile but deep down Antonio was terrified. This wasn't normal, not even for the Deep Woods. Then again no had ever come out of here alive to tell what actually happened within, until now. He looked around, surprised to find that he could see at all. Antonio had expected this underground forest to be pitch black but somehow sunlight streamed in from the high canopy.
He yelled and snapped his head towards the noise coming from behind the trees. He pressed a bit closer to Ellis, trembling slightly "please tell me you're hungry again." He whispered, eyes darting around, trying to pin point exactly where this creature was going to come from

"Okay. I'll still try to get us back." Ellis glanced at Antonio, a small laugh– maybe from the fear or shock– bubbling to the surface despite the circumstances. "That wasn't me." He narrowed his eyes in the direction of the roar, but couldn't see the source of it just yet. There were all sorts of terrible monsters, but he hoped that this would be one of the less terrible ones. Maybe it was even just a bear? Another roar sounded, closer this time, and Ellis was finally able to see the source of it. A tall, skinny figure that seemed to be made of shadows slid out from behind a tree. It didn't appear to have any facial features other than a wide, sharp smile. Although it looked delicate, its fingers were tipped with sharp claws and it moved much faster than Ellis liked. "Um…" Ellis started backing away from it, trying desperately to remember what he had done last time to bring them to safety. He'd just wanted to get out of there, hadn't he? But try as he might, wishing to get Antonio to safety didn't create a single random trapdoor.

Antonio gaped at the creature that emerged from the forest, a creature just as gloriously gruesome as the stories told. "So they were true," he whimpered slightly, seeing the sickly grin spread across it's face. It knew it had won before it was ever given a chance to try. As much as he wanted to, Antonio couldn't tear his gaze away from creature, even as he backed away from it as it advanced. He pulled Ellis along with him, gripping his arm tightly. He refused to die here, even if his home wasn't great, he refused to become one of the people's stories. Antonio had half the concious mind to slowly pull out the canteen containing their water and used his abilities to bend the water into the air. He used to play a game with the cat where he'd bend water around for her to chase, sometimes shaping it into animals she had liked to hunt such as nice or birds. He wasn't sure if it would work with this creature but it was better than just standing ther3 waiting to be eaten. He closed his eyes and concentrated, bending the water into what looked like a deer, positions it near the creature, hoping, praying that it did the trick.

Ellis watched as Antonio created a deer out of water and hoped that would distract the creature long enough for him to figure out how to get them out of there. The creature turned towards the deer slightly, hissing slightly as it did. Ellis froze, not wanting to make any sounds that would distract it from the fake deer. The creature started towards the deer, moving slowly at first but then speeding up to a horrific speed. It arrived next to the deer and swiped its claws through the deer's midsection. Ellis forced himself to stop focusing on the monster and start focusing on an escape plan. He narrowed his eyes, thinking hard about leaving. But try as he might, he couldn't concentrate on that. Instead… his mind started wandering towards the creature again. But not about how scary it was, or how it might kill them.
"You… wait." The words slipped out of his mouth, something feeling off about them. The creature instantly turned towards them and Ellis was sure he'd made a mistake.
"Hmm. You are them." The hissing the creature had been making until recently turned into words, causing Ellis to jump. "The rest are coming, did you know?"

Antonio's eyes widened as the the creature suddenly sprinted towards the awaiting deer at alarming speeds, much quicker than what Antonio could anticipate. He yelped out in Surprise as it slashed through the deer, momentarily forgetting it wasn't real, expecting there to be blood. He returned the water back to him but kept it swirling behind him in constant stream in case it could be used as a distraction. His breath stilled as the creature swung itself towards them and advanced slowly again as if i were merely waiting to grow bored and fibay consume them.
His brows creased in confusion as words came from his ink black mouth, slurred with the occassional hissing. He quickly glanced over at Ellis "do you know what it's talking about?" He asked softly, backing up once again, shifting his gaze around.

(I'm so sorry for taking so long! I somehow lost this one.)
"I… I don't know." Ellis frowned at the creature. It might have been his imagination– no, it had to be his imagination– but the creature didn't seem so terrifying now. It was as though the aura of danger had been dispersed. "Do… do you think that thing meant that person we just escaped from by 'the rest'?" He glanced at Antonio quickly, not wanting to take his eyes off the thing for too long. Although it had stopped all aggressive motions the second he spoke, he wouldn't put it past the thing to suddenly strike out of nowhere.
"Yes. The rest. They are coming. They are coming for you. And they're angry." With that, the creature turned and disappeared into the woods so quickly it might have simply vanished, if not for the slight rustle of leaves in its wake.
"What?" Ellis squeaked, staring in shock at where the creature had just been.

(it's all good!)
"I'm not sure," he whispered, eyes used to the creature. He breathed in a sharp breath as the creature suddenly eased it's hostility.
Somehow the mention of "the rest" being angry. Antonio watched carefully as the creature dissapeared into the bushes before slumping to the ground, not wanting to move any further. "Is this how it was when you were here?" He asked, glancing up at Ellis. "How did you manage to stay alive for so many years?" He whispered, flicking his gaze around at the treeline, half expecting the creature to come back with more of it's kind.
Where Do we go from here? Is there even a way to go?"

Ellis stared after the creature, hoping for something to happen to explain what the creature had said. Unfortunately, nothing did.
"Well, I was stuck in a pond for most of the time, so this is a new experience." Ellis finally managed. In all honestly, he would almost rather the pond than the constant 'being chased' and 'getting forbidding and cryptic messages'. "I… I don't know. If we keep walking, we have to reach the edge eventually, right?" He glanced over at Antonio, feeling quite guilty he'd brought the man into this situation. He was lovely and didn't deserve all this danger and craziness at all.

Antonio took a deep breath and nodded, slowly rising from.his position. "Right, then maybe we can find a way out of here." He nodded to himself and started walking, not daring to go odd to where he saw the creature dissapeared to. "Well, I have been begging for an adventure. Guess this is my answer." He chuckled lightly but it felt wrong, to laugh in a place like this.
He checked his water supply, occasionally glancing.around just in case something else decided to attack them. "Might have been better to get a sword instead of a canteen of water." He said softly

(Sorry for the wait!)
Ellis nodded slightly. "I'm guessing you weren't expecting this kind of adventure, huh?" He laughed along with Antonio, feeling like there could be nothing better than to laugh in a place like this. It pushed away the dark much better than any sort of light ever could. "Maybe…" Ellis shrugged. He wouldn't be able to use the sword, but it probably would have provided some semblance of safety. And if worst came to worst, one could always wildly swing it at whatever was attacking. "Still, you did good with the water." He added. Ellis opened his mouth to say something else, but something caught his eye first. There was a very bright light, too bright to be from the forest, shining ahead of them. Ellis automatically froze, grabbing Antonio's arm to stop him as well. That was not a good sign, was it?

"not at all," Antonio sighed softly as they walked, always keeping his hand near the skin of water in case anything else were to happen. He blushed lightly and ducked his head "thank you but I don't think it did much to fool that creature." He blinked rapidly at the light, first very confused, they were underground, what sunlight would be able to penetrate down to here? He stiffened beside Ellis clinching the Han that was grasping his arm. "What is that?" His whispered, turning his head away from the blinding light. "Maybe it's a way out?" He suggested after a few moments of waiting for some sort of attack

(You're good! I won't be able to respond as quickly from now on, as school has started up again. :)
Ellis stared at the light as best as he could without being blinded, but it didn't make any sudden movements. It was just glowing. "Maybe…" He said doubtfully, taking a few steps towards the light. "I guess we'll never know if we don't check it out." Ellis glanced at Antonio, then started walking towards the light in earnest. He rounded a corner, the source of the light coming into view. It was a person, the source of the light contained in their palm. Ellis was positive he didn't make a sound, but they turned around nevertheless.
"Oh, hey! Are you stuck in this–" They focused on Ellis and groaned. "No, you're not." The person lowered their hand, the light dimming slightly. "I apologize for trespassing in your forest. I was just lost. Why don't we just turn around and walk in opposite directions? Or better yet," the person continued with a smile almost as bright as the light in their hand, "you could tell me how to get out of here?" Ellis stared at them, his confusion plain on his face.
"I don't know where we are. This isn't my forest."

Antonio hid behind Ellis as they started to approach the light, heart pounding in his chest. He peeked over Ellis' shoulder, a small gasp escaping him when he saw an individual standing in the center of clearing, light held delicately in their hands. Antonio flinched when they turned around, searching the individual's features for any sign of hostility or harm. Instead he found the individual seemed just as lost as they were. He glanced at Ellis and tilted his head curiously. He slowly stepped to the side to better see the individual, a small ribbon of water flowing around the pair, ort of creating a barrier between them and the mystery person. "Who are you?" Antonio asked, eyeing 5he ball of light with intrigue

"Me? I'm just your average person. Lost in your forest," they gave Ellis a pointed look, "not on purpose."
"This isn't my forest," Ellis grumbled again, feeling rather annoyed that this random person he found in the woods knew more about him than he did.
"Yes, it is. You're clearly a primordial spirit," They sighed. "Well, never mind that, then. You're clearly confused."
"Yes, thank you for noticing." Ellis narrowed his eyes at them.
"My name is Cyra. I think we should stick together until we get out of here, what do you say?" They offered Ellis and Antonio a brilliant smile.
"Well, that might be a good idea, but–" Ellis glanced at Antonio.
"Great! What are your names?" Cyra glanced between them, the light still contained in their palm. Ellis had to admit, he was rather glad. It made the forest just a little bit less spooky.
"I'm Ellis," he said, giving the pink-haired stranger a slight smile.

Antonio narrowed his eyes at the stranger, moth pressed into a thin line. It was hard to think of them as a bad person, considering they carried a literal ball of light in their hands. His gaze flickered towards Ellis' shrugging his shoulders. He was honestly more surprised that he was a primordial spirit. He nodded slightly and took a dependent breath "I'm Antonio." He introduced softly, hand casually going down to his flask of water, just in case more surprised sprung out of nowhere. "Do you know anything about this place?" He asked the pibk-haired individual. "We've seen some… Creatures… Something not if this world. What about you? Did you find anything off?" He asked, taking a glance around the forest surrounding them.

"Ellis. Antonio. Nice to meet you." Cyra gave them both a huge smile. Their eyes flicked down to Antonio's hand, gaze going hard for a split second. "About this place? Ah, well, the usual. It's a primordial spirit's forest, meaning it's dark as midnight on a moonless night and most things will kill you if the primordial spirit themself don't get to you first." They paused, glancing around at the forest. "I assure you, those creatures are of this world. A specialty of the Deep Woods. You're lucky one of you happen to be the primordial spirit or you would have died, no doubt."
"How did you know I was a primordial spirit?" Ellis spoke up, looking towards Cyra. "I mean, it's not like it's–"
"Your neck. It's a dead giveaway." Cyra gestured towards Ellis. "And the only thing I've found that's off is the fact that this primordial spirit isn't trying to kill me." They laugh. "Now come on, we're going to get nowhere if we just stand here."

Antonio sighed tiredly. "How wonderful." He muttered sarcastically, following Cyra's gaze up to the forest's canopy, half expecting something to emerge and start attacking them all. Antonio tilted his head as his gaze traveled back to Ellis, eyes going to his neck. "So there are different species of Promordial spirits? Not only the shadow creatures we saw but more human like Ellis?" He questioned, his curiosity getting the better of his fear. He cocked his head to the side, "we've been going nowhere for the past few hours. Is there a place you know of that's safe?"

"Different species? No, they're all the same. They can look different, and often start to look more like their forest the longer they're in there, but there's only one species of Primordial Spirits," Cyra explained, starting to walk in a random direction. Ellis severely doubted they knew where they were going, but he wasn't about to not follow them. They were the one with the light, and they were the one who seemed to know all the important stuff he didn't. "Those shadow creatures just live in the forest, and they obey their specific Primordial Spirit–in this case, Ellis here."
"Right, that's good to know," Ellis muttered, rubbing a hand over his head. At least he knew he could maybe stop the group from getting eaten by monsters. "Yeah, what Antonio said," he continued. It would be amazing if there was someplace safe where they could rest."
"Oh, somewhere safe? Those kinds of places don't exist here." Cyra giggled, glancing around at the forest in front of them. "We're just going to have to keep walking and get really lucky. Unless… you decide to show the way out?" They glanced back at Ellis with a hopeful look.

Antonio’s gaze flickered to Ellis when Cyra explained to them about Primordial Spirits. “We need to get you out of here as soon as possible.” He murmured, brows creasing in worry. He looked up when Cyra started to walk aimlessly, a bit confused at first but it wasn’t any worse or better than what Ellis and he were doing not a few moments ago. The only difference was that she could actually see where she was going, even if it as nowhere at the moment.
“So, as long as Ellis is here, they won’t hurt us?” Antonio reasoned, flinching slightly “Or at least him.” He added, deflating when Cyra told them of the lack of safety. His eyes narrowed slightly, her unnerving giggling not really helping the situation. “How often does ‘getting lucky’ round here work?” He muttered under his breath, sticking close to Ellis, not trusting Cyra enough to break away.
Once again he placed at Ellis, “If he knows the way out, we probably would have gotten out by now, don’t you think?” He ignored the nagging voice in the back of his mind, unless he doesn’t want to leave.

"Theoretically," Cyra said, glancing back at Antonio. "I'd still advise not getting him angry. No offense."
"I'm not going to get angry. And I'm not going to turn a bunch of weird forest monsters on either of you," Ellis grumbled. He was really not enjoying this whole experience.
"Well, I'm not going to tell you what he's thinking. He might be–" Cyra started. Ellis got the feeling they were going to be throwing more accusations at him.
"I'm not doing anything. I'm just as lost as your two are!" Ellis exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
"Whatever you say," Cyra giggled, ducking around a rather large tree. "Ooh, dear, that doesn't look good."
"What do you mean?" Ellis asked, a pit of dread growing in his stomach. He carefully stepped around the tree, eyes instantly finding what had made Cyra so worried. Standing there, arms crossed, was a young woman with dark skin and electric blue eyes. The second Ellis appeared, her eyes narrowed and she started towards them.

Antonio cocked his head in confusion, "might be…?" He trailed off, awkwardly looking away as the two bantered. Oddly enough, he felt fine with Ellis. Maybe it was only because Ellis was the only one Antonio knew but still, even after learning he was a primordial spirit, Antonio wouldn't dare even imagine going through the Dark woods alone. He followed after the two, brushing aside emerald green leaves and ducking under low hanhmging branches as they ventured deeper into the trees. He paused, taken aback by another woman. "Not a friend of yours I'm assuming?" He whispered, glancing over at Cyra in slight panic as the girl strode towards them.

"Wait… I know you." Ellis frowned in concentration. "You're that person who appeared at his house, aren't you?"
"Obviously. I told you to listen and what do you do? Ignore me." She shook her head. "I swear, are you pretending to be utterly incompetent just to annoy me?"
"I, uh, no." Ellis shook his head, glancing at Cyra. "Who is that?"
"I can hear you. I'm a Primordial Spirit too. The newest one, at least until you showed up." The strange woman shook her head. "Which is why they sent me to babysit you."
"That's fine, you don't have to. If you could just point us out of here, that would be great." Ellis gave her a nervous smile.
"Useless," The woman rolled her eyes.
"Can you at least tell me who you are?" Ellis glanced from Antonio to Cyra, hoping that this so-called Primordial Spirit wouldn't hurt either than them.
"The name's Ciel. Now if you don't mind coming with me? Just you. Your two companions can stay there."

Antonio instinctively took a step back as the woman came closer. He wasn’t sure why but she unsettled him. He supposed I had more to do with the setting than anything else but knowing that this place was filled with primordial spirits, he couldn’t help but suspect everything to be a danger. “Ellis what are they talking about? He asked softly, millions of questions running through his head. Where had these two met before? Who was this ‘he’ they referred to? Was it normal for primordial spirits to all be in the dark forest all at once and no so suddenly? Antonio chewed his lip in nervousness as he casually dropped a hand close to his water flask, daring a peek towards Cyra just in case a fight was about to break out between this Ciel and them. “And we’re supposed to do what exactly? We can’t survive out here for long alone. We either come with you or die here. We have no food and certainly not enough water to keep up alive for much longer. And what are you going to do to him?“ Antonio narrowed his eyes as he gazed at Ciel. There wasn’t anything inherantly negative about her. He couldn’t sense bad intentions but he didn’t like leaving with Antonio alone with her.

"I'm not leaving without them," Ellis said, shaking his head. He'd just met Cyra, granted, but there was no way he was leaving Antonio alone. And Cyra might as well come along too if Antonio was coming. Their light could be really handy.
"They're not–" Ciel groaned loudly, rubbing her forehead tiredly. "They're not Primordial Spirits, so they can't come!"
"Are we going somewhere where people who aren't Primordial Spirits can't go?" Ellis asked, glancing over at Antonio. Would he be able to figure out how to do that strange teleport thing quickly enough to get his companions out of there? He sure hoped so, because there was no way he was leaving with this stranger Ciel person and leaving Antonio–and Cyra, he guessed–alone in these very dangerous woods.
"What?" Ciel stared at him for a second, then turned her back to him. He could hear her muttering to herself angrily. Something about the higher-ups, maybe.

Ellis quickly moved between Antonio and Cyra, grabbing both of their hands. Cyra stared at him in confusion, opening their mouth–maybe to ask what he was doing. He shook his head quickly and closed his eyes. All he needed to do was get them out of there. Get them somewhere safe, away from Ciel and this terrible forest. Something in Ellis' chest blazed with heat, and a second later, he was falling. Cyra yelped what sounded like a curse, which hopefully meant he'd taken both of them with him. That would be very awkward if he left them both in the forest with Ciel.

Ellis' feet impacted with what felt like dirt, which made him nervous. Had he just taken them to another part of the forest? The bright sunlight that greeted him the moment he opened his eyes told him otherwise, though.