Queen Of Monsters

Ru Naya had never been this petrified before.

Not only was Zan Mei missing, but now she was being followed as well. The feeling from the camp hadn't gone away once she had stepped away from the elevated land, and no matter how fast or slow she went she couldn't shrug the foreboding feeling off. She knew that whatever had been prowling around the camp was now hunting her.

Still, she continued on. She proceeded to search for Zan Mei for what felt like hours but to no avail. There was not a single clue left behind to indicate where she might have been taken. There were no footsteps to trace nor any smell to track.

It was as if Zan Mei had disappeared into the thin air.

She started to sweat as her arms grew heavy and tired from moving the branches around. Her vision was becoming blurry as she frantically examined her surroundings for any hints. She was also becoming delirious from exhaustion because she hadn't drunk any water or eaten anything since the previous night and the mental and the physical stress were taking a heavy toll on her.

However, she had no choice but to move forward by going in deeper in the murky woodlands. The more into the forest she went, the more symbols started to appear around her, as well as more dark and damp the forest became. The undergrowth grew denser and thus more and more branches scratched her and drew blood, but Ru Naya forged on.

After a few hours her body begged for rest. Ru Naya's legs wobbled as she trudged onwards. She couldn't stop because there wasn't much distance between her and her pursuer, and it could catch up to her if she were to stop, even for a single second.

Finally, she came across a symbol that she recognized as she had seen it once before when she had gone hunting. Though she didn't know what was the meaning of it, she knew that the symbol only appeared 1500 meters in the forest.

Ru Naya stared at the luminous rune as she realized just how far she had travelled. She had long passed the 700 meter mark, and now she was truly heading for the centre of the jungle. A distance of 400,000 meters separated her and the heartland of Karasi.

Ru Naya shuddered as she scowled at the darkness ahead of her. It was miraculous that she had made it so far in without running into any trouble but it seemed like her luck was about to run out, because, just a mere few steps before the tree with the rune, the path that had been carved out by the hunter came to an end.

The path was the only thing that could lead her back to the camp and ultimately out of the forest. Going off the path meant jumping right into the maw of danger, but if she wanted to find Zan Mei, then she had to march on.

So she gripped her hunting knife tightly and took in a deep breath.

Then, she stepped away from the trail.

Ru Naya didn't turn around even once to look at the path that she had left behind. She feared that if she were to look back then she would start to hyperventilate even further by realizing that she was much closer to getting lost in the jungle. Now further in, she started to hear small sounds of nature again, but it didn't relax her. The predator was still tailing her and if despite that the animals continued to make noises, then that just meant that they weren't scared of whatever it was.

She staggered over the roots as it got darker and gloomier, and cursed every time her skin was pierced by a branch. Blood pinpointed her exact location, and it wasn't good as she was giving away her position to her hunter.

Just as she was stumbling forward, she heard the sudden flap of the wings near her. Ru Naya barely ducked when she felt cold air whistle past her. She tumbled and fell back as she came face to face with a gigantic bird.

Ru Naya's eyes widened in fear as her eyes met the lyren bird's cruel ones. The ginormous bird had its wings spread out as it glared ferociously at her. Its long and sharp beak were open and saliva dripped from its mouth in anticipation of its next meal. Its talons were huge, with each razor sharp nail as long as Ru Naya's arms. They were ready to slash her in small pieces the second the claws touched her.

She barrelled to her right and then jumped into the trees. Then she threw caution to the wind as she got up and ran. The bird's enraged howls at Ru Naya's escape grew shriller as it began to chase her. She could feel it snapping at her heels as she used every ounce of her willpower to run. As she dodged the trees and got scratched by the branches, she tried to come up with a desperate plan. She knew that the best course of action was to run back to the lake to wash her scent off, but how could she evade the damn bird till she found her way back? She cursed as she stumbled over a root and yet another sharp branch sliced her already bleeding arms.

Wait a minute, Ru Naya abruptly thought, she was bleeding!

Since the blood had given away her position, it could very well be used to misled the bird. She knew the lyren bird wouldn't be fooled for long but she just needed to survive till she got to the lake.

Once the distance between them grew, she quickly rubbed her bleeding arms over random branches then traced her way back to her original position. She was spending twice as much time going back and forth and hoped her plan would work, or else she was in real danger of being out in the jungle come nightfall.

Once she heard the telltale shrieks of the bird, she dove into the bushes and clamped her mouth shut in order to not make any noises. If it all went according to the plan, then she would buy herself a few extra minutes. If not, then she was presenting herself on a platter to the predator. Ru Naya hoped that she hadn't made a mistake cause one small move could mean her demise. Her heart was in her throat as she saw the ferocious bird approach a bloodied branch near her hiding spot. It sniffed at the blood and then turned to look at Ru Naya's direction.

One second felt like an eternity.

Two eternities went by.

Then three did.

The bird shrieked as it turned around angrily and went ahead in the opposite direction causing Ru Naya to sag back in relief. She had gambled and won, and now she had bought herself a few precious minutes, and that should be enough for her.

She wanted to wait till the bird's howls faded completely before leaving, so she used the time to gather her scattered thoughts.

The lyren bird was no doubt the once Yan Lin had heard earlier in the morning. However, it seemed like the bird had eluded them and instead targeted Ru Naya. A small hope sparked in her heart, the group had been following the bird and they might be coming her way. Though the forest was vast and Ru Naya didn't think that they would cross paths, especially since she had stumbled off the trail and got lost. However, there was still a small chance they could meet and that was enough. That would keep her going.

After the sounds from the bird disappeared she started to stand up, but just as she was getting up she felt it.

A terrifying aura that caused her to shiver violently.

Ru Naya felt the air around her turn deadly and hostile. The world surrounding her turned cold and lifeless, and she felt as if tendrils of ice were wrapped around her organs. Her body was screaming for her to take the knife and stab herself, before whatever ominous thing out there could kill her.

She froze as the aura grew sharper, signalling that the thing was coming nearer and she bit her lip forcefully to keep herself from whimpering.

She knew that if she stayed in the place then she would be discovered, so Ru Naya cursed quietly as she stumbled out of the bushes and ran. The aura was a thousand times worse than the lyren bird's and she would rather face the bird than whatever that thing was.

There wasn't enough words to explain the dark and lethal atmosphere around the sinister thing. No, whatever that was, it was the true danger of the forest, and Ru Naya had to stay away if she wanted to make it out in one piece.

She gave up on her rubbing the blood as she didn't want to attract whatever that thing was. If the lyren bird would be back on her trail soon so be it. Atleast the lyren bird would kill her quickly, that thing...that thing would torture her for an eternity.

Ru Naya jumped over the roots and cursed yet again at the darkness of the forest. Not having a clear vision made it harder to escape and she could hear the distant flap of the wings. The lyren bird would reach her soon enough if she didn't make any haste.

Tears streamed down her eyes as she ran blindly through the trees. Every time the bird came near she would change her direction and run in the opposite one, so by now she didn't even know where she was or if the fact she was heading inwards or outwards.

The bird shrieked again and it sounded far too near her. Ru Naya forced herself to run faster, she had to outrun the bird no matter what or she would die. She heaved as she got dizzy from lack of nourishment and extreme tiredness. As she continued running, poisonous thoughts ran amok in her mind. A cruel voice asked her to give up. She wasn't strong enough to outrun a bird of prey, and she was severely unequipped to deal with such danger. Had she been just more careful and alert back at the camp then this might not have happened. Had she never insisted on Zan Mei to come in the first place, then she would have been safe and sound. This was her dearest friend and Ru Naya had failed her. She had failed herself.

She had failed everyone again.

Again.

She couldn't protect her people or her king, she had lost them because she was weak.

Her head hurt as the thoughts in her mind became different. Thoughts degrading herself became more severe causing her to feel like an utter failure. It made her despair, and more than that, it made her angry. Angry at herself and the world, angry at such turn of events. She had no idea where these thoughts came from but they felt so eerily real. She felt as if she had felt this anguish before in her life, though where or when was uncertain.

Was she finally losing her mind now that she was about to die?

No, the anger burned away every dark thoughts, till all she was was seeing red. She wanted to take revenge on this cruel world, and to achieve that she could not die here. She would not lose this time. This lifetime will be her victory.

Once her mind was cleared, she started to formulate a plan once again. She had two choices: either she ran deeper into the forest and hoped another predator would start hunting the bird, causing distraction. This would be suicide cause that would mean she could also become the target of an other dangerous animal. Not only that, her original plan was to go back to the lake to get rid of her scent which won't be possible unless she miraculously came across a water body on her way. The other choice was to start a fire and signal for help. To do that she had to find a clearing to start a big fire. That way she could send a SOS using the smoke to Yan Lin or any surrounding hunter and signal them to come and save her. Though it was a risk and she could attract hostile creatures, at this point she had no choice since she was painfully unequipped to deal with all the hurdles the forest was throwing at her. Deep in this forest one had to risk their lives to survive, and this was the way to go.

So she settled on the lesser of the two evils and decided to find a clearing in this dark forest. The edge of the forest was her best bet as the trees were less concentrated there. However, how was she supposed to do that? If only there was a way to guide her to the edge.

She ran past several huge runes before it struck her. Guiding runes! they would surely help her! however, following them was a big risk because they were often used as a trap. Had there been another way she would do it but Ru Naya didn't have the luxury of choice. So she decided to follow the eerie symbols.

If one were to try to describe the runes then all they would say was that it was made up of nonsensical lines. However, it was those glowing lines that helped to guide the hunters. The symbols found deeper in the jungle had more lines compared to the ones towards the edge. Thus the fewer the lines, the closer one was to the exit. She continued running forwards when she spotted another rune, her heart sank as she realized just how many lines were there. At this point the runes covered half of the bark. She had been so engrossed in trying to escape that she hadn't noticed the size, but she realized that since the direction she was running in meant more larger runes, then it was the wrong direction to run to. So she spun around and began to run back. She huffed as she prayed fervently that she wasn't walking into a trap as she continued to race through, the trees passed by in a blur as she only focused on her next set of symbols.

Then just as she spotted another intricate rune, she heard flapping. She hoped that the bird hadn't managed to pinpoint her location as she dashed forwards. She stumbled over the roots as she continued following the runes. Every time she would come across another set, she would follow the one with the least lines. As the runes grew smaller and smaller, her energy got a boost. This meant she was nearer to the clearing, the lake and the camp.

She continued running till she heard the wails of the bird behind her grow distant. However, Ru Naya didn't relax. The bird could track her scent any second so she wasn't out of the danger zone until she found what she was looking her. So she frantically ran for her life.

And then she saw it.

Among the undergrowth and bushes, she saw a small patch of ground where no tree encroached. She had never thought she would be so happy to see a piece of land this much as she almost burst forward. Now all she needed was to start a fire and she could use it to signal to Yan Lin, and ask his help to search for Zan Mei!

She practically jumped in happiness as she almost burst through the trees, that is when her eyes focused on something present in the clearing. She skidded to a stop as her heart sank.

No.

From the safety of the trees she spotted a woman lying on the ground, her face hidden by brown hair. She lay there unmoving as something stood above her, jeering excitedly.

A foul smell permeated in her nose as Ru Naya stared at the thing.

It was not just some 'thing' but somebody.

A stray witch.