Shadow Slave: The Great Hunt

Why is jumping so difficult and why can't I go quicker!?

This was the thought that circulated through his brain until the word 'jump' seemed to lose all meaning.

This leg of his journey was much different than that of the previous one at face value; it wasn't nearly as difficult but what it lacked in difficulty it made up for in fear and repetition.

There were many reasons for this, starting he was higher in the air and had ample time to look down at the incredible distance between himself and the ground and also the number of branches that he would hit on the way down.

Another reason was the small black shape that he noticed climbing onto the vines and making its way up the tree

And last but certainly not least was how he was traversing which was by jumping from tree to tree over those previously mentioned drops.

I know that I was here to kill a beast but that thing coming up behind throws a wrench in my plans especially if it knows I'm here.

To say the least Artemi was distracted and stressed out as he tried to think of a way to see where that golden glow came from and not become a snack for whatever was down there.

He wasn't quite sure why he needed to find the source of the light but his intuition was telling him that that was how he would complete this nightmare and get out of this hell hole.

That's of course when he slipped on the opposite side of a jump, beginning to topple forward and potentially lose progress hurting himself in the process or fall to his demise, neither of which he particularly wanted to do.

But no worries he didn't fall as his bag was caught in a series of small limbs of the tree slinging his body back because of the elasticity of the material pulling him up back onto the tree.

This is concerning. I'm far too lucky today.

He thought thanking the gods that he was still alive and looking over at the sun, noticing that it looked much brighter now than it did before.

I must be getting awfully close to the top of this thing, that's good I will have less opportunities to seriously injure or scare myself.

Sighing while wiping the sweat off of his face and walking farther out on the long branch he now stood on.

He then stepped onto an even smaller branch below his and stretched, reaching an adjacent branch with his left foot pushing off with his right and climbing onto the large branch was trying to reach.

That may be a more reliable way to cross and hey, the bright side of all of this is that I get to breathe free and fresh air and am out of the sun.

Thinking this he proceeded, walking on the large branches until he could safely step over to the next higher branch.

Eventually though he reached a spot where he had to start climbing in Earnest as the branches had become too small to walk on comfortably.

It was at this point that he marveled at the incredible size of the leaves on this tree; they were longer than his body and much wider at their widest point and on top of that they must have been 2 centimeters thick.

He found this out as while he was climbing he decided to get onto the leaves thinking that they would hide his presence from whatever it was that was coming up the tree for him while also giving him quicker access to a point where he could see it as the place where he went up had the sun placed to his back.

With this sun it feels at least 5 degrees hotter up here.

He noticed as he opened up one of the leaves from the inside at first giving himself a mini headache from the near blinding light.

The view around him was breathtaking. On one side he could see the town that he had come from, with lazy tracks of smoke floating into the sky and the hubbub of daily life and the start of the jungle and the brilliant sun behind it.

Up nearer to the tree were the leaves of more and more trees for as far as the eye could see though he did notice that he seemed to be on a hill as he had suspected from the sun's brightness though concerningly he also noticed dark and angry storm clouds approaching from that direction.

To the opposite direction of the aforementioned trees were well more trees though at some point they seemed to disappear and all that was left was sky and clouds.

And behind him was his tree with its interesting leaves that looked like the spades in playing cards and were slightly slick with perspiration.

As Artemi clambered out of the insides of the tree he was careful to not put too much weight on one limb, his hours of climbing teaching him that valuable lesson from the close calls he had experienced.

Slowly leaf by leaf he made his way up the surprisingly long distance necessary to reach the other side of the now setting sun making sure to keep his hand and foot holds on the slick overlapping leaves.

As he got to the crest of this side of the canopy he finally saw what had reflected the light of the sun.

It was a city or what looked like one made of whitish tan stone and embroidered with gold plating and a lot of it, the architecture was unlike anything that he had seen before looking like it was right in front of him though it must have been many kilometers away.

Something in him pulled him towards the city, towards home and especially towards the apex giant pyramid that was all built on the imposing structure shining as bright as the setting sun behind him.

This is where I need to go, to finish my trial this is the only way.

Thought a torn figure, green eyes hardening as their siloet was highlighted by the deep orange of the setting sun behind them, this forever to be known as the moment the great hunt began.