Heart of Demise.

TWENTY four

I was the last to go out and the first to wake up. You can imagine that I didn't sleep very well.

It's a hard feeling to describe, the one when you get about six hours or so of sleep and feel like... well, like moss suddenly started growing out of you, and they were absorbing your nutrients, your air, your thoughts. I tried to go back to sleep, but the prospects of my future made it impossible.

So I decided to get up and walk instead.

I left the cabin without a noise. I wasn't planning on walking for long, just long enough to shake the tired out of me. I searched for a stick nearby, finding a decently long one, and used it to swipe the ground before me.

I didn't want to get caught up in another bear trap, after all.

The air was cold, crisp, like an iced drink after a long day in the summer heat, except all I had to do was raise my chest up and down to enjoy it. The leaves and sticks crumpled nicely under my shoes. The sound was comforting, it reminded me of home somehow.

"..."

Of course, I didn't have much to do aside from walking. I wasn't doing anything productive, though now that I think about it, the most productive thing I could be doing... is scouting a way to go.

"Huh, well look at that. I suddenly made this time useful."

I've been walking in a straight line from the cabin. I'm sure in a dozen or so minutes, I'd be at the swamp again. I don't know if the swamp was exactly where I wanted to go, but I was almost there anyway, wasn't I?

So I walked and waited, thinking of some funny jokes or sweet lines to say on the way. I did that until I hit that fog from the swamp, which didn't take too long at all.

Here I am, in front of the place where it all started. I raised my arm, walked into the fog, and swiped it away.

"...Huh, no boss fight."

I'm not sure why, but I was expecting some big creature to be on the other side. Thankfully, it was just the swamp.

I stabbed the stick into the ground. I had no use for it anymore. From there on, I continued walking forward. This particular area was surprisingly stable. No sudden potholes, no loose soil that broke under the weight of my feet, nothing. But I wouldn't put my guard down. Really, anything could happen.

"All right, from here, traveling isn't bad. But I can't see past the swamp at all. Dang it, guess I just gotta hope that it ends at some point."

I kept going, mentally mapping potential hazards to the best of my abilities. All bodies of water weren't safe. Seriously, with how slimy that place felt, I couldn't imagine the creatures that might lurk underneath–

**SNAP**

"Huh? Oh, it's just a stick."

I forgot that the swamp had those, though the crooked trees here lead me to believe otherwise. I looked under my foot, and–

"..."

No stick. I looked under my other, no stick either.

"...Shit."

I immediately knew what was going on; something, or someone else snapped a stick, and it was close enough that I could hear it.

I stood still, spinning my head around like an owl. My eyes scanned the area, and I didn't see a single thing dangerous in sight.

But, there was a crooked tree, not even five feet away from me. I had a hypothesis.

"..."

More noises came from behind it, proving it true. Some rustling, the stretching of leather, the sound of caving dirt, and a sigh.