Erasure

Chapter 2: Woodland Apparition

Sunset had already come by the time the group set foot outside the arena. They followed the path through the damp forest, as they were told by the voice in their heads. The forest was alive with the sounds of birds and insects making hundreds of indestinguishable noises. It seemed like they couldn't take a single step without a bug flying into their faces. Quote was especially annoyed, as the scent of the rose in his pocket seemed to attract even more bugs looking to pollenate.

"Ugh, these pesky things never quit, do they?" he said with disgust. "How much longer until we reach the cave?"

Peri sighed and held his head. "You better not complain the whole way there," he remarked "the end of th trail isn't anywhere in sight so we may have to set up camp tonight. I am not going to listen to your bickering for that long."
"I might have something for that..." mumbled Writ. He drew Miasma from his back and held is sideways. The vents on the side shot open as they sprayed a white mist that surrounded them all. The odor was apalling, so much so that the nearby mosquitoes, horse flies, and other bugs fell the the ground. "Don't worry... it's basically just bug spray," Writ stated. "it's not harmful to people, so you all should be fine."

Peri pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and covered his mouth and nose with it. "Yeah right, my nose is burning from that horrendous smell!"
"S-sorry, I guess I did use a little too much... My bad."

Peri grumbled to himself. Duo and the others also felt a slight tingling sensation in their noses, but opted to stay quiet about it for Writ's sake. They continued down the path, watching the bugs drop to the ground whenever they drew near. The path stretched far across the forest with the end nowhere in sight. Twilight had just begun before too long, as the trail's visibility began to fade. Shado was so exhausted that she was falling behind the others a bit. "Hey, Peri?" she called out.
"No."
"Peeeeeeri?"
"I said no."
"Pleeeeease?"
"If you don't stop right now, I'm going to kick you."
"But it's important!"
"Don't you dare think for a second that I won't,"
"Uuuuugh, fiiiiine. I was just going to ask if you could carry me, I'm soooooo tired."
"If you're so tired of walking, grovel on the floor and crawl behind us like the pest you are."

Quote shot him a glare. "Come now, the lady has a point. I am almost certain I speak for everyone when I say that we are all pretty low on energy," he started. "we should get some rest. After all, it is getting dark."
"You're all such babies. I could go on like this all night."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yeah, it is."
"Is that why you've been dragging your feet for the past half hour?"

Peri looked down at his feet to see that his shoes were sunken into the dirt and were covered in dust. Quote smirked at him snidely. "I rest my case. We shall call it a day here and set up camp at once."

Peri grumbled to himself. The others let out a sigh of relief knowing they would finally be able to rest their aching feet. Duo looked around, not seeing any comfortable-looking place that they could sleep on or even sit down at. The ground beneath her was uneven and rocky, but she knew that it could be way worse.

Shado crossed her arms. "Ya know, I'm not against sleeping on the floor," she started. "but it's getting pretty darn cold here... Shouldn't we make a fire?"

Peri looked at Shado and smirked. Automatically, a worried look spread across her face. "Proooobably should have kept my mouth shut..."

Peri slid on his glove and looked at the gemstone in his hand. It began to glow an infernal scarlet as flickering embers spiraled around his hand. He pointed his palm at a tall tree to his left and smiled. "Alright guys, I've got us covered!" He shot out an arrow of fire directly into the base of the tree. The wood cracked and splitted loudly as the tree came falling down. It hit the ground with a massive thud as the group dove out of the way, just barely avoiding it. Duo fell to the ground and hit her face in the dirt. She groaned and pushed herself to her knees. "Grrrr... Peri, what was that?!"
"Well, we needed a fire, didn't we? We've got an entire tree worth of firewood, you should be thanking me, you ungrateful wench,"
"We could have gotten badly hurt because of you.... again!"
"Well, you were in the way... again!"