I remember this feeling I remember it very well so, cold tight and the wood is simply impossible to bend or budge.

  I feel my bones strain my flesh squeezed my circulation being cut from my limbs, even my breathing is too hard with my ribcage caged so tight.

  It's a hell of a feeling.

  'Shit! Now I get caught when I almost got to the end?' This was the second time I get caught by a tree you'd think I'd learn from my first time, no?

  Wood groaned and creaked as more roots and branches wrapped around my body, it's no longer just tight it's suffocating by now with no breath going to my lungs.

  The damn tree was pulling me deeper into the wood as if it was trying to actually eat me.

  'Agatha damn—' it was stupid to call for her, for whatever reason Agatha had refused to speak ever since I opened my eyes.

  But that reminded me of something Agatha said something about a core inside the damn tree, before I fell unconscious back then.

  The question is 'How am I supposed to find or hurt it?'

  Then it was dark and silent, 'Im still suffocating.' But it actually is taking a long time, silent dark and suffocation.

  I wasn't just suffuring I was suffuring multiple things at once.

  'Warm...?' It was a sudden feeling starting at my feet and rising slowly up my limbs, and the warmth is slowly growing hotter and less comfortable.

  'Acid huh...' If acid came from below my feet could it be that the core is also below where that came from? Only problem is this isn't much of a help.

  The fact that I didn't lose consciousness yet isn't too surprising especially with the last month of my life into perspective, but the strength I'll need to hurt the core while completely bound will most definitely take me out.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Still choices were as bound as my body was.

  With a deep airless breath to stretch my ribcage taut then I pulled on every muscle in my body until my entire body was burning hotter than whatever acid soaked my body.

  There needed to be a sliver of space for the acid to move and I was trying to use it to it's limit and my limit just as much.

  Then I let go with a ramming of my heels down with even more power than anything previously possible.

  The sudden whiplash was so strong I immediately lost consciousness, the sound of a siren rang in my ears was the last thing I could hear.

  .

  .

  .

  'Oh... ah!' It was nothing short of a rude awakening. "Augh!"

  I opened my eyes only to be met by a burning sensation in my feet, and the sight when I decided to look at them was... bloody.

  'Great heavens!' It was the first time I ever used those words really unpleasant.

  Blood stained the ground under my feet but in reality my injury wasn't too bad, the tree on the other hand was... well, it looked more like a big flower than a tree.

  Being able to breathe was a mercy I appreciated very much as I was already catching my breath.

  Despite how special my feet are standing up will most likely be too painful, not that I'll ever get a choice in this damn world.

  'Damn it.' I stood on the tips of feet as if it's less painful, then I looked more specifically looking for the right direction to leave this cursed place.

  For some reason each type of... things? Guards? have their own areas, such as mannequins dark fogs and those trees, in other words as long as I avoid the trees I could easily get the hell out.

  I began jogging slowly pain sharp accompanying every step as I feared, but if I keep cursing in my head I might manage... hopefully.

  I jumped over a rising root I evaded a moving wooden hand rising in the air and landing on the ground as I kept moving forward, each landing a jolt up my feet, each step a pain to endure.

  It felt like hours passed even though it was a short time in fact.

  I finally am moving through normal trees but I only finally stopped after one more dozen steps before toppling forward and settling on the ground panting loudly.

  The pain was there loud and clear, the blood was there too bright and brown now, and my vision blurred slightly as I stared up at the leaves swaying in the breeze.

  Then the beautiful silence was cut off with a very disturbing sound: "You are indeed a runner, how peculiar; never thought you could actually run away." The voice was cold low, like the sound coming from a dead human... or not a human.

  My blood ran cold as I suddenly jolted up to my feet staring in the direction of the sound, standing there Creek with those same filthy rags for clothes and that skull that was almost a human skull, his hand resting on a long twisting stick as if he needed something to help him walk.

  'Agatha what the hell??' My mind was disturbed simply by the sight, my breathing slowed as if air refused to obey.

  Agatha finally spoke: "I'm sorry... not really." Her voice was too calm and I felt furious at the situation, 'was this a trap all along? Fuck.'

  Creek stepped closer and with him, he brought distressing nausea enough to make my head feel heavier than a boulder.

  My eyes felt heavy as I quickly lost consciousness, the last thing I did is summon my rifle and point it in his general direction.