The wind whistled through Ba-Khet’s hair as it walked down the dirt road next to the babbling dryad. Wait, did it even have hair? Ba-Khet didn’t think it had hair, but now, for some reason, it thought it did. Maybe because it did previously? But when was previously? Now that it thinks about this, what even is it? Before Ba-Khet fell deeper into a spiral of questions of hair and identity and memories, Ficus nudged it with his painfully sharp elbow.

  “There, kid, can you see it?” Ficus pointed a green finger at a wooden sign labeled ‘Aurelia’ in a weird writing that Ba-Khet understood from within, where the path diverged. “This is the path to the grand city of Aurelia, where all sorts of weirdos from across these damned lands gather to show off weird trinkets. If you’re trying to find something, it’s gotta be there.”

  As Ficus and Ba-Khet moved along the path, the colorful leaves of bushes and trees surrounding them swayed in the slow wind. The leaves rustled as the sun shone down onto the path ahead. The rays of light passed through the branches of the trees, and Ba-Khet, now more focused on what surrounded it, watched as little brown rodent-like creatures began to reveal themselves from fallen logs and around small puddles. Ba-Khet saw the wilderness without all the pain, or the cold, or while being dragged along by strangers. This time, Ba-Khet could breathe. Time felt slower, and Ba-Khet simply watched.

  As they walked, the path began to moisten, and there were more muddy puddles along the path. The trees also seemed to grow wider and taller. Ba-Khet spotted more fallen trees, some with stemming mushrooms as they lay on the forest brush. The sky became infrequent as the trees began feeling taller and the leaves felt bigger. The path forward darkened and grew more secluded.

  There weren’t as many creatures in this muddier land. Only small flying bugs and crawling critters caught Ba-Khet’s attention. The air around it felt humid and sticky. The path grew smaller and windier with twists and turns.

  While walking the path, Ba-Khet and Ficus came across a large log, about twice the height of Ba-Khet. On the left of the path was more of the log stretching out for an unknown distance, along with more plants and trees. This side was dense enough that looking in that direction could only allow you to see about five steps ahead before more leaves and branches blocked your vision. There were sharp thorns on some of the low bushes with one of them containing the rotting corpse of a small forest creature. A small creature scurried out from the thorn bushes and the hidden and mysterious brush. It ran across and into the other side

  The other side was less dense and quite open; however, the ground was mainly water. The same creature plunged into the water and disappeared under the water. The water bubbled before the creature that had jumped in just moments ago floated to the top with bite marks along its side and its head missing. Trees seemed to float atop the water, their dense root structure reaching beneath the brown, muddy water. Many green dots floated on the water with their root-like tendrils sinking further into the foggy water.

  “So, which way’s it gonna be, eh?” asked Ficus.

  “Well… can’t we just climb over this log?” And without waiting, Ba-Khet walked over and reached out to touch the huge log.

  “Wait! Don’t touch the treant!” Ficus, yelling while pulling Ba-Khet back, away from the wood. “Look, this isn’t a tree, it’s-“

  Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and the tree began to move.

  “Hurry! This way,” Ficus said while shoving Ba-Khet over into the dense foliage.

  On the side of the tree, the bark began to shift and slide. A single reddish-white ball emerged from a spherical hole underneath the shifting bark. The ball, still inside the tree, suddenly twisted to reveal a green iris and a pitch-black pupil. This tree had an eye. Surrounding the eye emerging from under the bark was a reddish pink material that resembled flesh. The previously hidden side of the tree had streaks, like cuts, with more flesh-like material.

  The tree now rose above the ground with leaves, and plants falling off the log onto the ground below. The commotion on the ground caused dirt and dust to spread throughout the air.

  The dust had subsided, and the two stood in the silence. They could see the tree now. It was a towering beast, far bigger than Ba-Khet or Ficus. The side previously hidden now revealed the tree’s many scars. The tree appeared to look around before the many tendrils, which could have been mistaken for roots, began to walk like the hundred legs of a centipede. Ba-Khet watched as the tree disappeared into the dense forested area, leaving behind a trail of white. The foliage seemed to wrap around the tree as it moved away, then moved back as though a tree had never just pushed its way through.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Listen, whenever you feel the ground shake, or a tree start to move, just hide as fast as ye can. Those things don’t care whether something's in front of them, they’ll run anything over.”

  Ba-Khet nodded.

  “Let’s get moving before any more of them hear the noise, and come looking for us.”

  After this encounter, the two began moving farther on the path. In the distance, there were sounds of branches creaking and cracking, water was splashing, and the ground shook at times.

  “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “What doesn’t?”

  “Usually, the trees don’t ever get close to these paths. And also, that tree had scars. They’re called treants, they predate the city by hundreds if not thousands of years, some say they are protectors of the forest.”

  “Oh yeah, uh, is everything here alive?” Ba-Khet jokingly replied.

  “Well, are you alive?”

  “I… don’t know.” As Ba-Khet said quietly.

  “Anyways,” Ficus averred, quickly changing the subject, “usually trees only get scars if they’re injured, but that tree had so many. So, there has to be something out there doing this to them.”

  “Like what?” Ba-Khet tried to think of anything that might be the cause, but only frustration emerged, and its mind felt blank.

  The sound of branches snapping and breaking in the distance had subsided now, and the two had gotten farther into the path. The ground no longer shook, and it was as dry as the path before the swampy land they had just crossed.

  This time, the trees began to thin, and the foliage became less dense. There were moments when the sky could clearly be seen without branches or leaves blocking the way. The small creatures had returned, and some flying creatures could be heard creating warbled, but strangely beautiful sounds in the canopy.

  The further the two went, the more creatures they found. Some looked like fully black deer with short, thin streaks of yellow along their backs, along with yellow eyes. The flying creatures resembled birds with strange protrusions on their heads and necks.

  Trees were now becoming more of a rare sight. The foliage no longer blocked the view into the distance, and was replaced with tall grass about half of Ba-Khet’s height. The dry dirt path ahead of them became gravelly and straight. The landscape became flat and grassy. The creatures from the forest disappeared. The sun, now fully visible, shined with its full intensity.

  Ahead, on the path, was a fence bordering the path on the left and right, and beyond those fences was unkept tilled land. Land that could be seen stretching all the way to the city, resting on the edge of the horizon. The farmland was riddled of weeds and overtaken plants. This land was not natural. This place was artificial and worsening its surroundings.

  These plants were old, neglected, and abandoned. They felt cold, as though they had once had plentiful years of big harvest, but now, their roots were short, leaves wilted, and stiff sprouts.

  Things felt dark, as though bad things were happening, yet the sun had only started to reach past noon. Ba-Khet felt this on the inside, but still could not understand what was happening or what was wrong. Ba-Khet tried to make sense of this in his mind, but something felt like it was blocking its mind. Ba-Khet gave up on understanding these feelings.

  The closer they got to the city, the more the artificial land grew broken and dried-up. Up ahead, was the small shape of a city, its features still unidentifiable, but still visible. The sky ahead had become grey and monotone, losing its vibrancy from what it once was before. The air around them grew colder. Ba-Khet could feel its arms in the wind pushed by the increasing intensity of the wind. The wind had a consistent push by this point. What was left of the crops and plants in the fields was blowing in the wind. Black birds were flying nearby, and some of them sat atop the fence starting with one eye. The bird's eyes followed the two walking along the path.

  Soon, the small shape in the distance grew larger. The air around them felt moist, and Ba-Khet's skin was softer with the humidity. It could smell something salty in the air. Ba-Khet, after more thinking, realized this was the smell of the sea with its salty and fishy smell. Now that Ba-Khet thought about it, when did it see the ocean? Ba-Khet knew of water and of the seas, but this time the smell had a fishier smell.

  The party of two finally came upon the large degraded stone wall they had been approaching during their travel through the field. The wall had towered over Ba-Khet and Ficus. Several larger stone protrusions grew from the wall. At the top of each of these buildings were blue and white flags, some of which were torn, that blew in the wind. On the side of the walls also hung banners with the same faded blue and white, but with a boat in the middle.

  In front of Ba-Khet and Ficus were the copper gates of Aurelia.