Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 45: The Lost Man

Aldric ran desperately through the trees. When he realized it, he was already in a darker part of the forest, where the light barely penetrated the dense canopy above, and all around him were tree-creatures, twisted trunks that moved slightly, branches that bent as if watching, roots that pulsed in the ground.

But he noticed something strange: none of them did anything to him. They didn’t attack. They didn’t move when he passed near. They just... watched.

Even so, he began to walk in absolute silence, he didn’t shout for Isabela even though he desperately wanted to, because he was afraid that the trees would really notice him and decide that he was a threat.

He knew he had to hide, find a safe place there where he constantly felt watched by a thousand invisible eyes and heard strange noises, creaks, crackles, organic sounds that he couldn’t identify.

That forest was strange in a way that made your skin crawl just being there, illuminated only by bioluminescent mosses that glowed faintly at the roots. Roots emerged from the ground petrified, some so thick you had to climb over them, others thin enough to intertwine, forming a network in the soil.

Aldric tried to orient himself by looking for a landmark, but all the paths seemed the same: black trees, roots, shadows, nothing to serve as a marker.

He found unsettling signs as he walked. Old bones, scattered on the ground, some human by size, others from creatures he didn’t recognize, all covered in moss and cracked with age.

Deep marks on tree trunks, giant scratches that had cut through the wood like butter, made by something with claws much larger than Kira’s.

Footprints he didn’t recognize, some with three toes, others with five but the wrong shape, all sunk too deep into the ground indicating absurd weight.

He continued walking, his fear growing with each step, until he finally found an area that seemed different.

There was a small lake with dark, still water, and no visible tree-creatures around it, only normal trees (or at least they looked normal) forming a small clearing around the water.

He sat down in one of the trees there, huddled with his back against the trunk, hugging his knees, and stayed like that for an indefinite amount of time, just trying to control his breathing and not panic.

Thirst hit him hard after a while. Dry throat, cracked lips, his body urgently craving water.

The lake was right there ahead, just a few meters away.

He slowly stood up, looking around, went to the edge of the lake crouching, and looked at the dark water doubtfully. He dipped his hand in, taking a little in his palm, brought it close to his mouth...

And then he remembered the scene of the giant sea creature chasing them up there, he remembered the trees that were disguised creatures.

He let the water fall from his hand back into the lake without drinking it.

A sound.

A branch snapped behind him.

Aldric turned quickly, heart racing, eyes wide, searching for the source.

Nothing.

Only trees. Only shadows. Only silence.

He stood still for five full seconds waiting for something to appear, but nothing moved.

He kept walking, moving away from that lake as fast as he could without running, because running made noise, and noise attracted attention, and attention meant death.

Another sound.

Closer this time.

Something was moving among the trees behind him, no longer trying to hide, making noise on purpose as if playing.

Aldric only saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, something tall, something with too many limbs, something that moved awkwardly.

Now he understood completely:

He was being followed....

He began to walk faster and faster, almost running but still trying not to make excessive noise, desperately searching for somewhere to hide. The normal forest ended ahead, and only the twisted tree-creatures blocked the path.

Two options: turn back and find out what the creature following him was, or go forward and risk it with the tree-creatures.

He chose to go forward into the tree-creatures.

"Better an enemy seen than not s..."

A blur.

Something struck him with brutal force from the side, an impact that knocked all the air out of his lungs, and Aldric flew, thrown like a rag doll, rolling across the ground several times before crashing against a tree with a dry sound of breaking bones.

"Hehehe"

A sharp, childish laugh echoed through the forest.

The creature finally began to reveal fragments of itself, emerging from the shadows little by little while Aldric coughed up blood, struggling to catch his breath. He staggered to his feet, his vision blurred, and when he focused he could see parts.

It wasn’t legs touching the ground.

It was arms. Many. Six, maybe eight, all emerging from the lower part of the body, moving like a giant spider.

The torso was where the head was located, a head that was too large, disproportionate, round like a full moon but with stretched skin revealing the skull underneath.

And above its head, emerging from its nonexistent shoulders, were more arms, two of them raised in the air, ending in normal human hands.

And the creature smiled. Its mouth was too wide, cutting across its face almost from ear to ear, its teeth small and sharp like a child’s, and that smile never faded.

"hehehe"

With the two hands above its head, it made a "shh" gesture, pressing long fingers against its stretched lips, asking for silence.

"Hel..." Aldric began to say, staggering to his feet, ready to flee.

The creature tilted its large head to the side, still smiling, and whispered in a small, but distorted, childlike voice:

"...patient."

Aldric panicked completely.

He tried to run but fell before taking three steps; something had grabbed his leg, one of the creature’s arms stretched impossibly, reaching the distance, and then they lifted him by the ankle, turning him upside down in the air.

Aldric’s eyes finally focused on the creature now that it was close.

The head was even worse up close. It had eyes, many small eyes scattered across its forehead and cheeks, all blinking at different rhythms.

The mouth continued to smile, but now you could see the thick, black tongue moving inside. The arms that supported it in the air ended in hands with fingers that were too thin and too long, nails dirty with dirt and old blood.

"HELP!!!" Aldric screamed with all his might.

The creature’s smile vanished instantly, turning into an expression of pure rage, all the small eyes focusing on him at the same time.

With one of its free hands, it grabbed Aldric’s right arm and ripped it off.

It didn’t cut it. It didn’t break it. It ripped it cleanly from the shoulder with brute force, tendons tearing, bone coming out of the joint with a wet, horrible sound.

"AAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Aldric screamed even louder, pain exploding in waves that blacked out half of his consciousness. The creature immediately released Aldric because of the noise, letting him fall to the ground clutching the bleeding stump where his arm had been.

Aldric took advantage of the situation and ran, first stumbling and almost falling with each step, then finding a desperate rhythm and running fast despite the excruciating pain, one arm clinging to what remained of the other on his shoulder, trying to staunch the gushing blood.

He looked back.

The creature was chasing after him on its arms and legs, a giant spider-like movement covering distance too quickly, and repeatedly shouting incessantly in an increasingly loud and angry voice:

"shhhhhh"

"shh ... The ground suddenly gave way beneath him, a steep hill sloping down, and Aldric tumbled down, hitting rocks and roots until finally stopping at the bottom of a swamp, the shallow, dirty water covering the waterlogged ground.

He got up crying like a child, limping but still running through the swamp that sank under his feet with every step.

The creature appeared at the top of the hill, slid down easily by its arms, and continued the chase, repeating more and more angrily:

"SHHHHHHHHH!"

"SHHHHHHHHH!"

Aldric kept running through the swamp without looking back, only hearing the sound of the arms hitting the water behind him, getting closer and closer.