Reborn with a Necromancer System-Chapter 217: Beasts of the Forest

The forest stretched endlessly in all directions, shimmering with hues that didn't quite belong to any season Kai had ever known. Soft blues and luminous golds clung to the leaves, with bark that shimmered like polished stone. The trunks of the trees rose like cathedral pillars, vast and ancient, with silver-streaked vines twisting in gentle spirals around them. The light that filtered through the canopy overhead was soft and almost unreal, like something out of a video game-like the elven forests he remembered from his old world. Beautiful. Serene. Unreal.

Vepice said nothing, but he caught her wide-eyed glances as she took in their surroundings. Her hand brushed the feathered ferns beside her, as if to make sure it was real.

A distant rustle made them all pause.

From between the trees, a massive shape strode forward on two thick, taloned legs. Its body was covered in dense, oily feathers, and its beak was curved like a scythe. A giant flightless bird, easily taller than a horse, blinked at them with golden eyes that shimmered with slow intelligence.

It's feathers were an array of red, green, purple, and blue.

If it weren't two to three times larger than them, Kai would have admired the beast.

Kai froze, hand drifting toward his sword on his belt. Vepice stepped slightly behind him, her breath caught.

But the bird didn't attack.

It took one long, deliberate look at the trio, cocked its head once, and then turned away.

They watched in silence as it sauntered off a short distance, where the soft soil was dark with blood.

A hulking wolf, nearly the size of a small cart, emerged snarling from the underbrush, its eyes burning red, its fangs long and jagged.

The bird barely waited.

It moved in a flash. Beak and claws tore through fur and sinew with shocking brutality.

Kai thought he saw electricity spark from the wolf, but it didn't matter against the raw strength of the bird.

Within seconds, the wolf was twitching on the ground, its neck torn open and spine half-exposed. A few more savage strikes, and it was still.

Kai winced at the wet crunch of bone, the sheer violence of the act. Vepice turned away with a grimace.

Orlin didn't even blink. "We're not much of a meal," he said calmly, as though he were commenting on the weather. "Nor even worth toying with for many of the larger predators here. You just have to worry about the little ones."

"The little ones?" Kai asked, voice dry.

"Mmm," Orlin nodded. "Some of them'll strip the flesh from your bones in minutes. Swarm you before you even hear them coming. Acid glands. Paralytic venom. Barbed tongues. It's all very creative."

"Okay," Kai muttered. "That's... good to know."

They continued walking.

The bird, finished with its meal, glanced back at them briefly before vanishing into the trees once more. In its wake, silence reclaimed the forest.

They pressed on for a long time. The strange foliage seemed to shift subtly as they moved, as if the trees themselves turned to observe them. The air grew warmer, and the bioluminescent plants around them began to glow with a steady pulse, mimicking a heartbeat.

Eventually, Kai broke the silence.

"Hey, Orlin?"

"Yes?" the older necromancer replied, not looking back.

Kai hesitated for a moment. "I was just wondering... You used to be more... eccentric?"

Orlin actually chuckled. It was a small, brittle sound.

"Ah. I thought you might bring that up," he said. "Although I have the memories and body of Orlin… his personality, his soul, you might call it, didn't remain."

Kai frowned. "So you're not really him."

"I'm a shadow of him," Orlin said. "A well-preserved, carefully reconstructed shadow. He made preparations, built safeguards, even split portions of his memory into crystal to preserve continuity. But no matter how meticulous he was… the soul is what gives a man his color. His madness. His passion. I am only the aftermath."

Kai didn't respond right away. He looked at the way Orlin moved, his stiff posture, the lack of nervous ticks, the precision of every step. It was all there, but none of it felt right.

"That's a shame," Kai said quietly.

Orlin nodded once. "Indeed it is. You were much happier around me, around him, when his soul was intact."

The words hung in the air, heavier than they had any right to be.

Vepice glanced between them but didn't speak. Her expression was unreadable, though a flicker of sadness crossed her features.

Kai looked down at his feet as they trudged forward again, his boots crunching softly on the glowing moss. The forest was still beautiful. Still full of impossible things. But the world suddenly felt colder.

Orlin was alive, and not alive. Present, and not. A relic of a man who had once taught him to raise the dead with wit and whimsy, and who now walked beside him with precision and logic, but no soul.

And in that moment, Kai felt the loneliness of it all press deeper than before.

As they moved deeper into the luminous forest, where trees shimmered with a faint violet glow and leaves rustled without wind, Kai's boots squelched against the soft ground, still damp from a mist that never lifted. Above them, vines twisted through crystalline branches, and somewhere in the distance, water trickled in slow, irregular patterns.

It felt like a place elves would live in, at least, the kind of elves from video games back in Kai's old world. Peaceful. Beautiful. Magical. But there was a silence to it that made the back of his neck itch.

A strange rustling ahead made them stop.

From between the oversized ferns and glowing mushrooms, a massive bird ambled out. It was at least three meters tall, with scaled legs, dark oily feathers, and a beak that could probably crack bone. Its narrow eyes blinked curiously at them as it stepped close enough for Kai to catch a whiff of sour, earthy musk.

Then, without warning, it turned and bolted into the underbrush.

A canine-like growl tore through the stillness.

They saw it then, through the trees, another massive wolf had been stalking them from afar.

Possibly the companion for the other dead wolf, taking advantage of the other wolf being devoured behind them.

'How do we deal with it?' Kai thought, possibilities and strategies streaming from his mind like water from a colander.

Just when the wolf jumped towards them, a screech deafened Kai and Vepice.

The bird has reappeared and launched itself at it with a feral screech and tore the creature apart in seconds.

This time, Kai thought he saw ice form around the world instead of electricity.

Blood sprayed in thick arcs. The wolf didn't even get a bite in.

The bird turned its head back toward them. It's beak covered in blood.