Thanks to TehGramerPolise and MasterofBones for their help with this chapter.

The tunnel was dark for only a couple of moments, then the light came back in a rush and I was standing in the middle of a cobblestone path that stretched and wound into the distance. To my sides was undergrowth and trees so thick that I would have to practically squeeze between them to get off the path. Not that it would ever be wise to deviate from a path like this in the first place.

I took a moment to take stock of my situation. While I doubted that Specimen 1347 was going to be able to follow me directly, it was going to look for a way to cut me off or to ambush me when I got out. In addition, there was no telling what forest creatures or spirits were lurking on this path, just waiting for a hapless mortal. There's a reason why there are plenty of stories told about people wandering into forests and never being seen again.

All of which meant that I needed every tool at my disposal if I was going to even survive the journey.

I repeated that reasoning over and over in my head, forcing my suddenly reluctant hand into my pocket to pull out the Essence of the Mother.

The plain-looking stone felt impossibly heavy in my open palm. I took a moment longer to convince myself that this was the right thing to do and I closed my eyes.

"Sarongar, vult al visces rencirtes." I whispered softly.

I grit my teeth and tried to keep calm and even as I waited for the burning sensation to erupt in my arm.

But there was nothing, no pain from the mark in my arm, no sudden heat, nor even the deep, reverberating voice of the Lord of Flame.

There was simply the sound of chirping birds and the feel of a soft, gentle breeze.

I frowned slightly and took a deep breath, "Sarongar, vult al visces rencirtes. Daract nalesces ciebues."

I waited again, dreading at any moment that a lance of fiery agony was going to race up my arm.

Yet again, there was nothing.

I frowned as I looked around, Sarongar wasn't the type to play games or hide his presence. In my past experience, he was always very direct about what he wanted; I couldn't imagine that he was somehow less eager to get his hands on the stone that I now held in my sweating palm than he had been three years ago.

Could it be something about the forest was blocking him from coming? I doubted it, as it hadn't seemed to be an obstacle before. To my knowledge the only being that dwelled here that could even think about pulling that off was the Baba Yaga, and she was currently occupied.

Then a thought struck me: it could be that Specimen 1347 was somehow jamming the calling. While I doubted that it could necessarily stop him, it could probably stop me from contacting him.

I thought for a moment about that and then shrugged. I put the Essence of the Mother down on the grass to the side of the path and got down on my knees. Very carefully, I etched in a circle and several runes in the ground with Harbinger.

Once I was done, I made sure that the stone was in the center of the design and focussed.

The idea was fairly simple, the Essence of the Mother was connected to Remnant and Sarongar. By using it, I could create a kind of resonance that in theory would cause my message to be more direct and thus stronger. It's kind of like scroll reception, we may be across the continent from each other, but if I get closer to a CCT tower, then my signal to you is stronger. Except it gets a little weirder in this instance because what I was doing was also going 'deeper', running the message closer to Remnant's inner layers.

If Specimen 1347 or anything was interfering with my calling to in theory I would not just be blasting through it, I would also be going underneath it.

Okay, maybe the idea is simple, but the concept behind it is all kinds of magical gobbledegook.

All that matters is that by using the Essence of the Mother, I was hoping to be able to contact Sarongar.

I double-checked my rune-work and took a deep breath, "Sarongar," I whispered and I could feel the air thrum as I spoke, "Vult a-"

That was as far as I got before everything around me erupted in flames.

I scrambled backwards, trying desperately to get away from the sudden white tongues of fire that had erupted around me.

As I retreated away from the circle, a trail of white tongues of fire was left behind. I blinked and then examined myself.

Ah…

Apparently my surroundings hadn't burst into flames.

I had.

I looked at both of my hands and arms, yeah, those were on fire. I looked down at my legs, those were on fire too. Everywhere I looked on my body, the strange, white flames were merrily burning.

Yet, my reason for the lack of complete and utter panic and why I wasn't currently rolling around trying to bat them out was that, despite all of the fire that now covered my body; was that I didn't feel any pain.

Now here's the thing, this fire had to be the work of Sarongar. Apparently when I had called him, this had been his reply. The bottom-line was that essentially, if he wanted me dead, or the very least be in excruciating pain, it would already have happened.

The fact that I was currently covered in tongues of white flame that were apparently painless and none of my flesh was melting from my bones or being charred to a crisp meant that he had something else in mind.

The thing with Sarongar however, is that he was like a shark, if you so much as bled a single drop, he would tear you apart. While he might have planned to not kill me or horribly burn me, if he sensed weakness, he might change his mind.

So I sat very… very still; trying to keep myself as calm and composed as possible.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, there was a sudden whoosh and the flames disappeared.

I looked around, not even a single blade of grass had been so much as singed; and the Essence of the Mother sat right in the center of the circle, undisturbed.

I frowned as I looked down at myself, I hadn't been burned anywhere, and my clothes were unharmed. Out of curiosity, I rolled up my sleeve to see the place on my arm that Sarongar had placed his brand, and lifted an eyebrow.

The brand had changed, the skin had healed, where once it had been twisted, scarred flesh, it now looked more like a tattoo in red ink that seemed to glow with a soft, flickering light.

I lowered the sleeve back down, trying to think of what to make of all of this. Finally, I stood up and held Harbinger out before me, the fact of the matter was that there was only one thing that mattered at the moment.

"Sarongar, vust ignasias vulcanos." I said aloud.

Almost instantly, the white flames roared along the length of the blade, and I marveled at them for a moment before willing the fire out of the weapon.

I sheathed Harbinger, feeling slightly elated. While I had no freakin' clue how things had turned out this way, I wasn't exactly going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe Sarongar had changed over the past three years?

Yeah… right... I would have to be careful about using the newfound powers in combat. For all I knew, the flames that came to my blade were as useful as a screen door on a submarine. While it wouldn't be like Sarongar to pull a trick like that, it wasn't like him to just hand out power either.

I picked up the Essence of the Mother and put it in my pocket. Then, with at least some hope that I had the flames of Sarongar at my disposal, I began to walk down the cobblestone path deeper into the forest.

It wasn't long after I had started walking along the path that I felt a kind of tension in the air, like the forest around me was holding its breath.

I kept my hand on Harbinger's hilt, ready at any moment for it to scream. It wasn't too hard to figure out what was happening. For three years, the Baba Yaga had been keeping Forever Fall safe from Specimen 1347. When she fell, everything that had been under that protection would panic.

And here I was, walking on one of the few paths out of here.

So why wasn't I booking it? Running as fast as I could down the stone path to get to the end?

For a couple of reasons: the first is that the creatures that lived in the forests had the instincts of animals. Some were predators, some were prey; with all of the behaviors and instincts that it entailed. With everything at the brink of erupting into frenzy, the sight of a juicy mortal running along might very well be the only spark that was needed to have every single predator in the entire forest after me.

The second reason is that paths like these had a very distinct nature to them. Have you ever had a dream where you tried to run to or from something, but no matter how hard you tried to run you seemed to move slower? Paths like these are kind of like that, they are as long as they will be, there is no point in running along them; you will reach the end of them just as fast by crawling on your hands and knees as you will by sprinting.

So although every single bone in my body was screaming at me; I willed myself to keep an even pace.

Then it happened all at once; I felt a chill on the back of my neck, and the entire forest seemed to let out a long, slow sigh.

To either side of me, the forest exploded with movement, there were growls, roars, and shrieks as the denizens began to go into a frenzy.

Then there was a rumble beneath my feet and I cursed as I looked side to side at the thick foliage to the side of the path. I had been hoping to have more time, because now I was between a rock and a hard place.

I had absolutely no desire to be trampled by the flood of creatures that would be undoubtedly roaring down the path shortly. However the foliage that lined the path hadn't thinned in the slightest since the start; and like I mentioned before, straying from magical paths was usually a huge no-no.

That's when I saw it, a clearing in the forest to my left. I grit my teeth and dove to the side, putting myself out of sight.

Mere seconds later, an absolute stampede came thundering down the cobblestone path. It consisted of creatures as alien as I had ever seen of every shape and size. Great furred beasts that were meters tall at the shoulder ran next to scaly lizard-like things the size of my fist.

Some of them I had fought before, some I had never seen before in my life. All I could do was watch in awe as they ran by.

That's when the explosions went off.

At first, I didn't understand what was happening as there was a loud boom and several of the creatures roared and howled in pain and rage. More explosions rang out and the stampede faltered, the creatures and beings milling about as those at the front panicked.

"Oh no." I breathed, and I tried to focus on changing into a bird.

Nothing.

I blinked and scrapped that idea, instead dashing to a tree.

A moment later, they scattered in every direction, heading for the forest interior. I barely managed to get above the ground as a gigantic bear-like creature with six legs trampled where I had been mere seconds earlier.

More creatures followed it, crushing the underbrush beneath them as they ran. The noise was incredible as the denizens of Forever Fall escaped the path.

I let out a sigh of relief as I reached the upper boughs and sat down. I could wait here until the chaos died down, then see what the heck had caused all the commotion.

I thought about that for a moment, I had heard explosions. I knew of no creatures of the forest that would use such a thing, much less use it on a forest path. For now I also had no idea whether the explosions in question were magical or mundane. Until I had a chance to examine it I wouldn't-

Then the ground shook and the air was filled with a huffing and snorting that was as loud as thunder and I turned my gaze around.

Oh Yungar… How to even begin… They are huge for one thing, easily the size of a two story building. They have brown fur that covers their entire body. Their head juts out from their massive shoulders, with a flat, scrunched face that makes their breathing come out short and labored. They have two huge eyes that bug out from that face, and are constantly cross-eyed.

They are also nearly invincible, but fortunately are completely non-aggressive, and are easily distracted.

That doesn't mean, however, they are harmless. Their sheer size can cause them to wipe out entire villages if they panic, as despite their massive size and invulnerability, they are easily frightened.

I watched with bated breath as it considered the path ahead, explosions still erupting. It's scrunched face confused as it valiantly tried to focus its eyes in the same direction. A particularly large explosion erupted closer on the path and the creature let out a frightened yip that nearly deafened me.

It then turned in my direction.

"Noooo…." I breathed.

The Yungar started propelling itself forward and I watched helplessly as it barreled almost directly towards me knocking over the trees as it did so.

I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach as the tree I had taken refuge in was tossed to the side like a toy. I leapt free at the last moment and rolled on the ground, trying to soften the blow.

I was somewhat successful, being mildly battered and bruised, but otherwise unharmed from the fall. That is, until I ran smack dab into a tree.

I laid there for a while, trying to blink the stars out of my eyes, and warily got to my feet. I was surrounded by trees, but fortunately, the Yungar's passage had cleared the way back to the path. I dusted myself off and began to walk towards it when I felt my leg catch on something.

I felt a chill of dread run down my spine as I turned and looked down. There, wrapped around my leg, was a small, furry creature that resembled a monkey, if monkeys had scorpion tails, no mouth, and a trio of dark beady eyes.

I began to slowly reach for Harbinger's hilt, "Hey now, let's not do something that we're both going to regret." I said slowly, trying to keep my voice calm.

It cocked its head to the side as it considered me, then it began to vibrate and it let out a piercing screech, its eyes glowing green.

I tried to unsheathe Harbinger, but my hand had suddenly gone numb, then it spread through my whole body and I fell down to the ground. I tried to desperately to move, an arm, a leg, a finger, anything, but it was in vain; whatever this thing had done to me, I was completely paralyzed. I was vaguely aware as more creatures similar to the first began emerging from the forest and was completely helpless as multiple pairs of rough, furry hands hoisted me up and carried me away deeper into the forest.