"You move me."

Green.

Rustling, his body straining as he chased the noise.

Darker green.

Lime green.

Olive green?

"H-Hey!"

Leaf green.

Emerald green.

Crimson.

Green. Red. Green.

Green, red-

... Silver.

"Come no closer, creature. "

Chance blinked. He'd lost himself in that brief chase(Was it brief? Was it a minute? An hour?), but the scenery hit him all at once. The small clearing he found himself in was Greenpath's usual green, but held an air unlike anything they had come across previously. Beams of light fell down from some unknown sky above, the spiral carvings littered about the area in a way that wasn't natural, the faint blue-purple flower bushes flooding the place like a sea.

A small bug, looking suspiciously similar to Tusk, their mask cracked with a nail in their chest, sat unmoving under a jagged pillar of carved wood.

And in the middle of it all, that whirlpool of green and sunlight, stood the Huntress. An unmoving pillar of red, her needle drawn and pointing right at his neck.

Her head tilted slightly, and her eyes were on him. She no longer looked towards him, she looked at him. He had finally gotten the Huntresses' attention, and he no longer wanted anything to do with it.

At his feet, he heard the swish of a nail being unsheathed, and looked down to see Tusk, nail drawn, staring dead into the Huntresses' eyes.

"Hmph," she huffed. She sounded annoyed, yet not at all surprised. "Of course you would raise your nail at me, ghost ."

... Ghost?

With a single word, the Huntress had managed to make Chance suddenly doubt his partner. He realized that he knew nothing about Tusk, their past, their true identity, their life. Hell, he didn't even know what they were, as it became painfully obvious that they were nothing like the other bug-people in this world

Who the Hell had he been traveling with?

"I cannot fathom what machinations have drawn you two together," the Huntress continued, catching his attention again, "but I've seen you both, creeping through the undergrowth, stalking me."

"Stalk-" Chance muttered under his breath at first, then raising his voice indignantly, " Stalking?! That's not what we were doing, we were-! We were just trying to-! It's all just a coincidence!"

He bit his lip, realizing that they pretty much had been stalking her. " We're not here to fight!" , he tried to explain as a last resort. "We just need information!"

The woman in the red cloak simply scoffed at him. "Speak for yourself, Outsider. No matter your vague pipe-dream ambitions and honeyed words, the little one already has their weapon drawn."

Tusk only took another step forward at her provocation. Chance could almost feel the situation slipping out of his control, towards an inevitable conclusion.

"P-Please!" Chance tried to plead with her, knowing it was hopeless. "I don't want to-"

Somehow, the light shimmered, and Chance thought he saw the very air around him warp before all air was cut off from his lungs.

An invisible force had constricted itself around his neck, and pulled tight. Chance made a gross, desperate choking noise as he clawed at his throat. He thought his windpipe was going to cave in as he collapsed to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Silence your useless rambling," the Huntress spoke with an indifferent venom. Through his blurry eyes, he could barely see her turn her head around their soon-to-be arena thoughtfully. "This old kingdom... A terrible thing awakens. I can smell it in the air…" she mused.

Her dark eyes turned on him.

"I can smell it on you. "

Just as darkness began to grow at the edge of his vision, a nail cut through the air next to him, and the invisible fist his neck had been clenched in finally loosened up, and Chance collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, coughing up orange mucus into the grass.

The Huntress regarded him without emotion. "Pitiful." And she was right; she hadn't even done anything, she had merely willed him to the ground, wheezing. Down like a kicked puppy, the Huntress forgot about him and turned her attention to Tusk, still standing strong.

"Little ghost… Although the human's nature eludes me, I know what you are. I cannot comprehend why you would save him, but I know what you'd try to do."

She bent down slightly into a fighting stance.

"I can't allow it…"

As the two rushed each other with their nails drawn, dozens of questions rushed into Chance's mind.

Ghost? Nature? What you are? Why would you save him? Save him? Try to do? Allow it?

...Save him?

Still trying to catch his breath as the Huntress and the Knight clashed, Chance raised a shaky hand to his neck, and rubbed his fingers across it. Something shifted under his fingertips, and with a pinch, he managed to pull it off and examine it with watery eyes.

It was thin, almost impossibly so, to the point where it was nearly invisible. But he could feel it, it was undoubtedly there.

A single strand of string, cut only where Tusk slashed it to break him free.

String… That explained why the Huntress' weapon was a needle and not a nail. But why string?...

...Well, there was that , but she didn't look anything like a-

The string suddenly zipped out of his hand, and his head shot up to see the Huntress in midair, the air around her wavering, gathering energy, until it all unleashed in a bright flurry of slashes, blowing Tusk back with heavy wounds.

"TUSK!" It didn't matter. None of it mattered right now, they were in a fight , and thinking in a corner would do him no favors.

He scrambles to his feet, his hand still holding onto his sore throat, rushing towards the fight. The Huntress barely sent him a glance when his ankle was caught by some invisible tripwire, and mid-fall, something cut across his face and sent him falling the opposite direction, his back crashing on the ground painfully.

"Tusk?" the Huntress questioned. For once, she sounded interested in his words. "What an unbefitting name for a Vessel. Why Tusk of all things, Outsider?" She sounded hesitant to let the name roll off her tongue, like the word was something bitter that made her mouth cringe up.

Vessel? Unbefitting?

"I…" Chance coughed, rolling to his side as he spoke with a sore throat. "T-They picked it out… t-themselves."

" Liar. "

Chance yelped as something forced both of his ankles together and dragged him away from the injured Tusk, pulling Chance up to dangle upside-down in the air. He flailed his arms to reach for his nail, only for gravity to pull it away to the ground with a thud.

"You are but a distraction from my true foe. Remain out of my way for the remainder of this duel and perhaps you may escape with your life."

Chance opened his mouth to protest, but only choked muffles came out as several strings spun into a sheet covering his mouth, forcing him into silence.

Okay. Great. Shit. The Huntress had some kind of invisible string magic. He was strung up and gagged like a fly caught in a web.

...Could she really be a-?

The Huntress struck another blow against Tusk, further cracking their mask. Chance gave another small yelp of alarm, his futile struggling gaining strength. But no matter how hard he fought against the bonds, they refused to budge. On the contrary, he could feel the binds constrict around him.

Back.

For once, they may have been truly outmatched. Whenever Tusk managed to get within any distance of the Huntress, she would easily block their powerful swipes and deliver a cruel counter-attack of her own.

Forth.

Even a sky-high dive from Tusk to impale the Huntress was easily avoided. She quickly skittered away on all fours, almost unnaturally so.

Baaack.

She was just too agile, too skilled. While Tusk was an artist with a nail, the Huntress brought the craft to another level entirely. And that didn't even consider the gap between herself and him.

"Your weakness is painfully apparent, Ghost. You fought well, but I suggest you cease your struggles now, should you wish for a painless departure from this mortal plane."

Fooooorth.

Tusk was in awful shape. Their body sagged in exhaustion, and their mask was cracked all over, threatening to shatter entirely like a dropped porcelain vase. Chance wasn't sure what that would mean for Tusk, but he didn't want to know.

Baaaaaack.

Fooooooorth.

Hornet raised her nail, the light glinting off its sheen with a murderous intent.

Baaaaaaaaaack.

An explosion of white, as Tusk unleashed a massive spell with the last of their strength, launching an off-guard Huntress halfway across the arena, staggered.

Tusk collapsed to the ground.

Fooooooooooooooooor-

Snap!

Gravity took hold of Chance, and with his momentum, flew through the air out of control, aiming for a landing pad in red.

The Huntress, disoriented, raised an arm wearily an don't be so selfish.

I've heard of ghosts.

Are you having nightmares again?

Good ghosts who wander the battlefields at night, guiding soldiers out of danger.

Forgive me, my little spiderling.

Leave the sun, shine out...

A fellow rebel? ...Sure, I'll play along with your little game.

You can see their omens everywhere.

Omens, warnings of stray bullets and lurking enemies.

...She isn't going to.

And say hello, to never~

Have faith in our Pure Vessel, young Weaver.

Oh, shit-

If I was such a ghost, I would stay so close to you, you could feel my breath on your cheek.

Everything will be okay in the end.

I promise… No, I guarantee it.

So stay strong for me… okay?

With her defiant tenacity, I'm certain she'll be just fin ce stumbled over, hitting the grass with a thud. The pounding blood in his head slowly drained into the rest of his body as feeling returned to him.

His head hurt. Everything hurt.

He looks over to see the Huntress on the ground next to him, staring with a blank face. For a moment, everything was silent.

Chance gave a light-hearted chuckle to what suddenly felt like both a rival and an old friend.

"I knew it. You're a spider, aren't you? ...Hornet?"

Hornet stared for a moment longer, before the mouth of her mask seemed to open up, and she barred her terrifying fangs with a murderous hiss.

And the "old friend" sentiment went out the window.

Chance screamed in terror as he leaped away, backpedaling as best as his sore body would let him. Hornet staggered to her feet, using her needle as a crutch, her grip on its handle a vice from her rage. Her eyes were black and featureless, yet her glare still burned holes into him.

"Y-You would…" she seethed. The very air around her seemed to vibrate with her anger. "Y-You would dare to… invade my mind, Outsider? This affront will not go unpunished."

"I'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRY-"

Hornet rushed forward and swung her blade in a wide arc, Chance only barely managing to dodge by falling to the ground. Hornet stabbed the ground right next to his head, and Chance tried to roll out of the way, only for many thin somethings to wrap all around his body, digging into his skin painfully.

Caught in a spider's web.

Hornet made a vague motion with her nail, and Chance was catapulted out of the net he was trapped in, crashing into a stone pillar. Feeling his ribs creak in agony, Chance spat out some blood, and raised a hand to the wound that wasn't-

...To the wound that wasn't-

...There wasn't any wound there, it was…

It was…

...still there.

Chance's heart began pounding. What happened to his Focus? His healing magic? His one failsafe between himself and certain death? He dove deep within himself, reaching into the furthest reaches of his soul, looking for answers, and found…

Nothing.

There was nothing there.

There was nothing left.

His Soul reserves weren't unlimited. He could, would, and just did run out of Soul.

Shit.

Tusk was down, he was injured and without Soul, he dropped his nail on the other side of the room, and his foe had invisible string magic he had zero idea how to fight against. His mind rushed through possible options; He doubted he could forfeit and live now, and he sure as hell wasn't running while Tusk was still here. He didn't really have anything he could use as a weapon.

Did Hornet have him cornered?

Or… Was he thinking too inside the box?

Hornet stalked towards him as he staggered to his feet, holding his chest as though his ribs would shatter at any moment, using the stone pillar for support. Chance's thoughts were racing as time seemed to slow down, each of Hornet's steps taking several minutes.

His first priority was healing Tusk. He could do that, were it not for his empty Soul and Hornet standing between him and his "patient". Was there any way he could refill his Soul? Tusk had Soul magic, too, how did they get it?

Well… there was that charm they got, right? From the Snail Shaman. It was something about the "harvesting of Souls", right? When Chance first heard it, he thought it sounded like something used by a skeletal deity, cutting down lives under a terrible blade.

Though… was that so far off? Tusk seemed to like it a lot, and they did… most of the fighting. Was that it? Was attacking enemies how one refueled on Soul?

The only enemy here was Hornet. So, if he managed to land a few blows on her, he should maybe have enough Soul to quickly heal Tusk, right? ...But how to strike her down? She was too hyperfocused on him, and with her strings, there was no way he could get close.

Unless…?

Hornet flashed her needle dangerously. Chance, having finally caught his breath, turned to face her, letting his arm fall to his side.

His tangerine eyes met her inky black ones.

...

Greenpath was dead quiet.

…

Draw.

Hornet exploded forward, just as Chance broke into a sprint as well. They barely managed to avoid colliding, Hornet veering off in one direction and Chance in the other.

And just as they were running past one another,

Chance twisted his back,

reached down,

and pulled out a fistful of Geo to throw at her.

Hornet raised her needle to block the "attack," only for bits and pieces of Geo to doink off of her blade. For a moment, she completely forgot she was in a fight, and looked around in bewilderment at the literal money that her opponent had the audacity to just throw at her, before she looked back up to see his stupid grin.

"...You cannot bribe me from killing you, Outsider."

"I know."

Hornet almost talked back, until she realized that the human before her was glowing .

The light surrounding him grew brighter and more blinding, until it all exploded forth. A sea of Lumaflies flooded the overgrown cavern, flowing like water, crashing into the rocks and swirling in a chaotic whirlpool of light.

Somewhere deep within the sea she was drowning in, covering her eyes to block out the blinding light, Hornet could hear the Outsider laughing like the maniac he was.

"HAHAHAHAHA! I'VE WEAPONIZED GATHERING FUCKINGSWARM! YES!"

Hornet couldn't see anything, unable to use her needle nor her strings. She was defenseless. After a tumultuous few seconds, the swarm had regathered all of the Geo and retreated back to their owner.

-Who was right on top of her…

The flat side of the Outsider's nail struck square on her mask, knocking her back and leaving a nasty crack on the costume piece.

"HOME RUN!"

Hornet doubled back and fell to her knees. She reached up to her mask, feeling the crack her foe had left on it. She was loath to admit it, but that wasn't a half-bad stunt he just pulled.

Though, did he really just smack her with the flat side of the nail instead of using the blade…?

Chance wasted no time rushing over to Tusk, huddling over them to heal their wounds as best as he could before Hornet's dizziness cleared up. Several long cracks ran across their mask, black ooze leaking out of them. His hand glowed in a pale light as Tusk's wounds sealed up, having obviously never been there in the first place.

Tusk began to stir, likely rendered unconscious from Hornet's lashing. Chance sighed in relief. Tusk was alright, and he could use an extra hand in this fight-

"I've had enough of you."

Chance spun around, reaching for his nail. Shit, he wasn't expecting her to recover that quickly. Hornet had reared back, before launching forth, shooting towards Chance like a lance.

Crack!

Chance tried to move too late, and Hornet's needle neatly impaled him through his upper torso, piercing his heart. The tip of the blade came out of his back, covered in both crimson and tangerine.

He stood on the spot, time frozen. Blood dribbled from his lips. Not even a scream could escape from him. As his nail fell out of his numb hands, he looked up to Hornet, whose once burning gaze had gone ice-cold.

"Your luck has run out, Outsider."

And with that, she swiftly withdrew her needle, letting the blood drip off of its impeccable surface. Chance's numb body fell to the ground, blood and Infected pus soaking his shirt and jacket, as he coughed up even more tainted blood. Even as his senses dulled and slipped from his grasp, he swore he could hear Hornet say something quietly.

"..Forgive me. But I cannot allow anyone to threaten our fragile stasis."

Hornet stepped over his dying body to approach Tusk, who was wielding their nail from the center of the clearing, ready to avenge their fallen comrade. Hornet took the initiative, running forward to meet their attack with one of her own. Nails clashed as they traded blows, the clang of metal and rush of wind as they circled one another like two dogs in a cage, both trying to strike first.

Tusk was putting up a much better fight now, but Hornet hadn't even used her string magic to any useful extent yet, and Tusk was starting to slip behind. Hornet rushed in for another attack, ready to finally break their defense, and-

Something.

Something moving.

Something creeping.

Something nearby.

Something behind her.

Hornet backed out of her attack and spun around to barely block a surprise attack from Chance, his nail in one hand and his chest in another. Hornet quickly made a slash for him, which he simply jumped back from.

"H-How?" she seethed out. Chance simply let his free hand open, revealing some shards of glass, stained… blue?

"You bottled Lifeblood?" Hornet asked. Part of her wanted to be angry, but she couldn't help but be impressed by the idea. Why hadn't she thought of that?

"Kept it in my chest pocket," Chance explained. "It shattered when you stabbed me, patching up the wound you had just created. If you got me anywhere else, I'd be dead."

Hornet couldn't believe it. Of all places, she had attacked the one point that had healed him, rather than kill him. He was an incompetent bladesman, mostly relying on the genuine strength of his companion, and yet his luck seemed insurmountable.

"It seems your luck isn't quite spent." She hissed, bringing her needle to point, "but how long will it hold for you?"

She moved to attack him, but before she could, she heard Tusk running up from behind her, forcing her to turn around and block. Chance then made his move, swinging his nail in a wide arc, making her turn and deflect that as well. Tusk and Chance just took turns, going back and forth, back and forth. Hornet was incredibly skilled, but even she couldn't keep up with this for long.

Finally, Tusk managed to land a lucky blow, causing Hornet to collapse to her knees. Chance ran up and raised his nail skyward to deliver the finishing bl-

-ow out the princess' fucking brains.

Chance's head exploded in agony, and with a cry he collapsed to the ground, dropping his nail in the grass as he clutched his head. Tusk stopped their attack as well to run over to Chance, gently holding his head to make sure he was okay.

"T-Tuhsk," Chance sputtered out, before coughing up more Infection into the grass. Tusk gave him a gentle pat of comfort. He heaved, taking in the deepest breaths he could manage before coughing again, his body trying and failing to reject the Infection.

Hornet watched the scene silently, unsure what to think. She slowly rose to her feet, still catching her breath herself. They almost had her there, but that surge of the Infection had perhaps saved her life.

...No, that wasn't right. The Outsider was never aiming to kill her, only to "win" their fight so he and his companion could proceed peacefully. And with the way he was struggling now…

The infection hadn't saved her. It had nearly killed her, and it was he who had saved her.

"I've just seen a face, I can't forget the time or place where we just met-!"

Hornet almost jumped from the sudden voice, looking around to see where it was coming from. The Vessel couldn't speak, and the Outsider was busy coughing up his lungs. So who…?

"She's just the girl for me, and I want all the world to see we've met~!"

As the Outsider doubled over, and an… object peeked out of his pocket. Small, reflective black... It… didn't look like Void? Whatever it was, it seemed to be the source of the strange voice.

Some further investigation was in order.

Just as Chance's coughing attack calmed down, he suddenly noticed his phone playing music. Again. He didn't know what was broken about it, but he couldn't exactly take it down to a repair shop out-

"Had it been another day, I might have looked the other way…!"

As he was reaching down, his pocket unraveled.

It didn't tear open. It didn't force the opening wider. The seams of his pocket un-sewed themselves.

His phone glinted as one of Hornet's strings wrapped around it and pulled it up to her. With a raspy shout, Chance reached an arm out to catch it, but his fingers only grazed across the surface before he collapsed into the grass with a thud.

"And I'd have never beeeen aware, but as it is, I'll dream of her tonight~! Di, di, di, din'di!"

Hornet held his phone in her open hand, glaring at it as if to threaten it into revealing its secrets. "A voice can't fit in such a small object…?"

Chance made another desperate reach for his phone, and Hornet took that as her cue to leave, tossing her needle somewhere up in the air and flying off after it, leaving him and Tusk behind as the music slowly faded out into distant echoes.

"Tusk, for the love of-... put that down!"

Following the departure of Hornet, the grove had returned to its tranquil serenity in spirit, if not physicality. Their battle had been quite… destructive. Though in his defense, it was mostly the Huntress's razor-sharp thread that tore through the foliage rather than their blades. Chance supposed he was lucky that it hadn't torn any of his vital arteries open.

Still, he was quite injured, and judging by the cracks on Tusk's mask, they were as well. And with his Focus spent and Lifeblood used up, there was no quick way to mend their wounds aside from the slow flow of time. Still, they would live.

...Yeah, that was the important thing. They could live with their wounds. They were alive. Hornet had not extinguished them yet. Hallownest had failed to cut their lives short. Even the blasted Infection hadn't tripped them into a lethal mistake. A few close calls, sure, but as the Huntress had said, it seemed their luck wasn't quite spent.

Granted, he very much did not want to test the limits of said luck. He really had to be less reckless…

If he hadn't had that lifeblood…

He could have easily ended up like the poor soul near the edge of the grove. Whether the Huntress or Greenpath killed them, he wasn't sure, but he supposed it didn't matter. Their luck ran out.

It didn't help that they bore a striking resemblance to Tusk; the same body structure, same cloak… hell, the only real difference was the different horns each bore. The stranger had four, shorter curved horns jutting from each side of their mask, two per side. So similar, yet so different…

It was disconcerting to witness; a reminder of what fate awaited them if they failed… or if their luck broke.

Which made it a much more gruesome image when Tusk began ripping his brethren's cloak from its body. Soon enough, they had draped it over their own shoulders. Their old cloak had been handed to him, which he held incredulously.

"A-And what do you want me to do with this? You're wasting a perfectly good cloak for one you got from a dead body! That's not healthy!"

Tusk shrugged, staring with their hollow gaze and swishing their new cloak about, admiring it.

...Did they have a face under that mask?

"And what's so good about that cloak compared to this one? It's the- 's the same thing! I c-I can't... can't use this one, it's too small for me." He sighed.

And something from deep in his skull stabbed the back of his eyes, and Chance dropped like a stone.

"...Would it seek to break the seals…?"

Chance seethed as he gripped his head. This… wasn't the same headache as before. It wasn't as… violent, but it was still hellishly painful.

"...They cannot be undone…"

A disembodied voice, whispering on the wind, whispering in the back of his mind. Tusk seemed to hear it too, having doubled over, their head in the grass. The very grove itself around them seemed to shift, the air shimmering around them in fractals.

This voice...

"...They must be undone…"

...No.

Not a voice.

Three voices.

All overlapped, forming a ghostly cacophony. The very air glittered in an otherworldly light. They both looked about, taking in the supernatural sight. A sudden burst of ethereal light exploded across the grove, blinding the two of them, and three spirits rose from their graves. Three ghosts, floating around them, staring down at them as a judge would stare down at a convict.

A completely cloaked, tall figure with a cyclopic mask.

The final figure almost looked like a… jellyfish? Regardless of what exact type of bug she was, she had a kind of "hair" with her cloak, and her mask was of two, downset eyes.

A very large, bulbous multi-legged bug, and a mask with three sets of eyes.

They looked down the two with translucent disapproval.

"Let us sleep, little shadows. Return to your darkness."

What?

"Allow us our peace."

And Chance's head exploded.

"How admirable."

He screamed, the entire world tilting out of balance, until he fell backwards and hit the floor, laying still to let his dizziness clear. Sitting up straight with a clearer mind, he took a glance around the room, trying to gauge his surroundings.

Massive mushrooms scattered the walls and floor, with an ugly blueish-yellow hue, and something in the air seemed off, some kind of odorless gas that he could better feel than see or smell. Tall pikes were around him, topped with the masks of bugs much larger than anything he'd seen.

And in the very center before him were four thrones. Three were demolished, and only the rightmost one remained, with Her resting in it. She had one leg crossed over the other, and had her head in her hand, grinning down playfully.

"Well? Do you like my redecorating?"she asked.

He couldn't be sure exactly what she had redecorated. She shifted her legs over, letting her eyes rest closed with a warm smile.

"Take a good look around this room. Absorb it, for this is your next destination."

He spun around, opening his mouth to question her, but only pursed his lips. She raised a hand, seemingly to soothe any bubbling worries in his mind.

"Have no fear; you have no reason to rush. Take your time; rest, prepare, for when you reach this room a test will be imposed upon you. But think not of it as a challenge. Rather, an… experiment. "

The light shifted, and she had descended from her throne, standing just before him. Her form was indefinite, constantly shifting; bug, human, both, neither, the only consistency being her tangerine eyes.

She laid a gentle hand, smooth as silk on his cheek.

"Whatever you do, stay safe for me… Okay?"

Her hand slowly slid across his face, covering his eyes. Something brushed against his lips,

and his conscious mind evaporated into the odorless mist.

Chapter name and summary are a reference to Wild Thing by The Troggs.
Other musical references in this chapter include:
I've Just Seen A Face by the Beatles

radiance still bein weird. no i will not explain

This chapter was actually a lot harder to get out than expected, but not in the usual way; instead of struggling with boring, soulless filler, I kept getting nitpicky over tiny details, trying to make sure I could convey everything in the way I wanted. I guess that's a good thing?

About Hornet's mask doing the thing. I figured that she has to have some kind of mouth under her mask for her to eat, and I've also seen a fair bit of fanart with Hornet having a mouth as well. Maybe in the future, I could explore more of Hornet without a mask.

No, Chance's Lifeblood vial wasn't an asspull, I had actually planned ahead for this specific scene a few chapters ago, when Chance thought his new Focusing ability to outclass the need for lifeblood, but decided to hold onto one bottle just to be safe. That's how excited I was to write this chapter.

I wonder what you have to think about Hornet's soul-reading sequence...? I put a lot more effort than I probably should've trying to pick what should go in and how. It has like, a dozen comments all packed into that tiny space on our google doc for this chapter. There's a lot to pick apart from it, some of it being things that you won't be able to know yet with where the story is right now(but you can always speculate!). I'm curious to hear your thoughts and theories on it.

I know we seem to say this every time, but we're gonna try to handle the flow of this story differently from here on out. Greenpath overall was grueling to write, with most of it being filler of us googling synonyms for "green" and "plants". We're gonna try to trim out the fat and the filler, keep the interesting and important bits, in an effort to both make this story easier and more fun to write as well as read. It might end up getting a bit jump-y as a result, but hey, we're open to experiment with it and see how it turns out. Besides, this story's style is already pretty jumpy in an attempt to emphasize the mental side of things.

Anyway, we hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hope to update again soon!