Chapter 2: The Hidden Glade
Eli woke up surrounded by tall, thick blades of grass. It was a kind that he had never seen before. He looked up at the hole he fell into, the sunrays illuminating the immediate area, but not much else. He stood up and took a look around. He was in some kind of underground glade. It stretched for an unknown distance in all directions. He looked up and saw that the many trees of the forest above were holding the ground, stabilizing it, making the floating roof of this dark cave. "This is crazy." He said. He kept looking around, seeing if there was a way out, as the hole above him was too high to reach. He panned around the darkness, eventually seeing a light in the distance. From that light he could see a rope hanging above. "Good. That's how we'll get out." Eli said. He picked up his bag, gathering all of the items that spilled out of it, and proceeded towards this light. He moved on, the thick blades of grass gripping onto his legs as he moved through.
He quietly stepped through the hidden glade, seeing if there were any features that could be seen, but there was nothing but tall grass and darkness in all directions. "I've never seen anything like this." Eli then thought about that statement. "Well, I haven't seen a lot, so that isn't surprising… I guess I should say I've never 'read,' about anything like this." Eli reiterated. He didn't like redundancy. He felt like people should always say what they mean and not just dart around the subject. He'd often rephrase things in his stories, but because of that straight to the point attitude, he often missed out on the chance to place something more poetic in his stories. He didn't always place metaphors in his stories because of this.
Eli kept moving through the strange and mysterious place that he'd found himself in. He marveled at it. He even began to feel at peace in this place. It was something new and exciting, and he was enjoying the moments he had in there. Suddenly, cutting off his excitement, Eli noticed a shadow move in the corner of his eye. He looked over to see what it was. For the briefest moment, he could have sworn that he saw something in the grass. The blades swayed like a puddle of water that had been disturbed by a pebble being tossed in. Before he could look closer, something jumped at him from behind. He felt the movement and turned around.
For a split second, he saw the creature leaping high off of the ground and falling toward him. Before it could sink its massive teeth into him, it was suddenly forced aside, falling over into the grass, becoming obscured once more. Eli ran away the moment he realized he hadn't died yet. He rushed toward the light in the distance. As he ran, he noticed the grass get disturbed in several more places. There was at least a dozen of these creatures, and they were hungry. They rushed toward Eli, excited for the kill. Another pounced toward Eli, but a second that was far too eager collided with the first, stopping them both. The two beasts fought with each other, angry at their failure.
Eli was getting close to the rope now. He leapt to close the gap and grabbed onto the rope, his momentum causing him to swing forward a bit. As soon as he was stable, Eli began to climb. One of the beasts jumped after him and grabbed onto his leg. For a moment, Eli could see what these creatures looked like. They were large and four legged, though their front legs had something vaguely resembling a hand. The skin on their backs took on an appearance like stone, and hairs that looked like the blades of grass grew high on them. Their faces were flat, their snouts barely sticking out. They had large sharp teeth that would rip apart anything unlucky enough to be caught by them. The creature had a tight grip on Eli's leg, and it didn't look like it was letting go anytime soon. Before the creature could break Eli's leg, an indention began to form on its arm. The indention got deeper and deeper until the creature's arm was sliced off. The creature backed off and rolled on the ground, screeching in pain. Eli took the opportunity to escape.
He climbed out of the hole and to safety. Eli saw a large stone, which was what the rope had been attached too. Eli quickly untied the rope and tossed it into the hole, making sure the creatures couldn't follow him. He took a moment to catch his breath. He wasn't used to running for his life. His heart was beating fast and hard, something he wasn't used to. He went over to a nearby tree and leaned against it. "Oh man… that was… intense." Eli said as he came to a rest. As Eli caught his breath, he didn't notice another hostile creature slowly climbing down the tree towards him. Before it could reach him, the creature's head was split from its body, both limply falling to the ground, drenching Eli in blood. His eyes went wide as the body fell in front of him. "Well… damn." Before he could look at the body for long, the creatures from the hidden glade started climbing out of the hole. They were all coming out at once, delaying their escape. Eli took the few precious seconds to get a head start.
He ran into the woods, back in the direction he was planning to go in the first place. He stepped over several fallen trees, fighting against the brush that tugged at his heels. His main focus was to keep himself from falling over, as every step counted against these creatures. Eli was fast, but not nearly as fast as a hungry animal looking for a fresh kill. The only reason the creatures hadn't already caught up with him was because the closely packed trees were slowing them down. Eli rushed through the forest, occasionally looking back at the creatures, which were hot on his heels. As he looked back another time, he didn't notice an approaching cliff. He fell down, landing on something large and soft. He fell off of the mysterious object and looked at what it was. It was massive, almost as big as his house. It started moving as Eli inspected. Eli's fall had woken it up. Eli took a few steps back as it uncurled, revealing itself to be some kind of massive bear. "Are you kidding me!?" Eli yelled. The bear roared at him, giving Eli the signal that it was time for him to start running again.
He rushed back into the forest, only just keeping ahead of the glade beasts and his new threat. Again, he had the trees to thank for his survival, as they had gotten larger and closer together, being capable of now slowing down the bear, just the same as the smaller beasts. In addition to that, the glade beasts and the bear were now competing with one another. The glade beasts were jumping on the bear, trying to shift it off balance, but the bear was too powerful and too determined to reach Eli to stop.
Eli knew that he couldn't keep this up forever, and that they'd soon catch up if he didn't do anything. Luckily, he was awarded a boon. He heard the sound of a strong river close by. He shifted his direction toward the river. He soon came to it. The river had carved out a valley, cutting deep through the dirt. As Eli got close, the bear tried to close in. It knocked over a dead tree in its attempt to reach Eli. The tree fell over, rolling into the water and being swept by the southward current. It was another boon. Eli started to feel like someone was watching over him. He jumped down into the large river bed and rushed toward the water. He jumped toward the massive dead tree, landing just short of it. He started swimming to the tree. The current helped him along, and he reached his makeshift raft without issue. He grabbed on and climbed to the top.
He was quickly taken by the current. The creatures flocked around the edges of the river, trying to find a way to reach Eli. The water was too deep, and the current too strong for them to get to him. The bear, seeing how Eli would soon be long gone, decided to go for easier prey. The bear turned to the glade beasts and began attacking them. It caught one by surprise, snatching it up in its jaws, severing it into three pieces with one strong bite. The others retaliated by attacking the bear. They were locked in a massive battle before long. Eli watched them as he rode down the river at a decently fast pace. Eli's gaze didn't leave the beasts until they were well out of sight. "Guess you're not eating me today…" Eli mumbled. With the excitement over, and the adrenaline subsiding, Eli began to feel exhausted. "I think… I'll… rest for a minute." He lowered himself forward and lied down, falling asleep within seconds.
Eli later woke up at the river's end. He was at a large lake at the edge of the forest. The tree had floated over to the beach and came to a stop. Eli slowly climbed off of the tree, his body aching from all of the sudden sprinting. He took a look at his surroundings. He was now at a flat, grassy plain. He looked at the edge of the forest. It was a perfectly straight line of trees that were cut off by the massive plain, almost as if the trees were avoiding something. The day was still young, only a few hours past noon. The river's speed allowed Eli to get much farther much faster than he would have on foot. Eli took a look at his clothes. They were soaked, and torn in several places. His favorite wool cap, however, was perfectly fine. Eli breathed a sigh of relief at this notion. Seeing as to how the monsters had ceased their pursuit, and that he could see danger coming from a good distance thanks to the flat plain, he decided to set up a camp.
He created a makeshift clothes-line to dry his clothes on. He hung them up then sat on the beach, letting his body soak in the sunlight. He fell asleep once more, but not nearly as long as the first time. An empty belly kept him awake. He went over to his bag and got out some fruit that he had packed. He had a dinner of two apples, something that his belly wasn't entirely satisfied with, but it would have to do. After an hour had passed, Eli's clothes had become dry enough for him to work with.
He got them down from the clothes-line and laid them out to see the full extent of the damage. His coat and shirt were torn on the sleeves. Most of the tears were small, and easy to repair. His pants had several more cuts on the lower legs. They were caused by him rushing through thorns and brush to get away from the beasts that were chasing him. Eli got his bag and began searching for his needle and thread. He found it after some rummaging then got to work. He quickly repaired each hole in his clothing. Soon, he had a fully functioning outfit once again. Once that was done, he got his clothes back on, got his supplies together then set out once more. Eli's step was slower now, because he knew that the Deadlands were his next obstacle.