It was a beautiful day.
The sun shone intensely overhead.
The sky was so clear it felt endless.
Despite that, at the heart of a dark forest, stationary clouds as black as night covered the entire area.
From within, the outside world felt unreachable.
The trees were so dry that not a single leaf remained on them.
A strong wind carried the stench of carrion from deep inside the forest outward.
Between the trees, inviting whispers drifted outward toward anyone standing beyond the forest.
At the boundary between the world outside and the woods, Kris and Marceline stood silently on the trail.
Their eyes fixed on the endless path ahead while Kris's stitched cloak swayed quietly in the wind.
"I'm not going in there."
She said, turning toward him.
"It's the fastest route east."
"I don't care— we're going around."
The two of them glanced to the right.
The forest stretched endlessly into the distance.
They looked to the left.
The same thing.
"Isn't there another route?"
"Not unless you want to waste weeks."
"Fuuuh… I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?"
She complained, pressing a hand against her forehead.
"Rock, paper, scissors to see who goes in first?"
He simply ignored her and continued down the trail.
"Wow. Rude."
And so, they walked into the forest.
The moment they crossed the boundary, the air grew heavier.
Breathing became difficult. The air itself felt suffocating.
The stench of carrion was even stronger now.
The whispers that once sounded inviting now laughed and mocked them.
"You've gotta be kidding me."
He muttered.
The trail was gone.
"Hey, Kris."
"What?"
"Where's the exit?"
He immediately turned toward her, only to find Marceline staring at him with her hands on her hips.
The path they had come from had vanished as well.
"I think it's some kind of illusion. Let me try something…"
He turned and walked back the way they came.
She kept staring at him.
Suddenly, the bushes beside her rustled, and she immediately tensed up.
Only for Kris to step out of them.
…
"Uhh—"
"'Uhh'?! The hell do you mean 'uhh'?"
"There's probably a way out—"
"Great. We're dead. I knew I was gonna regret coming in here."
"Hey. Relax. There's no such thing as a place with no exit."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure."
And he kept walking.
"You coming?"
Sigh.
"Yeah, yeah. Right behind you."
After walking for a while, they stopped in front of a strange tree.
It was as dry as all the others, but the holes in its trunk seemed to form a face.
The tree split the trail into two separate paths.
Marceline nudged Kris with her elbow.
"What are the chances we turn our backs and that thing starts following us?"
"Honestly? That's probably exactly what's gonna happen."
They took the path on the right, walking sideways so they wouldn't take their eyes off the tree.
Once they were far enough away, they started walking normally again.
…
They stopped once more when they found the same tree.
"Relax. We still have the left path."
They took the left trail, keeping their eyes fixed on the tree.
But not long after, they ended up in the exact same place.
"That's it. We're dead. It was nice while it lasted."
"…Strange. What's the point of this?"
"The point is that we're gonna die. This is a loop."
"I doubt it… There has to be a point where the loop ends."
He muttered, staring at the tree.
"Seriously? Last time I checked, the whole point of a loop is that it's infinite."
"…Maybe."
He walked up to the tree.
With a single punch, he shattered it through the middle.
"Huh? What are you doing?"
"Making another path."
He explained as he stepped over the dried trunk, forcing his way between bushes and trees.
Marceline kept staring at him, half-expecting the forest to throw him right back.
…
"Hey… did you actually make it through?"
…
With no answer, she followed after him.
She pushed the bushes aside, causing dry leaves to fall across the ground.
Each step echoed with a brittle crunch through the dead woods.
Until she finally spotted Kris, standing at the edge of a cliff.
"There you are. Why didn't you answer me?"
The moment she reached his side, she saw what he was staring at.
A massive greenish lake.
The lake bubbled endlessly, releasing bursts of steam into the air.
Everything growing around it was dead.
Even so, a white five-petaled flower bloomed quietly near the lake's edge.
"Damn… what the hell happened here?"
"I don't know. There's no way bombs alone did this."
"So this forest is magical?"
"Oh, it definitely is."
They fell silent, listening to branches crack somewhere below.
From between the trees, a deer slowly emerged and walked toward the lake.
It glanced around carefully, making sure the area was safe.
For a brief moment, its face split open down the center, revealing a long tongue and rows of sharp teeth.
Finding no threats, the deer suddenly bolted toward the flower.
The ground around the flower trembled before suddenly cracking apart.
A massive sprout—larger than a car—burst from beneath the earth.
Its mouth, filled with perfectly shaped teeth, opened wide to swallow the deer whole.
The deer realized too late and tried to turn back.
But the enormous hands of the sprout seized it and dragged it toward that waiting mouth.
With a single bite, the deer was gone.
A moment later, the sprout retreated back into its hole as if nothing had happened.
…
"Holy shit."
"Holy shit."
"I wanna fight that thing!"
"And I wanna take a closer look at that lake."
"Alright then. How do we get down there?"
"Heh."
That smug little laugh immediately made him frown.
"Looks like someone needs a ride."
|After a brief argument|
Marceline slowly floated down to the ground… carrying Kris bridal style.
"Why did it have to be like this?"
"Because I said so."
"Tch."
As soon as they got close enough to the ground, he jumped out of her arms.
She slowly descended after him, still wearing that same smug grin.
The smile vanished the moment he shot her a sharp glare.
"You kill that thing. I'm checking out the lake."
"Sweet."
With an excited grin, she floated toward the flower.
Kris watched her with visible exasperation for a moment before finally turning toward the lake.
"Now then… what exactly happened to you?"
|Marceline|
"Hey!"
"I already know you're down there, so let's fight."
Receiving no response, she tilted her head slightly.
"Oh right. You're more like a trap, huh?"
She landed on the ground and began slowly walking toward the flower.
The moment she got within five steps of it, the ground trembled.
With a violent leap, the sprout burst from the earth, its mouth stretched wide open.
"Heh."
Marceline dodged the lunge with a quick jump backward.
Unable to reach her with its first strike, the sprout immediately swung its massive arms toward her.
She pulled the axe from her back and slashed through them.
But instead of being severed like she expected, the sprout was merely dragged backward.
"Oh? So you're actually pretty tough."
Feeling the impact of the blow, the sprout gnashed its teeth before launching another charge with a furious roar.
"But in the end—"
"Höllenfunken."
Sparks burst from her axe before it ignited in an explosive blaze.
"—you're still just a wild animal."
With an upward slash, she severed the creature's right arm, sending it flying.
The creature tried to lunge forward again, only to notice its severed limb blackened and burning.
It bared its teeth at her—
then bolted back toward the trees.
"Huh? Already?"
She stared in disbelief as the massive sprout struggled to run away on its tiny little legs.
"That barely even counts."
The flames along her axe vanished with a casual swing.
"At least the strings didn't snap this time."
She said with a grin, plucking a few notes from it.
Waving dismissively at the fading notes, she turned toward the lake, spotting Kris crouched near the shore.
She floated over beside him.
"Ahh, I see. So that's what this is."
He was so focused on the lake he didn't even notice her approaching.
"Figure anything out?"
"Oh? You're already done?"
"Yeah… I cut its arm off and it ran away."
"Hah— you should've seen it trying to run with those tiny legs."
"Really? Sounds like you still had fun anyway."
"Meh. I expected more."
She planted the axe into the ground, resting her chin atop the end of its handle.
"So? What'd you figure out?"
"Well… this place seems to have a bit of everything mixed into it."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Basically, I can feel radiation here."
"But there's something else layered on top of it…"
"Magic?"
"Probably."
"Oh? Wouldn't that be a good thing for you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You wanted to use mana, right? Doesn't that mean there's probably a way?"
"I can't really tell yet. Maybe its properties just don't synergize with me."
"Simplify it."
"I don't know whether this body would adapt to it… or just explode."
"Oh."
"Well… the only way to know would be to test it."
"…You do have a point."
…
"Maybe in the future."
Bracing himself with one knee, he stood up and dusted the dirt off his baggy pants.
"Alright, now… how do we get out of here?"
"Maybe break another loop or something?"
"I think the loop was only there to catch careless prey."
"How do you know that?"
"Even for a magical forest, keeping a loop like that running constantly would probably take a lot of energy."
"But wouldn't that mean we could've just left from the beginning?"
"Not exactly… but I do have a theory."
He picked a dry stick off the ground.
Using it, he drew a large circle across the dirt.
"This is the forest."
Inside the circle, he sketched a much smaller area.
"This is where we entered. Basically, there's a loop here meant to catch careless prey."
Then he pointed toward the larger circle.
"And there's probably another loop surrounding the forest itself… meant to keep things from getting back out."
"So how do we get out?"
"That's the fishy part…"
"I have no idea."
"Ehh…"
"But just like the first one, there has to be a gap somewhere."
"If you say so…"
"And do you have any idea how to figure out where that gap is?"
…
Sigh.
"We're gonna die."
"Hey. It'll take a while, but if I'm right, we should end up on the opposite side of where we came in."
"And what if it's random?"
"…That's also possible."
"Dude…"
"Or maybe there's something deeper in the center of the forest. We only just entered it."
"…Yeah. That actually sounds way more plausible."
"Yeah… I probably should've started with that."
"Yes. You should have."
Sigh.
"So where do we start?"
"By heading north from where we entered."
"Then let's move."
He started walking, with her following close behind.
Without a trail to guide them, they wandered deeper into the forest with no clear path.
Always moving in the same direction.
After several hours, Marceline stared at the back of his head with a sharp glare.
"Are we there yet?"
"I honestly can't tell anymore."
…
Crack.
A branch snapped somewhere within the dead woods.
Both of them immediately tensed.
Yet nothing came out.
"Huh. Maybe it ran off."
They kept walking.
…
Psst.
"What?"
"Huh? I didn't say anything."
"Huh."
…
Psst.
"Okay. I definitely heard that one."
"It's behind us."
The two of them turned around.
Barely peeking out from behind one of the dead trees, something slowly placed its hands against the trunk for support.
"A-Aah… y-you're h-humans? T-thank goodness…"
"Who are you?"
"A-Aah, I-I'm human. C-can't you tell?"
"Uuh… not really?"
Kris placed a hand on Marceline's shoulder, whispering quietly.
"We should leave. Now."
"Huh? Why?"
"They're everywhere."
The creature slowly leaned out from behind the tree, finally revealing itself.
Its body looked almost human… just horribly wrong.
It trembled constantly, as though it was struggling to hold itself together.
Its head was unnaturally wide, twisted into a smile that stretched from ear to ear.
"A-Aah… t-thank goodness…"
From the trees around them, more creatures slowly leaned into view.
"L-let's play!"
"I-I'm l-late…"
"R-Riiichard?"
"Oh shit."
With a distorted scream from the first creature, dozens more burst from the woods.
"Shit! Run!"
The two of them bolted through the forest, while warped screams echoed behind them.
"Why the hell didn't you warn me sooner?!"
"Well— this whole place is flooded with radiation. I can't make anything out in here."
"Argh! Goddammit! I hate this forest!"