The farther Kaiser moved into the forest, the closer it would close around him,?soon dissipating into a disorienting maze of contorted wood and interminable spider silk. He peered through spillways of silk?that captured more light than leaves possibly could. With every step, the earth clawed at his boots as if it desired to suck him under and entomb him alive.

  His eyes scanned the landscape for any indication of danger as he breathed lightly. There was no breeze, no animal sounds, only the faint rustle of the web-covered trees.

  Kaiser stopped and crouched down, looking closely at the shiny strands that crisscrossed his path. These weren’t just ordinary webs; they pulsed gently, as if they were alive, glowing with an odd shimmer. Cautiously, he touched one with his fingertip and instantly a sharp pain shot up his arm as the web seemed to try to grab hold of him.

  "Great," he muttered quietly, trying to shake off the sting and the cobweb at the same time.

  He carefully maneuvered around the webs, every muscle in his body tight with tension. The stillness grew heavier until something happened, until he noticed them.

  Emerging from the light mist, they walked silently trough the silk floor, their thin bodies stretching out with too many legs to count, all ending in sharp points. Silky threads trailed from their hands, creating delicate patterns on the floor. Their black giant heads tilted toward him—and for a heartbeat, they froze. One of them twitched, its dark eyes widening. A wet, gurgling sound rattled in its throat, halfway between a hiss and a scream. Surprise? Recognition? Kaiser didn’t care to find out.

  The first one lunged, its arms reaching out, shooting threads at him like arrows. He dove to the side, rolling just in time to avoid the strands that hissed as they hit the ground, scorching it in their wake.

  Quickly getting to his feet, he grabbed a heavy branch and broke it to make a rough weapon. The creature glided closer at absurd speeds, but Kaiser managed to duck under its first strike, giving him the opportunity to strike the creature with the branch he just acquired. The hit made the creature reel back, its shape flickering like a shadow before turning into mist.

  Another one came up from behind, quick and quiet. Kaiser spun around, using the broken branch to block a thread aimed at him. The silk wrapped around the branch, pulling it from his hands. Letting it go, he closed the gap in a burst of speed and punched the creature hard in the center. It slammed into a tree behind and disintegrated into mist.

  Kaiser wiped sweat from his brow, staring at the crumpled remains at his feet. “No blood. Just… mist? Good enough.”

  Looking ahead, the path narrowed to a thread, swallowed by webs so thick they choked the trees into gnarled silhouettes. The forest pressed inward—branches creaking, air clotting with the sour-sweet stench of decay. Every step forward felt like wading through tar.

  He hesitated, boot hovering over the unnatural sheen. Turn back? The thought flickered, but his jaw tightened. Sabel’s laughter echoed in his memory, sharp as a dagger.

  “Not today,” he growled.

  Kaiser plunged forward, webs snapping against his legs like tripwires. They clung, sticky and cold, as if the forest itself clawed to hold him back.

  As he tore trough the clinging webs, his breath ragged when a searing pain bit into his shoulder—a single drop of liquid hissed against his skin, eating through cloth and flesh alike. He swore, slapping at it, and froze. Another droplet struck the silk-covered ground beside him, smoking as it burned a hole through the threads.

  His eyes snapped upward.

  A creature dropped from the canopy like a falling boulder, its massive, bristled body shredding webs as it descended. It was twice the size of the others, its matted fur streaked with iridescent slime. Thick, hooked claws tore into the earth as it landed, its mandibles dripping with acid.

  Kaiser threw himself backward just as those jaws snapped shut where he’d stood, the sound echoing like a tree splitting. The thing lunged again, claws scrabbling up the nearest trunk with unnatural speed. Desperate, Kaiser grabbed a sagging curtain of webbing and swung hard, the sticky threads burning his palms as he launched himself into the branches.

  The creature hissed, its faceted eyes tracking him, but Kaiser didn’t stop, not for a second. He wrenched a dead branch from the tree, splinters digging into his grip, and hurled it. The wood struck true, cracking against the monster’s face, making it reel, a guttural screech tearing from its throat as it plummeted to the forest floor.

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  As it recovered, Kaiser leapt down, landing hard on its back, making the creature scream in pain and its exoskeleton crack. In an attempt to distract his assailant, the creature thrashed frantically, its mandibles clicking in rage, but that didn’t stop Kaiser. The crack of the exoskeleton echoed through the forest as Kaiser drove his elbow into the base of the creature’s skull. It collapsed like a marionette with cut strings, twitching once before going still.

  But there was no time to celebrate. A low, guttural hiss came from deeper within the woods. The ground trembled as something massive lumbered into view.

  The monstrous creature appeared puffy and bloated, with a putrid glow pulsing through its midsection. Hundreds of smaller creatures writhed beneath its translucent skin, ready to be born.

  Kaiser flew sideways to avoid the creature's crushing weight as it crashed into the ground where he had been standing as it charged, its legs ripping through the woodland floor as it barreled toward the corpse of the recently slayed monster that was slowly turning into mist.

  Kaiser grabbed a jagged rock off the floor, and hurled it at the creature’s abdomen, the impact causing a rupture, and a swarm of tiny spiderlings to spill out, their chittering filling the air as they raced toward him. Kaiser cursed under his breath, grabbing a broken branch and swinging it wildly to keep the swarm at bay.

  The massive creature reared back, venom spraying from its mouth as it roared in fury. Kaiser rolled beneath it, grabbing a length of webbing and using it to climb onto its chest. The creature thrashed, but he was holding firm, his hands gripping the coarse hairs and holding on for his dear life.

  With a burst of strength he drove the jagged branch into the creature’s swollen abdomen. A?terrible screech erupted from it as it spasmed violently, the spiderlings around it scurrying in terror. Kaiser jumped free as the beast fell, watching as its inhuman?corpse folded in on itself.

  By the end of the battle, Kaiser’s uniform had become even more torn and bloodied, deep gashes crisscrossing his torso and arms. Blood dripped onto the sticky, web-covered ground beneath him, pooling into crimson stains, but the ground seemed to absorb even that.

  Then, as if time itself was unwinding, the edges of his wounds began to knit together, sinew and muscle mending with an unnatural speed. His breath caught as he watched his body heal itself, the sharp agony receding into a dull ache before vanishing altogether. In less than a minute, he was whole again. No scars, no bruises—just smooth, unbroken skin.

  Kaiser staggered to his feet, staring at his hands as he flexed his fingers, frustrated by how long it had taken. Shaking off his disappointment, he pressed on through the forest, picking up speed with each step. The air grew colder, and he soon realized that the dense canopy above had swallowed all traces of light.

  A flicker of movement.

  Kaiser's breath caught in his throat as he went cold. A shadow darted between the trees, and he saw it out of the corner of his eye. He whirled around, his fists raised and yet still saw nothing. Just an endless expanse of webbed forest, stretching into the gloom.

  And yet, the feeling persisted. A cold, creeping sensation ran down his spine raising the hairs on the back of his neck. Slowly, he turned again, and this time, he saw it.

  In the distance, a figure was visible, hardly more than a shadow in the low light. It was indistinct and black, its edges blending together as though they were a part of the shadows. It simply stood there and observed him without moving or speaking.

  "Who are you?" Kaiser's voice boomed across the quiet wilderness as he yelled out. No answer.

  Even Kaiser was taken aback by the figure's strange grace as it turned and glided away after tilting its head slightly, almost curiously.

  He paused,?every instinct telling him to retreat. But something about the figure stirred him, a?sensation he couldn’t identify. And, without another thought, Kaiser?took off after it.

  The chase was brief but maddening. Whatever stalked him stayed just out of reach, shifting like a mirage. His boots sank into the sticky ground as he pushed himself to run faster, breath quick and ragged.

  Eventually the trees opened, and Kaiser screeched to?a stop. In front of him?was a great river, but its waters were not liquid. It was a gradual?flood of silky threads instead. The webs writhed and throbbed, as if they were alive, moving?in a nauseating, trance-inducing rhythm.

  A vortex was appearing in the center of the river— a spiraled whirlpool made of cobwebs that?seemed to go on infinitely downwards. Kaiser stared in?horrified fascination as the figure moved to the river’s edge. The shadowy figure glanced back one last time, its face still obscured, and stepped?into the vortex. It was devoured by the webs, the form?falling into the spiraling void.

  Kaiser froze, his thoughts racing. He couldn't seem to wake up from the nightmare that was the forest, the creatures, and the person. However, he felt a tug from the figure's presence and motions.

  “I don’t know who or what you are,” he muttered to himself, “but I would really like to find out.”