~ RUSTLE
~ RUSTLE…
Leaves trembled overhead as Faith dug his fingers into the rough bark of a giant tree, pulling himself higher with a strained grunt.
[ Almost… there… ]
He wheezed out in a screaming whisper, one foot slipping before he caught himself.
Lumini's voice blasted up from below, slowly floating upwards towards him:
Lumini: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??"
Faith settled onto a thick branch, chest rising and falling, then calmly replied with zero shame—
Faith: [ Surviving. ]
He adjusted his weight so he wouldn't fall, then laid back against the trunk like he was sunbathing instead of thirty feet above the ground.
Lumini: "Faith…"
Faith: [ Yea? ]
He answered sheepishly, stretching out his legs on the biggest nearby branch like it was a couch.
Lumini finally reached his altitude, wings buzzing in irritation.
Lumini: "Why're you up here?"
Faith blinked twice, then pointed downward at the dark-shadowed forest beneath them.
Faith: [ Uhhh… because you said to survive the night… I'm surviving, no? ]
Lumini: "Yes but you're supposed to—"
She stopped herself.
Mid-sentence.
Mid-breath.
"Sigh..."
She squeezed her temples like she was fighting a migraine.
Faith rolled his eyes.
Faith: [ Look. ]
He shifted sideways, giving her room as she floated to a nearby branch.
She sat with perfect posture, legs crossed, hands rested on her knees, overlooking the densest parts of the woods.
From this height, the forest floor was nothing but moving shadows and faint growls echoing under the now bright full-moon light.
Lumini inhaled deeply.
Lumini: "My job was to make you stronger. I can't exactly tell you anyth—"
Faith: [ I know. ]
He cut in calmly.
Faith: [ I'm guessing your "creator" assigned you to this mission, huh? ]
He added, giving her a lazy side-eye.
Lumini froze.
Turned her head.
Then her whole upper body twisted toward him in shock.
Lumini: "How… do you kno—"
Faith:
[ I can naturally tell with situations like these...although it wasn't that easy of a guess. ]
» First, she's mentioned how she was a system.....systems, HUD's, and anything of that's sort must have some type of creator....not to mention she started speaking about "They", that could probably only mean a group of people, scientists Maybe? This could be some type of experiment on the dead... and now I'm confirming that she was assigned to me.
He plucked a nearby leaf, twirling it between his fingers.
The leaf spun in fast circles, catching the moonlight in a way, that made it look blurry to the naked eye.
He elaborated.
Faith: [ You mentioned "They" a lot when we first met. It'd be weird NOT to piece something like that together....
—or it could be I'm just weird, but I'd be glad if im atleast a tad bit closer to solving why I'm here instead of being dead. ]
Lumini swallowed — visibly.
Lumini: "Seems I was a bit too open, huh…"
She muttered the words with a shaky breath, regret dripping off every syllable.
Faith shrugged.
Faith:
[ You probably got forced to be my HUD… and if that's the case, I truly am sorr— ]
Lumini: "YOU'RE WRONG! "
The branch shook slightly from her outburst.
The forest, now awfully quiet.
Even the bugs that were creaking a few seconds ago, went dead silent.
Faith blinked.
Twice.
Faith: [ Uhh… what? ]
» Damn, was I dead wrong?
Lumini's eyes darted left.
Then right.
Then left again.
She looked like someone whose brain was buffering.
Lumini: "Well… not fully wrong, sp— I mean, master did assigned me to someone…"
Faith's eyebrow twitched.
» Bingo, that small slip up guaranteed that she wasn't lying, I think...
Lumini: "However— that person wasn't you…"
Her dress dimmed in color.
Lumini: "I specifically chose you, I switched partners to be your HUD, Faith."
She poked her index fingers together, cheeks tinting pink.
It hung in the air.
Then—
Faith: [ ERRRRRRR!! Wrong option. ]
He said it loudly, crossing his arms like a game show judge pressing a red buzzer.
Lumini flinched.
Lumini: "B-But she had insane powers a-and I was s-s—scared! "
Her voice cracked in embarrassment.
Faith stuck his tongue out in a mocking fashion,
Then muttered—
Faith:[Well you should've just stayed with her an–]
» Eh…?!
Something in her explanation clicked.
Hard.
Faith sat bolt upright.
Faith: [ You uh… what? ]
Lumini stared at him, blinking in confusion.
Lumini: "Hmmm? "
Faith leaned forward.
Faith:
[ You got assigned to someone… was she also brought here like me?
Are there others here?
Where are they locate— ]
Lumini: "SHHHHH!!! "
She zapped forward instantly —
~ FWIP! ~
— and pressed a finger against his lips.
Lumini: "Shush."
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
Faith froze completely.
The forest seemed to quiet with him.
Lumini looked him dead in the eyes.
Lumini:
"Yes.
There are others very similar to you… if not in the exact same situation."
Her voice trembled faintly.
Lumini:
"That's all I can explain right now.
Because what you must do at this moment…
is prove yourself. "
Faith raised one eyebrow, confused.
Lumini pulled her finger back.
Lumini: "You can speak now. "
Faith: [ Prove myself?! ]
His tone carried genuine confusion.
Lumini nodded once — serious, tense.
Lumini:
"Yes.
Now get down there and fight against the night."
[Understood]
He answered instantly.
» I'm probably just a test subject right now, a lab rat....but I'm interested to see how things turn out.
Faith then stood up on the branch like a soldier reporting for duty, gave Lumini a sloppy, sarcastic salute Yelled out—
[ Yes Ma'am. ]
Then — without hesitation — he casually walked backwards…
…kept walking…
…kept walking…
Lumini blinked.
And jumped off the branch.
Lumini smiled proudly.
Lumini: "That's the spirit— Wait."
Her smile collapsed.
Lumini: "WAIT— at this height he might actually break both his—"
An image flashed in her mind of both his legs looking like jelly on the floor.
She shot forward, zapping to the edge of the branch in panic, looking down—
And what she saw made her freeze...
Faith was clinging to the trunk of the tree like a terrified sloth, arms and legs wrapped around the bark.
He hadn't fallen.
He hadn't landed.
He had hugged the tree midair, pivoted his entire body, and slid his hands on the tree until he gripped a sturdy part of the bark.
Faith: [Phew.... lucky.]
Now he was shimmying down with the speed and grace of a man who had zero intent of dying tonight.
Lumini just stared.
Lumini: "…hmmmm."
He finally reached the bottom, took a small hop away from the trunk—
—and immediately everything went downhill from there.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the forest became 10x more deadlier than he had originally thought.
His back was arched from the jump, limiting his view to only the ground beneath him.
But as Faith looked up...
his luck ran out.
He had risen up just in time to see a long, jagged shadow streak, rushing with immense speed towards him.
He dropped his weight instinctively, his smile fading away instantly, and ducked, the slash passing so close it brushed the top of his head, cutting a couple of loose hair off.
He stared at the ground as the slash flew over his back, crashing into something behind him with a force that can rival two oil truck's having a head on collision.
He slowly turned his head to look behind him.
The tree he had just climbed down from...
Was split open with an explosive crack, a opening gap straight in the middle, like a giant bullet had shot through it.
Lumini quickly flew into the air to get a birds eye view of the situation.
Faith: [ WHAT THE HE— ]
He didn't finish.
Because two more shapes slithered out from the dark right side of the clearing— not appearing, but materializing, like they were pulled out of the shadows themselves.
A third silhouette crawled from the left.
Three in total.
He looked up at Lumini.
She looked down at him.
Both stared at each other as if sharing the exact same thought, although for different reasons:
Oh.
This could get ugly.
Lumini looked down in distress, whilst faith looked up with determination.
Her earlier words flicked into his mind:
> "Most don't make it past the first night."
She wasn't wrong.
Not even close.
Not even exaggerating.
But Faith wasn't just going to lie down and accept a death speedrun.
No chance.
He bolted, adrenaline surging through his veins.
Nearby bushes whipped his face, dirt kicked up behind him, and the snarls of the beasts rose like a wave.
He didn't know where he was running, didn't know if there was a plan, didn't even know what those things were—
But his instinct screamed:
MOVE.
He burst through a cluster of bushes and grabbed the nearest tree trunk.
No hesitation.
No pause.
He climbed.
More accurately:
He clawed, scraped, and scrambled upward like a panicked animal desperate for survival.
Feet slipping.
Bark cutting into his palms.
He dragged himself onto the first branch he could reach and rolled onto it, panting.
Lumini floated beside him, hands on her hips.
Lumini: "Ready to go down again? "
Faith stared at her with the expression of a man who had just witnessed death first hand.
Faith:
[ I BARELY MANAGED TO CRAWL UP THIS TREE...
I am NOT going down there again. ]
He screamed, pointing at the beasts gathered beneath his tree.
Lumini: "Hehe..i was just joking, caaalm down."
She spoke in an irritatingly innocent tone, tapping his shoulder lightly.
Faith:
[I nearly DIED...HOW CAN I BE CALM?..]
He shouted again, in an irritated tone.
Angry but curious.
He looked down, squinting to make sense of what he was really facing just a few moments ago.
The forest however, was too dark, too thick to make out anything—
but faint outlines moved between the trunks like living shadows.
Their shapes didn't stay consistent, stretching, warping, narrowing, reforming.
He couldn't even tell where their heads were.
Just silhouettes.
Slowly circling his position.
Faith swallowed.
Faith: [ …What ARE those things? ]
Lumini folded her legs and sat cross-legged midair.
Lumini: "Shadow Beasts. They can't die."
Faith turned his head towards her slowly.
Very slowly.
Faith:
[ Are you mentally ill, perchance? ]
Lumini didn't blink.
Lumini: "I am not."
Faith kept staring, mouth open, one eyebrow up.
Lumini continued, totally unfazed:
Lumini:
"I just wanted you to experience it firsthand.
Hoping you'd find your way back up another tree, which you did. "
Faith's jaw dropped.
Faith:
[ And if I didn't? ]
Lumini answered without hesitation.
Lumini:
"You'd be, exactly....
My thirteen-thousandth trainee to die this month."