Mira glanced over her shoulder a little too often. Her jaw was tight and her brows buried under skin. The forest constantly whispered threats into her ears– distant crunching of branches and dried leaves– signalling that the trio hadn't given up on finding them. They were still somewhere in the mist, resiliently chasing shadows instead of people.
" You're slowing," she said sternly.
"..."
Pluto opened his mouth to speak, but his lungs denied him speech. He simply nodded in acknowledgement.
Mira finally turned to him, concern etched in her eyes. Pluto looked like a fish out of water. His skin paled and on the verge of cracking. His limbs shaking like someone who heard bad news.
And yet this was all of Pluto's doing. This act was held together by discipline and pride. Granted, he would have been sprawled on floor lifeless.
What was worse was the unpredictability of it. He didn't have control over it, so it was like a double edged sword that harmed the wielder more than the enemy.
The trees around them were taller than the impossible, lean and sky high. The atmosphere was a tiny darker and the environment reflected it. The roots seemed to breath shape into themselves, quietly curling and merging, then separating again. The ground rose and fell in uneven waves, dictating how easy it was to walk forward. Mist made it even worse, obscuring view past a few metres.
Pluto used other things to see when sight failed. Echoes his steps made when they bounced off matter, the creaking trees made in response to temperature, the shadows that broke through the mist.
Still, none compared to his trusty companion. " Left," he said.
Mira didn't question anymore, scepticism no longer existed in her eyes. She had built a trust just as blind as the one Pluto had built in his eel. Over the days of running from what could eat or kill them, she had honed the ability to obey without hesitation.
With every turn them made, and every unconventional route them followed, the trio adjusted too. They compensated for over shots in paths and returned to close proximity every time.
Pluto felt it. The feeling of having a sack bag on his shoulder. The dreadful intuition that sparked everytime a branch snapped in the close distance.
Mira didn't have his elite sensory perception, but she too knew that the trio was catching up. "They're catching up," she murmured.
Pluto looked at her. She was indirectly saying they needed to increase their pace. " They know the terrain better than we do," his response countered her.
She huffed in frustration. "So what do we do then?"
Pluto didn't answer. His body was no longer completely his. The strain refused to be ignored. It weighed on him harder everytime he tried to shrug it off.
Suddenly the ground beneath him dipped slightly. He stumbled but Mira caught him before he feel. This act made him feel even smaller.
A simple reshaping of this section had been enough to bring him to his knees save for Mira's quick reflexes.
"You can't stop now," she said, steadying him.
"I–" he ignored himself and pushed upwards from a fallen tree.
***
Branches scraped against their hands, vines tangled around their legs. The whole forest seemed to be pulling them back, with the intensity growing every second. The ground was slippery as mist dripped from wet leaves above. The forest was no longer a place, but a being that derived pleasure from suffering of others.
Another branch cracked– closer this time.
"They're near," Mira said, her voice a whisper drowned in fear and frustration.
Pluto's vision flickered. A wave of vertigo washed over him. His legs shook. His hands wandered on the barks of trees trying to find balance. The dizziness was just as relentless as the march.
One moment they were sprinting in open grounds, the next they could barely move, forcefully navigating through jagged plant life.
His steps stuttered again. Mira came to his rescue again– this time their bodies were pressed so close to each other that they could feel their breaths.
She let him find support on another tree. "Pluto... Pluto hold steady."
"I just...I just have to," he whispered with words that lacked conviction.
The mist had thickened once again, reducing visibility to barely half of what it was previously. Shapes and shadows seemed to dance in his peripheral vision. It was just like how it had been on the last day, but it didn't seem to hide as much now.
His muscles now considered ever attempt he made to move forward, and took their time to render a verdict. A verdict which most likely was a denial.
That made it easier for the forest to disorient him.
Mira glanced ahead. " There's a clearing there," she said hopefully. "We can get some distance and lose them."
Pluto tried to nod, but even that seemed to be pushing his limits. Step by step he followed her through the faint outline signalling open ground. Each motion was just as complex as rocket science, requiring concentration only needed by neurosurgeons.
The forest tested again. A tree tipped towards them, almost crushing Pluto save for Mira's push. He stumbled, but didn't fall.
"We are too exposed," she frowned.
"Just keep moving," he replied in a cracked growl.
The clearing was finally in sight. He could see soil fluctuating less. That would give him an easier time traversing it. His eel approved too, telling him it was the safest path.
Then– the light in his eyes snuffed out completely.
The world turned upside down as he dropped. His ears rang deafeningly. Breath scrapped against his lungs as it left. His thoughts swam.
"Mir–" he gasped.
She tried to hold him. "Pluto!"
His legs had already given out. Gravity embraced him as he hit the soil with a deep mush.
Mira's hands found him a second later. She pulled him, but he was too heavy to lift. It wasn't just his physical weight, but the strain and suffering him endured that added to his mass.
"I can't move him," she muttered through gritted teeth. Her eyes darted left and right frantically. She could faintly hear the footsteps of the trio behind them, closing in rapidly. The forest's shifting terrain slowed them down, but not nearly enough.
Hesitation flashed briefly in her eyes. She tightened her hands and began rolling him. She rolled him into a shallow ravine that was hidden by vines and thick roots. Then she stood, brushing dirt from her arms.
Determination raged in her eyes. "Not today," she whispered.
She let herself catch her breath, then bolted.
The forest blurred into lines of bark as she dashed with all her might. The forest danced all around her. Roots reaching out like the skeletons of the dead, mist curtained her next step from her until she took it and the canopy above held light with every swish. She had no idea if she would outrun the trio, only that she had to.
***
Sound slowly pulled him for the void he was in. Faint sounds of rustling leaves and bubbling forestry filed into his fractured mind.
The forest was much more calm now, giving Pluto the respite he needed to escape death. The rumbling, the terrain changing, the hocus-pocus the forest usually did, had now softened.
Time passed, maybe hours, maybe more. That concept had always been wacky here.
He woke slowly.
The first thing he noticed was that he was in a hole. A strangely firm hole. The mist fell in like a waterfall, but it hung low when it entered. Sparse roots, too few to cause discomfort.
Then her figure registered next. Her clothes were a button too exposed. Luckily, her figure was vague in his eyes.
Mira sat close to him, on a log she had broken to resemble a small stool. Her breath was shallow, but steady. She looked exhausted.
"You made it," Pluto said hoarsely, in a way that sounded more like a question than fact.
"I made it," she said softly. Her eyes met his.
"I outran them."
"They..." His thoughts came soon after. "The trio?"
"Yeah, they're gone, for now at least." She smiled weakly. " The forest did most of the work."
Pluto pushed himself up. ' as expected.'
He exhaled. He wasn't in the best of shapes still, but the aching had dulled. His eel slithered on his skin, welcoming him back.
"We can't stay here for long." Said Mira as she glanced around causally.
"They'll be looking for us." She continued.
Pluto nodded in agreement. There was nothing to say, so he just moved instead. With Mira's help, he climbed out of the shallow ravine and got claimed by the thick mist.
The forest had changed while they had been resting, so it would be harder trying to find shelter for the night.
Randomness was its Bible, so they could only wander and hope for the best. They would survive, they had to believe that.
Pluto knew that this was just the beginning, and as more blood sank into the soil, more blood would still sink.
The forest watched. Patient. Waiting.