The tunnel through the cave was short. The light at its end grew clearer, carrying with it the damp scent of earth. They crawled out of the narrow mouth and found themselves once more in the stifling embrace of the Corrupted Forest.
Yet this area differed from the shifting maze they had just escaped. The trees still twisted, but no longer moved frantically. Vines coiled around trunks, but lacked their previous aggressive intent. Though the taint of corruption remained heavy in the air, the all‑pervasive illusions and disorienting pull of the woods had lessened considerably. It seemed they had passed through the maze's very heart.
"Somehow… we're safe, for now?" Raine panted, bracing himself against a rough tree trunk. The backlash of starfire still roared through his veins, each heartbeat a torching agony. His face was ashen, lips cracked and dry.
Karrion gave no immediate reply. The dwarf knelt and lifted a damp leaf from the forest floor. His gaze, sharp as an eagle's, scanned every inch of soil. "Maybe," he muttered darkly.
Thalia stood a short distance away, her hooded face hidden in shadow. Her posture was taut, as though she were a bowstring drawn ready to fire. She sensed that while the maze's immediate threat had ebbed, a deeper, colder malice still lurked in the forest's depths—and something else as well.
Karrion abruptly squatted again. Brushing aside rotting leaves, he revealed a clear imprint in the soil. Not the track of any forest beast, hoof or claw.
"What's this?" Raine managed to stagger forward for a closer look. It was a bootprint—thick‑soled and bearing a distinctive tread. Military‑style.
Karrion's brow furrowed. He followed the print for a few steps and found fresh cuts on several thick vines. The edges were clean and smooth, as if slashed by a sharp metal blade.
"Someone's been here," Karrion said, a chill creeping into his voice. "And not some lost woodsman." Hunters wouldn't wear service boots, nor dispatch vines with such precision.
Thalia approached in silence. She paused beside a half‑embedded arrow shaft in the earth. Though its fletching was ragged, the emblem remained clear: crossed swords beneath a blazing star— the Church's crest.
Karrion saw it too and gently withdrew the arrow. Fashioned as a fine armor‑piercing bodkin, its craftsmanship spoke of elite ranks. "Church knights…" he spat, grave as granite.
A hush fell. Their relief at escaping the maze was swept away by a darker dread. Knights of the Church had penetrated deep into this forbidden, corrupted wood.
"What are they after?" Raine croaked, voice hoarse. The Forest of Corruption was no place for even the best‑equipped order to venture—unless they pursued an urgent mandate.
"What else?" Karrion snorted. He tossed the arrow aside. "They're hunting us." He met Raine's eyes. "Or rather… you, 'Scourge Star.'"
Raine's heart sank. He had heard the Church's slanderous tales branding him the catalyst of this blight, but had never imagined they'd dispatch knights to slay him in the forest's heart.
"They'll try to intercept me… before I reach the Fallen Star City?" Raine whispered, voice hollow. To seize him and the starcore he bore? Or simply to enact holy "cleansing"?
Thalia's hood stirred slightly. "Both are likely," she replied coldly. "The Church's ranks are divided on Starborn and the Corruption, but they all see you as a dire threat." She added, "Their knights are trained to resist corruption—and even Starfire. They are professional hunters."
A double peril pressed on them: the forest's own perverse dangers—fabled abominations and hidden snares—and now relentless foes at their backs: zealots wielding blades and blessed relics.
The mood turned oppressively grim. Every step forward was guarded, each branch parted as if expecting ambush. Karrion led, detecting not only taint but human footprints in the earth. Raine followed, sword in hand, eyes darting for movement in the gloom. Thalia brought up the rear, her shadow‑sense straining to catch any approaching breath.
Even the forest seemed to sense their tension. Tree‑shadows grew gaunt and oppressive; the wind carried a note of foreboding. Occasionally, a corrupted creature darted past, its hiss of alarm tightening everyone's nerves.
Minutes became hours in the weight of anticipation. They could almost taste the Knights' approach—swift in gear and purpose, far swifter than their cautious forest crawl.
"We can't keep creeping along like this," Karrion halted, wiping sweat and dirt from his brow. "If we drag our feet, they'll overtake us. Like sheep led to slaughter."
Raine turned to Thalia, whose hood cast her in deeper shadow. Raine could sense her fatigue—and a fierce resolve beneath it.
"There is a way," Thalia finally spoke, voice lower than ever. "More perilous, but much faster." She pointed toward a darker thicket. There, twisted trunks and impenetrable thorns marked the edge of a sheer ravine.
"That's the Wailing Gorge's rim," Karrion murmured, frowning. "Monsters densest there, terrain treacherous—one misstep and you plummet into oblivion." He looked to Raine and Thalia. "You sure?"
Raine drew a measured breath. Risk of the forest's corruption… or pursuit by the Church knights? Only one course led onward to the Fallen Star City. Time was slipping away.
"All right," Raine said, voice steadier than he felt. "We have no choice. We must outpace them."
Karrion studied him with a mix of concern and respect. "Very well—then prepare yourselves to hang by a thread." He gripped his hammer tighter.
With that, they turned toward Thalia's chosen route into darker danger. Underfoot the ground grew rougher, cords of rot and sodden moss twisting around roots, each stride a battle in itself. They quickened their pace, abandoning caution in favor of speed.
Shadows stretched and warped behind them. Deep in the forest, something watched, unseen: corruption's twisted denizens—or the Church's hunting party? None could say. Only one truth remained: they squared their shoulders and plunged forward, fleeing the Predator's Shadow into ever‑thickening gloom.