DEEPER INTO THE WOODS.

1777, APRIL 06th, WEDNESDAY11:45 am.

Noche didn't recognize much in the Neverafter forest. Despite it being almost noon-time the forest was almost pitch black. Gray fog drifted across her feet admidst the black silhouettes of the trees around her. The only color was the blinking red light of a broken radio antenna that lay on the ground underneath a canopy of trees.

As she went deeper into the woods she encountered various abandoned landmarks. From a rusty old warehouse, to multiple electric towers, to a decrepit windmill that shrieked in the wind, to a rotten water wheel attached to a saw mill. It was almost as if there was a small town here until the woods crept over it.

There was a moment where she thought she heard a child laughing, but scanning the environment there was no kid in sight. A bead of sweat trailed down her face and she summoned her Omni-oar. After a few minutes of nothing happening, she dismissed the weapon.

Then she came across a sight she wasn't expecting. A mummified corpse who was somewhat fused into a tree – or more like one grew out of him. He was wearing a Cross uniform. Was this the man who was attacked by that tree two years ago? Noche flinched when she saw him twitch. Was he... Was he still alive?

There was no way she was going near him. If he was still alive, then it was probably to lure people closer to help save him. She would not fall for that. Noche lifted up her eyepatch and an eye of corruption formed in her socket. A moment later the man and the tree ignited into a white blaze.

Roots erupted from the ground and began to lash out in all directions. Fortunately, the blonde was far out of reach. She glared at the tree with her evil eye until the entire thing was corrupted and gone. With it destroyed she continued on her path through the forsaken forest.

Deeper in she came across a cloud of gas. It moved towards her and she broke out in a cold sweat. Noche created wind and blew it back, but not before a little touched it. She fell to her knees as the world around her went gray. Her body submerged in a pool of ice water – she needed to breathe. Yet no matter how fast the air came in, she couldn't.

It took the blonde a few moments to stop hyperventilating. Her nerves had settled down and she was able to stand again.

"Despair clouds," she thought. "That's pretty accurate."

In the time she had spent on the ground the cloud had reformed and was inching it's way towards her. Moving towards her as if it was sentient. Noche reacted much faster this time and dispersed it with hurricane winds. She didn't stick around after that.

Not much later she encountered a lava snake. A snake that smoldered with heat and instead of shedding its skin it moulted molten lava. They were as big as an anaconda and twice as strong, not that they needed to be since they could cook anything they wrapped around. She killed it by cutting it in half with her sword.

Deeper in the forest were shadow badgers. A creature that was as vicious as its honey badger counterpart but with the ability to create a blinding black gas. Hurricane winds and a bolt of lightning as thick as an old oak tree took care of any she encountered.

Then there were volves. Noche was hesitant to fight any, given how they reminded her of Moon Moon. So she made cages of wind and walked past any she encountered. However, they weren't the only venomous mutants she had come across. A squad of purple monkeys had surrounded mere minutes afterward.

Her irritation was starting to get the better of her. Killing intent leaked out of her and caused all the predators to freeze motionless. Noche took advantage of their paralyzation and blasted everything she could see with lightning. It was as if a thunderstorm had exploded in the middle of the woods.

Yet the further she got the more annoying the creatures became. Giant insects ranging from the size of her hand to triple the size of her body flittered about. So Noche created a few category three cyclones to blow them all away.

When a pack of huge beasts surrounded her she stomped her foot into the ground and everything exploded as if a meteor had impacted the spot. When the chaos died down there was a mile-long crater full of rubble and ash. It sent an earthquake rumbling across the entire continent. For a moment, Medusa thought about sending the generals to investigate, thinking it came from Raptorman in Movecity.

Still, even this display of force didn't stop monsters from approaching her. For a few hours later and creature had begun stalking her. Noche responded by picking up a pebble and throwing it with enough force to destroy a row of trees. Each trunk exploded into a shower of splinters as if a railgun had fired at them. By the time the stone had destroyed the hundredth tree the beast stalking her had fled.

Deeper and deeper into the forest she went. It was honestly kind of fascinating to see all the things that lurked here when they weren't treating her as an easy meal. For example, she encountered will-o-wisps. Anything these little motes of light touched would ignite into blue flames. Yet they seemed insubstantial. Formless. Ethereal.

After she had spent most of the day hiking and dealing with threats, Noche understood how this place could keep a general weary. Not much here could physically injure here, but there were many things that required you to keep your attention up. Poisons, fire, electricity, chemical damage, and more were common attacks of the deeper creatures. Noche had to keep an energy shield up at all times.

She neared the edge of some trees as rays of orange light pierced through the canopy. Noche found herself standing in a small grotto and far above her was an old broken bridge connecting two cliffs. In the distance, she could make out the sun setting.

"It's getting late. I might have to create a camp," she muttered.

Letting out a tired breath she continued her journey deeper into the woods. Light started to dim so Noche raised her one arm into the air and created motes of electricity. The sparkles illuminated the air around her. She kept on walking.

At some point things started to calm down; fewer creatures confronted her. Growing a bit bored she decided to train. Prismatic energy became a paper airplane. She held it up, inspected it, and then gave it a gentle toss. It drifted through the air as prismatic energy surrounded it. Wind was created and moved the little glider back towards the blonde.

She smiled as she created winds that caused the little airplane to swirl around her head. She focused on making its movements more precise, more complicated, doing multiple loops and dives. It had been a while since she had allowed herself to enjoy something small; simple.

By now it had grown late and Noche was deep in the woods. The world was silent and what little light remained was a deep violet. She was surrounded by brambles as thick as a person's arm with thorns the size of daggers. The trees were twisted and warped. Plus, they were so large that Noche looked like an ant in comparison.

She approached one in curiosity and pressed her hand against the bark. Her one eye lingered on her only arm. It was so much smaller than the tree it was ridiculous. This massive thing was something out of a fairytale. It probably weighed thousands of tons since it was probably twice as big as the Hyperion tree.

The blonde let out a soft smile as she compared her tiny form next to this wood giant. She stood there in silence for a few moments. Noche punched the tree and its base exploded – as if a massive bomb had gone off. Birds flew in all directions as the titan tree started falling towards her.

Right before it slammed on her Noche pushed against the wood and launched the gargantuan log into the air as if she was a child throwing a stick. It touched the clouds before falling somewhere randomly in the Neverafter woods – the impact causing a minor earthquake.

"Gods I love being this strong," she muttered to herself once the noise died down. "Half-gen, huh? If I wanted... I could destroy half the world in a single punch right now."

Noche paused; she let her words sink in.

"Who could stop me? The generals? They couldn't get here in time... At any moment I could end all life," she frowned. "How frightening."

It was difficult for Noche to suppress her smirk as she walked deeper into the woods. However, she stopped when something occurred to her. It was silent, not just quiet, but silent. There were no insects making noise, no birds tweeting, no anything.

A bead of sweat dripped down her face and she placed her fingertips to it and stared. Her hand clenched into a fist and the blonde's head started darting left and right. What little green the plants had started to blacken and wither as rotting meat filled the air.

A few small animals burst out of the shrubbery and ran past Noche. The last of the pack collapsed on the ground and started convulsing before it lay still. The blonde didn't stick around, it was coming. She ran in the same direction as the other critters.

Fog started chasing after her and soon it had surpassed her. The brambles became more and more twisted and grasping – as if transforming into claws that were reaching out for her. Every breath came in hard and ragged as if she had run out of stamina, but that shouldn't have been possible with her inhuman levels of endurance.

As she ran she made the ever so intelligent decision to look back. There it was, the grinning maw full of jagged teeth. Creep's face lurked behind her; it was inching closer and closer. As a syringe full of ice water was injected into her veins Noche summoned her omni-oar and swung. The monster's head dissolved into swirling mist.

Shark teeth appeared all around Noche and bit down – her blood splattered in all directions. With super-sonic speed, she swung her dark blade and all the gnawing maws dissipated into formless fog. In that moment of reprieve, she sped up her running.

Yet no matter how fast she moved, despite the fact she was moving as fast as a jet plane, the fog kept up. Creeps's face appeared again and again; each time it's shark teeth could clamp down on her body. It didn't take long for Noche to be covered in her own blood. If she kept taking wounds like this she was going to bleed to death.

Still, Noche ran. She fought back the mist as best she could – destroying fanged mouths before they could bite her. This process continued for almost two hours before she escaped the fog. By the time it was over, Noche was covered in blood, mud, and sweat. She was covered in twigs, thorns, and more than one dead insect.

More than one rash was forming on her skin from her charging through venomous plants. In fact, her eyesight had faded to black for a few minutes. Despite being sick with fatigue and poison, she pushed past her physical exhaustion and kept her ears sharp. By the time she regained her vision, the forest had returned to normal.

Noche limped to a giant, dead tree stump. The thing was as large as a house and there was a hole in its side. Entering she found the interior to be hollowed out. The blonde leaned against the wall and slid down. She closed her single eye and took in a few deep breaths.

"Fuck... Fucking... Creeps," she gasped. "Still can't deal with that."

Noche hated herself for thinking it, but she couldn't fight Creeps. Not now – not with how weak she still was. Destroying half the planet, HAH, what good is that power when it's useless against something that defies reality? She felt so strong when she knocked over that massive tree. Where was her strength now?

Noche ground her teeth and let the hate flow through her. She had to get stronger. She had to overcome that fucking monster. The blonde calmed down with a few more deep breaths and rested. Once she recovered her breath, she left.

"HeLlO aGaIn – Noche."

The blonde's head snapped towards the familiar voice.

Mary sat at her laboratory desk. Notes were scattered all across the table. Her eyes lingered on them but did not pick them up. Her mind wasn't there. She sighed and planted her head on her arms. Phoenix the cat jumped up next to her and rubbed its head against hers.

"Hello baby."

She turned her head to the side and rubbed the cat between the ears. It purred and rubbed its chin against her hand. Mary sighed and sat back up, eyes darting from her notes to her phone. The voicemail had already played, but she stared at the replay button.

"My life is a drama con," she muttered. "Do I have time for this?"

She pressed the replay button.

"Mary. Its mada. Luk mi... Mi doctas sey mi nuh ave much time leave. Please call mi back," the recording said. "Mary, please pick up. Mi need yuh suh much right now. Please... Mi sorry."

The phone beeped as the message ended. Mary stared at the phone, then let her head fall onto the table once again.

"What do I do?" She muttered.