The Cursed Forest

Lorna Dodson slowly opened her red eyes at the sound of encroaching footsteps and stood up from her position high up in the trees. She rested one hand against the bark as she gazed down at the ground below. In the distance, she could somewhat make out something moving towards her.

At least if she were an ordinary human woman.

In her eyes, she could see a small party of humans have dared to stray from their manmade routes and enter this part of the forest.

How foolish.

Whether it was an accident or on purpose, she would have to deal with them. It was just a matter of how they should be dealt with.

Her legs tensed before she jumped over to the branch of a tree nearby. Her feet barely made a sound as she landed. The branch didn’t break beneath her weight. In fact, it didn’t so much as bend beneath her like she was light as a feather.

Her long, wavy black hair swayed in the wind as the green gem in her circlet gleamed in the sunlight.

She continued to hop between the branches of various trees, closing the distance between her and her targets, who remained blissfully unaware of the danger fast approaching.

It wasn’t long before she was several feet away from them when she finally stopped her advancement. She peered down at the group, studying each and every one of them. The humans searched their surroundings as they discussed amongst themselves.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” one human asked with a doubtful look on their face.

“Of course. We just keep going this way and we’ll definitely be back on the road,” a different human insisted as they placed both hands on their hips.

“All I see are trees. Are you sure we didn’t get turned around somewhere?” another human said, looking around with a worried expression.

“Well, I didn’t see you making any suggestions when we found the road was blocked,” the previous human snapped.

As it looked like the humans were about to fight, a different human got in between them.

“That’s enough. We’re all uneasy, but this isn’t the time to be fighting. We should be focusing on how to find our way back. We should avoid staying longer than necessary lest we face the dangers of this forest,” the human said, radiating authority.

The other humans soon fell in line, confirming that this human had to be their leader. Once she dealt with him, the other humans would certainly panic and be easier to deal with.

Lorna placed a hand on the pendant on her neck and tugged it free. The moment the chain came loose, the pendant transformed into a bow. Using her magic, she crafted an arrow and notched it into the bow. She aimed her arrow at the leader, waiting for the right moment to strike.

As she was to unleash the arrow, the leader abruptly spun their head in her direction. She froze.

Could he see her?

That was impossible.

She should be completely hidden from view thanks to the magic of the forest. Intruders shouldn’t be able to see the denizens of the forest unless granted permission by the forest itself, and there was no way the forest would ever give permission to humans.

Lorna quickly shook off her confusion and let loose the arrow. It shot through the air, aiming for the leader’s shoulder, as she had no intention of killing them.

Unexpectedly, the human reacted.

They immediately unsheathed their sword and cut the arrow in two when it got within range. The pieces fell to the ground as the other humans panicked.

Despite her shock, she didn’t hesitate to summon several more arrows and fired them off in quick succession. Then she dropped down from her lofty position to land gracefully on the ground. Her bow transformed into a sword before she charged towards the leader.

While all of this was happening, the human cut down the barrage of arrows as they ordered, “Don’t run. We don’t know how many there are. Take shelter.”

“Where?” one of the humans demanded as they scanned their surroundings for a place to hide.

The leader didn’t get a chance to respond before something struck his sword. They were thrown back and rolled across the dirt, stopping at the feet of the other humans. When the leader looked up, they saw nothing there.

“What’s going on? What’s attacking us?” a human asked hysterically, their eyes darting around frantically.

A different human turned to glare at the human who had brought them there and snapped, “This is all your fault. We stumbled upon the cursed section of the forest.”

“Well, if someone hadn’t lost the map, then maybe I wouldn’t have accidentally led us astray,” the human shot back, returning the glare.

“Enough,” the leader barked as they got to their feet.

She had to admit that this human was unlike the rest. Even though they were unable to see her, they still remained calm in the face of danger. They had even withstood her attack, though she had purposely held back to avoid accidentally killing them.

However, he was still human in the end.

Without any hesitation, she charged ahead, aiming to deal a serious blow this time. As she was about to disarm them, the human somehow parried her blow.

Lorna stumbled back from the force as her eyes widened in surprise.

She immediately put some distance between them and studied the human seriously while the others pestered their leader over what had just happened.

How did they do that?

This wasn’t the first time they had reacted to her.

The first time she had assumed it was a coincidence that they looked in her direction. They could have just happened to turn her way.

As for dealing with her arrows, the first time could be chalked up as pure luck. They could have happened to see the arrow flying towards them since the forest’s magic didn’t apply once it left her person. The rest had been because they expected the following arrows after the first one.

Now she couldn’t help suspecting something was off. She had to be careful.