AnnouncementA few chapters ago, I think like chapter 9. I said I would give a link to the person who was encouraging me to write more often. So I asked them what they wanted me to link to, and they just told me any of their writing works, so uh. Here, I'd like to actually thank PnetPenumbraRuby's boots squish the mud under her feet as she steps off the bridge and into the marsh beyond. "Still alive. Swamp: zero, Ruby: one."
She takes just two steps onto the slightly more defined trail when-
ROOOOAAAAARRRR.
The sound rips through the swamp like thunder. Deep. Violent. Alive.
Ruby freezes. A moment ter comes the cracking of wood, the crashing of something massive pushing through trees-branches snapping like twigs, the unmistakable sound of a lot of weight moving fast.
Her ears perk straight up, her tail stiff with arm. She whips around, eyes scanning the thick trees and hanging moss behind her. But there's nothing. Not yet.
The sound is far. Far enough that she can't see anything through the misty trees. But it's coming from the west, somewhere deep in the marsh to her right.
Ruby stares for a moment. Then shrugs. "Well... can't see it, so it's probably not my problem." And with that, she continues on.
The path beneath her feet is still damp and uneven, but more defined now-fttened earth, old wagon ruts barely visible in the muck. Something used this trail before. Maybe often.
Ahead, that shadowy maybe-building on the horizon wavers slightly in the swamp haze. It could still be a tree. Or a hut. Or a trick of the light. But Ruby keeps walking. A little faster now.
The hours stretch on as Ruby continues along the worn path, her boots leaving shallow prints in the wet, compacted earth. The swamp shifts around her, the air grows heavier with each step Ruby takes, and the bugs are somehow worse than before. The path remains visible, but barely-choked by weeds, half-drowned in pces, fnked by pools of thick, bck water.
Off the trail, the ground has become almost unwalkable. Patches of moss tremble underfoot, roots twist like traps and soggy depressions give way to hidden sinkholes.
Ruby stays on the path, her eyes fixed on the shadowy shapes ahead. The fog has thinned just enough that she can finally see them clearly:
Buildings. Or rather-what's left of them.
Stone walls, half-colpsed and sunken into the mire. Cracked towers leaning at dangerous angles. Rotting wooden beams jut out from flooded chambers like ribs from a carcass. Ivy coils across every surface, and water ps quietly at fallen fgstones.
It's the ruins of a fortress. Forgotten. Buried. Devoured by the swamp.
And the sound-that deep thunderous crashing-has been growing louder.
Not constant, but rhythmic, like something rge forcing its way through terrain that doesn't want it there.
Ruby swallows, standing at the edge of the ruins. "... Okay," she whispers. "Definitely not just wind.
She steps forward, slowly. The air here is thicker. Tense. Watching.
Ruby takes a careful step into the edge of the ruins, her boots nding on moss-covered stone. The sound beneath her changes-no longer the squelch of mud, but the dull, wet sps of waterlogged stone.
Then it comes. A low growl, like the groaning of earth beneath crushing weight rolls through the ruins.
She turns sharpy-and her breath catches.
Emerging from the dense tangle of mist and shattered stone, a massive shape lumbers into view. It stands easily ten feet at the shoulder, hunched and hulking, moving on four massive limbs-its front legs longer and knuckled like a beast that should've gone extinct long ago, while its hind legs drag behind with a sloshing, deliberate strength.
It's hide is yered in dark swamp muck, woven with slimy algae and crusted with barnacle-like growths that crack and shift with each motion. Water weeps off its back in slow, viscous drips. It's head rises.
The elongated skull, almost crocodilian in shape, seems to fuse predator and death together. From beneath its angur jaw, twin tusks curve outward like pale scythes, the bone jagged and stained.
It's eyes-glowing red, sunken deep into the shadows of its skull-fix directly on Ruby.
A long, wet breath vents from the slits along its neck, steam curling in the damp air like smoke from some half-submerged forge.
Its tail, thick and sinewed, slingers behind like a living anchor, dragging along the broken stones with a slow, grinding hiss.
Ruby stares, unmoving. "... You're not friendly, are you," she whispers.
The beast lowers its head, shoulders hunching like a coiled spring. And then it charges.
Ruby doesn't think. She just runs.
The creature's charge hits the air like a falling mountain-fast, thundering, each step shaking the ruined stones beneath her feet.
She pivots on instinct, boots slipping slightly on the mossy trail as she bolts down the path, the ruins blurring past on her right.
Behind her, the monster roars again - a sound that seems to rattle her bones, low, wet and angry.
The sound of its footsteps-like thunder rolling through swamp water-chases her relentlessly. For something so massive, it moves with horrifying speed, its limbs thudding against the ground, its breath wheezing out in great clouds of mist.
Ruby spares a gnce back, but it was a mistake.
The beast is closer than it should be - shoulders rippling, that bone-pted face locked onto her like a predator too big to fail. The sight nearly freezes her mid-step.
She stumbles, recovers, and pushes harder. the trail curves ahead, skirting the crumbling edge of the fortress ruins. On her right, colpsed walls drop into flooded halls filled with algae. On her left, the swamp returns-muddy pools and broken trees waiting to swallow her whole if she slips.
"Why does everything want to eat me?!" she shrieks, ducking beneath a hanging branch, barely dodging a jutting root.
A loud crack echoes behind her - the beast plowing straight through a rotten wall, chunks of stone and wood flying.
Ruby doesn't stop. Doesn't dare. She runs more.
Branches whip at her face. Mud sucks at her boots. Her breath comes in short, ragged bursts as she pushes harder, faster, heart pounding so loud it nearly drowns out the sounds behind her.
Nearly, because the beast it still there. It doesn't roar constantly-but when it does, the sound shakes her. A deep bellowing roar that pulses through the trees, as if the swamp itself recoils with each echo.
She doesn't dare look back again. But she hears it- the cshing of trees, the explosive spsh of water, the groan of ancient stone giving way like paper beneath its massive frame.
It's slowed, but not stopped.
The ground trembles with every step it takes. It's like something out of a fever dream-a nightmare that doesn't care about barriers. It doesn't go around anything. It doesn't navigate. It just goes through. Swamp. Tree. Wall. Doesn't matter.
Ruby stumbles over a root, catching herself, and keeps going. "There's-there's nowhere to hide," she gasps aloud, blinking tears and sweat from her eyes. "Why is there nowhere to hide?!"
Her feet pound the trail, and she starts to notice something- the terrain is slowly changing.
The trail ahead rises slightly. Less soggy. Firmer ground. She's not safe, but she might just be gaining distance.
The beast roars again - closer than she wants, farther than it could've been. Its breath hisses behind her like steam from a broken pipe.
But she's still moving. And for now, that's enough.
Ruby's legs burn, her lungs ache, but she keeps going. Her face isn't a full-out sprint anymore, but it's fast-steady. Sustainable. She's dodging roots, ducking branches, jumping puddles, all without stopping. The trail narrows at points, twists wildly through marshy thickets, then opens again, each bend revealing more swamp and no salvation.
Behind her, the crashing continues.
The beast barrels on, unrelenting, a storm of cws, bone and swamp-stench. Every roar shivers through the trees like a thundercp. Every time it howls, Ruby flinches- even as she runs.
The beast doesn't slow. Not once.
Ruby's legs ache, but not enough to stop. She's still got energy. She's still ahead.
But as the crashing continues- steady, monstrous, impossible- she begins to feel a different kind of fear crawling in her skin.
This thing isn't slowing down. This thing doesn't stop. It's not hunting. It's just following. And no matter how far she runs, she starts to wonder... What if it always does.
Ruby runs. Minutes turn to hours. The sun, once high above, begins its slow descent-casting long shadows across the trail, painting the swamp in gold and gray.
Her legs ache more now. Her breaths come harder. But she doesn't stop.
The monster is still behind her. She doesn't hear it quite as clearly anymore-not as close-but every crash, every guttural breath echoing through the trees reminds her it's still there. It hasn't stopped.
But neither has she.
Then, as she crests a small rise in the trail and the trees thin just enough to grant a view beyond-
She sees it.
Far ahead, outlined by the sinking sun, are walls. Stone walls. Tall. Broad. Massive.
And just beyond them, a silhouette of towers. Rooftops. Shapes and spires. It's a town. No. Bigger. A city. Far bigger than anything Ruby's ever seen before.
Her heart leaps. She stumbles to a halt for the first time in hours, clutching her knees, breath ragged- butt her eyes don't leave the sight ahead.
"A city..." she whispers. "I found a city."
Behind her, distant now, something massive still moves through the swamp. Unstoppable. Relentless.
But ahead-A gate. A chance. a finish line.
She doesn't wait long. Ruby straightens, tightens her pack, and starts running again.
Not because she's afraid anymore. But because she might actually make it.
The walls loom rger with every step Ruby takes, her boots pounding against the packed earth of the widening road. The swamp falls away behind her, repced by the scent of smoke, stone and something warm that cuts through the damp like hope.
Then she sees them. People.
Figures lining the outside of the gate- dozens, maybe more. Torches raised high, mounted on long poles that flicker in the dusk light like burning spears. Armor glints of some. Others wear long robes or thick coats. All of them face the swamp, eyes sharp, weapons ready.
As Ruby draws closer, a ripple moves through the group.
One of them points. "There! The Behemoth! It's chasing someone!"
She hears it behind her- that same steady crash, that wet roar echoing through the dying light. She doesn't slow.
A woman near the front steps forward, raising her torch higher. "Girl! Past us! Into the games, now! GO!"
Ruby's eyes widen, her legs burning, but she pushes harder, lungs screaming.
She can see the gate- tall, open, massive. The city beyond rises in yers, stone walls and rooftops stacked on hills, glowing orange in the light of the setting sun.
She flies past the first guard, the heat of the torches brushing against her face. The roar behind her grows louder- closer-but she doesn't dare look back.
She hears the creak of heavy wood. The smming of boots. And then- BOOM.
The city gate closes shut behind her with a deep, shuddering finality.
She colpses to her knees, gasping, heart thudding against her ribs like it's trying to escape her chest.
For the first time since she left the forest.. She's inside. Safe.
Ruby_Foxgirl