TF Chapter 85 Leaving The Forest

              ***Nathaniel***

The exploration towards the North had went well, considering that now, weeks had passed and here we were, trekking towards the south. The monkey-like creatures had been making that part of the forest their territory, but by unleashing my spiritual powers fuelled by intent, I had managed to make them wary of making a move against our trio, allowing us the breathing room to draw water from the stream safely. 

The previous weeks, I had managed to manipulate my intent with such finesse, that we had started distilling water from the swampy mud instead of having to trek all the way to the stream. The most ecstatic person about my improvement had been Bora of course, since a bath was very important to women as I had found out the previous weeks, where bathing three times a day had become the norm for her.

Our budding mutual attraction was another matter altogether that was causing me immense frustration. Why? Because we hadn't managed to surpass the stage of exchanging subtle glances and admiring each other from a distance. She appeared to be okay with it, but it was driving me crazy! And, there was this annoying fly called Danny that hovered around us all the time, preventing me from gaining some alone time with her. The pent up frustration was building only for me to have to shelve it when our exploration target had become the south of our landing area.

The previous weeks, we had managed to explore the west and the east, which were composed of the same monotonous forest, except for just one alarming discovery in the east, other creatures, the true predators of the forest. The monkey-look-alikes were mild mannered compared to the four legged inhabitants in the east, which had caused us to theorise that maybe, that direction was the deepest and most dangerous part of the jungle. We thanked our lucky stars that the landing pods hadn't crashlanded in that potion of the forest as we were 100% certain that we would have most likely died.

Now, back onto our trek to the south. Before we had even decided to embark east and west, we had first tried to head to the south, only to postpone it after we had climbed one of the tallest trees and gazed in that direction. The scene there had made us agree to leave it for last. And now, the time had finally arrived when we were supposed to head there.

This wasn't a temporary trip like the times we explored the other parts of the forest. No, this was a permanent journey that was going to take us away from the gloomy forest into the wide open plains of the planet!

Except that there was this great inconvenience that had made us even make the decision to postpone the exploration in the first place...native activity!

The south had a gorge a few meters wide that served as the cutoff point of the forest and the plains. It was a deep chasm that appeared to have been cleaved with a sword.

But, there were those rope and plank bridges, linking the forest to the plain. There was no way the creatures in this part of the forest were sentient enough to construct such a thing, so that only left one other group, the natives. That alien I had fought a few weeks ago had probably arrived into the forest using the bridge.

As we settled on top of the closest tree to the bridge, we finally managed to make out the natives that were carrying out a lumbering project on the edges of the forest. They were cutting down trees with their primitive tools made of what I could only assume to be iron, and carrying them to the other side, vanishing into the path cutting through the tall grass, which was probably leading back to their village society.

"So...how are we going to slip past all these...aliens?" Danny asked, the playful lilt he always has in his voice know here to be found, only seriousness. 

"Let's give it some time, maybe nightfall...or better, lunch? Though, I have a feeling they most definitely have their meals here. So, nightfall it will be." 

Bora's idea was acceptable.

So we searched for a tree that would afford us some comfort from the sun and the wind. With Bora's clever way of gathering information by simply shadowing the creatures in the forest, we had finally managed to find some edible vegetation during the previous weeks, though, not without boiling it thoroughly first, as we were sure, our physiology was most definitely different from the native aliens of this planet, not to mention DNA.

*****

"Bora, are you satisfied with how we haven't made any progress in our relationship for some time?"

I asked while my body was resting in a pelt that was tied between two branches and my gaze was looking at the dark sky with the twinkling stars. She was next to me, on my right with Danny to my left, snoring. Though, I was pretty sure he was simply pretending to be asleep. The reason why we were all clumped together was the need for heat. The sun had just set into the western horizon, and the aliens were still doing some of their work, so we were waiting. They were already showing signs of withdrawing and going back to wherever their village was based. All we just had to do was wait.

"I don't particularly see anything wrong with the pacing. Could it be that you are referring to the fact that we haven't done all those intimate things a couple is supposed to do? You haven't even actively courted me...just stealing glances from a distance."

That last addition was said almost inaudibly, but my ears managed to pick it out. And the fact that those words caused me to become filled with shame was...

I didn't even know what to say. She had been waiting for me to take the initiative, yet here I was complaining to her about the fact that I was unhappy with our current progress without even starting anything!

"Heh-kukh!"

I hit Danny with an elbow before he could income up with some mocking words, effectively silencing him.

"When we reach the other side, maybe I will do something. Dating is something I haven't engaged in ever since I was born, so pardon me if I make mistakes." I spoke while keeping my gaze upwards towards the stars. I really wanted to turn and stare at her all night, but I couldn't do it so blatantly. At least I could feel her warmth on my skin. That was probably enough for this night.

The arousal that had been about to engulf me settled down the moment I started to seriously view the little specks of light that were dotting the canvas that was the sky. It was a cloudless night, and even with the cold, there was a hint of warmth that signified the fact that we were either enjoying summer, or in the tropics during the dry season. The more I gazed at those blinking dots, the more my heart sped up, as if it wanted me to go out and explore the vast universe.

Wormholes had already been discovered...maybe, one day, I might get a chance to come into contact with a thriving Forger civilisation. I was so looking forward to it.

Though, the current state of the Forger upper echelon of humanity was worrying. Those people were hiding something, and my gut was telling me that they had made first contact with an alien race... A race that was unlike these primitives on this planet, no! Those ones were powerful or advanced enough to have injured our leaders and killed many others. Now that I am thinking about this, I think that guy who had spoken on the podium had been injured by intent!

*****

The night deepened as we waited...until the last of the natives crossed the bridge back to their village. What caused us to breath out a sigh of relief was the fact that no guards were left behind to guard the other side. If there were, then it would have been tricky.

We climbed down and as stealthily as possible, made our way towards the bridge. The night was a dangerous time in these woods. The predators liked to start prowling at this time. Even though being at the edge of the forest made it safer, we still exercised the necessary caution.

"These aliens...they probably have no lack of geniuses. If they managed to capture one of us humans, and extracted our knowledge, they could advance by leaps and bounds!" Spoke Bora, marveling at the splendid construction that was the bridge as we crossed to the other side.

On reaching the other side, we were greeted with a tranquility like no other, where a mild warm breeze rustled the grass and the sounds of the various little organisms within the tall grass. It was...picturesque? The faint light from the stars caused us to have very little in the way for shadows, but we didn't stop to marvel at the surroundings, only hurriedly wiping our tracks to confuse whichever native tried to make sense of the ground upon arriving tomorrow morning.

We entered the tall grass, avoiding the path that would have led us to the alien village, which was our goal, mostly. There was no particularly important goal that we needed to accomplish there, only just to satisfy our curiosity. We wanted to at least see what level the civilisation had reached to.

"Do you believe that this tall sun-dried grass could be hiding a predator on the level of a lion? Maybe the path was the best idea?" 

Danny spoke in a voice that contained all his fear. He was even whispering even though we had already judged that the large beings of this planet lacked an auditory canal-like evolution...of course, there were exceptions to that rule, like how that native had managed to create himself a working version of our eyes, even with all the comic relief they had provided.

"Relax, Danny! Don't jinx us!" Shushed Bora who was within our midst, with I myself taking point. I had arranged it like this so we could have someone with a calm mind in the middle, who could save us when I and Danny became dumb, or tried to do something dumb. But now, I was regretting the decision. Maybe, Danny should have been the one in our midst...?

As we were walking, sudden sounds, a cacophony, hit us like a truck from the front. They appeared to be far away, yet they were frantic, as if something important had happened. We sped up, only for something, a ripple to impact our spirits like a sledge hammer, causing us to stumble back, paling.

"Wha-What was that?!" Danny shouted.