The fox’s paws crunched through the dried leaves as he carefully skirted around the sounds of a foraging bear. He had spotted humans following him in the distance a while back, and hoped perhaps the bear slowed them down a little. While he could easily outrun them, they appeared to never tire.
Four times now the humans had hunted him. The first time, the den was destroyed and his parents had been torn apart by the extreme violence of the hunters. His mother's illusions were seen through by one who threw balls of light, and his father's might was nothing before the human he faced. The two other fox kits he was with did not leave when he did, so he was unsure if they had survived, but he had never seen them again. The second and third time, the hunters had been fooled after some minor trickery and lost their way, leaving him safe.
This time though, the first hunters were back. There was one with a stick that threw balls of light, another covered in skins of various animals with a large pointed stick, and a third that could throw rocks with insane force, though fortunately it seemed difficult for them to hit a rapidly moving, evasive target. The odd thing though was that they never got lost for long, no matter what he did to try to throw them off. Earlier he had run to the stream and swam along it for a while before going back ashore, yet they still managed to stay on his trail. He even tried running through the clearing of the mutated tree. However, after returning in a large circle, he found the tree was burning down. It struck him as odd for there to be fire when none of the three had been carrying any like the last two groups had, but he didn’t have time to consider it for long, as surely the humans would catch up again soon.
It also didn’t help that he kept getting an itching feeling at the back of his mind. The feeling was driving him mad—coming and going. Every time he thought he lost the hunters, the itch returned. Shaking his head did not help, nor did rubbing it against a tree, the sensation remaining unchanged.
So far nothing he had tried managed to throw them off, not even leading them to his old den, but there was one last option he could try. Something had moved into this section of the forest recently, an immense beast from the deep forest, twisted from exposure to mana to such an extent it had become contagious. Nearby it, plants were changing into new forms, and from that section of forest scurried numerous bizarre creatures. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise however, as eating one of the altered rabbits was the first thing of his newly clear memories, unlike the foggy distant past. Regardless, it was an immense risk to go anywhere near such a beast again, his instincts already screaming to do anything but such an act.
Considering the situation for a moment, he decided to return to his old den first, and he rapidly spun around to follow his earlier tracks back, in an attempt to throw off the following humans again to buy a little more time. Fortunately, there were no issues running through the forest on the way back, the other wildlife seemingly as scared of the hunters as he was. Upon arriving at his den, he quickly scrambled up a fallen tree, hurled himself towards another tree, twisted midair, and pounced off that one even further away to avoid leaving clear tracks, though he was sure it wouldn’t be enough to keep them from following him, given how little anything had managed to slow them down so far. Setting a reasonable pace, he headed deeper into the forest, feeling apprehension towards his plan, but realizing it was his best chance. Hopefully they would waste some time thinking he had hid inside the den.
Along the way, he felt that odd itching at the back of his mind yet again that had been appearing occasionally all day long. Focusing on it made it waver and vanish, thankfully, else he would be quite distracted by the odd feeling. While he was doing so, however, he lost his focus and nearly stumbled into a wild boar, though he was able to avoid it, skirting around it at a fair distance to keep it from attacking.
Once he started to see the grass changing colors, he slowed back down to avoid the more dangerous twisted plants. Some were incredibly sharp, others reacting poorly to being crushed, a handful of the plants even burst into flame or acid when damaged. While these types of plants did occasionally appear in the forest on their own, here they were dozens of times more common, and far harder to avoid. Fortunately, it wasn’t too much farther before he ran into a clearing containing the beast and— even luckier for him—it was asleep. Despite laying down, the quills on its back still easily reached the lower branches of the trees nearby, and its slow but heavy breath spread out noxious vapor that killed most of the underbrush nearby, with what little survived being twisted by the power it emitted into mutant forms as well. He was able to see four reptilian limbs curled up along its left side, covered in barbed scales that glinted slightly of metal as it twitched while it slept.
He carefully moved near its head, while making sure to remain outside the distance it would be able to reach, and settled down to wait, a wary eye kept watching the beast. Far sooner than he had expected, the hunters emerged from the path he had taken, stopping suddenly at the sight that lay behind him. Wasting no time, he let out an ear-piercing scream that ripped through the silence, which was then followed shortly by a wheezing groan as the beast awoke.
Before it could fully awaken, he darted away to the rear, as quietly as he could, though it was doubtful it mattered. Yellow mist emerged from vents along the creature’s sides, dissolving the plants it touched, out of time with the actual breath of the beast. Luck was with him, however, the baleful eyes snapping to the humans to its side as it stood up.