Rodent and Sorn were trapped together.

  Rodent spun while watching the trees, seeing the forms of things upon their surface—birds, small dogs, creatures, and critters becoming better defined. He was unsure of what was happening but watched for danger while spotting the best place to flee to.

  But as he looked, he noticed something new on the ground—a black sludge—slithering toward him, toward the trees. Multiple instances of the sludge moved, each varying in size and pure in texture.

  It was hard to see into them, unable to gauge their depths, though they seemed deeper than what was visually possible. Looking into them was like looking into an abyss—unsettling.

  Three trees exploded open, which Rodent twirled to, seeing they had further thinned and cracked in whatever they were trying to do. Their branches broke and fell and crashed against the ground.

  Rodent was confused, remaining on guard as other trees were still in the process of something, but watching how the sludge slowly approached those branches… washing over them.

  The branches further disintegrated, reduced to nothing as they melted beneath the sludge's surface. In moments, they were devoured, leaving nothing.

  Rodent's heart was unsteady. The sludge had not grown but seemed stronger than before. The sludge moved toward the failed trees, passing over their exposed roots… coming to passively eat the trees.

  Despite Rodent's fear of the trees, this passive, consuming thing frightened him more. He went to step back—until feeling an oppressive air around his leg. He whipped around, seeing a black puddle behind him.

  He blinked. When did it get here? Rodent couldn't will himself to back away. Instead, he gazed into it… seeing everything and nothing. His mouth opened. His reflection was in the darkness, staring back, without details.

  Rodent breathed. His head shook. He raised a hand over the sludge to see what his reflection would do…

  …until Sorn vibrated, stopping him.

  "Sorry." Rodent snapped out of it, looking at more of the trees, the detailed form of critters carved upon their surfaces… which cracked and broke apart to reveal the hollow interior of the tree. "I couldn't help myself."

  Rodent waited for one of the trees to birth something, a creature or a critter, a monster even… but the trees only imploded or exploded in trying to birth something upon its surface or innards. It was like the woods were trying to come alive… but they no longer had the life to do so.

  Rodent felt a strange sadness watching this defence mechanism for the woods fail—even though otherwise, it probably meant his death. Trunks burst open, fell over, and attracted more of the sludge as whatever lingering soul that empowered them fully faded.

  But a sound came from one of the remaining trees, the largest and best-looking of them all. Its branches started to grow outward, thinning as tendrils burst out from within it.

  Rodent turned and watched it, seeing those tendrils dash through the air, piercing the fallen branches, logs, and trunks. It hooked them all and drew them backward, saving it from the sludge, the light stuff through the air as the heavy stuff had to be rolled, all of it being thinned as though the tendrils were nursing themselves on their existence.

  On whatever soul lingered in them.

  This felt unrelated to the sludge.

  Rodent gulped, sensing the immediate threat, seeing the tree expand and shrink, devouring the fallen material to birth something within. Green light shone through the cracks of the tree. Bright green. Like magic.

  Just then, the tree exploded, differently this time, a ball of green, swirling energy rising over the area. The collected wood floated around the ball, parts drawing toward it, forming together, creating what appeared to be a ribcage. Some areas were thin, and others were thick. It was an intelligent design.

  Rodent watched what looked like a wolf being formed, one as large as an elephant, its legs long and its claws sharp—despite it all being made from repurposed wood.

  "W-What in the world…"

  The creature came alive, its head and muzzle forming next. The hollow slots for its eyes were filled with glowing orbs, and its maw opened to reveal its hollow interior.

  Rodent glanced at the remains of trees, what little there was, seeing the shapes of smaller critters carved upon them—wondering if they were supposed to break free, coming alive, without the same fanfare.

  He looked at the new creature as it touched the ground, landing too hard on its paws as its body sank from the contact. But its legs redesigned themselves to support the creature better in rising and standing.

  Rodent had never been more aware of his racing heart, how it tensed him and the air around him. He could barely breathe, barely focus on everything, feeling bloated and heavy—struggling to focus on his breathing.

  The wooden beast rose proudly, arching itself and holding the pose, coming to feel existence again. Moments later, its head rose to look at the sludge that covered the ground—more approaching from afar, attracted.

  Then the best gazed at the man.

  Rodent returned it.

  "Hey. Listen. I mean no harm." Rodent relaxed—but not greatly. "Just passing through. Nothing more. You have nothing to fear."

  It was foolish speaking to a creature… but Rodent hoped his previous ability may assist him here.

  The Wolf growled, circling the man, which Rodent copied, who still tried to appear peaceful. The Wolf charged, and though Rodent flinched, he stood his ground—in front of a rotting tree.

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  The creature stumbled and sank as it ran, its joints still not strong enough. It adjusted as it ran. Rodent noticed this as the creature wound upward to slash with its paw.

  Rodent waited and then dropped to the ground as the strike came, the Wolf overestimating the attack. Its paw smacked into the tree, breaking off at the wrist. Rodent rolled and rolled, far enough until it felt safe to stand again.

  The Wolf growled at him, lowering its head, holding the glare.

  Then it looked at the tree and, stuffing its stump inside, thinned and shrank it with a subtle glow of green magic. The wood moved like water as it funnelled into the creature's stump, crafting another paw.

  The creature withdrew it, moving its digits and setting them against the ground again.

  Okay.

  Rodent breathed in his nose and out his mouth, blocking out his fears and doubts, focusing.

  Keep away from the trees.

  His eyes scanned for the black puddles, some coming together, becoming larger. Stepping in those might mean death. He needed to keep aware of their locations—or use it to his advantage.

  The Wolf charged him again, and despite its size, its aged wood was too weak to support it. The thing nearly fell over as it ran, raising high to bring its paw higher, wanting to strike it down onto the man.

  Rodent didn't move, trusting himself. The paw slammed downward, and when it did, Rodent held his pole upward, waiting. The paw crashed into it, breaking upon contact, and the pole shot through its leg, using its momentum against it.

  Rodent dashed back, the creature falling to the side as half of its appendage was gone. The bits of wood sprinkled into the pools of sludge, which it leapt upon, devouring the remains into nothing.

  Rodent thrust forward again to retrieve Sorn, who somehow hadn't had a scratch, composed of the same material as the pond. He stepped away from the sludge and looked at the Wolf on its side.

  It tried to rise, but its flexing shape struggled to become one that could support the action, the creature hopelessly shifting in place. This only made Rodent feel bad about the wounded animal.

  His heart had never been more scrunched and squeezed.

  However, the beast looked aside, spotting severed parts of branches. It tried to wiggle toward it… which caused Rodent to do something he wasn't proud of. Approaching, he wielded Sorn like a stick and… proceeded to smack the creature's muzzle.

  "Hey! HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!"

  The creature winced, wiggled, and snared at Rodent.

  Every time it tried to rise.

  It was smacked on the snout again.

  "STOP! I don't want to fight you! Can we just—"

  The beast suddenly rose, unbalanced, but its intent was to throw the side of its frame at the man. Rodent blinked as he saw this—dashing back in time. The creature struck the ground with a significant crack in its frame.

  It lay there wounded, thinning itself to heal its cracks… but they wouldn't fully recover. The light behind the orbs in its eyes became dimmer. It looked around, passing over Rodent several times, its vision seeming to wane.

  And Rodent nearly cried with a shaking head, unsure what to do.

  Y-You're not going to stop…

  …are you?

  Rodent knew he could not let this continue.

  It only took one attack—a wooden spear—to kill him.

  Wincing, he charged forward with open eyes, screaming to let the creature know. It could do nothing but struggle as Rodent thrust the pole into the cracks upon its back, pulling it back to thrust just as hard again, further breaking the cracks and spreading them.

  The creature growled and howled, unable to shake him or get upright. The pole finally broke through as the Rodent pulled up and down, further opening the hole and prying what was there apart.

  He broke into the creature, which could no longer rise, pawing at the ground—trying to drag itself away. A tree away from the initial bunch had critters trying to be born upon the bark's surface.

  Rodent, however, broke through to the creature's core; its green swirling ball of energy was already becoming dimmer. Rodent steadied himself in a flow of attacks, intending to drive Sorn through that ball of life.

  The creature still tried to crawl toward the tree, seeing the attempt of its friends trying to be born. However, their shapes vibrated, cracking from the process—breaking.

  The shape broke into bits, littering the ground, and the sludge quickly approached. In seconds, nothing remained. The Wolf watched passively, and then it settled against the ground.

  And waited.

  Rodent had been watching, finding it hard to break out of his rhythm. He watched as the sludge going toward the trees now headed to the beast—attracted by its despair. It had resigned. Rodent drew himself back, nearly struggling to withdraw his weapon.

  He could leave, now.

  These dead woods were no threat.

  And maybe beyond it…

  …there would actually be others.

  But try as he might to leave.

  Rodent's heart wouldn't allow it.

  "H-Hey!" Rodent stepped in front of the creature, opening himself to ward off the approaching sludge. "Back off! Eat something else!" He held his pole at them… but didn't want to risk Sorn against them.

  Rodent held his ground, enduring the thundering of his heart, even as the sludge approached his boots. He still would not move even as he winced, waiting to see what happened. The closest sludge extended tendrils that went to latch onto his boot…

  …but stopped midway in the air.

  It remained like that for seconds.

  Before retracting its tendrils and moving away, the rest fleeing as well. It was a slow retreat. One that Rodent couldn't understand. Was it because he could still fight back? Did they dislike things from other worlds?

  Rodent soon remembered the Wolf, which had watched without reaction, lying there despite being able to lurch and bite at the man. The orbs of its eyes were nearly gone.

  Soon, the creature would be remains.

  Remains that would be eaten by the sludge like the rest.

  I'm an idiot.

  Rodent left and came back, holding wood in his arms, acquired hesitatingly. The Wolf sniffed the wood. It growled at Rodent's nearing approach. Rodent sighed, head shaking.

  "Easy," he said, annoyed. "Fight's off." He drew closer—within biting range. "Least for now." He slowly lowered himself before its muzzle to gain trust. "Wouldn't be fair otherwise. Here. Wood. You use that to heal, right?"

  The Wolf glared and growled at Rodent's weapon, which he held in his hands while his arms had the wood. Rodent exhaled again.

  "Seriously?" Rodent asked. He was so done. However, he couldn't allow himself to leave. "Fine. Whatever. You attacked first—but sure, I'll throw my only means of defence." He tossed Sorn as respectfully as he could. "There. Now you have an unfair advantage—like you didn't have that already."

  Rodent came closer, right next to the beast's muzzle, which remained raised and ready to snap. Rodent glared at it enough for the beast to knock the attitude off. Once there was a temporary truce, Rodent leaned closer, looking at its chipped snout.

  "I don't know how to heal you," Rodent said. "I'm going to hold the wood against the broken bits and… I guess you'll do the rest?" He rolled the wood down his arms and into his hands, drawing it to the creature's wound. "Please no biting my arms off."

  He made contact with the best, which snarled and snared, but its agitation soon calmed down. Rodent remained as he was, gazing into the creature's eyes, keeping firm.

  Soon… the creature started to relax.

  And then, after that.

  It started to heal.

  ~ Triple-Triple