The first sign of the steadily approaching forest was the air turning mind numbingly cold; the second being the large unearthly trees sticking out from a distance. It would only be another 15 minutes before they reached its border.

Jakob gnawed on his bottom lip, twiddling his fingers as he notices his outward breath becoming visible as a white puff of smoke. It was far below the normal freezing temperature, but there was no snowfall. It was just a bitter cold. From what Jakob remembered of the legends, this kind of cold was perfect for the living dead that was said to inhabit the darkest parts of the forest. He'd consistently heard of the tales telling people to not stray too far from the path or else you'll be torn apart by things unseen to the untrained eye, and those tales were now causing a terrible fear to seep into his bones and causing him to tense up.

"Calm y'self boy. We ain't there just yet" the driver chuckles.

Jakob doesn't share in the humor, his heart hammering against his chest. He gripped his hand over his heart, squeezing his eyes closed even though he knew doing so wouldn't calm his nerves. He takes a few deep breaths in and out, the air fresh and clean, but so cold that it burned a little going in. On his fifth breath, he opened his eyes and his heart immediately sinks down into his gut.

They'd reached the border.

Up this close, he could see how gnarled the trees here were. Not as twisted as those in Alekro, but very similar. It gave him the same sense of foreboding that the mere mention of Alekro gave him. The forest itself was dead silent, and no outside noise could be heard the moment they entered. For a long while, a deathly silence hung between the driver and Jakob, and only the sound of the horses hooves were heard.

What broke the silence was the cracking of sticks underfoot. Jakob, a little curious and a lot terrified, look down at the path. There were no sticks on the path, so Jakob had to rule out the horses stepping on them. The path itself was rocky and had potholes every so often, but no sticks. The driver glances around, noticing the cracking noises as well.

"We best be careful" the driver whispers. "Unseen things are creepin'"

Jakob gulps loudly, sweat forming on his forehead despite the below freezing temperature of the forest. Jakob rubs his hands together, the temperature causing his hands to lock up. It also didn't help the fact that he was only human, and humans were most definitely not built for these kinds of temperatures without several layers of clothes. Thankfully, the cloak Jakob wore provided just enough warmth for him to survive, but judging by the fact that they were probably being followed by something, he reckoned that the cloak wouldn't exactly protect him from being run through with a sharp object.

The cracking noises were beginning to sound a lot closer, and Jakob's heart was almost leaping out of his chest. He hoped that whatever was following them would show itself, because he'd rather see the thing rather than not. Then, for a few long moments, everything was still. No wind, and no sounds of the footsteps crushing the leaves. As they drove deeper into the woods, the darker it became though it was still daylight outside, however the trees were so dense that it blocked the rays of sunlight.

All of a sudden, the leaves rustled above them as if someone were jumping and running on the branches. The driver glances up, clicking his tongue. Jakob didn't dare take a single glance above him, knowing he would make too loud a noise if he saw something up there. It's only then that the horses begin to act out of sorts, sensing an evil presence nearby.

"Unseen things" Jakob mutters, "I may die today"

For a longer moment, all they heard was the rustling of leaves above them before a figure drops down a good few meters in front of them. They're dressed in the leaves from the trees, their skin the palest Jakob had ever seen, almost like they were a ghost. The one terrifying thing about his person was the blood dripping from their mouth. They grinned sinisterly, and Jakob could see their sharp canines that looked to be filed down to a point. Jakob visibly gulped, wondering if this is what prey felt like when being hunted by a predator. The driver doesn't stop, and instructs the horses to go a little faster. Jakob thought that the driver intended to run this figure over.

Unfortunately, this wouldn't do any good for them as the figure jumped a few feet in the air and landed on top of the horse on the driver's side. Jakob squeaked; a very unmanly squeak if he were to be completely honest, and he very nearly fell off the side of the carriage, but miraculously managed to stay on by a hair.

"Aye laddie, d'ya have a dagger on ya!?" the driver shouts as the creature slowly pulls out a bone handled dagger.

Jakob just nods, reaching down into his boot to pull out the dagger. Of course he knows how to use it, but it's not exactly a dagger fit for throwing. He also figured he'd need to jump on the horse to kill whatever this thing was, because there was absolutely no way that thing was human. Jakob chews on his bottom lip, deciding to risk this thing getting close enough to kill him before stabbing it. But, what if to can't be killed? What if it's some immortal creature that needs a specific weapon to be killed with? What if-

"AAAAARGH!" The driver yells out, and Jakob quickly turns his head to see the bone handle of the creatures dagger sticking out from the driver's chest.

Alarm bells went off in Jakob's head, his fight or flight response kicking in. His first instinct is flight; to run and to hide where this creature he's never seen before can't get to him, but he has no idea how fast it is and there's that terrifying possibility that he won't be able to outrun it. With this thought in mind, he ultimately decides to kick his fight response into gear. Though he was more sheltered from other kids his age growing up, having a king and warrior father had it's perks. Therefore, Jakob knew how to fight, he'd just never chosen to use his skills.

Now was the time to use them.

The creature, uncaring that it was standing with perfect balance atop a galloping horse stared at Jakob with hunger in its eyes; eyes that were a pale grey though it was quite obvious the creature wasn't blind. It's skin was pale, almost white in tone and covered in fresh and old scarring. It looked young; maybe a 10 to 12 year old child. Jakob felt a sudden hesitancy then, one side of his brain telling him not to kill a child. However, one look at this creatures appearance overrode that hesitancy.

In one movement the creature jumped, its mouth open and its teeth bared as if ready to take a large bite out of Jakob. His grip on his dagger tightened painfully, his eyes still wide and fearful even as he was ready to kill whatever this thing was. Everything felt like it was moving slowly as Jakob stretched his arm out, stabbing the 'child' in the chest. A loud, harrowing screech exited its mouth as blood leaked out from the wound. Its blood was a deep grey-green; the color of a dying forest, and Jakob knew then what this thing was.

There was a time when this old forest was lush and green, but for longer than even Alana had been alive, this forest had been dying; the earth underneath dry and without moisture. The druids of the forest had either died, or turned into something else.

This 'child' was one of those druids.

Jakob felt a horrible feeling settle in his gut when the harrowing screech was abruptly cut off with the druids death. It's body hung limp, its blood seeping down along Jakob's arm. Jakob's nose screwed up in disgust at the putrid smell the body gave off, throwing its body away along with the dagger. He pulled on the reigns, halting the horses to give himself a few moments. The forest was dead silent again, and nothing moved. Jakob took a deep breath in and out a few times, his fear not subsiding completely but it did lessen. He looked beside him to find the driver's body hanging limply, nearly falling off the side. Jakob made a noise of disgust, kicking the drivers body off the carriage.

The moment Jakob goes to sit up, he freezes, his eyes locked onto several figures staring at him from short distance away from the carriage. They were similarly dressed to the child from before, however they were adult sized and their eyes were not a pale grey but the darkest black. There was no blood dripping from their mouth, but Jakob was sure they had sharpened teeth like the child had. Jakob's heart skipped a few beats, fear settling in his gut again.

Of their own accord, the horses began to canter by themselves, causing Jakob to release a very unmanly squeak but was overall grateful that the horses seemed to sense the danger. Jakob held onto the reigns, glancing behind him. This proved to only cause him to fear these creatures more as they moved at an inhuman speed and were nearly directly behind the carriage. His heart raced in his chest as he began to question whether he'd make it out of this forest alive or with missing limbs or whatnot, and as the creatures came closer and closer to the carriage, he'd decided on one important very important thing; If he was going to go down, he wasn't going without a fight...