CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH. Liam slowed down, his footsteps crushing the leaves on the ground. He tried to avoid them while he explored the forest; he preferred to stay as undetected as possible, but even then if someone were to stumble upon his footprints in the mud, he'd be screwed anyway. The wildlife didn't worry him. No matter how dangerous some were, he was confident that he could find a way around them if necessary.

The thing that truly troubled him was the nightmare. It wasn't uncommon for him, but for both him and Nicole to get one on the same night, while only moments away from each other? Needless to say, it was cause for concern. He hadn't told her about his dream, seeing no point in trying to explain to her what it meant, and not desiring to talk about it anyway. Nonetheless, that didn't mean the thought wasn't at the back of his mind.

What if something's following me? he asked himself, briefly pausing, his eyes darting left and right. The mere thought of evil creatures hunting him down was horrifying. Nothing was there. Of course not, he berated himself, they wouldn't just let you see them. As he walked, he continued to become more and more paranoid, taking longer strides while time passed. Every so often, he thought he heard a hushed voice whispering gibberish in his ear. It was only the wind. It had to be the wind.

Yet, did that even matter? Perhaps it wasn't what was there, but what he thought was there, that scared him. Hallucinations and twisted dreams were widely seen as evil, and the power to manipulate them was exclusive to only the most powerful dream walkers, including the spirit guardian of nightmares herself. The fact that he and Nicole had experienced those vicious dreams suggested that she knew of his intention on retrieving the medallion. If she or any of the opposing spirit guardians indeed had heard of it, Liam would most likely be dead before he could even find it.

Sooner or later, the wind stopped bothering him and he pushed the thought out of his mind, focused on the situation at hand. Gradually, the greenery surrounding him got brighter and brighter, probably because of the medallion's magic. His gaze drifted to the trees and he spotted a red feathered bird, it's round eyes peering down at him. It cocked it's head and squeaked, and he chuckled at its playfulness.

"Sorry little guy," he said, "I'd stay if I wasn't so busy." The bird, a parrot he presumed, whistled in response. While he continued he encountered more and more animals. He stopped for every one of them, though he made sure to stay only hastily before moving on. The ruby colored parrot followed him as well - he spotted it every so often in the air or resting on a tree branch.

With each creature came a new sound. Liam stopped worrying about stepping on the leaves, as the animals made noise anyway. Every chirp or grunt formed a new tune, though to anybody else around it would merely come off as annoying.

The harmony helped calm him down, though the creatures never got too close. So, when Liam heard a hiss approaching him, he didn't hesitate to turn around to see what had gotten so close. He spun around, only to be met with the one critter he didn't want to see.

Staring back at him, with thin, reptile eyes, was a snake.

.     .     .

Eso cabrón. Yes, that described Liam perfectly. A scumbag, asshat, underestimater . . . no, the word underestimater didn't exist. But everything else was true, Nicole knew that for sure! Despite that, there she was, still trying - and failing - to get across the river. Nothing was going to prevent her from proving herself. Not this time.

How much time had she already wasted on this river anyway? She didn't care. As long as she got over it, it didn't matter. If only she could find a branch able to carry her weight-

And there it was. At least, it would probably be able to carry her weight for long enough. Unlike most of the others, it was long and thick, and other branches appeared to support it. Obviously, it would still break once she got to the thinner end, but if she jumped far enough, she would be able to grab onto a tree on the other side of the water. In any case, climbing across would take a whole lot more time and caution than it had for Liam.

Nicole carefully pulled herself onto the lowest branch. Thankfully, it was sturdy; getting onto the next one wasn't too difficult. In fact, nearly every branch she clung onto was firm. This was the right tree to be using, all right. Eventually, she'd made her way onto the bough. Now came the hard part.

Nicole steadily began crawling across the branch, inching her hands and feet further one at a time. She started to tremble. No, the bough of the tree was moving, only a tiny bit. She shuffled her foot to a smaller branch nearby and continued crawling.

Time passed quickly, but she was still making her way across the river, balancing her mass on other branches as to not to break the one she was on. A little while longer and she'd be on the other side. As long as she was careful enough . . .

SNAP. The tinier branch that Nicole had rested her foot on suddenly broke. She pulled her foot back but leaned too far the other way.

The bough shifted again. Too much this time. There was no saving herself now. She completely lost her balance and plummeted towards the rushing stream. Instinctively, she reached out to grab onto something.

And just like that, her fingers wrapped around something. A stem. A vine. Or, a bunch of vines tangled together, hanging on a tree. Thank goodness for them, too.

Nicole climbed down and found herself on the other side of the river. Great - that bit was over with. Now, all she had to do was find the idiot.