He couldn't think of a way to test his theory though. When he cut the vines they felt solid, real but it was possible the illusion was so powerful it could even fool his sense of touch.
No matter how hard he thought, he had no way to test it so he did the one thing he believed he was good at, destroy. He stopped circulating his blood essence and asked Shade to protect him.
The panther did his job very well, while he rested to regenerate his blood essence Shade made sure no vines reached him, 45 minutes passed and he had barely regenerated any blood essence at all.
Realising this was futile he decided to gamble, he was going to use every last ounce of blood essence he had to flush out whatever was messing with them.
If he was wrong then they would mostly likely die but it was not like he had any other choice. He concentrated and drew every drop of blood essence left in his body but made sure it didn't reach his essence blood.
He couldn't afford to risk that, not here. Ash came out of his body floating around him like strips of silk cloth in wind. The red sparks within the grey ash shined bright in the dark misty forest bringing light to the dark place.
The vines seemed agitated, they whipped around even faster and harder but Shade still protected him without fail. He noticed though that the only vines attacking were from a single tree.
Now that he thought about it, with so many vines around them if the trees attacked at once they would've lost long ago but since the start only a single tree would attack, when they ran,it always shifted to the one closest to them.
Five minutes passed and there were so many sparks it was as if there was a nest of fireflies.His control over his ash was basically none existent but he could decide the direction he releases it on and the same goes for the sparks.
However this time he did not choose any direction, he got closer to the attacking tree which agitated it even more causing the vines to thrash everywhere even tangling some of them around each other.
Like an opened dam the ash flooded the area, Shade jumped into the shadows to dodge. The red sparks floated to the trees setting them ablaze.
The attacking tree which was closest to him caught most of the sparks, the fire spread to the top of the tree setting it leaves and vines into flames.
The surrounding temperature rose to staggering degrees, if a normal person was here they would've been cooked alive. Before long the surrounding trees had also caught flames.
What he didn't expect was for the fire to spread even further. Although the trees here were spaced apart they were connected by the many vines in their canopy.
The fire spread throught the vines like bridges of fire setting even more of the forest on fire. As the temperature rose the mist thinned even further.
He felt whatever was clouding his mind loosen, he was out of essence but without the mist constantly making him feel tired he could run without blood essence boosting him.
However before he could move he felt a gaze above him followed by an aura that covered the entire area like a blanket. It was so vast and heavy he felt as if he was holding a mountain on his back.
Unconsciously his hands started shaking, it was the first time he felt something so powerful. He knew, no matter how hard he tried he could not win against whatever was looking at him.
From his bond he could also feel the fear emanating from Shade. Slowly he raised his head and looked up. Emerging slowly from a tree was something he did not expect.
He expected a savage beast with long fangs and sharp claws but what stood before him had none of that. If he could not sense the pressure emanating from it he would've called it cute.
The creature looked like a blue ball fire or air, it was hard to describe, it had a similar shape to the illustration of a water droplet he saw but more round.
It body moving left and right in the wind like a candle flame. It transparent blue body was beautiful and exuded purity from first glance but nobody could call it pure.
The malevolence in it presence was suffocating, it corrupted blood essence so vast he felt he was drowning just being in the creatures presence.
He felt calling this thing a beast would be wrong, he didn't know what to call it. It was not large, only about the size of an adult humans head but looking at it he felt it was larger than any creature he had seen.
It floated there infront of the burning tree, even a fool could tell this is what was controlling the trees. Without wasting a beat he ran.
The fire had spread for kilometres in a few seconds, the trees and vines here were very flammable. He ran out of the Ash in a blink. SHADE, he shouted.
A blur jumped out of the shadows and he climbed on top and they ran. Shade was much faster than he was but the fire spread even faster.
That meant they did not have to worry about the mist as the heat burnt it away. He turned around and there it was, the creature had not moved a single centimetre.
It was unsettling how it just floated there without moving but he was glad, as long as they can get away from this nightmarish thing he didn't care what it did.
Run faster, he said to Shade who complied, it seems he too agreed being here any longer was not good. They had ran for tens of kilometres.
He could already see the light, they were not far from leaving this place of towering trees and he hoped that thing would not leave the domain of these trees.
He turned back to look at it, from this distance he could only see a tiny blue light, had it not been for the fact that it glowed he might not have seen it at all.
Just as he was about to thank the heavens that thing did not chase them he felt it gaze on him, it had no face or eyes but he could still feel it look directly at him.
He felt as if it could see through his very soul, he felt naked, the oppressive gaze making him feel like he was holding a mountain.
His breathing became heavy but he did not take his eyes off it then it flickered and disappeared. Shit, he thought.