Eternal Forest: Savage Rising Read Free Page A

that had happened, Meadowgold could possibly expand northward. After all, the Savage Lands would be much less savage if they were no longer wild.
                  Zehlyr hoisted himself up from the last branch and stood on top of the fallen tree. The curved and uneven surface beneath his feat was easier to walk on than he expected, but he still took each step with great caution. Eventually, he made it to his prize and began to hack away at the base with his knife. After a few good whacks and a shower of pale-brown splinters, the branch was free from the trunk.
                  He broke a few of the smaller twigs away as he returned to his feet, but he stood this time facing the north and the journey still to take. The sight from this higher vantage point gave him pause. There were hundreds more trees, just like the one he stood upon, all of them lying on their sides and angled towards a single point, and they continued all around him in an enormous circle. The lack of foliage above left the blue of the afternoon sky clearly visible.
                  Pausing to take in the spectacle of it all, Zehlyr noticed the bark on the tops of the trees was mostly intact, whereas the sides were either shredded or bare. No impact had been made to push these trees over, the evidence made that clear. These trees had not been pushed, but rather pulled. Each discovery only yielded him more questions, fueling a greater sense in him to push on towards his answers.
                  He made quick work of his new weapon. With the twigs stripped away, he whittled off the bark until only a smooth rod of wood remained. He fashioned the smaller end into a sharp tip, patting his finger against it lightly to check its lethality. An uncomfortable twinge shooting through his finger confirmed the success of his craftsmanship.
                  For a moment, Zehlyr considered climbing back down and resuming his trek through the soft mud. However, the trees here were larger and had fallen much closer together, making it very likely that they would soon be overtop one another and leave no room to move between them. He glanced over at the next tree to his right. It was smaller, but with far fewer branches and not very far away. He could make the jump and then run north along the trunk to the next one. It seemed a much swifter way of making his journey with the best visibility possible.
                  It also seemed like more fun.
                  With a running leap and a childish smile, Zehlyr soared through the air and landed on the next fallen tree. His feet pivoted as soon as he landed, pointing him northward, and allowing him to bound away down the bark-covered wood. Only minutes ago, he had accepted his inevitable death. Now he was alive, full of curiosity, and off on an adventure he’d never expected when setting out that morning to watch the sheep and read his book.
                  Like a child at play, Zehlyr dashed down the fallen trunks, leaping from one tree to the next as he neared closer and closer to the center of the unnatural circle. He lost his footing only once, forcing him to reach out and grasp a nearby branch so as not to fall and become wedged between two trunks.
    The moment gave him pause. Perhaps he shouldn’t move quite so fast. After all, there was no one to save him out here should something happen. Cherin was certainly well out of earshot by now. He wondered just how worried his older brother was, but not enough to feel sorry for him.
                  He continued on, this time a bit slower and with more caution in his steps, but the journey soon reached its end. Suddenly finding himself with no more trees to jump to, Zehlyr reached the center of the phenomena.
    Only here had the trees been pushed away from the center, leaving a wide, deep pit of dirt and debris.  Whatever strange event had occurred here, it had violently uprooted