Wandering around the dark forest really put perspective on how good Jasper had it in the real world, yes the world was overtaken by the Nightmare spell and thousands and thousands of people were dying every hour, yes warlords and the remnants of collapsing governments were doing everything they could to consolidate their power and gain the reins on their dying world but at least they knew where to go. Here in this dark forest with its dark trees and thick canopy which barely let any light through there was no way of knowing what direction anything was, no sense of north,east,south or west, and he had no idea how he had magically ended up in another world once again, was he still sleeping or did he simply materialise here in the flesh.
The one upside compared to the last nightmare was that he was at least in his own body this time which was a notable improvement compared to a body of a half decrepit captain, despite what felt like hours of walking he still failed to find even the slightest hints of life, the distant noises he had heard had faded away leaving an eerie silence in their place which only added to his unease. One thing he had learnt over the past few months was to trust your instincts, if they told you to run do so without looking back of course in his case that was really the only option for him whether that be into or away from his opponents depended on what he wanted to accomplish that day, and this day it was to get the hell out of this forest.
Jasper knew he had to find another way out of here, whatever this place was… he vaguely remembered hearing the voice of the spell call out to him just before he woke up. What had it said again? "Welcome to the Dream Realm"? Was that what this place was, a realm of dreams and nightmares that was paired against their own reality, if that was the case wouldn't that make their world something like the actual world or the real world…no those don't sound quite right but no matter how much he thought a better name never came to mind.
'I miss Damian'
The thought was both sweet and relevant, as the older man seemed to grasp the workings of this Spell much easier than anyone else they met, granted that was just himself and…. Javier but still. If he was here he would be able to come up with a better name than anything Jasper ever could, if there was one thing he had always struggled with it was names, it took a long time or a deep bond formed from trauma for him to remember the names of people or places. This was one of the reasons he was grateful for the spell's interface as it meant he could remind himself of the names of all his stuff and their descriptions whenever he needed to.
With each passing second Jasper only grew more and more tense, gripping the [Devourer's sight] tightly as he was waiting for the moment where his peaceful walk through his uncharted forest would be so rudely interrupted by some horrific spawn of the night, he had considered using his aspect to get around quicker but decided against it in the end, the light from his lightning could attract too much unwanted attention and he didn't know how strong the creatures lurking in the underbrush could be.
A noise ahead caused him to stop in his tracks as he tried to see what was waiting for him out in the darkness but all he could see was large patches of loose grass and brambles sticking up from the ground with strange flowers of different colours, from purples and white to brilliant vermillion covering their surface. These patches stood out from the other flora littered around the forest floor, their distinct colours and size made it seem like they had been placed here from somewhere else rather than grown naturally, Jasper raised his higher as he approached them.
He remained vigilant as he grew close, not wanting what was out there to know that he planned on striking first and asking questions later, he approached slowly scanning every inch of his surroundings for anything unusual for signs of another living creature but no matter how hard he looked there was nothing…until.
He jumped backwards at the sight, as grassy tendrils were making their way through the grass towards him, as he did he felt the earth tremble beneath his feet as he watched the pants rip themselves from the ground, their forms were vaguely humanoid with clearly defined arms and legs which snaked into the grass and even a torso but their heads were totally wrong. In fact their heads were the very bushes he had been staring at as he approached, he had suspected his foe was hiding within them, turns out he was only half right in the end.
'Ah shit!, what do I do?"
He staggered back as the group approached him, he was fine in a one versus one fight but in a one versus three he was severely outmatched, in such a short distance he knew he wouldn't be able to rely on his aspect and the noise of running away would just attract more predators towards him, fighting these things was his best choice for now as unfortunate as he felt for that decision. He studied these creatures trying to remember the very basic combat skills which Damian had taught him on their travels as he prepared himself to fight.
The creatures acted first, as the one closest to Jasper raised its tendral like arms up, swinging them like whips towards Jasper who barely managed to duck down before slicing upwards with his blade which snagged on barbed arms, the blade barely managed to break through the surface of the creatures flesh with Jaspers mundane strength but it was enough as his vision doubled.
Suddenly he was staring at himself through the senses of the strange creatures, it didn't see in the normal sense and the strange new sensations nearly sent him to the ground, the sense it did have most closely resembled smell and even that wasn't quite right but it was closet thing he could associate, and what it smelt was the blood inside his body as well as the various smells of the nearby flora and fauna, it seems like there were multiple bird like creatures hanging around the canopy waiting for their next meal to pass by but now was not the time for bird watching.
He stepped back hoping to make some distance before the next attack but he was too slow as another of these whip-like arms shot out and crashed into his side, the sound of the leather armour being torn as the barbs ripped across its surface sent a chill through his body. Not many creatures had managed to damage his armour with so little effort before which meant he had to reassess his options, these creatures were much stronger than they seemed on the surface which meant that running away may actually be a better option at this stage.
'No, if I ran from every strong enemy in my way i'll never make it out of here alive'
His body was screaming at him to run away to fight another day but what was the point of having the power to fight back if he was not willing to use it? Nothing…it meant nothing. So against his better judgement, he decided to charge forward instead, he wanted a good story to tell Damian the next time they met each other. Feeling his strength increase with every step he rushed forward towards his foes, as a wreath of lightning danced over his body and the smell of distant storms filled the air.
He watched as the creatures senses changed as he activated his aspect, the air around them almost filled with a palpable sense which masked his true presence in a cloud of rain and wind, he ran forward hoping to cut the head of the creature to the right in one swift motion as the [Devourer's Sight], the blade dug deep into the creatures neck but had failed to sever it entirely and had also managed to push the creature back a few paces, and in doing so had caused Jasper to lose his speed in the process.
As his senses connected to the new creature he felt its vine like arms quickly lift up and coil around his body weakened by his flaw as the thorns latched onto his body, tearing into his armour and skin alike with very little resistance as the vines drew the first blood he could feel the sensation of it being drained out of his body,the creature drinking it up greedily as if it hadn't tasted anything this good in a long long time.