[02] Forest Sector

[Kaden]

It seemed fitting that night seemed to fall as Kaden made his way into the Forest Sector. It was as though the courier had crossed some magically threshold. Time seemed to have no impact on the time of day in Dante’s Abyss. Once again, Damon showed that he was the one in control, and there wasn’t a damn thing anyone could do about it. Even nature was forced to play along with his fucked up little game.

As the courier drudged through the trees, he came across clearings that showed signs of battle. Splintered branches, scorched trees, at one point, he even thought he saw icicles dangling from a nearby branch. It seemed he and Ashe hadn’t been the only ones thrown into battle. Not that the thought made Kaden feel much better.

Several times, the courier stopped to consult his map. He knew he was moving south, but beyond that, the map wasn’t particularly helpful. Normally he would have been able to figure out where he had been by using the City Sector as a landmark. Randomly being teleported around, however, made cartography significantly more difficult.

Kaden tried to recreate what he knew about the City Sector and the area surrounding its bunker. Kaden, Sophia, Sage, and Ashe had ended up walking over a decent stretch of the city before coming upon the bunker, and the courier had no recognized a single thing as he made his way to the Forest Sector. It seemed reasonable to guess that he had been to the west of the City’s bunker.

If other people had been using the Forest bunker, which seemed likely given the signs of fighting he had come up, it should be easy to tell when he was nearing his intended destination. Broken branches, crushed plants, footprints… those were the things people always looked for in the movies. Why wouldn’t it work for a courier who had absolutely no experience tracking anything?

Fortunately, someone up above decided to give the courier a well-deserved break. Kind of.

Instead of paying attention to where he had been going, Kaden thought it had been a good idea to pay more attention to digging through the bag hanging at his side. Catching his foot on an overly ambitious tree root, the courier literally stumbled into the Forest bunker.

Kaden enters the Forest Sector bunker