Chapter 45: Chapter 45: The Path Ahead The forest was quiet. Thick roots twisted across the ground, slowing their pace, and every so often, one of them would stop and glance around.
Iris walked slightly ahead, her eyes sweeping side to side. After a while, she stopped and turned back. Aras, who had been watching her closely, finally spoke.
"This is taking too long. We need to move faster."
Ash trailed behind them, unusually silent. His normal banter was gone, replaced with a blank stare. Whatever he was thinking, he kept it to himself.
Aras kept his focus on Iris. She caught him looking again and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" she asked.
He studied her a moment longer, then spoke.
"What kind of curs—"
"Evolved," she cut in, tone flat.
Aras blinked.
She added, "Cursed is what people call us. Evolved is what we call ourselves."
He didn’t respond. The word clearly meant little to him.
Iris looked away and continued walking. "The name came from a few who got tired of the way things are. Liane pushed it too. Said if we keep calling ourselves monsters, no one will ever stop treating us like ones."
Aras shrugged. "Doesn’t change how people see you."
"No," she said, "but it changes how we see ourselves."
The silence returned for a moment, then Aras asked, "What form do you take? Can you fly?"
She shook her head. "No wings. I can’t fly."
Ash finally looked up. He seemed interested now.
Iris glanced between them, then exhaled. "But if it’s speed and reach you want... I’ve got that."
Without waiting for a response, she stepped off to the side of the trail. She placed her hand on a tree for balance and took a breath. A moment later, her body shifted.
Her legs vanished, replaced by thick coils of dark, scale-covered muscle. Her entire lower half was now serpentine, long, powerful, and heavy. Her height increased slightly, her torso supported by the coils. She adjusted her posture with ease, no longer needing to walk. Her chest had also grown, noticeably so, and the metal breastplate she had picked earlier now made more sense.
Ash blinked, lips twitching. "Okay. That explains the armor."
Iris gave him a sharp look but said nothing.
With a firm motion, she twisted her body and lifted herself slightly, her coils coiling tight beneath her. "I move faster like this. I can carry one of you if needed, but I won’t keep it up forever. It drains stamina."
Aras nodded. "Then let’s move. That monster won’t take them far."
Iris paused at the edge of the trail, coils tightening as she glanced back over her shoulder. "So... who’s getting on?"
Aras and Ash both looked at each other. Ash was the first to speak, flashing a grin finally returning.
"Aras, come on, get on top of the beautiful lady."
The words made both of them freeze.
Ash snorted and took off running, his body shifting mid-step. Feathers sprouted across his arms, his bones cracking and reshaping until a massive hawk-like bird took flight. "Snake versus bird!" he called out, wings slicing through the trees as he disappeared into the canopy.
Iris rubbed her temple and looked at Aras without expression. "Let’s just get this over with."
Aras stepped closer, clearly trying to keep a straight face, but his hesitation showed. He looked at her coils, then up at her, then back down. "Where... exactly should I..."
"Anywhere that’s not awkward," she said, not helping in the slightest.
He reached forward, then paused. One leg lifted, hesitated again, then found a stable loop in her body. He tried not to step too high or lean too close, but the tension was impossible to ignore. His hand brushed her waist, by mistake, probably, and he almost slipped.
Iris narrowed her eyes. "You’re making this weirder than it has to be."
"You’re not exactly a regular mount."
"Try being one."
He didn’t respond, finding a solid position as her coils adjusted beneath him. There was an awkward silence for a moment, neither of them looking at the other.
Then she moved, launching them forward with a powerful twist.
Neither spoke again. Not about that.
The moment Iris moved, her lower body propelled them forward with explosive speed.
Her coils surged through the undergrowth like a muscular engine, each movement efficient, calculated, and smooth across the terrain.
Aras gripped one of the firmer ridges behind her shoulders, trying to stay balanced as trees blurred past them.
"Can you watch your hands?" she snapped over her shoulder, eyes forward.
"Not exactly easy when you’re moving like a missile," Aras muttered, adjusting his grip. He shifted slightly to the side. "But I have an idea. If I apply a field under us, reduce the pull, we might be able to cut down on friction. Make you lighter, faster."
Iris narrowed her eyes. "And you’re sure you won’t just launch me into the air?"
"I said might," Aras admitted. "It’s not perfect yet. I can’t isolate gravity perfectly around moving masses unless they’re symmetrical or stationary. Your body shifts too much. But if I stabilize it under your coils and ride the movement instead of fighting it..."
"Then you’re not applying it to me, just what I’m pushing against."
"Exactly."
She didn’t answer right away. Then, without warning, she pushed harder. Aras instinctively tightened his grip.
"Do it," she said. "Let’s see if it works."
Aras closed his eyes for a second, focusing. A faint distortion rippled beneath them, subtle but effective.
𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎 The pressure on Iris’s coils lightened slightly, and her next movement launched them forward faster than before.
The trees thinned in their wake. The plan wasn’t perfect, every few seconds the gravity pulse would lag, or overcompensate, making her lose a bit of traction, but the bursts of speed were noticeable.
With that, they focused on the path ahead, cutting through the forest with renewed speed. The wind snapped past them, leaves whipping in every direction.
Aras stayed quiet, focused on adjusting the pressure at just the right intervals to match Iris’s movement. But even in his concentration, a thought lingered.
He hadn’t expected her to understand the principle so easily.
Most people just nodded when he talked about his ability, either pretending to understand or brushing it off entirely.
But Iris had caught on immediately, not just listening, but thinking through it. She understood the difference between affecting her and affecting the resistance below her. That wasn’t common knowledge.
He didn’t say anything. No need to. But deep down, he was impressed.
Not just by her speed, or her form, but her mind.
For now, though, they had one goal. Find their teammates.