Your Pistol

Instantly, your fingers grasp the ivory handle of the flintlock pistol and pull it free from its leathery holster.

The hammer is pulled back with a deft thumb flourish, and your eyes center on the leering target before you.

Only with a split-second to aim, you squeeze the trigger, activating the inner mechanisms of the fireman to shoot the single bullet…

… directly into the tree bark!

You missed!

The plant girl, moving faster than even your trained hand, somehow managed to evade getting hit by what? Inches, centimeters, if that.

Attempting to quantify it even further would be futile, for Lily had already vanished around the tree where she would be completely out of sight.

Leaving you, and your now-spent pistol.

Holstering the weapon in a frustrated motion, you immediately circle around that same pillar to see where she escaped.

Only see absolutely noone there.

Damn it.

“Hehehe…” And now, you’re **** to again hear the mocking sound of her laughter.

The exact source of it seems to originate from every direction.

East. West. North. South

She was everywhere, and yet…

“Damn it,” you grunt out aloud, stalking away from the tree and stepping over the log right in front of it.

“Ohhh, you came so close, little hero. Closer than all the others. For a moment, I thought the goddess no longer favored me.”

“Show yourself!” you shout out at the forest all around.

And the forest, seemingly speaking through her, responded back in cawing fashion, “Why, so you can again try and attack nature’s faithful servant again with your barbaric tool of destruction?”

You hear running footsteps.

“So I can render justice for all the lives you stole.” Turning swiftly, you hasten the pace- just as a womanly figure darts from tree to tree within your direct visual field.

“Oh no, those lives are ours to take. Penance for mankind’s sins against the world.”

You run now, blade in one hand, towards the haughty sneer.

More bare feet on leaves.

“But you can join them, little hero.”

You sprint around another tree, and see nothing.

“And make us strong. So strong.”

Frustration grips your features like a mask.

“Don’t you want to earn nature’s forgiveness?”

You whirl back around.

Nothing but the wind greets you.

That, and another flash of movement from behind another tree.

“You’ve earned this blade, that’s for sure,” you think to yourself, but continue to pursue regardless.

Breaking into another sprint, you hear another crunch of bone under your heel, but don’t pause to lament the loss of life.

Not when you can still slay the woman responsible.

“Oh, are you lost?”

Reaching that same area, you see the same as before.

Frustration builds.

“Perhaps you tire of my games.”

Another twig snaps, closer to your position.

Taking off, you run even faster, passing through near identical rows of trees.

Wasn't I just here?

You see that greenish blur yet again, running even deeper into the heart of the woods.

Not pausing to think, you give chase. Plenty of it.

Especially when you hear her laughter even closer than ever before.

“Let’s do this in the open, hero.”

You round another tree and jump over the top half of an armored corpse, the helmet still clinging unto his skeletal face.

Sliding down a slight hill to reach a new level on the forest floor, you smash through a barrier of foliage, finding yourself now in…