Bird turned back one last time to see the Giant Tree. The tree had glowing orange lines running between its bark; it had unrooted itself and was scurrying toward them at an impressive speed for a tree. Everything in its path was being displaced or destroyed with no regard for the forest it had been stationed in.
70 yards. This was the distance Bird was from the chute; his legs were starting to give in to the damage he received from the little shadow. His adrenaline was dwindling, relying only on his pain tolerance and his overwhelming hate for the Felk to drive him. His legs wouldn't allow him to sprint; a jogging stagger was the most he could muster.
'Just a little more, just a little faster.'
Bird could hear the forest being violently ripped from the very core of the desert. The sounds were becoming clearer. The Giant Tree was closing. Just ahead of Bird, Leonis had already reached the chute and was watching the death chase. The Giant Tree was winding up to use one of its gargantuan roots as a whip aimed to eviscerate Bird's legs.
"JUMP!"
Without hesitation, Bird pushed off the sand, launching himself above the ferocious root. He could hear the root whistle below him, barely missing and cracking into a nearby tree, sending a boom across the forest. All of this happened in a split moment Bird was 40 yards from the chute.
Almost as instant as the first root had been swung, the Giant Tree had already cocked another root back, aimed slightly above its last attack.
"LAY DOWN!"
Bird couldn't resist hesitating at that command.
'Lay down? It's right behind me, has he gone mad?!'
In his brief moment of thought, the root had already started its route toward his torso. Bird stuttered for a brief moment before diving and lying face down in the sand. On the way down, Bird did more than hear the root; he felt it. His ratty, iron colored hair had been slightly cut.
'Get up! I gotta keep running!'
Bird was a mere 10 yards from the chute now. Leonis glanced back one last time to see Bird being chased by the ancient horror. He could only think of how sad it was that someone as young and frail as Bird had to be put through such a harsh world.
Bird had finally reached the chute. Neither of them had the luxury of thinking about how many layers down the chute would spit them out, or if either would survive the fall, but neither of them hesitated for even a second to jump in.
Leonis jumped first, plunging into the chute. Right behind him, Bird dove into the chute. A large root with a glowing eye had chased him in, and upon entering it slammed against the ethereal walls of the chute, cutting its eye and losing a general sense of direction. Bird missed all of this as his focus had shifted; Bird was focused on the fact that the chute was straight down.
The Cone was not an actual cone; it was neither pointy nor smooth. It was a giant stack of astronomically large cylindrical plates, slowly losing circumference the farther up you go, hence the name The Cone. But these plates were not connected physically; there was a large gap between each plate, hovering above the next, just mysteriously floating. The only thing that seemed to connect the plates was the stairs that led to the other layers. With that in mind, the pair could see the end of the chute, and beyond it, a 20-meter or so drop awaited them. This is what terrified Bird.
The last time he had taken a chute, it was like a slide, spitting him much closer to the floor of the layer before sealing itself back into The Cone. This time, there was no safety net. Leonis had also noticed that they were plummeting to their death.
"BIRD LISTEN. YOU HAVE TO MATCH THE SPEED OF THE ROOTS AND GRAB THEM."
'Grab the roots? He's mad!'
Contrary to what he thought, Bird instantly knew this was the only chance at survival. If he could slow himself down just barely to fall at the exact speed of the roots, he could grab them and hope that its reach would run out before hitting the ground.
Bird immediately started to scrape his legs against the ethereal walls in an attempt to slow himself down. It was odd; the walls made no sound, his boots couldn't even scratch them, it was like running them through water. Eventually, Bird had found himself neck and neck with the root, bracing himself for what would come next. He threw his arms outward and then hugged the root, holding on with all of the strength left in his body.
"STICK A LEG OUT."
Before Bird could take a breath, Leonis's voice pierced his ears, reacting to the command, Bird inched slightly down the root and stuck his leg out for Leonis to grab.
"HURRY WE ARE ALMOST TO THE END OF THE CHUTE."
Leonis had made it. Just as they were exiting the ethereal chute, Leonis managed to snag Bird's leg and pulled himself up to the root. He then immediately covered the eye of the root with a piece of his clothing in hopes of misleading the root.
"What now?"
"shh"
Leonis shushed Bird in an attempt to focus on the ground that they were about to slam into.
Moments before the impending crash, Leonis used his knife and gouged it into the vile root's eye. The root came to a swift pause and started to violently flail around to release the knife. In the proccess Bird and Leonis were flung to the familiar sandy floors.
"We Lived. We did it! We actually survived!"
Bird had not been this happy to live in a very long time. A couple of feet away from him, Leonis lay in the sand, smiling at Bird's words. He, too, was happy to have lived through such a horror.
"Good job, Bird, you did great."
Bird looked at Leonis, feeling proud and full of jubilation. Just before he began to speak again, Bird noticed Leonis was starting to faint.
"Leonis!"
He rushed to his side to check his pulse. He was alive. He had most likely fainted due to exhaustion. Bird couldn't blame him for fainting; he was also at the end of his physical capabilities. But he knew he had to find a place for them to hide and rest; they were both in very poor conditions.
Bird scanned his surroundings to find anything, at first he thought it was only sand, sand, and more sand, but eventually, he spotted a large grey cube with large tubes reaching into the next layer of the cone. Being mentally drained, he did not think too hard about the out-of-place desert cube. Maybe he would find a haven. Maybe food or water, the thoughts were running wild through his mind, dreaming of all the possible things that could lie in the far-off desert cube.
After those lofty thoughts, Bird took Leonis by the feet and began dragging him through the sand toward the peculiar cube.
Bird clenched his shoulders and grunted
"Heavy."