Nomi blinks and finds herself standing at the edge of a thick forest. The sudden and seamless transportation troubles her but not enough to merit extensive thought. She simply accepts that the beings in charge of this 'contest' are equipped with not only technological marvels that she can barely comprehend, but magic far beyond anything she has encountered yet in her travels. The small metallic device in her hand, a data-pad someone had called it, is displaying a simple map with two X's blinking slowly. After a few minutes of randomly tapping the few buttons a scrolling list appears, overlaying the map. The list contains what it claims is a short list of creatures known to be present in the area before her. Some of the creatures that appear are unfamiliar and the alphabetized list continues scrolling for some minutes. When it finally reaches the end a brief note appears stating that her objective is to travel from her starting point at the black X on the map to the green X. Nomi shoves the datapad into her robe and promptly forgets about it once assuring all her knives are present and accounted for and her quarterstaff is strapped to her back.
“Survival it is.” A mere ten feet of open grass are between her and the trees. There are no visible gaps in the thick vegetation. The dense undergrowth is an impenetrable wall of green vines and sharp brown thorns. With a barely audible sigh Nomi takes a step towards the forest. Then another. As her foot touches the ground on her third step the ground blisters and swells. The sod tears and falls back as the dirt rises. A dozen xorn, cousins to earth elementals, rise up to surround Nomi with a solid wall of living mineral. The metalivores slide in closer, threatening to crush her between them like a grape in a press to get the metal she carries. When they are near enough that she could reach out and touch the creatures Nomi springs straight up in the air, unslinging her quarterstaff simultaneously. At the peak of her jump she brings up the solid piece of wood and turns it horizontal as it clears the tops of the xorn. Each end of the staff rests in the indentation between two xorn and Nomi climbs out of the trap. Grabbing her weapon off the ring of moving earth she jumps to the ground and runs for the trees, leaving the slow xorn confused and hungry.
Nomi jogs along the edge of the overgrown brush until there is enough distance between her and the painfully slow moving xorn to stop and think. She prods some vines with her staff and they close tight around it, trying to pull the wood out of her grasp. Arm muscles standing out with the effort, she draws the quarterstaff close and cuts it free with her hunting knife. She slings it across her back again and replaces the knife. “Can't go under it, can't go through it, time to go over it.” Nomi grins mischievously as her form flows into that of a small black dragon. A mere 15 feet long, her sleek scales are almost blue in the light as she stretches her leathery wings and takes to the air.
Clearing the treetops with a few strong wing beats Nomi remembers how much she enjoys flying. The bright sunlight bleaches the treetops to pale shades of green. The black dragon sails almost halfway across the forest before something tickles her awareness and she banks sharply. A bright orange shape streaks past with a screech of anger. The phoenix levels off before hitting the treetops and climbs as it circles back behind the dragon. Its wingspan is easily 30 feet from tip to tip. Nomi loses track of the giant bird as it passes in front of the sun blinding her. Bright spots of white pain are blinking in her vision as the phoenix dives again. Nomi tucks her wings in and dives blind the instant the sharp talons contact her scales. The bird's feet just miss getting a solid grip and the dragon slides free. As she climbs sharply Nomi's vision starts to clear. The phoenix' momentum rapidly carries it below her and Nomi dives onto its back. Her sharp talons dig through the hazy feathers and into the muscles below. With another shriek the bird twists wildly, trying to dislodge the dragon. In response the dragon triples in size, keeping the now enormous wings folded tight. The pair plunge toward the treetops. As they hit and the treetops drive themselves into its body the phoenix bursts into flames, igniting the surrounding trees.
Nomi lands hard on all fours unscathed by the broken trees. The ground shakes at the impact. Ashes from the dead phoenix float gently to the forest floor to mix with the dead vegetation slowly rotting in the new patch of sunlight. For a moment all is silent save the crackling of the burning treetops. The dragon shrinks back to its former size as a cloud of thick black smoke begins to rise from the area. The midair battle has carried her to the halfway point.
Nomi slinks along the ground to avoid the worst of the smoke and steps on a land mine. The explosion momentarily stuns her. Machine gun fire follows immediately. The thin membrane of the dragon's wings is nearly instantly perforated. Bright blood flows down the black scales. Shouts from hidden soldiers preface another round of gunfire. The dragon vanishes. In its place a black house cat crouches in the underbrush, just below the flying bullets. The moment there is a pause she runs up the nearest tree and disappears among the leaves.
Climbing through the trees allows Nomi to get most of the way across the forest without too much difficulty. A little bit of blood continues to dribble from where her tattered wings had been, but not enough to attract any large predators. Her thick fur grows sticky with it and bugs occasionally swarm, but she is unwilling to expend the energy to heal such minor wounds. Soon the exit portal is in sight. It is surrounded by a group of horsemen with a pack of large hunting cats.
“I tell you it's here. The mistcat feels it.”
“Bah, that pet of yours couldn't find trees in a forest.”
The horsemen continue arguing, all of them taking sides either for or against the one with the mistcat. The beast in question is perched behind one of the riders on a small cushion to protect the horse from its claws. Nomi looks around for a way to bypass them. She steps on a vine and it quickly wraps around her paw. Ripping herself free Nomi notices that this entire area is full of chokevines. With a grin she shifts back into a human and pulls out her flute. From her perch up in the trees Nomi begins to play ever so softly. She slowly lets the sound grow until the men can hear it. The argument dies as they look around for the source of the sound. The cats ignore the sound while the men begin to venture towards Nomi. Silently she moves further into the stand of chokevines. Entranced, the men follow. Once they are close enough she steps out of hiding. “Catch me if you can!” she calls playfully and climbs higher in the tree. One whips out a bow and fires. It hits Nomi with a satisfying thunk as she disappears from view. Moments afterwards one of the men turns right into one of the deadly vines.
“A trap!” The hunting party is in chaos and most of the men are grabbed by chokevines and slowly suffocated. Before moving on Nomi rips the arrow out of her side. Then she pulls out the datapad. The screen is punctured and the back dented outward. Mumbling about it finally being useful for something she absently drops it. Nomi reappears above the cats and jumps to the ground. As she lands half a dozen of the beasts pounce, biting and clawing each other as their prey becomes a mouse and darts out of the pile of felines. The mistcat, waiting for just such an opportunity and grabs the mouse. It gulps down the rodent and sits down to wash. A few minutes pass as the mistcat continues washing. And a few more. Then it lays down to nap. Suddenly it howls in pain. A second later the cry is cut off as its gut bursts open and a scaled panther climbs out, dripping with blood and stomach acid. The other cats are still trying to sort themselves out as Nomi roars in anger and rips the mistcat's carcass apart further. Then she stalks through the portal growling about how predators have incredibly bad breath.
