Shadow Slave: The Great Hunt

From what he knew of climbing trees which by the way he had never done before one had to go slowly.

As he walked closer to a nearby tree that was chosen because of the vines that seemed to cover the bottom half of the trunk and would serve as good hand holds until he got up to the point where there would be more branches.

As he walked closer the pure size of the trees astonished him and not only the trees, all of the shrubs and ferns that littered the floor of the jungle also were incredibly grand. 

This tree must have been 10 meters wide and the bark almost looked scaled with the pattern on the bark, even the vine looked larger than life. 

Seize the day right? I love quoting the crazy corner man. Ok brain that is enough of that, I need to climb this god's damned thing. Why do people like trees so much? They seem far too large to be useful.

Artemi pondered as he started walking around the behemoth looking for a good place to start his ascent.

With a slight grunt he started climbing using his hands and feet to leverage himself up with vines immediately coming to a problem, his shoes.

Up until this point Artemi had been so focused on the glaring problems in front of him that he hadn't taken the time to look down at his clothes or shoes.

He was wearing a sort of shirt and short pair that was surprisingly comfortable and light despite being made of the same leather that seemed to be so common here.

His shoes that were the problem with his climbing looked like a pair of moccasins made of the same material, the problem here being that the bottom were very smooth with some sort of oil.

Cursing quietly he ledges himself in between a few of the vines and took off his shoes putting them into his satchel.

This is not good. These were the things protecting my feet from the sharp branches.

Thinking this he squeezed out of his little pocket and panicked as he realized that he had used too much strength and was tumbling out of the nook falling into the 10 or so meter drop.

As he did he reached out his hand for a nearby extended stretch of vine putting not only his body but some sort of energy inside of himself as the adrenaline and panic rushed through his body.

If one could see him from the outside the catch that he made would look truly magical as they would see a lanky boy falling backwards out of a space that seemed to be the perfect size for him and reach out for a vine that was altogether too far away to actually save himself on, however that's when it happened that very same vine quickly stretched out and stopped in the perfect position for the teenager to be saved.

Skies Above that was close, lucky that vine was right there if not I would be dead or close enough to it.

He thought as he used his left foot that was still inside of the nook and his other hand to get his right foot into the nook so that he could get back to climbing the increasingly dangerous thing that people called a tree taking no notice to the vine that he had used to catch himself having merged back into the knot of vines. 

As he steadily made his way up the precarious but steadfast vines he began to notice the time as the sun continued its inevitable journey towards setting, giving him a time that he needed to finish this excursion.

As the sun got to a point about halfway in between midday and sunset the vines began to thin pretaling the halfway point of his journey up the strange tree although he was definitely worse for wear.

Artemi was a tough kid, you had to be to survive the outskirts or slums with their inhumane living conditions.

Although that was undeniably true he was struggling trying his hardest to not look down at the dizzying drop below him though that was the least of his problems as in addition to that his feet and hands were absolutely killing him and had multiple cuts and sores on them.

Although that was all true the worst for him was the thirst and hunger from the exertion, heat and humidity.

All of this was something he had experienced before but not to this degree and in such circumstances as being a hundred plus meters off the ground.

Just a little bit more than I can take a break. He told himself as he steeled himself for the remainder of his climb to the first of countless branches.

This part will be the most difficult as I will need to use my height to full effect and jump for that branch.

Taking a deep breath and focusing on the lowest branch he could see and the vines below it mapping out a route in his mind.

With only a second of delay he started moving in  a fluid movement, his sore and tired body seeming to glide up the tree without the earlier awkwardness. 

As he used his momentum to plant his feet on the highest vine that would hold him he launched himself at a branch that hung down and parallel to the rest of the trunk grabbing a hold of it with his right hand and using the momentum of the rest of his body to try and lift himself onto the branch.

Kicking and scrambling he heaved himself over the small branch straddling it and laying there for a little while trying to calm his racing heart.

Who would even have fun climbing a gods forsaken tree? Is this really something kids do?! Do parents not care for their children?!

He yelled in his mind damning the idiotic person who told him that climbing a tree was a good idea.

Getting up from his position on the branch he climbed branch by branch until he got to a bigger branch with its trademark scales and sat looking at the orb of gold that humans called the sun ready to climb the rest of the tree