The mad, squealing bray of the beast behind him was almost more haunting than it's very real charge not a minute earlier. Torsten's side bit at him with a stabbing pain that simultaneously ached like he had not felt in months. But it was nothing he couldn't handle, as long as he kept his posture at a certain level. Luckily for him, the forest allowed him to move hidden behind brush and gloom. Unfortunately, it also allowed other creatures to potentially do the same. 

The forests of Norgard were primordial and vast, and Torsten would not feel so unused to such thick woodland. The very roots of the towering trees ripped and shaped the very earth beneath his feet, making much of the ground uneven and misshapen, and the rest would be covered in bushes or thick grass that quieted the footsteps of whatever walked upon them. What was strange wasn't the thickness of the forest, but the dim lighting. Even a forest as great as this with such a large canopy above would have more sunlight cutting into the darkness. 

Doing his best not to stumble, Torsten would almost not see the sudden drop in the underbrush before it reached the front half of his leading foot. Likely to his surprise and horror, he would notice the drop was actually a footprint. A footprint as large as his torso and very humanoid in shape. Small roots and vines jutted out of the now softened earth below, as if gasping for air from whence they were pressed. 

Luckily (in a fashion), the accompanying war cry Torsten heard next didn't sound like it came from whatever Jotun or strange forest creature. It was a piercing scream that carried bloodlust wherever it echoed, spreading across what bits of the foliage it could. Judging by the echo, it likely came from the south. The birds springing to life and fluttering away mostly came from that direction as well. When the forest spoke, one need only listen.  
[@Gunther]