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Kire ran past towering Sequoia trees with dense leaves that shaded the forest from the sun overhead, making the forest dark, humid, and uncomfortably cold. As he ran, he felt like his lungs were about to explode, but perhaps his body was waiting to fail him just as the thumping getting closer and closer finally closed in on him.
When the chase first started, taking in long breaths and then holding them in proved to be the best breathing strategy, but it no longer mattered whether he held his breath in his belly or exhaled until his soul escaped through his nostrils; every single breath of air he took in left a trail of fire burning in his throat down to his chest and belly.
He leaped over giant roots sticking up out of the ground and fallen branches the size of trees. The smell of ro
