Even though the trees of Forever Fall were generally knobby and rough, meaning that there were plentiful hand and footholds for the average climber, Abel was having a tough time of it. Scaling a tree trunk was an experience he had never had the pleasure of attempting before—even at Pallisade the closest he'd gotten was a rope attached to the ceiling. That was strength, but this was finesse. As he maneuvered around little branches and tears in the bark, doing his very best to avoid plummeting back to earth, he wished he had spent more time with that rope.

His full focus returned when the strip of bark his left hand clutched abruptly peeled away, leaving Abel scrabbling to hold on. After a few panicked moments, he steadied himself and breathed deeply. A dozen feet to his right and about three feet up, the Ampere was stuck fast in the trunk. For the second time he tentatively reached out a hand, moving slowly so as to not overbalance, and attempted to use his semblance to pull the weapon to him. Though the polearm fidgeted, trying to respond to its master's call, it didn't move. He was pretty much at the worst possible angle for this. If he had picked a different tree, remotely pulling the Ampere from the wood was entirely within the realm of possibility. Here, however, it was pointless.

So he jumped.

After gathering his strength, he pushed off his tree with both legs, kicking off shreds of bark. As he fell, he reached out for the Ampere again. This time the blade came free, sliding from the clutches of the wood and spinning through the air, wreathed in electricity, to his hand. “Hah,” he exclaimed when the familiar metal slapped into his hands, but his adulation faded as he pivoted around to land in the Emerald Forest for the second time. He managed to bring the weapon around in time and execute a diving plunge, transmitting most of his kinetic energy into the Ampere and impaling it to the ground while he landed safely behind it—and on his feet, no less.

Very pleased with himself indeed, Abel marched off into the forest at a brisk pace. There were artifacts to find.