a shadow on the edge of a blade , cutting a swath through the night , visible only as an ephemeral silhouette to the eyes of the unenlightened , chariah covered entire miles in mere seconds , gaining ground on the frenetic forest of flesh and then launching the pentagram-shaped grapnel from the palm of his right hand into the midst of the panicked trees , where it lodged itself with a loud sucking noise in the flesh of a sentient trunk .