It was unsettling, be it machinations of corrupted nature or twisted magic of men- It was plain idiotic pointing out blatant fact, but it was no doubt. This place and testing ground the forest seemed alive. As if it was being controlled. It folded repeating on itself, places moved and twisted the straight was crooked then not. In a way it had reminded me of that lodge if only in the sense of unknown actors at work. Maybe I was impatient, impertinent even still I had slept long enough. Forcing my body probably wasn't the wisest but I lacked choice in the matter. Wasted time laid underfoot, there was in question risk of it, truth or not. One could make and argue my coughing up blood evident enough and I would agree. I wasn't some utter novice or caveman playing with embers and stone. This vess-.. Body, is mine I damned know the limits of it. If anything now I could in the least pride myself in knowing that fact. Sometimes all the chips needed to be bet, even and knowing of the bad pot. Rocky foundations are never the best, more so of fucking all and tumbling over when it counts, I'd seen it time and time again. Many so proclaimed victors of the people. Rushing my domain with compassion in their swords, and all too happy to bask in other's praise and their own glory. All while true, I know my price and I'd gladly pay it in due under the covers in some inn than out here amuck drudge and filth. My strain will flicker. And now what I needed most in this place, was all the edge I could get. Infusing my body with light mana gave me just enough. It was crude, an imitation but it was all I had. The forest proclaimed its truth just as I wrestled with my own, in all its vegetation and growth it lacked sound. Only whispering wind crackling between branch and rolling leaves. It seemed vacant, dead. Silent. But it was all a blown joke, a lie for those dimwitted with no self awareness. Like an invisible force I extended my senses, as if true sight into my surroundings I could feel in each pulse. It wasn't seem or question, I felt it. The forest was alive moving vines, roots, anything and all twisted and changed just beyond corners of normal sight. And heads above just waiting like an coiled snake ready to strike. That orc fellow hadn't died inside those ruins of his own accord, much less trapped in a void of wandering regret and death. Yet in the gloom and dire in any miss step my mind strayed, what would result at the end of it all. It wasn't an unfounded thought, changed and the same time regardless it was just as it has always been. Just I have changed. Such selective lengths at a mere entree exam, what it entailed would be troublesome at best. Much too my own personal troubles, my potential liabilities. Would the control potion's and hypnosis last indefinitely? If it came to it, I wouldn't spare a thought at ending either laying in the shadows fore-long as I could. But in face of all the excessive worry, and strange side effects it had seemed to hold over them. For now that held firm. Aside the two I had brought, I slowly came to realize my own transformation. Be the ensealment, this body or Elrax- It shouldn't be a surprise, but the cunning subtlety was. There was something else I had yet found, but I could tell it's effect all the same. My body had changed, past, and even now. It was not just feeling but physical, done in one pair by the guide's unorthodox methods and the astral plane I currently dwell. And another set of my own foolish accord. Rifts, planes that enmass incorporeal beings and wandering dead, are sustained by their very bindings of mana. A reliably more invasive dense kind. High amounts of mana are needed in order to force the physical change the body undergoes- And a place such as this wouldn't be needed; unless the world has truly changed, caves or mana wells, rich forests would still hold adequate amounts. Screaming erupted, the apprehensive silence dropped as I turned to the source. It had laid in the direction of the flame spire, it wasn't far. It wouldn't be wise, most would detour around what seemed like terror. However to gain any semblance of this place, I would and knew what could come of it but still. Concentrating I focused visualizing my inner body feeling for what usage was left... Part of my mana was inaccessible, unless I wanted to feed the tumor residing in me. While my usage was crude, what I had left mana specifically white, was in essence energy just the same as the others. Applications for it could vary, but it likewise moved and flowed, while my knowledge of its particularities were lost on me; I extended what I had. That much I could do, even with this body and untrained core. Condensing and releasing in bursts around the feet, I felt the pull in each step. In uneven bursts the best I could manage, nevertheless kept the pulse. The strain slowly starting it's revolving gag. .. Ceron kept low in the underbrush. Like a bat sensing the scenery laying under foot and around. There was a almost always a double edge, come the poor imitation it showed movement, of creatures and falling leaves. Anything with keen magical sense could spot it, like a flame to a moth- While was true, if anything could. Whatever would be able to detect my movements regardless, if at the most it would be a fine wire. To be snapped when a prey is caught. A small drizzle had started, obscuring sight just as the creeping wisps of fog. The shrubbery grew sparse towards the screaming that had gone eerily absent. The terrain grew into a slow incline, thick roots jutted out Ceron grappling one with much silence he could pulling himself up. Advancing further and kept in treeline the slope had stopped, flatting out into more of a bowl, the center becoming more vine than tree or bush. Ceron stopped, his breathing going calm not tempting an inch closer. Pale and striking, it was a deep contrast between the sea of green. A four petal flower dwelled in the center almost calling one to it with nothing else but vines. But that wasn't all, Ceron tensed he could hear it now the muffled cries and the distinct crack of bone. Moving vines resided under the flower, flowing over what looked to be bodies. At least four, ensnared in the trap purplish ooze liquefying skin and armor revealing bone and the distinct smell of singed hair. Beyond saving not that Ceron wanted too still he watched. The flower moved upward as it began to split from the deceiving shape, to a maw of deadly spikes and dripping corrosive. It turned downward crunching onto flesh, slurping the rest already more resembling puddles of meat and skeletons and not anything indicating life prior minutes ago. Some were alive paralyzed with faces frozen in insanity as their appendages began to melt or be torn. "Val Droseraceae.." Ceron murmured, a tenacious flesh consuming plant. It was a sight to behold, but Ceron had seen it before though admittedly not this big, noting the outstretched vines wiggling all along the open space. In either intimidation or enjoyment of its meal being consumed. They were good for dead, without fire or something more potent.. It sealed their fate. Cutting does no good, more so for weaker metals the same ooze ran though each vine, melting iron to silver at their touch. It was good to confirm it, Ceron sighed still pulsing mana, feeling the brisk cold run down his back. He had suspected a creature like it or similar. The forest was full of not so idle plant-life, and more. A crack came from behind just after Ceron had felt it's presence. Something big had crunched tree branches, snapping them as it took off into a blur to the canopy; unable to follow Ceron hastily turned back as an impact shook his footing. .. Shockwaves of muck and fog rose from the crater, and foul screams descended a moment later then a second, third impact. Towering forms drew from the center in jerking movements, the surrounding tendrils of vine curled slithering inward were immediately struck pulverized by bulking arms. Constructs of stone, one stood engaged in the wiggling mass tendrils, taking trade with it's corroding legs to striking the plant's core. Another much smaller form ripped at the approaching vines, trudging towards the last two paralyzed figures Focused on the developing scene Ceron kept his gaze planted, golems? Were they here to rescue those lying on death's door?.. A multitude of question's rose and confounding more, the third form then cocked its head, like the small one just- It wasn't looking at the creature or the mass of bodies. ..