Chapter 178 - Petrified Bark

“White Maiden, please, please help.” Char Char prayed desperately on her knees. She trembled violently, blood dribbling between the cracks in her clasped fingers. “Please, please please…”

She strained her ears, aching to hear a response to her prayers. But each time she tried to pray, her spiritual intuition felt the sensation of being watched by many predatory eyes, and the illusory sound of trickling liquid and low, bestial growls and snarls stopped her from continuing.

The Maiden couldn’t hear her or reach her.

In this hellish place, Char Char was truly alone.

The black thorned bramble crept down tirelessly, pushing the end of the tunnel forward at a slow but steady pace. It wasn’t long before Char Char had to stand up and retreat, lest she be swallowed by the creeping mass of vines. She grabbed her sword off the ground, gripping it with whitened knuckles.

She rallied her strength for another attempt, smashing the sword into the vines while letting out a desperate cry. She continued to hack even as she was driven backward toward the glade, but the vines only seemed to grow thicker and harder in response, until each jarring swing of her sword felt like it was striking against metal.

There was a sudden crack as the sword snapped in two, leaving her with a hilt and a stub of a shattered blade.

She stared at the blade with wide eyes as she seemed to wake up from the shock.

She turned around sharply, looking toward the glade. She wasn’t far from it now. The tops of the twisted black branches with claw-like fingers were visible past the end of the tunnel.

Her breath steadied slightly as she muttered with quivering lips, “There’s nowhere left to go, Char.”

The revelation caused something to switch within her. Her pupils focused as a calm washed over the Kumin girl. She gripped the hilt of the broken sword in her right hand even as she continued trembling, her lips pressing into a thin line.

“ I N T E R E S T I N G.”

Char Char’s head jerked up as the foliage began to rustle furiously, shaking from a formless gale. Her head pounded suddenly from an intense headache as a monstrous, deep, rumbling cacophony of voices came from every direction around her.

“ W H Y D O N ‘ T Y O U B O W ? L I T T L E C H A O S C H I L D .”

Sweat poured down Char Char’s face each word uttered by that immensely powerful existence tore through her mind. The language that it spoke was not any language that Char Char had heard before. It was soft and rhythmic, gentle yet immensely powerful. She didn’t hear the words spoken to her so much as feel it and comprehend it in her soul.

“Unnnhh…” She let out a pained groan, staggering forward and nearly dropping to her knees as she was suppressed under an immensely demonic pressure. It seemed as if she would collapse at any moment, yet she remained standing.

“God… of Life… Deka…” Char Char hazarded a guess of the entity’s identity, “The Demonic Prince…”

“ H A H A H A”

The entire forest shook as the voices laughed upon hearing the name. The pressure on Char Char’s soul seemed to lighten, allowing her to stand straight. The grumbling and growling in the background calmed down around her, and even the twisting bramble stopped filling up the tunnel behind her.

Char Char wiped the sleeve of her left arm across her brow as she felt that she had indeed guessed correctly. Acknowledging its identity had appeased Him in some way. She had only heard of this godly existence the day before from Firuzeh. In some ways it was a lucky guess, and in others it was too obvious.

It was no secret to the Exalted world that Prince Deka was the force responsible for the changes in the forest. The devil eye plants, the monsters, everything about it were signature features of his Divine Kingdom known as the Verdant Wild.

Deka was a wild and untameable God from ancient times. An inhuman monster, a force of nature that symbolized procreation, vitality and the tenacity of living beings. Even glimpsing a portion of His True Body would cause a low level Exalted to immediately lose control and become corrupted.

Right now, standing in the midst of His domain, Char Char was at His complete mercy.

“ C O M E . ”

The leaves rustled and creaked as the formless voice shook the air around her. Tiny ripples played across the red liquid that had seeped out of the soaking wet mulch at Char Char’s feet. The air was hot, so hot that her lungs burned when she inhaled, and it smelled like rich, fresh blood.

Char Char stepped forward, venturing out into the globe shaped glade as the vines twisted and filled the tunnel behind her.

No, it’s not just a shaped like a globe… Char Char’s heart skipped a beat as she came to a realization. This place is the inside of an egg.

The ground sloped gently downward, granting Char Char a full view of the entire chamber. The leafy, maroon walls and ceiling glowed dimly with a softly pulsing orange light. A low muddled rumble resonated through the space from all directions, making Char Char feel like the chamber was immersed deep underwater.

The twisted black tree protruded ominously from the centre of the glade, its hand-shaped branches reaching up and outward to the softly glowing canopy. Something about the tree felt wrong. Like it didn’t quite belong here.

Standing in front of the tree, looking up the slope toward Char Char, Medusa stood with an expectant smile.

Her voice rang clearly through the air, “Praise the Maiden!”

Char Char swallowed softly. She didn’t understand Medusa’s meaning in praising the maiden, she only felt that something was horribly wrong. Her tongue was dry as she forced a small smile and said softly, “P-praise the maiden.”

“You appear to be in quite a shock, but I suppose it is only natural. I see that you have never been graced with the presence of a true God.”

Medusa took a deep inhale as she looked around, gesturing broadly with both hands, “Is it not divine?”

Medusa’s eyes had a crazed look in them as she smiled and gestured toward Char Char, “Don’t be afraid, Char Char. The White Maiden chose you to come here. She has blessed you and granted you the honor of fulfilling your divine duty! Come!”

Char Char walked slowly down the slope toward Medusa. She didn’t want to go down, but she didn’t have a choice. Her body was tense as she said carefully, “What divine duty?”

Medusa smiled broadly and she turned around to face the tree with her hands outstretched, “To revive Prince Deka and restore His Divine Kingdom back to its former glory!”

The sound of rustling leaves and groaning wood filled the air as the glade came alive with motion at Medusa’s words. The shell of foliage that formed the walls of the glade pulsed like a beating heart, though Char Char couldn’t tell if it was actually happening or a trick of the unearthy orange-red light.

“R-revive?” Char Char’s voice quivered.

“Shh!” Medusa hissed suddenly as she looked up expectantly at the sky. Her eyes flickered about as she seemed to be hearing voices in the grumbling din of the forest. “I- I see! That’s how it was…!”

Char Char stopped a few metres away from the cultist, who swivelled around suddenly with an ecstatic look on her face.

“Praise the Maiden! By Her grace she delivered the perfect vessel for the God of Life’s revitalization.” Medusa said in awe, “This man… The forest formed a womb around his body to protect it and shed away the corrupting energies. Though his Exalted bodies were corrupted and shattered, they have recrystallized into a body strong enough to hold the essence of a God.”

“Do you see now, Char Char? The Maiden has blessed the reincarnation of Prince Deka and provided the means for Him to revive.” Medusa made a sacred gesture, drawing a line with her index finger from her lips down to her chest, “There is only one thing that needs to be done now.”

Char Char couldn’t comprehend why the White Maiden, her guardian spirit that she had placed her utmost faith in, would support the unnatural, terrifying things happening here.

Yet using her Rebel powers, she knew that Medusa wasn’t lying. No, the cultist was completely sincere about the Maiden’s role in delivering the vessel for the God of Life’s rebirth. Furthermore, hadn’t the White Maiden sent Char Char here with Medusa?

A battle played out in her mind as she tried to reconcile her utmost faith in the White Maiden with the terrifying events that were about to unfold.

Did the Maiden really send her here to help?

Char Char couldn’t think of any other reason that she would be put in this situation, and it terrified her.

“What needs to be done?” Char Char asked the required question.

Medusa stepped aside, gesturing for Char Char to approach the tree at the center of the glade.

The leafless black branches with elbows and claw-like hands reached menacingly up to the orange canopy sky. They sprawled outward from a thick, twisted black trunk with rough, petrified bark.

As Char Char approached, she saw that the trunk was not a single piece, but rather there were thick black cords that twisted around an inner form. This inner form was bulky and covered in a petrified bark, but its shape was immediately recognizable.

A man, clutching a staff, his head bowed with a wide, conical hat formed from woven black vines hiding his face. He had been completely overtaken by the tree, with only parts of his body visible within the knotted cords.

Char Char’s breath stopped as she recognized the hilt of a sheathed sword at his waist.

Petrified and trapped within the tree, this man who was to form the vessel for the God of Life’s rebirth…

Hakuya.