The sapling’s growth slowed considerably, but it was still getting larger by the hour. They’d made no more than a mile while eating and chatting about the divine fruit, but the decision to stop and investigate the tiny plant was unanimous. They stayed with the sapling through the morning, watching as it eventually settled in at about an inch per hour.

“This seems… nice, I guess,” Layla stared down as the sapling shimmered with light.

“Are we worried about this? It’s growing awfully fast,” Rory was also watching the tiny tree.

“I don’t think so. I expect this is sort of the point of the seal. I mean, we were gonna put the seeds in the ground eventually, right?” Jack laughed.

“Eww,” Erin wrinkled her nose at him.

“Wait, wait, wait… You think we were supposed to get this cosmic gift from the gods, eat it, then poop li’l baby world trees across the land,” Layla slowly turned to face Jack.

“No, yeah, that actually seems pretty spot on,” Rory scratched the back of his head, still watching the sapling.

The tiny tree sparkled slightly brighter, then stretched out a single branch, moving at a blistering speed… for a tree. At the tip of the branch was a tiny bulb of color, no larger than a pomegranate seed, with the exact shape and appearance of the First Fruit. The tiny tree wiggled.

“Does… does it want us to pick the fruit?” Erin had dropped to her hands and knees, her face less than a foot away from the sapling’s diminutive offering.

“No thanks, buddy. We ate already,” Jack smiled and gave the tree a gentle knuckle bump.

The sapling wiggled again and retracted the branch slightly.

“Awwwwwwwwwwww,” Layla had the gut-punched expression of a girl who had seen an adorable baby in a cute costume playing with a dozen puppies.

“Ok, yeah, that was pretty fuckin’ cute,” Erin giggled.

“Maybe we should save some of these for the market in Mor-” Rory began.

“I’ma stop you right there, good buddy. We’re not gonna sell the magic seeds from the divine fruit given to us by a literal nature goddess that keep people from starving to death and give them longer lifespans and protection from disease and misfortune,” Jack eyeballed him.

“It was worth a try,” he winked at Jack.

“Fair. But still no,” Jack smiled.

-----

They said their goodbyes to the sapling, which wiggled again, and set out to the north. The next weeks passed in a blur as they doggedly marched ever northward, making what even Erin would describe as “great time”.

“Did you guys notice when we got the shrine inside the temple, the compass wind swung back to the one over the mountains, back in Red Stone?” Erin asked.

“Yeah, seems like it’s still the closest one,” Jack replied.

He stopped walking and fished the worn map from his breastplate, “According to the map Toben gave us, it looks like the Writhing Wood was more or less directly south of Moryven. We could head north and shave some time off our trip. See, if we go north from here, we’ll eventually run into this river. We follow it north to its headwater, then keep the mountains on our right and go directly north till we hit the pass.

“We’ll almost certainly run into monsters on the way. We also will miss any trade routes from the coast to Moryven, if we take this path,” he paused and looked around to see if they were still following. “Thoughts?”

“How much time does it save us?” Rory leaned against him and looked at the map.

“Theoretically? It’s about a third less miles walked,” he replied.

“I’m in,” Layla grunted.

“It may be harder terrain, though. The beach is easy to walk. We’re gonna be headed through some bush, then across what will probably be rocky grasslands and hills,” Jack pointed at the map.

“I’m down,” Erin smiled.

“We know,” the succubus stuck her tongue out at her.

“What do you think, Jack?” Rory leaned away and shook out his boots.

“I think we’ll save a lot of time, but you two are gonna complain a lot,” he chuckled.

“Well, let the complaining begin,” Rory looked around a bit, then started heading in a reasonable facsimile of North.

-----

Jack was right. Rory and Layla did complain a lot. Though the forest between the coast and the river was mostly subtropical pine, and therefore comparatively clear of underbrush, the Chosen had become spoiled by two hundred miles of leisurely strolling along sandy beaches. The river was no more than fifty miles where they’d planted the world tree sapling, but a pair of days stretched out as they painfully trudged northward through the forest.

The forest was primarily inhabited by various prey species and big cats called “Thyline Stalkers”, as well as an infrequently encountered bear-like creature called “Arctagos”. The Stalkers weren’t an issue as long as they didn’t get a jump on the rear guard, but the Arctagos were nightmarishly strong, their levels in the mid-thirties. After the second fight with one, the group started using a run and gun strategy revolving around Layla’s Puppetry spells. The rest of the forest’s inhabitants were much more likely to run than fight.

The afternoon of the second day, they reached the river on Toben’s map. The rapidly running water was cold with mountain run-off, and after scouting a bit to make sure the area was safe, the four had their first freshwater bath in weeks. They relaxed and made camp on the shore.

“You were right about the complaining. That was rough,” Rory pulled his boots off and began rubbing his feet.

“Believe it or not, this is pretty much what the woods look like around where I live,” Jack smiled.

“And you trudge through this shit… for fun?” Layla groaned and fell against Erin’s lap.

“Not as much anymore, since I moved to the city,” he smiled. “But yeah.”

“So, we sleep the night here, then head northeast along the river ‘til we hit the head?” Erin asked.

“More or less, yeah,” Jack stepped over Layla and sat down next to her.

Minutes passed as the four watched the fire burn and listened to the sounds of the forest over the gentle white noise of the river’s passing.

“You know, for being trapped in another world, hunted by magic Nazis, and having just taken a family vacation through John Carpenter’s Funderland, this part isn’t so bad,” Layla laid against Erin, nibbling at a piece of dried fruit.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what a proper city looks like in this place. Moryven is supposed to be quite large,” Rory smiled and stared up at the light dappling through the trees.

“I just hope they have real beds,” Jack winked at Erin.

“You don’t even sleep,” Layla started, then the light bulb came on. “Ohhhh. Gotcha.”

-----

They camped for the night, then rose in the morning and followed the river toward the mountain. Before noon the next day, they cleared the forest and emerged into the grasslands that led up the mountain, which now dominated the entire western horizon. Jack and Erin consulted the map as they walked, eventually coming to the decision that rather than fight their way up the mountainside, they would cross the river at the next ford and head directly north.

The next ford turned out to be nearly twenty miles upriver, a wide, rocky waterfall less than twenty feet high that fell into what was either a big pond or a small lake. The area was surrounded by several small copses of trees.

“We’re camping here, right?” Layla dropped her pack near the shore and started undressing.

“This place is gorgeous,” Erin nodded vigorously.

Rory and Erin dropped their packs and Jack walked around the water, staring at the shore.

“I think maybe we should keep walking,” he called back.

“Oh, but why?” Layla whined.

“Because there’s a weird track here that’s as big as my torso, and it’s got webbed feet,” he looked up, staring out across the water at the fall.

“How big?” Rory’s head snapped around to look at him.

Jack lifted his hands and indicated a distance about two feet across.

“Bout yay b-”

The shore exploded in a violent cascade as a pair of massive jaws erupted from the water and snapped closed on Jack with the force of a car crash.