The trip drags on for quite some time while I keep track of how we’re moving using my map. The one redeeming thing about fog of war is how you can see exactly where you’ve been, which will help immensely with the process of getting back. That being said, we’ve crawled mostly along the tree tops, so we’ve avoided the worst of the difficult terrain. I’ve seen enormous flowers with what look like bones littering the area around them. Small, rabbit like things bound away from the grasses on which they’re feeding as we approach and shudder at us from small holes in the trees and ground. We regularly scare off birds, which seems to annoy Thetzeke every time. Given the winding nature of our path, I think it’s trying to make things as hard as possible for Lauren and Cerberus…

That’s fine. They’ll be fine.

My captor seems mostly emotionless, apart from expressing annoyance once in a while. Nothing that I can identify as positive ever crosses its face. From my position facing backward, I can’t see exactly where we’re going, but I do get a fairly good view of what the topography of the trees looks like. They’re far from uniformly tall, but there are some special exceptions that a ground based traveller would never notice unless they were able to get pretty far into the air. Or ride a giant Cathid around for a while.

Giant trees stick out of the forest on occasion. They tower above the rest, easily five or six times as large, but there aren’t many of them. Oddly, the lesser trees still tend to grow beneath their leaves. From the look of it, they only don’t grow directly next to the giga trees. Maybe that’s where we should have been looking for the moss? The canopy of the larger trees is so thick that there seems to be nearly a void of light beneath them. Not even reflected light seems to get in very well… but it’s way out of my darksight range.

Suddenly, we’re flying through the air, and I realize when I look down that we’re headed into some kind of clearing. I quickly use Energy Combustion to fortify my legs and back, just in time to be slammed feet first against the ground when we land. The Cathid doesn’t adapt well to the way I change the impact, and tumbles several times, hitting me repeatedly against the (thankfully) soft ground. Somewhere in the mess, it loses its grip on me, and I respond by flaring my Energy and tearing through the unempowered restraints, flying to my feet, and starting to run for the forest. I make it all of one step before something impacts hard against the back of my knee, causing my step to fail. I turn the step into a slide on my knees in an attempt to preserve momentum, but the grass doesn’t respond like grass I’m used to and I feel it cover my shins in minor lacerations.

Ignoring the injury, I kick off in an attempt to keep moving forward, but there’s someone in my way: my captor. I don’t remember it being armed, but now it has a staff pointed at me. I double down on my egress, spreading the maximum Energy burn to the whole of my body. The burst of speed clearly surprises my opponent, but not enough. A sharp impact in my chest stops my forward motion dead, and all that saves me from having stuck myself on the end of the staff is the fact that burning Energy makes my body more durable.

Before I can do more than smack the staff aside, the wielder adapts to my hit and uses the momentum to hit me harder, driving me onto my back. In the space of a moment, I realize several things: the one that just knocked me down is not Thetzeke, there are multiple entities like it, and they’re all very capable of beating me down when I don’t have my sword out.

The one I charged rushes quickly towards me, and, with a massive overhead strike aimed for my head, misses completely. Or, rather, the strike is blocked by Thetzeke.

“You must not. This one knows something.”

“You know better than to-”

“Something important.”

During the ensuing silence, I intently consider another escape, but… looking at the not quite angry, but certainly determined faces that surround me, I find the temptation quickly squashed.

One way or another, my captor wins the battle of wills and the staff wielder leaves without another word, taking its group of silent warriors with it.

The ground beneath me shudders and vines push through the soil, wrapping around me again and lifting me to my feet.

Thetzeke, for his part, seems intently focussed on the blood in the grass, then on me and my already healed legs, still covered in blood.

“Important indeed. Come. You must walk from this point on.”

“Any chance we could do this without the restraints?”

“No.”

I sigh, resigned. “Worth a shot.”

“It was not.”

“I’m the one being fucking abducted, what right do you have to be a dick?”

As expected, Thetzeke doesn’t respond to my attempts to rile it, instead choosing to shove me forward, when I take my first real look at where I’ve been taken.

It’s a clearing, but only for about twenty meters from the edge of the forest. Things that could be called houses adorn the grassy terrain; small, hovel looking structures that appear to be grown rather than built. Each one could be a tree that was twisted grotesquely into a desired shape. Very little effort was put into the aesthetics or, from the look of it, the health of the trees. As such, they have few, if any, leaves adorning the thick, monstrous branches.

Beyond the ‘houses’, the structures seem to become more elaborate, with some of them appearing to even be living trees, just more round than ones back home. This trend continues up until a colossal tree in the center of the town. One very similar, in fact, to those I saw off in the distance during the ride over… but why is there light here when there wasn’t there?

“Move.” Clearly unhappy with my gawking, my captor gives me another shove and I start moving forward.

The starlight doesn’t pierce the canopy, so it isn’t that, and while it does seem more shaded, it’s not anything special… then I notice the lanterns. Small glowing insects seem inhabit incredibly thin shells of wood. A light gust would probably destroy them, and yet, they’re everywhere.

Focussing more on the entities that live here, I find all eyes on me. Small ones stare from behind larger ones’ legs, all clad in the same bark looking clothing Thetzeke has. They stop what they’re doing at my approach, suddenly uninterested in their chores in the face of an anomalous new existence to ogle. My Combat Proficiency flares in warning, and I tilt my head to the side just as a rock careens past, and I hear the thud of rock on flesh from behind me. It takes a lot to suppress my grin, which gets even more difficult when the same rock whistles past and takes a chunk of building off, where some miscreant was taking cover after throwing. A yelp of surprise, a crunch from the base of the house, and muffled cries of pain serve to indicate the result of the throw.

“I thought you wanted to know things, and now people are throwing rocks? It’ll be very hard to talk if I have no teeth.”

“They do not aim for you.”

Huh. “Not so popular around here?”

No answer.

Another sigh. “I get that.”

With that overt act of violence, the stares lessen. The adults mostly return to their business, though the children keep watching. I quickly begin to notice the staff wielders again, standing in pairs and seemingly observing their surroundings. When one moves, the other follows, with both constantly looking around. Guards. Which means the one I tangled with was likely… the captain. Nice. I might be wrong, but they seem less strong than Thetzeke.

As we approach the large tree in the center I ask questions about everything I can, but Thetzeke cares little about satisfying my curiosity. The terrain gets more steep as we get closer, with the tree’s massive root system having expanded mostly out of the ground to create an artificial hill around the tree itself. Perfect wooden steps, likely formed in the same way as the houses, provide a reasonable way to climb. After several minutes of climbing, I take a gamble, and trip.

Without my arms to stop my fall, my fall is uncontrollable without outside help. Of course, outside help presents itself immediately, and my rapid descent is halted.

“You sure I can’t have use of my arms?” I push my luck further while Thetzeke sets me down on the steps again.

“You may not have both your arms and access to your weapon. A tool that is cursed, I’m sure you’re aware. This will suffice until we arrive.”

Not cursed, dipshit. “And where, exactly, is that?”

“The elder among my kind hold knowledge. They gather it and transcribe it from wherever they can, whenever they can, and it is that knowledge alone that survives each rotation of this world.”

“The administrator lets you get away with that?”

Silence. A sigh escapes me. We were doing so well…

The rest of the climb is uneventful, and when we reach the top, a semi-familiar face awaits. The probably guard captain, with two guards flanking it on either side of a seemingly random part of the tree trunk.

“They have been told of your arrival, and the nature of your… cargo.”

“You know nothing of what I have found.”

“Hold your tongue in the presence of your betters, or far worse than stones will threaten you.”

“Not after this.”

The other entity perks up at this. “Perhaps I should take it in, then. Your work is done.”

Thetzeke almost spits the words. “Rejected. It is my find, and you know nothing of its abilities.”

The guard leader frowns, looking me up and down, then smiles. “Not even you would heal a prisoner, so where have the wounds gone? Perhaps this one can heal, but that is nothing… it has knowledge we do not have on healing? Most interesting. I believe tha-” “I just know healing magic, that’s all.”

The guard leader stops speaking, shocked, then glares. Without a signal of any kind, one of the guards rushes forward and slams its staff into my stomach. I gasp and make a show of falling to me knees, despite the fact that the blow only hurt a little with my fortified abdomen protecting me.

“Take it inside, then, one such as you could never find anything valuable anyway. I look forward to your punishment for wasting their time.”

Without another word, Thetzeke pushes me forward and the tree itself opens up to reveal a triangular path inside, which slams shut as soon as we enter. Darkness surrounds us, but neither of us are bothered by it. Regardless, I immediately walk into a wall, prompting a guiding hand from jailor Thetzeke. Better to let it believe I’m helpless in here.