“What a surprise. There’s nothing like losing your brother only to be met with an army. Couldn’t you have just sent a sympathy card like any normal person? I don’t have time for this,” the Reform woman said. Hendrick was surprised at her demeanor. He imagined that someone who was surrounded by an army far eclipsing their own would be at least a little nervous.

“Forgive me miss, I don’t believe we have met. I am quite certain I would remember a woman as… outspoken as you,” Hanz replied to her.

“Eh, it doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is why you’ve brought an army. I really don’t want to deal with this.”

“We have it in good confidence that the Faction of the Mind is responsible for the elimination of a previously unknown fourteenth race. The Faction of the Mind not only kept this vital information from the rest of the races, violating the Initial Conduct Treaty, but then proceeded to remove them from all planets in the Experiment. We are here to ensure you cannot remove yet another race.”

“We can’t just whisk races away. Nor did we just kill them. We just trapped them for a bit while we investigated. Think of it as keeping a suspect awaiting trial. They aren’t dead, they're just in a… prison.”

“Will you release them?”

“We wouldn’t even if we could. Why would we release a race that has infiltrated high positions in our Faction, who can alter memories at will? No, we would prefer to have security first.”

“So you captured a race because of what they are capable of, and feel no remorse because you want leverage?”

“Have you not noticed the noticeably absent members in your own respective organizations? Members that controlled a multitude of assets?” The Reform questioned.

“Does it matter? Their only wrongdoing was not being honest with who they are.”

“Their only wrongdoing you can remember. How do you know they didn’t do much worse, and just wiped your memory away?”

“Did they?”

“I am fairly certain.”

“Let me flip your own question against you then,” Hanz continued, “If this race can truly alter memories, who’s to say any of what you're saying or doing is really what you want? What if everything is implanted?”

“I'm not here to have an introspective discussion with you geezer,” She paused for a moment, turning her head to look at one of the two women left behind. She turned back around after the pause, “I’m here to tell you that this race had big plans for all of us, and were slowly infiltrating in preparation. We did you all a favor, and this is the gratitude we are shown,” She waved her hand at the army facing her, “And spare me the ‘humanity’ guilt trip. They’ll come back eventually.”

“That brings me back to my earlier statement. We are here to make sure you can’t ‘whisk away’ other races.”

“Like I said, it doesn’t work like that. First off, we never planned on trapping them all. Our plan was to find out where they were operating from. The person in charge of the ritual decided to take certain liberties half way through. We only found out about all of this recently.”

“You have to understand how ludicrous this is. Supposedly one person is responsible for the mysterious disappearance of a race we never knew existed. According to your word, and your word alone; you can't just ‘take away races’. Furthermore, the very faction who conducted this ‘ritual’ says that it didn’t go as planned. Convenient. Who is this mystery person? Why isn’t he talking to me?”

“You can think of him as the…hmm… warden of the prison that the Figments now reside in. And he cannot talk to you. He can’t talk to anyone.”

“Warden? Why can’t I talk to the Warden?”

“He is in a coma.”

“Can I see?”

“No,” The Reform rebuffed him. The two stared at one another, the tension palpable. Hendrick looked at the two girls in the air bubble. The Orthodox had her face in her hands, shaking her head back and forth in exasperation. Exasperated by what, Hendrick did not know. The other seemed tense, ready to jump in at a moment's notice.

“Do you have tangible proof of anything you are saying?” Hanz continued.

“I’m sure we could find something.”

“So that's another no.” The Reform did not respond. “Can we investigate?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“You just c—” She looked at the Orthodox. The two stared at each other for a while, silently. “Fine!” She shouted, the amplification making the noise much louder than was natural. The army would have cringed had the Warmaster not kept them in line. “You can’t because if excessive harm comes to the warden, the Figment’s will be released.” There was silence once more, before Hanz started laughing.

“Problem solved! We just have to kill the Warden and all of this will sort itself out! If all of this is just a fabrication, we can find out once we occupy your city,” A man and women revealed themselves next to Hanz. Perhaps they had moved with incredible speed, or perhaps they had been there the whole time. They grabbed the older gentlemen, and all three vanished. “Start Protection Militia! March!” The opposing army stepped forward at the command of their Warmaster. The Reform stood there, shaking.

“Are you serious? All of that, just for a lame excuse to attack? IF that’s how it's going to be, I’ll show you why we were able to trap a race in the first place! OLANIA, MEAGAN, STAY THE FUCK OUT OF THIS!” The Reform looked up to the air before continuing to shout, “WATCHER OF THE POSSESSIONS OF THE DECEASED!”

“Phrase recognized. Hello Administrator. You currently have seven cases open, and one inheritance. What would you like to do?” An uncanny voice said in the minds of all present. None of the Reform’s had heard such a voice speak before. It sounded fake, the vowels somehow off, the words choppy. Hendrick was thoroughly disturbed along with the rest of the troops. Soon the army would face another emotion: fear of death.

“Grant access to my inheritance.”

“It stopped in here. I wonder why?”

“Don’t ask me Sen, I have absolutely no clue. Are you sure it stopped?”

“Yes. No. I sensed it coming here. Then it stopped. Then I lost its whereabouts. So it may be here?”

“Hmmm,” Yuclaus hummed to himself as he looked at the tunnel before him. The creature they were chasing supposedly fled into this arch of trees, but the characteristics of the pine trees made it quite hard to validate. Immediately off the side of the trail, beneath the dead-looking branches was complete darkness. It was like a curtain had been set down beneath every branch, layers upon layers of shadow casting the brush in black.

From the outside the trees looked a vibrant green, healthy and full of life. Once you walked beneath the lush exterior, the sunlight starved branches pierced through the haze. Empty and bare, gnarled and broken, these were once the top of the canopy. Left behind as the trees grew, they were the ghosts of the past.

“If you alert another creature by humming that same tune you always do, I will not be happy.” Sen deadpanned at Yuclaus.

“I told you already! I didn’t mean to! I didn’t even realize I was humming until that turtle was on me.” he said back to the nymph.

“I know. just please don’t. I’m starting to get even more worried the closer we get to the edge of the forest. Every day we keep using your abilities is another day we are projecting where we are going. Watch, we will exit the forest and there will be an army arrayed against us.”

“Sen,” Yuclaus said solemnly, “You’ve doomed us.”

“How?”

“Martin’s law, anything you say will go wrong, will go wrong.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Rarely do these phrases make sense,” He looked towards the tunnel ahead, framed by pines, filled with emptiness. “Shall we?”

“After you.” As they crossed beneath the first bows, it felt as if everything was dampened. The background noise of the forest that both had become accustomed to was noticeably reduced. It was as if they were falling asleep, the sound slowly lessening, becoming warped, a little echoey. The only normal sound was the wind scraping the branches as it blew through. It was not a whistle; it was a far too hollow sound for that.

As they pushed into the lifeless heart of the tunnel, their demeanors likewise matched their surroundings. They became wary and on edge. Looking around was useless, they could barely see off of the path.

“Do you have a net for this one?” Yuclaus bent down and whispered to Isencia.

“No. I don't. I have another idea which will be foolproof.”

“Foolproof? Isn't it fullproof?”

“I don't even know how to respond to that. Are you trying to make a play on words?”

“You think I know Sen? I’m just trying to fill this silence with something.” As they continued onwards, Isencia’s gaze locked onto a spot in the darkness beyond.

“It was there. It just did something again, but stopped the moment I looked at it. I think it is intelligent Yu. It knows I can track it whenever it uses camouflage. It is using natural stealth now.”

“You can’t sense it at all? Can you use your Spore?”

“No, nothing. My Spore also can not sense anything either. The bottom branches and plant life are almost comatose. They are in hibernation and unable to do much of anything. I have access to the root system, but its weight is too dispersed for that to be much help.”

“So then what’s the plan? What about NB?”

“I’m thinking we just send you into the dark. Just make sure no memories pop out again. For a while you had forgotten everything since coming here. It was an experience to say the least. Did you ever get those memory weapons you were talking about working? Those would be cool,” Isencia showed a small amount of excitement.

“Nothing that works consistently. The memories seem to be almost distilled. As if each one is equal in capturing the essence of the creature. At least, when I rip them out. It works great for your slots, having each memory resemble the being equally, but it makes anything else I want to make with them fragile. With only a little bit of everything it is like a poorly mixed alloy with a little bit of every ore —the material only as strong as the weakest metal. I’m not sure how that interacts with what memories I actually take, but I assume wisps are made from the most recent memories mixed with a little bit of all other knowledge. In any case, I could try using a dagger I have —made from the salamanders— but it would break like a dried twig.”

“No, it is fine. I say we just send you. I’ll be on standby. Oh wait. Check and see if we can still see your eyes in the darkness. They glow, so I could know where you are the whole time. I can take him into the light and we can extract the memories.”

“Alright. Going in,” Yuclaus turned around, and stepped backwards into the veil of shadows. As he sunk into the darkness, it seemed as if he was plunging into a vertical river of ink. His face and body were slowly swallowed until two glowing orange eyes stared back at Isencia. The image would have been complete if a disturbingly large, tooth-filled smile joined beneath them. Instead one of the eyes blinked at the nymph. Yes, Yuclaus winked.

“Can you see them?” The unnatural muffled voice of Yuclaus called out.

“Yes,” She said, “It is quite an interesting experience. I wish we could bottle this. I know it must be some property of these trees. Yu. This would be great for your spore. Imagine it turning a whole pond completely dark, only the roots able to sense what is in their midst.”

“That would be so awe— SOAKHF,” Yuclaus was cut off alongside the disappearance of his eyes. He felt something sharp sink into ankle before he was yanked off his feet, face smashing into the ground painlessly. He still barely felt pain. Although lately, he had been feeling it more easily. For example, the dozens of piercings in his leg definitely hurt. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, he was unable to see the skin of his leg flicker. An amorphous blob of pink roughly in the shape of a leg was all that was underneath.

“Yu?” Isencia called out a moment later when the area returned to unnatural silence. The casual observer would notice the worry in her voice. A muffled reply reached her, its location indecipherable. “Yu look towards me, once you do that I can help.” Nothing. As the seconds trickled by she was getting nervous. At least, one could assume she was. Meanwhile, Yuclaus and I were having quite an interesting experience.

After he was pulled to the ground, a massive coarse rope wound around him. The thickness of the cable was easily the size of his torso. His arms and legs were forced together, body becoming slowly entangled by the coir rope as if it had a mind of its own. Which, it did. Once the beast had immobilized Yuclaus, it released its grip with its teeth. Its curved fangs slid out easily when removed by itself. Had Yuclaus tried to remove the snake himself, he would have ripped the barbs out, leaving the double rows of teeth in his faux leg.

He heard Isencia calling out to him, his mind took in the words, but it would not process them. It was interesting to see how the situation changed the creation of memories in the mindscape. Some of the bolts fired far into the distance, avoiding the chasms which they belong. Yuclaus tried to focus on her words. He knew he had to do something. What were they testing? He was slowly being pulled away, further away from the illuminated path.

He looked up, hoping to see Isencia coming towards him. Perhaps, he also wanted to catch another glimpse of the light before he was pulled too far into the dark sea. The currents separating him from the slowly filtering light until all that was left was complete and utter isolation. The moment he looked up however, was when Isencia found him. His progression into the insidious forest was unequivocally halted.

He was pulled with a strength backed by an ecosystem. The tension in the vines that had snatched him and his kidnapper would cause suspension bridges to be ashamed of themselves. Isencia’s worry and fear for her friend caused such a potent reaction. The two were pulled above the path, their trajectory launched them toward the other wall of darkness.

Isencia kept her grip on Yuclaus, but the leviathan of a serpent sailed free of her grasp. The black, fibrous, scaled tail took seconds to fully pass out of the light. A muffled crash was heard as Yuclaus was tugged to the ground, and a snap was heard as the serpent supposedly splintered one of the haunted pines.

Isencia hurriedly pulled Yuclaus back into the light, catching a glimpse of his distorted leg, but choosing to not say a word. Not yet.

“Yu!” She raised her voice for perhaps the first time since Yuclaus had known her, “Are you ok? Here let me help.” A lollipop tree half formed behind her, once more entirely of vines. Half of it was in the murky depths of the canopy, making it seem as if the lollipop was bitten in twain by an auspicious owl after three licks.

A flower once again blossomed, the pistil removed, and applied to his leg. The fabric of his pants had been torn off at some point. The fangs of the serpent must have torn it enough to fall off in the subsequent vine slingshot. She wanted to apply more to his mildly strangled body, but he pushed her hand away, pulling himself to his feet. As he went to step on his right leg, he stumbled mildly, before skin once more snapped into existence, unseen by Yucluas.

The slime frame of recovery elapsed, as a muffled explosion shot out in the depths near where the serpent landed. Chunks of dirt sprayed around the two, some nicking them in the face. A white sap trickled from the cut on Isencia’s cheek.

“I knew it,” Isencia said out loud, looking in the distance. Yuclaus was unaware of where she was looking, but it was a particular mangrove in the distance, roots buried in the earth. It quickly relented its attack on the serpent when the net of vines that was placed around it made themselves known. There was a reason Isencia did not have the net for the serpent. It was watching the actual threat. The Neck Beard.

Isencia contained Gourami, keeping it from breaking free with its roots. They were able to tunnel in the soil, but were capable of a single explosive burst before they needed to rest. Isencia needed to manage the rebellious mangrove, get the snake, and keep Yuclaus safe. This is difficult, but manageable, she thought to herself. A slowly growing mound of dirt disagreed with her internal monologue.

A bulge filled the subarboreal path. So large was it, that only the edge of it skimmed the illuminated dirt that the nymph and human-look-alike stood on. Barely standing in the case of Yuclaus. No boom resounded, but the almost liquid wave of dirt heralded the emergence of a beast that was quite upset that a cyborg root collapsed a ceiling in its den. The trees around it sunk into the dirt turned quicksand. The darkness fell like a descending stage. A large creature was soon revealed. A mole-like creature with webbed fingers and a large fin falling down its back, made itself known. Its brown scales shimmered in the light, as if boulder opals adorned its skin.

Isencia and Yuclaus’ situation went from manageable to dangerous in seconds. They were knocked off their feet and swept away by the earthen tsunami, with an angry beast turning its wrath on them. All because of a gluttonous Spore.