“Is that so?” her tone was a bit condescending as she gave him a slight nod.

John could see the faint glimmer of mocking in Fellelone’s eyes. The way she raised one eyebrow in response only made John feel more annoyed. From the way he saw it, the alraune was hiding something from him. He continued to stare at her with his scrutinizing gaze. Trying to figure out what she knew.

The silence between them continued as they stood there among the trees.

“Well…do you have something to say?” Fellelone asked, breaking the silence between them.

“For someone who’s bonded with me in a life and death pact, shouldn’t you at least be helping me?” John said the obvious.

“I can help you, but if I did, wouldn’t it be counterproductive for someone like you? A straggler should know how to survive on their own, don’t you think?” she flashed a smile.

John was expressionless. His future was in the balance here and Fellelone was teaching him how to be independent.

“Let’s cut to the chase, Fellelone, what is it? Is there something wrong with my idea?” he asked.

She stayed silent for a while but then she gave in. Shrugging her shoulders, she said what she kept to herself. “It’s the heart core.”

“And what about it?”

“It’s unlikely you’ll find something so precious in your current state,” Fellelone said. “The heart core can’t be found in these beasts that roam these lands. It takes a special one to have one, and even that isn’t a guarantee.”

John furrowed his brow. That message from her was plain as day. ‘This going to be difficult. In my current state, defeating a boss-type monster would be too much. Hell, even a mini-boss would be a pipedream.’

“Are you certain of walking the path of a warlock?” Fellelone asked. “Even this crude method of yours hasn’t been proven to work.”

John loosened his shoulders, shifting his weight to his right foot. “I’ll take my chances. Like they always said, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Why not I just roll the dice then?” he grinned.

“At first I thought you’re the type of man who fears death,” Fellelone said. “But it seems something had changed.”

“No, you’re not wrong. I still don’t want to die, and I’m doing it because I know it will work,” John said. “So, spit it out. I know you know something about what I want.”

It had not been long since John got to know her. But guessing from how she said, John had to take a shot at it.

“I know where you can find a heart core,” her words took John by surprise.

He grabbed Fellelone by the arms and closed the distance between them. “Where?”

Fellelone smiled with a hidden motive glimmering behind those eyes of her.

***

The two of them returned back to Fellelone’s grotto. John followed behind her like a dog waiting for his treat. He couldn’t be any more excited knowing his chance of survival was going to get up.

Soon, they reached Fellelone’s bedroom.

John’s eyes scrambled over every inch of this room, searching for any sign of a heart core. It didn’t like he knew what it was as he just assumed it to be a unique-looking item.

Yet his gaze was suddenly lured by Fellelone’s action. She stood in front of her bed as her hand slipped her chiton dress off from her shoulders. In a blink of an eye, a gorgeous figure fell upon John’s sight. He stared for a few seconds before he realized what he was doing. John looked away, and asked, “this isn’t the time to play games Fellelone.”

“And I am not,” she drew closer to John. With each step she took, John could feel his heart beating against his ribs. Then the touch of her skin reached John.

Her hands crept over John’s neck, rising up until she held John’s face in her hand. She turned him towards her as their eyes found each other.

“Let’s not do this, Fellelone, this isn’t right,” John said.

“But didn’t you said you would take the risk? What was it again, the greater the risk, the greater the reward?” her dulcet voice never ceased to be pleasant to the ears.

“I am a monster, John, and what you seek is in me.” She grabbed his hand and placed it right in between her cleavage. “Now what would it be? Do you dare take the risk, straggler?”

She let a smile that could topple empires. Even Helen of Troy wouldn’t be her match.

But John wasn’t sure. ‘It’s either my principal or for my survival.’ His principle of only having sex with the person he loved might sound outdated, but John had his reasons. You could call him weak, and he wouldn’t care. The past had thought him a lesson, and he would be a fool if he abandoned it.

“No, I can’t…” he said, shaking his head.

Yet something broke into his heart.

“Then love me,” Fellelone voice echoed in his ears.

He gazed into her silver eyes as something tugged the string of his heart. John wanted to deny it. But that exact tone of hers was different from how she always spoke. For some reason, he could feel the yearning and sincerity from Fellelone.

She wrapped her arms around John’s neck as she whispered into his ears. “Love me like you would love a human woman.”

Then it was done.

John grabbed her and tried to lift her off her feet. At first, it was difficult but not a second too late, her weight felt like a feather. He threw himself and Fellelone on the bed and their moans echoed through the whole grotto.

Pleasures were exchanged as their bodies caressed against each other.

But then, something happened.

As John rammed against Fellelone, the supple skin he felt was turning into hardened wood. Then his eyes bulged open, with his pelvic stopped moving.

“John?” Fellelone was confused over the sudden stop of pleasure.

“Fellelone, you…” John was lost for words. In front of him was no longer an appearance of a normal human.

Fellelone looked down and realized what had happened. For the first time, she was shocked. She got up and left the bed in a rush.

But a hand grabbed her by the arm.

“Stop,” John said.

“Forgive me, John,” Fellelone couldn’t look at John, not with her current appearance. “I should have told you about my illusions…But for some odd reason, I can’t. For you take a part of my heart core, my powers would undoubtedly be unstable, and I can’t maintain my illusion while doing so, ” Her voice was trembling. Something inside of her felt different. Throughout her whole life, she had never experienced a jumble of emotions in her heart core.

John tried to turn her to him. But this time, she wouldn’t budge. She was heavy like the statue of Venus de Milo. He took a quick turn and faced himself at the alraune known as Fellelone. His eyes gazed at her from top to bottom.

Her whole body was similar to a mannequin in a clothing store. What seemed like softwood of pine made up most of her body, encasing her like at the exterior. They were hard and smooth like they had been sanded down. Underneath that wooden plate-like skin was entwined vines similar in their structure to a human muscle. In her joints were bushes of small flowers with a variety of colors. While her breasts were the oddest thing. It was the same size except they were translucent and inside it was filled with viscous fluid like they were golden nectar. The flower on top of her head stayed the same except they were fine dark green vines with soft thorns, replacing her hair.

“Please, don’t look at me,” Fellelone said, turning her head away.

Yet John gently placed his hand over her stem-like face. He turned her over and gazed at her visage. A strong softwood lined her jaws while lime green colored most of her face like they were the stem of a plant. Yet her eyes remained the same. Silver that shone brighter than the sun.

John went for her lips that tasted exactly like riped peaches and then he parted. He saw the stunned look on her face, and it couldn’t be more refreshing to John.

“You’re gorgeous,” John said the word and Fellelone unconsciously smiled. They both lay on the bed and time went on.

After it was all over. The long-forgotten blue window made an appearance.

It was a massive reward, yet the best had not yet come. Another window emerged and the thing he had been waiting for had come.

‘Good, at least I won’t die that easily,’ he turned to his side and saw the sleeping face of Fellelone. He smiled and with his eyelids grew heavy, John finally fell to sleep.

***

By dusk, John was already up awake. His clothes were no longer the same back when he came here. He had a hooded sweatshirt, a t-shirt on the inside, and a pair of sweatpants, courtesy of Fellelone’s craftsmanship. With John’s idea, Fellelone made the best set of cotton clothes with just a whiff of her hand. But for shoes, that was a bit complicated. In the end, Fellelone made a pair of ankle strap sandals out of vines. It was a bit chilly for his toes but better than running in dress shoes.

John stood in front of Fellelone with a sack bag turned into a bag pack strapped over his shoulders. In his hand was the Soul Leo sword sheathed in its scabbard. He found it while rummaging through the vault room. With him dubbed as the lover of the Forbidden Lilium, the treasure vault was more or less his. But it was a pity he couldn’t bring it all along. The only thing he had was a pouch of gold coins stashed in his hoodie pocket.

“How do I look?” John asked, hoping it was something close to being looking good or worldwide handsome.

“Fine, I guess?” Fellelone tarnished those hope of John’s and she chuckled seeing John’s annoyed look.

“What? You should know that we alraune never consider the appearance of a man as a gauge of attraction,” she said with a straight face.

“Fine. But shouldn’t you at least give some effects on these clothes of mine? Their defense isn’t that much different from the clothes I wore,” he said.

“Now, now, John Creed. Are you lashing out because I didn’t call you handsome, is that it?” she had a snickering smile as if taking pleasure in teasing this newfound lover of hers.

He wanted to say something, but he stopped short of saying anything. He sighed heavily and looked at her with calm eyes. “Forget about the effects. As long as I’m with you, I can take on the whole world.” It was cheesy but he had to say it.

He turned his back to her and raised his fist in the air. “Come on, let’s go for an adventure.”

The moment he said so, his feet were off the ground and the scenes around him were turning into a blur. John was being carried by Fellelone by the waist and the unexpected motion was making his stomach felt sick. ‘Shit, I’m gonna puke.’ He restrained his throat and protected his dignity before it collapsed. John fought against himself not to puke in front of his lover.

Then, his feet found the ground. They were at the edge of Crown Deer Forest, with the vast plain right in front of them. John knelt immediately as his head was spinning around like a top. He shook it off and stood back up. “Geez, babe, you could at least give me a warning or something.” He dusted off his new pants. As it would be a shame if he let it dirtied like that.

“Babe?” Fellelone asked, wondering what it meant.

John found her eyes, and it felt different. For some reason, there was a tint of longing in her gaze. ‘Nah, I must be imagining things.’

“Yea, babe is how us humans called our significant others affectionately,” John explained.

Fellelone nodded, and said, “I love that.” She walked towards him and wrapped herself around John. Fellelone kissed him by the lips and parted away.

The look on her face and her action made John feel something was wrong. “Babe, what’s going on here?”

She couldn’t look him in the eye. “I can’t go with you.”

“Wait, what do you mean? What’s all of this?” frown started to form on John. He was not liking this, not at all.

“I can’t leave Crown Deer Forest, John,” she said, shaking her head.

“But why?” John shouted. The sudden anger came out of nowhere. He just met someone that might cure his heart and now he had to face this.

“Become stronger, John. Stronger than me, and once you do, you’ll know,” she said as her lower lip began to tremble. Something she never felt was surfacing.

“No, I won’t leave you!” John said. “I can just stay here with you.”

“Oh my foolish man, didn’t you desire to be the strongest swordsman?” she caressed his face, with the longing becoming deeper in her half-cut heart core.

“Fuck that, I’m just fine being with you,” John was resolute. Then his jaw dropped as a sudden force pushed him off the ground. He was sent flying in the air before falling into the plains.

“Fellelone!” he got up and rushed towards the forest. But as he inched closer to the tree line, he saw Fellelone’s tears falling over her cheeks. And it was the last time he could see her. A wall of vines erupted off the ground. It rose over seven meters in height and its width stretched over the edges of the forest. John was barred from seeing her.

“Fellelone!” he shouted her name and punched down the wall of vines.

“Come back when you’re stronger, John,” her voice trembling hard like she was crying over at the other side.

“Fuck!” he unsheathed his Soul Leo sword and hacked right at the wall of vines. Sparks flew, the vines were as strong as steel itself. No matter how many times he swung that sword of his, John couldn’t do a thing.

He huffed for his breath as his back drenched with his sweat. John’s fiery eyes wouldn’t back down not until he saw Fellelone again. He raised his sword as the durability was reaching its limit. Then he heard her voice.

“Remember our pact, John. Unless you bring me to the next realm, both of us will meet our demise,” Fellelone’s voice faded into the distance. Before her voice gone completely, John heard it like a whisper to his ears. “I love you, babe.”

John fell to his knees and stared listlessly at the wall of vines. He yelled out of frustration and pounded the ground with his fist like a madman. Yet it didn’t last long. His face was close to the ground as he sobbed silently with tears falling on the dirt.

Drowning in his sadness, John didn’t hear the blue emergence of the blue windows.