The first battle went about as well as Hokron thought it would. No matter the tactic the cambians were unstoppable. Undvik took close to five hundred of man’s defenders and many more had found nothing but death in their charge. Hokron knew he was leading his army into a pointless defeat yet due to his station as lord he could not give up humanity so easily. And so, he stood at the commander’s tent beside his trusted aid Virgil, his platoon commanders, and his furious son. Quietly listening to Virgil’s review of the battle and his son’s incessant ramblings about forcing all of man into battle.

“Exalted Lord, you’ve stood silent long enough. Give us your command that we might draw this meeting to a close.” Virgil’s calm voice rang out through the tent. Hokron could only sigh before meeting Virgil’s eyes. “Exalted Scholar speak freely and keep nothing to your thoughts. Tell me do we have a chance at stopping the horrors?” The question silenced all whispers as eyes began to fall upon the exalted scholar. “Alone we will certainly fall. If we are to succeed, we will need aid.” Lato immediately jumped in. “No others have answered our call! If we are not to force our fellow men into conflict, then where shall we find aid?”

“The answer is simple” Virgil replied. “If we cannot find aid in our fellow men, then we must find it in those outside of man.”

***

“We must tread cautiously. Nowhere in the outer kingdoms is truly safe.” The statement fell from the Poets mouth in the most deadpan and lifeless way possible. I cold only imagine how many times he has said that very line.

At first, I made sure to watch my every step. As nothing happened as we traveled through the woods I slowly relaxed and let down my guard.

The dark woods shook and groaned as I passed through another low branch. It was amazing how every branch seemed to reach out and snag onto my cloak. My frustration was growing by the minute as the Poet passed unimpeded through the woods like the wind. Every time I let my eyes drift from his back, I would soon find myself nearly fifty feet behind him. Finally, my anger got the better of me and I snapped one of the lower branches that caught onto the hood of my cloak.

A sickening scream stopped all movement in the woods. Every swaying branch came to a sudden halt and the once ambient moaning wind went silent. The Poet slowly turned to me and despite his features being hidden behind his visor I could definitely tell his eyes were wide in surprise.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a thick sappy red liquid drip from the broken branch that sat in my hand.

Oh shit.

I looked back to the tree and was soon faced by a gushing red wound. A sickening sound of wood snapping and bending filled the woods as they shot back to life. The gaping wound was soon nothing but a thin red line as bark moved to cover the bleeding. The screaming woods soon became deafening as the sounds of trees falling and ground churning plagued my ears.

“What have you done?” The Poet’s question was all but drowned out by the cacophony of sound. Just when I thought the forest had calmed, I was greeted by a face made of bark. The face wore an expression that was a perfect mix between anguish and outrage. Its mossy eyes met mine and began to glow a dim orange.

Oh Fuck.

The tree let out a deep roar that shook the earth. It was soon joined by hundreds of identical roars as every tree began to writhe and move. The roots of the trees soon coalesced near the base of the trees and I was grabbed by the Poet.

“Will you now listen to me you half-witted fool?!” The Poet yelled into my ear as he pushed me forward through a clearing of the trees. “Come we must flee to the center of the wood, only Myrica can save you now.”

The Poet ripped me off my feet as a limb of roots shot from the ground and smashed the space before me. Every tree seemed to move and prepare to strike as we fled. “Why didn’t you tell me about the killer trees?!” I yelled as the Poet helped me dodge another falling tree.

“Did I not tell you to tread carefully?!” He replied as if the minor warning he gave saved him from any fault. The trees soon came to a stop once more as a deep voice wrang out.

“GRRRRAASSSHRRRKAH CHERKICH WROUGKNYG!”

The Poet was stopped in his tracks as the voice continued.

“QRUASCHCHICK SUSPAR BRAKNICH TUBASUBACH!” The trees seemed to cheer in unison at the proposition.

“What is it saying? What is going on?” I turned to the Poet hoping he would have an explanation. He strengthened his grip around my shoulder before replying. “They have decided your fate is to be hunted down and crushed before you are hung as the trophy of the young Treant you harmed.”

“Can’t you tell them I’m sorry? I didn’t know, it was just a misunderstanding!” I yelled into the poets face. The proposition of being turned into a trophy truly making me anxious. “Never have the Treants forgotten one who has harmed their own. Their resentment never fades, and you just so happened to harm the reincarnation of one of the more irritable ones."

Just my fucking luck.

“So, what now? We book it out of the woods and never come back?” The Poet looked at me in confusion for a few moments before shaking his head. He was about to respond before he was once again interrupted by the words of the Ents.

“YURASK KIEEEKCOSCHULAK!” The words seemed to come from behind me. Likely coming from the Treant I managed to piss off. “No, there is nowhere in the Godless lands the Treants can’t follow. Your only hope is to reach the forest spirit Myrica. She is the only one who can protect you from their rage.”

The woods began to rustle and move once more.

“Run straight from here, as fast as your legs can take you. I can not follow you to the center, but I will do what I can to aid you should you be seized.” The woods shook once more, and the Poet pushed me forward. “RUN!”

And I ran. I ran and ran. It wasn’t enough.

Soon the ground came up to meet me. Roots swirled and slashed at me. Dead leaves flew into my eyes keeping me blind to the treants movements. Soon I was swatted to the side by a limb of wood. I crashed into the ground skidding across the dirt before finally coming to a stop just under another Treant’s foot.

I rolled out of the way of the stomping foot and began to cough up blood. I was pretty sure every rib in my side was broken. Fuck that hurt. In a fit of desperation, I stabbed the Treant with the dagger and tried to drain its vitality. The dagger didn’t even leave a scratch in the bark of the Treant and before I could take another swing, A root grabbed my left leg and flung me a few hundred feet into the air. I was able to get a good look at the one hundred or so treants that were moving and saw that there must have been at least ten thousand more in idleness.

I almost let out a laugh. Could my life get any shittier? I was supposed to be a hero loved by everyone in a caring world. Yet here I am in a world were even the goddamn plants try to kill me. What did I ever do to deserve this?

My thoughts were interrupted as I slammed into the ground. I let out a pained breath and tried to focus my eyes. Blunt pain was nothing new but the sheer shock of being thrown by trees was taking its toll. I was starting to empathize with the orcs in “Lord of the Rings”.

I did my best to roll to my front. I needed to find the center of the forest and find someone. Shit I already forgot their name. Which way am I even supposed to run? I looked around for any landmarks. My spirits soon fell as I saw none. I rose to my knees just to be swatted once more.

I briefly lost consciousness but awoke to roots wrapping themselves around my left arm. Fuck it, roots are softer than the trunks right. The thought raced across my mind as I jabbed the dagger down into the tip of the root and luckily found some purchase. I was able to drain a little of the vitality and heal my ribs before the root was torn away from my arm.

I jumped to my feet and ran straight. I had no idea if this was the right way but laying down and getting pounded wasn’t helping. I dodged yet another root before seeing the trees begin to clear out.

The Center.

Hope welled up inside me and I rushed forward. I burst into the clearing and nearly threw up in disgust.

I had spent ages in the pit fighting. Practically eating other corpselings and not once did I lose control of my stomach. Yet as I sat there faced with countless bodies being torn apart and impaled by still squirming roots I was overwhelmed with disgust. As I looked back up from my vomit onto the bodies, I noticed that most of them were races I didn’t recognize. There was the occasional human and centaur but most of them were foreign to me. The most common race was these dark gray massive humanoid horrors with horns on their heads. They were so massive they seemed to be impaled by multiple treants and still had room to struggle.

I was brought back to reality once more as the treants formed a circle around me. Each and every one wore a disgusting smile on its face. It was then that two and two finally clicked togethor. I was trapped. This wasn’t the center of the forest. This is exactly where they wanted me to be.

I started to laugh. The idea that the treants would be herding me didn’t even cross my mind. I couldn’t stop laughing. Did I really think the immortal fucking trees wouldn’t have a plan to hunt down every little shit that entered into their forest? I sent one last look at the bodies and began to cry from my laughter. I was such an idiot. First the spears and now this, even with my summoning I should have caught on after one look at the knights. My manic laughter echoed through the woods.

If this was how it was going to be then fuck it. The plants aren’t the only ones who can lose themselves to rage and resentment. If I was going down, then I would take at least a few of them with me. I rushed forward and jabbed the first body I could find with the dagger and drained it dry. I jumped off the husk and hit the ground just in time to dodge an incoming root. I stabbed up into the root and gave it a quick drain to scare it off before pulling the dagger out and continuing on to the next body.

I slid under the swinging limb of a tree and grabbed onto one of the horned corpses. I drained it dry before tearing the horn off and stabbing it down through a root into the ground. The root didn’t stay pinned for long though, and quickly it shot up and knocked my chin up to the sky.

I fell backwards and was caught by a club of wood the size of a redwood. The sheer impact threw me down and impaled me on some of the roots that stuck out from the ground. I could feel twigs and branches begin to grow inside my veins trying to wrest control from my body. I swiftly plunged the dagger into the root and drained until I could no longer feel the twigs.

I kicked off the ground and ran towards the bodies. I was intercepted by twelve roots that shot out from the ground and walled me off from the remaining bodies. I looked up at the origin of the roots and nearly all breath left my body. It was as tall and as thick as a skyscraper. I involuntarily took a few steps back trying to see the top of its branches only to be whipped in the side of the head by a smaller root.

I shot a look behind me to see a familiar bark face staring at me. His once face of pure anguish and anger was now morphed into one of excitement. This Bastard.

I rushed him. Jumping under roots and dodging branches alike I charged the treant brandishing my dagger. Just before I reached him, I felt a weird pressure on my back as the air from the swing of the giant trees branch crushed me a few inches into the ground.

“Aaaaaahhh!” It was more a scream of surprise then of pain. The weight of the giant tree's branch stymied all movement. It took all my strength to look up at the bastard treant and spit at him and his stupid smile. The branches and roots soon encapsulated me.

I was held prisoner once again. Being dragged along by the bastard Treant to become a trophy. Another foolish human to be displayed in the countless sea of bodies.

I was soon torn away from the young treant by a decrepit limb of wood. Despite its rotten appearence I found it was anything but weak as it quickly put an end to my struggles. The young treant became infuriated that someone might try to take his prize whipping around and roaring in anger. It only took him a moment to realize his mistake and begin to cower in fear.

"Great i'm being held by the fucking lord of the evil trees." A soft voice soon interrupted my muttering. "Not quite, this treant is known as one of the exalted Ancients. One of the few Ents who has never died. He also has quite the soft spot for the indigenous moss despite it's tendency to eat into his bark. Some of the other Ent's poke fun at this but I think its rather cute." The voice seemed to go on and on without stop. "OH! You must be wondering who I am. I am the spirit of the forest, but you should just call me Myrica. That saving your name for only your closest friends is so stupid, I still can't believe it took off all those solsitce ago. I mean what were people thinking? It's just so inefficient! Like changing your way of speech depending on social standing. The things mortals come up with are shocking sometimes...."

"Anyways, a friend of mine told me you caused some trouble and he needed help getting you out. I figured I wasn't doing anything and decided to give you a helping hand. While I was at it I decided to join you and "exalted Ancient"... Oh by the Gods that is such a stupid way of addressing you Supras."

The Treant seemed to let out a low growl at the mention of what I assumed was his true name. "Oh shut it you big oaf! We haven't talked in ages and its just not the same if I can't even call you by your name!" She continued without giving Supras time to respond. "Hey, your a summoned aren't you? That's so cool! I've only met close to a thousand summoned, and most of them didn't talk much. Tell me about your world ok. Did it have those magic floating boxes? Oh or one of those...."

As the ancient treant meandered through the woods the spirit of the forest continued rambling on, never giving me a chance to answer.