Light flooded the large hall from the outside. Once the small group was inside the gate fell shut behind them with a loud bang. Lovia screamed in surprise and the horse neighed loudly.

"So this is it, Boma would you please light and hand out the torches?" Rex said.

But before the driver could even get the torches from the cart the room began to light up slowly. Fire pits standing along the walls lighted up one after another. The hall's ceiling was about ten meters above them. In front of them was a path leading towards a small hill at the far end of the hall with a tree on top that had grown through a hole in the ceiling. The path was lined with large tusks that functioned as archways. The rest of the hall was filled with large bushes and other kinds of plants. It was like an entire forest. Some were of unusual colour. There was a large plant that had a leave of every colour one could imagine. Another had transparent orbs, as blue as the morning sky, hanging from its thick branches. The only normal looking plant was the tree on top of the hill.

"This place seems interesting," Rex said as he walked towards the path lined with the tusk archways.

Some of them had pieces of cloth wrapped around them which moved slightly in the breeze coming from the hole in the ceiling.

How are we even getting that horse up there?

They walked along the path, Rex stopping at nearly all of the archways to inspect them. Lovia let her gaze wander around the entire hall in amazement. Both Zane and the driver just looked towards the tree they were walking to.

"These plants seem very interesting," Rex said as he inspected one of the plants with the transparent orbs. "Wait what is . . . what is that?" Rex asked, pointing at something on the ground in front of the plant.

Zane moved closer to Rex and looked at what he was pointing at. It were bones.

Are those feet?

And then Zane realized it, he noticed that the orb had begun to at the bottom, a liquid that looked like saliva dropping on the ground. He grabbed Rex by the collar of his shirt and pulled him away. Just in time. The plant opened up completely, revealing transparent teeth, and bit down where Rex had just stood. Its saliva dropped down on the path, each drop making a sizzling sound as it hit the ground.

Is that acid . . . shit.

Zane faced the orb head-on. It moved towards him, trying to bite down. But Zane managed to avoid it and hit it with his katana. But instead of cutting the orb it just got repelled, leaving Zane staggered for a moment. At that moment the orb moved towards him again with what would be its mouth wide open.

Shit . . .

But before it could bite Zane it was slammed into the ground. A chain, with a sabre-like blade at one end, had been wrapped around the orb. Zane turned towards where the chain had come from. The other end of the chain was connected to Lovia's left gauntlet. Her hood had fallen off her head, revealing her charcoal black hair. She nodded at Zane.

That was a bit to close for my liking.

Zane rushed around the orb and cut it off at the stem. At that moment the orb began to collapse, leaving behind a burn mark on the path.

"Good, now we know these plants are dangerous," Rex said.

If they don't kill you I might.

They continued walking down the path, Zane now leading the party. From the entrance, it didn't seem like it was such a long path but even after they had been walking for a while they didn't get much closer.

What is this? Shouldn't we have reached that hill by now? Maybe it has something to do with these pieces of cloth.

Zane looked at the pieces of cloth that were wrapped around the tusks a bit closer. Each of them had a symbol on it. The one he looked at first looked almost like a bird, the next like a tree without leaves, the one after that like a three-headed snake after that was a hound, a straight line pointing downwards, a cross, a circle and after that came to an arrow pointing upwards. Zane looked up and saw something on the ceiling above that archway. It looked like a feather. When Zane looked back down and at the next symbol it was a bird again. The symbol after that was a tree without leaves.

Do these symbols repeat or are we being reset to this one each time . . . and how come none of the others have noticed that something is up.

Once they reached the arrow pointing upwards again he just looked straight ahead. At first, it didn't seem like anything changed but once Zane looked at the symbol on the closest archway it was the bird again.

He extended one arm to his side, signalling the others to stop.

"Is something the matter?" Rex asked. He was confused by Zane's decision.

Zane looked around, trying to find another path or something like that. He turned around and walked back towards the entrance to the tower, past the burn mark on the ground and past the first archway.

So we can still go back . . . something is just preventing us from moving towards the hill . . .

Lovia had followed Zane. "What is it? Why did you walk back . . . and why is the entrance so close, haven't we be-" she stopped mid-sentence. "So that's what's up . . ."

Both of them looked around for some other way but didn't find anything like that. When Zane concentrated to find other presences he felt a bunch, the four presences of Rex, Lovia, the driver, and the horse and those of the plants which meant that all of the plants were abnormal, not just those with the orbs.

Maybe there's some plant that does this . . . but how would a plant do that . . . ah who am I kidding . . . this is the power of the gods, of course, there is a way to do that.

"Zane why don't we continue?" asked Rex, who had also returned to the entrance.

But Zane ignored him. After investigating for a while he noticed a faint fog that covered the entire hall.

Where is that coming from . . . I'm sure it wasn't here when we entered.

Zane concentrated even more, and he managed to feel the fog.

That means there's Aura in it.

The fog originated from a plant in the middle of that weird forest consisting of all these plants.

How could we get rid of that . . . if I had something to hit it with I could . . .

Zane began smiling. He moved his cloak aside and opened one of his satchels, the one that was filled with all kinds of things. He pulled out one of the firebombs he bought in the city of Hirmal.

Good . . . but am I certain that I can hit it from here . . .

Zane reached behind his back and removed the cork from one of the vials. He used the blood to lift up the firebomb, it was difficult with such a small amount of blood.

Should have used more . . . no matter at least I can work on it this way.

Zane already began sweating a little by the time the firebomb was right above the plant that was emitting the fog. Lovia and Rex watched him the entire time, adding to the stress. Zane let the firebomb drop right onto the plant after using the blood to press down on the small button that activated the bomb's mechanism.

They could hear a loud clicking sound as all the fire crystals inside were set off at the same time. A short moment later a wave of fire extended over a part of the forest. Burning every plant in its way.

The fog slowly began to disappear.

Good.

"I don't know what you just did but I must say I am impressed," Rex said.

He can be glad I'm here . . . or else he wouldn't even survive this much . . . this might turn out badly for everyone involved.

Zane walked back to the archway with the bird symbol on it.

Alright . . . here goes nothing.

He walked past it and once he reached the one with the upwards pointing arrow he took a deep breath followed by another step. Nothing happened. Zane looked at the symbol on the piece of cloth. It looked like a fish.

Problem solved.

He signalled the others to follow him again and so they continued. On their way a few more of the plants attacked. One of them looked like a normal rose bush but as they came closer the thorns extended and nearly impaled them. As Zane saw the thorns rush towards Lovia he couldn't help but remember the lifeless body of his lover hanging in the air, pierced by large spikes. A feeling of hatred filled him and he hacked at the thorns with his katana, shattering them as if they were glass. With the help of a fire crystal, the burned the bush and continued.

There were only a few archways left between them and the hill but a large plant, this time with orange orbs blocked their way. Knowing how dangerous they are all of them stayed back. Lovia threw her chain at it again, closing the orb shut. But to their surprise, it managed to open its mouth just a little, and it spat out a beam of fire.

"Get back!" Zane yelled as he jumped to the side to dodge the beam.

Now, how do we deal with this . . . I could use some of that.

Zane opened up the satchel full of blood filled containers. He opened up one of them and moved all the blood out. He quickly closed in on the orb, already preparing to draw his katana. The moment the orb began spitting out fire again Zane splashed the blood on it, extinguishing the fire. With a quick slash, he cut off the orb at the stem which began to collapse and it left behind another burn mark.

This place is like a garden . . . a dangerous garden. Must be Yggdrasil's work.

The group continued towards the hill and finally went through the last archway.

I wonder if those symbols might have meant something . . . or were they just there for that one plant . . . I mean this whole thing is just us entertaining the gods anyway so they might as well give us a chance to get through this.

Zane waited as Rex and the driver helped the horse up the hill to the tree. He and Lovia looked out for another attacking plant. And there it was, the ground beneath them began to crack and multiple thick roots broke through it. The two managed to barely avoid them. Lovia wrapped her chain around three of the roots, holding them in place. Zane on the other hand cut some apart with his katana, leaving behind something that looked much like tree stumps. In the corner of his eye, he noticed how Lovia was being pulled towards the roots that had begun retreating into the ground.

Shit . . .

Zane rushed towards her, his katana ready to strike as another, much thinner, root grabbed him by the ankle. He fell over.

Rex began charging at the roots, rapier in hand.

What's a rapier going to do against those?

Rex thrust his rapier at the roots leaving behind holes. He did have some skill but against something like that, it wasn't worth much. To Rex's surprise, the roots actually began to retreat even faster now, pulling Lovia to the ground and dragging her.

Zane quickly cut the root at his ankle but as soon as that one was gone another took its place. A new root broke through the ground in front of Zane, binding his sword arm.

Shit, shit, shit . . .

He began to reach behind his back to get blood from one of the vials but another root quickly bound that hand as well.

"Rex!" Zane yelled.

The noble turned around, at the sight of Zane's situation he rushed over.

"What can I do for you?" he asked as he knelt down beside him.

"Vial," said Zane.

"Ah, yes, yes."

Rex reached beneath Zane's cloak and began removing the corks from the five vials on Zane's back.

Do these roots have a grudge against me or why do they not bind him?

Blood rushed out of them and formed into six small blades, three of which cut the roots binding Zane and the other three rushing towards Lovia. The blades weren't large enough to cut the roots but they managed to leave considerable cuts. Zane jumped up and ran towards Lovia, leaving Rex behind to fend off the roots that were following Zane. A new root came out of the ground, targeting Zane's ankle again. But he was already expecting it and had one of the blood blades cut it the moment it came close to his foot.

He readied his katana again and had the blood blades gather around him, reforming them into small cylinders and positioned them at the dull side of the blade. He ran past the roots and used the blood to give the blade a boost which allowed it to glide through the roots, cutting them like they were nothing. The upper parts, still tied together by Lovia's chain, fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Her breathing was heavy as she leaned back, supporting herself with one arm.

"Thanks," she said.

Rex walked over to Zane and gave him the corks back. The blood returned to the vials and Zane put the corks on, then they all walked up the hill.

"We should rest here for a while," Lovia suggested.

The other three agreed and all of them sat down around the tree.

How do we get up there anyway?