Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces.Faces—
—I smashed my hands together and pressed on my head.
Think.
The endless onslaught of words rattling my brain ceased.
"Hah. I'm back," I said to myself. Jacob glanced at me the way you would at a weirdo in public. I ignored him.
Nonetheless, not bad.
I recovered. From what? Not sure. A finger fell upon my chin— hopefully my own— as I began to recall what had just happened.
One moment I was talking to Jacob while keeping watch. The next, I was woken by Terry after being swallowed whole by the forest. And now…?
My attempts to recall my memories failed miserably. It was just as vain as trying to spark up a lighter drenched in water. Before long, I found myself lost in thought, searching aimlessly for answers that faded the instant I thought I had them in my grasp.
Then, a hand fell upon my shoulder. Without thinking I shrugged it off and turned around to see Maria. She stepped back a bit when I turned to face her. Judging by that I was probably wearing some nasty expression. I grimaced at the thought and quickly softened my features.
"Maria? What's wrong?"
She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Her eyes were shimmering. They seemed prismatic. Sweat flowed slowly from the top of her forehead to the edges of her jaw. She repeated her strained action about ten more times. I was beginning to think that there was an actual problem with her voice until she finally spoke.
"Paul, a-are we going to die?" She choked out, and in an instant tears burst from her eyes. I paused for a moment, too stunned to speak, just watching as tears streamed endlessly from her eyes.
"Ah," I started but I realized I didn't have anything to say. I wasn't sure. There was nothing I could do but watch Maria, until of course, Leah came to quietly console her.
She closed in quickly, resting her hands on Maria's face and stroking her hair, whispering words of comfort. Leah's eyes were also red with tears, and her fingers trembled with terror. Despite that, It was like watching a mother consoling her daughter, while obviously being scared herself.
In such a state it's not easy to do something like that. I'll leave it to you then, Leah.
For once, I turned my attention away from the crying girl. A sense of familiarity washed over me as I scanned the area. Again, I was met with trees with odd faces carved onto them. Some were crying out, perhaps in pain or in fear. Others were smiling in bliss or cruelty.
Eventually, my rationality caved in and I gave into desire. I walked forward, leaving the safety in numbers, and stepped deeper into the forest. No one dared to follow.
As I walked only the rustling of leaves beneath my feet and the crack of broken twigs accompanied me. I came across many things. Horrible things. A smooth featureless woman, whose body I was only able to vaguely discern due to its proportions. She was made out of vines and leaves, and roots clutched at the base of her feet tightly as if not wanting to let go. The roots looked like they were sprouting up purposefully and gripping onto the woman's feet rather than originating from her and burrowing into the ground.
Yikes, was all I thought as I passed by the woman. She was a mere statue, that was all. Later I came across a large tree, reaching at least a hundred meters in height. It loomed over all the other trees like a giant umbrella, it's dark green leaves blocking out whatever sunlight may have previously been present.
Strange. There doesn't seem to be a face.
I circled the tree a few times, and to my surprise, there was no face to be found. Something set this large tree apart from the others, or maybe that's what I wanted to think.
"Well it's whatever, is it not?" I muttered to no one in particular. I turned away from it and looked at the path I left behind. When I had left the group I made sure to step deeply into the dirt and muck, making it easy to retrace my steps.
Though of course, there's no guarantee that they've stayed put. If they're gone, should I even look for them…?
Although the memory of telling Charlotte "Nobody can live alone," was still fresh in my mind, I seemed to disregard worry for my friends. Solitude seemed self sufficient. It's not foreign to me either.
I ended up retracing my steps to find the small clearing where my group remained. Still scared, still wary, but different. Less panicked and more resilient. Calm not being the word I'd use, but a somewhat suitable description, at least as calm as a normal person could get in such a situation.
At this time I was still between the trees of the forest, maybe a good sixty feet away from the clearing. I continued to step forward until a sharp pain stabbed my temples. I clutched at my forehead, letting out a weak groan. I realized that I could feel the beat of my heart through my head, through my fingertips.
Somethings wrong.
Clutching my temples, my attention was brought to the other side of the clearing. Through trees, there it was; movement. The clearing was completely encircled by the forest and its trees, which is why I was sure what I saw wasn't an animal, nor a human— not even a Demon.
It was a green thing. It moved swiftly and silently between the trees, but strangely. As if it were being reeled in rather than choosing to retreat. It was thin, frail thing, but instinctively I knew.
That thing's lethal.
As I watched it flee deeper into the forest, my eyes continued to track it. It seemed to dance between the trees silently. And nobody noticed but me. As it retreated further into the forest I noticed something else.
Somethings wrong. It looks like its… circling? Something's off—!
My eyes stung. I hadn't blinked for a while. A minute maybe two?
Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.
Red. Hot. Pain. I blinked hard and fast, multiple times a second, like a camera shutter. I opened my eyes through the tears obscuring my vision but the frail thing was gone.
Panic began to bubble up inside of me. For some reason, my fingers had started twitching, and I couldn't even pin down why.
That thing can't be strong with that type of body. But lethal…
What made me come to that conclusion? I swallowed— only to choke on my own spit, snapping me out of my trance.
"WhatthehellhaveIbeendoing?" I coughed out in a breath, clutching at my throat. A few tears fell to the ground as I wiped my eyes. The forest wasn't quiet. Not as I thought it would be. All around, the sounds of squirrels, foxes, rabbits, maybe coyotes and various other animals could be heard.
That aside, I watched the group from far away, noting that while Leah, Jacob and Maria stuck together, Terry was out searching the perimeter of the clearing, and Charlotte had escaped.
She's gone? But to where?
It didn't take me long to find her. After scanning the area, I caught a glimpse of unnatural movement on the branches of a rather leafy tree. A perfect spot to hide, unless of course, you were being expected. I breathed in, drawing my Ardor into my eyes and sharpening my vision.
Focusing my vision, I watched fingers slither out from below branches, then grip their way up to the next. Again, and again, and again. Until finally, her whole body was just barely in view, Charlotte in the flesh. As she finished securing herself onto a branch shrouded by leaves, I let out a sigh, ready to focus on somebody else until I saw her make a strange motion.
First, she aligned her body towards Terry's direction, as if lining up a shot. Then, she wrapped her legs tightly around the branch as she threw her arms back. It was only until she shot them forward, as if casting a hook, that I somewhat realized what she was trying to do.
She's trying to reel something in?
My eyes zipped over to Terry, scouring his person to find anything of use. Finally, they landed on his spear, which in the moment was left stabbing the ground. Unwise, I thought. And I was right. What happened next shocked me. With my eyes firmly set on the spear, I could tell there was nothing touching it. Especially since I was enhancing my vision with Ardor, I would've managed to detect even an invisible providence.
Except I didn't. One second the spear lay pristine and untouched, the next it was gone. It was like it never existed in that spot, not a sound, not a sight, nothing was left behind. The only evidence the spear was even there was the mark it left in the ground. I turned my head to Charlotte, and surely enough, in her hands was Terry's spear. My mouth hung wide open in shock, agape even.
It all happened in an instant. Reeling it in…
It struck me then: could this have been Charlotte's Aberration? The one most secretive of her Aberration was always Charlotte, and previously I had been convinced it was the ability to nullify however…
What if nullification is just a side effect? Then what is her Aberration? Fishing? Catching?
Wrong. It all felt wrong. Too simple, far too obvious, too menial even. Then just what could it have been? I wasn't able to answer that question then. Being lost in thought I failed to realize that everyone had already regrouped, and that only I was left missing at this point.
If I don't hurry, they'll think I'm dead.
I began to walk forwards, pushing past the shrubbery and trees in order to reach the group. Occasionally I rubbed the back of my neck, massaging it because I was sore from looking up at Charlotte for so long. The scene I stumbled upon when I returned would've troubled me any other day. But not today.
"How the hell did you get my spear?"
Terry is… angry? Looks like Charlotte having his spear isn't something he's exactly happy about.
"Like I was saying, I just found it on my way back, besides according to your story it was gone when you turned around, but how would I have taken it without you noticing?" Charlotte replied with her usual smug face.
"Charlotte," he warned. "I wasn't asking for excuses." She pursed her lips, not quite frowning. "I wasn't planning on keeping it in the first place," she said. She moved to hand Terry the spear, but something about her face told me she wasn't really disappointed or sad about being yelled at. Terry caught onto it as well.
"If you didn't steal it, then why are you so unbothered? Even for you, it unusual," he said, gripping the spear now.
"What's unusual, is how awfully talkative you're being, Terrance. Say, are you trying to flirt with me right now? It's kind of pathetic," she taunted, attempting to reign control over the situation.
Maybe I should intervene. Maybe I shouldn't.
I glanced at Maria on my left. Calm and composed now. Nothing like the nervous mess she was… what, thirty minutes ago? An hour ago? I seemed to have lost track of time. Anyway, I needed to talk to Maria. To clear things up. I inched closer to her, very naturally I'll have you know, and put my hand on her shoulder.
"Maria," I said, "Look, I am really sorry. For just walking away. You see in that moment—"
"— It's fine, Paul," she interrupted me, her voice still, unwavering. "I wasn't in the best state of mind. Considering you were doing all you could for all of us, it was wrong for me to burden you," as she spoke she looked directly into my eyes. Her eyes were clear, my eyes were murky.
"No Maria, I was wrong. It wasn't okay for me to do that, and you should be angry at me, or at least something," I responded. No I pleaded. Why was I pleading?
"Wrong for what Paul? Because you left me even when you said you wouldn't?"
I didn't speak. I couldn't. She gave me a small smile.
"I know you're struggling too, Paul. I don't care that—"
"—You should care," I shouted, not knowing why. "Paul, Paul, Paul, why do repeat my name as if you don't already know it? Are you trying to figure something out here? I don't want you to forgive me but I don't want you to pretend like that was fine for me to do!"
Maria tilted her head in confusion. It was cute. I would've thought it was cute. But it wasn't then. "I'm sorry, Paul. Really everything is all right. If you don't mind though, shouldn't you stop those two?" She pointed at Charlotte and Terry, who despite already have received his spear, would still not let Charlotte off the hook.
I took one last look at Maria before I walked off again. She was still smiling. I hated that. It's like she was looking down on me. Like she couldn't fathom I would apologize to her, or that I would need too. As if she expected me to walk away like it was in my nature… Well, maybe it was.
As I made my way over to Terry and Charlotte I realized his hands were gripping her arms tightly. He wasn't yelling at her anymore, but rather he was clenching his teeth, face dark. The next moment was genuinely surprising. Even to Charlotte. He pulled back his arm and slammed his fist into Charlotte's face. No grace, no warning, just violence.
So unlike Terry.
I didn't realize I was closing in until my hands gripped Terry's collar.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"
He stared down at me with disgust. Those onyx eyes and dark skin were intimidating, but I didn't seem to care. I shot a glance at Charlotte who was wiping blood from her mouth, sneering. I looked back at Terry.
"Terry. I don't know whats going on, but mark my words. If you lay a finger on anyone else, I'll kill you," those last words weren't meant to come out of my mouth. What was worse was how he reacted.
"She tried to kill you, Paul. You'd take her side over mine?" He wasn't just disgusted, he looked genuinely hurt. Worse, this was the most emotion I'd ever seen from Terry. My lips quivered as my brows furrowed.
"That's-thats not what I… You know that's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?" He spat, literally spat, on me. I froze for a moment. I considered beating his face in, all previous signs of anxiety and guilt wiped away. But I decided it wasn't worth it.
"Terry, I meant what I just said. We can't afford to lose anyone here, the more people the more things we can do."
"Charlotte has provided nothing for us so far, what are you even talking about?"
"She's been a friend as best she can to Leah. She's been a pain in my ass as well, despite that, despite the fact she wanted to kill me, I want her to live."
"Why do you go so far to protect such a shitbag?" Also the first time I'd heard Terry swear. Today was many first times. I bit my lip. What was I supposed to say, 'because I'm actually a forty seven year old regressor who was a mercenary and killed countless people?' Because my actions caused more pain and suffering than you could imagine? 'Because I want to believe people can do better?' In the end, maybe all of those things were just excuses. So I gave it to Terry straight.
"Because I don't want to sit around and watch another person die because of my incompetence. Good or bad, she's in this with us, Terry."
"… Let go of me," he muttered, not wanting to even look me in the eye anymore. And I did. I released his collar, letting my hands fall to my sides.
"I know I'm a hypocrite, Terry," I started, but he just put his hand up, not willing to listen. He just sat down on the ground, throwing his hands around his face like he didn't know what to do. And I could do nothing but watch, as the strongest man I had met in both of my lives, sat and quietly sobbed.
One. Two. Three. Four…
Sometime passed, and I found myself deep in the forest, carving tally marks into the dirt. Drool hanging from the bottom of my lip. When did I get here? I couldn't tell you.
Where did my friends go? Oh right, my gaze cast over the bodies spread out neatly before me. Roots grasped at their wrists, and vines slithered up their large gaping mouths. I tore their jaws for the vines to get in. Before I knew it I was smiling. Why?
It's because soon, they'll return to the roots! To the forest! And then we can all be together.That shall suffice. And it greatly pleases the Lord of the forest.
"Huhu… Haha!"
My own voice sounded ugly as it came out of my mouth. But I wasn't sure if it was still my mouth. Looking at the corpses of Terry, Leah, Charlotte, and Maria, which was bound closest to me, I felt thoroughly pleased.
"Once their skin becomes wood, all that'll be left is for my blood to spill onto them," I said to myself.
And then we can be together forever!
"Haha~!"
I lifted my hand, gingerly reaching out to touch Maria's face. I'm certain. Even if I wasn't before. I love you.