Edan banged his head against the ground as the roots pulled him under. Sunlight faded and the overpowering stench of mulch and moist earth surrounded him. Darkness so profound it was almost suffocating closed in on Edan as he felt himself being pulled deeper.

  Edan tried to sit up so he could hack at the roots holding him again, but he hit his head on something hard enough to daze him, so that option was quickly thrown out the window.

  Tish’s muffled screams came from further in, so at least they were being taken to the same place.

  Edan sheathed the Metal Fangs, fearful of losing them otherwise. With his hands now free, Edan grasped blindly around him for anything he could use to anchor himself. His fingers smacked against something, but he was pulled away before he could grasp it firmly.

  Digging at the ground beneath him, Edan's fingernails scrapped through soil and stone. One of his nails caught on something and was pulled out. Edan stopped trying after that.

  Suddenly, the ground fell out from under him and Edan experienced a moment of weightlessness. The roots around his legs snapped, throwing him forward violently, before releasing him.

  Edan screamed as he flew through space. Darkness blinded him, making it so much worse. Something wrapped around his wrist before jerking him in a different direction. He grunted as the wounds from the feline tore painfully.

  Ahead, the oppressive darkness faded to a murky gray. Edan saw the dark shadows of roots, hanging from the ceiling, throwing a wriggling bundle forward before catching it again.

  “Tish!” He called out.

  Once more being thrown through the air, Edan tried to see where they were going. They were heading towards the light. That patch of murky gray in the distance. At least, Edan thought they were. He was following the same path as Tish.

  Better prepared for it, Edan whooped with excitement as he was tossed to the next root, his stomach threatening to fall out of his leg.

  Caught, swung and thrown again, Edan twisted around so the grabbing roots caught him around the shin rather than his ankle.

  Grey faded to a murky greenish yellow. Edan could see the hole the light spilled out from now. It was uneven, with rough blocks still jutting out around the edges, looking like broken teeth. Putting two and two together, Edan's best guess was they were in some sort of old cave system that likely ran beneath the old city above. The light was coming from an underground room.

  Thrown through the air again, Edan tried to see what else was around him, but the darkness beyond was absolute. The final root caught him by the wrist, and with a flick it sent him hurtling through the hole.

  Edan tucked into a ball to avoid hitting the edges.

  Uncurling in time to see the floor rushing up to meet him, Edan turned, landing on his shoulder, before folding in on himself.

  Rolling to a stop, face down on the floor, Edan took a deep breath. The smell of turned soil and dust hung heavy in the air. Mixed in with it was something else. Something sweet. Sugary. Like a ripe fruit left out in the sun too long.

  Getting to his feet with a groan, Edan rolled his shoulders. Satisfied they were still in working order, even if they were a bundle of pain, he looked around.

  Edan stood in a large circular room. Weeds and strange plants grew from the cracks between the tiled floor. Pillars of rough-hewn stone held up a domed roof. Though the pillars still stood, they were chipped and worn with creepers infesting the cracks along its surface.

  The same creepers extended up to the ceiling before running across it. Pods hung from the vegetation like fruits, its surface shining with a sticky sheen. Bugs, hundreds of them, each as large as Edan’s head, scuttled across the ceiling's surface, feeding from the pods. Their abdomens glowed with the green light that illuminated the room.

  Beneath the netting of vines, the ceiling was a patchwork of faded colors. Edan could barely make out the image of a sun, shining down on farmers tending to their fields. Time had robbed the mosaic of its finer details. Time and a large crack that ran across the entire ceiling.

  Edan could see soil through that crack and realized with a start that the entire building was underground.

  A whimper made Edan turn.

  Tish was held upside down, high above the ground. She was held there as a creature made of twisting roots and branches peered at her.

  It was humanoid, rivaling Tali for height, but lacking her bulk. Its limbs were long and thin. Roots wrapped around the wooden branches like fibers of muscle, thickening around the forearms and biceps before merging together at its wrists and ankles.

  Branches had twisted together and grown dense, the resulting twigs tangling together to form a barrel-shaped chest. Its face was vaguely human. As if a child had grabbed a slab of wood, carved holes for the eyes and nose, and called it a day.

  Filling the hole where its eyes should be were small flowers, the petals unfurled like eyelashes. Its mouth was little more than a slash in the creature's face, leafless twigs made up its teeth and twisted vines looked like exposed muscle along its jaw.

  More roots fanned out from its back like wings. Each strand anchored the creature to a different part of the building. Some even reached through the crack in the domed roof and the soil beyond.

  [Risen Hrovath Infant - lvl 68]

  It was well on its way to E grade.

  Edan was ashamed of the fear that washed through him.

  Its long-fingered hands were wrapped around Tish’s ankles. Her wild mop of brown hair was matted with dirt. Twigs and leaves were stuck in her curls and a few shook free, falling to the ground as she swayed gently back and forth in the creature's grips.

  Kiba, what the fuck is that? Edan asked, trying to remain as still as possible.

  It was times like this that Edan hated not having invested more points into Spirit. The wait for the Primordial's answer was agonizing, and when it came, underwhelming.

  Kid, I can’t see. Your spirit sense doesn’t reach that far. Explain it to me.

  Edan frowned but did the best he could. The silence stretched on longer than usual, and he assumed Kiba had to think about it.

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  I’ve got to say, Kid, you do meet some interesting people. Usually, when something has risen in the name, that means it’s broken through the species barrier. Hrovath trees already have a limited sentience. A risen one can likely cultivate, level and will have access to the system.

  What Kiba didn’t have to mention was with access to the system, the Risen Hrovath Infant likely had a class and skills. More than just it's natural ones.

  How fucked am I?

  Depends. Are you willing to leave the apprentice girl and save yourself?

  No!

  Then pretty fucked.

  The Hrovath tree reached out with its free hand. Its index finger split apart as the roots that had created the digit untangled. They slid over Tish’s face and through her hair. Tish whimpered as the creature roughly pulled some of her hair out and held it up to its own head.

  Edan watched in interest as the creature's chest seemed to sink in on itself before a bulge formed in its throat and moved up. For a second, Edan thought it was going to throw up, but the lump moved past its mouth, deforming the cheeks before traveling higher, past the flower eyes. Finally, the top of the wooden skull shifted, warping and expanding. Like worms, thin roots emerged from the top of the creature's head before growing in volume and size.

  Aaaaaand it just grew hair.

  That doesn’t sound too bad. Kiba replied.

  You had to see it. It was very fucking creepy.

  Does it have a beard?

  Edan shifted slowly, trying to inch around the creature so he could see Tish more clearly. Hopefully, she would see him as well. Maybe knowing she wasn't here alone would ease some of her fears.

  Granted, Edan didn't have a clue how to rescue her, but Tish didn't know that.

  Picking his steps carefully, Edan moved slowly around the room. He had to step over roots and remembering his time in the Academy Dungeon, Edan avoided the patches of flowers, not trusting them in the slightest.

  Using one of the stone pillars as cover, Edan peeked around it.

  Tish was almost directly above him now. Edan stood between the Hrovath Tree and Tish, looking up at them both. He was close enough to hear Tish mumbling in fear.

  “Please don't eat me….please don't eat me…please don't eat me.”

  The Risen Hrovath Tree shifted, its petal eyelashes fluttered as it held Tish closer to its face. The jagged mouth of sharp twigs moved, making biting motions, and Edan thought for a second the creature really was going to eat her.

  Tish must have thought the same thing. She screamed, loud and shrill, and beat at the creature with her closed fists.

  Shocked by the outburst, the infant jerked back and flicked the screaming woman away.

  Tish’s scream cut off abruptly as she hit the ground hard enough to bounce. Her body rolled to a stop and Edan saw blood begin to stain her dress.

  He didn’t know what level the botanist's apprentice was, but it was obvious she was no fighter. What levels she had, she likely got for the sole purpose of investing points into stats that helped her profession.

  “Dammit!” Edan ran forward, ignoring the fact he was now out in the open and easy pickings for the creature.

  No roots grabbed him. No wooden fingers snagged him. Edan slid to a stop next to Tish untouched. He rolled the small woman over, hyper-aware of how skinny and frail she looked. Blood covered most of her face, and bits of bone had broken through the skin on her left arm. Her right wasn’t much better off. It was twisted oddly. Like her neck. Edan couldn’t even begin to imagine the damage to her organs.

  Grabbing at her pouches, he began to pull the contents out. There were seeds and powders and small vials of weird-colored chemicals, but nothing that looked like it could help, and Edan didn’t have anything on him either. Perhaps Tali or his parents had a healing potion, but they were far away.

  Edan froze as the presence of the Hrovath tree came to hover over his shoulder. Looking back slowly, Edan noticed its feet hovered just above the ground. It's shin at eye level for him.

  Edan expected to be grabbed, but it just floated there, suspended by roots, and watched.

  Edan tried to straighten Tish’s limbs, hoping her constitution would kick in and begin repairing what it could.

  A hand reached past Edan’s ear, the chorded ropes of wood that made up the creature's forearm had little green leafs sprouting on them, like hair, and these tickled Edan’s cheek.

  A single finger touched Tish’s chest. The digit dissolved into a dozen roots that moved across her torso.

  Edan had to fight the urge to push the creature away. Not only would that achieve nothing but his own death, but the level difference meant Edan wasn’t even sure he could push the creature back.

  Plus, Edan remembered the animals above that had attacked them. The ones with limbs and sensory organs made of wood and plants.

  The wooden tendrils dug deep into Tish’s chest, moving through her skin as if it were soil. Rolling waves of plant matter moved from the Hrovath’s chest, down its arm, before entering Tish.

  The woman's body shook, and she began to thrash. Edan held her down, afraid she’d hurt herself even more. Morbid curiosity kept him in place as the bones along her arms shifted. The white bits poking through her flesh were pulled back under the surface and through the jagged wound, Edan could see thin strands of roots bind the bone.

  Kiba, can you sense what's happening?

  Hmmm? Yup, you’re literally right on top of her kid, It's kinda hard not to sense what's happening.

  Is the Hrovath tree healing her?

  No. It’s doing something completely different to her. I suggest you run, kid. Now! While its busy.

  But Tish! I can’t take her with me.

  It’s too late for her. What wakes up will not be the same woman. Run! Before it does the same to you!

  Edan wanted to argue. He wanted to be the good guy who stayed back to save the day. He wanted to be the boy who saved the girl.

  But there was more going on than he understood, and Kiba was telling him to run. Edan trusted Kiba.

  So he ran.

  He jumped off Tish and sprinted away from the Hrovath tree. A quick look over his shoulder showed him its creepy excuse for a face watching him. Roots popped up from between the stones on the floor, lashing out at Edan. Twisting and jumping, Edan avoided them.

  Where was he running? The only exit he could see was the hole in the wall and the darkness beyond. There was no plan beyond that, just escape.

  Soil drifted down like snow from above, and Edan looked back in horror as the Hrovath tree soared after him. He couldn’t escape it. A root snagged his foot and Edan wrenched his leg free. The Hrovath tree slammed into him, its limbs wrapping around him in a hug.

  Edan thrashed, trying to get free, but the creature rose with him still clutched in its arms. Edan's head rested against its hard chest, the Hrovath's arms pinning his own to his side.

  The wood beneath his cheek moved, receding like water, and Edan found himself looking into a writhing pit of roots, far deeper than it should be. Far deeper than the Hrovath Tree was thick. The roots snaked around and over each other in an endless moving knot. Some were barbed with thorns as long as Edan’s finger, while others had smaller, tentacle-like protrusions instead.

  For a brief second Edan thought he saw something blue and glowing at the center of that pit.

  Hard wooden fingers held Edan’s head in place as the roots within the creature's chest began to creep out.

  Edan tried to jerk his head free, the muscles along his back and neck screamed with the effort, but he couldn’t move.

  The first root to touch his face was gentle. The thorns along its length scrapped against his skin just hard enough to dimple it. More roots followed the first, each sliding over and around Edan’s head.

  The gentle pressure turned more insistent. The thorns no longer dimpled, they dug. Then they tore. Edan ground his teeth together, powerless to resist but not willing to scream as the pain increased.

  The roots scored long cuts across his face and neck and up around his forehead.

  The other roots came next. The ones with the small hair-like tentacles. These slid into the cuts and burrowed deep.

  Edan screamed then. The pain lancing through him was deeper than flesh, it reached his very soul.

  Edan's scream only cut off as he fell through familiar darkness.