Adventure had barely driven the pair far enough into the swamp Alloy chose for her destination. As they approached, the air became dense with moisture, humidity hung like a delicate veil pierced by the stench of death that rotted for what smelt like every single day. This made the air unbearable for people with normal lungs, or rather, those with more resistance to such situations, this tended to keep people away from the swampy area, it was solid enough to be named an island, thanks to the features Alloy was yet to explore, it had earned the name Dead Swamp Island as Ron told her.
It was a smaller island than the two others Alloy had ignored earlier on, upon arrival that dawned on her as she left the boat and stepped on squishy moss on the grass, she glanced back.
"Thank you, Ron!!" She said as she waved her hands to say bye.
"Take care, princess!!" He shouted as he turned his boat to head back.
The pair had decided to say their farewells in order for Alloy to continue on by herself. The stench was something that would normally send anyone far away, just like it did Ron, but Alloy's senses were kept on 'adventurous', which was basically, strictly careless. Her adventure had finally began, nothing else mattered.She walked through the damp ground, eerily experiencing something she never had before, her senses for danger were sharp, but everything else was new to her, Zephro was a more modernized country, it was massive, but so was Navi compared to this place, all Alloy knew about the word outside was the books she had read as well as the stories she heard from people who brought in supplies to the country, but she only heard them, and once the stories were over, her curiosity remained stale due to her limited knowledge, so, despite her love and dream for exploration and adventure, she had to accept and move on from it.
She continued through the swampy area, at the edge, she only had a few centimeters of water rise as she stepped on the mossy, muddy and damp ground. As squishy as it was, she was fascinated by it, the air carried a smell of wet earth and something faintly metallic quite close to it. She viewed the twisted-looking trees with moss growing and hanging from them, some had pure branches, while others seemed like their leaves were dying and dropping. She stood in her tracks the moment she saw a moving vine. It slithered slowly but surely… rather than scared, Alloy ran toward it, her teeth splayed by the smile on her face in her fascination.
Just as she was about to touch it, it moved, sweeping the area faster than she could react and forcing her to get thrown far to a huge twisted tree, hitting her back on the bottom of the tree where protruding roots lay in wait for her, they moved like the vines, fast, and without warning, they captured her as they drew her deeper into the swamp. Stunned from her slight back injury as well as how fast things were moving, she tried to use her drift but she was too late, her hands were already constrained by the roots and they kept gripping, they wrapped around her whole body and before she knew it, her face was covered as well.
Unable to do anything but wait for her fate, she was still moving 5 minutes later. The rustle of leaves on the ground along with a the dirty and damp wind were the only thing she was able to feel as she was dragged, they hurt, with the expectancy of more damage to her body, she stopped moving and the roots and vines that had held her together began untangling themselves except her hands, feet and torso which were still held back, it was now completely clear, she was captured.
The enemy's presence was seriously faint, but she had already concluded that it was either her restraints that messed with her drift, or someone suddenly had the ability to control plants, the latter was less than ideal so she pushed the thought away, trying to figure out her next move, she felt the vines leave her face, she could finally see.
She was on the bark of a tree, restrained but able to wiggle her wrists and legs just a bit. Her eyes were focused on dead bodies being taken to a pile, bodies that seemed to have been rotting for quite a couple of weeks if not months, next to them, more to her left, she could see the silhouette of someone tied to a tree's bottom, similar to her position. She heard squishy footsteps to her left as a man came within her periphery and spoke, "So, you're awake huh??"
"I wasn't asleep, who are you??" Alloy replied.
"Boss!! She's up!!" He shouted to a buff and hulk-looking man who's hygiene had definitely seen better days.
Her sharp eyes glanced at the huge man that waltzed to the bark that held her.
"Hey, leave her alone, she has nothing to do with this…" A close but faint voice spoke from behind her.
"What's going on??" Alloy asked as she began seeing a purple hue, replacing the green color of moss, leaves, and vines in her eyes.
"Must be the stench," the man spoke. His voice proud more than it boomed. "It almost drove us mad, I'm surprised you can stand it without making a face."
"Who are you people?!" She demanded.
"Good question!! We are part of a guild of thieves, I am Otto, and these are my crew mates."
There were a couple men standing, some were completely defeated by the features of the swamp, others were still moving certain bodies to a pile… they seemed more into stealing what they had before tossing them to the pile… but it was odd, they were trying to identify some of them as they did it.
"STOP!! SHE'S NOT THERE!!" The voice behind her echoed again.
Otto grunted as he passed Alloy's side to the back of the tree she was tied to. She watched him go past her right side.
"I already told you," He smacked him across his face. "We'll confirm ourselves before we take you to him. Men!! FIND THAT BODY!!"Noticing that the voice came from just behind her, as well as what she heard, she decided to ask.
"What body??"Walking back to Alloy's position, he spoke, "Someone dear to this kid."
"Boss…" One of the men whispered.
"Huh?? What's so special about it??" She asked.
"Boss…" Another whispered a bit louder.
"We were hired to find a certain person, a body, we need the pay, so we took the job to find them and bring them back to someone in Ga…"
"Boss!!" Three men shouted at the same time.
"WHAT?!?!" Otto roared as he waved his hand. Instantly, vines rushed from the ground and swept the trio away, hitting them unconscious next to the pile of bodies they found. One of the people helping with the bodies sighed as the count of Otto's conscious men lessened by three in a matter of seconds. Alloy got startled, the person tied behind her heard the same but was unsure of what happened
"Oh crap!! Well, it doesn't matter," Otto said, with close to no remorse for his crew members.
"Why did you beat them??!!" Alloy said in a state of shock.
"Oh… them?? I tend to overshare information to people, strangers, enemies, anyone."
"That's true…" she added.
"Well, because of that, the men I have tend to remind me that I should stop talking."
"Okay, but why did you hit them??!!" She urged. He smacked his hand on the tree, right beside her face.
"I was getting there… I also hate being interrupted in the middle of my sentences. As a leader, it undermines my authority."
"But… your men…"
"Yes, it's a problem, isn't it??""At least you know it." She said, taking a deep breath afterward and immediately regretting the same after. She gagged due to the smell.
"Could you let me go?? I still don't know what you want with me."
"You are worth something, so is that little punk behind you. Once we find this body, we'll take you both to my employer… there, he can decide what to do with you… your outfit tells me you're someone important. So sit tight until we are done here."
Alloy's situation was set, she was captured and knew what she just got in the middle of. What luck!! Usually she'd expect a lot more before she was even told his name.
"No." She said. Her face frowning on him.