The whole forest had grown very quiet just before its arrival. The man below me began crawling on all fours trying to get to a tree. He latched onto a tree trunk and looked up at me. He whispered loudly, "You fool! Quickly blow the horn three times, or else all of us could die here!" I wasn't exactly sure what he meant, I didn't actually want to kill him after all. But at the same time, I didn't trust him either. Instead I chose to sit in this tree quietly and wait for what was about to happen. I simply shook my head at him. The man's panic became ever more prevalent as he attempted to claw his way up the tree trunk. However, before he could even really manage to get off of the forest floor the rumbling began. The ground beneath us began shaking violently and some nearby trees began shifting and swaying. At first I was completely confused by what I was seeing. As the soil of the forest floor became disrupted, it seemed as if dozens of nightcrawler worms began emerging from the ground. The sight of them made the man below us begin to scream out, "UUUAAAAHHHH GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!" What started as dozens of worms became, hundreds, and then quickly thousands as they began emerging in droves from the ground. The man's screams clearly triggered something in these revolting worms, as they appeared to start moving towards his direction. But as if that wasn't unsettling enough, these thousands of worms began wrapping around each other… Conforming and combing their slimy pink bodies until a literal mountain of worms had changed into the figure of one massive and horrific beast of a worm. I was too in shock to move. I glanced over to where Dutch was and if it wasn't for the fact that I could see her through the brush, I would have no idea she was there at all. She had completely concealed her presence. She locked eyes with me for a moment. In a way, I felt like I could understand what she was trying to tell me. Right now, we were in incredible danger, and I needed to stay as quiet as humanly possible. I did not dare move a muscle from where I was. The man screamed towards us, "PLEASE!! PLEASE JUST BLOW THE HORN!!" However, even if I did blow the horn, it seemed that it was far too late. The monstrous worm began excreting some kind of gooey, liquid substance. Then as if it had a life of its own, the goo began moving around the massive worm and forming into viscous tendrils until it looked as if the worm had some kind of makeshift tentacle arms surrounding its body. The man was now literally clawing his way up the tree in a panic. I could see his fingers were covered in blood from frantically digging his nails into the tree, trying to get some kind of grip. I could tell he was weak, most likely from when I initially struck him out of the trees beforehand. This whole situation was my fault, but there was nothing I could do right now but observe. The monster's tendrils moved at an alarming speed. The shot towards the man and blasted him against the tree trunk. The man's whole body was now coated in the gooey substance, but I could tell something else was going on. The man who was just frantically clawing at the tree seemed frozen in place after being struck by the goo. Not only did he seem frozen in place, the man slowly but surely began falling backwards until he landed flat on his back with his arms and legs stuck in the position of climbing. I could hear horrible sounds coming from the man. "Uuuhhghhuuuuh. Errrrruuuuuhhhh." It was like air was trying to escape his lungs but nothing was coming out. The man was Paralyzed! That gooey fluid… it must have had some kind of paralytic property… How terrifying. As the man laid there unable to move, the giant worm began collapsing its own form until it reverted back to a giant mass of goo and thousands of squirming worm bodies. The mass of worms then began moving themselves towards the man's body. In a lurching motion, the mass of worms began overtaking the man's body. As they continued pouring over the man's body, the worms that were spilling off to the sides began burrowing back into the ground. In what seemed like one grotesque and seamless motion the worms had returned themselves back to the earth, but only after completely consuming the man's body leaving only a pile of gooey fluid and the man's wares. There was only one word that could describe this event… and that was horror. It felt like my whole body remained in shock for a while after watching everything unfold. I simply sat up on the tree silently clutching the horn in my hand as I looked down upon all that was left of the man. Eventually Dutch barked at me, essentially breaking me out of the state I was in. I laughed nervously, "hah.. thanks Dutch…" The horn I clutched in my hand was obviously some kind of enchanted object. I had spoken a lot about these kinds of things with Ivan and Oli, but I never imagined they would have powers like this. This horn was incredibly dangerous. Clearly this horn had some kind of power to call upon beasts based on what happened while I was sleeping and now the appearance of this giant worm. This led me to believe that the man had most likely summoned those various beasts to kill me while I slept in the forest. Thankfully, Dutch was there to protect me during that time. Whether or not the man deserved this fate.. no… I don't think anything could deserve a fate like that. Even if he was trying to kill me, being eaten alive by a mass of worms was just… overkill. I decided to place the horn into the vault beneath Gwyn's hut. That way no one could take it from me and use it unintentionally, and I wouldn't be tempted to use it even in a worse case scenario. However, it could possibly prove useful in the future so I couldn't just get rid of it. This was the best course of action for the time being. At least until I could learn more about what it is and why that man had it. After I had confirmed the worms were actually gone, Dutch and I made our descent from the trees and continued on to our destination.
After another day or so of walking Dutch seemed to smell something in the air as she lifted her nose up periodically. Soon enough I could smell it too. It smelled like Salt, the fresh salty air of the ocean. "WOOHOO!!!" I shouted. I started running forwards trying to break through the tree line, and Dutch ran along beside me carrying her trusty blade. As we broke through to a clearing, the sight was incredible.
What laid before us was the giant expanse of the ocean. There were spires of rocks rising up through the sea with huge trees firmly rooted at the tops. Down below them you could clearly see droves of sea life swarming through the crystal clear waters. Birds sailed through the air, lightly floating on the wind. It was breathtaking. But as I gazed out over this beautiful landscape, there was a slight glimmer that caught my eye. At first it was just a single glimmer of light, but as I looked closer I began to see more and more glimmers of light. It was as if there were stars floating through the air. It was an incredible sight, and I felt entranced and curious about this strange phenomenon I was witnessing. The glimmers of light were flowing in the wind seemingly scattered in the air. Some of them simply disappeared after glimmering once or twice. However, I noticed that there were more of these lights condensed around one of the stone spires reaching out of the ocean. They must be coming from there. Atop the stone spire was a very large tree that's massive roots had wrapped around the entirety of the stone spire. Its branches extended far and wide around the stone spire casting a shadow onto the ocean waters below. It almost seemed as if the glimmers of light were coming from the tree itself. Other stone spires coming out of the ocean also held trees and other various vegetation atop of them, but this tree was by far the largest among them. The tree wasn't necessarily far away, but considering how high up we were from the ocean's surface it would be quite a challenge to try and make our way down and across in order to scale the stone spire. Damn. I really wanted to see what was over there! Unfortunately, it appeared that I was not the only one who wanted to find the secret of these glimmering lights…
It only took a glance for me to realize what was about to happen. Dutch had started backing up away from the edge of the cliff as if she was readying herself. "Oi Dutch… What are you doing." I asked her. She innocently looked towards me while holding her sword in her mouth and barked at me gleefully. "Oh come onnn!" I shouted. But it was too late. Dutch started off at an incredible sprint and leaped off of the edge of the cliff and into the air without an ounce of fear. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!!!" I yelled after her. I had no choice, I couldn't just let Dutch jump into the ocean alone. I chased after her feeling both fear and excitement. I jumped with all of my might and shouted into the air as I plummeted with Dutch towards the ocean, "IM NEVER DOING THIS AGAAAAAINNN!" But even as I shouted those words, I could feel a huge smile beginning to spread across my face as I felt the surge of wind blasting up from the ocean and onto the cliff face. Man, this was a crazy decision. Just before hitting the water below, I curled myself into a ball hoping to protect myself from the impact. I hit the water and felt the surge of the ocean flowing around me. I opened my eyes under the water and was taken aback by the beauty of the sea life. There were large coral reefs scattered along the ocean floor with massive schools of fish darting all around. I had swam in the ocean before with Ivan and Oli, but I had never seen anything so colorful and vibrant as this. My first thought was that Gwyn would have absolutely loved fishing here… I'll have to bring him back to this place one day. The ocean wasn't as deep as I had expected it to be in this area, and I could even see the large stone spire and the roots of the massive tree reaching down into the ocean a distance away. I was grateful for how crystal clear this ocean water was. I quickly spotted Dutch swimming not too far ahead of me near the surface of the water. I quickly began swimming closer and closer to her until I breached the surface. I let out a gasp of air and said to Dutch, "I seriously can't believe you did that." Dutch simply continued swimming forwards and barked joyfully. What a silly dog you are, Dutch. Although I was scared at first, I truly felt gratitude towards Dutch for jumping into the ocean. It was a liberating experience and something that made me feel free. With everything that had happened in the recent past, this one moment helped me forget some of my troubles and feel true happiness If only for a moment.
The two of us swam diligently towards the root covered stone spire. I could tell that our presence in the water was causing a disturbance, as various fish began leaping into the air around us. When we finally reached the base, I hoisted Dutch up onto one of the roots and then pulled myself up as well. Dutch quickly shook herself off completely dousing me with even more sea water. "Sheesh Dutch!" When I got to my feet that's when I saw it. I looked up and saw one of the glimmering lights floating its way down to us. I reached out my hand as if I could catch it and it floated ever so gently into the palm of my hand. Wow, I never expected this. It was a bubble! All of those glimmering lights in the air were all bubbles that were catching the light of the sun. Just as it landed in my hand, it then popped just as fast disappearing before my eyes. Now I was even more curious. What could possibly be causing so many bubbles to float out from that tree? Hehe, this was getting interesting! I looked at Dutch and said, "Race you to the top?" She barked at me in agreement, and we rushed into action. Dutch started off leaping from root to root at an incredible speed, but I wasn't going to let her beat me. I began leaping, hoisting, and flipping myself higher and higher up the roots. I surely looked like some kind of monkey the way I was climbing. But even still, I was making a great headway towards the top of the stone spire. At least I thought I was until I saw Dutch running at full speed up a root that was cascading along the rock face. She was so fast! She was 20 feet above me at this point. I couldn't let her win, but at this pace there was no way I could catch up. I went for a desperate gamble, but I was sure if I could pull it off I would definitely win. I've been watching Dutch for a while now, I've watched how she runs and throws her body around freely. She has complete control of herself as she moves on the ground and through the air as she leaps. She is an amazing animal and her mobility is that of a veteran warrior. I realized some time ago that if I was going to get stronger I needed to continue learning new techniques that can bring me closer to my goals. Watching Dutch was the first step towards learning something new. I knew that I couldn't accomplish the same style of movement she can as she runs on four legs… but that wasn't enough to stop me from trying. I began channeling my vital energy inside of me. I harnessed it and began flushing my body full of natural power and vitality. It was like an adrenaline rush. I could feel my skin getting hotter and felt strength flowing into my muscles. I then took the stance of a wild beast on all fours… and I pounced! With all my speed and all my strength, I began scaling the side of the stone spire at an incredible speed. Hand over foot and foot over hand, with my strength I was able to easily dig my finger and toes into the rock face with little to no resistance. If I looked like a monkey before, I surely now looked like a feral beast of the forest as I climbed higher and higher. The life energy inside of me was overflowing and it felt incredible. Soon enough I was right on Dutch's tail and was about to overtake her. But just before we were about to reach the top, I was reaching out towards a large root that would pull me forward and in front of Dutch when she leaped forwards over the root and swung her sword backwards. I could see a faint blue hue glowing in her eyes as she looked back at me. In one swift motion, she swung her sword in her mouth sending a literal wind blade towards me. At first I seriously thought she was about to kill me, but the flying wind blade went right through the root instead. As I grabbed hold of the root before me, I felt myself falling backwards. I yelled out at her, "DUUUTCH, YOU CHEATERRR!!!l as I fell backwards unable to pull myself forward. I only dropped a few feet before I was able to catch myself on a hanging vine. I looked up to the top of the stone spire where the tree was at and there she was looking down at me. I could see her head peeking over the edge with her tail wagging as if she had been waiting for me this whole time. I simply let out a sigh and continued climbing. I finally made it to the top and greeted Dutch with a pat on the head. "Well, looks like you beat me this time Dutch, but don't think it'll be so easy next time." I said with a wink. She barked at me in response as she wagged her tail. I couldn't ever be mad at this dog.
I was initially distracted upon arriving at the top of the stone spire, but as soft glimmers of light began to fill my periphery I immediately looked up. What stood before me was an immense tree of staggering size. I certainly had never seen a tree such as this before. Its canopy was expansive, completely spreading out far beyond the top surface of the stone spire and out above the ocean below. There were bubbles floating through the air all around the tree's canopy. It was truly mesmerizing. The trunk of the tree looked as if it was an amalgamation of several gargantuan trees that were all conjoined together, twisting, winding, and knotting together to form one enormous organism. This tree was truly something to behold. It made sense why the roots were so large and extensive reaching all the way down and around the stone spire. But as I was looking closely at the trunk, it was then that I noticed what looked like a small window?? It was left ajar and when I looked closer I definitely saw a bubble float its way out from inside of it. Not only that, as I continued to inspect the trunk even further after seeing this random window, I additionally spotted a small metal spout with what looked like steam emanating from it. There were also various ladders and small platforms covered in vines and leaves that lead to different openings into the trunk of the tree. If I wasn't looking closely I could have easily missed the platforms because they almost completely blended in with the rest of the tree. Things were getting really interesting! I was so curious about what was inside the tree I could barely contain myself. I spoke out and looked over towards Dutch, " Hey Dutch, we gotta go loo-!" But before I even finished my words, I quickly realized that Dutch had laid down on the ground and was currently taking a nap. Well, I don't blame her. We just raced each other climbing up to this tree and it certainly wasn't an easy task. Instead of waking her up, I decided to go and do a little investigating of my own.
I headed towards the base of the tree's trunk and began to inspect the surrounding area, searching for any type of opening I could find. Eventually I came upon what seemed like the outline of a door. It was expertly camouflaged within the trunk of the tree and its seams could easily pass as simple creases in the wood. I most likely would have overlooked it if I wasn't actually feeling the base of the tree. When running my hands against the wood, I came across the creases of the door and gave it a slight push. The door moved ever so slightly which gave its position away. After spending so much time in the catacombs with Ivan and Oli I became well versed in secret entrances. The only issue was that there was no way to open this door from outside of the tree. I had no idea who had constructed all of this but I was incredibly curious. Luckily, I had an ace up my sleeve. With a little bit of creative thinking, I used my traveling hands and focused on the other side of the door. I didn't know what could possibly be inside of this tree, but all signs lead me to believe it was hollow. After reaching my hand through the waypoint, I had to feel around and try different positions quite a few times before I grabbed hold of a latch on the other side. I eventually released the latch and pushed on the door, opening it outwards to me. Mission accomplished, I was in! This trick would surely be useful in the future. When entering the hollow of the tree I came upon a staircase carved into the wood. It seemed to lead upwards with no indication of what would be waiting for me at the top. I didn't know if I was making a mistake doing this, there could be someone or something incredibly dangerous. If someone was able to make a home out of this enormous tree and live here on the coast of the forbidden forest, they must be someone with great abilities. However, my curiosity far superseded my doubts. I needed to know what was creating all of those bubbles and what the deal was with this massive tree. For all I knew, this could very well be the key to leaving this place and heading towards Cashmere to find Ivan. With some hesitation, I slowly crept up the carved staircase.
It began to twist and bend around the inner areas of the tree as I ascended the staircase. Once I got a bit higher, I began to see bubbles once again. However, some of these bubbles contained objects within them now. They floated weightlessly through the air despite carrying things like a spool of yarn, or cooking pots. There were all sorts of random items floating inside of these bubbles within the tree hollow. I had no idea how they were able to carry such items, but one thing was clear… These were not some ordinary bubbles, and someone was deliberately using them for storage. There was definitely a person inside of this tree. I continued moving up the staircase, brushing past and moving the bubbles with items out of my way as I climbed. Soon enough, I came to an open archway that entered into a large living space. The entire area was hollowed out and made into someone's home, and a very messy home at that. There was wooden furniture laid out in random areas of the space, and there were various papers with strange drawings scattered all over the floors and posted onto the walls. I could see overgrown potted plants littering the floors and shelves up on the walls. On top of all that there was an abundant amount of bubbles floating aimlessly through the air. Additionally, there was a hammock strung up near a window (presumably the window I noticed outside of the tree) and it seemed to contain something inside of it. I could roughly see the outline of what looked like a person's body. No, it was definitely a person's body inside that hammock. My heart was pounding, I had no idea who could possibly be in here or what was creating all of these bubbles. All I knew was that I had to be prepared to act just in case this person was not friendly. Nervously… I spoke out towards the hammock, "H-hello?" I mustered.
Almost immediately, the hammock began moving sporadically as someone was frantically trying to get out of it. With a loud thud, a person fell from the hammock onto the floor and slowly looked up at me. At first, I was completely taken aback by this person's hair. It was bright red, and was somehow both curly and spiky at the same time. It was truly the strangest hair I've ever seen. After gawking at this stranger's weird hair, I then looked upon their face. It was a boy, possibly my age, and he was rather thin and pale. But aside from his average looks, he had very innocent and fearful amber eyes. "Hu! How did you g-get in here!? Who are you??" He stuttered. I realized that I was the intruder here, and he didn't look like a bad person. So, I just told the truth. "Uhhh well, I mean… first of all I apologize for just barging in here… this probably looked pretty bad but, I promise I am not here for any kind of nefarious reasons…" I said back to him. "W-what do you mean?!" He cried out, "T-This is my house, a-and you just came in here?? That's crazy! You're crazy!" He yelled as he scrambled away, tripping over himself as he ran to the back of the room. He ended up falling head over heels onto the ground and rolled all the way into the wall. This kid… he's gotta be the clumsiest kid I've ever met… "Heh uhhh hey, no need to be afraid." I said while raising my hands into the air. "Like I said, I'm not here to harm you or anything ha ha… I just wanted to check out this interesting tree." I began slowly taking steps towards him, but this really triggered the kid and he began freaking out. "Y-You stay away!! D-Don't come any closer!!!" He yelled while putting up both of his hands. With genuine fear in his eyes, I watched as something began growing out of the palms of his hands. In a flash, a massive bubble had burst forth and completely encompassed him inside. I was startled by the appearance of this bubble, and then completely astonished. "It was you!!" I said with realization. "You're the one creating the bubbles! Hahaha" I couldn't help but laugh, this rather timid kid was the one creating all of those spectacular bubbles. I was so curious, but now it all makes sense. He's also a blessed child! I walked towards the bubble and pressed my hand against it. "H-hey! What are you doing!? Stay back!" He yelled. I knew he was afraid but wasn't this a bit much? I mean, if I truly wanted to harm him I could have done it when he was still in the hammock right? When I pressed my hand against the bubble it felt rather sturdy. As hard as I pushed it seemed to instantly repel and disperse any type of force I applied to it. How interesting! "Y'know, it's rather unbecoming of a person to act so fearful in their own home." I said. "I already told you I'm not here to harm you. I just wanted to see what was making all these cool bubbles. Anyways, I'll just be going now that I've found the source." From the look in his eyes he clearly didn't believe me. "Y-yeah right! You're definitely here to k-kill me!" He shouted as he raised another hand in my direction. Out of his hand formed another bubble that was much smaller than the first. It began floating towards me and even passed straight through the larger bubble. As it approached me my instincts began screaming to get out of the way. I immediately jumped backwards and grabbed hold of an old book that was sitting on a table nearby. I threw the book at the bubble that was floating towards me. The boy yelled, "No!! Not that!!" As they collided mid air, the bubble burst in an explosive fashion and sent pages of the book flying all over the room. That bubble was clearly dangerous, and if I let it hit me who knows how badly I could've been injured. This ticked me off quite a bit, so I proceeded to put my hands in my pockets. "Hey." I said in a serious tone. "I just said I was leaving and that's your response?" At this point he was literally shaking from fear as he cowarded inside his giant bubble. I didn't want to hurt this kid, but I couldn't just let that slide. Before he could send another bubble my way, I used my traveling hands and flicked him on the forehead from inside his bubble. "Ufff!" He shouted as he covered his now red forehead with his hands. "What the heck was that!!" He yelled In shock "Seriously, I could've already killed you if that was really my intent. I'll be going now." I said as I turned and exited the room.