The forest seemed normal, with the exception of the oddly colored trees. None of them had ever even heard of blue trees. It wasn’t impossible though as colors seemed to vary wildly when magic was involved. He had seen several types of trees that had white or black bark. Those were no more odd than these. The tree's height was the more amazing thing. They pierced the clouds above, making it seem like the trees were stealing the color from the sky.
They headed deeper into the forest, choosing to travel by foot in order to conserve energy and to avoid appearing threatening. The sun would be out for a while, but he doubted that it would get so dark that he couldn’t see. Worst case scenario, he could rely on his domain, though that was something he did most of the time anyway. It took hours before they found anything interesting, and he only noticed because of his domain.
“That tree is hollow.”
Mash pointed to one of the trees, speaking and interrupting Jill. They had been talking about methods of completing the dungeon, and what might be required. Ultimately, they decided that exploration was the only option for them. It was probably a dungeon-based around exploration, and there would be a portal out located somewhere in the world. There was probably more than one exit too. The people sitting at the entrance were probably waiting for someone to find it. Mash wondered how they would even know but assumed they must have some special method for it. Mash could worry about them later.
“What do you think is inside?”
Jill teleported beside the tree, speaking during the teleport. It was disjointed and he couldn't tell where the sound of her voice was coming from and that confused his senses. His mind was trying to orient the sounds and failing at it. She didn’t actually wait for an answer from anyone. Raising a hand, she attempted to knock on the wood. Her knuckles passed through the tree. Shocked she stumbled backward.
“Are you ok?”
Luke approached quickly, sounding anxious as he grabbed her arm. Mash saw the healing magic transfer to Jill. There wasn’t any damage though, and she explained as much.
“I’m fine was just surprised. Didn’t expect an illusion.”
Mash stepped towards the three, pushing his hand toward and watching it in awe. It certainly could look like an illusion, but it wasn’t.
“It’s not an illusion. Here, look what’s actually happening.”
Speaking with confidence, Mash continued to move his hand through the tree. The wood was perfectly bending around his hand as he moved it, but it wasn’t a trick of the eyes. The tree was obviously a magical item, and it was designed to let things inside. The way it bent around his hands so perfectly was astounding. Jill appeared beside him, even if she could have cleared the distance in a single step. She stuck her hand into the tree, playing with it in the same way that he was. Soon the others joined them, and they just appreciated the magic of it. The near-perfect way it shaped around his hand just seemed impossible.
“So, what do you think it does?”
Mash considered her question but wasn’t actually sure. The tree was large enough that he could walk inside if he wanted and thought about doing just that. He felt like something would happen, though he couldn’t narrow down what.
“I think it’s like a gate. It feels connected to a lot of things.”
She was looking up as she spoke. His eyes slowly drifted upwards, the others mimicking the motion. Red seemed concerned and held an arm out to stop Jill from stepping inside.
“I doubt it's going to be that dangerous. We should be fine.”
Luke spoke stepping into the tree, and Mash followed his movements. Jill dragged Red inside, walking in with them. Red protested a little, muttering something to Jill. Mash normally would have been able to hear, but he was far too distracted with what he was seeing. The entire tree was hollow, stretching up far beyond their sight. Lights crawled up the walls, creating a beautiful spiraling pattern of green lights.
All of them stood in the tree, and Mash was surprised to notice that it could easily fit them. In fact, it could easily fit hundreds of people inside it. There was writing along a section of the walls. At least, he assumed it was writing, though they could just as easily be pictures. However, they felt too systematic to be pure art. The letters were all connected and were obviously crude depictions of common things. One of the symbols was obviously meant to represent a tree, though he had no idea about the rest.
Whoever had made this, clearly had a high level of understanding of the magic involved. Plus, the details that they had accounted for were interesting. It made him think that he found a good place to look for a present for his brother. And just get some useful items in general. Mash didn’t feel anything magical about the letters, but after a few seconds, the floor began to glow. Jill didn’t do anything, so Mash assumed that it wouldn’t be dangerous.
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Light spiraled in, filling in the wooden ground in a spiral of green. The floor started rumbling, though it wasn’t enough to make them stumble. A second later it started rising and Mash was surprised to see that he could look outside in some locations. It rose quickly too, almost as fast as his own flight would be. Even still the trip would take a few minutes, and they contemplated what they would do once they were on top.
This structure seemed constructed, and it looked like they would meet whoever had made it. There would be a language barrier, and Mash could only make a mental connection if the other person was willing. He could get his own messages across though and hopefully convince the natives that they came peacefully.
To that end, Red started drilling him on ways to introduce themselves. She even told him to give whomever the native’s leader was a basic rundown of their abilities. Although, there was also a list of things he shouldn’t mention, including some more specific aspects of their skills. The lecture felt far longer than the simple ride up the lift, but it eventually came to an end.
He didn’t expect the final piece of advice to involve a gift. She handed him one of the spare storage items they had gained. The adventurers had a few extra though they were significantly smaller than the normal ones. Normally, these would open and close more quickly than the normal ones and were used to store weapons typically. He didn’t know what to do if they had something similar, but they would cross that bridge when they got there. Even if the lecture had been long, the plan itself was simple.
Finally, the platform came to a stop, and they were left in a room that would match perfectly with the one on the ground. The writing on the walls was different, but it didn’t mean anything to them. Mash tried to get his best smile ready and stepped out of the wooden structure. He couldn’t see anything with his domain but did notice that there was ground outside. It was weirdly lumpy but felt solid enough.
His foot was the first thing out, and he felt it sink into the ground. At first, he thought he would fall, and prepared to form wings. He didn’t need to as his foot stopped after a short distance. Feeling a solid ground beneath his foot he stepped out fully. Breaching the wood, he got a good look at his surroundings. They had seemed empty to his domain, but a short distance away he noticed several beings standing behind shields.
The shields were made of interlocked leaves rather than metal or even wood. Their clothing was also made out of intertwined leaves, but there were other plants mixed with them. The outfits were conservative by his standards, covering their entire body with plants. It hid much of their body too. All the colors they wore were bright. Consisting mostly of a mix of Reds, Greens, and Blues. However, their arms were completely bare.
He just stared at them for a second, not fully comprehending what he was seeing. They were people, with human-like appearances but a few things made them stand out. The first of which was feathers that hung from their arms like wings. They were brightly colored, each of them seeming almost intentional in the pattern that spread across them. Other than that, their bodies were mostly human, however, their faces were different. All of them had large, slightly hooked noses that reminded him of a bird’s beak. Their eyes were unnatural round too and none of them were blinking.
One of the people in the back, a woman, he guessed by the slightly longer hair and more slender build. All of the people were on the skinny side, much like the elves back home. She was making some hand gestures, speaking in a language that sounded a lot like a song. While it was pleasant to hear, it didn’t mean anything to him. He waited for the woman to finish, not wanting to interrupt her song. She seemed somewhat old with many grey hairs mixed with patches of black. It was long but tied into spirals that were tightly bound to the sides of her head and covered her ears.
He decided to send her a message when he noticed her expression change. It was hard to notice with their eye shape, but it felt like her presence had become larger somehow. A closer look showed him that her feathers were flaring out slightly. The gesture was foreign to him, but he thought it was anger. He hoped it wasn’t anything worse and sent the message carefully, not wanting to make it seem like an attack.
[Hello, My name is Mash. We don’t want to fight and are only curious. If you are open to conversation, try and reply to this. It should be like thinking but more intentional. If you’re having trouble wave. I can’t use this skill to do anything dangerous.]
Priscilla had figured out communication between different languages and was actually sending her a version of his thoughts that she could understand. It was a little bit too complicated for him, but he could replicate the process by copying Priscilla. Well, now the control of the situation was in the hands of the bird-lady.
Waiting patiently, he saw the lady talk with those around her for a second. Some from behind her approached and whispered something. There was a lot of people gathering, and he even saw some children among them. Actually, he wasn’t certain if they would be considered children here, but they were small and had the same features as human children.
Seeing them, Mash relaxed a little. He doubted these people were warriors. That would be a concern if other adventurers found their way up here, but he had a few ideas for that already. If he created signs indicating that these people were peaceful, hopefully, that would be enough to dissuade wholesale slaughter. The previous dungeon they were in worked by a similar principle. He didn’t immediately make a sign. It might seem like an attack, so he just waited for some response.
Eventually, they had come to a decision and the lady began waving her hands in the air. Well, that wasn’t a good sign. He decided to send her another message, hoping that it wouldn’t cause any issues.