Suddenly becoming conscious, as one does in the morning, I’m startled to find that a large portion of my lower body has lost cohesion, and has spread across the room. Vibrant pink strands hang from the walls and pulse along the floor, like an infested ship in a sci-fi movie. I frown in disgust before quickly pulling the errant flesh back into my torso. With my newly reshaped legs, I hop out of bed.

I wonder how much money we have left after last night. We rented two rooms, and Betton ate a few extra dinners for sure. It couldn’t have been a small sum.

…Whatever, if we’re out of money, I can just jump someone. …Wait, Betton said something about that… Right, the tree won’t let me. Fuck. That means I’ll have to find a job. My skin ripples in disgust at the thought of such a heinous act. It’s fine, I’ll find something palatable. Hopefully something violent.

My soul tempered for possible labor, I push my way out of my bedroom, and immediately slam into something firm but soft. Bouncing off the squishy surface, I jump back in surprise. Standing in front of me is the elf woman from last night, who’s blushing furiously, her ear tips pink.

“I… I uh, I’m, I’m sorry!” I stammer.

My anxiousness seems to calm the woman’s embarrassment, since the blush rapidly leaves her face. “No problem, cutie.” She says with a wink.

I feel my pale pseudo skin turn my natural bubblegum color as the woman’s flirting sinks into my small brain.

“Ahhhhhhhh…” I say confidently.

The elf giggles, a melodic sound that dances through the room.

“No need to be flustered, I’m just teasing.” She says with a wide grin. Leaning towards me, she taps my nose. “Let’s try this again.”

I stare at her, totally confused as to what she means.

She stands up straight, and clears her throat in a very exaggerated manner before speaking. “Hello, I’m Lynx. A level two adventurer. It’s nice to meet you!” Done with her introduction, she offers me a calloused hand.

I blink at the offered appendage for a few seconds before hastily grabbing it.

“I… I’m Alex!” I say with a wide grin.

She smirks at me. “Well hi Alex, I hope we get to see each other more often.” My hand slips from her grip as she straightens herself. “I’d love to keep talking, but I have to go find a party for my next job.”

“Oh… That’s too bad.” I say sadly. I look at the floor in disappointment.

We stand in silence for a few seconds, until Lynx speaks up.

“A party, an adventuring party. For hunting monsters.” She repeats herself.

Oh, she’s an adventurer, that’s badass… Wait a second!

I look up at her, excited. “What if I joined your party?!”

Her eyes crinkle in amusement, and she covers her mouth with the back of her hand, like she’s suppressing a laugh. “You’re an adventurer?” She asks.

I nod happily. Finally, that stupid ghost hunt is paying off!

She drops her hand, revealing a gorgeous smile. “Well, I don’t see any reason to say no. Will your partner join?”

“Oh, Betton’s not my partner, and he’ll do whatever I tell him.” I explain confidently.

The elf snorts in amusement. “Of course, I should’ve known. Boys do crazy things for pretty girls after all.”

I can’t stop my skin from crawling at her words. “Eww…” I mutter.

She apparently notices my disgust and finds it amusing. She lets out a few small giggles. “Well, we wouldn’t want to make him wait, would we?”

I snort. “He can wait.” I say dismissively.

For some reason, Lynx frowns, throwing me into a panic. What did I do?

“Don’t be so hard on him.” She says, wagging a finger at me.

I nod. “A-alright.” Why does she care? Whatever, listen to the pretty girl, Alex.

Without saying anything else, she leads me downstairs, where Betton is already wolfing down breakfast. I frown at his obvious gluttony. I really thought he would cool down after he gained some weight, but apparently not.

The annoying twerp notices us as we reach the bottom of the stairs, and his eyes lock on Lynx. He gives her a suspicious glare, his eyes flicking to me for a second before switching right back to the tan skinned woman.

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Lynx is totally unphased by Betton’s open hostility, and walks right up to him. She crouches slightly, and offers the kid a hand.

“Hi, Betton! I’m Lynx, and if you’re okay with it I’d like to join your little party.” She says politely.

Why is she asking him, I already said it was fine.

Betton eventually takes the woman's hand, but doesn’t drop his scowl.

“What class are you?” He asks brusquely.

Lynx stands upright, no longer having to crouch for the shorty. “I’m a Woodsman. I use daggers as well as the bow.” She flashes the brat a smile, making my heart writhe in jealousy.

Suddenly Betton’s attitude drops. “A Woodsman? For real?” He asks excitedly.

Lynx nods proudly.

“Wow!” Betton exclaims. “That’s perfect for our group! I’m a countermage, and Alex is… Alex, so we have no ranged damage. Having someone to cover me would be a godsend” He starts rambling, mostly to himself. He thankfully remembers he’s talking to someone, and faces Lynx again. “I have no problems with you joining the group. Actually, I’d be grateful if you did!”

Lynx laughs. “I didn’t expect that. I thought you hated me, from the way you were glaring at me.”

Betton blushes. “W-well… I was wary, because of the effect you have on Alex.” He explains embarrassedly.

The elf snickers. “Yeah, I do have quite an effect on her don’t I?” She winks at me, making my stomach do a backflip. She disappointingly turns her attention back to my minion. “So, where are you headed?”

Betton’s gaze locks with mine, and he gives me a pleading look. The magnanimous owner that I am, I step in.

“We’re headed to the largest city nearby.” I explain.

Lynx tilts her head. “The largest city huh? Don’t even know its name?”

“Uh… yeah. We’re uh, very lost.” I say, desperate to find a plausible reason for my ignorance.

She covers her mouth with the back of her hand again for some reason. “R-right. Of course, very lost.” After a few seconds, her shoulders stop shaking. “So we’ll be doing odd jobs on the way there then?”

“Odd jobs and killing giant robots.” I clarify.

“Giant… robots?” She says, confused.

I nod. “Yeah, giant robots.”

Betton slaps his face with a loud groan…

────────────

The first sign that somethings wrong is the smell. A rotten, almost floral scent that wafts over the stone path. I glance around us, but see only the young trees growing on either side, nothing that could be making the weird stench.

“You guys smell that?” I ask my companions.

Lynx, who is leading our little band, looks over her shoulder at me.

“Smell what?” She asks.

I glance at Betton, but he looks just as confused as the elf. Maybe it’s just me.

Unlike myself, I let it go, and get back to walking. I last about an hour enduring the smell, as it gets stronger and stronger as we continue. Eventually I can’t take it anymore.

“Alright, there’s something rotten. It smells horrid!” I whine, covering my nose.

Lynx turns around, looking unsure, but not doubtful. “Alright, is it stronger anywhere?” She asks.

I go to answer that it's everywhere, but I realize that it isn’t… exactly. Taking in a deep breath, and holding in tears, my nose reveals that the wretched scent is more potent in one direction. Wiping my eyes, I point towards the source of the fumes, a patch of treeline that looks just like all the others.

The elf slinks over to the spot silently before pushing apart the brush. As soon as the leaves are moved aside, I’m struck with an even worse wave of fumes. I recoil away from the bushes, my senses overloaded.

“Fuck…” I hear Betton gasp from next to me.

Deciding I want to see what’s going on more than keep my sense of smell, I dissolve my nose into the flesh of my face. Relieved of the assault on my nostrils, I’m able to see what the duo is looking at.

I blink, not sure exactly what it is that I’m seeing.

Where the bushes Lynx touched had just been, is only a gaping wound on the ground. The soil is raised, looking almost irritated. Black ooze seeps from the dirt around the festering ground, trickling across the forest floor.

Then I realize, it's not just the bush.

All around the path, the trees are blackened and twisted, dark boils growing from their bark. The cobble of the road is pushed up by more of the same boils, the fluids inside pulsing occasionally. Nothing in view is alive, at least not life as I know it. But the most worrying thing is behind it all, the everpresent root that rises like a hill over the treeline, is rotten as well. Where earlier had been healthy bark, is now a massive crack running through the wood, black decay filling a large portion of the horizon.

“Shit…” I mutter. “How’d we miss all this?”

Betton clicks his tongue. “Mind magic… Someone is manipulating us.” He hisses angrily.

Purple lightning crackles from the kid’s fingertips, weaving itself around his hands before rushing out. After a few seconds, he lets out a held breath.

“There’s no other magic, whatever was affecting us only had that one illusion.” He says, relieved.

I chew the inside of my cheek. Someone who’s going out of their way to cover up all this, and is strong enough to do it, only having one trick? That seems unlikely. I guess we’ll see…

Lynx startles me as she stands up suddenly. The woman turns to face us, her expression dark.

“This is bad…” She raises a hand, which is covered in black gunk. Wriggling between her fingers is what looks like the child of a leech and a maggot. The creature writhes, desperately trying to escape the woman’s grasp. “Rot Worms.” She says matter of factly.

“...What’s that?” I ask.

She looks surprised at my question before quickly smirking. “Right, I forgot you don’t know anything.” I pout at her jab, not able to refute it. She takes a deep breath. “Rot worms are parasites that can cause the damage we’re seeing, and can be a serious problem for a Guardian Wood, except…” She trails off, looking at the creature in her hand.

“Except what?” I prod.

“Except… Rot worms usually aren’t a legitimate threat, because the Guardian Wood can warn people ahead of time, before an infestation gets bad…” She crushes the worm, throwing it to the floor. “But this is a massive one, worse than I’ve ever heard of happening before.”

“And I doubt an insect monster like this would have mind magic, right?” Betton asks.

Lynx nods. “They don’t, which means not only is the tree not able to tell anyone about the worms…”

“There’s also someone concealing them!” Betton concludes.

I rub the back of my head, somewhat lost.

“So the worms are working with someone, who’s strong?” I surmise.

“Right.” Lynx confirms.

I shrug. “Will we get paid for culling them?”

Lynx slowly starts to grin, picking up what I’m putting down. “For sure, extra since it's an emergency.”

With a pointy smile, I rub my hands together.

“What are we waiting for then?”