“What’s the situation?”

Jonathan lifted the cordoning tape, bending his body slightly to go under it. He took a look at his surroundings; the Paranormal Bureau was efficient, no doubt about that. It had barely been ten minutes since the first emergency broadcast, and they had already managed to direct the public away from the crime scene.

“We’ve done the best we can, Inspector Warner.” A freckled agent clutched his radio tightly with one hand, leaving the other free to hang around his weapon holster.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning we boxed her up in that section of the Subway.” An older and obviously more experienced agent stepped in before the young agent accidentally shot out his own foot in a nervous fit. “Not like we had to do much anyway. She’s already laid her roots there, literally.”

“Oh Cornelia, what are you up to now?” Jonathan sighed out loud.

“We could blow up this whole place, but that would just mean killing off the last Dryad on Earth,” the older agent said grimly. “To make things worse, she’s filled her domain with poisonous gas. We can’t get through, but you can. Talk your friend down from this, will you?”

Jonathan nodded wordlessly and climbed down to the train tracks.

His surroundings lashed out at him the moment the gas hit his nose. He kept his mouth shut and ceased his breathing immediately. Barbed roots, perfectly camouflaged with the grey walls they laid against, pulled themselves out and swung around violently.

They were easy enough to avoid, considering the speed Jonathan could move, but they were still annoying to deal with. Jonathan shook his head as the world slowed down around him again. He didn’t have time to deal with her nonsense.

A burst of speed later, he found himself under a tree canopy. Fortunately, the gas emitted by the roots did not reach this deep, so he was at least able to speak now.

“Who goes there?!”

“It’s Jonathan, your old friend!” Jonathan yelled back at the shrill voice.

He had met Cornelia during his first mission with the Bureau, right after he’d received the invitation to join the Immortal Association. That forest Dryad was the jumpy sort, mostly due to human deforestation, but she had found a friend in Jonathan nonetheless. Now, he could only hope their friendship would save her from being blown up by his nervous colleagues.

A wall of vines parted, leaving a hole for Jonathan to walk through. He smiled slightly; that was a promising start.

“Cornelia, hey…” the man cooed as though he was calming a wild horse down.

His gaze shot to a small group of children wrapped in a huge leaf as though they were part of a gigantic Mexican tamale. They were still breathing, thankfully, but greenish translucent eggshells were already beginning to form around their unconscious bodies.

The man pursed his lips; he had less than half an hour before their bodies merged with the eggs completely.

“Jonathan?” The Dryad tilted her pink flower-like head to him as vines unwrapped themselves from her body, revealing a stalk that served as her torso. “I beg of thee. Thou must protect me. Thou must help me.”

“Is it the pollination season already?” Jonathan laughed nervously. “I don’t see how I can help you with that. My… ‘pollen’ isn’t compatible with your species. Why don’t you release those children first? I’ll see to it that you’ll breed successfully.”

“No, no…”

The ground shivered as Cornelia twisted her body frantically. Jonathan stifled a gasp, only then realising that he was standing on a huge platform of intersecting roots.

“My end is nigh!” Cornelia screamed hysterically. “I hath divined my future, and it is nigh! She is coming for me… She is coming for me! I must needs use the spawn of men to bear mine brood now before I perish!”

That’s not good…

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Calm down, Cornelia. I’m here, alright? I won’t let any harm come to you.” Jonathan approached her carefully, doing his best to ignore the pockets of yawning darkness poking in from below the roots. “Who is coming for you? How did you…”

The man’s voice trailed away, only then noticing the familiar symbol on the Dryad’s head. His eyes widened in recognition.

“Cornelia… when did you get that?” He pointed a shaky finger at the branded pattern.

The Dryad’s bug-like eyes trembled in fear, seeming to notice the branding on her emerald skin for the first time as well.

“I am marked! I am marked!” Cornelia screamed again. Jagged thorns protruded out of her vine tentacles as she desperately tried to claw out the symbol to no avail. The ground shook in her frenzy, and the leaf holding the children dropped onto the floor.

“Corne-”

Jonathan’s body slammed against the wall. He stood up, ducking immediately as another huge root swung over his head. Electricity charged in his hands. He did not relish hurting his friend, but he had to knock her out before she buried herself alive along with him and the children.

A blinding flash of light burst from his hands, striking the Dryad cleanly. Cornelia shrieked in pain, before swatting him away once more.

“Bugger…” Jonathan muttered as cracks began to spread rapidly along the subway walls. This forest nymph was tougher than he remembered. Blue light flared from his eyes as he increased the voltage, preparing to strike again-

A dark figure flew overhead out of nowhere, diving into Cornelia’s head. The petals fell apart as it plucked out her bud and disappeared into the distance.

“No!” Jonathan yelled after the shadow, but he had problems of his own now.

Metal groaned as the roots holding the subway tunnel went limp. Jonathan staggered around the tumbling floor, before giving up and choosing to fall instead. He frantically crawled towards the children like some kind of legless abomination and grabbed the leaf stalk.

Thankfully, the leaf was still wrapped tightly around them, which saved him the trouble of carrying five children with his bare hands. The speedster’s body tensed with focus, and he broke into a full-powered sprint.

Metal and rubble rained all around him as his footsteps tapped the crumbling ground lightly. The tunnel was collapsing fast, but Jonathan was already outrunning gravity’s hungry pull. Still, the devastation was catching up, and he was quickly running out of solid platforms to run on.

He took to the walls instead, taking care to step away from the cracks. Darkness yawned below him as the last of the floor collapsed beneath him. His heart raced with adrenaline. If he was by himself, he wouldn’t have minded simply falling into the hole. Given his invulnerability, he’d survive the fall without a scratch. But he had five young lives at stake now, and he’d be damned if he lost even one of them today.

Jonathan broke into a wide smile as light loomed ahead of him. The children were safe now. He tossed the gigantic leaf at the small group of people waiting anxiously for his return. Relief flooded his body as they caught it-

“Shit!” Jonathan yelped as his foot stepped on nothingness. The disintegration had caught up to him.

He pushed against a falling piece of the wall and leapt for the subway platform, praying for the best. His hand desperately stretched for the cement floor, but only managed to brush his fingertips against it. The man yelled, flailing his arms as he fell into the abyss-

Warm fingers wrapped around his wrist as he looked up in surprise.

“Got…cha.” Anya’s face was strained with effort as she held on tightly to him. There was a flurry of motion as well, and Jonathan’s body was slowly pulled back to the surface with the help of the other agents.

He lay on the platform for a moment.

“Is… everyone safe?” he asked no one in particular, finally deciding to get up on his feet. His gaze fell on the rest of the agents, who were nearly done chipping away the eggshells surrounding the children. Jonathan heaved a sigh of relief; at least he had managed to save these ones.

“Warner, what happened back there?” The older agent scurried to him. “You didn’t manage to talk Cornelia down? You didn’t kill her, did you?”

Anger flashed in Jonathan’s eyes.

“Seriously, Winchester?” he growled. “You seriously think I’d kill a friend of five years? Who do you take me for?”

Winchester stared at him grimly.

“...But yes, she’s dead.” Jonathan tightened his jaw. “Negotiations were going well until a dark figure flew in from nowhere and plucked her brain out. That’s why the tunnel collapsed.”

“A dark figure?” Winchester folded his arms. “If I didn’t know you, you’d already be in handcuffs for coming up with such a terrible lie. But I suspect there’s more to this.”

Jonathan opened his mouth to argue, but the agent raised a hand to interrupt him.

“It’s not any of my business; I’m just part of the clean-up crew,” Winchester said. “But you might want to discuss with your partner how you plan to answer to Angus for letting the last Dryad on Earth die on your watch.”

Anya walked over to him on cue with Winchester’s exit.

“Thanks for saving me, Anya.” Jonathan flashed a small smile at her, which gave way to a more serious expression almost immediately. “Cornelia was branded with that strange symbol as well. Do you think it’s related?”

Anya’s expression darkened.

“Tell me everything.”