Ten minutes later...

This is awkward...

After he had tried to tell her how he really felt, she had attempted to work out why he hadn’t been responding to all of her questions. Which had ended with her landing on the idea that he must either be too shy or simply too dumb to respond to her inquiries.

She hadn’t used those exact phrasings... but that’s what it had felt like when she had been speaking to herself.

Afterward, she had suggested they sit in silence in order to give him a chance to feel comfortable in his new environment. That had been accomplished by her staring at him for an unreasonably long amount of time. Maybe she just kicked the bucket... about time really. She had barely even moved during their forced silence, her slowly rising chest the only indicator she might have still been alive and alert.

He started to wonder if she had fallen asleep with her eyes open, until she had taken a deep breath and startled him, “Okay! That’s not going to work either, is it?” Her normally unbearably cheery grin had begun to waver slightly, “I suppose I should just get right to it then.”

With a soft huff, she had lifted herself off the chair and made her way towards an assortment of hanging plants in the corner of the room. He had been so engrossed in his staring contest with the woman that he hadn’t even bothered to take in the rest of the room yet.

Do all people live like this? It had seemed a little excessive for her to have an entire section of her house dedicated to dangling potted plants. Wait... Did that mean she planned to display him like that too? Would he be trapped in this stupid bowl for years to come? There are worse ways to go out.

He continued to try and calm his nerves while he watched her shove a hand into one of the pots and pull out a handful of what he assumed to be soil. Now he knew why her hands had been so filthy. So unclean. I can see a cup next to me! Just use that!?

“I imagine I might be one of only a few to have ever gotten this chance... I hope you do not judge me for what is to come. So few ever get an opportunity such as this, I only hope we can come to some sort of agreement before this is all over.”

He had long since tuned her and her ramblings out after he had caught a glimpse of the potential energy she held in her hand. He had already begun to think of ways to convince her to give it to him.

She had started to walk over towards his bowl and salvation had never felt so close. What an absolute fool she is.

Until she had grabbed him with her other hand and began to run her fingers along his body in... excitement? “You’ve hardly even gotten started! I can’t believe my luck... You know, they say the original roots are the most potent.” She squealed, which had sounded very unsettling coming from a woman who looked older than the dirt she had been holding, “I can’t believe I may actually get it all at once. Hah!” She had looked back at him apologetically, “Regardless, let’s just get this next part over with.” Who do you think you are!? Stop touching me and let me go!

He doubted he had actually heard her, but she had decided to set him down anyway. Afterward, she had placed a scale next to him on the shelf. Weights could be seen on either end, which he imagined would be used to help gather exact measurements. He had never felt so depressed from being correct, I fucking knew it. I’m a potion ingredient for some ancient flower witch. What a grand way to die.

His captor had begun shuffling items nearby him around, mumbling about some sort of shear… whatever that was. She had whirled back towards him, a maelstrom of color quickly followed the movement before he noticed the massive pair of blades in her hand, “Here is the long and short of it.” Just break me and be done with it. “I am going to need ten pounds of undamaged core root.” Ten pounds of what now?

She had to know how insane she looked talking to a rock... right? “It is my understanding that you need the ground to do this. I promise to provide enough to create the roots, and to harvest after they have grown past an inch in diameter.” Oh?

She looked around the room briefly before settling her eyes back to his form, “In exchange, I can offer you unique flora for your dungeon--” Bold of you to assume I want to make a dungeon. “--and provide you with any information you desire.” With a dismissive wave of her hand, she had just claimed to be all-knowing. Two-legs really are the dumbest.

While he tried to think of new insults for the witch, she had continued speaking, “I am well aware of how your kind enters the cycle of life, core. I could give you quite the headstart you know. I’ve done most everything and seen the rest, so ask away!” Even if he had wanted to bargain with that smiling corpse, he had no creations available that could. Nothing that could signal her for even a simple yes or-- Dammit.

He berated himself for being an idiot as she continued, “Once the quota is completed, I would be more than happy to return you to that nest I found you in.” Wait, what? “Or I could place you safely beneath the roots of the largest tree I can find. It’s up to you.”

If she had tried to place him back with that psychopathic bird, he would find a way to shatter himself before he let that happen. “Not another soul has to know you were here… I know I certainly don’t need the hassle. Do we have a deal?” Her yellow eyes stared unblinkingly at his unmoving form and he could tell she would not be asking politely again. He had been certain any rational person would have agreed she looked absolutely insane.

Either way, that had been a lot to have to take in all at once. He had to organize his thoughts. First things first, he had no way to know that she hadn’t been lying about setting him free, nor any of her other promises for that matter.

Secondly, she clearly knew he was a core and that he had potential dungeon plans. It was clear she had at least some knowledge about the inner-workings of his kind. How much did she know?

What he had been most excited to note, however, had been that she obviously didn’t know as much about cores as she had claimed to. Sure, he might not have had any idea what all that root talk had been about. What he did know was, by her own admission, that she clearly did not grasp what would happen if she gave him the dirt in her hand.

Screw making those roots, I’m about to get the fuck out of here. He had already begun to mentally catalog whatever he might need to build in order to escape.

As he did, he realized he still needed to respond to her offer before it became too late. It had been a little embarrassing not to realize sooner, but he already had a simple, if not crude, method of speaking available to him.

Searching within himself, a ring had formed on his surface before disappearing just as quickly. He feared that she might have missed his signal, but it went unfounded once he realized she had begun to stare wide-eyed with her mouth agape. Super creepy looking, for anybody who might have wondered.

I guess it must look cooler than I thought when I do that, huh. Let's just go with... one for yes and two for no. He prayed to whatever gods existed that she would understand his intentions and not immediately attack him for doing something different.

She shook her head as though to make sure she hadn't just seen things, before asking him, “Does that mean you agree?”

She looked away to think to herself for another moment, her wrinkled hand on her unnaturally wrinkled chin, “Show me that symbol again if you accept.”

Annoyed at being told what to do, he had still figured it would be better to actually work towards escape over being needlessly stubborn. He flashed the ring again in acknowledgment.

She had begun to laugh hysterically and roughly scooped him up in her other hand again before bringing him up to eye-level. Too close. Too close. Now that he had gotten a close enough look, he discovered even her wrinkles had wrinkles.

The hundreds of markings on her face scrunched together while she continued to smile at him, “Wonderful! My name is Alma and I look forward to doing business with you.” She nodded at him once before gently placing him back in the bowl.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

As she had walked away, he swore he had heard her musing to herself about what it was that he had just done. Trade secret, I’m afraid. There had been no chance he would have shared any information about his kind willingly, especially when everything and everyone seemed to want to take advantage of him in one way or another.

She might have been offering something in return, but it wasn’t like he had been given a choice in the matter.

With a critical eye, he surveyed the room for any potential exits. One corner had clearly been devoted to the woman’s strange obsession with plants, while every other wall in the room had been covered by shelves, various jars and tools, and... potted plants. I think she has a problem.

With every moment that passed, he knew he had become that much closer to freedom, and the first step involved her handing over that dirt she had been holding. Give it!

She clearly hadn’t heard his command as she had begun walking just out of his line of sight while she prepped whatever she may have needed. He focused back on the issue of escape while she appeared preoccupied.

There had been what he assumed to be a locked door to his right, with a potential gap wide enough at the bottom for him to slide under. Possibly. He had no idea if it would be the exit he had entered from or just a doorway to the actual evil lair he knew she had. Did he really want to take that risk? Maybe.

All his planning had still hinged on actually gathering enough energy to build a living creature. If he had bided his time, maybe he would gather enough to eventually overpower her. Unlikely.

He might have been able to at some point in the future, but he knew he still had a lot of growing to do. At least, according to that bastard up above. If I save up, who knows what I could build? Especially if I don’t spend any energy on whatever that useless core root is...

The plant-crazed woman had walked over to him during his musings, soil in hand, before she had leaned over him and silently dropped the payload directly over his form. The time had finally come. YES.

Manners were not something he had felt applied to the current situation. It had gone without saying, but the dirt had been absorbed before it had even fully left the woman’s hand. The instant he had felt it was within his absorption range, it had vanished.

He had been confused to note, however, that some of the dirt had stuck around anyways. Where the previously multi-colored tendrils had absorbed the soil, a single dirt-caked nub had begun to grow where one of the larger rainbow appendages had appeared from. That’s new.

There had been no time to consider the implications of him hitting the equivalent of core puberty though, as she had returned from the many pots across the room, bearing more soil. Hand it over! If he had had a mouth, he would have been practically frothing for more of the energy.

He wouldn’t dare check his reserves to see what he had gained yet, not if it might alert her to his plan.

She only continued to giggle at him as handful after handful of dirt was poured over his smooth surface. He had begun to feel intoxicated with power.

It felt as though he had finally woken up from a long dream, and his imagination had started running rampant with the possibilities. He belatedly realized the nub had long since turned into what he imagined to be the ‘root’.

It looked to be covered in a layer of topsoil, but he could clearly see the stone-line texture of its surface beneath the thin layer of dirt. Despite its appearance, he knew the tendril had grown and wrapped itself around his core without his invitation. I don’t remember that happening earlier… Honestly, it had become quite a pleasant sensation to nearly double his body-weight in such a short amount of time. He had felt protected, if only a little, from the dangers of the outside world.

The woman had cheered at him, obviously impressed by his sudden growth spurt, “Whoo! That took you no time at all.” She whistled quietly, “I sure don’t envy all the Greys that will have to deal with you.” After that ominous statement, she had let out a sigh that blew some of the dirt off the top of his newly formed root. She had shrugged before grabbing hold of the unnecessarily large pair of blades nearby, “Time to harvest!”

What could he do to stop her!? Nothing, yet. No time to build. Be patient. Don’t fuck this up. He continued to repeat assurances to himself while he tried to ignore the rising panic at the fact she had begun coming towards him with a giant pair of scissors.

Naturally, he had not fainted and woken up after the process had ended. Well... nearly. He had managed to rouse himself right at the moment the base of the tendril had gotten cut. Turned out he couldn't feel any pain when half his body mass got ripped away, only a deep and hollow emptiness now that his inadvertent barrier had been taken from him.

He didn’t actually regret the loss of the root, especially when he imagined it would be quite simple to grow another. What he did happen to be concerned about was whether or not that woman had just stolen all the energy he had gained. What if it had been stored in the root, and the reserves were still sitting at fuck all? Don't. Check. Yet, he repeated to himself in frustration.

As she turned, a flash of something new caught his attention. She might have taken the root away before he could fully understand what he had seen, but he had still caught a glimpse. It had been very unsettling.

There might have been a layer of dirt and stone to hide the surface of the thing, but he had still clearly seen the shifting colors coming from within from what had appeared to be tightly packed… crystal? A kaleidoscope of color had emanated out from the root before the woman had discreetly weighed and stored the thing out of his view. She also had clearly stood in a way that blocked his view of what she was doing with his root. It all seemed ridiculous and unfair to him.

It’s the same as the voice, the energy ring, and the creepy fucking arms that came out of my face. He wanted to lash out in frustration. What is that stuff and why don’t I already know about it!? It’s my fucking body, isn’t it? Why does everybody seem to know more about myself than I do!? Every time he thought he had a grasp on who he might be, he had been brutally reminded just how uninformed he still was.

His rage-induced ramblings had continued until a subtle movement from the witch caught his eye, “Hm, is it really this late already?” She had looked around the room again, while she continued to talk to him, “Oh! I just can’t help myself. It really is all so exciting. After that dungeon of yours gets up and running it will be guaranteed to be the talk of the swamp!” Huh? I’m in a swamp? No, I’m not. He couldn’t recall seeing much water during his landing, nor during his imprisonment in the nest. He might have been clueless about his own body, but he damn sure knew what a swamp was, and there had been no way he had crash-landed in one. Did she carry me to an entirely different area? He couldn’t see much out of the windows visible to him, and he didn’t remember hearing anything during their travels to indicate a change in the environment.

With how malnourished the trees had been and from what he already knew about swamps, it felt as though she might have been attempting to trick him. Which had felt odd, since he had no clue what she would stand to gain by lying about something so trivial.

There had ended up being no time to worry about whether or not he was surrounded by mud, as she had started to provide him with more soil. Since he had already decided to play things carefully, he wanted to take his time and actually watch as the root grew around his core. It had been quite a pleasant surprise after he had realized he could guide its growth in whatever direction he wanted.

Once he had made the root grow directly towards the woman, she had involuntarily flinched back, which had managed to lift his mood a little and give him a pretty good laugh. Eventually, she had joined him in laughing at the little prank, which had promptly made him stop laughing.

However, he had been happy to see she had begun holding her pair of scissors a little tighter each time she poured the dirt over him.

Practical jokes about murder aside, he had another reason to celebrate. While it might have been too soon to risk checking his reserves, he could simply tell that he had kept some of the energy.

He hadn’t the foggiest idea how much, but he had gotten enough to give himself some breathing room if push ever came to shove. It had only been when he gained access to the building process that he felt how he currently did, so he felt confident in his assumption.

Whether or not he had kept all of the energy after having his roots taken, he was unsure, but he had made definitive progress. Now, he only had to continue being patient. I can do this.

Two more cycles of his captor making it rain on his body and he had begun to feel impatient. With his size and the speed at which the woman had been moving between her soil reserves and his bowl, he would have been shocked if they had gathered even half a pound of root so far.

While he had been waiting breathlessly for the next handful to be delivered, the old hag had simply let out an exhausted sigh, “I think that’s me for the night. Let’s pick this up again another time.” Huh?

She had turned away without so much as a second glance, headed towards a raised platform to the right of her chair where a pile of blankets had been laying, “Please stay on your best behavior tonight and we can finish all this tomorrow. We should be done by nightfall if everything goes well!” Nightfall!?

Focus. A long day of forced mutilation was not something he planned to stick around for. He had truly lucked out again, to be captured by somebody as careless as that witch.

He longed to check how much progress he had made. Unfortunately, the woman had lain down in a position with a clear view of both his bowl and himself resting comfortably inside. If I check that ring, she is going to see it.

After she had gotten comfortable, she had reached over and blown out a nearby lantern. He would have sworn she had winked at him right before the light had gone out and flooded the room in darkness.

The last message he had received was a cheery, “Goodnight.”

It will be.