Alexander's feelings were split.

On one hand, everything turned out fine.

He didn't see anyone dying, no permanent damage either. He didn't even participate in that final fight, being even more useless than a standing lamp without a lightbulb.

'That meant they finished the optional challenges and we would get an even bigger reward like Dave said.'

But he was also a pragmatic person and saw the advantages the rash decision-making brought.

On the other hand?

Everything could have gone wrong. Everyone was frozen with just a single immaterial wave of the monster's appendage.

He completely forgot that they had one more member. 'Did she watch us all along? Just waiting for her chance to jump in and play hero?'

He tried to shake his head, forgetting he was still frozen, watching as the wind blew off the hood of the cloaked person to reveal two fluffy bunny ears.

'It could have gone wrong. If Dave didn't pull through, if whatever he did at the end didn't work. The bunny girl would be the only one left.' He gulped nervously as realization set in, sweat soaking his back.

'They would have all been like fish on a chopping block.

Ready for harvest. Whenever the monster decided it felt like having a snack, it would just have to move one of those mouths along a tentacle towards them.. no. Towards us. It would move one of those mouths towards us and-'

His thoughts were cut off for a moment as John touched his arm. He pointedly felt the warmth of the rough hand, as it continued through his whole body, setting him free.

He stretched out his stiff limbs, working his jaw and trying to thank him.

"Thanks."

Alexander croaked out in a tired voice, throat dry from panic as the adrenaline left his system. Silence greeted him as he looked up from the ground.

He glanced at his peers, everyone's gaze fixed towards where the eldritch being was last seen. Cracking and croaking of wood slowly broke the silence.

'The boy Edmund possessed.' Alexander thought as he stepped forward, his steps gaining in conviction until he closed in on the youth.

"Are you okay?" He asked before touching the immobile youths shoulder, feeling as softness of flesh gave way to coarse and hard texture.

Alexander slowly walked around the youth. His own body turning rigid in shock at the scene playing out in front of him. The youths face, frozen in a beautiful and intoxicated smile, morphed into smooth bark.

The crackling intensified as wood rubbed on wood, the youths spine slowly eclipsing his body, stretching towards the sky. Alexander hurriedly stepped back, stumbling over a moving root, crashing onto his buttocks. He winced as a sharp pain shot through his tailbone up his spine, a bright flash painting his vision.

Blinking the stars out of his view, he was greeted by a giant tree in place of the teen.

It's wood glowed in a soft blue hue, the color bleeding into its farthest reaches as it lit up the veins in the lush green leaves. An ethereal feeling of contentment and peace washed over him, making him remember the youths final expression.

"Please tell me I'm dreaming." He whispered, his body contrasting the tree as blood slowly drained out of his face. The blue light reflected off of his pale skin, making it seem like he was born with blue skin at first sight.

Entranced with the sight in front of him, a part of him barely noticed soft footsteps ringing out behind him.

"How does that make sense?" The words slipped out of Alexander's mouth without his conscious input.

"I remember special trees from where I come from." A baritone voice rang out gently behind him, softly trying to coax him as if he was a frightened rabbit ready to bolt at any second. "After years of magical saturation their wood and veins turn blue. If it isn't corrupted it birthes a tree spirit. Both spirit and tree live as one in nature, enjoying peace till it gets disturbed."

"And if it is corrupted?" He asked with trepidation, knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

"They turn. The spirit isn't birthed, but fused into a twisted form with it's wooden body." Alexander turned towards the speaker, concentrating on his every word.

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"Forced to hunt anything containing magical energy in their blood to grow, never able to sate their hunger." He strained his ears as the words grew softer towards the end.

As if a spell was broken, he finally realized he wasn't alone. John was there with him, acting as a beacon of comfort, softly explaining the development he witnessed.

Turning back to the tree he was basked in the soothing feeling it gave off. "The boy is gone then? We didn't even get his name.."

"I won't say he is in a better place, but he finally got the peace he hoped for at long last." He turned his head to the side, wondering when Kelly had walked up to them.

"He was a pained soul, running on fumes and only a final driving force. Revenge." She continued, going down on one knee and clasping fingers into a praying gesture.

"The final flame holding him together, was blown out the moment we defeated the reason for it's burning."

Alexander was never religious, but felt like it was a fitting gesture to deliver his respect. He wasn't a warrior either, but he wasn't an ungrateful man.

'Wherever you are now, thank you for holding out and thank you for fighting for us.. even if that wasn't your intent, you still helped us a lot. Thank you.'

He sighed as he finished his prayer, pushing his hands against the ground to stand up. Turning his head upwards he saw a branch extending towards him, offering him a tiny twig, two leaves gently waving in the wind. He looked around as everyone finished up their own contemplations, watching the spectacle playing out in front of them.

A slight nudge made him turn back, the branch gently poking him, reminding him of the twig. He gently took the twig and looked on as the branch retracted, as if nothing had ever happened.

----------------------------------------

"You sure you want to carry him?" John's voice rang out again, as he repeated the question for the fourth time already.

Alexander scrunched his eyebrows in slight annoyance. 'She was sure the first time you asked and will be sure the tenth time you ask.' He grumbled internally as he watched the seemingly waifish rabbit eared girl easily carry the much taller Dave in a bride's carry. He noticed her nod as John silently grumbled at the rejection.

'I give it four.. no three, three minutes till he asks her again.' He sighed.

"So like, anyone know where we goin'?" Alexander turned towards Kelly. He had already caught her multiple times, as she stared at Dave and the newly introduced Evergreen, before looking away and pouting along their short trek.

"I wonder.. but have you noticed how the reward screen seems buggy?" Ray said in a much too cheery tone of voice for his taste.

'I swear we should have taken a bit of that weird sticky stone to close up his.. deep breaths Alex, deep breaths. Not everyone is done with the world.' His thoughts always seemed to stray towards the darker emotions he noticed. 'When did that start..? The moment the monster was gone? The sun rose?'

"Didn't it say it's like, calculating and stuff? Maybe we did so well that it doesn't know what to do." He saw Kelly shrug out of his peripheral vision. "That's why it does those error thingies."

Alexander suppressed a laugh, stifling it into a silent chuckle while turning his head away. "Error thingies, like totally rad sis." Finally breaking into a loud barking laugh.

"Hey, don't be a like, such a bully!" She countered without any heat, making him laugh even more.

"Yaaaaas fam, no roasties in da house." So caught up in his mirth, he didn't notice as trees on the side of the road fell and with a chirping screech a giant feathered beast burst out of the forest in front of them.

His vision was blurry thanks to laughing to tears. He wiped away his tears and started laughing even harder as his vision cleared up.

An elongated reptile snout was framed by a pink wattle and comb, reminding him of a rooster. Beautiful pure white feathers strewn along its body, unable to distract from it's four appendages ending in sharp claws. 'It's a fucking dinosaur chicken, what next? King Kong riding Godzilla?' His legs turned into jelly. He wasn't sure if it was from horror or just the infinite amusement he was feeling. 'Maybe finally the other shoe dropped together with my sanity?'

The dinosaur watched them warily, saliva splashing out of it's mouth as it sharply turned it's head towards where it came from.

A furious roar and metallic thumping echoed across the forest, as a giant furious gorilla stormed after the big feathered monster. Alexander could see silvery metallic tones reflecting the sunlight under its fur, covering it's clearly muscled frame. It thumped it's chest twice, resounding metallic clangs ringing out again, before he saw it's muscles strain and it flew over the clearing in a singular jump.

With a sickening crack and a short whimper, it landed on the feathered beings spine, stomping it into the ground.

Silence spread out as Alexander realized John had already moved to the front, shield held high to guard the team. Kelly stood to the side behind him again, mace held at ready.

Evergreen had put down Dave on the ground, hovering in front of him protectively with fists raised in a boxers pose. The only ones being flabbergasted and surprised were him and Ray, but Rocky was already pecking at his cheek, pulling the teen out of his revery.

He fumbled to grab his blowgun with one hand, the other clawing at the air. He felt the liquid inside of him bubble stronger as they rose up to his arms. The popping of the bubbles intensified at his hand as it formed into a blowdart. He grabbed it and nervously pushed it into his weapons opening, moving it towards his lips.

Nobody moved. Muscles coiled. Tension rose.

"Uh.. hi?" He heard a surprisingly deep and charming voice leave the gorilla's mouth as it held the neck of the chicken-dinosaur-thing with one hand, the other raised in the universal gesture of "I mean no harm".

"Names Frank. Sorry for the surprising entrance?" He said and Alexander could swear if he could taste with his ears, the voice would taste like rich liquid chocolate.

"I'm just out here to hunt for ingredients, don't mind me."