The party came upon multiple hostile monsters as they made their way deeper into the forest—with Orion’s abilities returned, they posed no real threat. Sure, if a head of a three-headed creature latched onto anyone other than Shadow or Gizmo, it would have been an issue, but they were never given the chance.

Gizmo was the only one being chomped, and he let everyone know how he felt about that—repeatedly and often.

After a few hours, the trees began getting denser. Orion thought he may be imagining it until Honeypot also mentioned the change. They walked for another two hours without running into a single creature. The forest continued to grow thicker; trunks and branches grew closer-and-closer together. The surrounding space was hotly contested by the increased number of trees, the canopy letting even less light through.

Ahead, Orion noticed something peculiar, and as they drew closer, he could see the trees of the forest creating a literal wall. There was a gap in the canopy, sunshine showering down upon some ground-dwelling plants at the base of the offending trees. The trunks had grown to be touching each other; not a single gap between the trees was visible. The wall stretched as far as they could see in either direction, and Orion suspected the wall wrapped around the entire inner forest, creating an impassible wall.

“I think we need to spend some time trying to find a way in.” Orion held his hand against one of the giant trunks, feeling the smooth and unyielding wood. “If we can’t find a way in by the end of the day, we’ll have to make a way in. I want to avoid making that much noise unless we have to.”

“Psst.” Honeypot nudged Arika and looked at her conspiratorially. “I think he’s talking about you.”

“Well, he’s definitely not talking about you.” She put her hand to her chin and feigned deep thought. “Actually, you might be able to annoy some trees enough for them to sprout legs and run away.”

Honeypot rubbed his chin in thought. “I wonder…”

“Three days left, guys,” Orion called back to Arika and Honeypot, who were too engrossed in their bickering to notice the rest of the party moving along the tree-line. “I’m all for the banter, but you have to walk as you do it.”

They moved along the line of trunks, seeing no gaps to speak of. They talked quietly among themselves, not knowing when a monster could be within earshot.

Suddenly, Orion noticed movement. He stopped and held his hand up, causing the rest of the party to come to a stop. He focused where he’d seen the movement. No one made a sound.

After less than a minute, something small and low to the ground darted from behind a tree. It looked like a hermit crab, but its body was made entirely out of plant matter. It had a bulbous-flower for a shell, with vibrant red petals peaking out, spindly wooden limbs, and two black eyes perched atop eye-stalks.

It scuttled around, digging through the decaying plant matter on the floor of the forest. It turned and ran toward the wall of trees, and when it reached them, it vanished. Orion approached slowly, thinking it might have slipped into a gap between the trees, but there were no gaps to speak of. He looked up, but there were no places for it to hide in if it climbed upwards.

He eased a bunch of the fern-like plants aside at the base of the tree wall, and he smiled to himself.

Revealed before him was a hole beneath the wall, just big enough for them all to slip through. He peered further into the hole and his Dark Vision kicked in. It was more spacious inside than the small entrance would imply.

The joy was ripped from his face as the crab-like creature he’d seen earlier came scuttling out of the hole, trying to grab onto him with two thorned pincers. He reacted swiftly, turning and teleporting away, leaving the oddly aggressive crab to land out in the open. He swapped Shadow in a moment later, the big man appearing behind the flowery shell, sword already drawn.

“Death blossom!”

The sword descended, cleaving the entire creature in two.

Orion walked over, peering down at each half of the monster. It looked as though Shadow had simply cut a giant plant in half, the creature clearly not reliant on a circulatory system or organs.

“Sick move, my man.” Honeypot fist-bumped the big warrior.

“Thanks!” Shadow beamed and his eyes grew wide as a glowing blue bag appeared. “Loot!”

He bent down, looting the bag and inspecting the item it contained.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I don’t know if this would suit Orion or Arika better.” Shadow laughed. “It says it’s suitable for a cloth wearer.”

The crown looked like a flower about the size of Shadow’s hand, and he handed it to Orion to inspect.

Chlorophyll Crown

Rare

Head

Cloth

Unique Effect: Grants the wearer 15% Cooldown Reduction on all abilities. Only effective during the day with suitable sunlight present.

Orion put it on, causing everyone but Gizmo to laugh. Honeypot was particularly afflicted, his legs giving way beneath the onslaught of his mirth.

“You look b-beautiful.” Honeypot barely got the words out, bursting into laughter immediately after.

Orion could see green leaves hanging down into his field of view. He took it off and gave it to Arika. She equipped it, and he understood why he’d been the butt of the joke.

The crown was the bulbous flower that the crab-like creature had been adorned with. The red petals suited Arika’s red robe and her feminine features, the leaves even matching her green boots that she hadn’t managed to replace yet. On him, it must have looked disastrous.

She took it off and handed it to him.

“I actually think you should hold on to this, Orion.”

Orion groaned. “I hate that you’re right. I can see situations where this is good on you, but I’ll hold on to it for now.”

The tentacle hat still provided too much survivability to not have equipped in a dangerous fight, but his abilities tied the party together, and having a shorter cooldown on them could prove invaluable.

“Unfortunately for me, I bet there’s not enough sun with this canopy.” He smiled and put the crown away. “What a shame.”

Orion walked back over to the pit he uncovered, parting the leaves and showing the rest of the party.

“I’m hoping this leads somewhere. Do you guys want to come with me, or should I head down there by myself?” Orion looked back at them with blue, glowing eyes, the darkness of the hole causing his Dark Vision to kick in again.

“I don’t want you going down there alone, but I might just get in the way in such a cramped space.” Shadow looked deeper into the hole. “Does it get bigger, or is that just darkness?”

“It gets more spacious, but I can’t see around the bend down there to see if it leads anywhere. How about if Gizmo and I go check it out? If we run into something terrifying, he can get it off me, then when I’m safe I can Swap him out.”

“I will gladly die for you if I have to, Daddy.”

“Is that because you want me to live, or because you want to feel the pain of death?” Orion raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

After some preparation, Gizmo led the way down into the hole, Orion right behind him. He looked around the spacious cavern, seeing nothing of interest other than the tunnel leading further down.

They walked down the tunnel, Orion spotting something rectangular on the path ahead. They approached with caution, wary of a trap or creature laying in wait. Gizmo went and picked it up, looking at it for a second before bringing it back to Orion.

“It appears to be of human construction.” Gizmo handed the object over.

Orion looked at it, and it indeed appear to be manmade. It was carved or molded into the shape of a brick with square, unnatural edges.

It was unlike anything they’d seen so far in this forest, or even in the forests surrounding Valbrand. Everything else was clearly natural: trees, plants, dirt, rock.

But here is something clearly made by a sentient creature. How did it get here?

They continued down the tunnel, finding more of the bricks. Some remained whole, most were broken or ground down to gravel. They found an increasing number of them until they eventually found the source of the foreign objects.

Orion and Gizmo rounded another corner, and were met with the sight of the tunnel leading into the side of a bricked corridor. They stepped out into the corridor cautiously, peering around for any hostile creatures or traps.

Orion stared in awe at the ceiling, walls, and floor that were completely paved. The corridor stretched fifty meters in either direction before it led around a corner and out of sight.

The only sign of anything other than bricks or mortar was the hole that they’d come through.

Something must have dug out and up to the surface, Orion thought.

Gizmo went back to fetch everyone while Orion waited. When the rest of the party arrived—relying on the light cast from torches they each held in their hand—they all looked as astonished as Orion. Well, everyone except for Honeypot, but that was a given—he looked around with non-nonchalance etched into his very being.

“Not a bad wall, that.” Honeypot rapped his knuckles on the wall beside him. He swept his torch back and forth, looking intently at the bit of wall in front of him. “Seen better, seen worse.”

“What do you mean, not a bad wall?” Arika sounded genuinely curious. “Are you not a little shocked that there’s a secret tunnel under the forest that’s otherwise barren of architecture?”

“Arika, my dear, I woke up in an alternate world, am now the head priest to a religion of chaos, and I can turn invisible. A secret tunnel is low on the list of things that have surprised me in the last fortnight.”

“He’s got a point,” Shadow said.

“I know.” She rolled her eyes. “I hate when he’s right, though.”

Honeypot smiled like a cat with a fish, and slipped a sausage to Femera as he walked behind Arika, the little fox darting out to snatch her treat.

Orion checked his map, wanting to see what direction each branch of the tunnel lead to. Seeing the tunnel to the left lead northwest and the right runnel lead to the southeast, he made the obvious choice.

“Let’s head in this direction.” Orion pointed to the left tunnel. “It should lead further into the forest.”

Femera suddenly leaped out of Arika’s robe, sniffing the air in each direction. She walked further down the path that lead to the right. She raised her nose and breathed deep, then let out a yip and locked eyes with Arika.

“She smells something that way.”

“Something as in a creature to fight, or the way forward?” Orion asked.

Arika shrugged. “She doesn’t think it’s a creature—not anything she’s ever smelled before, anyway. It smells unnatural, and intriguing.”

Orion thought, weighing up the options laid before them.

What good is finding something intriguing if it meant failing the quest?

He got a notification, and checking it, his mind was made up for him.