I stepped over fallen timbers, as I moved through the broken house. Shattered furniture littered the floor. Rotten food filled all the cupboards, infected by the red mist into a noxious smelling mold.
I froze as my gaze landed on a torn stuffed animal. Hands shaking, I reached down and picked up the shredded rabbit doll. A single eye stared back at me. I held the doll to my chest as I continued to look around the home.
I prayed that I would not find a body, torn just like this doll. I prayed that the people that lived here made it out safely. I prayed that they saw the mist coming and ran the opposite direction.
My hopes were dashed to a thousand pieces when I saw the dried blood in the next room… No one had made it out alive.
My hands tightened around the doll. Green flames roared to life as the stuffed animal was burned to a crisp. The smoldering remains fell to the ground, lifeless and still.
I slammed my fist against the broken wall and marched out of the house. There was nothing more to see.
I shook my head at a soldier stepping out of another nearby house. He let out a tired sigh and slumped against the broken wood work. His metal helmet clattered to the ground as he cradled his head.
Hundreds of houses in the village, and not a single survivor. The Demonkin must have arrived here before the mist did. I could only hope some people managed to escape. If it had been just one Demonkin, it surely would not have been able to kill everyone before they could flee, right?
I stepped over cut and broken vines that littered the ground as I returned to our family’s wagon. Everyone else was still checking houses, but I could not do it anymore. I grabbed hold of Mitis’s neck and held it tightly. The simple warmth radiating from the stallion helped calm my troubled heart.
“I found one!” said a voice ringing out in the mist, “Survivor, north side of the village!”
Elated, I let go of Mitis and followed the sound of the voice. Through the red shroud that covered everything, I heard other soldiers moving in the same direction. Even though I could not see them well in the mist, I knew they were just as delighted as me to find any good news.
“Everyone! Over here!” The soldier called out.
Orias was first to arrive, with me only a few steps behind him. A single soldier was standing ramrod straight. Wrapped around his feet I saw dozens of tiny, bright blue flowers.
“Soldier, where is the survivor?” Orias called out. He was about to take a step towards the soldier when I stopped him.
“Don’t! look at his feet.”
“What?” Orias said in shock. He looked at the unmoving soldier, and the flowers at his feet. “Soldier report. What is your unit? Where is the survivor?”
“Everyone! Over here!” the soldier shouted again. It sounded like a recording of the same shout from before.
More soldiers had arrived now. My family also approached, but I made sure they did not approach the lone soldier.
“Everyone! Over here!” The soldier shouted again.
“What is going on?” Orias asked.
I peered at the flowers without getting too close. I did not recognize them, but that was not unusual. While plants had more predictable mutations than animals, it was not guaranteed it would always be the same.
“The flowers could be causing some kind of hallucination,” I muttered, not entirely convinced.
“Whatever it is, we need to get him out of there.” Orias replied. his muscles started to bulge as he grew many times larger. Standing, like a giant among men, Orias reached out to grab the soldier.
“Everyone! Over here!” the soldier shouted once more before Orias’s massive hand wrapped around him.
The soldier shook for a moment as Orias attempted to pull him away. Then, he let out a blood curdling scream.
Despite Orias’s massive strength, the soldier did not budge. I could see the small flowers wrapping his feet tightly, and more… As Orias tried to lift the soldier, saw the roots of the flowers piercing through the soles of his boots. It looked like someone had sown his feet to the ground.
My eyes narrowed at the sight. Something felt off about it, but I could not place what it was. A half-forgotten memory of something I might have heard before.
“Just in case, ready your weapons,” I said calmly. My family nodded and unsheathed their swords. Most of the soldiers ignored me, but a few took my advice, and were ready to react at a moment’s notice.
Orias pulled harder, and the soldier screamed louder. The ground under the soldier was being pulled up with him. Giant roots that stretched deep into the dirt were revealed.
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Freed from the ground, the soldier continued to scream despite the fact that he did not move in any way beyond a small shaking.
Orias placed the soldier on the ground and removed his helmet. His face was dotted with hundreds of small blue flowers. Their roots piercing deep into his skin.
“What… What did this to him?” Orias shouted, stumbling backwards. “Soldier, speak to me. what happened to you?”
The soldier’s screaming was suddenly cut off. He turned his head towards the captain, looking at him with an empty gaze. The roots of the flowers had pierced his eyes. He could not see anymore, but somehow it still felt like he was watching us.
The soldier opened his mouth, revealing a tangled mess of roots inside. With a dry rasp, the soldier struggled to speak a single word. “R- Run!”
The moment the soldier spoke I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. All of the thorned vines nearby started to squirm and writhe. They started to grow at a rate visible to the naked eye as they formed a giant wall around us.
“It’s a trap!” Orias shouted, tearing one of the vines that attempted to tangle his legs.
I activated the gem in my dagger as I cut one of the nearby vines. I looked around in a panic. Plants could not form traps like this. Something had to be controlling them, but no matter where I looked everything was the same. Hundreds of thousands of vines, covered in thorns, were closing in on us.
A soldier screamed as vines wrapped around him. He swung his sword wildly, but for every vine he cut, ten more appeared to take their place. Another soldier freed him using a glyph that caused the vines to get torn apart by a powerful blade of wind.
The bracer on my father’s arm glowed as he struck out with his blade. Dozens of vines froze solid, forming a wall the vines behind could not get past.
Despite the sudden attack, the soldiers handled themselves well. Groups of ten formed up into a circle formation. Dozens of glyphs were fired off in quick succession. Each cleared multiple vines easily.
Each unit also had one person with an innate ability. I saw one fire off a lightning bolt into the vines. Another was able to create green energy that could take on a solid form. I took special note of Istvan’s innate talent. Whenever he struck one of the vines with his sword, they exploded into a thousand pieces.
Orias cleared the vines better than any of them. His massive frame acted like a natural wall of muscle, protecting the soldiers behind him. The thorns on the vines only left small scratches on his tough skin. Any vine that came too close was ripped apart with brute force.
Protected by everyone else, Charly was able to focus. His bracer glowed bright in the mist. He fired his crossbow and an explosion shook the ground. All the vines in a huge area were blasted to pieces in an instant, clearing a large area.
That is when I saw it. A single vine moving differently from the rest. While all the other vines were stretching towards us, this vine fled backwards and away from the explosion area.
“Attack there!” I shouted pointing towards the fleeing vine.
My mother was the first to move. In a flash of lightning, she appeared next to the vine. She stashed at it with skilled precision. The electricity on her blade crackled.
The sound of metal striking metal rang though the mist. The errant vine was knocked away, but it was completely unharmed.
The vine reared up revealing two red eyes and a mouth with sharp fangs. It was not a vine at all. It was a snake that looked the same as all the vines around it, thorns and all.
The snake struck at my mother, fangs dripping with a blue venom. It moved faster than the eye could see, but my mom had predicted the attack. Before the snake could get anywhere close to her, there was a flash of lightning, and she appeared next to my father.
He nodded towards her. Pulling out a few pieces of paper with his free hand, a silver light formed on my mother’s blade. The silver light mixed with the arcs of electricity, turning it silver as well.
The glyphs disintegrated. My father’s blade took on a silver glow as he charged towards the snake.
The Demonkin attempted to retreat further into the vines, but my dad did not give it the chance. His bracer glowed and a wall of ice appeared behind the snake.
A few of the nearby soldiers also noticed the snake now that we had started fighting it. They charged forward fearlessly.
My father reached the Demonkin first. Spikes of silver ice sprouted from his blade as he struck down at it.
However, the snake was even faster than my father’s blade. It moved in a blur, easily avoiding the strike. It slithered past my father and pounced at the approaching soldiers. It moved so fast; the soldiers did not have time to react.
The snake bit down on the arm of one of the soldiers. Its fangs easily pierced the steel armor. My mother did not miss this moment. When the snake bit the soldier, she appeared next to it. Her sword piecing forward in a flash of silver electricity.
The snake tried to dodge, but the attack was too sudden. My mother’s blade tore into the snakes skin just below its head. The snake practically jumped backwards, once again trying to flee into the vines.
The bitten soldier stumbled backwards, screaming in pain. I rushed forward, the gem on my dagger glowing brightly. The soldiers around me screamed in surprise as my dagger sliced at the bitten soldier. With one clean cut, the soldier’s arm fell limply to the ground. The soldier screamed, holding his bloody stump.
“What are you doing?” a nearby soldier shouted, pouncing at me.
I jumped backwards, avoiding the furious soldier and pointed at the severed limb with my dagger. “Look.”
The severed arm had already started growing small blue flowers. Within a few seconds, the flesh was completely covered in them.
The soldiers that had been ready to attack me stopped. Through their helmets, I could see pale faces. I ignored them and turned back to the snake.
Bleeding heavily from my mother’s strike, the snake was moving much slower now. Dozens of small, silver spikes of ice shot up from the ground. Most of the ice was unable to pierce the snakes thick hide, but a few spikes struck the open wound.
The snake hissed in pain as its body was started to freeze. Trapped by the spikes piercing into its wound, the snake could not get away fast enough. Every single spike stared to expand. Within a few seconds, the snake was encased in ice. My mother struck down one final time, severing the snake’s head in a single blow.
The headless body convulsed and twitched for a few second before falling still. The nearby wall of vines stopped growing, and the soldiers reacted instantly, clearing all the vines that were still a threat.
Orias shrunk back to his normal size and collapsed to the ground with a sigh of relief. He stared silently at the fallen soldier covered in flowers on the ground. He was not breathing anymore. The nearby soldiers also grew silent, all staring at their fallen comrade.
I could hear the bones in Orias’s hand crack as it tightened into a fist. A few drops of blood fell to the ground as his nails bit into his palm.