Faces

After their battle with the snow creatures Anya and Phoenix regrouped with the others.

"Well done you two, unfortunately those things were of the corruptum order so we can't perform Sacrum Ritus to extract their essence."

"Worry not Captain, killing those filthy things was rewarding enough."

"I see."

"What about you Phonenix?would you perhaps want a reward for your efforts?"

"Not really,I just did my job."

"Alright,now it's time to discuss about how exactly those things emerged here in this forested side of the mountain range,in fact even on the snowy side there shouldn't be any of them from what I know."

"Ezel,you seem to be most knowledgeable of the Old Ones,any guesses?"

"Unfortunately not,I already told you everything I know..."

"I see, something strange has got to be happening here,from now on scratch everything we thought we knew about this place and be ready for anything."

The warriors all made understanding expressions and the mood turned somber,

They were about to return to the camp,but before something had to be done.

Gavien turned to Phoenix and expressed:

"Burn those trees."

Phoenix did as she was told and approached the trees one by one setting them on fire.

After she did so however something unexpected happened...

Instead of burning down,the trees seemed to be growing, almost as if the fire had nourished them.After a while they seemed to have morphed and now had faces? on their trunk.

Upon seeing this the group all turned even more serious than before.

"Ahh fuck that!!" Exclaimed Olaf with a bitter expression.

"Maybe I should have remained in prison." Said Faye.

Upon hearing her Princeps made an understanding expression but Inwardly tought'No whatever is in here cannot be worse than that hellhole.

We didn't even to anything bad and yet they threw us in prison simply for defying the coalition.Even Sebastian who was an assassin only killed those rapists and murderous nobiles.'

The trees which now looked like proper monsters uprooted themselves from the ground and slowly walked forwards,their branches extending and curling like tentacles.

There was a streak of blood falling down each of their eyes which had horrified expressions,their mouths seemed wide open and yet there was still wood inside them,sort of like if a human opened their mouth and put wood in it, hiding the inside.

There seemed to be a muffled wail coming from their mouths.

"Seriously,what the fuck is that??!!."

Naki exclaimed with a shocked expression.

"Whatever it is it's coming towards us and does not seem like friends."

Anya said,still with her cold expression.

"Everyone prepare..."

"Prepare for combat,I know.you didn't really have to say it."

Naki interrupted Gavian and proceeded to summon a golden staff with some black engravings on it.

Princeps took out his two sickles and said towards his father"Dad,stay close to me."

"I'm the one who should say that."

Spoke Ezel while making hand signs indicating he was praying.

The group all lined up in a battle formation and prepared to welcome the strange trees.

Finally the trees arrived near the group,the group could now hear the thundering beat of a heart coming from each tree and started feeling somewhat disoriented,after a while they could see the visage of a dark Forest filled with trees similar to the ones before them,in the middle of this forest there was a cravice and in the cravice lay a dark ocean.

Inside this ocean lay strange shapes,shapes that seemed to be struggling to manifest in reality.After laying eyes on these shapes they immediately felt extremely disoriented,they completely lost their bodily coordination and started involuntarily walking towards the trees,upon reaching a tree, each of them saw a sign.A red tree with a red skull in it,for some reason they felt the tree telling them something...their deaths...

Each of them except 5 received a message that their death was near,and that it would happen here,In Silva Infernus.

Before they could even process this News something else happened,the red trees cracked apart?and their pieces fell to the floor making a sound similar to glass colliding with the ground.

Inside the hole that was now left in the air,mirrors shaped differently due to the different cracks appeared.

The mirrors all showed a reflection of each of them,all of the reflections seem exactly like the one in front of them... except one.

Sebastian's reflection looked similar to him except he had pure white eyes with no pupils,and his hair was white instead of the dark hair they were accostumed.

Everyone seemed slightly shocked by this revelation before focusing back on the information they received previously.

After a while they all lost conscience...