"Please... take care of my daughter...." The voice of the aged man wailed towards me, desperate for a longer life that could never be his. He happened to ask for the life of his daughter. He kept on glancing at her, which brought me a snap of confusion and the reality of facing the first killing I witnessed.
"Take care of her..." He added with his tears kept falling to his cheek. His face lightened up in the darkness that he was facing. He looked stiff while his head kept turning around his surrounding, crying in silence as he saw his daughter fighting for her life. From this, it was the very first thought I realized.
The daughter he was talking about was Flora.
After which, a few seconds later, he smiled, letting out a bitter smile as he looked straight to my dead consciousness. Then, he disappeared down the land.
He already accepted his fate.
"Sophia! Hold on, we are coming." Hanaele's voice whispered to my thoughts. I can hear her presence slowly gets closer in my direction.
"I can't move...." I responded inside my brain while trying to stay awake for at least a little. Witnessing those trees who ate almost all of our squad, I can't stop fearing my death. Their bodies gradually get inside the trunk as their skin disappears. Their screams were comparable to someone desperate to live.
After I had that conversation with Hanaele, I haven't heard any response from her, but it doesn't matter. It only took a few minutes before she finally landed in front of me, eradicating those crawling roots which came closer to me. She did this by swaying her activated five to six-feet bronze metallic stick with a spiral arrow with an estimated circumference of eight from its base. According to the handouts we had, the one she was holding is a specialized weapon for an Esperer like her. Those roots turned black from brown as they flew away from us. Damn, I did not even notice that there were hidden roots underneath the mud that appeared to attack me.
Cassius assisted Hanaele by using his horse. Among the Esperers, he is the most skillful when riding a horse or operating any vehicle. Cassius is also the one assigned for this kind of training.
Hanaele picked me up using her strength and quickly ran in Cassius's direction. He stopped for a moment. He roamed his eyes above the soil, making sure that the spot where he left his horse has no trace of crawling roots, a few feet away from us.
At this point, my eyes were closed. I can't see anything aside from darkness, yet I can hear the noises around me. I can overhear those trees falling everywhere as the voices of our comrades screamed in full hopes of living. The ranging sound of the wind kept disturbing my hearing. The signature feeling of being wrapped by the cold humidity and its blind dark approach appeared in my mind. a
This feeling...
Why is it familiar?
The pacing between our footsteps felt like we were not moving at all. Hanaele was the one controlling both of us by escaping those falling trees that might smash our entire body.
I heard Cassius's footsteps as he jumped along those gigantic branches. As I detected his presence in front of us, he quickly grabbed me to his arms before the tree fell among us. Hanaele's proximity was still there. She was running behind the two of us.
Cassius's flexibility was not a surprise anymore. He hopped over the horse while carrying me using his one arm. He was able to ride the horse while escaping this dungeon. Hanaele, on the other side, balanced herself at the back.
I was trying to move my head, but I cannot! I was unable to feel my entire body. It seemed that it was only my thoughts that kept me alive this time.
As the horse made its sound, I felt a sigh of relief. I was close to death, and now these two people came to help me. However, I suddenly remembered a scenario a while ago. A tree slowly eats a human, and the voice of the man echoed in my ears.
"Please... take care of my daughter...."
When my memory becomes vivid, I finally saw the face of this man's daughter, who happened to be Flora. Wait! Where is she?!
I was about to inform Hanaele about Flora's situation, but my head reacted in pain like it was about to explode! I was trying to communicate with Hanaele, but it also looked like she was not allowing me!
I unintentionally held Cassius's clothes at his back tightly while making my eye wrinkled in deep. Cassius left arm, where he used to secure my body from falling, reacted. He was probably astounded by what I did. I buried my head closer to his as my hand went calm once again. It wasn't still than I thought. I think it was because I lost control over my body once again.
Later on, I heard a lot of conversations from our comrades from the different squad. Although most of them were voices from the higher dignitaries, I sensed the presence of at least a countable number of survivors this time. The running noises of their horses squelched with the wetland.
I tried to open up my eyes to see them, but I also cannot! What is happening to me?! I asked myself in despair to recover.
For a certain point that maybe I was just overthinking the situation, I made myself calm. I let go of holding Cassius's clothes and made my head comfortable. After I did that, Hanaele's hand landed over mine. She rubbed his thumb gently above my fingers.
"Don't worry, Sophia. We are here."
Nover Weber
I killed all the tree monsters by using the dagger I have. The waxy effect of its debris splashed into my clothes, most especially to my face. But it doesn't matter! The most important thing right now is to kill this goddam nature!
I screamed as I used all my strength to turn brown to black. "How dare you killed my grandfather!"
I flew along with the launcher and positioned myself on top of the giant tree I successfully get down. I removed the launcher from my left and operated the functioning at its back base in preparation to fire. I was looking for the right time to lance.
With furrowed forehead, I greeted my teeth while witnessing the sorrowful deaths of our friends. I also spotted the rest of the troops that flew away without helping the majority of us going back alive!
How could they do this to us?!
I breathed and let out a deep breath as I shook my head to minimize the painful experience I felt. In a coincidence, my eyes captured Flora, who was trying to cut the tree's tiny branches, which slowly pulls her to its trunk. I can't believe Hanaele left her like this.
They only care about Sophia, aren't they?!
I shrugged my shoulders and positioned the launcher at the exact spot as to where I can successfully cut off that tree's bearings, especially the trunk where a lilac flower grew. It is the perfect way to kill the monster trees. One must target anything that it bears, not just the branches.
When I pulled on the activator, the launcher lets out a large size ball, with powder that stimulates fire as it lands. As I carefully comprehend the distance and the time it takes, the launch was successful. The tree's bearing and its branches broke on the land as it slowly disappears with the help of the launching fire. Flora fell on the ground while moving an inch of her body senses.
But, it was not over yet. Countless monster trees kept appearing in the area, so I jumped away from the mountainous elevation towards her. When I landed on her side, I quickly held her pulse and ran away towards the nearest horse alive.
"Slow down! My body is still shaking!~" Flora informed with her voice, trying to catch an air. As she said, I slowed down our pace.
We kept running in different directions as we avoid those moving branches from hitting us. And when we finally saw a horse, we rode to it in an instant without any words left to say because of the situation, which made us intense.
"Phew! That was close!~" She breathed out and her shoulders were relaxed. I can feel it since she was holding me from my back.
When I glanced for a second at her, she was looking back to those monster trees who were still eating a flesh alive. Her lips curved down and his eyelids were halfway from closing her eyes.
"Are you alright now?" I asked while getting my focus back to the way we are striking.
"Yes! Thanks to you!~ You saved my life for the second time now." She answered while having that acknowledging accent of hers. Her voice was a little bit crack and blurred, but it was understandable since she was fighting alone with the monster tree using her own last breath.
Then for the last time, I felt relieved after accomplishing the things I wanted to do.