In a strange world as a Doppelganger

Chapter 40 - The Yellow Creeper

Before I laid down to rest, I made a marker where I'd seen the vines run off to. I am not going after bigger marks without all my reserves available, that's a mistake I've made more than once and I can't expect to survive within a hair's width every single time. I've done my best to find a good tree with thick branches to sleep on but I keep waking up every time there's the slightest sound coming from the forest. Making sure I feel at my best possible I stay in my spot well past morning, snoozing for minutes at a time until my body tells me it's ready. Whatever that creature had been last night it was hardier than it was fast and I can't say it seemed to have much of a strategy beyond hobbling toward me.

The trail of the vines is still visible where I had marked a tree. The forest is definitely different during the daytime and much less intimidating. The tracks lead me into a deep and thick area where the woods have grown old and those trees that could not reach the canopy have withered and now stand like skeletons of their former selves. All around I see vines, thick and thorny, constricting the old arbour and reaching up towards the sun. There are slight movements from the vines when I pass, they are alive I'm certain. A couple of steps inside this old grove I see an interesting sight. A man in armour and tabard, bearing a symbol like that of a radiant sword. He looks dead but the remnants of his face show a well-kept beard and hair. In his brown hair there are streaks of grey from age. Though he must have been dead for at least a day there's something moving inside his suit of armour. Thick vines push up out of the collar of his breastplate and I witness as one pushes through his closed eyelid and burrs its way inside his skull. A knight of this kind of stature must have brandished a weapon? While the vines seem distracted with whatever is going on with the body, I scour the ground around us and find what I was looking for: a sword. It feels unwieldy in my hand and I can tell right away that I'll need plenty of training to be able to utilize something like it properly but it's going to be useful either way.

Looking over towards the body of the night I can see the vines starting to rope itself around the limbs and the chest twitches and seizes. I'm not taking that risk. I hold up the sword, position it against one of the open seams in near the armpit and aim for the heart of this poor dead soldier. The sword finds resistance with the vines but I push on even still and eventually there's a single large spasm through the man's corpse and the vines retreat from within the metal. I put a hand on his chest and grow into my original form. The armour might fit me but it'd also be incredibly bulky and I wouldn't be able to shape change with it on. I can smell something coming closer. The thick musky smell of pollen assaults my olfactory senses. A distance away among the trees, coming my way, is another vine-controlled body. This one look slightly fresher than the one last night and still has some flesh to it. A quick look around to cover my back, nothing behind. Perfect, I think to myself and take a few steps back while charging up the magic. One ray, two rays, frost and rime wooshes through the air towards the walking corpse. One miss and one hit. It corrects its course toward me and shambles across the moss-covered rocks. I do a quick sprint to the side and release another beam of ice, covering part of its hip in frost. The vines release the body and quickly retreat further into the darkness of the woods beyond. Odd, it just let the corpse go this time. I don't like the feeling that gives me, it's almost as if the vines are growing smarter. The thick scent still lingers and deepens in the direction of where the snake like vegetation disappeared to.

Stepping over the abandoned body I start seeing more and more discarded corpses, now reduced to only bones or less. Maybe the vines can't maintain the structural integrity of its host? The amount of growth around the trees gets more prominent as I get deeper in and the thick leaves and pines above block out most of the light from the midday sun. Ahead there's a clearing coming up and the directionality of the vines around me point towards that being the epicentre. Careful to not step on any of the vines while I inspect the area ahead there is a large writhing mass that catches my attention. In the middle of a pile of vines is a large pod surrounded by yellow flowers and the air around is thick with pollen of some kind. The writhing vines suddenly burst up and on clumsy legs, pushing itself up on all fours is a creature much larger than me. The decaying corpse of a humanoid taller and broader topples over and then stands back up. Suddenly the flowers near the pod let out a screech of sorts and the creature turns and its flower-covered eye sockets are staring at me directly.

The brutish figure stumbles towards me, faster than I anticipated and I barely have any time to react. It falls over its own pile of vines and I can see them all snaking around its body to regroup and get it back up into standing position. It's rather clear that the plant in the middle of the small hill is calling the shots but I have no chance of taking it out while this thing is chasing me. With one hand I throw a large orb of water while the other builds up pressure to launch a concentrated gout of water. The orb is batted away by a massive arm but the pressure has been built and I conjure, from the palm of my right hand, a beam of highly pressurized liquid that hits the thing in its gut. While it doesn't fall over like I'd hoped it's forced unto its back foot and lose some ground on me. The pod on the hill of vines starts to slowly crawl in my direction and the brute in front of me stares me down.