TeratoPhilia

Cryptoforest

Hearing the front door shut, Edd turned and saw Matt shaking something like white dust off of himself. He'd been gone for quite a while, saying he was out for a quick walk, but had only just returned this evening.

"Edd, you will not believe what I found in the woods!"

Edd raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"I found a little trail! Isn't that exciting? We should go on it tomorrow morning bright and early and see what adventures await us!"

Edd nodded, passively noting in the back of his mind that Matt's eyes looked a little redder than he remembered.

"Sure thing. I'll let Tom and Tord know about it then."

~~~~~~~~

(End of chapter 7 for context, also Edd got back from the store bc PowerEdd speed)

The beloved headpats were rudely interrupted when someone else entered the room.

"Hey, Tord? I was wondering if you and Tom... would... uuuuh..."

Tord looked up, as did Tom, and saw Edd awkwardly standing in the doorway, cola in hand as always.

"Did I come in at a bad ti-"

"No no no, not at all! It's just... we were... talking! Yeah! Talking, and Tom sorta got carried away."

Tom frantically nodded.

"Oh! Well, Matt and I were wondering if you'd like to go down to this trail Matt found on one of his evening walks."

Tom sighed, "Anything to get out of the house for a bit."

Tord nodded and plugged in his robotic arm, which quietly whirred to life.

The four of them retrieved the essentials for any Eddventure – a mirror, cola, Smirnoff, and, of course, a gun – and set out.

~~~~~~~~

"Vitne! Don't get yourself lost!"

Tom glared back. Who was Tord to call him out on running ahead when he'd done hundreds of times? Nevertheless, he stopped and waited for the others to catch up.

"Isn't this exciting, Tim? Who knows what we'll find out here! Maybe there's a secret shrine... to me!"

Tom snickered, "In your dreams, bud."

"Hey, let him have a little credit. This doesn't seem like an ordinary bushwhacked trail. It's a gravel path." To emphasize his point, Edd tapped the path a couple times with his shoe.

"Maybe it leads to a secret lair of some kind," Tord suggested, waving his mechanical hand in a vague 'who knows' gesture.

Tom squinted, "What, yours? Because this is a really bad place to hide out."

Tord rolled his eyes and the four continued. The trees seemed to bend in an arch over the path, akin to a gateway to a grand plaza of some kind. The path looked surprisingly well-cared for, despite being this deep in the woods.

"Guys! I see something ahead!" Matt pointed to what looked like a pillar of stone nearby.

Edd raised his cola in a confused manner, "Uh... what does a block of stone have to do with all this, though?"

As they got closer, Tom saw something interesting about the pillar.

"It looks like space enough for a window here." Tom laid his hand on a small square opening in the pillar, which felt more like moss than stone.

Matt suddenly poked his head out from the 'window', scaring the everlasting Christ out of Tom and making him fall over.

"And over there is big enough for a door!" The redhead enthusiastically stated.

Matt climbed out of the window-sized opening as Tom got up and dusted himself off. Tord glanced over at a nearby similar pillar.

"Hei folkens?"

"What, commie?" Tom glared at Matt, barely paying attention to Tord.

"I don't think these are pillars."

"Well, what do you think they are?" Edd questioned.

"They look like old houses. I think this is an abandoned town." Tord gestured to an area further down. Looking where the commie had directed, Tom saw two rows of pillar-houses, a stone covered main area, and what looked like whatever remained of a fountain.

Edd smirked, "Well, I'll be darned. We found an old abandoned town in the woods!"

"I told you this would be interesting!" Matt danced around excitingly.

Tom wandered around the town. It was weird to walk around a place that you know was once bustling with life.

He wasn't one to necessarily enjoy the woods, or the outdoors in general, really. But this?

This was nice.

It wasn't exactly woods, but it wasn't exactly not woods. It felt strangely familiar to him, but he wasn't sure why. A comforting feeling, nonetheless.

"You like it here, vitne?" The sound of Tord's voice brought him back to reality.

Tom shrugged, "Yeah, kinda. Why?"

Tord chuckled, "Look at yourself, dragekatt!"

Tom glanced down and saw that for some reason, he was half-shifted into his monster form.

"WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUCK-"

"Jesus, Tom, calm down! You're probably just... yeah actually I have no clue." Edd attempted to comfort Tom but promptly realized he had no idea what the hell was happening.

Tom frantically spun in place, eventually tripping on his tail and falling over. Tord snickered and walked over, holding out his hand.

"Need a little help, vitne?"

Tom begrudgingly took the help, getting to his feet. Matt ran out from one of the houses holding something.

"GUYS! I FOUND A BOOK!"

"That better not be the necronomicon again."

"It's not, I promise! It looks like a journal of some kind."

Tom snatched it. He didn't know why, but he felt like Matt wouldn't exactly be gentle with it.

"I'm keeping this safe. Maybe we can learn about this old town from this journal."

Tord blew the dust off from the cover onto Tom, causing him to sneeze a couple times before smacking Tord.

"Rude... Hey, this is by someone named Ira Green. I wonder who that is?"