Magic, Strength And Speed

Chapter 11- Research Is Boring For Some people

Ember's Pov
Before my mind could process the information about what just happened, Vixen was already bolting towards her. I would have let her if I hadn't seen IT.

Lucky for me, I was faster and I managed to catch up and tackle her to the ground, bringing myself down with her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She screeched at me loudly. "SHUT UP AND LOOK!" I hollered back even though she was right there and pointed up ahead. She huffed and obeyed. Then Vixen's face blanked out in shock when she saw it too.

A weird tree was moving. A TREE WITH LEGS AND A FACE WAS MOVING.

"Uhhh what?" Was all either of us could say. The tree thing kinda reminded me of a Ent with a body made of wood, leaves and vines. Something seemed to drip from its hands. It had to be about 6 feet tall. Maybe more, it was difficult to tell from here.

Even thought it looked like one, it moved too fast and was shorter than the average Ent. Swiftly, it made its way over to the dying mage and crouched down besides her. "What is it d-" Before Vixen could ask, what could only be tree sap, flowed from out of the tree monster and onto Bliss. It wrapped it around her until she was covered in it.

Like a bug stuck in amber.

"What the... " I finally let out. After finishing, the tree monster lifted the encased Bliss and quickly shuffled away.

Vixen and I sneaked to where the pair once was. We made an agreement and I checked around while Vixen followed the slight and easy to miss trail of tree sap. There wasn't much around. A spot of blood dented where Bliss laid not so long ago. Seeing it... It made my heart drop.

Out of the corner of my eye, something stood out. I glanced and gained just a bit of hope. Bliss's book of monsters and other weird creatures was lying on the ground, left behind. I snatched it up and opened to the bookmarked page, careful not to rip the pages like so many times before. One I wasn't surprised to see was a well drawn drawing of the monster we had just seen. A strange name was at the top but I wasn't going to even attempt saying it.

I sighed knowing I would have to do research and plopped down to do so. I scanned through the pages. How much info did this thing have? When I looked, it had 2 pages. Front and back. I scanned until I found a interesting page. Well, sort of. I was still bored of reading but it had the info we needed. It said something about two sides? I don't know how Bliss reads this crap I mean can't they just use modern language and not be so cryptic about what they are saying?
Sheesh.

Oh right, off topic. Uhh.... Good and Evil, Very intelligent, both encase the weak and wounded in tree sap and take them back to lair, tree sap slows down both sickness and wounds prolonging death, bad trees feed off of victims for as long as they live while good trees heal and return victims to their home, some bad trees do heal people but only to feed off of them more, something about fire? Nothing important.

Wait..... What did I just read?

I read through the whole thing again and once more just to be sure I had it all down and took off running to find Vixen. Though it took a while, I found her standing in front of a cave about to enter. "VIXEN!" I ran up to her. "Yes?" She said casually as if we were going out to a diner with smooth music playing in the background. I took a deep breath. "ThetreemonsterprolongesdeathanditmightbebadandtrytoeatBlissorsomethingIhavenoideabutwehavetofindit." I spoke all at once. Vixen blinked slowly but surely processing the words. "Its called the Tree monster?"

"Welllll no. It has a huge elaborate name but honestly, I think Tree Monster is fine. It's kinda catchy too." Vixen nodded along with me. "Yeah okay I can roll with that. So..." She started to think back. "It prolongs death then slowly eats people?" Her green eyes were filled with questions and wondering what the heck wait no... WHY the heck these thing exist.

"That's where it gets weird. Apparently some are good and heal people? I don't know the whole thing was very boring and spoke cryptically. The point is.... Uh... Crap"

"You forgot?"

"Yep"

"Perfect. That's just SO perfect. Great timing there Ember."

"Wait... Okay I got it. The point IS that we have to both find Bliss and save her from a tree sap filled demise and find out if this thing is good or bad, then possibly kill it or.. Do something."

Vixen and I softly walked through the cave trying to make out steps as quiet as possible so they won't echo through the whole cave and alert the Tree Monster and possible kill everyone. Who knows? "Wait" I whispered. "Didn't Bliss say NOT to go looking for her and the thingy for twenty four hours or..?" The light brown and slightly ginger haired girl stopped in her tracks almost making her sword clank against the side of the cave.

"Did she?" I made a silent 'I Don't Know' sound to respond. "Eh. I'm sure it's fine. What could go wr- wait." She stopped herself. "If I say the words 'What could go wrong?' in the most carefree, unknowing and stupid voice ever, everyone in this town, no, I THIS UNIVERSE will die of irony and we will be those people who idiotically ended the universe in a terrible attempt to save everyone won't they?" I snorted loudly and agreed.

"That's the way the world works. You say anything that will invoke the irony lords of justice to look down, laugh and joke about it for as long as they live in their ironic lives, then proceed to mess with us in the most ironic way possible, they will do it. They will." I whispered mysteriously in her ear and slowly backed away, wiggled my arms like a sideways octopus, and with complete eye contact. Vixen squinted her eyes at me. "Everyday I question our friendship because of these things you and Bliss do. Every. Single. Day." I smirked at her. "But you are still here"

She sighed and walked on. "Yeeeeeeep. For some odd reason. It's mostly because without me, you two blundering idiots would die after an hour."