Nightmare Crusade

Chapter 10 - When the Forest Calls

The rickety skiff glides onto a grey sand beach. Norman lays down the sword and he and Jack jump off the boat, careful not to step in the lava. Together, they grip onto opposite sides of the boat and pull it up shore with all their might.

Norman feels the peculiar texture of the soil under his feet and looks down to see how the dirt forms a pattern of odd spiral shapes, as if someone with far too much time on their hands had dragged a stick through it and drew them. He gazes ahead in amazement at how the spiral pattern seems to continue as far as the soil goes. Norman then takes a closer look at the bizarre trees rooted into the soil. They appear to be masses of vines woven tightly together and branching outward at their canopies. But there's just something very off-putting... Something deeply disturbing about the trees.

"Well," Jack speaks, breaking Norman's focus. He lifts his waistband higher. "I hope we're going the right way. This place smells awful. Where even are we?"

Jack grabs the Revenantial Blade before strolling over towards the trees while Norman treads behind him, remaining very cautious of the trees. A loud snapping sound causes Norman to wince when Jack breaks a branch off one of the trees. For some reason the sound makes Norman think of a bone being broken. He stands there in slight bewilderment as Jack twirls the severed twig and strolls past him, back to the boat. Then he abruptly stops and looks at Norman.

"Huh?" he asks, "Did you say something?"

Norman shakes his head no.

"Heh. Of course not. This place must be driving me insane."

Norman looks back at the boat and realizes he left Selvira aboard it in a cage. He starts back towards her.

"Right," remarks Jack, "Your new friend."

Norman follows him back to the boat, but trips, falling awkwardly on his pointy snout. Jack simply scoffs at him and keeps walking, each step disturbing the pattern in the grains of sand. Norman lifts his head up, painfully pushes the cartilage in his nose back into place, and looks back at what had caused his fall. A root jutting from the ground that was not there before had tripped him.

Just then, a perverse whisper emanates from deep beneath the bark of the tree behind him, one that's a similar-sounding tongue to what the one-eyed demon had spoke to him in. Before he knows it, he's is standing there with his left hand lightly caressing the greasy trunk of the tree. He reels back in terror, but it's too late. A vine has wrapped around his hand and is pulling him close.

Meanwhile, Jack works on picking the lock of Selvira's cage using the twig.

"Don't bite me," he warns her. He catches glimpse of a branding embedded into the dragon's thigh. He immediately recognizes it as an emblem of the Axe-Knights. "What the—"

The branch wraps tighter and tighter around Norman's scrawny arm. He panics and desperately tries to free himself, but the branch only gets tighter the harder he tries. With tears of frustration starting to stream down his face, he gasps out for help.

Selvira perks up and peeks around Jack to see Norman in peril. She begins hissing and thrashing about in her cage.

"Come on hold still!" Jack protests, "I can't get this shit open with you rocking around like that!"

Norman places his foot up against the tree in an attempt to gain some leverage and once again tries to pull his arm out, but another vine fastens around his leg while another vine stretches out from the ground near the tree's base and wraps around his other leg. Norman panics and begins violently writhing his body. He grabs the vine around his left arm to pry it off, but it quickly tightens its grip and bends it backward at the joint. Norman howls in agony and releases his grip. He looks away as the vine pierces his wrist, encroaching under his skin, and drags him closer to the tree. Vines wrap around his entire body and shred through his wings. Defeated, Norman begins sobbing hysterically as the branches consume him further.