King Me

A Heart for the Lion

Yancey's eyes skimmed the terrain, steering the vehicle through buildings with a pending sense of fear. Now that she was driving, she was sure that enemies would cross her path, perhaps strike at them before she even detected their presence. For the first time since the tournament had begun, luck was on her side, and she drove the three hours to the forest without even a glimpse of another team. They came to a new portion of the expansive forest, covered with shorter trees and a few buildings. And, as Yancey pulled deeper into the green, she realized it was also full of the spider/grasshopper humanoids that populated this planet.

They collected their belongings and children, evacuating in convoys of massive cruise ship sized hover cars at the sight of Yancey's team. We disturbed their refuge. They think the fight is following us. Yancey thought to herself sadly, watching mothers gather children, others hauling the possessions they'd brought with them out here. And then, another thought occurred, Maybe we did bring the fight with us. Maybe we just don't realize it yet.

Aurelia directed her further in, eventually coming to a stop deep within the woods close to water, shelter, numerous escape routes, and cover from attacks if they required it. There were a slew of houses made from pearlescent metals, like fancy cabins, and Aurelia commanded they sleep in two separate houses beside each other.

"Should we find ourselves assaulted under cover of night, they might succeed in taking only half our numbers," Aurelia announced, and Faust scoffed. He pulled his scythe from his back, and the group, save for Adoltlin, tensed. He slammed the blade into the ground, and the dirt began to shift, taking on the form of a tree. Instead of the regular purple energy, red energy pulsed from the scythe, and Faust pulled it from the dirt, and sliced the very air open. A tear in the space before him ripped open, and Yancey realized this must be the only power he hadn't displayed yet; he'd opened a portal too hell. 

Screams filled the air, and something oozed out of the portal, something dark, made of black tar and hair. The hair pulled it along, like a helpless pile of slush, and the pitiful thing gushed into the dead tree that Faust had animated. The thing disappeared into the shifting dirt that formed the tree but not entirely, as the tree took on characteristics of the tar creature. The tree became black, hair replacing the places where leaves normally rested, and a hellish face, sewn shut, pulled open across the front of the tree. Two smaller holes formed above the mouth, and eyeballs appeared, crimson and erratic, glancing across the party.

Faust swung his scythe again, cutting through the portal, collapsing it in on itself to close it up, "Muerte, I require rest. Keep vigilant of the surrounding area while I do so," Faust announced.

The demon, made of darkness, hair, and synthetic tree, spoke in a reverberating voice, that sounded like something drowning, "Your command is acknowledged. Question," It replied.

"Speak it," Faust replied, running a hand through his wavey white hair.

"The enemy that has been tracking you. Would you like me to dispatch it?" The thing asked, and Yancey panicked. Her eyes turned towards the woods, searching for the sign of some creature, looking for an abnormality amongst the brush.

Faust scoffed, returning his scythe to his back, "Where my commands not clear enough? I only left it alive this long so that its allies might save me the time of searching for them. Ask another foolish question, and hell will be as a paradise compared to my wrath,"

The tree bowed its head in apologie, "Forgive me, Master Faust," And then, without another word, the base of the tree pulled out of the ground. Roots twisted together, creating several legs, but the creature did not move. Instead, its hair lengthened, streaming off into the darkness, and something screamed. The hair retracted again with frightening speed, and Yancey couldn't see what had been snared until the tree brought it close to its mouth. One of the insects that populated this plant sat screaming before the tree's mouth, the hair tightening down across its limbs and wings, crushing it.