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The horses stopped their clomping. The carriage window slid open, and then Olpi announced, "Everyone, we have arrived."

After days of travel, Doevm, like the rest of the group, shambled out of the carriage\'s musty darkness. They all groaned, slapped awake by the cold evening. Doevm rubbed his eyes and he found himself on a dirt road sandwiched by frosted plains. The Bloodwood forest awaited just ahead. At least he could stretch his legs during the last mile.

"Who\'s going to watch the horses?" Frey yawned.

"You almost sound like you want to stay behind," Elero still had the energy to fuel her sarcasm.

Frey shrugged. "This forest damn-near killed me once already. Just one cut and it will suck all the blood from your body."

"No one is staying behind," Doevm said. \'Invisibility, scent-erasing, and rooting them to the spot should be good enough,\' he thought. He infused a mixture of dirt and grass with mana, then dragged the mixture along both the carriage and the horses. All evidence of the carriage vanished into thin air.

Frey shook his head and chuckled, prompting Doevm to raise an eyebrow. "Sorry, it\'s just that if only you did this kind of stuff earlier, maybe I\'d be used to how convenient it is by now."

Doevm sighed and started towards the Bloodwood forest. "It\'s just magic. There\'s nothing special about it."

Frey hesitated. He seemed to have another question on his mind, but dismissed it and simply followed.

Soon enough the group were cloaked in a crimson hue, like everything within the forest, as light filtered through the Bloodwood\'s leaves, the only exception being their guide: the rising pillar of smoke from Kilot\'s forge. However, looking up was dangerous. One misstep would turn the forest against them. It was not difficult; Just painstaking. Doevm was patient enough, yet the further they traveled, the more he worried.

Thomas must have caught on to Doevm\'s worry because he turned to him and asked, "What\'s wrong?"

Doevm sighed. "The forest."

"I think it isn\'t that bad," Thomas said, taking a breath of the air. "I don\'t know. There\'s just something about this place."

"This super deadly forest feels good?" Olpi asked.

Elero patted both Olpi and Doevm on the back. "You don\'t have to be that afraid, as long as you don\'t mess up."

Doevm stopped and the group stopped with him. He knelt down, felt the dryness of the dirt between his fingers, and frowned. \'I knew it,\' he thought. \'I\'ve never seen so many dead leaves. If not for them, I would have noticed it earlier.\'

Doevm turned back to Thomas. "I\'m not afraid of this forest, I\'m afraid for this forest," he clarified.

"So what if it is dying," Frey shrugged. "Just a bunch of trees."

Doevm shook his head: "It\'s not dying but decaying. Nonetheless, it shouldn\'t be happening. This place is a Root." He paused and, upon seeing silent confusion on a few faces, chose to explain further.

"A Root, or Roots are places where dark energy thrives. You are likely familiar with the phrase, "The Root of all evil", hence the label: Root. Just as there are places where it is naturally hotter or colder, places like this forest can be inherently magical. It shouldn\'t be like this."

"So what does it mean?" Olpi asked.

Doevm rubbed his chin. "Thomas, give me your hand really quick." Thomas did as he was told, albeit with some slight hesitation. Doevm drew a dagger.

Frey stepped towards them, eyes widening. "Doevm, what are you doing?"

"Experimenting," Doevm said before he sliced Thomas\'s palm open.

Thomas pulled away and cursed. "Doevm, what the hell? I don\'t feel pain but that doesn\'t mean you can just cut me when you feel like it."

Frey drew his shield and kopis. "Thomas, you have bigger problems. The forest will…" his voice trailed off as, though the vegetation reached towards Thomas, he walked around it.

"Isn\'t this place supposed to be deadly?" Olpi asked.

"It was," Frey said, just as confused as the rest of the group.

"Let it touch you," Doevm said. "Don\'t worry, it won\'t feed off of your blood."

Thomas alternated his gaze between the branches and Doevm, then did as he was told. The vegetation\'s slow reach accelerated into Thomas\'s body and writhed within his arm. He grimaced at the sight yet, a moment later, the vegetation retracted.

"I guess I don\'t taste good," Thomas said to break the silence. He turned to Frey. "This stuff really almost killed you?"

"I-it was faster before," Frey said.

"Thomas, do you notice anything else?" Doevm asked.

"Oh, I\'m healed," Thomas said as he wiped the blood off his palm. "And I don\'t feel hungry. Is it because I\'m within a Root? Doevm? Hey, are you listening?"

Doevm\'s eyes flashed with copper life essence, his gaze lingering where he could have sworn he saw faint shadows within the dense foliage. He relented and let his life essence fade. \'This might be an after-effect of killing the Grand Shaman and defying fate,\' he thought. \'With Roots being so weak, it\'s only natural that enemies of dark magic will make their move. The balance is crumbling.\'

\'Thomas, do you smell anything odd?\' Doevm asked through their mental connection.

\'Nope,\' Thomas responded. \'Wait, I do smell something. It\'s up ahead.\'

Doevm cleared his throat, brought a waterskin to his lips, and "accidentally" spilled it onto the ground. "Damn, I\'m out of water."

"Be more careful," Frey said as he got closer to Olpi. His hand hovered over his spatial ring.

"Why are we all stopped?" Elero asked.

\'Should we warn Elero?\' Thomas asked through the mental connection. \'She doesn\'t know the signals your squadron uses.\'

\'Can\'t be helped,\' Doevm replied. \'We\'ll teach her the signals after. How many are there?\'

\'Just one. He reeks of alcohol.\'

\'Alcohol? That\'s not an enemy, you idiot. We have arrived.\'

They had arrived before they knew it. The vegetation gave a wide berth to a simple shack, ugly yet functional. A short, burly silhouette ambled away from a glowing hearth, and the front door creaked open. Kilot strode out into the light, his brown beard more lush than the forest even though it was caked in sweat and soot.

"Greetings," Doevm yelled over.

Kilot opened his mouth yet, as he made eye-contact, the words wouldn\'t come out. He gawked at them. His hammer slid out of his hand.

\'Maybe something is wrong with him after all,\' Doevm thought. "Kilot, are you ok?"

Kilot started towards them: "You, you shouldn\'t be here!"

Olpi stepped back and called upon her mana. "What\'s the matter with him? Are we fighting?"

Frey cracked his knuckles. "Let me take care of it. My pleasure." Elero stepped in front of him, flashing a hateful look before running up to Kilot and hugging him.

"Good to see you again!" Elero exclaimed with a smile so bright and joyful it left the group awestruck.

"Look at you!" Kilot exclaimed. "You found a healer. You\'re finally out of those horrible contraptions I made for you. How is this possible? I don\'t even know what to say!"

Elero pulled back from the hug, the smile seemingly stuck to her face. She pulled her old braces out of her spatial ring and handed them to Kilot. "If I didn\'t have these in the first place, I would have never found my healer. Sorry I didn\'t contact you. I wanted to surprise you."

Kilot threw the braces into a spatial ring and took a few breaths. He finally noticed the group and his smile turned into a frown. "What are all of you looking at? You\'re here for weapons and armor, not a drama. Wait for me in the house. I\'ll get to you after some catching up with Miss Mech here."

Elero also remembered the others were watching and blushed. "Just pretend you didn\'t see anything, ok?"

The group filed into the house while Elero and Kilot continued their talk. "Watch your head, you big oaf," Kilot yelled over.

"My what?" Frey asked. As he looked back, he smacked his head on a row of windchimes with a loud collection of metallic clanging. Kilot\'s and Elero\'s laughter rang out through the forest.

A gust of wind brushed by the group, ran through the trees, and tossed the hanging body of a man back and forth. His bald head sagged down, limp. Fingers parts of the corpse\'s robe and withdrew a symbol of the goddess. "Goody goodies. No wonder they were almost noticed."