Giggling Berries

Adilphos, Wandering, lost. He had never been away from his village until now. Wandering too far into a forest he didn't recognize. Feeling Uneasy, he felt a presence watching him, no, following him. He kept looking back, "I hope Keileth returns soon, I can't find an exit..." he continued to walk forward.

He turned around, "Is anyone there!?" He turned in circles, as he heard rustling all around him. He pulled out his crossbow and readied himself. listening to the source. Just then a high pitched squealing, almost like a giggle scattered around him.

Curious, Adilphos shot at on of the trees, hoping to scare out whatever was causing the sound. But as the arrow struck the tree, everything went silent. Then, just as the giggle, he heard gasping from everything direction, as if hitting the tree was murder.

"W-what?" He turned 'round and 'round yet again, I don't understand... everything silencing again, he stood silent, waiting for something else. When nothing happened, he continued. But as he chanced upon a clearing, the giggling ensued yet again.

Angered this time, he griped his Sihlf from it's sheath and jerked his arm up, "Darkness!" Shadow gathered around his and engulfed him. He swung down toward the ground and the shadows dispersed across the ground in all directions, taking a small portion of Adilphos' energy with him.

Striking every tree, the gasping started again, but this time vines of every shade of green shot from the trees in every direction. striking and whipping him, he though to himselfmn The trees seem almost... angry... being struck from behind caused him to lose his balance and train of thought.

The vines grabbed at him. Trying as hard as he could to dodge them, Adilphos rolled left and right, but there were too many of them. They successfully gripped his arms, string him up. Hanging there, the vines grabbed and wrapped around his limbs.

As a last resort, Adilphos attempted to use his Necro abilites, gathering his energy he tried moving the vines. He freed his left arm, but the vines were too powerful, as if they had a mind of their own. They wrapped around him and constricted.

His last resort was to yell his comrade's name, using the last of his breath, "Keileth!!! KEILETH!!" But the familiar was unable to hear him, as she had gone ahead to search for an exit.

How could he win? The nature he trusted as his ally was fighting back against him...

He was doomed to die again, but this time, Necro would not save him.

And all the while the trees giggled, almost as if they found it funny that they were killing him...
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(( I EDITED IN A POST LOL))
A rare gust of wind shook treetops and deposited dead foliage aside thick trunks. The forest was a dangerous place, with some sort of floating consciousnesses inside of it. Matiko had sensed it as soon as he had neared it. The presence was dangerous, he could tell, large and spread out and nothing he wanted to deal with, not without knowing what it was first. But if he could avoid it, and continue on his way through the forest, he would likely be fine.

It a few hours further inside the trees enclosure that he sensed another presence that was not animal. Wondering if this was another traveller such as himself or a denizen of the wooded land, he changed his path slightly to head towards it. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but many other things killed cats that could not kill him. He wasn't worried.

The trees closed in further, thickening as the land began to slop up. It was hilly and uneven now, and Matiko was wondering if following the presence had been the best idea. It was beginning to seem like the large disconnected being was in the same direction. However, now that he was closer, the sense of the being's power had grown enough for him to realize that there was something.... different. Not right. Like it clashed with everything around it. He could sense something natural, something of the dirt and stones, and very near it something that was not.

Something... undead? he thought, and immediately his interest was sparked. Matiko had not yet come across an undead with enough energy to sense from as far away as he had. A sly smile crept along his lips. This could be beneficial to investigate, despite whatever that large presence is....

Matiko kept moving forward, until he came upon a very..... odd sight.

There was a crimson haired man being pulled at and pummeled by vines. They seemed rough and thick, and were not being controlled by anything he could see. But there was an entity there that was apparently attempting to rip the man to shreds... or what appeared to be a man. It could be some strange other being, undead monster, or anything else. Matiko had not encountered anyone with the kind of soul he sensed in the vines' victim. He couldn't make any assumptions; assumptions were dangerous.

However, he would find absolutely nothing out if he didn't help free the poor guy. Taking several shuriken, he threw them at the vines, severing them and dropping the man to the dirt below.

"You seem to be a bit tied up, I hope I'm not interrupting." He said, not moving from out of the trees that obscured him. The curiosity was maddening now; the soul didn't seem to be that of a fully living being, but it didn't seem like any undead or dead thing he had ever crossed either.

Slipping from consciousness, Adilphos continued to recall what little of his previous life he remembered, along with the short time after his rebirth; over and over again. Why does this being intend to end my life? Utilizing the minimal amounts of energy left at his disposal, he vaguely sensed a powerful presence nearby. Just as quick as he had sensed the presence did sounds of metal piercing the air ring in his ears. At that moment he had been freed of the grasp of death. Falling. He landed heavily to the ground, with all his body weight.

"You seem to be a bit tied up, I hope I'm not interrupting." The words of what sounded like a man he had never heard before piped loudly. Puzzled by the actions of the mysterious being, Adilphos opened his eyes, and creepily swept across the expanse of his view. He saw nothing. But he was certain he had felt something.

He nestled his legs under his weight, and planted his hands firmly on the ground. Pushing himself up on one knee, he pivoted his body 180° and thoroughly looked through the stretch of clearing behind him. Still it seemed he was the only one there, even though he was sure he had encountered some sort of aura. He turned his body back around and hung his head slightly, closing his eyes.

"I'm not one for giving thanks." Adilphos muttered, convinced that sed presence was still in his vicinity. Just as he rose to his feet, the same high pitched heaving could be heard from beyond the foliage; in every direction. Almost as if something had been displeased with his recovery, from their attempts at his ruin. Angered, Adilphos reached for his Sihlf. Just as quick as his fingers touched the hilt, did the inhuman gasping grow louder, and more fierce.

"This doesn't make any sense.. Away with you, mysterious force!" Adilphos unsheathed his Sihlf and sent the chain off the hilt flying, catching the clamplike hook at the end in the ground. Using all the force he's regathered, Adilphos shot his armed limb upwards, send the chain and clamp flying up into the air, causing massive amounts of dirt to become airborne. Using his powerful mastery of druidism to fashion the clumps of dirt into multiple small knives, He jumped up and spread his wings to keep himself in the air. He grasped all the knives as he passed them in between his fingers. Setting the small blades ablaze, he sent them flying through the air. As they struck the trees one after another, the gasping grew louder, and louder; Into an almost unbearable scream. An angry scream.

Thousands and thousands of vines spread from everywhere in an attempt to suffocate the flames. Adilphos began to wonder if the man from before was still watching idly, or if he had left. At that moment a vine whipped itself free from the others and right towards his neck, wrapping itself around. In reflex, he clenched the vine with his unarmed hand. Strangling tighter and tighter, Adilphos' already waning energy depleted so swiftly he had no chance to respond. His body went limp, as his hand still clenched tightly to the vine.

I think I'm beginning to understand now. Just as his vision began to blur, the angered screaming transitioned yet again to childlike laughter. This repugnant forest. "My body is of neither living, nor dead." Adilphos whispered quietly to himself. So it makes sense.. that they'd feel the need to cleanse themselves of me.

He closed his eyes as yet again in his near death state, he felt a strange but powerful presence. Why do I sense this only when my concentration has withered? Attempting to speak as loud as he could muster, he yelled, "If you can hear me; Aiding me in this place will only offer your own demise." He smirked after a short, sentence ending breath. If that even scares you

The display was quite impressive, although it was not enough. It seemed to anger the trees more than anything, and the forest's green appendages once again shot out at the poor man. He seemed to have no luck with this. Through a struggling yell, the stranger warned Matiko to stay away as the vines wrapped around his neck.

"If you can hear me; Aiding me in this place will only offer your own demise."

Matiko didn't agree. On the contrary, he thought this was going to work very well for him. If he didn't help this man out, he'd never figure out exactly what he was. He could tell that there was a significant amount of power to him; and that there was something very unnatural. Matiko was curious, and if he didn't step in then the crimson haired man would die.

"I think you might be wrong on that point," replied Matiko. "The trees seem to have no interest in me, and if I'm not mistaken you might require some assistance."

Planning his angle of attack, he spotted the point where most of the vines seemed to intersect. Unsheathing his sword as he lept out of the shadow of the forest, the sharp side of his blade sliced through the greenery like it was paper. It only took a few slashes to cut the stranger free.

Now that he was in the middle of things, he kept his eyes open and ears listening for any sign of attack. He was ready for it to start attacking him, now that he was openly in defense of the forest intruder.

"I think you might be wrong on that point." He could hear that man's voice ring over the giggling of the forest. "The trees seem to have no interest in me, and if I'm not mistaken you might require some assistance" One moment, his breath had been cut short and his backwards life had begun to wither. But in mere moments Adilphos' neck was freed, as with the limbs of green holding him in place. In the same moment the forest yet again went quiet. Adilphos drifted to the ground and caught himself on his feet. He stumble d to his knees and braced his hand around his neck.

Yet again this force attempts to steal my breath. He picked his Sihlf up off the ground, as he had lost his grip in his unconsciousness. Adilphos nestled his weight on one knee and rose to his feet to face the man that had saved him; and presumably the same man he had sensed in his near death state.

"I suppose now more than before, you'd expect thanks from me." Adilphos muttered with a sturn look on his face. He turned his back to the man and gripped his Knifelike weapon. "But you might just be imposing." Just as Adilphos finished his statement, the mysterious force went for his neck yet again, and silence was ended with more gasping. This time however, he was ready. He jerked back his armed hand and struck in front of himself as hard as he could. At the speed the vines were approaching, they were all struck down
before they could reach him.

Adilphos turned back around to the man, "It's not a very good time for introductions, but you can call me Adilphos." He sent the chain of Sihlf into the ground, and up again; sending dirt everywhere. Adilphos lept up and out of the way; just in time for the vines to violently strike the ground. At the same moment, he fashioned the dirt around him into the shape of a spear. He sent it downward in such a motion, that the vines had been pinned to the ground.

The stranger regained his composure and climbed to his feet.

"I suppose now more than before, you'd expect thanks from me. But you might just be imposing."

His temporary ally against the trees seemed not pleased with Matiko's interference. While he had not expected any sort of thanks, the man repeating twice that he refused to give thanks for having his life saved twice was a bit annoying. Not saying thanks was one thing, but the man had decided to state that he would not say thanks. Well, to each their own. He wouldn't be giving thanks for sure once Matiko was done with him.

"I don't expect anything at all," Matiko responded, not even taking a moment to look the man in the face. To take his eyes off the treetops might be a deadly decision. And it was the right, decision, it turned out.

The long green appendages shot out from the branches once again. The stranger was swift this time, striking them down before they could entangle him once more. Matiko was on guard as well, and sliced clean through several vines. A throttling scream rung through the forest; the spirit -or whatever it was- was very angry.

Taking the moment that it was stunned, the man introduced himself as Adilphos. The moment after he spoke, several sharp throny vines struck the ground where he had just been standing. Adilphos formed the dirt that had been sprung into the air into a spear and impaled it into the earth. It was an almost seamless motion, absolutely perfect in attack.

This was one most exellent opponent that the trees had on their hands. Enraged once again, the vines now struck out for Matiko. He was fast as well, slicing cleanly with his sword each and every vine that struck at him. However, he did not quite see the next attack coming.

The ground writhed and wriggled with severed appendages, and although they seemingly acted independant of any connection to the trees, this would have been an incorrect assumption. The vines had grabbed onto his foot, causing him to stumble. This was all the opening that the forest needed for another three vines to grab onto his sword arm. The weapon fell to the ground as his arm was yanked roughly upwards.

Enraged by his own carelessness, Matiko growled under his breath, "I'll teach you, dammit!". Grasping the vines that had grabbed onto his arm, he pulled himself upwards. He then used his downward momentum to swing closer to where his sword had landed.

Deftly, he used the split second he was in range to catch the hilt of his sword with his foot. Kicking it up in the air, he grabbed it with his left hand and severed the vines. Loose green ends flew back into the hazy treetops as he brushed the left over bits onto the floor.

"My name's Matiko," he answered belatedly. "And I think it is time we finish with this forest creature, whatever it is...."

Crushing, a still wiggling vine, he watched for the forest's next move. Whatever power or entity was behind this, he was beginning to like it less and less. It was between him and his prey, after all. And it was thus as good as dead.

Adilphos' ears rang of writhing in the trees behind him. Eh?He turned his head just in time to attest to many vines, lashing out in only one direction. Reflex kicked in and Adilphos turned his whole body to face the direction they were shooting from. As they quickly stemmed closer he roughly rolled to the ground and nearer to the end of the clearing.

Rising to his feet unscathed, he realized that this time they weren't after him. They were after the other guy? Adilphos stood and watched as the man struck down every vine as it grew within an exact specific distance. With damn near perfect precision. Then out of nowhere it was like he slipped beneath his feet.

No way. Those vines are still moving!? A very minute bead of sweat rolled down the side of Adilphos' face. The vines that had been severed were still very much alive, as if still somehow wirelessly attached to everything else. As he hit the ground, more vines snapped out of the thicket of leaves and grappled the arm the man was using to wield his sword. In an almost snapping motion they jerked his arm up causing him drop his sword.

Adilphos could hear the man mumble something under his breath. Considering it almost the perfect opportunity for a get away, he couldn't seem to bring himself to flee. Something was drawing him to stay. Something about that man. In that moment, sed man gripped the vines attached to his arm. He swung himself just close enough to use that split second gap, to extend his leg out and use his toes to catch his sword and kick it into the air. He caught the sword in his unwrapped hand and sliced all the vines.

What was left attached sprang back into the forest, and the man brushed off the severed pieces, introducing himself. "My name's Matiko," he answered belatedly. "And I think it is time we finish with this forest creature, whatever it is....".

"Well Matiko," Adilphos half-assed what he considered a smirk, "I couldn't agree with you more!" He threw up his hands and then in a swift moment, plunged them into the dirt as he drew nearer to the ground. Adilphos twisted, pushed and dug his fingers as far into the ground as he could.

Mustering all of his ability, Adilphos yelled out. Just as he did so, the ground around his fingers lit up, and began to extend from the ground, and up around his hands. It formed almost a complete coating of dirt all around his hands right up passed the balls of his wrists. It conjoined so well that it was almost like the dirt had become a very thick layer of flesh around his hands.

He stood back up and sternly looked at Matiko. "Use this to your advantage." Adilphos held out his hands. In mere moments, the dirt from his hands as well as the dirt on the ground began to fly up and spiral out of control in the air. Adilphos had created a large dirt storm right in the clearing of the forest. He had thought that he could give them an edge by allowing them the chance to gather their footing.

Adilphos dropped his arms. Using the dirt on the ground as radar, he picked out a tree from the bunch. Unsheathing his steel blade, he dashed toward the tree he picked; Still using the dirt to pick up on anomalies perched on, or in, the ground. He stuck out the sword steadily and let out a loud yell, piercing the tree with the sword. From then on all he could hear beyond the swarming dirt was the sound of the forst screaming out, yet again.

Without pulling his sword out of the tree, He turned to face another tree and knelt to set flames to the base. He walked along the lining of the clearing and lit fire along the base of every tree he passed, which was about four. Just then something swept his feet out from under him and next thing Adilphos knew, he was suspended upside down. He could feel the centrifugal force building as whatever got a hold of him slammed him up against a tree.

The plus side was, he had been let go. But he didn't know which tree had his sword. He gripped his Sihlf, and staggered to his feet.

Adilphos readied himself.

And the dirt clouds cleared.

Clouds of swirling dirt, unlike anything Matiko had ever seen in a forest, swirled around the treetrunks and vines like a vile mist. It was dark and unnatural, and beginning to make breathing a chore. Matiko pulled his scarf over his mouth to stop from breathing dirt; that was one objective. What was the strange man thinking?

The way Adilphos weaved around the vines that reached to stumble him and the speed and exactness of his reactions lead Matiko to believe that he was using whatever magic he controlled the dirt with to also sense the movements of anything in the area. That made the dirt fog make sense; it was unlikely this creature was watching them with any normal understanding of sight.

While Adilphos moved to whatever goal he had in mind, Matiko was busying himself with keeping the vines detached from his person. The dirt may have been helping the other man, but it was only slowing Matiko down. Well, a little bit. He still managed to not get all tangled up by groping vines and to keep his feet moving fast enough not to get tied to the ground.

The vines attempted to grab any of his limbs or to undermine his movements, but thin as they were they fell prey to the sharp side of his blade. It was getting boring, almost, the redundancy of the attacks, but Matiko had a goal in mind and he wasn't about to give up, This forest monster, whatever it was, was only a distraction from his primary intentions.

Matiko heard the forest once again scream, and wondered what Adilphos was doing. The man was too far away for him to see clearly within the dirt, but whatever he had done had angered the forest spirit more than anything else they had done thus far. Matiko half understood when he smelled the charcoaly scent of burning wood. Is he trying to anger it? Matiko wondered.

A thick, thorned vine shot out towards him, and he chopped clean through it. This time, however, its severed appendage lay lifeless on the mossy ground, it chlorofil blood dripping into the dirt. There was something different about that vine, however. It looked like there was something inside the vine, structurally, and Matiko knew he had felt his sword cut through something that was not like the other vines. He nudged it with his foot to see the open end and....

"Bones?" he said aloud in his amazement. So this was some sort of creature, and now that they had angered it the monster was attacking with its own limbs rather than vines it had under its control. Matiko grinned. They were getting closer to the forest's spirit, which he could now assume had a body.

The dirt fog cleared and Matiko looked to see Adilphos picking himself up from near a tree. He looked battered, and there were several trees on fire now. The man had a small bladed weapon in one hand and seemed to be looking for something in the trees.

"Attack the large vines!" Matiko yelled to him, as he rolled to the side to avoid a swinging swipe from more of the thick thorned vines. He did not know how many there were, but from the sounds of the enraged roars -almost a constant rumbling now- he could surmise that the controller of the vines, the body of the forest spirit, was coming closer to them.

And man, was it ever pissed.