An hour had passed since I started walking. The path was little more than a faint scar through the undergrowth, twigs whispering against my clothes as I forced my way through. I cursed as something thorny caught my skin, my eyes going wide as I turned to see what it was. At first glance it looked to be a simple rose bush, but its color changed where it’d pricked me, turning a deeper shade of green that spread through its vines. As if my blood had brought it to life. I hurried my pace as the vines began to move, writhing as they extended into the path, searching for me.

  Oren was right, everything here really was trying to kill me. I sighed in relief when the path opened up into a clearing, false light coloring the grass around a large tree at the center. Exhausted, I eyed a spot where the tree met soil. There was a space on the ground between two of its roots that looked particularly comfortable. Moving towards the tree, I sheepishly jabbed at its bark with my finger, leaping back just in case it moved. Convinced it wasn’t trying to kill me, I was about to plop myself down between its roots until a strange sound came from my pocket.

  It sounded like a growl. Zipping it open, my brow knit together as Waffle skittered up my dress and onto my shoulder. He perched himself there, facing the tree and continuing to snarl, his little peach fuzz standing on end. Suddenly, the ground shuddered beneath my feet, freezing me in place as I tried to figure out what caused it. I took an uneasy step back, feeling something crunch beneath my feet. A glance downward revealed nothing by soft grass, nothing that would make that kind of sound. Yet it came with every step I took away from the tree, like dry twigs snapping.

  Or bones—My eyes widened as my vision flickered, replacing the image of grass with a field of horror. The tree was made of bodies, dozens of them. They were human, almost all of them completely encased in roots that swirled upwards, piercing them and holding them in the shape of a trunk. The armor they wore was similar to Orens. It bent and buckled in places where the roots constricted, their corpses shriveled and gray inside with vines extending from every orifice. One of their heads turned inside his helmet. My breath caught, wondering how he could be alive, when a bloody vine shot out of his mouth, thudding against the glass inside of his visor.

  Before I could react, a root erupted from the ground, wrapping itself around my body.

  “Wonderful.” Belial remarked as I dropped the hammer, trying to pry the living wood away from my chest. “Perhaps if you spent less time admiring Waffle’s peach fuzz you would’ve seen this coming.”

  “Shut—up,” I managed, as it constricted, squeezing all the air out of my lungs. It was strong, stronger than me by a mile. I felt my feet leave the ground as it lifted me. Turning my head, Waffle was still there, his tiny body shivering atop my shoulder. My heart broke as I realized I’d doomed us both. The poor thing had barely gotten a chance at life at all. I strained harder, the lack of air dizzying me and clouding my mind.

  “What about me?”

  What?

  “You seem to be forgetting to feel remorse for someone else.” He huffed, wounded.

  Are you serious right now? I almost laughed, but all that came was a broken wheeze as the roots tightened their grip on me. Blood surged in my ears as the vine curled around my neck, restraining my head. My eyes darted to Waffle, who was shrieking as loudly as his tiny lungs would allow. I wanted to tell him to run, but would he even understand?

  My stomach dropped when one of the vines crept over my shoulder. This one was wet. It pulsed, like there was muscle inside, prodding at the air as if it were searching for something. Could it hear Waffle’s screaming? The vine coiled before shooting towards him like a spear. I closed my eyes, unwilling to watch, opening them a second later to find Waffle had vanished. The vine moved toward the ground. It’s searching for him. I strained with everything I had, trying to draw the vines attention back to me. The roots gave an inch, allowing my lungs a ragged sip of air. The distraction worked…almost too well.

  A cold wave washed over me as the wet tendril whipped up from the ground to hover in front of my face. The tip of it twisted into something sharp. It coiled like a snake, ready to pierce my skull before it jerked away, twitching as if it were in pain. Waffle must’ve been doing something because it shot back toward the ground, stabbing the dirt with a sharp thud. It reared back, twitching before it plunged down again, as if it couldn’t find him.

  Seeing my chance, I jerked and twisted, surprised when I felt more give. Flexing every muscle in my body, I lurched forward, bending at the hip. Something tore, sounding more like cartilage than wood as air screamed into my lungs. With both hands, I grabbed the root around my neck, twisting until it snapped. Strength flooded back with every breath, adrenaline burning through me as I twisted the remaining branches, grunting with each snap. Whatever Waffle had done weakened them considerably. I stumbled free, panting as I scanned for any sign of Waffle on the ground.

  Several feet away, a long section of the muscled vine hammered at the ground, its tip sunken into a nearby hole. It didn’t seem to care about me at all as its side battered the same spot over and over, like a snake with its head caught in a trap. I lunged forward in a panic, confusion stopping me cold when its movement began to falter.

  What is it doing?

  “I’m no expert on tree monsters, but that looks like dying to me.”

  It took a second to realize it wasn’t digging at all, it was trying to pull itself free. My breath caught in relief as I heard a series of muffled squeaks, followed by what had to be munching. Leaning closer, I saw a tiny, purple butt wedged firmly in the opening. The vine formed a big loop, its tip caught in the same hole it’d grown from, with Waffle lodged in between.

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  “I believe your people call that twerking.” He said, as Waffle flexed his tiny legs, slamming his back against the vine.

  I couldn’t help but laugh as the vine thrashed uselessly against Waffle’s stubborn rear-end. Each time it jerked, Waffle's little body wedged it tighter, crushing it against the side of the hole. On closer inspection, I saw Waffle’s tendrils had stiffened, turning into spiked barbs that skewered the vine, helping to trap it in place.

  After a few more failed attempts to free itself, the vine finally shuddered and stilled. Waffle squeaked again before his tendrils went soft. They slid from the vine as he flipped around to face me, head poking out from the hole. His tiny mouth was covered in gore as he clambered out of the opening and onto my hand. Somehow, he’d grown several inches, barely fitting in my palm as I held him.

  He’d saved my life. I shuddered, imagining what that vine would’ve done to me if not for the tiny ball of purple fuzz resting in my hands. Had I decided not to keep him…

  “You’re—” I choked out, my eyes tearing up as I smothered him against my chest, “such a good boy.”

  Waffle let out a belch as I slipped him inside my pocket. I zipped it mostly closed, letting him hum peacefully inside and ignoring Belial’s grumbling as I moved to examine the tree of corpses. The roots were sagging downward, some of them cracking as bodies slid free. You think it's really dead?

  “Why don’t you ask Waffle.” He whined, “seems like you no longer have a need for me.”

  Quit being such a baby. I smiled, remembering he’d said that to me once. He saved both of us.

  “Trust that creepy little wombat all you want, but it can’t fool me. Don’t come crying when it uses those little teeth to gnaw your head off.”

  Uh huh. I rolled my eyes as I knelt beside one of the corpses, the lettering on its chest catching my eye. What do those symbols on his armor say?

  “It says Eyedexa Solutions. See? I bet your stupid little wombat couldn’t tell you that.” He muttered under his breath.

  Eyedexa Solutions? Didn’t they make my AY-EYE?

  Belial ceased his grumbling, likely having the same realization that I did. “Yes, they did. They’re also one of the sponsors for the tournament.”

  Something else caught my eye, shining between the tangled roots that formed the tree. I stood, avoiding the bones along the ground as I paced around its trunk, searching for the source of the glimmer.

  A long, jagged piece of metal stuck out of the ground, half buried by bones and soil. I brushed them aside, squinting in confusion at what I saw there.

  What is this?

  Tugging on the metal piece, I was surprised when it didn’t immediately come free. Instead, more of it surfaced from beneath the soil, its dull gleam spreading as I wrestled it from the dirt. With some effort, I managed to uncover most of it. I stood panting with my hands on my hips as I stared, trying to make sense of what it was.

  “It looks like some sort of barricade.” Belial replied.

  Like to keep things—

  “Fuck,” I breathed out loud, eyes wide as I stood.

  “What?” he snapped, “it’s just a fence—oh.” He must’ve realized it the same moment I did.

  I turned, slowly taking in the carnage that was supposed to be a safe zone. Around the tree of roots were chunks of rubble I hadn’t noticed before, strewn outward in a circle. Looking closer, they all matched in color, like they belonged to the same structure. It must’ve sprang up beneath them while they were inside of it, I thought, rolling a piece of rubble away with my foot. There were more ruins everywhere I looked, crumbled bits of buildings that’d been destroyed.

  “Well, this isn’t good.”

  Do you think this happened to all the safe zones? I wondered where I’d be able to sleep if that were the case.

  Before Belial could answer, a whirring sound came from the sky. I ran back to where I’d come from, picking my hammer off the ground and clutching it tight as I scanned for the source of the noise. My eyes searched frantically, unease burrowing up from my stomach to my chest when nothing stood out, despite the sound getting closer.

  I was about to run, the noise coming from directly overhead when it finally showed itself. A golden orb, about the size of my head slipped into view, emerging from nowhere like someone had pulled away the curtain it hid behind. It hovered off the ground, its metallic arms clutching something underneath.

  “What the—”

  Its arms retracted, letting the package thud softly against the ground. A breath later the orb winked out of view, its sound whirring off into the distance as I approached what it’d left behind.

  A rectangular box rested on the soil. It was maybe a foot across, with a golden ribbon that knotted into a bow to hold its red wrapping together. I inched closer, realizing it was my prize for killing the vine; one I hadn’t expected since Waffle did all the work.

  “Well don’t just stand there, open it!” Belial practically screamed in excitement.

  I tugged at the gold lace, undoing the bow and watching in awe as the silver paper folded away on its own to slide underneath. An instant later, the lid flipped open, revealing a set of metal pads with dark leather straps between them.

  “What!” Belial complained as I lifted them up, spinning them by the leather strap to get a better look. “That’s it? They look so cheap.”

  I shrugged, setting them aside as I noticed a piece of paper still resting inside the box. What does this say? I asked, holding it up.

  “Nothing.” he muttered, clearly still upset about my prize.

  That’s weird because it looks like it says something. Belial didn’t respond. I almost let it go, but part of me worried it might be important, like instructions on how to use them. Please?

  “Ugh. It says, behold, the super tacky ultra stupid shoulder-pads, complete with tasteless leather strap.”

  I sighed as I loosened the strap to put them on, knowing I wasn’t going to get anything else out of Belial about them. He was still grumbling when the whirring came again, followed by a second orb appearing overhead. Another package hit the ground in front of me, this one purple.

  “Eeeee. This must be the real prize. Openitopenitopenit!”

  O-KAY, I mouthed, tugging at the ribbon. It felt fuzzy, like velvet, instantly reminding me of Waffle’s skin.

  “NO.” Belial uttered as the boxes lid snapped up. I couldn’t help but laugh as he fumed. “I can tolerate tacky armor, but THIS?” I dangled the tiny purple collar as Belial continued his rant, running my thumb over the little metal spikes. “This is an injustice MOST. FOWL. How does the little demon get a prize before ME? And after all we’ve been through—”

  Well, It’s not like you can. Nobody knows you exist, remember? He made a sputtering noise before going silent. I was starting to grow concerned when finally, I heard him sniff sharply, like he was holding in tears. Do you…have a nose in there?

  “It isn’t fair.” He pouted, ignoring the question. “If I’m not getting any prizes then I don’t see why I should have to play this stupid game!”

  WHAT? My eyes practically fell out of my skull. I don’t want to be here either, you idiot.

  “And now you’re calling me names.” He sobbed. “I shouldn’t have to weather this kind of abuse.”

  Thanks for reading! Tune in Monday (12:01am) for the next one. And checkout my friend Talesworn's book while you wait, its really good!