"AAAUUGH!" The tree bellowed, loosing control of some of its roots. They flailed, knocking around the the 4 members who were melee oriented fighters.
Chase tried to stick the sword deeper into the shard, putting all of his weight onto it, but it dug no further.
"Come on damn it!" Chase shouted as worry began to cloud his thoughts. Andrew grew weary as well. He was scraping the barrel when I came to mana, And seeing Chase unable to finish the job, he screamed: "GET OUT OF THERE NOW!!"
Damian was unable to move, having put all of his strength into that last blow. He stared up, unable to say a word, trying to come to terms with what was happening.
The remaining members of the group were terrified, shooting or swinging at whatever came their way. The urge to survive overtaking fear, as much as it plagued their hearts.
"IMPOTENT WORM!"
the tree bellowed, sending six roots at Chase.
Letting go of his sword, Chase dodged backwards, his fall was short. He was quickly ensnared by roots, one grabbing each of his arms and legs.
"For that, I'll kill them, slowly." Chase was looking at the red shard, he saw a yellow eye in its reflection, staring at him with hate that seemed to burn for a millennia.
a few roots were used to pull the sword out, he took his time crushing it. he then brung his focus to chases team, making sure to turn chase around for him to witness his next actions.
"You'll want to see this." Said Vantriel, with a voice so smug, Chase could sense the shit eating grin he was making despite being unable to see his mouth.
The tree slung more roots at the team, who were all weak, tired and drained of mana.
an archer who had massive bags in his eyes screamed, pulling back his bow to shoot,
Only for a root to sprout beneath him, grabbing his leg, and flinging him hard into the dirt, a few loud snaps and a few cracks to many sealed his fate.
Chase fought hard against his restraints,
Pulling with all his might, Vantriel painted no heed, more concerned with spreading fear amongst his allies.
They were now in circular formation. Using their collective power to stave away his attacks. if a root came they all jointly attacked it.
"Yes stay nice and tight knit."
Vantriel combined five roots before smashing them all into the team. Chase locked eyes with one of the members, he saw the desperation, the search for another way out.
more force was put on and most of the group was crushed, with a violent splatter.
Damian was enraged, enough to stand up, before being swatted down by a root.
Andrew was trying to force out any spell he could.
"Damn it!"
"Well they certainly won't be going anywhere."
The demon said chuckling. chases struggling ceased without him knowing. His eyes looked dead. Everyone he was supposed to bring back had died. "They're all gone." "Yes and you were the confident leader who dragged them into this hell" Vantriel added to his despair.
Seeing Chase this low, Damian knew their was no way out, completely giving up on survival. In his mind he saw a smithie, with his own suit ready for use.
an older bulky man came into view as a ten year old Damian ran up and gave him a hug.
"Thank you so much" the boy said crying.
"Don't cry now. You'll have a lot more to worry about when you're protecting the royal family"
The boy was surprised. "Y-you believe I can do it?" The boy said, still sniffing.
The man laughed. "Nobody's gonna tell my son what he can or can't do." Much to the happiness of Damian.
"You won't listen to anyone if they deny you you spot, right?"
"No of course not"
"Then i have nothing to worry about" the man replied, pulling the young man's cheek.
"Knock it off dad" the boy said.
Damian stood up, bloody and red eyed still eager to fight in his heavily damaged platemail. "I'm sorry old man. You were right to doubt me"
Taking a deep breath, he looked at Chase, who was shaking his head, knowing Damian was rushing to his death.
"We had a good run right?"
"Yes we did" Andrew stood up. As a mage he was a quarter as useful in physical combat. Yet, he kept moving forward. This wasn't about efficiency. It was about dying with a comrade on his own terms.
"No damn it don't do this" they both ran to the tree, slower than normal, with Damian at the head. Roots came flying, Damian blocked many, but before getting to the root he was impaled.
Andrew didn't even block one before getting a stabbed through the stomach. Both left to bleed out.
as he looked at them, they seemed to be smiling, at peace. "And then their was one HAHAHA!" Chase was currently wracked with despair and didn't notice the laughing demon.
vantriel brought Chase closer to the shard, but he was ready to-"you think you're going to die don't you?"
Chases eyes widened. "Nonono, I'm going to fuse with you, but not in a we share a body kind of way and more of a, I pilot and you have to watch everything from the backseat kinda way."
seeing the look of shock and horror on chases face truly made his year. Humans were such intriguing creatures.
some roots began pulling Chase inward to where the core was. The bark from the tree opened, exposing the core, before shutting, trapping Chase inside the tree.
'why did I even come to this world?' This had to be some form of hell. Would it not be better to be a ghost? Even to just not be at all was a better fate.
Chase was snapped from his thoughts as the shard plunged itself into his body.