Omake: Raiding the Elven Treehouse
Josh and his band of merry men had been wandering the wilderness for a long time. Two years had passed since the Asteroid had hit. Many had died, but he and his crew had survived. All of them had lost friends. All of them had killed before. That was just life, and it was the only way to get by in this harsh world.
With a shake of his arms, he shook off some of the blood. Slowly, he retracted his metallic blades back into his body. When there was only a few inches left of thin blade, he morphed the metal into something like a needle and let the rest of the blood drip off. He dispassionately considered the body before him. A young man, it seems, probably around the age of sixteen or seventeen. A blonde, who somehow still had baby fat on his face.
He glanced over the corpse. His clothing was made of skins, pretty well done actually. He squatted down and did a quick search of the body. Interesting, he still had a running watch. It was also clear that the kid hadn't more than a day or two's worth of grime on his body. A kid like this didn't survive on his own for along and the rest of his group hadn't been the best of fighters. There had to be a larger group somewhere around. A group with a base.
He signalled to one of his crew. A scrawny weasel of a man trotted over.
"We gonna hunt?" the man asked.
"We're gonna scout. You know what to do." Josh corrected him.
Josh watched as Trey began moving around, the area, looking for clues only he seemed to find. Trey's powers made him very good for scouting and tracking. He was highly observant, whatever mental powers he got helped him pull together information from his surroundings. Trey examined a tree, and some crushed undergrowth, and then set off like a bloodhound on the trail.
By this time, the rest of the crew had noticed what was going on and had finished looting the corpses. When Trey set off, they followed at a bit of a distance. Josh waited long enough to wipe the rest of the blood off his blade before he let it disappear into his palm. He rose to his feet and followed.
Time had changed all of them. Once upon a time he would've fallen apart at the thought of killing a man. Once upon a time, he would have considered diplomacy. He'd been a negotiator once. That had changed with the asteroid. It occurred to him that he was getting tired of wandering. A new base might be nice. He'd have to see how big the other group was, first.
They had seen much over the time, but this... This was new. A gigantic squat tree sat in the middle of the forest. It towered over the rest of the trees, but more than that... It was clearly being lived in. The weird thing about it was that one gargantuan root curved over a nearby stream and had railings growing out of it. There was no other word for it than "grown." It was one seamless whole covered in smooth bark.
Stairs with proper railings had also grown out of the trunk of the gigantic tree, winding around and leading to some sort of house about ten meters off the ground. It was a house, make no mistake about it. It had a porch, wooden railings, windows, and even flower boxes hanging out of those windows. Vines with massive leaves trailed down over the inside of the windows, making drapes. Further up, were a couple more housing areas. From what he could tell, this tree and its housing was big enough to safely hold a few dozen people.
He wanted it.
The feeling of a home brought up a surge of nostalgia so bad, he couldn't help but want to take over this place and make it
his. Movement in a window distracted him for a moment, and he saw something he hadn't seen in a while. A woman.
From the quickening of breath near him, he could tell the others saw her too. He managed to rein himself in, and warned the others not to do anything stupid. Whoever had made this place was ridiculously strong. It had to have taken a lot of power to make a massive tree house right out of a fantasy book. This amount of space the tree house had for residents, made it clear that woman wasn't alone. They would have to be cautious.
The tree house held
women. Yes, women, plural. For the last week, he and his crew had prowled around far enough to avoid detection, but close enough to keep an eye on the comings and goings around this tree house. He'd seen it all before. Every day, this group sent its people out hunting. A few were left inside to defend it, including some women. He'd just have to wait for them to get going, and then he and his crew would slip in and strike fast. They were going to take the base, and the women for themselves.
His mind raced with the ideas of what he'd do then. His pupils dilating, his breath quickening. With a great deal of effort, he managed to calm himself down, as the hunting parties set out. Plant girl would be coming out soon, to check on her garden. Grag would make his move soon and use his illusion powers to distract her and get the drop on her. They'd put her out of commission first, and then slip in.
Josh gave the signal, and they moved. It all went wrong when Grag tried to knock out the woman. By some chance, she managed to sense him coming, and she'd screamed. There was a massive groaning sound, and then Josh's crew were staggering around like drunk sailors as the earth trembled. Massive roots ripped themselves out of the ground and start spearing through some of his men. A couple of trees uprooted themselves and began approaching.
Josh cursed. There was no choice, they'd have to kill the girl. He rushed towards her, extending his blades as he went, until suddenly he felt something wrap around his ankle.
Shit!It pulled, and he went skidding across the ground. He cut himself free and managed to get to his feet before he heard a sound he was familiar with. The sound of flesh tearing. He watched in horrified fascination as a tree root tore its way through his aortic arch. Then came the hideous pain. He heard a faint gurgling noise, and looked into the terrified face of his killer. A spurt of crimson, and then all was dark.