Cain and Isolde walked for two hours.
The forest was very quiet. There were no birds. There was only the sound of Cain's heavy boots hitting the soft dirt.
Finally, they found a village.
It did not look like a normal village. The houses were made of wood, but they were broken. Vines covered the roofs. Moss covered the windows.
"It is empty," Isolde whispered. She looked scared. "Where are the people?"
Cain stopped. He pointed to the center of the village square.
"They are right there," Cain said.
Isolde looked. She gasped.
Standing in the square were twenty trees. But they were not normal trees. The bark looked like skin. The branches looked like arms reaching for the sky. The knots in the wood looked like screaming faces.
"They are... people," Isolde said, her voice shaking. "They were turned into wood."
"Terra," Cain said. "The Earth God. He doesn't kill people. He plants them."
Suddenly, the ground shook.
A man walked out from behind a house.
He was tall and thin. His skin was green. He had leaves growing out of his hair. He wore armor made of hard bark.
He held a long wooden staff. The tip dripped with purple poison.
"Welcome," the green man said. His voice sounded like dry leaves crunching. "I am the Gardener. You are trespassing."
"I am just passing through," Cain said. "I want to speak to your boss."
The Gardener smiled. His teeth were black.
"My boss is the Earth," the Gardener said. "And the Earth is hungry. You will make good fertilizer."
The Gardener hit the ground with his staff.
Crack.
The ground opened. Roots shot up. They were fast. They wrapped around Cain's legs.
"Cain!" Isolde shouted.
She tried to use fire magic, but the air was too wet. Her fire was small and weak.
The Gardener laughed. "Your magic is weak here. The forest eats magic."
The roots pulled Cain down. They covered his chest. Then his neck.
"Do not fight," the Gardener said. "Become part of the forest. Sleep."
Cain stood very still. The roots covered his mouth.
The Gardener walked closer. He raised his poison staff to stab Cain.
"Goodbye," the Gardener said.
Snap.
Cain's hand shot out of the roots.
He grabbed the Gardener's staff.
The roots on Cain's body did not hold him. They snapped like dry twigs. Cain ripped his other arm free.
"I am not a plant," Cain said.
He crushed the wooden staff in his hand.
The Gardener looked shocked. "How? The roots are strong as steel!"
"I am stronger," Cain said.
Cain stepped forward. The roots on his legs broke. He grabbed the Gardener by the neck.
"You like turning people into trees?" Cain asked.
The Gardener kicked and scratched. "Let me go! Terra will kill you!"
"Terra can try," Cain said.
Cain looked at the ground.
"Inventory."
He opened his shadow. He pulled out a large, heavy axe. It was rusted and old.
"I found this in a barn," Cain said. "It is a woodcutter's axe."
The Gardener's eyes went wide with fear. "No! Please!"
Cain swung the axe.
Chop.
It was a clean hit. The Gardener fell. He did not bleed red blood. He bled green sap. His body turned into a pile of dead leaves.
The roots that were holding the village retreated. They went back into the ground, afraid of the man with the axe.
Cain put the axe on his shoulder. He looked at Isolde.
"Come on," Cain said. "The weeds are pulled."
Isolde looked at the wooden statues of the people. She looked sad.
"Can we save them?" she asked.
"Not today," Cain said. "We have to kill the source first. If we kill Terra, the curse might break."
He started walking north, deeper into the dark forest.
"Stay close, Princess. I think the big tree is waking up."