World of Equa

The strange feeling of having lost control over his body immediately stopped, as if it had never existed.

The desire to taste the strange pome-like fruit also seemed to have disappeared.

Most importantly, Cael no longer had to actively try to stay conscious. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his mind, allowing him to think clearly.

It didn't take long before Cael connected the dots. The tree — whatever it may be — needed you to make eye contact with it before it could influence its prey.

This realization hit Cael like a brick — he could tell, since that had happened quite often — causing a wide grin to appear on his previously stolen face.

He wanted to start celebrating, but then realized his hands were still clutched by the branches of the tree — and it had no intention of letting go anytime soon. What made Cael shudder in fear was when he noticed the branches starting to grow on him. At first, they wiggled, but then they slowly began creeping up his fingers.

Left with no choice, Cael began to tug his arms back, but to no avail. The beast was too strong. It had already awakened and was probably close to evolving. Cael, on the other hand, was still a regular human with no powers or abilities.

He gritted his teeth, frustrated by his helplessness, even after discovering the beast's weakness.

As the branches turned more vein-like, they became more flexible, allowing them to speed up and creep further up his hands. Now, fully covering his fingers, they began inching up his palms.

Backed into a corner, Cael began to try everything that came to mind: biting, twisting, and even kicking the branches. But all of it was useless. The vines only accelerated, now climbing his wrists.

Cael started to sweat profusely, understanding that if the branches reached his neck, he would be strangled to death.

The thought alone made his stomach churn. He could almost feel the phantom grip around his throat already — tight, cold, inevitable.

He had to act. Now.

As the veins were halfway done shuffling up his forearms, Cael came up with a crazy idea — not that any of his other plans could be considered sane.

He took a deep breath.

His feet pressed into the soft ground, his muscles tense.

Then he ran — not away, but straight toward the monster.

Cael didn't have much time, so he had to get this over with quickly. If his memory didn't betray him — which it hardly ever did — the tree was only a few meters away.

As soon as he felt the uneven ground beneath him, caused by the tree's roots, he came to a halt.

Trying not to get too close, he began feeling around by stomping on the ground, wanting to find where the bark of the tree ended and where the hollow insides began.

After getting a good sense of a "safe" distance, he squatted down and reached both arms into the insides of the tree.

The air smelled of damp bark and something faintly sweet — probably the same scent that had lured in its previous victims. Roots cracked underfoot like old bones.

The tree, as if noticing his intent, began to close.

His arms — already covered to the elbows with veins — were nearly useless, as he could only rotate his shoulders.

So he risked his life by leaning forward, pushing his torso into the beast's core. This, of course, brought the risk of being crushed to death by the closing integument of the creature.

Cael, fully aware of the implications of his actions, tried to relocate the blade-like teeth as fast as he could. This was no easy task, as he hadn't actually taken a good look at the hollow center of the beast — with his main priority being to stay conscious.

Knowing that even missing the sharp teeth by just a few centimeters could cost him his fingers, he began to concentrate.

His thoughts were cut short by the familiar feeling now around his legs — the veins had begun to warp around his feet.

The tree wasn't stupid. It clearly had intelligence.

It knew what he was doing — and it wasn't going to let him finish.

It wasn't just trying to kill him. It was learning from him.

"What the hell! Give me a break!" Cael shouted, not fond of the situation he was in.

Even if he somehow cut the veins covering his arms by using the tree's own teeth, he still had to deal with the veins around his feet.

Not to mention the limited time he had because of the already half-closed bark. The cracks on top were already stitched back together, leaving Cael with just enough room to wiggle around.

This had to be done in two shakes, he told himself. Death could be seen approaching.

He took a deep breath, deciding to take a risky gamble — but then again, when wasn't a gamble risky?

He could almost always trust his memory — it's one of the things that kept him alive for so long. That's why the thought of doing something most people would consider insane even crossed his mind.

Then, tensing his muscles, he reached out his now almost fully covered arms towards the blade-like teeth. Trying to cut the veins off his arms, he could feel the resistance they put up.

They clung to his skin like leeches, refusing to budge — as if the tree itself had sensed his plan and was tightening its grip.

Cael, now sure that he wouldn't be hurting himself, stopped holding back and put all of his weight into cutting those damn veins.

At the same time he rotated his body by 90 degrees, not wanting his ribbs to get crushed.

Pain shot through his shoulder from the awkward angle, but he grit his teeth and pushed harder. There was no other option.

After what seemed like a century of hopeless struggle, he felt it. The sensation he had been awaiting this entire time — the distinct feeling of veins being cut.

He once again tensed all of his muscles and cried out, "Let's see how it would feel if you were the one being cut into pieces."

With one final battle cry, the veins started to rip, sliding across the blade-like teeth of the monster. The tips of his fingers only grazed the monster's teeth, which made Cael let out a sigh of relief.

Cael then began crawling out of the crack. When he was done, the crack closed with a loud Bang! which brought a scared reaction out of Cael, who still had his eyes closed.

In just a moment, he regained his composure — since he still had one more problem to deal with.