Biohuman

"I need to gather some ingredients that are, thankfully, all in this forest!" Florabelle happily smiled. "But you guys just need to handle the dangerous part for me. It can be a pain to do that part as a Sprite such as myself."

"What dangerous part?" Keng asked. Florabella pointed at him and smiled.

"Well, glad you asked! Now the offering usually uses some flower petals, pollen, water from the river, bark of a flower root. Those things, easy. But the main concern is the fact I have to have some vines.."

"Vines? What's hard about getting that?" Lee Seng looked around.

"This place is a floral forest. Flowers grow as huge trees, but actual vines are hard to come by here. There are small groups of them all across the forest floor in some parts of the forest, but they're mainly found following the river against the flow. There's usually some growing near the waterfall." Florabelle pointed behind her.

"That sounds easy." Ritsuka spoke. "It shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"The vines grow off a specific flower." Florabelle wagged her tiny finger back and forth.

"A specific flower?" Keng tilted his head. "What's that?"

"Well…" Florabelle smiled. "You'll see. Just be prepared to run."

"Okay…" The boys all spoke at once.

"And that'll be it! We'll make a little shrine since the other one washed away!" Florabella happily clapped her hands together and looked at the river. "This'll notify the forest and the river that someone will be taking care of the area!" She quickly spun around and flew straight up to each of the boys' faces. "But, that doesn't mean anyone can go breaking it, alright?"

"S-sure thing." The boys gulped.

"Well," Florabelle quickly smiled and pulled away. "Off we go then! You guys get the vines and I'll be here collecting what's needed, alright?" The boys nodded and quickly started to follow the stream upwards.

"Didn't think we'd be helping a water sprite with an offering to the place she holds dearly." Ritsuka casually commented as they had made loads of space between the cabin.

"Mmmm, not the strangest thing I've done, shockingly." Lee Seng commented.

"What's more weird than this?" Ritsuka turned his head to look at Lee Seng as they climbed over a small flower root coming out of the ground.

"I've followed a bird woman out of curiosity."

"Does that… even count?" Ritsuka's face blankly stared at Lee Seng.

"Mmm, she did leave feathers behind when she blinked." Keng nodded.

"Strange." Lee Seng pointed.

'How is that strange? That just seems… kinda cool.' Ritsuka thought as the river began to snake through the forest. Lee Seng glanced at Ritsuka and let out a smile smile.

"It was in Limbo. That's why it was strange." Lee Seng filled part of the blanks in for him.

"In Limbo? That place between life and death, right?"

"Mmhmm." Lee Seng nodded. "I caught her out of the corner of my eye and followed her. I ended up getting jumped by her eventually, but she did have an alias that made the bird feathers make sense."

"What was that?"

"She called herself Crow."

"Crow?" Ritsuka looked at Lee Seng for confirmation.

"Yup, she said names were a big thing in that place, so she simply called me Fox. Crow's someone who Realmwalks but chooses to stay in the place like that."

"Why would anyone stay in Limbo?"

"She didn't go into heavy detail about it." Lee Seng shrugged. "But that was the strangest place to find another person in."

"I guess a Sprite doesn't really surprise you?"

"Oh, it does. The scenario didn't play out as I thought it would. I thought there were actual pissed off spirits but it just turned out to be a Sprite who got caught up in the experimentation of Fox Spirits testing out runes." Lee Seng shrugged.

"Now we're helping her build some sort of offering and need some vines. That sounds… pretty much like we're just fetching something she didn't want to get." Ritsuka pointed out.

"That's just how it goes sometimes." Keng shrugged. The sounds of loud rushing water caught their attention. The waterfall grew closer in the distance and the boys all took a moment to absorb the view. As they grew closer to the area, they noticed the colorful rock wall behind the waterfall.

"Man, if I didn't know any better," Ritsuka pointed at the rock wall. "I think I ate some special brownies and took a trip."

"That rock wall is seriously a rainbow." Lee Seng pointed. He moved closer, passing the vines he hadn't noticed. The vines twitched, peeling Keng's attention away from the rocks and to Lee Seng. The vines started to writhe as Ritsuka started to follow after Lee Seng.

"Don't move!" Keng grabbed Ritsuka and pulled him back. The vines whipped upwards and wrapped themselves across Lee Seng's body. Lee Seng's screams erupted into the air as the vines tightened and pulled him backwards towards the waterfall.

"Lee Seng!" Ritsuka shouted as he tried to move away from Keng's grasp. Keng forced his inhumane strength onto Ritsuka and forced the both of them backwards, away from the vines. Lee Seng slammed across the ground as  the body of water grew closer. Panic threw every thought out of his head as he submerged into the water. The vines tightened and quickly pulled him deeper into the water.

"Lee Seng!" Keng and Ritsuka shouted. Keng released Ritsuka and watched as he moved forward.

"Watch your step!" Keng shouted. Vines flew up and whipped at Ritsuka. Black smoke billowed from Ritsuka's hand and Keng watched as sliced vines fell. Vines flew out of the river and slammed into the side of Ritsuka, forcing him away as more vines slammed downwards at Keng.

Keng moved backwards, dodging the vines as they swung at him. His body lit up in silver light and he slashed at the vines, watching the vines erupt in flames. He watched as the vines directed themselves at him. They were pissed at him. The vine drill dived him, forcing Keng to block and watch the vines catch fire. A second set of vines erupted out of the river and sent Keng flying into the large flower tree.

"Keng!" Ritsuka glanced as vines flew straight for him. "Complete Black Void." Shadows erupted all across the field, climbing the floral trees around Ritsuka. Swords met and pierced the vines as they continued forward.  Ritsuka blocked and slid backwards, grounding himself, as vines collided into his sword. "Dammit…!" The gray energy in his eyes pulsed brighter. Silver flames erupted to Ritsuka's left. Keng slashed at the vines, cauterizing the vines as they dropped.

'Lee!' Keng telepathically shouted. 'Where are you?!?'

Lee Seng struggled to do anything as he was pulled to the bottom of the river. He couldn't tell where up was, but he could hear the faint splattering of water somewhere above him. The vines were dense in this area. They pulled away revealing a large flower mixed with the look of swaying seaweeds. The seaweed petals opened, revealing a large mouth.

'Lee! Where are you?!?' Keng's voice shouted in his head. He didn't have time to send an SOS. He needed to do something. His eyes shimmered and a golden aura enveloped him. He could feel the aura slowly pushing the water away from him. His body shook with intensity as he neared the mouth. The seaweed petals lashed out and grabbed at him.

'Shit.' Lee Seng managed to slip out of his head as the seaweed petals pulled him in and tightened around him. A yellow liquid spilled into the enclosed area. He could feel it burning him. His body shook harder and he forced the energy outwards. The seaweed pulsed while the yellow liquid bounced around. It sizzled on contact with his clothes and skin. The water and yellow liquid were bubbling around him.

He grunted as he released another pulse. The seaweed monster blew up a little further this time. He imagined his energy condensing in his core. He could feel the golden energy and gravity energy mixing. The burning sensation grew across his body. Air escaped his nostrils as he lost concentration. The energy building within him had died down quite a bit.

'Come on!' Lee seng shouted. He forced his arms together and condensed the energy between his hands. The golden energy filled the small space. He forced himself to ignore the burning sensation of the yellow liquid that was now replacing the water. His clothes were slowly burning away as his skin erupted with burn marks. Lee Seng ripped his hands apart and watched as the seaweed petals exploded around him. Water and the yellow liquid blew away, parting for him as he landed on the ground and coughed up water. Water crashed across the sides of the land above. It quickly moved back, crashing and filling the space. Lee Seng rattled around the bottom of the river bed, tossed around by the wild waves.