oh god.
We’re that bad, huh?
Neopets.
Did you do the thing, Neopets?
Tell me the truth, Neopets.
They did the thing.
"Your head?" Drathenia repeated in astonishment, peering down at the head that he observed in his hands curiously. "Are you meaning to say the one that you have at the moment is not your own?" she questioned, staring at him with a mixture of shock, concern and confusion evident in her expression.
“No. They are both mine. Remember when I told you I keep memories in flesh?” He said, waving his hand for roots to emerge from the soil. They took form of a bench and he sat down, beckoning for Drathenia to join him “This, is the key to my past. I realized a short while ago I was missing a large chunk of my memory because I had lost a vital part of my body. My head”
"Hmmm, I am unsure if it is the usual" She murmured looking about the forest with a concerned frown furrowing her brow. Shaking her head dismissing it she returned her gaze to Tree Man. "So my dear, how have you be- What do you have in your hand?" She asked becoming distracted by what he was holding.
“Hmm? Oh, it’s my head” he stated simply, turning it over in his hands “I found it, I won’t trouble you with the details”
There was, in fact, now a very large cut down Tree Man’s back from how he had gotten his head.
What was weird was that Tree Man didn’t seem excited or even emotional about finding his old head. It contained all of his old memories, eyes, and emotions. He turned it over in his hands. It had a jaw, but no lips. Perhaps they had faded from age, the eye sockets contained dried up eyes which now only resembled brown dried peas at the bottom of the skull. Turning it over one more time, he looked back up at Drathenia.
Her face tense and muscles tight she waited for any further sign of the creature, but it seemed to have disappeared. Though her suspicion did not leave. At the sound of the cracking of a tree she turned to see Tree Man stepping from the tree and she relaxed a little. "Hello dear," she smiled, materialising at his side. "I do not mean to alarm you, but you seem to have a little creature running about your forest..."
He stepped away from the tree, looking to his left and right.
“It wasn’t those blasted demons again, was it?” He asked casually, shifting the object in his left hand to his other “I haven’t seen… well, smelt them in a long time. I thought they had died”
What he carried in his hands was pale, almost the same skin colour as Tree Man and looked pointy somewhat, but what exactly it was remained a mystery.
Her black hair billowed around her with the wind and leaves, a scowl setting itself upon her face. The laughs and sounds around her did not make anything better. When the white creature dashed past she hissed and snapped her teeth after them before they disappeared into the bushes. "Show yourself, enough of these games" She demanded coldly.
The seconds ticked past and there was no more scuffling, no more mindless laughter. It had gone, life had somewhat returned to this part of the forest. A cricket chirped from one of the trees. Everything had restored to normality it seemed, for now.
One of the trees swayed out of line with the others, against the wind, until it twisted and cracked then finally split apart and out jerked Tree Man.
“Drathenia, I wasn’t expecting you”
Drathenia whipped around at the noise, her tendrils tore from her back in an instant and she lowered her tall frame into a defensive stance. She went completely silent and still as though she had been turned into stone. What ever it was out there, she wasn't going to take any chances. Her senses went on high alert, feeling for differences in the air or even the slightest breath of noise.
There was a scuffling to her left, heavy breathing to her right. Trees swayed gently as a wind pushed through the forest, causing the forest litter to go in an uproar. Leaves and twigs swirled around and at Drathenia. What sounded like a laugh broke from the dense wood from her right, it sounded as though they had only just learned how to laugh a minute ago and they were practicing it. Moments later, a pale flesh colored flung itself out from the bushes and ran past Drathenia, cackling before it disappeared into opposite bushes. Once again, the forest fell silent.
Drathenia wandered about the trees of Tree Mans' forest, a tuneless hum murmuring in her throat as she searched for him. She wasn't going to call out, not until she spotted him anyway. Unwanted attention from other forest dwelling creatures wasn't something she was terribly keen on. "Where are you..." she murmured under her breath.
The dark forest was deathly silent, more so than usual. Not even the trees seemed to be alive. A screech is heard in the trees above, followed shortly by branches being smashed aside and once again the forest fell to silence. Leaving Drathenia to wonder what it was.
The screech sounded once again but behind her this time, and closer.
