A lone human clad in dirty armour was waddling through the shin high water of the swamp plane, his hair looked haggard, his cheekbones were visible, and his entire complexion looked unhealthy.
The muscles on his arms, legs, and the rest of his body were lacking the proper nutrients to stay the way they were, and even the armour he was wearing day to day had slowly become heavier to carry around.
He opened and closed his mouth several times while looking at the almost green water below him, they had been in this plane for so long, that more and more information solidified, like the fact that the water itself was harmless to the touch, its light warmth was rather comfortable on the skin, but drinking it was ill-advised, no matter how thirsty one was.
Just like the Delightful Death fruit, it would result in a slow and painful death, but if it meant moistening one's dry throat when starvation was already around the corner, then it was certainly worth a try.
Starvation… the greatest problem the human survivors discovered during their extended stay.
Although the fruit helped alleviate both hunger and thirst, it was far from an ideal meal, not to mention that their rate of growth was extremely slow, taking up to several days for a single one to sprout and reach their full size, but worst of all was how rarely they were encountered.
At the start of the competition, when all those young mages first stepped into this godawful plane there were plenty to go around, mostly because they weren't reliant on them, thanks to the many rations the capital was sending them, now with that delivery non-existent, they were left with no other choice but to scavenge long and hard for every single one of them.
But traversing this realm was easier said than done, just like himself, the majority of the survivors were regular humans, some members of the church, and then a couple of rank one mages, but in reality all three of those types stood on the same pedestal, they were all inferior to the rank two and three mages, who took the biggest shares of the fruits for themselves, either through coercion and threats, or as payment for protection.
The longer this farce went on, the more desperate the lowest folks became, their actions becoming increasingly more insane to fill their stomachs.
Lowering their heads to Plamus was just the beginning, they sold their bodies to him, in exchange for a bigger share, but with a dwindling supply, that exchange no longer held as much worth, since others also found no different way to survive, and followed suit, leading back to the same competition and infighting.
While many died during their excursions into the swampland, which freed up some slots, it only became worse.
Those that answered to Plamus' beck and call were obviously favoured, belonging to his inner circle of trust, and were granted the opportunity to feast before the others.
Many considered all sorts of paths, most of them heavily weighing the decision to try and get swapped into Kassan Horun's hideout, but during their deliberations the most important factor outweighed all other reasons… it was Plamus' group that was in charge of gathering food, which would mean that Kassan's group was even more pressed for a meal than them.
As for alternatives? There were none. Either meet your quota, or be heavily punished, usually by being withheld something to eat, but there were also far more inhumane punishments to keep them in line.
In their desperation, people looked towards the locals, trying to find a method of eating and digesting them, but not just fighting and killing them was hard for most of these people, but in the end their stomachs were unable to handle whatever they were made of and perished.
The number of survivors was dwindling by the day, and so were their hopes of ever returning back home; the man clutched his stomach, a fierce twisting sensation had been plaguing him day and night, the words Plamus had said to him and the others replayed in his head, over and over, 'Come back with fruits in tow, or don't come back at all.' he looked at them like they were no different from slaves, there to do his bidding, and no one could lift a finger in response.
Opposing Plamus at this point was like throwing oneself to the wolves, not only would their fellow 'comrades' try to make themselves look better, by making the other look worse, but with another mouth less to feed, there was more for themselves…
It was truly spinechilling how everything had developed, pitting the lowly people against each other, while the rest sat atop the entire structure, living without a care in the world.
Water had long since filled his boots, making every step harder than the last, he was moving slowly, making as little sound as possible, which became almost second nature if one wanted to survive, as the locals were quick to come running at the slightest of changes in environment.
Only in the dead part of the swamp were they free to act however they pleased, with the monsters not daring to cross into that territory.
Each of his steps were deliberate, but no amount of preparation could overcome the unpredictability of life, as his boot sank deeper into the water than expected, the ground wasn't as firm as before, causing him to trip forwards, and land in it with a loud splat.
With his pulse through the roof he backpedalled, pulling himself out of the muddy ground, he coughed and quickly wiped his eyes and mouth, ensuring that as little water could enter his orifices as possible.
He shot his head left and right, dreading the familiar noises that the Flyers and Treemen made, his only choice now was to get out of here!
But where could he go when he was so deep in an unfamiliar area… trees!
His shaky hands wrapped around the vines and low hanging branches of one of the trees that surrounded him, using them to gain some height.
Loud thuds echoed in his head, and every beat of his heart could be felt at the tips of his fingers; he stopped several meters in the air where he sat at a long and durable branch.
He held his breath, hoping to show as little movement as he could, and thanks to the thick fog that was ever present, he thought that he had a good chance of remaining undiscovered.
With his entire focus on his hearing, he managed to notice even the quietest of rustling, as well as a strange whistling...
Left, right, down, then up; where was this noise coming from?
It was unlike any of the creatures he had known about, could it be... the rumoured rank three monster that few had encountered and lived to tell the tale?
His body shook intensely, if he was afraid moments ago, then he was ready to have a heart attack now.
Then something brushed past his neck, he flinched, his teeth clenched, it felt cool and fluffy, kind of like hair, 'It's behind me, isn't it?' he was ready to resign himself to his death, but the deadly strike did not come.
By scraping together all of his willpower he turned his upper body, facing his fears!
Black hair hung just in front of his face; his eyes followed it up to another massive branch on the tree, 'What in tarnation?' it was completely out of place, never before had he encountered anything similar in this plane, and neither had he heard about it from anyone else.
The voice of reason in his head screamed at him to leave this place, since whatever he was looking at could be potentially worse than the rank one locals, but there was another thing beckoning him closer, was it hope, or desperation?
If it could change his perpetual state of hunger... he wasn't much of a gambler back home, but it was never too late to start.
He gripped the trunk and reached higher up, his head rising to the same height as the source of the long black hair, he recoiled at the sight, almost easing up his grip and falling from this height: it was a young boy, and the whistling he had heard was snoring.
'Wait!' a description popped up in his head, Plamus und Reyna both had let all of them know of a person they were looking for, 'I am saved... the gods have taken pity on me!' he smiled towards the sky, but quickly reigned himself in, the boy was supposed to be a mage himself, but he was sleeping, if he handled this right, and with the two mages in his debt, he would never need to worry about food again!
He licked his lips and moved closer, the boy's hair was extremely long, he was somewhat envious, as his own had stopped growing quite as much the older he got, seeing it like this was a reminder of how long they had already spent in this world.
His hand reached to his waist, where he unsheathed a dagger, "Don't blame me for this. We all need to do what we must to survive. I think they want you alive, but I will have to incapacitate you, just in case." he whispered with a malevolent grin on his lips.
The man's vision closed in on the boy, the rest grew dim, he felt something grip his arm with unbreakable strength, then all sensation beneath his neck was gone, he wanted to look at the source, at what was happening, but he was sent flying by a smack to his skull!
While falling backwards a strange scene played out before him... some sort of humongous brown monkey was holding onto a headless body, 'Huh?' a final thought crossed his mind before the head dropped into the water below, the rest of the corpse also came tumbling down, tearing through some of the weaker branches, before landing with one big splash after the monkey let go.
The sound ripped the young boy out of his dreams, but the moment his eyes laid upon the monkey he relaxed, he trailed the fresh blood on the tree trunk down to the puddle of red that was spreading amongst the green, "Thank you Lu. How many does this make? Five?" the boy shook his head as the human-sized monkey turned translucent before vanishing, "You are right... too many."
"How do they keep finding us? I threw away that compass-thing like Marv had told me to." Frey continued talking, even though there came no answers, "What do you mean 'do I still trust Marv'? He tried to make it up to me... A trap? He wouldn't! No- no, I don't think so."
He placed his hand against the tree, closing his eyes for a moment, then the air around him tensed up, "Grow." an order reverberated, and under his watchful gaze, something appeared between his palm and the wooden bark, it was a Delightful Death fruit, and it was ripening at an unbelievable rate!
In just a few breaths the fruit had reached maturity, and after slicing the bottom open using his fingernails, and allowing the liquid to drip out, he feasted on the thing, quenching the thirst that had struck him upon waking.
Frey moved on like it was nothing, preparing to climb down from the tree, but if any of the other humans had seen him, they would fall to their knees and kiss his feet for a chance to learn how to grow their own fruits.
A short distance above the ground he jumped off the tree and plunged into the water, seemingly unafraid that the locals would come at the slightest of disturbances, like the warrior had been.
He scrutinised the lifeless body, the armour and the weapon suggested that the man wasn't even a mage, "Why would those three send regular humans after me? They know that I am a rank one mage. What? To keep me on my toes? ...Right. That would make sense. Without you here to protect me I might not be able to get some rest, and they could wear me down."
A long sigh escaped him, "Why does it have to be this way, what did I do to them?"
The glint in his eyes changed, "Lu I-... I don't think that I can do it. I agree with you, that they won't stop sending people after me but... but won't that make us as bad as them?"
"Self-defence?" his brows furrowed.
Frey squatted down, picking the dagger off the man's cold hand, his hair hung into the low water and got drenched, "What if innocent people get caught up in it?" he fiddled with the weapon, then bunched his hair into a ponytail and cut off the upper end, then looked at all the holes and cuts that were in his clothes, and at the spot where the acid had eaten through his skin and parts of his flesh, the wound had closed up, and even the flesh regenerated to a degree, though the area that was affected was still visible, perhaps serving as a reminder for the rest of his life.
He let go of the hair, and as it fell his eyes widened, he almost couldn't believe the words he had heard, "Sometimes... you scare me a little." he chuckled nervously, "Wait, what about Agnes?"
He touched his forehead, "Do whatever it takes to survive... yeah, she said that."
"I get what you mean, I really do... but-"
"No! Lu. You know that I trust you! Yeah... more than anyone else, of course." Frey faced the ground, "But something about this just doesn't sit right with me. I know if I want to keep being a mage, then I'll have to get comfortable with stuff like this sooner rather than later, but it's not easy, you know."
"I am not like Hodwan, comfortable with killing humans, I am even uncomfortable with using my cursed voice on people... Agnes' and master's expectations, I don't think I can meet them quite yet..."
Frey looked back up, "A warning? I mean... we could, I guess. Alright I- I'll do it for you. No, for the both of us."
He took a deep breath to steel his resolve, then while crouching he pressed his hands into the green swampy liquid, then against the seabed.
Nature particles were attracted to him from all directions, splitting off the trees, the vines, and the very air, he closed his eyes and felt a kind of connection form, "Rise for me." at his words the surface of the water rippled, then bubbles appeared at several spots strewn all around him.
Water spewed into the air, then as it fell back down wooden arms with claws showed themselves, first one arm, then two, then they pushed the rest of their bodies out of the swamp, revealing their monstrous forms to Frey... tens of Treemen were lying in wait, only now making their presence known.
All of their towering figures stood around the young boy, but unlike the ferocious behaviour they usually displayed around humans, they remained perfectly still.
Frey opened his eyes to look at them, there was no fear to be seen, only determination.
He got up, his arched back straightening, then he walked towards the nearest tree, the one he had jumped off, and he placed his hand against the bark, and his mind filled with the information the network of trees were exchanging, hundreds of different signals appeared at the same time, but Frey singled out one of them, which he was able to trace back all the way to an infinitely long barrier, the dead zone, to others they might have looked nonsensical, however he had been observing and studying them for a while, which allowed him to understand each of their meanings.
The innocent expression he wore while talking out loud was nowhere to be seen, "Go and attack both of the human hideouts." his command shook the connection he had with the tree but ultimately created waves throughout the vast network.
He looked at the Treemen, then watched them rush into the fog with renewed spirits.