Viridia walked with heavy footsteps down the road, it had fallen into disrepair, and was surrounded by rolling hills as far as she could see. She was splattered with mud that had dried to her coat, she was exhausted from walking in the heat in her heavy black clothing and ready to take a rest for the night. She pulled a dirty and torn map from a palm-sized leather bag that hung on a chain, just a few inches from her belt. She had just passed a small trading post a few hours previously and bought a meal, the fools/ not fools refused to buy any of her demon bone fragments, or blood filled flasks to repel demons. The excessively loud jingle that emitted from her pockets as she turned to leave, however, did convince them to offer food.
She looked across the map to try and locate the post and the road she was on, it took a few moments. There would be absolutely nothing but grassy fields for just a few more hours, maybe a day, and then she would hit a large city, the capital nonetheless. A mischievous smile overtook her face for a short moment, before remembering how hot it was. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked around. There was a small apple tree, just a short ways from the road, someone had to have planted it. Viridia began to make her way towards it, she was careful and kept her senses alert for danger, it was strange for there to be only a single tree for dozens of miles.
As she approached, she noticed that there were small marks on the trunk, someone had carved a small poem into the tree. It was a sappy love ballad, probably a place where a poor farmer proposed to his lover, it was a sort of traditional thing. Leaving caution, Viridia climbed the tree, she guessed it at about 12 to 18 years old, not hard to climb. Grabbing an armful of the red-yellow fruit, she dropped back to the ground, and sheltered in the shade of the tree. After checking them, throwing away any unfit to eat, she had seven nicely sized apples to enjoy.
As she brought the pale-yellow side of one to her mouth, she opened to take the first juicy bite, then stopped, with just a few centimeters to spare. She threw the apple with all her strength, as far away from her as possible, and jumped away from the tree, grabbing a few knives from her sleeves in each hand. She stayed in a ready stance, ready to pierce the tree with all of her poison tipped knives, and addressed the plant.
"You may as well come after me now, I know you're not a tree."
A strong breeze blew through the field, visibly flattening the grass. Heavy snapping sounds emitted from the tree as several of it's branches fell to the ground, the fruit on them instantly browning and rotting away. The trunk snapped in two as a figure pushed the halves apart, from the inside. It's skin looked like tree bark itself, and it's limbs were incredibly long, it towered at nearly 10 feet tall. It's branch like arms ended in very sharp claws, six fingers on each hand. It looked down at her as it stepped from the splintered tree remains, she kept her distance. It's eye sockets held nothing, and though it had no mouth, it spoke.
"You are indeed a clever mortal, most would have eaten, so why then, did you not?"
It's voice moved slowly and sounded very ancient, it sounded like a soft wind, blowing through the branches of a tree very much like the one it had just destroyed, and it spoke in a way none had in many generations. Viridia's first thought was 'I need more sharp objects', but then she answered back, the more time she had to think of a plan of attack, the better. She lowered her knives, but stayed ready to move, by it's size, she had determined that whatever it was, it probably didn't move that fast, or at least not as fast as her.
"Perhaps you need to work on your skills, demon, the apple was convincing enough by look, but it smelled like a damn peach."
The creature gave a slightly confused, but very sly look at the much shorter woman. Apparently it was trying it's best to not take offence, this seemed to confuse Viridia just as much as she had done to it. A 'polite' demon was unheard of, usually they just butchered, burned, and corrupted. Finally, the creature established it to be an A-B conversation.
"What is wrong with peaches?"
"I hold a great dislike for them."
The creature seemed to enjoy that fast remark as he threw his head back and... laughed? The sound that it made was rather off putting to her as she decided it as not a threat, yet. Though it was now evident that, at least in voice pattern, the creature was male. It suddenly stopped laughing, then dropped into a sitting posture, legs crossed, Viridia watched as roots grew from his legs into the ground in a matter of moments. It reached one of it's arms forward, patting the ground.
"Sit, it has been many seasons since I enjoyed the presence of a mortal this much."
Though fully aware of the danger of staying near such a creature, she sat, legs crossed as well, but stayed 12 feet away. She slid her knives back into her sleeves, making sure they were secured in their hidden straps. Again she wiped the sweat from her forehead as the sun's ruthless heat continued to burn on her skin. The tree-beast saw this and guessed that she had gotten too much sun for the day, suddenly, the grass began to grow a few inches around him, it didn't quite reach a foot, but then a small trail of grass began to slowly creep towards Viridia. She made a move to run, but was stopped by a calming gesture from the strange creature, she felt odd, and was suddenly so calm she couldn't move, as if she knew everything was going to be fine. She sat back down, and the grass grew around her, weaving into itself in the shape of a small structure, blocking the sun from her body. the temperature inside began to drop rapidly.
She knew that this was by invitation only, so Viridia relaxed herself, knowing full well that if the monster... this being before her wanted her dead, she'd be dead already, she couldn't win this kind of fight easily.
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