Dionaea Forest

[Chaoticgirl77]

Dionaea Forest was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, beautiful.

It was saturated with colors, encased with thick green leaves and rich brown soil. Thick trees towered overhead, obscuring the sky so that all that came through were patches of white light. Vines hung from every branch, and bright beautiful flowers of all sorts stood out all the more in the green background. The earthy smell of rainwater persisted throughout the humid air, encasing everything in a fresh glistening coat of dew. The distant sound of animals echoed through the forest, though all Cyrus could hear was the persistent and annoying buzzing of mosquitos that were bigger than they had any business being.

"I told you that bug repellant sucked." Camellia, tanned girl no more than a year younger than he, chided as he smacked the back of his neck for what felt like the hundredth time. She was a bit tall, only about two inches shorter than Cyrus who wasn't exactly short but not outstandingly tall either. She was very tan from her travels, and somehow also had thousands of dark freckles scattered across every visible bit of her skin. Her hair was a slightly darker shade of brown that bounced as she trotted across the moss covered landscape.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can go ahead and laugh when I end up with West Nile." Cyrus snapped, blue eyes narrowing at her green ones. He was her opposite in appearance. His skin was pale and for the most part unblemished, with the exception of his hands and forearms, which were covered with long since healed scars. His dark black hair was also shoulder length, but held back in a ponytail at the base of his neck.

"Enough children," Professor Lockhart scolded, "We're about to enter the more dangerous part of the jungle, this is no time for joking around."

"Yes Professor," "Okay, Dad." Both teens chorused at the same time.

"Not to sound like a brat, but are we almost there?" Camellia asked seriously.

"Not to much farther dear, we'll meet our guide at the outskirts of the Boundary. He'll be here in an hour, so you'll have a chance to catch your breath."

"Our guide is a naga right?" Camellia asked excitedly.

"Yes, he's actually about five years older than you two but he's a boa constrictor, so he's big even by naga standards."

"I'm still not sure about this..." Cyrus said hesitantly, only to wince as he recieved a none to gentle shoulder punch from his female companion.

"Come on Cy, you're overreacting. Naga are cool people aren't they Dad? That whole man-eating thing is just blown waaaay out of proportion?"

"Yes, it is true that man eating naga are extremely rare, about as common as man eating lions."

"See?" Camellia said, making a sweeping gesture with her arms while Cyrus ducked under a low hanging branch. "Anyway didn't you used to live with these naga in particular?"


"For two years, when I was five until I was about seven." Cyrus confirmed before adding idly, "But I hardly remember anything about it."

"Maybe this guy can jog your memory a bit." Camellia suggesting, hopping over a particularly large root.

"Doubt it, Cascade City might've been built into a mountain, but it was still massive. i doubt this guy ever met me."

"I thought you said you didn't remember anything."

"I remember that from my studies and logic, something you could stand to use every once in a while."

"At least I actually go out every once in a while without having to be dragged by the feet...!"

"CHILDREN."

"Sorry Professor," "Sorry Dad."

The three humans trudged on, completely unaware of the sinister changes within the forest, or the true level of danger they were in.

 

[Soulhallow]

Jax woke up slowly, taking a moment to get his bearings and listen to what was going around him. He never moved until he was ready to leave his bed, in case someone ever was watching and thought him still asleep he could get away. He never could get rid of that feeling that something bad would happen one day, but for now it just made he look paranoid about everything. Yawning, still a little groggy from sleep, jax slithered out of his bed and into the kitchen. He checked the time and noticed he had roughly and hour to eat breakfast and get to the edge of town.

Puling off the leftover venison from the rack overhead, jax started up the stove and chucked a slab of meat into a pan to start cooking. He rubbed some seasoning onto the meat and them flipped it over, making sure that he didn't cook it too much, after all medium rare to rare meat always tastes the best. A few moments later the venison had cooked to perfection and was tossed onto a plate then cut into pieces, naga were not uncivilized as to eat the meal whole, albeit some were borderline.

Finishing his meal, jax rinsed his plate and set it aside, he would fully wash it later. Rechecking his watch, he set out through the from door and headed toward the outskirts of town. There always was a reason to set out early, in case someone stopped him to help with something or the other. With that on his mind as he wound his way down the streets, jax began to ponder who he would be guiding around the city and most of naga culture.

"Will they be afraid of me?" he spoke quietly. The bustle of the city sounds around him muffling the spoken words.

 

[Chaoticgirl77]

The three humans had set up to take a break near a small clearing with a creak and lots of moss covered rocks, which they set their packs near. The Professor was checking his map while the two teens, within the watchful sight of their mentor, explored the clearing and the many colorful flowers. The two teens had started a sort of game where Camellia would point at flowers and see of Cyrus could name them and what they were for.

"What're those?" She said, pointing at a flower patch that grew on the nearby rockwall in spurts. Their petals were transparent and shimmered in a spectrum of colors.

"Crystal nemesia." Cyrus said, pushing his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose, "Very rare and highly valued for their healing properties. Their petals dissolve and will cauterize wounds quickly."

"And what about those?" She asked, pointing to a bush full of blue hibiscus, "Normal or...?"

"Magical, they're an important ingredient for most strengthening potions."

"How about that moving one?" She asked pointing to the outskirts of the clearing.

"What moving one?" Cyrus askrd following Camellia's finger to a vivid purple flower that seemed to track their movements.

"A Sleeping Violet?" Cyrus questioned, confused. "But they're not supposed to grow this close to the Boundary,"

"Aren't those the flowers that shoot knock out darts if you get too close?" Camellia asked.

"Yes, so I suggest we keep our distance. We must be further into the Boundary than the Professor realized,"

"What? That's impossible, Dad's been obsessively charting out our coarse since day one, he'd never make a mistake like that." Camellia dismissed, "Right Dad?"

She demanded, spinning around on her heels with a whip of her hair, expecting a reply from her father...who wasn't there. He was gone, his pack left behind.

"Dad?" She repeated, looking around with increasing alarm. "DAD?"

"Professor?" Cyrus also called out,

Nothing, nothing but silence.

They couldn't even hear any animals.

"Cyrus, wh-what's going on?" Camellia asked, fear ebbing into her voice as she backed up towards him.

"I don't know," Cyrus replied, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as his heart slipped into his stomach. "But-!"

Something wrapped around his leg, sharp needle like barbs peircing through his pants and into his calf. He screamed as pain shot through his system, vaguely aware of Camellia's own scream as he fell to the floor. Camellia pracitcally fell on top of him in a scramble to seize hold as whatever had him attempted to drag him away. He shouted out once more as pain coarsed through him, the rope in a tug of war match between Camellia, and a giant fleshy white lily flower.

A frog lily.

A man eating flower.

 

[Soulhallow]

Jax was just reaching the outskirts of town, and he was right on time. Well, a couple minutes after anyways, but the magician and his apprentice he was supposed to be the guide to were nowhere in sight. Jax looked around, checking to make sure they weren't waiting to play a prank and jump to scare him before heading down the path.

"Perhaps they got lost on the way here," he thought. "Best go look a bit farther down the path just in case"

Jax slid down the path smoothly, unable to remember when he had last been this far from his home. It had been quite some time since he had left the city itself, not being as adventurous as he had before. As he was reminiscing, a shout tore through his ears and pulled him back into reality. Jax looked around quickly, but there was nothing in sight. He sped up and followed the direction he had heard the sound in. Tearing through some underbrush at his top speed he saw ahead in a clearing a young boy and girl.

Then he saw the Frog Lily, and he went as fast as he could. "There shouldn't be any frog lilies this close to the town," he thought.

"What is going on?!" echoed through his thoughts as he shouted to the girl to hold on.

"I'm coming, pull as hard as you can!!" He shouted to the girl that was trying hard to keep the boy from being taken by the fog lily.

 

[Chaoticgirl77]

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?!" Camellia screamed, digging her heels into the earth as she hung on for dear life. Cyrus dug his own heel, the one that wasn't about to be ripped off by the feel of it, into the earth. She pointed to their packs, "There's a knife attached to the pack, hurry and-!"

She cut off with an agonized shriek as another Frog Lily, one that both teens would later swear had not been there before, trapped her wrist. It wrenched her onto her back, the girl only just barely hanging onto Cyrus's wrist as they were pulled from opposite sides. The lilies had each other in a deadlock, both teens stationary as long as their grip held firm.

A grip that would break any second as the venom seeped through their systems.

 

[Soulhallow]

Jax reached the girl and rummaged through her pack quickly finding the knife. He sliced through the second Frog Lilies appendage that had grabbed her arm, then rushed to the other side to cut off the other appendage attached to the boys leg. He sawed through the thicker appendage on the boys leg and threw the piece that had been attached away, before picking both humans up and, ignoring the girls protest, speedily left the clearing as fast as he could.

"This is not good, most likely they will both lose the limb that was attacked, there is still no antidote for the poison created by the frog lilies," Jax thought furiously, still leaving the clearing behind.

"At least I got them out of there, but what about the magician himself." The thought stopped him dead in his tracks, he was out of the Frog Lilies range now, it was safe to put them down.

"Where is the magician that was supposed to be with you?"

 

[Chaoticgirl77]

"I don't know." Camellia said, clutching at her arm, which had gone completely slack and numb, blood trickling down her fingers as the veins turned angry purple. "he...he's just gone..."

"He was there one second and then he was gone," Cyrus said, who had slumped to the floor, unable to support himself. His vision was getting fuzzy around the edges. "we got attacked about two seconds after we realized he was gone."

Camellia's breath was coming out in short puffs, her breathing thick as tears stung her eyes. She knew what the likely fate of her father was.

 

[Soulhallow]

[I always use these brackets to signify OOC when I roleplay, I hate to make a new thread, but are we going to have Jax know a cure or partial cure for the paralysis created by the frog lilies, or is this going to be they lose those limbs in particular and wake up a little while later in jax's home passed out from the rest of the effects of the poison?]

Jax could see their condition was worsening, the limbs attacked already losing the ability to function properly. Jax scanned the forest again, hoping maybe he could get lucky and spot the magician, but no such luck existed that would benefit him today.

"I would love to go look for him, but as of this moment we need to get you somewhere safe. Frog Lilies shouldn't be this close to the town anyways," jax said as he yet again picked up both teenagers hefted them under his arms so he could leave the area.

"Try to relax, don't try to struggle and use the limbs that were attacked it will only worsen the poison seeping through there."

 

[Chaoticgirl77]

[second one, like I said these plants are dangerous as fuck and I did hint in their bios this was going to happen]

"Gee, that really makes me want to relax." Cyrus slurred out, before squinting at the naga, "you shheem familiar...do I know you?"

He passed out before he could get an answer, Camellia following suit a second later.

~~~~

Cyrus woke up groggily hours later, everything hurting, especially his right leg.

It took him a second to remember what had happened, and when he did he bolted upright in bed, ignoring the pounding his head as he threw the sheets off.

"CAMILLIAAACK!"

He fell flat on his face, not completely aware of the fact that half of his right leg was missing.

Camellia woke up with a snort, looking around confusedly.

"Whaas' goin' on?"

 

[Soulhallow]

[I think I might head to bed right after this post its a little past midnight where I live, and although I am chronically diagnosed with insomnia, I do like to get my sleep. So anyways, Au revoir mon ami]

The loud thud startled jax out of the little world he absorbed himself in while he was reading, and he set down his book. He slithered into the room he had put the two teenagers in to see what had happened, only to find the boy on his stomach, presumably having not noticed he was missing half of his right leg. Jax helped the kid up, and set him back on the bed.

"I'd refrain from trying to walk immediately at the moment, you are missing part of your right leg. You do know what Frog Lilies poison does to people correct?" jax asked with concerned look on his face. He took a moment to look at the girl to make sure she hadn't flipped out at her arm missing, then he looked back at the boys face and his eyes widened in surprise.

"It can't be," he thought to himself. "There's no way it's really him, he left when we were just kids." Jax took that moment to give voice to the inner turmoil his thoughts were cerating in his head.

"You wouldn't happen to have the name Cyrus perchance do you?"

 

[Chaoticgirl77]

"I...I forgot..." He admitted, hand feeling the empty space where his leg was supposed to be. He let out a shaky, "Fuck..."

Camellia was waving her hand through where her own arm used to be, as if she could make it reappear, a horrified expression on her face. It might've been considered funny if not for the circumstances.

Both teens minds went into panicked overdrive as the gravity of the situation settled in on them.

They needed prosthetics but outside of the pocket money in their packs, which wasn't even the right currency, they had no money.

They'd have to do something for money but Cyrus was effectively bedridden without a leg or wheelchair (which he somehow highly doubted naga would have) and Camellia handicapped without, well, another hand.

And then there was the whole fiasco itself to consider. Frog Lilies were supposed to grow far away from the Boundary and Cascade City, not to mention the fact they didn't even notice the two flowers before they were attacked was even more unusual. Frog Lilies were somewhat hard to miss. And the professor disappearing seconds before they were attacked...the whole thing felt too much like...like an ambush.

Did that mean the plants were becoming sentient?

That...was a horrifying possibility.

Both teens were jerked out of their stupor at the naga's inquiry, giving him wide eyed looks as neither of them recalled mentioning their names.

"Okay, how do you know my name?" Cyrus asked, scooting away apprehensively. Camellia from her bed was incredulously mouthing, 'holy shit I was right?'

 

[Soulhallow]

Jax smiled wide and started to babble to himself, "I never thought...I can't believe..It's actually you"

"DOn't you remember me?? I know it was a long time ago, but we're brothers!!!" He almost shouted. Jax scooped Cyrus up in a giant bear hug, which wasn't all that big considering how small Cyrus was compared to the size of jax. Jax twirled around the room, or as best a half snake humanoid can twirl anyways, with jax in his arms. His smile a little too exuberant, but nonetheless happy and excited his brother had randomly returned on a chance of fate. Jax suddenly put Cyrus down, embarrassed of havign shown so much happiness towards someone he hadn't seen in over a decade since he left.

"Ah, sorry," he muttered sheepishly, backing up a bit and giving Cyrus some room to breathe.

 

[Chaoticgirl77]

"I know you?" Cyrus asked, thoroughly confused, only for his jaw to drop along with Camellia's.

"What?!" He exclaimed incredulously. "But I-ACK!"

He sputtered a bit as he was effortlessly lifted off the bed and into the naga's arms, surprised, confused, and more than just a bit alarmed. Camellia just sat where she was awkwardly, mouth slightly open and her remain hand reaching out but still, like she couldn't decide if she should intervene or not.

"Jesus-! P-PUT ME DOWN!" Cyrus exclaimed in a flabbergasted panic, only to get his wish as he was plunked down back onto the bed with a bounce. Cyrus scrambled for his glasses, in his earlier panic and shock he'd forgotten to put them on and everything was thoroughly blurred, and once they were back in their proper place, he squinted at the naga.

"No I don't remember, to answer your earlier question, and what the hel-wait."

He squinted a bit harder, a nagging feeling in the back of his head that the naga did look familiar.

For the briefest split second, the image of a much younger version of the naga flashed in his mind and his jaw dropped.

"Oh my god."

 

[Soulhallow]

[Sorry for the short post I didn't know where to go with it :/]

Jax stood there with that silly grin on his face the whole time, "You do remember!!" He shouted, ecstatic once again.

throwing his arms up in the are jax paraded around, knowing he was making a fool of himself, but at the moment he didn't care. His brother was back finally and he wasn't an only child anymore. He settled down slowly, still smiling, but he was noticeably calmer than he had been just a moment before.

"Its been quite a long time since you left, I wonder if anyone else would remember you here in Cascade city?" Jax asked to himself, but spoken aloud for the two to hear. "Soo in the mean time are you still up for that tour of the city or do we need to go look for the magician who was with you. It has been a few hours after all and there is still quite a bit of daylight left to see by."

 

[Chaoticgirl77]

[dude a couple hours seems way too quick for them to be up and about after losing an arm and a leg]

"Vaguely! VAGUELY!" Cyrus exclaimed, leaning back with his hands in front of him like a shield. He then pointed at the naga accusingly, "And I seem to recall you nearly getting me eaten. TWICE. And one of those times wasn't even because of the plants!"

"Dad knows the way like the back of his hand, he's been here dozens of times, if he hasn't gotten here by now he's probably..." Camellia said, trailing off before she hung herr head.

"Besides I don't think either of us should be walking about anytime soon." Cyrus reasoned, "we've just lost an arm and a leg, and unless you've got a leg prothstetic my size lying around I'm effectively stuck."

"Wait aren't...aren't my other parents still around?" He asked attentively. He did remember that the two naga were very kind to him in his time of need and that his other father was the biggest reason he wanted to become an enchantment forger.

 

[Soulhallow]

[Huh, I guess I take pain differently, but my best friend had to have his arm amputated and he was back up in a couple of hours. I mean he was still in pain, but other than that he was fine. Soo disregarding my beastmode friend, shall we say it was about 2 days??]

"There may have been a few accidents along the way," jax answered scratching the back of his head. Jax pointed back at Cyrus, "You claim you shouldn't be moving around yet you have been moving your hands around and everything, although the leg prosthetic will be a bit difficult to come by any time soon. Perhaps I could go to the hospital and see if I can get them to make on for you sometime soon."

Jax's face fell as Cyrus asked about his parents, remembering what happened. That dreadful event still plagued his mind, not being able to do anything to help at all, feeling so helpless and useless in his parents time of need. The memories flowed through his head with no direction or motion, till eh decided he didn't want to have them plague his mind.

"Cyrus, our parents are dead. A Venus Hydra got a hold both of them, I don't remember exactly where we were, but I wasn't there when it happened and you got locked in a trunk so it couldn't eat you as well. Mom saved your life when she put you in the trunk, the Hydra couldn't get its jaws around the trunk to bit into it," he said as his face grew somber once again.

 

[Chaoticgirl77]

[two days sounds good, we'll say that Jax went looking for the professor on his own and couldn't find him]

"Not to be rude but does anybody here know how to make a leg prosthetic?" Cyrus demanded. "It's not as easy as it sounds and nobody outside of this room even has legs!"

"And I'd blame that on the adrenaline. I was scared when I first woke up and then you surprised me by swinging me around like a rag doll!" Cyrus said, already starting to feel his energy drain. "And in case you haven't noticed, Camellia hasn't exactly tried to get out of bed, and believe you me she's considerably more energetic than I am."

"Well I did try earlier," Camellia said, "i guess you guys were too busy to notice, but I did try to stand up. I got dizzy and had to sit back down."

Both teens gave the naga odd looks, Cyrus a confused and borderline angry look, and Camellia a horrified one.

"W-wait, what? I was talking about your parents not my human ones. I already knew what happened to them!" Cyrus said, more than just a bit agitated by the unpleasant reminder. His hands, cradled against his stomach, rubbed together over the scars that marred them, an unbidden shudder running down his spine. "And thank you for revealing that information in front of Camellia, that's going to be a lovely topic for discussion later, i just know it."

He could already feel Camellia staring at him in wide-eyed horror, which to be fair was far from unjustified. Venus Hydra were a particularly nasty sort of plant within Dionaea Forest.

"I meant what happened to my other parents, your parents, the two naga who rescued me from the trunk minutes away from suffocating? The ones I know for a fact couldn't have been eaten by Venus Hydra within my stay because I explicitly remember saying good bye to them? For God's sake some of my most vivid memories are watching your father forge enchanted jewelry and weapons!"

A new thought occurred to him and he shrunk a bit, adding apprehensively

"Unless they really were eaten after I left, in which case I deeply apologize for my callousness." He said with complete sincerity, hanging his head.

 

[Soulhallow]

Jax frowned, "Just because we don't have any legs doesn't mean our craftsmen can't make a human leg prosthetic. I mean it's no different from looking at a blueprint for anything else correct, as well as our mages can enchant it to be of better use to you and not be stiff just like a normal prosthetic. We'll head out tomorrow to go get measurements for it, but right now isn't such a good time."

Jax could see the horror in the girls eyes, she obviously hadn't grown up around anything deadly. Most likely the pampered daughter of a magician 'Hopefully she'll be of some use when we actually go look for her father' he thought to himself.

"Sorry Cyrus, I thought you meant your parents, I was confused a little bit over which you were talking about. My parents are fine though, well mother isn't as well as she used to be and doesn't get around as easily, but she's nowhere near dying yet. As for my dad, he's still hammering away at weapons and jewelry in his forge. I still go and watch once in awhile, it's so mesmerizing watching him work his craft, bu tit also reminds me I still haven't chosen what I want to do yet."

 

[Chaoticgirl77]

"Fair point." Cyrus conceded, taking a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

Cyrus sighed in relief. He was quite glad to hear that the naga were alright. A part of him had been dreading the possibility of going into the city only to find out the forest had claimed them as it did so many others.

"I suppose that just leaves one thing. What the Hell is going on in the forest and what should we do once we have the prosthetics?" Cyrus said. "The Professor had said we should assume the worst and leave if he isn't in the city within a day's time and it's already been twice that."

"But we can't just leave!" Camellia countered. "There's something majorly wrong with Dionaea Forest."

"Which is all the more reason why we should leave!" Cyrus countered. "We're apprentices, Camellia, we don't even know how to conjure up basic spells yet! If we had you, or even I could've just basted that damn Frog Lily that had me and escaped before that other one took your arm! That alone should say how deep we are in over our heads!"

"We can learn!" Camellia replied back, "That's what we came here to do after all! And I want to at least look for him, if only just a little bit so maybe we can find his body."

"What's left of it." Cyrus said, and immediately regretting it quickly added. "Camellia think about this realistically. We are in the most dangerous forest in the whole world and the one person with experience with this forest is now gone."

"We're in a society full of people who deal with this forest everyday!" Camellia exclaimed waving her one good hand above her head.

"Exactly why we should leave it to them to figure out what's wrong with the forest!" Cyrus snapped back.

 

[Soulhallow]

Jax listened to their conversation, curious what they could be arguing about, before deciding to butt in finally.

"As much as Cyrus is right, do you want to go back through the forest to get home. If what we saw was just the beginning, the path won't even be safe. It would be better to just stay here until this is all settled, or you have at least been taught some amount of magic to combat and protect yourselves."

He paced the room once again, or as best as a naga can pace a room. He went through a list of things he could do to help, finally settling on a plan of action, but in reality no action at all.

"I can house you for the duration you stay here if you so choose to stay, I'm pretty sure you can slowly learn more about your trade of sorcery with a few of the elders of cascade city. As for the prosthetic limbs, those will take about a week to make and imbue them with enchantments to make sure they work correctly. So what do you say, wanna brave the forest yet again, or decide to further you education here like you came to do."