"And the troll ate her slowly." Ruffnut said as she concluded her story. "I always liked that story." She said.
"Interesting, I liked the riddles." Fishlegs said.
"Trolls are always good for stories." Dagur pointed out. "In fact they remind me of stories Dad would use to tell me before I went to bed." He said.
"Yeah, you know if you changed the ending then it could be a good story of kids." Astrid said.
"Hey, it's supposed to be scary." Ruffnut said crossing her arms.
"Maybe it was the way you told it." Tuffnut said earning him a glare from his sister.
"Well we don't have to worry about it now because Fishlegs, it's your turn." Hiccup said.
"Oh this ought to be good." Snotlout said sarcastically to which Fishlegs glared at him.
"I'll have you know Snotlout that I have a story that's very scary and it's called…"
The Growth
All was fairly peaceful within a large forest, tall trees stood motionless as a gentle breeze blew through the foliage but it was undercut by a louder noise of footprints stepping on twigs and fallen leaves. The one creating this noise was a middle-ages man with short blonde hair wearing a light green, short-sleeved tunic, a grey leather vest, grey pants, brown boots and a satchel draped over his shoulder. As he walked he looked around to take in the scenery, he inhaled the forest air with a smile on his face as he passed between two trees. Once passed his eyes widen when he saw that he had entered a valley, it wasn't big but it was still spacious and it was almost completely clear, except for one thing which drew his attention. In the center of the valley was a small bush, but what caught his eye was that there was a solitary flower growing from it. The flower resembled an orchid with five pointed petals, each one had a deep blue coloring around the edges that lightened closer to the center which in turn was vibrant yellow with dew glistening in the sunlight, making it almost almost look like gold. Intrigued by the sight before him, the man slowly approached the flower as if it was going to run away if he wasn't careful.
"Beautiful." He breathed as he gazed at the orchid.
As he looked at the flower, he obviously felt the need to pluck it and take it with him, but at the same time he also felt something else, an unnerving sensation that to him was like a warning against getting too close. However, he ignored the feeling and grabbed the flower, it offered a surprising amount of resistance but it came off none the less. Bringing the flower closer to his face he marveled at its beauty, but at that moment he felt a sudden jolt his hand causing him to drop the flower, looking at his hand he noticed a tiny drop of blood on his index finger. Looking down at the flower he noticed that it had thorns of the stem which explains how he cut himself, wiping away the blood he put on some gloves and placed the flower in his satchel.
"Let's get you back home." He said patting his satchel as he began his trek back home.
The man got back to his village an hour before sunset and immediately went to a small house that stood in front of a large garden. Knocking on the front door he was greeted by an older woman with short, greying hair and was wearing a dark blue tunic with brown pants along with brown boots.
"Oh hello Anton, what brings you hear?" She asked pleasantly.
"Gertrude, something wonderful happened when I was walking through the forest." Anton began his story, "I came across a small clearing where I saw the most beautiful flower that I have ever seen and I have it with me right now." He said holding up his satchel.
"Well let's see then shall we." Gertrude said getting interested.
Anton made sure to put on his glove so that he wouldn't getting pricked again and reached into his satchel. Taking hold of the flower he pulled it out and held it out for Gertrude to see, but what they both saw came to his surprise and her confusion.
"Is that it?" She asked.
Sitting in Anton's opened palm was the flower but it wasn't nearly as vibrant as it had been earlier, in fact, it was completely shriveled up and had a dull brown color as if someone left it out in the sun.
"I don't understand, it was alive when I found it and that was only an hour ago." Anton said still surprised by what happened to the flower.
"Perhaps taking it off the root and placing it in your satchel was the reason, some flowers are very sensitive and can only thrive in certain conditions." Gertrude explained.
"You might be right." Anton said with a disappointed town.
"Tell you what, tomorrow we'll head back to the woods and try and find another flower." Gertrude said.
"I don't know how much luck we'll have it's probably very rare on this island." Anton said, "But I suppose it's worth a try." He said.
"Okay then, well I should be getting ready for bed, have a good night Anton." Gertrude said.
"You too." Anton said as he walked away.
Anton made his way back to his home, entering through the front down he walked into the living room which was adorned with plants of various sizes that were either near the window, on the counters or hanging from the ceiling. Placing the satchel on the table he again gazed at the lifeless flower which at this point managed to shrivel up more. Taking a closer inspection, Anton tried to feel the petals but to his surprise they along with the rest of the flower grumbled to pieces like a dried leaf. The pieces drifted from his hand onto the floor leaving Anton shocked.
"How could this have happened so quickly?" He asked himself.
Getting a broom to sweep up the remnants he then started getting ready to go to bed, but as he changed into his night clothes he looked at his finger and saw that cut had stopped bleeding, with a small smile he laid in his bed and closed his eyes. The next morning Anton awoke and stretched and began his normal morning routine, but as he started making breakfast he caught a glimpse of his finger and was surprised by what he saw. On the spot where he was cut the skin was now a greenish pigment.
"Where did that come from?" He asked reasonably alarmed.
Instinctively he walked over to a bucket of water and began washing his hands, but when he checked again he saw that the spot was still green which caused him to worry. "I better get this looked at." He said to himself.
Anton went to the village healer who looked at it and she told him that it could be a very minor infection from cutting his finger so she gave him some salve to wipe on it. As he walked back home he noticed that the green spot had appeared to grow although only by a little bit but it worried him none the less. When he got back to his house he immediately rubbed on the salve at which point there was a knock at this door, opening it he found Gertrude standing there.
"Morning Anton, are you ready to go?" She asked.
At that moment he realized that in his haste he had forgotten about their trip to the woods, "Sorry Gertrude, but I just went to the healer and she told me that I may have an infection so I think I'm just going to relax today so it can heal." He explained.
"Oh okay, well I hope you get better, see you later." She said walking away.
"Same to you." Anton said waving his hand and then retreating back into his house.
Anton spent the day trying to go about his daily business but he couldn't shake his feeling of anxiety over the infection which seemed to grow steadily over the passing hours to which he responded by applying more salve. Later that night as he tried to sleep, he began to feel a strange, almost painful sensation coming from his hand, this caused him to wake up and head over to light a nearby candle. Holding his finger near the flame he was shocked to see that the infection had almost covered his entire finger and that it was branching off, almost like vines threatening to spread to rest of his hand. But that wasn't the only thing that disturbed him, near the tip of his finger he spotted a strange bump and the pain he was feeling was coming from it, it felt as though something was trying to push its way out. Without thinking he began to apply pressure to the bump, even though it was unwise to do so with an infection but he didn't care as he squeezed which caused to pain to grow.
Ignoring the pain, he continued to squeeze and after several excruciating seconds the skin covering the bump finally broke and some kind of fluid sprayed out, forcing him to close his eyes. When he opened them he almost fainted at the sight, on his finger there was a small sprout sticking out of the opening as if it was in soil. Anton's mouth hung open as if trying to say something but unfortunately nothing came out, the only thing he could think to do was grab the sprout and began to pull as hard as he could. He immediately regretted his decision as the pain was worse than before but he wasn't going to stop now, with one final pull he managed to yank the growth out of his finger, but as soon as he did he collapsed on his bed unconscious. Early the next morning Anton awoke, as he regained consciousness he smiled in relief.
"Glad that's over with." He breathed out.
However, the second he got up he felt a bizarre feeling in his arm, almost like he couldn't feel it, looking over to his arm he had to keep himself from screaming as he took in his condition. The growth that sprouted from his finger had now spread over his entire hand, but unlike last night it was thicker like constricting roots with no skin visible. He tried to move his fingers but they didn't respond which just added to his horror, without thinking he yanked at the growth but it held firm and he also felt pain as if it was own skin.
"What is this?" He asked clearly terrified.
He thought about going back to the healer but decided against it because he was afraid that they would amputate his arm. It may be a bad idea to not seek help but right now his rationality was the furthest thing from his mind as all he could focus on was trying to remove the growth. For the most of the morning he tried every method he could to remove the growth but nothing worked, at to make matters worse the growth was spreading faster than yesterday as it was already covering his forearm, running out of options he suddenly had one last idea. Going to his fire pit he lite the wood and when he decided that the flame was big enough he stuck his arm into it. What followed was a sudden flash of intense pain forcing him to bite his lip to muffle his screams, but after a minute he pulled his arm out of the fire and he saw that the roots have been singed black but he believed that he had stopped the growth.
He breathed out a chuckle but he quickly stopped when he saw that from beneath the blackened remains new roots quickly sprouted, covering the burnt skin and continuing on to the bicep. Shocked by its speed, Anton took a step back but suddenly tripped, hitting the floor he moaned weakly as the roots kept spreading without any signs of stopping. Hours passed until around late afternoon, Gertrude came to Anton's house with a worried expression on her face as she began to knock on the door.
"Anton." She said, "Anton are you in there, it's me Gertrude."
Gertrude waited for a few moments but when she received no reply she opened to the door and looked around the living room, becoming increasingly worried for her friend's safety.
"Anton, are you in here?" She called out.
She stopped when she heard movement coming from the bedroom, she approached and hesitantly opened the door. Looking inside she saw a figure sitting hunched over on the bed seemingly unaware of her presence so she walked a little closer to him.
"Anton, are you alright?" She asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
Gertrude gently turned Anton around to face, but what she saw caused her to scream in utter shock because before her Anton, but now the growth had spread past his shoulder up to his neck and cheek. Those weren't the only spots covered unfortunately, as roots had sprouted from his stomach and leg ripping their way through his clothes. Anton shambled towards her with his other arm outstretch in a feeble attempt to ask for help, this caused her to quickly step back to put distance between her and him. However, Anton's attention was pulled away from Gertrude when he voices outside, most likely others who her screaming, this caused him to rush out of the room and out the door. Stumbling outside he gazed at the terrified looks of the people around him, without anything left to do he bolted towards the forest, disappearing in the foliage.
Anton ran blindly through the forest, occasionally tripping as it felt like his legs were giving out but he kept moving and after a while he came across a clearly much like the one where he found the flower. When he entered he stopped and began to violently cough as he gripped his neck, feeling as though something was moving up his throat, this caused to fall on his back. As he was coughing, the roots on his body began to move into the soil, effectively pinning him to the ground and very soon his coughing died down. In fact, no sound was coming from him because vines began to rise out of his mouth, spreading over his face and the only thing he could do was dart his eyes back in forth in fright as the vines continued with their work.
Days passed since Anton's disappearance and there was peace in the forest until one day two figures entered the clearing, they were a young couple out for stroll when they both gazed at something before them.
"Would you look at that." The man said.
"They're beautiful." The women said.
Before the two there stood one lone bush, it was fairly large but what caught their attention was the that from it there stood a batch of beautiful, blue flowers.
