Lian's Peculiar Adventure: Starlight Paladins
Chapter 6
Trees are Forever
The marooned crew landed on the shore and started to make a campground on the grassy plain.
"Some of us will go on ahead and inspect the trail that leads to the woods." One of the sailors explained to Lian and her group, "For you and the rest, you will wait here and hopefully another steamboat stops by or we find a nearby town via the trail."
"Very well." Lian nodded.
"Sounds like a better plan than I could have thought of." Zhin shrugged his shoulders and took his ease on a nearby rock.
"To think the captain was the stand user, crazy, huh?"
"Just goes to show how dedicated your sister is to getting rid of us." Lian told Sarah, "She'll hire anyone for any part to go to any place."
"The mind of a master psychopath." Lex commented as he dusted off his boots, "The sooner we get to her, the sooner the hand of the law can do its justice! She has caused too many innocent deaths!"
Sarah nodded and looked at Valeria's grave nearby.
"This is all she had…" she brought out a book, a black crystal, some coins, and an apple from a satchel, "She had nothing to do with this!"
"What a beautiful crystal…" Lian mumbled and looked at it, then put it in her hands.
"It's emanating with some kind of magic."
"Criminal scum of your sister's caliber do not care who they hurt." Lex grunted and crossed his arms, "I have met to many of them to have my views changed. They all deserve death."
Lian sighed.
"Let's try to lighten the mood." she said, "Say Lex, I never got to beat you at chess."
"If I remember correctly, I was winning." Lex responded, "You only had your king, three pawns, and your rooks left while I had only a bishop and my knights missing."
"That doesn't mean I couldn't win. I've been trained in chess by the finest teachers in the land." Lian said, "There's no way I could have lost to you."
"There there, princess." Zhin chuckled, "Perhaps you can try to win again next time."
"Hmph." Lian grunted.
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It was night at the camp, and everyone was heading to sleep after dinner.
Sarah had already made a makeshift tent for them to sleep under and was now setting up the blankets.
Lian had come out of the nearby forest.
"Ugh… To think I had to relieve myself in the wild." She grumbled, "How unsightly for a princess!" she shook her hands in disgust.
Zhin came from talking to some sailors and had some biscuits on a platter.
"I managed to get some extra food." He informed the two women, "Where is Lex?"
"Over there." Sarah pointed at Lex, who was on the shore by Valeria's grave.
"Hmmm…" Lian mumbled, "I'll see what's up with him." She said and walked over to the enforcer.
"Lian, I didn't expect you to be here." Lex noticed her presence but maintained his vision on the grave.
"Why not?" Lian asked and stood next to him.
"You said you weren't a fan of somber moments with your comment in the afternoon." Lex responded and faced her, "How can I help you?"
"I was going to ask what you were doing here, but with your attitude perhaps I can leave you." Lian said and turned away.
"I made a vow."
Lian stopped.
"I vowed to stop criminals so no more innocent people could get hurt." Lex continued, "That is why I uphold the Law, to stop evil at its root." He clenched his fist and turned to face her.
"That's… good." Lian nodded.
The silence between the two was deafening.
"Alright." Lex responded and walked up to her.
"Zhin brought biscuits." Lian told him, "If you want some that is."
"I could taste a bite." Lex nodded and the two walked back to their part of the camp, but stopped when they heard screaming in the woods.
"What was that?" Sarah stood up.
The remaining sailors stood up as well and grabbed lanterns.
"That was close by." Zhin pointed to the trail that led to the woods.
"Let's go check it out then." Lian looked at Lex, "Perhaps someone needs our help."
Lex led the group to the trail, followed by the sailors.
The group was helpful for these people as they brought the lanterns that helped them see in this thick forest brush. The canopy above them blocked the little light that was already shining down.
"Where do you think that scream was?" one of the sailors asked Lex.
"I don't know…" Lex mumbled and looked at his allies.
"I heard it over there, further down the trail." Zhin spoke and started to walk forward.
The others followed behind him.
The woods became thicker and thicker the further they ventured into the trail. The brush becoming so think that some sailors feared that they would light it with their fires.
"It seems the people the ventured here have helped us out a bit." Sarah commented as she noticed much of the brush was cut bac
"These woods are unbelievable thick…." Lian struggled to look through the trees.
"And they only get thicker." Lex commented as they continued venturing down, "Watch out." he raised his hand when he noticed a decline on the path, then helped Lian walk down it.
Lian took the lead as the entourage walked down the trail.
"Look at this!" she said and punched away a branch with Power Khan, "I can hardly breathe with all these stupid plants around me!"
"Ouch!" one of the sailors yelped, causing them to turn to the man.
"What the hell!?" he yelled and picked up what he stepped on: a machete.
"That looks like what the sailors who came in here were carrying." Sarah spoke.
"Take a look at this!" another sailor said and pointed at a sailor hat on a branch.
"Something is odd about this place." Zhin murmured, "I feel it in my spirit."
"UROH…" a soft groan sounded through the night.
"What is that?" Lian managed to spot a soft glow in the woods, then walked to it.
After punching some foliage, she saw a much concerning sight.
An ent was trapped in chains facing a fire surrounded by axes and signs of previous habitation.
"What the?" Lian said and broke through the plants blocking her path.
"What… are you?" she asked the ent, seeing it was in pain.
"Ent…. Forest…" the ent responded as it trembled in the chains.
"Miss! Are you ok?!" a voice called from out of the woods, and two sailors appeared with machetes.
"Yes, I am." Lian responded, "Can you help me reach that ent?" she said and noted the thick vines separating her from the helpless ent.
"Alright!" the two raised their machetes and were about to cut the vines until a branch suddenly appeared from nowhere and impaled one of the sailors in the neck.
"What?!" Lian and the other sailor gasp as the branch carried away the sailor into the thick brush.
"Get away from me!" the sailor noted the vines he was about to cut head towards him and cut them, however, the cut vines moved like snakes and climbed on the sailor's legs.
"What's going on!?" he screamed and saw the vines come out from under his shirt, then they wrapped around his neck and snapped it.
"Ha!" Lian gasped and looked at the Ent, who was now free from its chains.
"You!" she pointed at it.
Suddenly, a nearby flower shot out spikes from its center.
Power Khan appeared and caught all the spikes except one, which bore deep into her shoulder.
"AH!" Lian yelped and glared at the Ent, "You! You're the stand user! Your Stand must control plants!"
"You… hurt plants…." The ent slowly spoke, "Plants… hurt you…."
"I'll show you who hurts who!" Lian said and burst into the area where the ent was, "Take-"
A tree suddenly bent and smacked her with its full girth.
"AHHH!" Lian screamed as she was knocked back into the woods.
"Lian!" Lex yelled as he she landed a few meters away from the rest of the group, "What happened?!"
"Ha… Ha…" Lian panted, "I found and ent, and he's the stand user!" she informed, "His stand can control plants!" she warned.
Suddenly, a tree came down and crushed three sailors.
"AH!" Sarah screamed when nearby ferns shot out like spears and impaled the surviving sailors across their bodies.
"Watch out!" Zhin said and protected Sarah with from some vines, "What!?" he saw that the vines continued to move, so he cut them down to small bits.
"Ha… ha… ha…." The ent from before appeared from the brush and glared at them with his green eyes.
"That's him!" Lian pointed at the forest creature, "Now show us your stand!"
"I am…. Grover…." The ent responded, "I am… forest guardian."
Suddenly, a tree came down and aimed to crush them.
"Hrah!" Power Khan appeared and punched the tree in two, then threw it to the sky.
"I have him!" Zhin said and jumped towards Grover, "Take this!" he yelled and made Thousand Hands appear and stab.
However, Zhin came to realize that Grover was gone, and that he was only stabbing the tree behind him.
Worse of all, he found that he could no longer move his stand's sword.
"What!?"
"Zhin!" Sarah said as she saw the tree start pulling in his stand.
"I… Can't move it!" Zhin growled.
"Stand back!" Lian said and Power Khan punched the tree, snapping it in half and allowing a window of opportunity for Zhin to call back his stand.
"Grover…"
Lex turned to see the ent behind him.
"The Law!" he called out his stand, and it immediately started firing at him.
Grover, however, did the most surprising thing, he disappeared into the tree.
"What!? AH!" Sarah gasped when roots from under the earth appeared and grabbed hold of her legs, then pulled her down into the earth.
"Sarah!" Lian yelled, and then saw vines constrict the woman's arms.
"I- I can't move!" Zhin yelled as the same thing happened to him, but this instance was the branches from the trees holding him.
"What is going on!?" Lex called out as some vines wrapped around him.
"Hold- AH!" Lian was grabbed by a tree, "HRAH!" she called out Power Khan, but it was immediately surrounded by vines, roots, and all sort of foliage and bound.
"I can't do anything! I can't even see his stand!" Lian said as Grover reappeared from the ground
Grover murmured as he looked at the humans.
"Unless…."
"His stand is…"
"The Forest!?" the four yelled.
"No... it is FEAR THE FOLIAGE..." Grover told them, "Humans… are always…. Destroying nature….. Yet they only cry when nature…. Destroys them… It is time they remember their primal... fears..."
Lex groaned as the vines started to strangle him.
"RA!" Power Khan yelled and freed one of his arms, only to have it immediately restrained by more foliage.
"How could we be so foolish?" Sarah groaned, "We walked right into it!"
"We didn't know, that's the problem." Lex added.
Lian panted, then looked at Grover.
"Hey stupid plant!" she yelled, "You're messing with royalty here! I will command my soldiers to burn this good for nothing wood heap to the ground if you don't release me."
Grover growled.
"I swear, when I get out, you all will be nothing but papers the commoner wipes his rear end over!" Lian continued.
Grover roared at her face.
"Bingo." Lian smirked and pulled out the dark crystal from her pocket with the little movement she was allowed, then threw it in front of Grover's face.
"RAH!" Power Khan broke his left arm free and drove the crystal into the ent's head faster than he could react.
"AGGHHHHHH!" Grover roared as the crystal cracked and released a surge of black magic into his head.
"And since you're all connected, that'll only spread so you can't escape it." Lian said as Grover held his head.
"And you also won't escape this!" she yelled and called out Power Khan.
"RAA! RAA! RAA! RAA! RAA! RAA! RAA!" Power Khan yelled as it pummeled Grover with a fury of punches and sent it flying into a tree.
The foliage wrapping her and her allies started to weaken and die.
"RAHHHH!" Grover bellowed and expired as black magic coursed through his bark.
The forest around them quickly dried up, and the great trees started to snap and collapse.
"We need to get out of here!" Lex yelled as he avoided the falling foliage.
"I have this!" Sarah dug herself out, "Furious Flame! Incinerate Them!"
Furious Flame shot out of her and blasted a beam of fire in front of them, clearing a large area of forest and revealing the open plains ahead.
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The four escaped the forest and saw it collapse into itself before reducing to dust.
"It seems this tree did make a sound." Sarah joked.
Lian sighed and shifted her tiara side to side, "What a pain…"
"Come on, it was funny." Sarah looked for approval, but only got looks of doubt back.
"Oh well… However, I wonder if that ent was with my sister."
"It doesn't appear so." Zhin answered, "It appears it was defending its home from what it considered intruders."
"Well that's too bad." Lian told them, "We could have let him go, but he decided to mess with us."
"To think that whole forest was his Stand… It's a miracle we even got out of there alive." Lex commented, "Thank you, Lian." He patted her shoulder.
"It's only natural." Lian smiled and looked at them, "I am a prodigy after all."
"Keep it humble, princess." Zhin chuckled, "Say, the trail continues." He said and pointed to the dirt road that led to a small town by a swamp.
"That should be where we should stop by next." Lian said, "Perhaps we can find a way back to the South."
"Maybe after taking a rest." Sarah said and leaned on a rock.
"I second that." Lex said and sat down on the grass, "I think those vines may have pulled something."
The four sat down under the stars.