Chapter 39: Tree
The metallic scent of blood lingered as the team efficiently cleaned their weapons with leaves.
Adrian on the other hand was advised to rest as he sat in a corner, the wounds on his shoulders were terrifying and by his pained expression you could tell that he was hurting.
"Pop!"
Adrian suddenly removed a container from his inner pocket and opened it, without delay he threw a white healing pill in his mouth, and in the next moment, he groaned as the pill took effect slowly healing his wounds.
As Adrian healed the group discussed an important matter.
"What do we do with this beast?" Serena asked as she pointed to the lifeless beast on the ground, her voice sounding a bit dim due to mental exhaustion.
"Let's roast it," David suggested as he eyed the beast.
"No we can't do that," Evelyn said before darting in, "it's approaching nightfall, and demons are beginning to come out, what are we gonna do if we attract a demon?" She asked.
No one answered for a while but Kevin who was done cleaning his weapon suddenly said, "But we can't leave it here, how about we cut off a portion of the beast's flesh and store it?"
Nobody objected to this and the group swiftly got to work directly cutting and packaging the flesh of the best into an empty case.
They handed this case to David who frowned at the smell of raw meat, it wasn't pleasant but he had to endure it.
By the time they were done, it was already late as the sun dipped into the horizon casting a dim orange glow on the eerie forest.
"Something's approaching us, we have to move," someone said abruptly.
The person who spoke was Aiden who was currently looking towards a certain direction with a frown on his face.
As the nagging sensation in his mind increased Aiden didn't waste time anymore, instead he ran in the opposite direction, trying to avoid the danger.
Although skeptical the other candidates chose to follow him, they would rather act now and ask questions later.
As they ran Aiden suddenly stopped, prompting the rest of the candidates to stop as well.
"What's wrong?" Ethan asked.
"There's another beast at the front," Aiden replied before adding, "Let's take this route," he said pointing in a certain direction.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Felix suddenly asked in annoyance, before darting in, "We can't keep jumping at shadows, are-"
"Roaarrr!"
A roar suddenly sounded out behind them, "Move, now!" Felix ordered urgency replacing his earlier uncertainty.
As they ran the shock Felix and the group felt only increased, once could be called a fluke but by now they had changed directions five times, avoiding five different beasts.
With this, the group was able to confirm that Aiden really had a way of sensing these creatures.
In their hurried escape, they stumbled upon beast waste, a necessary but unpleasant means of camouflaging their scent.
Grumbles and exchanged glances revealed their reluctance, yet the reality of the situation prevailed, as they begrudgingly smeared it over their armor.
Selecting a strategic spot, they climbed a towering tree but didn't stop there, as an extra precautionary measure they tied a thin and long piece of vine to all their fingers.
"Ah, I can't stand this smell," Evelyn said in a hushed tone as she lay on the branch.
"Shut up," Felix whispered, and everyone frowned, they had to remain quiet as the sun had set.
"Aiden how are you able to sense infected beasts ahead of time?" Mai couldn't help but ask, everyone turned to Aiden as well curious to uncover his secret.
They all had exceptional senses but they couldn't sense the Lion's existence, if Aiden didn't inform them on time the incident with Lucius could have repeated itself.
Even though the incident with the Lion was a fluke how would one explain Aiden being able to sense the distant beasts approaching them, even as they moved they didn't believe it until they heard a heavy roar from the distance.
If Aiden truly had a way of discovering infected beasts so quickly then it would be beneficial to them if he could share it with the group.
"It's part of my Contract," Aiden lied causing Felix to scoff, "if you don't want to tell us just say so," he whispered.
"Haha," Aiden chuckled awkwardly as he asked Adrian, "How's your shoulder bro?"
Adrian had received some nasty wounds from the Lion's claws, and apart from that he had damaged his gauntlets a bit.
"I'm doing fine," Adrian replied, a small smile forming on his lips.
Saying this he looked towards the glowing barrier above, trying to ignore the foul smell of animal waste that lingered in the air "I'm just glad we managed to survive, plus I consumed a healing pill so I'll probably heal up by tomorrow," he said.
As the night progressed Aiden volunteered to be the watchman while everyone else slept.
Serena suggested that they take turns but Aiden strongly rejected them, unlike him who didn't need sleep everyone here needed it as sleeping could help them heal faster and recover their mental state.
Aiden would rather travel with fully rested Contractors than exhausted ones.
The night was rather slow and Aiden couldn't do any workout because of the fear of making too much noise.
As he meditated trying to calm his mind Aiden felt the branch where he sat shake a bit causing him quite a bit of shock as his eyes snapped open.
Quickly looking towards the source of the disturbance Aiden quickly calmed down, it was Kevin, "I see you're not that tired," Kevin said as he sat down next to Aiden.
"I'm not really fond of sleeping," Aiden replied, with a smile, he couldn't tell Kevin that he didn't really need to sleep.
Kevin remained quiet after that as they stared into the sky, the forest was a beautiful place but one couldn't enjoy it with the danger around them.
Letting out a sigh Kevin asked, "Why did you choose to become a Contractor?"
The question caught Aiden off guard, but he played along, thinking about it Aiden said.
"I'm searching for someone, and I can only find that person with the Silence's information network, what about you?" Aiden asked, his undivided attention betraying his curiosity.
Hearing Aiden's remark Kevin nodded his head, his gaze drifted into the distance, and with a wistful tone, he revealed, "I'm looking for someone precious, my wife, to be precise."
Sensing the weight in Kevin's words, Aiden inquired, "Did something happen to her? Was she kidnapped?"
"No she went to get milk," Kevin went for a faint attempt at humor but by the sound of his voice one could tell that he was struggling.
"I have a six-year-old daughter, she's my pride and joy," Kevin said as he carefully unclasped a small amulet from around his neck.
With great care, he extended it towards Aiden. Opening the pendant, Aiden saw the picture of a radiant little girl. "She's pretty," Aiden remarked.
"Yeah," Kevin chuckled sounding pleased, a hint of satisfaction in his tone, but his mood turned sober as he continued his tale.
"My marriage with Genice was filled with lots of red flags, she was a selfish person, and always liked to spend money on extravagant things not even bothering about her family," Kevin said while looking into the distance.
"When I was working I could afford her extravagant lifestyle, and our marriage was neutral, but the moment my business hit troubled waters everything changed," he added before darting in.
"It didn't get better, it got worse, long nights out, disappearing for weeks, she didn't even take care of our child."
When Kevin reached this part of his story he suddenly paused, clenching his fists as he went on.
"I learned from neighbors that she often left my daughter unattended to in the care of a different nanny each day, she knew all too well that I am strongly against the idea of hiring a nanny due to the unexplained disappearances of children in the shelter, but she still went ahead and did that."
He said, taking another pause as he continued.
"After I learnt this I was furious. We had a big fight and I hit her for the first time, my anger got the best of me and I couldn't control myself, I tried to apologize and we agreed to forget about it, but Genice didn't change. Soon she spent all my savings, and one day when she couldn't live that extravagant life anymore she just went out and never came back," Kevin chuckled.
Hearing Kevin's story Aiden was lost for words, "then why look for her?" He asked.
Seeing Aiden's confusion Kevin responded.
"Actually the reason I'm doing this is because of my daughter, I don't want her to live a mediocre life. I want to provide everything she could ever want in life, and to do that I need money, and what occupation is more profitable than being a Contractor?" He asked before adding.
"Finding my wife is just a secondary goal."
The surroundings suddenly became odd with Aiden not knowing what to say.
"There's no need to feel awkward about it," Kevin chuckled as he went on to ask "So who are you looking for?"
"My sister," Aiden replied softly.
"Ohh what does she look like?" Kevin asked.
"Well, she has black hair and eyes like me," Aiden replied.
"That's a rather vague description," Kevin replied earning a dry laugh from Aiden.
One couldn't blame him, apart from a low-quality picture back at home he remembered nothing about her.
Thinking about it now he didn't know what happened to his stuff, the rest of his things weren't important to him but but his violin and the pictures of his family were very important.
"Ohh she also has a birthmark the shape of a star on her back," Aiden snapped his fingers.
The two discussed for hours, mostly talking about family and future plans, but because of this, they let their guard down.
Suddenly the both of them felt a chill run down their spine and immediately stopped talking.
Looking down from above they saw what seemed to be a headless human figure.
It might have been called a human figure but there was nothing humane about it.
On its thin and bloodied chest was a huge and grotesque cavity.
Through that cavity, a long and deformed human hand could be seen constantly grabbing the air in front of it.
Although this human figure was naked it had no sex, meaning it was blank between its bony legs, and on its pale skin were several contusions creating an eerie contrast of black and white.
Slowly this demon walked until it was directly below the tree, and just like that it stopped.
Seeing this Aiden and Kevin looked towards each other a cautious glint in their eyes as they violently pulled the vine connected to their fingers.
Their actions woke everyone from their slumber and upon noticing the scary embrace of the night they quickly regained their bearings.
Felix was confused and so were the rest of the candidates.
They looked towards Aiden and Bruce who quickly put their fingers over their lips and pointed down.
Looking down the group could see the demon below, and its grotesque appearance made them frown.
The demon was hard to look at as it looked like a rotten and molested human body.
Suddenly the sound of footsteps could be heard from the distance, "ba, ba, ba," intelligible murmurs soon followed and another demon came into view.
This demon looked even weirder than the first. It looked like the dismembered upper part of a human body, it had normal hands that served as its feet and its head was cut in half so much so that you could see its brain matter.
Upon seeing the demon with a cavity in its chest the other demon said, "ba, ba, ba" and the cavity demon replied by moving its arms.
With that these two demons started doing something strange, they started moving around the base of the tree going around and around without a word.
Their strange ritual confused the Contractor who had already silently distributed their weapons.
Right now they just hoped that these demons hadn't noticed them.
Unlike beasts demons were drawn to conflict like a moth to a flame, the moment they started fighting they had to finish it quickly or else there would be more demons joining the fray.
Soon more demons could be seen joining this strange ritual going round and round the tree.
At this moment Aiden suddenly had a very bad feeling, his furrowed his brows as a rotten smell wafted through his nostrils.
"Something isn't right," Aiden thought as his eyes scanned his surroundings.
Suddenly he remembered something the Vice Captain had warned them about in one of her lectures.
[Demons are never peaceful, even amongst themselves. If various demonic beings gather without prompt hostility, it probably hints at the presence of a stronger demon, demons worship strength.]
"Wait!"
Aiden thought as his mind flashed "Stronger demons, worship strength, dancing around a tree, no they are worshipping the tree."
Aiden rapidly came to a terrifying conclusion and with that, he felt his heartbeat increase.
"Everyone get off the tree," he yelled but it was too late.
"Ahhhhh!"
A loud scream filled their surroundings, and it came from one of them.
Aiden watched it play out in slow motion, Evelyn had been standing closer to the main body of the tree, and the rest of them were on thick branches that were quite far from the tree's main body.
Unknowingly a zigzag pattern appeared on the tree just behind her and the next moment it opened up. Its insides were blood red and its open mouth revealed rows and rows of scary black spikes.
The tree was sentient, and before anyone could react "whoosh," its black tongue had already extended like a chameleon catching its prey.
It latched onto Evelyn with an alarming suction force and pulled her into the terrifying abyss it called a mouth.
"Ahhh!"
Aiden watched her let out a despaired-filled scream waiting and pleading for someone to rescue her, but it was all for naught as no one could react fast enough to save her.
"Splat!"
Was the only sound the candidates heard as Evelyn was crushed into a mash of meat and blood paste that flowed through the gaps of that zigzag-shaped mouth, never to be seen again.
The Candidates didn't hesitate jumping off the tree and breaking into a mad run for their lives.
Aiden who was the first to react was in the lead while the rest of the candidates followed closely behind him.
Even though some of them could they didn't overtake him as they knew of his ability to sense danger ahead.
"Ba, ba, ba," the demons chased after them and the candidates paled.
"Faster dambit," Felix growled at Aiden who focused all his energy on running.
As he shuffled through the trees and complicated terrain Aiden looked back and saw that everyone was keeping up just fine, on another note Kevin was carrying David as he ran, this slowed Kevin down making him the last in this race while at the same time allowing David to survive.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone