Kapitel 144: CHAPTER 143: The forest of people.
As time in hell moved different from time in the main worlds, I had no idea how long we had been there.
As soon as we got in, I tried to move to a relative safe zone so she wouldn't get attacked. As an uncorrupted human was basically a delicatessen down here. It also did not help that she was rather reckless. Not in the stupid kind of way, but more with the mindset, if something happens to me than I probably would have deserved it.
So, after some searching, I found a forest of people. However, it had obvious reasons why most demons stayed away from here.
These forests consisted of people that had taken on a tree like form after being stuck here for so long. They were unable to move and trapped in this state. Tough they were verry much alive and conscious. Sometimes you would beg to be left alone, whisper to themselves or just cry. Tough most of the time they stayed eyry silent.
Most of them had lost their souls long ago and others only had scraps remaining that were so ancient and rotten that even I wouldn't take it.
All in all. The place was grim, dark, icy cold and almost silent. There was no food and nothing that was worth coming here for. Therefore, it was safe.
A thin layer of mist hung over the hard cold ground, preventing us from seeing further than a few dozen meters.
The branches of the trees that mostly consisted of arms and fingers, but with some exceptions that grew out of the head or shoulders. They all looked the same to me. grey, dull, and soulless. In the normal worlds even, some regular plants would have something that came close to a soul, tough it was merely a sing that they were alive. But these did not.
Maybe it was just my greed. But I found it a rather depressing sight.
Leonor had long since grown quiet one we entered this place. clearly, she was starting to doubt whether or not she took the right decision. I could not blame her. This was hell after all.
We eventually found a cave. There were more of these tree people here, but that was probably better. As we started to make our way to the cave, I saw something rather unusual.
There was a tree that used to be a woman. That part did not surprise me. But what she held in her unmoving arms did.
She was holding a child, a new-born. Just like her, the child was frozen with branches sprouting out of it. but the child still had a soul. It was small and dim, but it still had one.
Curiously, I came closer to the woman and her child. Leonor did not even notice my actions as she was finally getting overwhelmed by the place, she was in.
Tough the woman could not use her mouth to speak I could hear her voice in roughly the same way that I would talk to people in their minds.
Unable to protect her child she was begging me to stay away. The begging turned to screaming. And when she realised that she could do nothing in the slightest, the screaming turned into sobbing.
But I was not interested in taking the soul of the child. It was so small and weak that it wouldn't be worth taking. And I had eaten enough before I went back to hell so I was not so hungry that I would do it anyways. I was just curious about how a child ended up in a situation as this.
Meanwhile the woman was screeching absolute nonsense. She had been like this for too long. She would not be able to answer me if I asked how this happened. And I obviously couldn't ask the child.
Knowing that I would probably never find out I just pushed some of the people aside to create a pat wide enough for me and Leonor. I was not sure if she could also hear the woman, bust she also seemed surprised at what the woman was holding.
When we entered the cave, I started a fire to keep Leonor warm.
I sat down against the wall of the cave. "And? Is this place anything like you suspected?"
"Yea… it is just. How do you stay here for so long?"
I shrugged. "It is not like I stay here all the time. I can visit various worlds, like the one you came from."
She nodded and took out her notebook. While she was still not used to having only one arm, she stared to write in it. I assumed that it were notes about the things that she had seen here, or some journal that she could leave somewhere for someone to find once she was gone.
Not having much else to do, I started to readjust the pieces of cloth that were left to cover my scar. I would need something else to replace it soon anyway. But I just wanted it to hold for a little longer. At least until I got out of here so there was no chance of other demons seeing it.
Leonor looked up. "For as far as I know, your kind is pretty regenerative. How did you get a lasting scar?"
"Would you believe me if I told you that I don't know?"
She smiled. "No, I actually won't. Please tell me about it, this place is so quiet that I am almost going insane."
"Actually. I really don't know. At least not the details."
"I can go without details; I just need to hear something else that the blood flowing through my ears."
"Fine. It was a few years back. I was still really weak back then and not even half the size of what I am now. I wandered into an old castle and as it turned out there was a silvery four-armed demon hiding there. That demon carved this mark into my chest and soon after that the roof collapsed due to the bad weather. That was the first time I died, and I did not wake back up until a group of people summoned me. but when I did, I still had this scar, and it has never faded."
She continued to write things down in her notebook while I listened to the soft weeping of the trees outside.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein