The vine dragged him very far away. It was too fast and the dragging repeatedly bumped him into the trees and shrubberies around, causing him the inability to do anything. Jack tried using Willpower, his human race's skill that needed only a thought to activate, but it seemed to have no effect on the vines holding his leg.
Jack was not sure how long or how far he was dragged, but his body was suddenly pulled high into the air. The vine grabbing his leg was dragging him up onto one of the branches of a very tall tree. No longer hindered by the bumpings, Jack did a hanging sit-up. His Storm Breaker appeared in a swift motion as he cut the vine holding his leg. The vine broke and Jack fell down. He managed to flip his body before hitting the ground and landing back on his feet.
Jack looked up, his magic staff was also out now, expecting more branches or vines to come attacking from above. Everything was still. He looked around. The forest was quiet again.
Peniel materialized out of thin air at the moment. She said, "I have flown after you once you are dragged away, but you are too far already to be followed."
"Did you phase back to me out of your free will or it was forcefully?" Jack asked.
"Forcefully," Peniel replied.
Jack became worried after hearing that. Even though Peniel couldn't leave his position too far, she could still travel a decent distance away. She had been able to stay with Jeanny and John when Jack hunted for monsters in Heavenly Citadel's vicinity. For her to be forcefully pulled back to his side meant the distance between them was greater than that. Which didn't make sense, there was no way he got dragged that far.
But just thinking about it won't solve anything. After making sure nothing was attacking anymore, Jack ran back in the direction where he had been pulled from.
He ran for quite some time, trying to hear his friends, but all he heard was just eery silence.
"Do you recognize the place where I was dragged from?" Jack asked Peniel.
Peniel shook her head. She was as oblivious as Jack in recognizing these look-alike trees. Only Grace was able to do that.
"Grace…! Jet…! Heck, Oswald! Any freekin one…!" Jack shouted. He had also been trying to send messages, but the replies were notifications that he couldn't send any messages.
Jack left his Illumination spell on. He didn't need it because of his Dragon Eye passive ability, but the glowing orb might help attracted his friends' attention if they were nearby.
He went on for some time but still couldn't find anyone or hear anyone.
"Damn it… I'm lost," he uttered.
*
Jack continued wandering around aimlessly. The forest didn't attack anymore, it seemed the purpose of the attack just now was only to separate them. Still, Jack kept vigilance on all the branches and vines around him.
Jack continued to shout for his friends but got no response. He also paid attention to the trees, trying to see if there were any markings on them. This way he would know if he had returned to the path they had traveled before, but he found none.
"Huh?" Jack whirled around suddenly.
"What?" Peniel asked.
"I thought I saw a shadow there," Jack said.
'Bugger!' He thought within. He was now as spooked as Jet. Traveling alone inside here was indeed much more unsettling compared to when his friends were still nearby. If he was like this, he couldn't imagine how the others were doing. This forest was indeed as creepy as shit.
*
"Is it night already?" Jack asked. It was no different inside this forest since the sunlight couldn't enter.
"I will try flying up there to check," Peniel said.
Jack had the urge to use his Supreme Dragon form and flew away from this forest as well. Not long after, he saw Peniel fly back down.
"I can't pass through the foliage," Peniel informed with alarm. "It's as if something is preventing me."
Jack thought for a moment. "Similar to the Valley of Tempus?" Jack asked.
"I guess so," Peniel said. She similarly couldn't fly away from there as well when they were in the valley.
Jack was not worried about himself. If this place was like the Valley of Tempus, he could still escape by using Pandora. What he was worried about were Grace and Jet. They had no means to escape. Return scroll didn't work. Even if they died here, they most likely revived back inside here. So they couldn't escape by killing themselves while wearing the Amulet of Rebirth.
While he was worried, he heard Grace's voice, "Jack?"
Jack turned back and saw Grace was there. She was holding a torch. "Oh, thank goodness that I find you!" She uttered while running towards Jack. Before Jack could say anything, she stored her torch and hugged him. Jack was pleasantly surprised by her action.
"Um…, uh, you okay…?" He asked.
Grace was still hugging him. Only letting him go after a while. "I'm so glad that I find you. I am so scared!" She said. Her eyes were teary.
'Now, now, don't worry. I am here," Jack said, trying to be a man.
Grace didn't let go of him. Although she had let go of her hug, she was still holding his arm, tightly pressed to her body. As if she was afraid to let go.
'Ah… Too bad she was wearing a stiff chest armor,' Jack lamented.
"Where are the others?" Jack asked her.
"I don't know. After you are dragged away. The vines also dragged me, Jet, and even Oswald in different directions. I have been wandering around non-stop since then. I'm so scared. There are shadows everywhere… and rats. I can't stand this. I want to go back!"
"Don't worry, we will find a way," Jack said, trying to console her. "Let's go, we have to find the others as well."
When Jack wanted to move, he felt Grace keep him from moving. She was still holding his arm. Jack turned to her, "What's wrong? Let's go."
"I don't think that's a good idea. We should stay here. What if the vines decide to come and drag us apart again?"
"Staying here won't solve anything. Jet might need our help. Let's go," Jack said and tried to move again, but Grace continued to hold him firmly.
That's weird, he never thought Grace had the strength to cause him to be unable to move like this. Jack turned to her again. This time, however, what he saw was not Grace's beautiful face. It was a face formed of wood branches and vines, with leaves for hairs. Jack was seriously startled by the sudden change. Even Peniel yelped as he saw Grace's transformation.
This wooden Grace spoke, her voice was hoarse. "Stay! Stay with me! Do not leave me alone!"
Jack looked down. What was Grace's body was now a tree trunk. His arm that was held by Grace was now encased inside this trunk. "LetâLet me go!" Jack shouted while using all his strength to pull his arm free, but the trunk was as if solid concrete.
"Stay with me forever! We will be together forever!" The wooden Grace continued to yell. Her voice became more terrifying with each utterance.
"Rarrgggh…!" Jack couldn't help the terror that gripped his heart. His Storm Breaker was out. With Flame Strike, he shattered the trunk that was imprisoning his arm.
His arm came free, but wooden Grace's arms came at him, now a pair of branches that shaped like claws. Jack used Whirlwind Slash, shattering them.
"You impersonator! How dare you scare the shit out of me?!" Jack executed Devouring Cross.
Instead of shattering into tiny wooden pieces like what his two prior attacks had done, wooden Grace instead shattered with a poof. She became black smoke which was then blown away, even when Jack felt no wind whatsoever there.
"Shit! What monster was that just now?" Jack asked Peniel.
"I don't know!" The fairy seemed as shocked as him. "I don't think that was a proper monster. It was more like an apparition conjured by this forest. We can't continue staying in this forest like this. The forest will just repeat its assault the longer we stay."
"Yeah, no shit," Jack uttered.
He looked around. After a while, he sat down cross-legged.
"What are you doing?" Peniel asked.
"We can't continue wandering around like before," Jack answered. "If searching physically doesn't bring results, I will try searching using a different method."
"You are doing that long-range reconnaissance thingy?" Peniel asked. "You do know that I can't protect you if you are attacked by those vines or if that apparition appeared again when you are out, right? I also can't contact you."
One weakness of Jack's corporeal form that they had tested, was that Jack was unaware of what happened to his body when he was out. That's why he preferred to not do it when he was in the open. Peniel could slap him, bite him, and he wouldn't feel a thing. If a monster came while his consciousness was away, it could whack him to death while he was completely oblivious of it.
