To The Root of Things

Rina could be seen sliding down the arbor walls and into the same dungeon Kaito and Khrom were in. Unlike Kaito, Rina was able to stay conscious. As Rina continued to observe her surroundings, she realized she was all alone and separated from the group.

“I was grabbed by some large roots, and now I’m here,” Rina analyzed the situation. “It seems like I was brought into the Nekana Tree.”

Rina remained level-headed and continued to analyze her surroundings. She concluded that this was probably where Kaito had disappeared to as well. Noticing this, she started to venture into the supposed Nekana Tree in search of Kaito.

“So if Kaito and I were taken by the tree, that likely means the disappearances in the area were due to the Nekana Tree itself.” Rina deduced. “That means all the people who went missing would also be in here. But are they even still alive?”

Kaito may have made an empty claim to Chief Lyan. At this rate, there won’t be a way to end up on the chief’s good side.

As Rina continued to ponder as she walked around the lush dungeon, her thoughts were interrupted by a weird noise.

“MRPHMPHPMR…”

It sounded like someone was trying to speak, but everything was incoherent.

As Rina turned towards the strange sound, she noticed Evona’s rear sticking out of a large venus flytrap monster. Evona was clearly stuck in the monster's mouth. She remained still for a second before she flailed again, trying to get loose.

Rina, snapping out of her confused daze at the sight of Evona stuck, took out her sword and killed the monster, freeing Evona.

“BWAH! Evona's saved…” Evona announced after she got out of the dead monster’s mouth. “Thanks, Rina.”

Rina responded, “No proble— Whoa, be careful!”

Evona started shaking the monster’s saliva off like a dog, and Rina didn’t want it to get on her.

“So where are we?” Evona asked, not even realizing that she almost got Rina wet.

“I think we’re in the Nekana Tree,” Rina answered.

As Evona started to observe the dungeon, her ears flickered, hearing something in the distance.

“I think I hear people breathing!” Evona announced as she ran towards what she believed were survivors.

Rina swiftly followed Evona, not wanting to get separated again. Upon catching up to Evona, Rina saw her frozen in distraught. As Rina looked towards where Evona was looking, she knew why she was in that state.

There were a bunch of bodies, human and beastfolk alike, eerily tied up by vines, in which they looked completely drained of all vitality. Each body also had a weird mushroom growing from it.

“T-They’re all dead…” Evona said disappointedly, as she fully believed that the group could save all the missing people.

“Hold on, Evona,” Rina interrupted. “You said they were breathing, right? They might still be alive.”

Though Evona wasn’t as optimistic. Her ears drooped, and she responded, “There’s no way they’re alive in this state. And after such a long time too…”

As Rina paced around the room, she continued to supplement her argument. She explained how the bodies might be infected by a virus. Since viruses need a living host to continue surviving, they likely kept the bodies alive to continue leeching off them.

“But what if the bodies were just replaced with others?” Evona suggested. “Then they could just get rid of the old bodies.”

“I would agree with you, but then this tree would’ve stopped growing long ago,” Rina continued explaining. “The Nekana Tree is already an abnormal size, yet it still reportedly grows. Replacing its energy sources would just allow it to continue living, not grow.”

Evona started to perk up at Rina’s sound argument. Now she started adding her own thoughts to Rina’s.

“Wait, trees don’t need people to survive,” Evona added, “If the Nekana Tree is growing from taking its hostages’ energy, then it’s likely infected by this virus as well!”

“Correct,” Rina smiled at Evona, as she patted her head for her successful conclusion. “If we find and kill this virus, we should be able to save all the kidnapped people.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Evona announced happily, as she and Rina went to find the virus infecting the Nekana Tree.

Rina was happy Evona wasn’t upset anymore. Sure, Evona and Khrom were helping her and Kaito obtain the relic within the dungeon, but Rina knew deep down, Evona wanted to save everyone, especially her people.

Rina and Evona pressed on with a newfound goal alongside their original one. Save the kidnapees of the Nekana Tree and retrieve its relic.