Shades of the New World

Chapter 155: The Birth of the Tree

The amount of blue spores the tree was emitting had lessened greatly, and the night seemed a shade darker compared to the last time Evin looked outside. The Ashen Giants were still loitering around at the edge of the town, unbothered by the changes that were happening to the tree.

Time passed slowly as Evin looked curiously at whatever was happening to the 'tree'. The flowers stopped spewing out stuff, but they've become much more brighter, making the tree seem like a huge Christmas tree, decorated with glowing human shaped masks surrounded by flower petals. Moreover, the shapes of faces seemed to become ever more distinct by the minute.

'Feels like a human would pop out of the thing and plop down to the ground...' Evin shook his head and threw this ridiculous idea from his mind. He continued to observe the changes that were happening to the tree.

The flower petals became brighter and brighter, but the tree and faces were becoming a shade darker. This occurrence inevitably caught the attention of the Ashen Giants. The colossal masses of ash and dust all motionlessly looked at the tree in unison. Evin could feel a sense of determination and resolve from the 'expressions' of the giants.

As Evin was wondering what was going to happen next, a loud pop sounded from the tree, followed by a continuous hiss. Aside from the sounds he made and the almost silent rustling of the Ashen Giants, it was the first sound Evin heard in the Pale World. 

Evin looked at the spot where the sound came from and saw one of the flowers discharging something like crazy. Looking at it closer, Evin realized that this time some pale blue gaseous substance was being blown out from under the flower's petals.

As Evin was squinting his eyes, trying to distinguish some clearer details, suddenly, with a squelching sound, two hands, drenched in dark blue liquid, slithered out from the two sides of the face. Something about this movement greatly triggered Evin's fear of leaking, as he became stuck in place, cold sweat dripping through his back. 

The hands then plucked the petals around it and shoved it all into the face's mouth, as it greedily munched on them. 

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The other flowers began to bloom all around, showing the same phenomena as the first one: two wet hands slithering out and then feeding the face with its own petals.

After the faces finished feeding on the petals, their features turned from dark blue to bright pale blue, and it became much more detailed and expressive. Their brows were wrinkled, and they had a struggling expression like they were hurting somewhere. 

Then, the hands grew longer, and using the blue vines as support, they began to push out a pale, naked body out of the giant tree, which just floated eerily in midair. The hands with the female face pulled out a female body, while the male faces had a male body, there were even some children and some other deformed people floating about as well.

The hole on the tree where the people came from sagging down like old labia. The hole then expanded and contracted like it was breathing, with dark-blue liquid slowly dripping from its bottom. This disgusted and riled Evin greatly, but he managed to gather his focus on the more immediate problem.

After they were out of the tree, they began to open their eyes. Every single one of them had a dark blue ring around their pale, pupilless eyes.

Just like the Giants, Evin could see them confusedly looking around, trying to guess at what was happening around them. But Evin didn't really have the leisure to worry about that. 

"Pop!" sounded the flower inside Evin's room.

Then came the hiss. At this point, Evin had turned around, and was holding his spear with a wavering expression. He was wondering if he should run away, or stay to watch. It was a great chance for Evin to face his fears and learn exactly what would happen if he were to meet one of these pale floating people face to face.

'Who knows? Maybe they weren't as bad as I'm making them out to be?'

The squelching sound came from the flower and the two slender hands began to feed the mouth. The silent room was filled with the sounds of chewing and occasional swallow. 

'Fuck this,' Evin decided and wanted to run away, but realized that he put a pile of furniture in the doorway.

'Fuck! Idiot!'

Evin then steeled his heart, held his spear tightly in his hands and hoped for the best.

The hands then began to push out a naked pale-blue body of the female, which then began to sway about gently in the air. 

Evin could see the woman's body twitch almost unnoticeably, traces of goosebumps appearing all over her body, with even her drooping nipples harden and become erect in a second. She then assumed a pained expression, after which she let out a soft whimper. 

Finally, the woman's eyes fluttered rapidly, before opening in a slow, tired manner. 

After fully waking up, her blue ringed eyes looked around her surroundings and then began feeling her own body with a perplexed face. To Evin, it looked almost like the female didn't understand how she was alive and moving.

Inevitably, the woman's gaze fell upon Evin. An unbelieving expression appeared on her face, before something inside her seemed to break down abruptly and with a thud, she fell to the floor. Veins began to pop out on her forehead, the blue ring on her eyes seemed to become bigger, and a low snarl came from her mouth. She looked at Evin hatefully before dashing towards him, screeching loudly in the process. 

Thankfully, Evin was prepared to fight a long time ago and easily dodged her mad tackle. The woman crashed into the walls with a thud, growling in pain. Evin then swung his spear towards her neck with all his might, in an attempt to end this fight as soon as possible.

But who would have guessed that the blade on Evin's spear would phase through the woman, putting Evin dangerously out of balance. The woman got back on her feet again and was seemingly preparing to swipe at Evin with nails. 

Evin didn't notice it before, but her nails were much longer and sharper than any normal human could have. 

Evin let go of his spear and prepared to dodge the woman's attack. But without the help of the Worlds strengthening and reducing his weight, Evin was nothing but a simple seven-year-old. The reach and speed of an adult woman was far superior than him. Not to mention a crazed and almost mutated she was.

The swipe hit Evin's head, and the boy could feel his body rolling away limply a few meters to the side. As Evin was dazedly lying on the floor, facing the ceiling, he could hear the woman running at him with her loud steps and landing on top of him. Evin eyed the woman fearfully, and tried to struggle free from under the woman, but the woman didn't budge and just proceeded to claw at Evin's chest with her nails.

The expected blood and gore didn't happen, but something much more concerning happened.