They took Tropos all the way to the bottom, to Chaos, and as they approached Chaos transformed itself to accommodate their presence. Things that had never before been given a form or shape were suddenly forced into a physical shell. The demons' unfamiliarity with a corporeal form saved them from much harm, and they were able to progress through Chaos with little difficulty, until they came to a disturbing sight.
It was a Tree that seemed to be made from the bodies of three enormous women, their faces contorted in fury. Their bodies were twisted together horribly to form the trunk, and their arms extended up and split into the tree's branches; their feet grew down into the earth. The roots could be seen growing up and up into Tropos and, supposedly, into Pragma. Despite how horrific this creature, this abomination, was, the true horror lay in what hung from its branches. Strung up from every branch were the shades of every soul He had ever taken, from the time that He was given shape by our thoughts; from infants to the elderly. The shades wept tears of blood in their suffering, and the Tree seemed to thrive on it; blood dripped from the tips of the branches, ran down the trunk, coated the roots. The furious faces of the three women drank it as it ran down into their mouths.
They saw the King's shade in that Tree, and they approached with the intention of cutting him down from there and rescuing him. As soon as they were close enough, all of the Tree's smaller branches, the ones too small to support a body, lashed out at them as though they were claws. The group leapt back into safety. The Champion approached, his sword in hand, and tried to fight off the branches, but to no avail; he was badly wounded and forced to retreat without managing to inflict any damage at all.
The Tactician proposed that the Huntress shoot at the trunk of the Tree with her arrows, perhaps aim for the faces of the women who formed it; the Huntress knew, however, that the branches would merely deflect her arrows before they hit. But the Huntress was brave, and approached the tree regardless. She could see how the King was suffering, and she would not stand for it. As she approached, the branches readied themselves to attack, but suddenly one of the women who were the Tree told the other two to hold, and let the Huntress approach. She told her that she could relate to the vengeance in the Huntress' heart, and she released the King and the Estuary from their grasp.
The danger for the group grew as they fled back to Tropos, as many of the demons were becoming used to their physical forms and tried to attack. The Champion and the Huntress led the group, their weapons in hand; the Tactician and the Light-Bearer brought up the rear while the Native and the Planter helped the badly injured King and Estuary along in the middle. Working as a team, they made it back to their world with relatively little damage taken.
With their return to Pragma, the King and the Estuary's souls returned to their bodies, and they were able to return home. None of the group would be fooled by Him again, after what they had alreadyy gone through, but He will never give up, so long as He has power.
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