Blossom

A beautiful red flower had suddenly appeared in the center of a plain near a bustling city, the flower was large, almost looking an open cabbage despite its rose-like appearance, the flower head was coming directly from the ground, the stem seemed to be completely buried.

The flower was so beautiful that even when some researchers came to analyse it, they found themselves unable to bring themselves to rip it off the ground.

The petals had a strange texture, one of the researchers compared it to skin and despite the certainly bizarre texture the people didn't seem to mind it, the plant appeared to be predatory as the bees and other insects that went on it seemed lured to its center were they would disappear.

Months passed and the flower became a popular attraction, even poachers didn't feel like trying to pluck it out to sell it, the flower entranced all that gazed upon it.

At first, the lonely wanderer had also felt a faint attraction to the flower but as soon as he snapped out of it, he realised that the flower was more than what it seemed, it had almost taken a hold of its mind, this must have been why nobody had even remotely touched it without being extremely careful, they were under control of the mysterious plant.

'Not my problem' had thought the wanderer, walking away from the plant, found an inn in the city and stayed the night here.

Upon entering the city, he had already noticed that the people seemed to mention the flower way too much in their conversations, sometime even replacing words with 'flower' and not even noticing it, neither the one speaking or the one listening.

'Not my problem' had once again thought the lonely wanderer.

As he prepared to leave the city, he overheard a discussion.

The content of which wasn't quite anomalous but taking into account that strange flower, the wanderer suddenly found that it might be his problem after all.

The conversation he had overheard was simple, a mother asking for where her child was before suddenly forgetting about it all upon a mention of the flower by the person she asked.

At the dead of night, making use of his feline eyes to catch the light in the darkness, the wanderer walked toward the flower, it seemed like he would have to take care of it himself, he didn't know why he had been the only one to manage to resist its hold but the cat beastman approached the flower with his short sword in hand, the only weapon in his possession.

His cloak fluttered through he slightly strong wind as he arrived in front of the flower.

It didn't try to take control of his mind or it simply couldn't, the man raised his sword up, preparing to stab the flower right through its center as he was about to plunge his sword in the entrails of that damned flower, it looked at him, he made eye contact with it.

An eye appeared in the center of the flower, a beautiful purple eye stared at him with a neutral expression, almost looking tired, the sudden appearance of the eye froze the man for a moment but he was still aware of his surroundings and was still able to step back as a clawed hand sprouted out from the ground.

The skin of the creature was grey with bits of green but most of it was stained with dirt, the claws ressembled wood but appeared incredibly sharp.

The wanderer wasn't certain how to react to this absurd spectacle, the dirt rose as a monster of thin complexion rose from the earth, it had a humanoid appearance, roots could be seen right beneath its skin, making it seem like they were veins.

On its head, the flower was stuck to its faceless head, on the left side of his head causing its head to slightly fall toward that side.

It didn't make a single sound as it raised its right hand causing the plain to suddenly be covered with gorgeous flowers, for a moment, it appeared as if it was the middle of the day, light shone in the wanderer's eyes, immersing himself in the beauty in flower.

He was able to snap out of it before the monster's claws slashed through his face, getting out fo it with only slight cuts on his face.

'Was I out for long or was it incredibly fast?' wondered the beastman, he was unable to gauge the time that had gone by when he was enthralled by the beauty of the flowers.

Suddenly, roots broke through the ground, threatening to entange around the wanderer's legs, he slashed his sword, managing to cut through them with relative ease, however the roots kept coming and he was forced to move back and to the sides to avoid them.

A small of moment of inattention, the monster was not in his sight for a small moment and the next instant, it was nowhere to be seen, the wanderer assumed that it had hidden in the nearby forest but has he thought about it, he realised that the monster had been closer to the part that was closest to the city.

The cat man ran toward the city, managing to leave the roots behind, he ran at his top speed through the forest, such speed was impressive but he was unable to stop himself when the monster's hand appeared from behind a tree, right in front of his face.

The monster hadn't gone for the city, it had only pretended to do so, the wanderer had failed to realise where it stood in terms of intelligence and had now fallen in its grasp, literally, the monser held the man by his face, raising him up from the ground, removing anything to push himself on and only letting him move his feet like a newborn being held by its mother.

The wanderer slashed blindly at the monster but it didn't let go, not even releasing its grip even a bit, it felt like he was stabbing and slashing it but no response were given as such, he let go of his sword and tried to use both his hands to twist his body around, to no avail.

The wanderer was entangled in roots, binding him to a tree trunk, the roots held him tightly, the monster showed no sign of any injury, only now that he could see the monster so close did he start sweating in fear, his body felt cold all of a sudden as the monster used its roots to pick up his sword, pointing it at his heart.

The monster didn't laugh or snicker at him, it made no sound and only pushed the sword through his body, the sword dug in the tree behind him stopping after only a bit, his vision drew darker as the monster simply turned around, walking toward the city, the man still tried to break free despite his death being right next to him, before it all went dark, he could see roots going inside of his body though his skin and flowers blossoming from him.

'They are so pretty...' was the last thing he was able to think before dying, his body rapidly drying up as the flowers blossomed.