Man-Eating Plants

"What the hell was that?", Travis asked looking at the tree that was slowly withering away. The tree had also caught him by surprise.

"I should have known. There is a strange myth surrounding the disappearance of this forest even before it was called the dead forest."

"A myth?", Travis asked with his brows furrowed.

" It says that the forest was infected with a virus. That virus killed almost all the plants in the forest. Even though it left some, they all turned into man-eating monsters that attacked humans on sight.", Duane said as he inspected the tree.

"A virus? I don't understand anything! What is the relationship between the virus and this plant?", Travis asked.

"The tree that attacked us now is one of the man-eating plants that were left. I am sure of that", Duane said.

"Oh, I see!", Travis said, nodding his head.

"So, you knew all this and you didn't tell us? I could have died back then!", hearing Duane's words, Sarah gritted her teeth and said.

"I am sorry but I had to be sure I was right before I told you anything. You were also at fault! Don't go wandering into the forest without us again, else, who knows what might happen?", Duane said to Sarah as he turned to look at Travis.

"Let's go"

"Okay!", Travis replied following Duane's lead. After all, Duane was the strongest person there, by following him, he gains some protection.

"Hmph!", Sarah snorted, also following them with quick steps.

******

"Wait!", Duane stopped them.

"What again?!", Sarah said, stomping her feet on the ground. Duane had stopped them a couple of times since they moved. However, nothing happened every time they moved. As for the last one that happened, they mistook a rock for a monster tree! She was fed up already.

"Hm, I said don't move. wait!", Duane said. 'I don't get one thing. I continue to sense a strange presence, but it vanishes before I can pinpoint its location. Or...', Duane thought as he turned to Travis who was currently behind the group,

"Travis, jump!", Duane shouted.

Following Duane's command, Travis leapt, surprisingly rising to about 20 feet high, passing Duane's previous jump.

*Boom*

*Swish*

After Travis' sudden jump, Huge roots shot out of the ground, barely missing Travis' legs. The roots did not stop there. More and more roots erupted from the ground as they attacked the group.

'There is no way we can fight back this number of roots. They seem to never end. Let's split', looking at the huge roots that continued to attack them, Duane decided to split up.

"Split up, about twenty metres from the centre", Duane said decisively.

"Okay!", the rest said as they split, dividing the number of attacks among themselves.

*****

"Sigh, I am really lucky", Travis began to sweat cold bullets for himself. He was lucky to survive for now. At least, if not for Duane, he would have been mincemeat by now!

'Hm, Why does it seem that those roots have no end? We must do something about it else we would all die!', dodging a root that suddenly erupted from his left, Travis shouted at Duane,

"Hey Duane, can you try clearing the fog, it is limiting my vision!"

"Okay!", Duane said as he lifted his hand. A light glimmer of silver appeared around his hand as violent winds erupted from his hand creating huge tornadoes.

"This should do", Duane muttered to himself.

*Swish~~*

The twirling tornadoes were able to clear the huge fog that limited everyone's vision and they were able to see everything now. But after seeing their surroundings, they couldn't help but gawk at that scene in front of them. They all stood there motionless, watching the scene in front of them as cold sweat soaked their backs and their heart raced.

The scene in front of them was what they never thought of. It never came into their mind that that could happen, it took them by absolute surprise.

"W... We, we are surrounded?", Sarah was the first person to break the odd silence.

In front of them were huge man-eating plants. They were surrounded, and the number of plants was unimaginably many! Moreover, these seem stronger than the ones that ambushed them. At least their giant roots and long branches were evidence.

'I see. So these plants have a little intelligence after all. They used the fog as a cover and hid their presence. They then waited for us to fall into the trap they laid for us. I see...' looking at the huge man-eating plants, Travis couldn't help but chuckle in self-pity. They were tricked by a bunch of plants, how pathetic!

"Everyone, don't panic! Sarah and Roland your fire attribute is what we need but these plants contain a lot of water! Jared, can you extract the water from all these plants? Not all, about twenty per cent. It will be enough for Sarah and Roland to burn through!", Duane asked looking at Jared.

"I can! Although it will take time", Jared replied.

"Okay then, everyone should protect Jared as he extracts the water from the plants!", Duane said.

"Okay!", they replied as they got to work, protecting Jared from the roots of the plants.

******

'From the way he leads us alone, I can tall that he is very strong! But how strong is he?', Travis thought, his gaze fixed on Duane who was currently bisecting a root with wind knives.

Feeling the gaze on him, Duane turned to Travis and smiled. "You have to be careful Travis. You are the most vulnerable one among us. I didn't want you to fight but since you decided to fight, I have no objections but be careful!", He said to Travis.

"Don't worry about me! I am okay, with the help of your wind blades", Travis said as he looked at the blades he was currently holding.

In his hand, one could feel strong wind currents, these currents were what Travis called wind blades. Wind blades were created by compressing air, turning it into real matter that can be held. Even though it couldn't be seen, the after effect of wind blades could be seen.

To be able to create wind blades, one needed near to absolute mastery of the air element and also one should be very skilled to be able to compress air. With all these in mind, Travis understood one thing. Duane was very strong. The wind blades were perfect evidence of his strength.

'If he is able to create these blades without much problem, then, how strong is he?', Travis wondered, his gaze tightly fixed on the blades in his hands.

"I am done", Jared said as he heavily panted.

"It's your turn now! Burn these plants away now!", Duane said to Sarah and Roland.

"Okay!", Roland and Sarah replied in unison.

"Jared, set a water barrier to protect us!", Duane said.

"Hm", Nodding his head, the huge water collected from the plants moved towards Jared, creating a huge ball, that would protect them from the huge explosion about to take place.

Sarah and Roland suddenly raised their hands,

"Meteor, Explosion!!!", With a huge shout, a huge meteor, could be seen falling from the sky towards them. The aura the meteor excluded could be described with only one word, Dangerous.

"Will Jared's barrier be enough?", seeing the huge meteor, Travis couldn't help but gulp a mouthful of air.

"It will be enough, let's see!", Duane replied. He was totally focused on the incoming meteor.

"Hmm", Travis nodded.

The presence of the meteor could not be ignored, The plants sensing danger began to withdraw their roots and branches seemingly wanting to escape but it was too late.

*Booom!*

With a huge boom, everything went dark.