Chapter 71: Wooden World(7)
The beings came from all around, some clawed their way out of the dirt under their feet, some formed out of the wood that had once belonged to the trees, some, the bigger ones, simply appeared, walking out of nowhere, as if they had left behind a unclosed curtain between the universe itself, and others, very rarely, seemed to be formed out of the water itself, though that illusion was soon shattered when Cades and the archer could distinguish that all of these beings were made of wood and those that had come from the previously untouched, beautiful river were covered in the algae that were visibly nowhere else in the river, but all of them were looking towards them, all of them were mindless and yet, they didn't attack, they all stared at them with orange glowing eyes but they didn't move, not anymore, it was as if they were waiting for something.
The archer, stunned, quickly put on all of the layers of his clothes that he had previously left behind because of his fear of a new battle, but Cades didn't pay it any heed, he was captivated, each of these beings was made with intricate detail, many of them were just skeletons, albeit skeletons of various species, many of which he had never ever seen before, but they all had the same orange, glowing eyes with a bit of yellow in the middle, perhaps their pupils.
Those that had come out of thin air were interestingly enough the most 'normal', they looked like skeletons and just bodies made of wood, perfectly carved in every way, with clothes that were predestined to never truly move, clothes that would never flutter in the wind, clothes that would never wither, though he might've gotten a bit too stuck on the clothes part.
But he wasn't entirely wrong about that either.
Why would they have clothes ?
If, as he assumed, they were monsters, then they wouldn't wear clothes unless it was to make them feel safe, but they obviously didn't feel safe anymore.
There were indeed some theories coming to mind, but for now Cades began analysing the rest of the wooden .. puppets.
Those that had come from the trees were indeed not entirely free, instead they were connected to the roots of the tress through a long root that was connected to their feet, perhaps a weakness, but most likely also a strength seeing as they probably had control of that root and could also use it to heighten themselves up if there was a flying opponent, some of them also had weapons made of the flesh of the trees, or rather just wood.