"This beyond infested, it's straight up condensed at this point" remarked Jake as he poked the wall of thorns that was much taller than himself.
"This thing refuses to burn down and will attack anyone who attacks it, stop poking it" retorted Grayson as crawled around, trying to find a possible passage.
"Do you have any vision from the future?" asked Aiden while trying to get the description of the thorns, only to get a normal description.
"No, it mostly works if I will get killed or if I will be in intense danger you know?" he responded, since he was so close to the ground, he was able to hear the faint sound of something as it reverbated into the ground.
Since he wasn't well versed in such a listening technique, he just raised his head and looked around for what could be making such a sound.
Looking back, where no one was currently looking, he saw a congregation of vines and other plants he didn't know the names of but it was quite colorful and harmless looking but he still rose his guard.
"Be careful" he said loudly enough for the other two to understand to look at what he was looking.
It wasn't humanoid but rather a ball, like a wool ball in fact but with plants.
As they were distracted by the ball, the wall of thorns behind them opened up and immediately, roots entangled their bodies and dragged them inside, closing the thorn wall as they were pulled inside.
The ball fell apart and the various plants that were part of it, rooted themselves into the ground and carried on being normal plants as if nothing had happened.
The inside of the thorn formation was incredibly dark, none of them could see anything except for Aiden whose ability could somewhat allow him to see in the dark, as if he had a camera with a flash on, however, when being dragged at high speed, it was useless.
Covered in bruises and cuts from the rough travel, they were dropped down like potato sacks in the darkness.
For some reason, the first thought tha emerged in Grayson's head wasn't about the kidnapping he had just went through.
'So it isn't completely filled in on the inside'
"Aiden, can you make some light?" asked Jake, sounding unsure since he couldn't even see if anyone else was around.
"Hold on a moment, I feel like I am gonna puke..." responded Aiden as he slowly breathed in and out.
Eventually, light came in the form of a flame nurtured in Aiden's palm.
Shining some light on their three faces, the thorns that surrounded them and the person with thorns wrapped around their head, who was right next to them with his chin resting on his palms.
"Now, now, don't be afraid" he said before anyone could shout anything.
The whole place lit up, gorgeous, bulbous plants shined a gentle light on their battered bodies as well as the fourth person here.
As he stood up, it was revealed that he stood at an unnatural height, at least to the three otherworlders and was wearing a fancy dark suit, he looked as though he was ready to go to some noble's party.
He was wearing the dark suit alongside a white shirt and a continental tie that was a vibrant green in color, alongside all of this, he also wore dark gloves and dark shoes, as well as red rose on the left side of his chest.
His most striking feature was certainly his headwear, if it even was one, thorns were wrapped around where his head should be, the prickles all seemed to be on the outside, they were jagged and a pale red.
Only a single opening was present in the thorns, one where his left eye would be but even then, it wasn't exceptionally large.
Aiden immediately inspected him as the thorn face sat down as a seat of roots formed itself.
"I am, indeed, another creation of the great Father-Lord, my little name is PH-3 for I am the third of my kind, I will leave you to guess the meaning of those letters for yourself" the thorn head spoke casually, nothing was worrying him in the slightest.
"Now, you must be wondering: 'Why did he drag us in here' or perhaps you want to ask me if I want to kill you"
"Truth be told, I was planning on assassinating you at the first occasion, it is no mystery for us that you three are attempting to unveil the identity of the Lord-Father or Godfather as some of us put it"
"The Lord-Father as spoken however, we shouldn't bother trying as you people or rather, one of you, will refuse to die, it extends to everything apparently" as he pronounced these words, he stared right at Grayson, letting him know that he knew something.
"I was informed that you three had been tasked by the general of the interior to track the Lord-Father's creation, to prove that it could all be linked to a single person due to how our naming is done"
'How the hell does he know all of that?!' wondered Aiden, 'Those are very specific pieces of information!'
"OTA-ZS messed up his assassination but it matters not, you three can't be killed, it matters not either, the Lord-Father is a living god, he reigns supreme above all else, it has been this way for years now..." the thorn head went on a tangent.
"...I have been told that I wouldn't succeed, that I shouldn't blame myself for my incapacity to rid my Lord of these three pests..."
"...I, however, have not been ordered to not try." calmly spoke the thorn head before making an exaggerated movement with his whole body and stomping on the ground, all gracefully and without a speck of killing intent surfacing.
Powerful roots sprung up from the ground, impaling the three men in their vitals almost instantly.
Amisdt the surprise and pain, only Grayson seemed to be unmoved by this, he felt his strength sapped and the roots used him as nourishment.
He closed his eyes.
A strident sound made its way to his ears, pushing him out of his unresponsive state as he once again opened his eyes, only to see the light of the sun reflecting off a wall of thorns.
Only a single thought ran in his skull.
'How did he know about my ability, I didn't even tell Aiden and Jake...'