"Jack, uhhh. You sure you want to give it all of that? I mean, if I didn't know better, I'd think that was your life savings heha?"
Currently, three men were walking through the unnaturally lush woods.
"That's because it is!" Jack replied to James with a smile on his face.
Jack was carrying a substantially large sac that jingled every few steps. Had he not been essentially skipping on their journey it probably would have been left unheard.
The dwarf however remained unreassured. In fact, his countenance seemed even graver.
"Look, Jack, I get you are excited but that's a lot of money your risking! Perhaps you should invest your future earnings from now on, rather than everything you've saved up so far?" James advised his friend once more.
"I'm gonna have to agree with shortstack on this one. You could get yourself a small house in the town over with that much. A couple more years and you might have enough for a small farm!" Foster attempted to assist James in his plight.
"What would I do with a farm? No, this can give me far more than any old farm!"
Unfortunately, their prayers fell on deaf ears.
"That's not what I meant! The point is, you have options now, and will have more later. But if you hand over all of that, your freedom will be more limited for a while. Hell, at worst, should it say something like snap you might have Fewer options than before you had money!" With one last push, Foster made his case in hopes of some kind of restraint.
"You're not talking me out of this. You guys talked me into this In the first place!" Jack remained unswayed.
With a sigh, both of them gave up attempting to help Jack. With their focus freed from Jack's worrying choices, they looked to their surroundings.
_____________
After a couple minutes of walking and listening to Jack's incessant jingling, James was the first to speak.
"Do the plants seem... different?"
"You're right. Thought something was off. They do seem bigger, maybe even brighter than before. It's strange I noticed the exact opposite earlier?" Foster quickly responded with reassurance that things did indeed seem different.
"What's weird about the plants?" Jack, having been preoccupied with his great decision-making, caught none of the conversation.
Each confused in a different way, the three of them continued on their 'patrol'. Foster and James looking at the plants and Jack tossing his life's worth around.
____________________
"It should be just up ahead." Jack exclaimed with the delight of a schoolgirl.
"Is he in the right mind to do this?" James asked.
"Is there a right mind for this?" Foster responded as they grew closer to the forest skeletons clearing.
Soon they caught sight of their destination.
"Man, this place just gets weirder and weirder"
In front of them, a myriad of things presented themselves.
Within the clearing, many small constructs dotted the ground, trees, and a strange table. In the branches of said trees were creations of bone and feather, with a talon thrown in here and there.
Then on the table itself was a collection of bones, organized from smallest to biggest.
In the middle of the clearing was their favorite skeleton facing them.
Blade down. Hand out. Flowers abloom.
Unnerving, metal smile.
This at least did not change.
However, what did change the most was the sheer size of the trees. The plants on the perimeter were more difficult to differentiate from before, however, this deep in one would need be blind to not notice that the trees widened by two feet at least.
"Dryad? That has to be what this is right? First the flowers and now the trees!" James attempted to connect the dots.
"Possibly, I never got a clear answer on what they look like. Some say they look like fairies, or imps, sometimes trees. And others believe they resembled women, so a skeleton doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility?" Foster neither supported nor denied this theory.
Jack on the other hand was preoccupied discerning how to gift his offerings.' I could give it five at a time? But that may make me look greedy! But if I give it everything at once who knows what it would do!'
'Offer your devotion'
Once more a whisper permeated the forest.
James, feeling more confident now with his dryad theory, was the first to step up.
Seeing as he only had his two daggers left after equipping his spare, he decided money was the way to go. Thus some rustling and a couple grunts later, he managed to bring out 7 copper.
"I offer my devotion in hopes of greater skill." James spoke thinking he would do well should he have greater control of his blades. Placing his coins in the skeleton's palm.
'How the fuck do we do that?'
"Did you hear something?" Foster asked.
"What?" Jack was still pondering.
"Argh, never mind." Foster was reminded that communicating his thoughts with Jack usually only made things worse.
Back on James's side of things, he had simply been waiting for about three minutes...
{REJUVENATE}
James felt as if he was being constricted in both mind and body. It was small but his his face grew plumper and his body shorter. Nothing greater than half a centimeter.
It was small but very noticeable when happening in the span of 7 seconds.
He looked a year or two younger.
"Well, I tried. It's completely random, good luck~." James having finished his offering, returned to the edge of the clearing.
Foster, seeing that Jack was the closest to what he could possibly be to a thought, decided to leave him alone and take his turn.
Receiving four copper from his clothes, he approached the skeleton and relinquished his earnings.
Unlike his shorter comrade, he didn't add any words, learning from his friend's results.
After a minute or so the skeleton spoke.
{GROW}
Just like James did the first time, Foster felt a burn run through every muscle in his body as energy seemed to spread within him. His muscles expanded and his height lengthened by about two inches.
"Argh, ARHHHH"
Soon his pain stopped allowing him to breathe and take in his new body.
"This... I could get used to this!" All it took was closing his fist to feel the difference.
Pleased by this result he retreated back to Jack and James with a smile on his face.
"Alright, you're up life savings!" Foster confirmed with a slap on the shoulder.
"Huh, already!" Jack looked at his friends and noticed no difference, causing some minor distress.
'Did they do something to their hair?' Was the best he could come up with.
Finding, that it was finally time, he took slow steps forward. He was beyond nervous as he still had no idea how to go about this.
Eventually, he reached the skeleton.
Making up his mind, then and there he raised his sac and dropped the 59 coins into the floral ridden calcium structure's palm.
'Oh my!' 'What now' 'how do we even reward this?' 'WHY WONT IT STOP' 'Many commands?' 'Big command?' 'Alterations?' 'Sentence?' 'Let's try being vague? If they can't tell what we did they can't get angry!'
As soon as the coins were dropped a burst of disorganized whispers traveled through the clearing.
Frightened, all three men stepped back...
{GRANT ONTO THEE, GIANTS STRENGTH}
'HOW IS THAT VAGUE'
The whispers returned this time organized, both attempting and succeeding at a full sentence for the first time. Strangely one voice came after in a whisper like scream.
Once the declaration was finished it took a second for the world to respond.
However, that moment was short for Jack as he soon felt a ripping pain in every strand of his body.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Every muscle tore.
Every bone snapped.
Every organ ruptured.
Blood spilled from his eyes, ears, mouth, and very pores.
He felt inhuman energy rushing into his body, giving him a vigor he never could have imagined.
At the same time though, in greater amounts than the energy rushing in, he felt as though his own soul was being siphoned out.
He near immediately, fell to the ground during his transformation.
Jack began to grow, every muscle, bone, and Fiber of his being regrown just to be torn again.
Below him, a pool of blood and thrown-up organs sat...
After 35 seconds, it ended.
However, he remained on the ground. Blood still flowed from him as the Last remnants of his transformation left him.
Jack still reeling from the pain, laid there for about ten minutes.
During said ten minutes, Foster and James were petrified. Just remembering Jack's screams was enough encouragement to do nothing, lest they anger the skeleton.
Hacking up one last liver shred, Jack attempted to stand up.
This action required multiple attempts and about five minutes.
Jack's armor was torn and his muscles were visible. Now standing a good eight inches taller than before, he could easily best his old self.
Strangely his muscles were inhuman. They were a different pattern as if built to support a weight many times his size.
"I'm alive...
IM ALIVE!"
With a voice strong enough to shake the ground he celebrated his newfound vigor.
'That worked?!'