Wings Of Fire: Heart of Oak

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A/N: GORE WARNING

Holly's POV

For a frozen moment, everything in the room held its breath.

"No, you can't", Cottonmouth said in human.

"Why shouldn't I?", Lizard said.
"I have been stuck with this story for thousands of years! I had my whole life ahead of me, and I lost it, because of YOU!
You did this to us! If you had just left us alone, the Scorching wouldn't have happened!"

"No. You know that's a lie", Cottonmouth hissed.
"I knew that some day, dragons would crawl out of hiding, that some day, they would unleash their rage on us, that they would mercillessly wipe us of off the face of the earth.
If I hadn't found some way to use them, they would have destroyed us."

Movement beyond them caught Holly eye. The vines were spreading visibly, growing new tendrils, and starting to climb the base of the throne.
"Wow", she said aloud. "Did the vines really spread that fast?"

"Yes", Lizard answered.

"Oh. Is this real? You can see and hear me now?"

"Holly!", Cottonmouth said placidly, as though noticing her for the first time.
"There you are. For a moment I was worried you'd never find me."

He pointed to the throne, and the scene around them shifted.
For a falling moment, Holly could see the vines all around her, and the horrible tablo of the plant growing through the bodies on the throne, and then, the newer room shivered back into place.

"I've been waiting for you.
And now that you are here, all you have to do is, give me your memories, and I'll become physical again. And so will Lizard."

"And why should I?", Holly asked.
"Why should I help you, after all I know you did? And why should I be afraid of you?"

"Because", Cottonmouth said with a flar, "if you don't, I will have to punish you."
He suddenly seemed as tall as a dragon.
"Do you want to know what happens to people I punish?"

A film was pushed into her thoughts.

A man was sitting on Cottonmouth's newly made throne, grinning stupidly, as though he thought that he was the smartest person in the world.

His glory was short lived.

He took a berry from a nearby platter, butting it into his mouth, squarting the juice down his chin.
He chuckled, popping several more into his gluttonous mouth.

But even as he laughed, the end was near.

His expression of glee turned to one of uttermost horror, for when he happened a glance at his arm, he saw three leaves grow from it, cutting through his skin like shards as glass, as beautiful as they were deadly.
His face grew sallow, and his body became so thin, he looked like a stick-figure.
His skin turned green and his fingers turned almost to bare bone.
Thorns shot out of his shins and from his shoulders.

The man tried to yell for help, but all that came out, was a screech of lost humanity.

Sharp vines grew out of his knees.

He screamed, the echo runing through the room like an inevitable plage.

Then, just as suddenly as it had happened, the man froze, his face peterified in the very act of fear itself.

"And if you don't give me your memories", Cottonmouth said in a reasonable voice, "you will never get back home."

"And why should I trust you? You didn't carry out any of the promises you made to the other humans", Holly said meekly, after a moment's thought.