Axel's Promise

VII

The three White Doves didn't know what was stalking them, but they paid it no mind and continued forward. The three soon came across a crumbled castle. From the looks of it, it appears as if it was attacked by a large beast of sorts, a beast of vines and thorns. Axel dismounted and investigated. Axel touched one of the various vines wrapped around the crumbled stones; Axel was poked by a thorn. 

"Ouch! A damn thorn got me!" Axel exclaimed. Axel's finger bled. Axel looked at the thorns that covered the vines; the vines retracted into the darkness before a massive plant figure pushed down the cobblestone wall. Axel looked up at the towering beast of vines; it had six vine legs that ended with human feet, six vine arms that ended in human hands and were surrounded by thick brambles, a crown of white feathers on its head, glowing pink eyes that wept streams of what appeared to be a sap, and glowing pink eyes that seemed to absorb all souls that dared to glance into them. 

"White Dove, this isn't a place for your kind. We kill White Doves. We kill Xenia. We kill all that is not of the Shadows." Axel looked at the hands of the beast, which began to ensnare him. "I want to see you alive one last time before I reap all the life you have." 

"I teleport away from you!" Axel retorted before quickly raising his staff and teleporting back to Lobo. Axel, wasting no time, quickly mounted up. "C'mon, let's keep moving. We have to survey the area!" The three continued onward. The best of thorns turned invisible once again. 

After twenty minutes of riding, they came across a massive castle covered in vines that held torches of black fire. The three White Doves stood at the looming, vine-wrapped gate. A beast of high authority opened the gate for the three and allowed them to enter The Stalking Garden. Axel looked around and noticed that the flowers had eyes; everything had eyes, including the very soil they grew in. The eyes followed the three like sentry guns. Serina felt a chill go down her spine when she felt something breathing on the back of her neck. Turning around, Serina saw nothing; it must have been her imagination. After all, being in Shadow territory makes you go bat-shit crazy. 

"Axel? I felt something breathe on my neck, and I sure don't like it," Serina said gingerly. Axel sighed.

"You're probably losing your mind,"  Axel said. "Just breathe, and you'll be fine." Axel looked to his left and saw a White Dove's head stabbed on a pike with its heart encased in thorns. "They must have a thing for us White Doves here."

"Blood sacrifice," Fable replied. "They claim that drinking our blood will give them strength." Axel chuckled in response to that but didn't say anything. Up ahead, there was a flight of stairs that led to the doors of the castle. The three White Doves dismounted and began to ascend the stairs. They reached the top of the stairs, approached the massive castle doors, and knocked on them three times; on the third knock, the gate behind them slammed shut, and thorn-covered vines covered the castle door. A gang of vines grabbed the three White Doves by their feet and hanged them a good seventy feet off the ground. 

"Our king needs a sacrifice," Said the owner of the vines as it began to carry them up a large hill behind the castle. Axel began to squirm. 

"What are you? Why do your vines ensnare me?" Axel demanded. The beast spoke.

"The highest of the Stalkers, Grassmin," Grassmin rumbled. "Our king needs the tender flesh of a White Dove, three White Doves, in fact." 

"Our flesh is not for the taking!" Axel exclaimed as he struggled in the vines. Fable tried to reach for a weapon while Serina could be heard whimpering. The scene became more gruesome by the second. Axel saw two mysterious figures torturing a White Dove with hot irons. Axel cringed at the scene. The air grew hellishly hot as Grassmin reached the top of the hill. Axel's eyes widened when he saw a volcano with pink mist rising from it.