The duo climbed up the tree. It was an ancient thing. The bark was slippery and it had brambles all over its majestic frame.
The tree looked like it had been a constant for centuries. The leaves were wide and green and vigorous, but they were sparse on the branches. It was mostly skeletal, but in some parts the branches were entwined so densely into these, for lack of a better word, chambers, that it still managed to look intimidating.
The tree towered over all others. What Col and Stella could see were only the lowest branches. It was prominent in the small forest on the hill. It was located near the top, and its top was probably the highest point on the hill.
'Yeah. Thought Col. It's not as simple as it looks'
"Hey Stella… Uh, are we, uh, sure we want to go there?" Col asked, immediately dropping his act. Acting rashly would get him killed before his little ward could even react.
"Un," The little death machine nodded. "Big Green safe. Home... friendly greenies."
As far as Col could translate that, the tree was safe and could even house them. They'd have neighbors, though…. That he was not so sure about.
The chamber they had to reach was a bit high, but both of them were powerful Walkers. It took them roughly 5 minutes to reach and climb up the tree.
Even though Stella was adamant about the safety of the 'Big Green", Col was adamant on stealth. It took a while to transmit the concept to Stella, at which point the light distorted around her.
It was a rudimentary form of invisibility that'd only work if she stood still, and even then barely, but Col was still shocked. The girl was a freak…
Small, humbling episode with true genius aside, they reached the chamber safely. The tree was eerily still, like no living creature was on it.
Col reached the backpack and found that it was safe. It hadn't even gone through much damage.
Col wanted to leave the chamber at that moment. Something was seriously wrong about all this. It didn't make any sense.
How had this backpack ended up here? And how had whatever had brought it up here done it while remaining completely undetected by him? Was it Stella? But that didn't make any sense. Just the tornado that accompanied, well, both their births should have destroyed the thing. However, the spirit seemed strangely certain that no harm was coming to them in the tree.
Col sighed and looked around the interior of the chamber. He immediately let out a yelp and jumped back towards the entrance under Stella's cute, innocent glare.
There, in the far corner of the chamber, was a skeleton. And this was not a skeleton of an animal. No, this was a corpse of a human or at least a humanoid being.
It was dressed in dark greens. The skeleton seemed to have been there for a while, judging from the fact that the chamber lacked the smell of rot. It was smelling surprisingly green and woodsy for something in a death forest.
The skeleton wore armor over its clothes. It was made of tanned hard leather, and it looked sturdy still, despite the evident ravages of time.
The wind blew, and Col felt the cold shiver of the wind. For a moment, he was apprehensive, scared that the skeleton would turn to them the next moment and attack them as an undead revenant. He even wondered if it had brought the knapsack, but the amount of dust on it made him think otherwise.
Colin inched closer as his fears abated. He saw that the skeleton had been well outfitted. The armor was missing a huge chunk on one side. Something had taken a bite out of it. It looked like it used to have a crest of some sort, but it had taken too much damage, both from the battle and time.
Upon closer inspection, several of the bones on the creature had been broken and the armor, although it looked in good condition from afar, was old and in severe disrepair up close.
This person had been in a huge battle, and he had probably been half-dead by the time he reached this tree. And the armor had probably lost more than half its efficacy at that point.
'Better than being half-naked like us right now… well, I'm half naked. Stella's going all in right now' Col chuckled as he tried to lighten his mood and gather up the courage to do what he knew he had to do
Col sighed after a few minutes of useless inner monologue. He was disgusted by the thoughts he was having and it felt wrong to him. The dead will have no qualms, he told himself.
He stretched out his trembling hands and began to undress the dead.
The boy had hardly ever seen a human corpse before and had to stop himself from retching a few times. It was the least he could do if he was taking away the clothes of the dead.
He knew he was being reckless, given that he didn't know if what he was doing would have consequences -like being cursed by the equipment- or not.
Some tears Col would never admit to having, and thirty full minutes later, Col had sorted everything out.
The inner clothing was made of ordinary cloth and had rotten alongside the rest of the corpse. Col had made quite a harvest, he had:
A light chain made of unidentified material. It was actually in good shape
A broken chest plate.
A pair of leather pants.
A pair of good quality boots.
One arm guard
One notebook/ Diary
One waterskin, with putrid water
Several questionable bottles, which Col was determined to toss off of the nearest cliff.
The rest of the equipment like the shin guards were completely ruined. It was a pity. The green cloak could have helped him in his terrain but it fell through his fingers. Literally.
As Col was settling the equipment, curious Stella picked up the notebook behind his back. Her eyes sparkled as she thumped through the rough parchment. Then, without missing a beat, he asked her 'elder. '
"Elder, I don't understand. How did this Gerald talk without sound?"
Col froze.