Underground:

  I snapped back into reality as I found myself tangled by thorny vines.

  I gasped for air, I was drenched in my own sweat and I frantically glanced around.

  Vines.

  All I saw was endless vines.

  They glowed with an eerie green light providing low visibility inside this darkness.

  These vines stretched all over the room and there were people trapped just like me.

  'Am I in a cave? Or an underground tunnel?'

  The darkness didn't really help but I am pretty sure that I am surrounded by soil.

  'The smell also says the same.'

  I tried to wiggle my way out but the vines stayed as unmoving as ever.

  Although these vines seemed fragile they certainly weren't and no matter how much I struggled I couldn't escape.

  'These vines are not normal.'

  I should be commended for being calm in a situation like this but I'm too exhausted to be scared.

  I sighed, it wasn't just me, the people from the village also seemed to be down here.

  'Some adventurers are mixed in with the villagers, must've been staying there for a rest but unfortunately got captured.'

  They all seemed asleep, not even the heat disturbed their sleep.

  So what now?

  I didn't want to waste my energy right now, they are not dead at the moment judging on the basis that they are still breathing.

  'Why me? I just started out and I've already involved myself with a disaster.'

  I genuinely wanted to throw a tantrum but that would take too much energy.

  'These vines can't be broken by my current condition but I can try to squeeze my way out.'

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I stared with my arms, trying to slowly escape through the gaps.

  However.

  Unfortunately for me, the vines acted as if they had a mind of their own, they constricted even more and the thorns pierced through.

  Now I won't be in much trouble considering my armour but however the thorn's tips have pierced through my armour.

  'Just a few inches away from my right eye.'

  I blinked nervously as I eyed the thorn that stood way too close to my right eyeball.

  And this tiny enclosure is really triggering my fear of suffocation.

  'If only I had turned back.'

  Did the encounter with that goat mess with my brain or was I brain dead to begin with?

  If I knew I would meet some danger on the way, why did I go into the village?

  I don't know.

  As I was in deep thoughts, my body snapped up with a jerk.

  No, it wasn't my body but the vines.

  I looked around and saw the vines moving, a massive behemoth made up of glowing green vines.

  It carried us to alongside its huge body to god knows where.

  The green glowy light radiating from them increased as the surrounding walls became more visible.

  I looked towards where the behemoth was taking us and it seemed like an altar..?

  The altar looked quite luxurious.

  It was decorated with all sorts of stuff ranging from deer antlers, goats horns, bull horns, and all sorts of plants too.

  'Horns?'

  I observed the statue that we were heading towards and saw a half-man half-animal sitting cross legged on the altar.

  A name appeared in my mind, a name that will be forever etched in my mind after I escape.

  The Wiccan god of nature, masculine energy and the circle of life and death?

  'Horned god.'

  That's all they used to refer to him, his name exists but it isn't widely known and only a few knows it.

  'So the followers of the horned god?'

  Witches most of the time acted alone, they rarely teamed up.

  Except during cult practices.

  They all wore robes made from moss and tree barks...?

  Not only that, they had horns.

  All sorts of horns.

  Their face was obscured by the darkness of their hoods and the vines started to pull us closer to the statue.

  They all stood there, unmoving and unfazed maintaining their silence for the sacred ritual.

  They didn't even spare us a glance, after all we are just sacrifices.

  'The church needs to be held accountable for this mistake.'

  A witch cult sneaked into the Wiccan forest which was under the supervision of the church of stars.

  This would make them look like a joke.

  'I need to escape before I get sacrificed.'

  I just started out, I don't want to die.

  Yet.

  I felt bad for not having a plan to save the others but what can a weakling like me do?

  'I mean if a God blesses me with their divine powers at this moment maybe I could do it.'

  I sighed and started to wriggle my way out.

  Delusions can't break these vines now, can they?

  The thorns might pierce through my eye but losing an eye is better than losing my life.

  But unfortunately for me the vines tightened before I could do anything.

  Almost like it could read my mind or intentions.

  When the vines constricts even more, what do you think will happen to my right eye?

  Now although I was nonchalant about losing an eye there's a difference between a statement and an experience.

  I screamed like never before.

  But all it did was make it harder.

  "Aaaa-ghk!"

  My screams were drowned by the thick thorny vines that started to wrap around my body.

  Although at the start, they only squeezed me, but now?

  They crushed my armor, the thorns pierced into my body and they held me in place.

  The thorns got longer like a retractable claw and it reached my bones.

  One pierced into my throat, one into my right eye, one into my stomach, one into my thigh...

  They pierced through my bones and held them in place.

  The vines wrapped around, trapping me inside a thorny cocoon of pain.

  It was complete darkness inside this vine cocoon and I was unable to scream due to the huge thorn which ran through my throat.

  I was still alive, able to think and feel.

  I felt every bit of pain without passing out and it didn't seem to be a dead end for me.

  'S...stil alive?'

  Not even being able to think straight due the pain was a real pain.

  The vines seemed to be releasing something, something into me.

  A liquid.

  Maybe it was actually my blood but it didn't feel like it.

  It felt foreign and cold.

  The pain was unbearable.

  But strangely the pain felt good.

  I dont know how to describe it.

  It felt like the good sort of pain.

  It didn't even feel like pain, just numbness.

  My body involuntarily relaxed.

  My thoughts drowned in drowsiness.

  An awkward smile stretched uncomfortably across my face.

  A false sense of safety assaulted my mind.

  In this tiny cocoon I felt safe.

  And I didn't want to leave it anymore.

  Right now at this moment I felt-

  'Bliss'

  Involuntary bliss.