Swinging his machete with the fervor of some battle-crazed warmonger, the Professor slashed the roots out of his way.  He cut the roots away from the gold and ivory object and grabbed it.

"It's mine!" the Professor crows. "I have won!" He turned to leave the bramble then stops.

"My leg!" he yelled, his right leg twitching as he seemed to be trying to kick free. The roots moved, closing in on the Professor. He slashed at the roots but failed to cut them.

Coppelius ran to the bramble of roots swinging his machete to no avail. His blade just bounced off.

The roots ignored Coppelius and began to ravel all around the Professor in a slow ever-tightening weave.

"Coppelius!" The Professor called out. He reached out his hand, holding the object. "Take this."

The roots turned red and the Professor struggled to breathe.

"Sh ... show the ... world ... what I ... found -- aaargh!"

Blood oozed out of the Professor's mouth. Two red roots reared up then stabbed the Professor, each one plunging into an eye.

With a shaking hand, Coppelius sheathed his machete and took the object. The roots went still.

"Rest in pea--." The roots moved again. This time towards Coppelius.

"Oh, damn!"

Coppelius ran to the cave-in. He scrambled back to the top and wriggled as fast as he could for the other side. Expecting a root to grab him at any moment, he hurried along heedless of the scrapes and bruises he gave himself.

Reaching the other side he slid down to the ground on his belly then jumped to his feet. Not wasting time to see how close the roots were, he ran. Then, he reached the end of the tunnel, coming out back in the room where he had dropped down from. There was one way he had not tried. Maybe if -- a red root began to slither out of the tunnel.

Coppelius stuffed the object into his pack and buckled the lantern as he had before. Somehow it had survived his mad scramble with only a few scratches and one ugly dent. He ran to a corner and began to climb up. It was a hard climb. Making sure that he always braced himself against both walls of the corner while moving one limb at a time when his instincts were screaming at him to run, was a hard fight he dared not lose.

He reached the top and lunged onto this higher cave floor before scrambling to his feet. Again, he ran, leaving the lantern rattling on his pack. This time he was ready for the crevice and he jumped. Landing in stride, he rushed out of the tunnel and back into the cave with the tree.

"<Well done, little stoutheart>," the face in the vines said. "<Bring me my heart>."

There was a faint scraping sound at the tunnel Coppelius had just entered through.

"<Better hurry>."

Coppelius hurriedly opened his pack and took out the object. It was heart-shaped but not like a real heart. He brought it to the tree.

"<Touch it to me and open it>."

Pressing the box against the face with one hand, he used the other to work open the latch. The lid sprang open. Blackness and gold poured out of the box. The blackness flowed into the vines. As they did, the vines began to move and unwind from around the tree. They wove themselves together into a tall man-like shape.

Coppelius whirled back to face the creeping root. There was only a line of shredded bark on the cave floor leading back to the tunnel.

"How did -- oof!" he started to ask as he turned back to the vine-man. Black thorny vines grabbed him and pinned him to the floor.

"<You see, I cannot be Epiales unless that is Morpheus >." The vine-man pointed at the golden dust flowing in an infinity symbol. "<Morpheus needs a body. Yours will do nicely>."

More vines grabbed at his face. They plunged into his nose.

"<The book is now yours, little Morpheus, but I can't have you telling anyone about this. Ever. This is going to hurt>," the vine-man said with glee.

The black vines reached deeper into his nose, going down the back of his throat even as the ones pinning him down squeezed tighter so their thorns could pierce into his body.

He screamed in agony. More vines forced his mouth to stay open, Coppelius choked on the golden dust that poured into his mouth while the vine-man laughed and laughed.