Chapter 9: The Black Forest

Paradox took a long look into the depths of the forest. The ground was covered in a carpet of tangled, wavy, foot-long grass that seemed to move just a bit more than the breeze was blowing it. It seemed alive, and not just in the ordinary way that plants were alive. The trunks of the trees were gray and knotted, forming fantastic shapes that stirred the imagination to frightening places. The canopy was one giant knotted mass that let absolutely no light through, leaving the entirety of the scene in gloomy blackness.
Perhaps the most frightening thing about the forest was that there was no transition between the sandy, open, sunny red desert and the cold knotted roots and wavy grass of the Black Forest. There was a line that no plant crossed over and it was implied, to Paradox at least, that you didn't cross over into the plants if you knew what was good for you.
When he was young, Paradox's mother had told him only two things about the Black Forest. The first was that it was the home of the dark tribe, Paradox's ancestors. the second was that Paradox should never, ever go there. Paradox believed her.
"Um, are you sure you can't take me any further?" Paradox said sheepishly. He didn't particularly enjoy Kira's company, but the armored vehicle they'd been travelling in felt a lot safer than walking into the cold, dark expanse alone.
"For sure." Kira said flatly. "The usual expedition comes in with chainsaws and flamethrowers. We have neither the time or the manpower for that sort of thing. You'll be going the rest of the way to the Dark village on foot."
"Chainsaws and- flamethrowers?" Paradox said, a bit bewildered. The flamethrowers seemed a bit overkill. "Why can't we just go the way they went?"
Kira looked Paradox in the eye, deadly serious. "This is the way they went."
"Ah- oh. oh." Paradox said, still not quite realizing what that meant. one thing was for sure; he no longer thought the flamethrowers were overkill.
"Do you still have the earpiece?" Kira said. Paradox checked that the small plastic clip the professor had given him was still in place around his right ear.
"Uh, yep." Paradox said. It gave him very little comfort that he did have the piece. At least the folks back in KiCorp would be able to hear him die; or was it just the professor on the other end? Kira had said she wanted to keep this whole thing quiet.
"Then relax." Kira said. "There's nothing to worry about. Once you get in you should feel right at home."
Kira's tone wasn't reassuring. Only later did Paradox wonder what she could have meant by that last jab.
Before Paradox could think of something else to say, Kira was behind the wheel of the armored vehicle again and turning back the way they had come.
"Uh- okay... bye." Paradox said belatedly. Then he looked back into the forest and stood awhile, staring.
Well, there was no point in delaying the inevitable.
Paradox stood and stared a bit longer. He took a deep breath; He'd need it later when he was screaming into his earpiece about his tragic death.
Paradox put one foot forward, and then another. He walked straight into the darkness. The grass beneath his feet reacted almost immediately to his presence, pointing away from him almost like he was the same side of a magnet. The effect was so immediate that Paradox pulled his foot out of the grass again in fear.
the grass was as tranquil and wavy as ever.
Paradox stood on one foot, waving the other over the tentacled mass. As he did, the grass shifted, always pointing directly away from his foot, always providing a small, flat depression where he would step. Was that so it could try to eat him when he stepped in it? Paradox gulped and stuck a toe into the depression. Nothing happened. Paradox lightly placed the sole of his foot down in it. The grass was soft and comfortable. Finally, Paradox put his full weight on the grass. The aperture closed only slightly, and Paradox's foot was, so far, unscathed. Paradox pulled his other foot into the forest and, while the movement of the grass still freaked him out, His second foot was still just as whole as the other when it touched down.
"You don't eat me and I don't eat you. Deal?" Paradox whispered to the grass. The grass said nothing in return.
Paradox took another breath and strode into the forest, the grass accommodating his feet wherever he stepped. At first he tried to pull his feet above the top of the grass with every awkward step, but he soon found that if he just walked normally the shifting grass would just move out of the way.
the space between the omnipresent canopy and the ground was pitch black, but as soon as Paradox began to wonder whether he should have brought a light a dull glow began to illuminate the path ahead. It took Paradox a moment or two to figure out that a few trees had big, round fruits hanging from their branches that glowed soft blue like miniature moons. They were sparse, but the ones Paradox could see along the canopy seemed to dot a path deeper into the forest, like lampposts along a sidewalk. As paradox walked, he took a look behind himself and found that the moon fruits were slowly fading to blackness behind him, leaving no trail to follow back out. A bit alarmed, Paradox took a few steps back in the direction he had come. The trail of moon fruit lit up again, showing his previous path once more.
Paradox looked back and forth along the path. To test a theory, Paradox walked into the darkness off the path. The lights in the trees dimmed then, and soon afterward a new string of lights slowly glowed to life around him, forming a new path almost parallel to the old one.
Paradox was certain that the light fruit in the trees were some sort of navigational aid. The question was, should he follow them?
Paradox deliberated for only a few moments before an electronic chime split the air. Itseemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. Paradox was frightened only until he realized that the sound was coming from the small plastic clip around his ear.
The chime continued while Paradox fumbled for the answer button. When he finally got it, Paradox heard a familiar voice come in from the other side.
"Testing...1, 2, 3... Hello? Paradox?" Said the crackly voice of the professor.
"Uh, hello!" Paradox spoke to the thin air around him.
"Ah! Good." The professor said. "I suppose I'll get right to the point. I was just on the line with Kira and it seems that someone neglected to warn you about the plant life in the forest."
Paradox froze. "What... about the plant life?" He asked in a low voice.
"Well previous expeditions have had some trouble with the grass, particularly."
Paradox looked down at the grass. He silently mouthed 'You lied to me' and then turned his attention back to the voice of the professor, who was rambling off some incomprehensible scientific explanation of whatever the grass was supposed to be doing.
"Um, professor?" Paradox interrupted. "Not that this isn't educational, but what exactly is the grass supposed to do?"
"Oh, right." The professor said. "Well you see, each blade has thousands of tiny microscopic hooks that unsheathe when another organism draws near."
Paradox looked down at the blades bowing beneath his feet. That probably qualified as 'drawing near'.
"And then what does it do?" Paradox asked nervously.
"Well it's all rather diabolical." The professor said matter-of-factly. "Each blade is in actuality a prehensile limb that tangles around anything within reach. I'm told that it's quite difficult and painful to free someone once they're caught."
"Oooookay..." Paradox said nervously. "So, how do I keep that from happening?"
"Well first of all, don't step on the grass." The professor said, which was exceedingly helpful. "The usual expedition usually brings flamethrowers to clear the way."
"I heard." Paradox said. "But what do I do if I've stepped in it?"
The professor took on a more serious tone. "Don't tell me you've already gotten your feet tangled up?"
Paradox looked down at his feet. "Um, no?" He said.
"Oh. That's good." The professor replied, relief evident in his voice. "We might have had to send someone to get you."
Don't rule that out just yet, Paradox thought.
"Just remember," the professor continued. "Don't step on the grass. Take to the trees or clear it with something; it doesn't matter. Just don't step in it."
"Well, alright professor." Paradox said. He wondered if Kira was listening, and whether she could sense his fear.
"That's a good man!" The professor said, apparently satisfied. "Call if there's any trouble!"
"I will!" Paradox said, though he wondered whether Kira would risk telling anyone about him even if he was being strangled by greenery.
Then the audio cut out and Paradox was alone with the grass again.
Paradox lifted his feet and placed them down again. It didn't seem like the grass was all that dangerous, but if it wasn't, what had the professor been talking about? There had to be some sort of disconnect between what the professor had warned Paradox about and what Paradox was experiencing now.
At length Paradox decided that the grass would keep his trust until such time as the grass should betray it. The same thing went for the moon fruit along the canopy. This whole place felt... right, somehow. And after all, if you couldn't trust your gut, what could you trust?
That would be Paradox's last thought before he suddenly found himself in pitch blackness.