3. Arc 1: Victor's Flight

'Uh, Victor? Where are we going?'

"Shhh." Victor gently stroked Nora's shoots. He had no idea where they were going.

They were currently winding their way through a residential area that Victor didn't recognize. Truthfully, he was only thinking of getting away, fast.

'Great. We're lost.'

"We're not lost. I just don't know where to go."

Nora smacked him a couple times to vent her anger. 'You used to live here, right? Just go to wherever you used to live. We can stay there for a few days.'

Victor shuddered at the thought. "I don't even know if that place is still standing after all these years."

'Then let's go check.'

"No."

'Why not?'

Victor pursed his lips and said nothing. He didn't want to elaborate on all the reasons he found that place, his former home, so unbearable now. When he kept silent, Nora ranted in his head.

Victor kept leaping through neighborhoods, light as air, ignoring her.

Suddenly, Nora's cursing stopped short. 'He's caught up. He's practically right behind us.'

Victor cursed, pushing himself to go faster. Unfortunately, even as an Earth Spirit, Victor wasn't inexhaustible. He couldn't keep up this pace forever, so they had to rest somewhere and lay low. But where?

'Come on, Victor. Stop being a baby. I want to see where you used to live and we have to go somewhere,' Nora said. This time, Victor listened. He had little choice and besides, the apartment complex he used to call home was nearby, only a few blocks away.

Victor changed course slightly and in minutes they came to a stop in front of a set of old, yet well maintained, apartment buildings. They were called Garden View Apts, and there were four buildings in total, set up in a square around a large central garden.

It was this garden that Victor snuck into, quietly snapping the lock on the gate between buildings and slipping in.

Victor hated this garden when he was alive and he hated it just as much after death. He scowled and settled down on a bench. Most of the flower arrangements were still the same.

'This is nice,' Nora said. 'I like it here.'

"At least one of us is having a good time," Victor said, pouting slightly.

Nora ignored him, basking in the sunlight.

Meanwhile, Victor made sure to tightly conceal himself with a spiritual shield. At the very least, Warren probably wouldn't look for him here. Warren knew how much Victor hated this place, so his coming back was fairly unlikely.

He and Nora remained in the garden for the next few days, quietly passing the time with riddles and guessing games. It was only on the evening of the second day that Victor became curious enough to try to talk to the plants in the garden.

Victor wondered if any of the spirits in this garden would remember him. He was the gardener for quite some time in his youth. It would be cool if some of the spirits still looked on him fondly.

Then again. . .what if they also remembered that incident? Though comparatively, that day wasn't the worst in his life, it wasn't really good either. The last thing he needed was a trip down memory lane. Victor decided to hold off on talking to the plants.

Though Earth Spirits didn't technically need to sleep, it was the fastest way to replenish spiritual power, so Victor settled down under a tree with Nora on his chest to sleep.

Maybe it was because he thought of the past before sleeping, or maybe it was the environment invading his consciousness, but Victor dreamed of the past.

Dark red blood turned silvery in the glow of the moon. It spread out from the body in streams, soaking the dirt, sidewalk, and Victor's shoes. Victor gasped heavily. He felt like a boulder was strapped to his chest. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe!

What was he going to do? He had made such a mess. . .would he go to jail? Should he hide the body, or - no. No he couldn't. He had to turn himself in. He had to. . .

The plants were. . .moving? No, it was just the wind. Just the wind.

But then. . .no. Plants didn't move like that!

He watched with horror as a begonia stretched on its stem, winding and flexible like a snake. The flower bent down to the sidewalk and. . .licked the blood?

Victor choked and blinked hard. It was all a dream. . .

But then slurping noises sounded from right below him and he couldn't pretend anymore. He opened his eyes wide, watching, frozen, as flower after flower stretched forward, lapping at the blood like dogs drinking water.

When Victor woke, there were dark circles around his eyes.

Looking back on that incident, knowing what he knew now. . .it was still too strange. Even the most perverse of plant spirits wouldn't usually be driven to drink human blood unless pollution made them insane. While that was a risk for just about any spirit, this area shouldn't be that heavily polluted.

'Victor? Are you okay? You don't look too good,' Nora said, fluttering around his face worriedly.

"I'm fine." He wasn't fine.

Victor walked, as if in a trance, to the back of the garden. There were still rows of begonias bordering the sidewalk, just like before.

He knelt among the begonias. Nora watched from the side and silently worried about the vacancy in Victor's gaze, as if he had been hollowed out. Her shoots fluttered anxiously.

Victor placed two fingers on the stem of one begonia, closing his eyes. He sent a pulse of spiritual sense through his fingertips into the stem, searching for the spirit within.

His eyebrows wrinkled. There . . .wasn't anything inside?

Even sprouts had spiritual consciousness. Even if it couldn't yet form words or a human shape, there should be a glow, a stream, a spark. Something. But this plant was just. . .empty.

He checked its roots, but this plant was clearly still alive. It was collecting water and nutrients from the soul just as it was supposed to. So what was wrong?

Victor withdrew his spiritual sense.

'What's wrong?'

"These begonias. They don't have consciousness."

Nora trembled nervously. 'Maybe they're too young?' She offered, but they both knew these plants were too mature to not have even a speck of spiritual energy.

Victor pursed his lips and started to get up. "I think we should -"

Before he could say the word 'go', his nightmare came to life once more.

The begonias shuddered violently then shot out of the ground!

Victor didn't even have time to take a breath before they were upon him, wrapping around him several times, more sturdy than the thickest rope. They slammed him against the ground and kept him there. Victor blinked away the stars in his eyes.

Nora hopped over to him, fluttering around his face in panic-mode, tugging at the stems with her shoots.

Victor struggled to take in a breath. His vision was going fuzzy around the edges as images from that night flooded his head. Victor choked, wondering if they were about to suck up his blood too.

But after the begonias tied him up, they went still. From the side there was movement, then suddenly a figure stepped out from behind a tree, taking slow, calm steps. Victor closed his eyes in defeat, letting his head fall back against the ground.

Nora hid in Victor's hair. 'It's. . .him.'

Warren Roche finally made his appearance.

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