Gloom Rising (The Book Wielder Saga 1) by Sean Davies

upwards every now and then to check for giant spiders that liked to ambush from above. Most of the trees looked dead but many still had leaves, and the usual dark purple clouded Gloom sky could be seen in the gaps between the claw like branches and their leaves that varied in shape and colour. Around the base of them, large brightly coloured mushrooms clustered together like huddled lovers. Strange bushy mosses clung to the tree bark, and the occasional creepy crawly darted into cover as he passed by.
    Winston had been here a few times before and was looking for a clearing he had harvested from in the past; it wasn’t long before he had rediscovered the large clearing that was completely filled with Nightmare Nettle. The plants were knee height, thickly packed, and a pleasant shade of light blue. Like their real world counterpart, the ordinary nettle, they were covered in miniscule barbs, except these barbs would cause sickeningly unpleasant hallucinations and in most cases projectile vomiting.
    He kneeled on the ground, putting his bag and alchemist case down and opening them both up. After he’d pulled on his gloves he fished out a pair of gardening snips and began cutting off the leaves, making sure that none came into contact with any of his skin, and placing them into one of the cases compartments. He carried on harvesting until the case was almost full, when suddenly he got the feeling he was being watched, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Lifting his gaze, he looked to the other side of the clearing.
    A full masquerade mask, divided into four square sections coloured bright pink and black, was staring at him from beneath the shadows of the trees. Winston could just make out the fully armoured, well endowed, female body that it belonged to, but it was hard to see. It was a Demon. He put quickly grabbed his lighter and reached for the shotgun, but the Demon had already receded back into the shadows. Winston stared into the trees, adrenaline pumping, waiting for an attack. But it never came. Paranoid, he looked to the tree tops all around him, but still nothing. He quickly packed up his things and decided to search for ingredients in the opposite direction; he still needed something interesting to bring Gregory. He knew it was dangerous but he wanted to give him something special as a gift, for without his help he wouldn’t have ever made it into the Shadow Circle.
    Keeping on guard, shotgun at the ready, he kept making his way through the forest. He searched around for something rare or different but couldn’t see anything significant enough. He felt like he was being too picky but he couldn’t let it go. Feeling drained, he stopped for a moment to eat some chocolate and drink some of his water, making sure to leave some for later just in case. He carried on and eventually the trees started thinning and looking more knurled and twisted. The ground under foot was becoming bare, blackened, and dry, and the air smelled of dying things.
    Winston stumbled onto another clearing devoid of any grass or foliage. This one was dominated by a steep solitary hill topped by a despicably evil looking tree; a Deathscythe Tree. Its trunk was thick and black, and its eyes were closed but it still had a malicious looking face with a big wide mouth filled with carved fangs. Slightly above the face, the tree’s long blackened branches sprouted. They looked like thin but muscular arms, and they all ended in long scalpel sharp white scythes. Around it, spreading down the first quarter of the hill, was its thin, broken, and crumbling roots. These ‘Deathroots’ were the main ingredient in the Mage Vitality Corrective potion.
    He decided to gather some but felt bad for taking the risk, especially as Xavier had asked him not to. It was too good an opportunity to miss, however, and he was feeling confident. He crept up the hill gently, watching the tree’s closed eyes, and headed towards the nearest exposed roots. He was