"Master? Master?! What does she mean master? And what's going on with these woods anyways, why are they all frozen like that?

Can somebody please tell me what is going on?"

Erik desperately looked between the members of the expedition group with an utterly baffled expression on his aquamarine face. His main focus was between Alfie and the wooden woman, who was still silently shedding tears on her knees, but occasionally swept his gaze over the rest of them hoping it would encourage someone to speak.

However, some could barely meet his eye never mind bringing themselves to explain what they had done. Even if she wasn't human to begin with, just seeing her like this cemented that they had inadvertently carried out one of humanity's greatest sins.

Eventually Alfie sighed and raised his head, looking at the confused knight with an exhausted look in the depths of his eyes.

"I absorbed the Amber, I thought it would give me power or something. Instead it gave me..."

"Me. It gave him me. That amber, the Amber of Origin, is the core of my very essence. I am bound to whoever or whatever absorbs it. I had wanted to keep it for myself but now... now I am nothing but a slave once again."

Erik glanced between the two of them again, an unreadable mixture of emotions fighting for supremacy as his expression constantly shifted between them, before he spoke once more.

"Surely we can just break the bone right? Just... Unabsorb it. Puke it up or something."

"It's a life bond. Once it's absorbed, the bond can only be severed by death. His or mine. And I am unable to cause either of them without my masters permission. I can't even use my own abilities without his permission.

If I could, you would have never made it to the Queen... or I would have just killed her myself. I guess that's what she gets for wanting to test her new brood instead of using her best weapon."

She lazily gestured to the static forest around them, which was still frozen in the final moments of her fleeting acts of freedom. The trees leaning down to grab the Amber of Origins, and a spear of grass thrusting upwards towards Seth's throat. Or where it used to be, he had since moved while they were talking, he wasn't going to stand there like that forever after all.

"But... if you had just told us what it was then maybe we would have-"

"HA! Hahahahahaha!"

Erik's timid rambling was quickly cut off as the previously hollow and emotionless woman suddenly burst into a fit of overly exaggerated, hysteric laughter. Throwing her head back and she slowly rose to her feet, laughing like a mad woman every second of it.

"HAHAHAHA! Oh that is just brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? 'Oh, Hello Strange Human. I know you usually like to kill my kind, but that there is the key to my freedom. So please could you give it to me instead of making me into a forcibly obedient slave, that would be oh so nice of you.'

Is that what you had in mind blue man? Do you honestly think that anyone would just hand that over? I've met more than enough of your kind to know how that would go. You fight and slaughter each other to get yourself a new slave.

I mean do you really think that the Ant Queen just found my Amber just laying around on the ground unattended?"

As she ranted, she stormed closer to Erik, her eyes glowing brighter and brighter as all of her anger and resentment bubbled to the surface. By the time that she ended her tirade, she was standing directly in front of him, finger pressed against the chest plate of his armour after repeatedly poking him in the chest.

Her face leaning closer to his, noses almost touching, as she glared into his eyes. She was leaning so far forward that Erik started to retreat his head into his armour, like a turtle withdrawing into its shell, yet she still got in his face.

The valiant knight, who wanted nothing more than to do good in the world and become the perfect story book knight, looked into the eyes of their new slave with a complex storm of emotions. But of all the emotions within him, one triumphed above all. Shame.

So, when he spoke, his voice was meak and timid. Barely a whisper that squeaked out as he looked down in utter shame.

"...No...I don't think that would work."

"I didn't think so. Now, oh great master, what would you like your slave to do first?"

She turned on her heels, leaving the valiant knight to contemplate his fantasy while she focused on Alfie, her new master. She slowly walked over to him, taking measured and deliberate steps, her green eyes full of rage and fire as she glared at him. When she spoke, her voice was practically dripping with venom as she made no effort to hide her contempt and disdain.

"Polish your boots? Shine your armour? Sharpen your sword? Maybe you'd prefer if I slaughter your so called friends to stop them from taking your property, or perhaps you're the type that likes to share.

Oh I know! I'll help you doff your armour. After all, I know how much you humans like to practice your mating. So what will it be first for this lowly slave?"

She bowed deeply in an overly exaggerated manner, making no effort to even try to make it look geniune and instead put extra effort into it's mockery, staying bowed with her head pointed at the ground while she waited for him to speak.

However the words she heard were the furthest from her expectations.

"Do you have a name?"

Her anger immediately melted away, shoved to the side by utter confusion, and caused her to frown deeply. Standing up straight, she considered him with an expression that was as if he had asked her if she was the Dolphin king of Mars come to take him home, rather than something so simple as a name.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the words caught in her throat, the questions and statements she wanted to make unable to get themselves passed her lips. A strange force pressed against her mind, squeezing it gently at first, yet the longer she stayed silent the stronger it squeezed as if it was trying to wring the answer out of her.

Eventually the compulsion of her 'ability' grew too strong and she was forced to give her master the answer to his question. Her voice cracking as she did so.

"Yes... I do."

"Ah, That's good. Well my name is Alfie, much better than Master. So I do hope that's not a compulsive thing. Then we have Cynthia, Alexandra, Seth, Erik, Fox and our leader Astra."

His previously cold expression was melted away by the overwhelming warmth of his smile as he looked at her with eyebrows raised, clearly expecting her to introduce herself next. However in the face of that radiant smile, the wooden woman couldn't help but recoil slightly.

Her face twisting in complete and utter confusion, a slight horror in her eyes as if she had seen something utterly defiant of nature as she stared at Alfie like he was an impossible puzzle.

'Is... is that it? Where's the orders, the demands? What the hell is going on? A trick! Yes, it has to be. It's just a trick to make me lower my guard or something. Not that he has to do it with the compulsion... but still, it has to be a trick. It has to be!'

Her mind reeled with all the possible tricks this could've been, all the reasons for his strange reaction and kindness. That kind of thing never came for free, after all. There was always a price, a shark tooth smile. Whatever a shark was, she had no idea. It was just one of those phrases she heard the humans use, but it was undoubtedly a beast of cunning and deceit.

More importantly, as she considered the possibilities of his deception, she felt a distinct lack of the compulsion squeezing at her mind and forcing her to answer. She knew what he wanted her to say, but he seemed to have missed the fact that she was compelled to answer him.

It was probably just a mistake, an incorrect phrasing that he would correct in the future so they sounded like proper orders. Just like the rest.

However, despite the lack of the compulsion and her mind reeling with confusion and paranoia, her lips parted and she spoke once more.

"Juniper. Juniper Nycelius."

"Beautiful. Now, Seth. You said you had two questions, right? We already got the answer to the first one, even if it was in a less than pleasant way. Why don't you ask the second now that we are all nice and calm."

He smiled again, gesturing to Seth who nodded softly and cleared his throat. He had been standing to the side all this time, watching all of this unfold and wondering how he could possibly bring this back to his questions.

"Yes yes. Sorry about that, by the way. My second question might be a bit of a long shot but...Have you ever heard of the Heavenly Tree and where I could get one of its fruits?"