I Am A Carnivorous Plant

Yeah, this guy definitely must be an elf! He’s colored and built like those wood elves I saw before and everything!

 

Well okay, I say that, but the more I look at his ears, the more that I feel like there’s something wrong with them. They’re much shorter than the other elves’ ears, even the women’s. They’re not perfect, but in a way they kinda look like they’re trying to mimic human ears, you know? Except his seem to be cut into that shape, instead of it being something natural, or maybe ‘cropped’ is the correct word. Yeah, it really reminds me of what people do to dogs to get their ears into the shape they want.

 

Well, maybe I’m just thinking of dogs because this guy looks pitiful to me.

What can I do? I see an elf, I think of Til! It’s not my fault if I instantly sympathize with the guy! I mean look at his sad little confused face~!

 

“Cyth… I-it can’t be… They… They said that they…”

 

<What’s the matter, Lefrell? Disappointed that I’m not dead?>

 

Mom’s mouth curled up in a sneer, one that I really really didn’t like seeing on her face. I don’t mean to indirectly toot my own horn, if that is what this counts as, but mom is actually pretty darn pretty looking. But you know, when she makes this evil looking face she’s making now… I disagree with her making us look like that! You’re making us look unattractive! Stop doing that!!!

 

“What?! No! Of course you know that’s not true, Cyth!”

 

The elf guy, Lefrell, sprung forward like he was going to grab mom’s shoulders, but she shrugged herself out of the way far too quickly for him to succeed, leaving him standing there awkwardly as she gave him a suuuuper icy stare.

 

<It’s not? The stupid man who sold me out to the patrols to save his own fucking skin isn’t sad that his foolish little scheme didn’t turn out?>

 

“You know that’s not why I did it, Cyth! We had followers to protect, people who would only be safe if-”

 

<If I disappeared?! Funny… You say we have followers, but I’m the only one who got sacrificed. Isn’t that odd, Lefrell? Isn’t that strange?>

 

Lefrell flinched for a moment, shrinking himself back a bit with an awfully pained look, but he still tried to mutter out some stupid excuse or whatever back.

 

“...If we both died, then there would be no one left to lead-”

 

<Lead who? All the followers I noticed on my way here seem to have lost the green in their eyes, Lefrell. Even Klana and Pell upstairs don’t have it anymore, so who the fuck do you think you’re leading from this stupid little hole you’re hiding yourself in?!>

 

The man shrunk himself back even more, looking like a kid getting lectured by his mom for doing something he knew was really super extra bad. Honestly, hearing mom’s side of things, my pity for the guy had completely shriveled up; Now he just looked like some kind of cowardly idiot to me. Or maybe like a stubborn pouty kid grabbing onto his clothes in anger because things didn’t go his way.

 

“W-well… With you gone, there wasn’t anyone capable enough to-”

 

<Yeah?! And you didn’t think of that before you gave me up?! Stupid little Lefrell forgot he needed me, and betrayed me without thinking what he was gonna do next, huh?!>

 

Mom looked absolutely murderous, somehow even more so than when she was completely slaughtering her way through all those people. It was almost like murder was written across her face or something, it was so obvious! But then she suddenly seemed to calm down, and gave Lefrell a small forgiving-looking smile as she slowly began to walk towards him.

 

<It’s okay though. I forgive you now, Lefrell. Because you betrayed me, I was finally able to give up and cut a deal with the Spirit of the Forest. Now I’ll be able to protect the citizens of the forest much better than I ever could when I was still alive.>

 

Lefrell continued to back away from mom, but he still managed to stammer out the question that I’m sure was burning at his mind.

 

“...What? What do you mean when you were still-”

 

<And you know what, Lefrell? I’ve decided that even you, useless though you are, can still be of use to the forest!>

 

“I-I… I can? What-”

 

His words seemed to catch in his throat as his back thumped against the wall. And with him not being able to back away more, mom was finally in arm’s reach of him.

 

<Yes, even you.>

 

And then I got a front row seat to watch mom bash his face in with her bare hands! Her eyes followed after his body as it fell to the ground, limp and lifeless, and mom even moved with him, gracefully kneeling on the ground as her eyes scanned him over like she was in a trance. After a few minutes though, she blinked and squinted at him like she was looking at something she absolutely hated, and then her hands reached out to take him into her arms, picking him up like she was holding something disgusting.

 

<Maybe you’re just a half, but your blood should still be plenty elven enough to work. I suppose that’s the only thing you could ever truly be proud of yourself about, isn’t it?>

 

A loud cracking, like a tree branch being broken off, filled the air, followed by another and another. I could see rips beginning to spread over mom’s body, each showing bits of sickly green, beige, and peachy gold through them as mom’s body steadily grew larger and larger by the second. It was incredible to me how long the small outer facade that mom had hidden herself inside was able to keep itself together, struggling under the unstoppable expanding force, but eventually it was torn to tatters and flopped down onto the ground, quickly becoming crushed under her increasing roots.

 

The small underground room mom was in also couldn’t handle her return to her true form, and soon it, too, fell apart from mom’s expansion, both it and the section of the tavern above it quickly crumbling under the upward force, sending loads of stone and wood crashing down on mom, not that she cared one bit about it. Her free tentacle hand brushed the debris away like they were petals that had been blown into her hair, and not caring at all about who might still be left in the tavern, she brushed that away too, causing the screaming that had been echoing inside it for the past minute to suddenly stop.

 

It’s obvious what must have happened to those poor screaming people.

…All they did was show up to a silly tavern for a silly drink, and now they have to die for mom's revenge.

I get why she’s mad for sure, but this hardly seems fair…

 

Well, it’s silly of me to expect anything fair from her now, after seeing her go on the path of death and destruction she’s cut through the past three towns, now isn’t it?

 

I wonder if those two people she met with and lied to earlier also died because of that? Were they part of the screaming crowd just now, or did they have the good sense to leave once they realized that mom was looking for revenge? …I don’t know, I kind of want them to live just because I don’t really agree with all this senseless killing mom is doing, but at the same time… Maybe they deserve to die? It seems like they had a hand in mom’s death, so is it sorta justice if they die now with that Lefrell guy too? I certainly didn’t feel so bad about mom killing him once I knew what a sack of mom-sacrificing shit he was, so maybe if I knew more about what was happening, I could make a better judgment on all of this, you know?

 

Really, if only I could understand where mom was coming from a little bit better, then-

 

[Do you really want to know?]

 

…Huh? What-?

 

[I asked if you really want to know what happened to her. What happened to make her behave the way she is. Cythia wasn’t always like this, you know. I’m sure you, of anyone, should be the most surprised with how she turned out.]

 

Who…? Ugh, wait, I don’t want to be that idiot who asks too many questions and misses out on the important stuff! Voice! Whoever this is! Please tell me what happened to make mom act like this! I want to know! I want to understand!

 

If this is really how things have to be, then I’ll let mom do what she has to do and fade away into the background like a good little plant. But if what she’s doing is at all wrong like it feels like it is… If she’s doing something that’s completely unjustified, then…

 

If mom is wrong, then I’ll stop her!

I don’t know how I’ll do it, of course, but I’ll get to that once I get to it!

 

[Good. Yes, I always have enjoyed that side of you, you adorable little child. I’ll show you what it is that you need to see now. Keep your mind open. Really look at what’s happening, not just from Cythia’s side, but to everyone. That’s what you need to learn here.]

 

The very last thing that I could make out was mom digging a pit in the ground and placing Lefrell’s body into it before she pierced him all over with her tentacles and began pumping magic into him, and then the slideshow-like view that I’d managed to get of mom’s activities slowly began to fade away, returning me to the darkness I’d once been stuck in. I panicked for a moment, wondering if the voice had maybe tricked me into losing my very last link into the outside world, but then a new show started up, appearing in place of the last one.

 

There was Lefrell and mom, younger, standing in front of about a hundred people, all with green eyes just like them. I could even see those two humans that mom had talked to in the tavern there, smiling up at them with green eyes too.

 

Everything looked so happy and peaceful.

…What happened…?