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The red-hot blade cut through the solid wood and branches behind it, flying upward in one clean stroke and leaving a smoldering crevice in its wake. It went higher than he’d intended and gouged its way up through the rest of the trunk and canopy as well, but he was of no mind to worry about that, right now.

But apparently, Raheem was. “Lord, you set the sacred tree on fire!”

Aw, fuck. “Er, take care of that for me, please!” Hector pushed through the breach in the door with his armor and created a man-sized hole for himself. More branches barred his path, but they were similarly weakened and able to be walked through with brute force.

The branches were less dense near the great orb, instead replaced by an overabundance of snaking vines.

Vines which were moving, he noticed. They lashed against his armor, leaving behind a sticky residue that slowed him down--and stunk, too. It smelled so foul that he thought he might vomit. He choked as he tried to hold his breath and not gag, but then his eyes started to burn, too.

Thankfully, Garovel was still cozied up inside his armor from the flight over here.

‘Can you numb my sense of smell for me?’ thought Hector.

‘Uh. That’s an unusual one, but yeah, I think so. Lemme try.’

‘Pain, too, please,’ he said through his searing tears.

Then it was gone, and he could breathe again. He could also feel his throat and eyes tingling with a very familiar sensation that he felt whenever dealing with acid, but at least it didn’t hurt. It sure would later, though.

The vines were still being a problem, however. And now that he could breathe and think more clearly, he had an idea.

“Candle!” he shouted angrily. “It’s me! I know you can understand me! I’m not here to hurt you! Let me reach Abbas! I need to check on him!”

And it took a moment, but to his surprise, the writhing vines began to slacken and then settle down entirely.

He was still covered in goo, though, and had to trudge the rest of the way toward the Lord Saqqaf as if he were suddenly a hundred pounds heavier thanks to how sticky it was. He realized that he probably could have dematerialized his armor safely and then immediately rematerialized it, but he wanted to play it safe, just in case the Candle decided to go berserk again.

He also figured that he would owe it an apology after this, but that could wait.