"I didn't know you had a garden," Alice remarked, her voice thoughtful as they approached a verdant, glass-paned structure. Greeny, tethered and grumbling was nonetheless drawn by a flicker of curiosity. "It just doesn't seem like something you would have."
John paused at the greenhouse door, a soft chuckle escaping him. "Oh? And what did you expect?"
"Well, you have a fire fixation," Alice explained well gesturing animatedly. "And your size shows you would much rather devour than nurture, then there's also what I saw on your computer, all your interests in the supernatural… I just pictured you as more of a techy, computer-room shut-in type than a jack of all trades with a personal garden."
John's smile became a little wider. "I can understand why you'd think that. But I like my plants. Always have and probably always will. I've just always had this fixation on being a healer you see, so I studied them and built this greenhouse to house my herbs, even going so far as to get qualified as a natural healer or 'herbalist' to be exact." He ran a hand over the cool glass. "They can do untold harm as poisons but those same poisons can heal just as much if not more in the right moderations. In the end it all comes down to how you use and treat them. This was my sanctuary, where I came to be alone, to talk to them or rather to myself I guess since plants don't exactly listen or reply. It's my own little piece of heaven on earth away from the world outside."
His small smile faltered as he opened the door before being replaced by a look of utter shock. Instead of the familiar shelves laden with potted plants of varying heights, the small and neatly spaced creepers climbing the back wall and the pond of aquatic flora, he was greeted by something akin to a dense and wild jungle with the inside far bigger than the outside.
"Wow!" Alice shrieked, practically bouncing on the spot, her eyes wide as a child in a candy store. "You really do love your plants, huh? But how did you make it so much bigger inside than outside? That's so cool!"
John stood frozen, scanning the immense, verdant expanse. "This isn't how it was," he murmured, disbelief heavy in his tone. "It's far too big. My plants were much smaller. My biggest was a citronella bush and even that was only just past my waist after years of growing it from a tiny seedling. Not counting the Elder tree I recently acquired, but that was destined for outside after I had grown it enough and felt it was ready. This… this is like a true jungle with the greenhouse following the rules of a TARDIS or Harry Potter." He slowly recognized a few species around him; the once small and medium-sized plants having seemingly exploded in growth well transforming like the rest of the world. The puzzling oddity for him though was why this single room felt like an entirely different realm, even from the altered world outside.
They stepped inside slowly, the air thick with the scent of damp earth and exotic foliage. Towering tree-like plants rustled in a breeze John couldn't feel. The once clear, narrow footpath was now a tangled mass of roots snaking across the earthy floor. The glass ceiling, once easily visible, was now lost in a canopy so high it couldn't be seen with only faint rays of light piercing through the dense leaves. Strangely, none of the plants appeared to be struggling for space and even though there where many creeping vines of various kinds wrapped around the massive trunks they weren't strangling them, rather it seemed more like a tender embrace.
John knew he had two choices now; he could press forward, attempting to unravel the mystery and examine his former herbs—now trees—and ascertain if their healing properties remained or perhaps even having been amplified. It would be a risk with his current weakened state, needing to truly rely on Alice to protect him and possibly using Greeny to as a distraction if needed. Or he could retreat and return later when he felt stronger and in a better state, less sore and with some proper strength. The risk in doing that however was that the plants might grow further, the space could expand beyond comprehension or worse, something beyond their ability to handle might take up residence and force him to abandon his garden entirely and possibly his home if it ventured out and took the area as its territory like the spider would have.
No, he would press forward, he had the feeling it would be a good thing to do and would gain if he did and he always tried to trust his gut, not only that though, this was his sanctuary, his last retreat in this insane world and he refused to lose it without a fight.
"Come on, let's find out what's going on here," John declared, his voice firm. "I'm not going to lose this place. Alice, if anything happen, cover me as best you can for our escape. Greeny, I thank you in advance for any possible sacrifices you might be forced to make to buy us time."
Greeny shot him an angry glare but couldn't do anything as she was still being dragged along, hearing his remarks though Alice let out a delighted laugh, seemingly enjoying this darker, more pragmatic side of him.
As they ventured deeper, John meticulously examined the trees and vines. He found he could still identify their original forms even in their transformed state. His mind raced with questions about their former medicinal uses and if they were able to be used for them, if their power intensified and if there were new uses.
Alice turned vigilant, her senses sharpened as she turned her focus onto every rustle and distant sound. Greeny meanwhile, seemed to have forgotten her anger, instead marvelling at the sheer wonder of their surroundings.
"The air is so pure and the energy is so calm with echoes showing It was already like that, a slow and natural change at first that just got amplified and accelerated into this." Greeny exclaimed, her voice filled with awe. "How in the absolute hell can something like this even exist? And you want me to believe it's your place? I don't believe you! Humans, after a certain point, only know how to take and destroy! And nature is always what you destroy most in your desire for more! You're probably going to end up taking more and more from here, feeding your greed well destroying it all till there's nothing left like the monster you are, without a care for what the plants feel!"
John stopped dead in his tracks before pulling Greeny close by her chains, his anger palpable as he glared at her. "Listen here you," he seethed, his voice low and dangerous. "Normally I wouldn't give two shits about what you say or your twisted view of humanity. Your anger or whatever the fuck it is might even be justified. But don't you dare think I would bring harm to my plants. They have been a massive constant throughout my life and always there for me. So don't you fucking dare think I would bring them harm, whenever I take from them I always make sure it's the bare minimum to not bring damage or harm."
He threw the chains down, forcing the fairy to the ground and causing her to hit the ground before slowly crushing her. The metal tightened around her was a clear message that she had overstepped. If he could have, he would have preferred to crush her into the earth with some unseen force but he used what he had and, in this case, it was the chain wrappings.
"S-s-s-sorry," Greeny stammered, visibly shaken and terrified by this sudden, fierce display. "Please let me up. I'll be good!" She resolved to keep her words to her herself unless she had to speak, not wanting to poke the slowly awakening dragon in front of her well wondering if her earlier comments about his softness had unknowingly triggered this shift.
Alice however, was staring at John with stars in her eyes, a bright blush spreading across her cheeks. She licked her lips well rubbing her legs together. If John had looked, he would have seen her physically holding herself back, this new, darker side of him stirring something primal within her on par with the stirring his gentle side had.
Just as Alice was about to speak, a scream ripped through the air, it was close by and shattered the mood for her along with the silence. John moved first, going as fast as his sore body allowed with Alice at his side, her knife drawn and her expression back to focused and serious. Greeny, still shaken was dragged behind them on the ground as she tried to get up and run.
What greeted them was a bizarre sight. Hanging upside down and entangled in thick vines that slowly, continuously tightened around him, was a thin and athletically muscled young man. He wore a leather cap with goggles, a brown leather jacket over a skintight t-shirt with black skintight jeans.
"Well, I'm cultured enough to know where this usually leads," John commented, a faint laugh escaping him, "but it's normally a woman and not a man. Not judging, though. I'm sure there are plenty of guys and girls into the whole role-reversal thing."
The vines seemed to pause for a moment as if having heard him. Then the ground slowly trembled, a massive root stretched out towards them as thick as his arm. Alice stepped forward, knife ready to strike but the root stopped just short as it faced them. To their surprise, its tip began to point, not at them but towards something just beyond the vine-bound man.
"Can someone please help me before these things get more touchy-feely?" the man yelled as he spotted John and the others. "I really don't feel comfortable with any of this! Please, please help me!"
The root stopped indicating to John and his companions before facing the man and he could have sworn it turned to 'look' at the man hanging in the vines.
"And why exactly should we?" John asked flatly, looking up at the struggling figure. "A strange guy tied up in vines in my greenhouse especially when the world outside became hell on earth? Clearly your there since because did something to upset my plants."
The root performed an odd motion that resembled a nod at that and with a small scream muffled by a vine that snaked its tip into his mouth, the man was lowered slightly, steadily carried alongside them in the direction the root had indicated. The root itself gave one last pointing motion before retreating back into the earth.
"I can already tell you," John began, a grim certainty in his voice as they steadily walked, taking glances at the bound man. "If this continues, it's going to escalate into a scene I absolutely do not want to witness." He let out a slow breath, then added, "But we might as well see what's unfolding. At the very least they don't seem overtly hostile towards us."
With a visible effort, John slowly forced himself to follow the path the gnarled root indicated. A few tops of his chains steadily raised, a silent promise of defence.
Beside him, Alice was practically vibrating with anticipation, her knife gleaming brightly as she held it with a keen excitement etched on her face.
Greeny, however, moved with a noticeable reluctance having finally managed to stand and walk, a knot of confusion and a cold dread twisting deep within her as her instincts shrieked a silent warning, a profound trepidation stirred by her instincts telling her precisely what horrors awaited them. Yet she remained stubbornly silent, biting back what she was feeling, desperate to not draw John's attention onto her again or suffer another round of quesitoning.