In a few seconds Frigglene closed the distance that separated her from the beings they had just found. The first thing she notice was that they were neither humans nor vampires, not even Quinoids (animal humanoids).

The people in front of her, who were performing some kind of ritual, had traits mostly associated with flora. Some were made of wood and large as trees, others small and delicate as flowers. These types of creatures generally tended to be peaceful, but Frigglene preferred to avoid risks and before making contact she stepped back to speak to Darthañan.

“What happened?” Darthañan asked surprised that his wife returned so quickly.

"They are creatures of flora. They are doing some kind of ceremony” she answered.

“They should be friendly, right?” he asked.

"They are supposed to, but we cannot take risks, especially because of the condition you are in" Frigglene answered, lowering her gaze to the arms of her beloved.

“Well, if we don't want to stay and live around here, we should make contact with them or surround them to continue to Vorpiax without being noticed” Darthañan commented.

Frigglene sighed. She really wanted to make contact with these people ending the isolation they had been going through, but the risk of them being enemies was too scary. She alone could not defend all four.

"We have to surround the place. We cannot afford to ...”

At that time Frigglene was interrupted by Theodor's loud laugh.

“Agjaja” The spider was tickling him again.

Darthañan reacted immediately hugging the two little ones in his arms.

"¡Hide! don't go out until you see how they react when they see me"

Frigglene did not hesitate for a second, before her husband finished speaking she had already camouflaged herself with the environment. After a few seconds, a voice could be heard coming from one of the tree tops.

“He is only a human carrying two saplings”

“A human? What is a human doing here?”

“And why are you asking me? Go down and ask him”

“OK”

The person who responded jumped down, landing two meters in front of Darthañan.

"Hello, my name is Fusca. Who do I have the pleasure to talk to?"

"Da Darthañan" he replied surprised.

At the same time in the clearing where the flower creatures were doing their offering a pale white mushroom woman, wearing a black hat (part of her body not the object humans use) with yellow scales appeared on her knees in front of the chief.

“Father, we found a human carrying two saplings”

“Three people?” Asked the man with equally pale skin to his daughter, but with a red hat and white scales. He wondered mentally if he had misperceived the presence of 4.

“How long has it been since a human had visited this land?”

An Ent raised his hand to his chin and stroked its bark, closing its eyes for a few seconds before responding.

“For about 31 years I think” his voice was serious and conveyed the fatigue of all the years that the ent had lived.

“And now we find one in Ofrenthos?” the chief responded. <This is what this boring ceremony needed> he thought.

The man's eyes lit up before continuing.

“Albella, tell your brother to bring here our unexpected guest and his offspring”

"Right away" the woman replied, disappearing from where she was.

Darthañan was not surprised to see Fusca, since as a child his father had introduced him to a Lepiota in one of his many business meetings. Describing this species in few words:

“These humanoid fungi that often abound in the lower islands or the swamps of the middle and upper islands, are a little-known species. But you should never underestimate them, they like to be seen as weak and affable when in fact they are one of the most powerful and intelligent people there are”

The young Lepiota in front of him had a light brown hat with dark brown scales and white skin so pale that not even a sick person would compare to him.

“Are you okay? Do you need food or some water?”

Darthañan noted that Fusca did not even bother to ask him what he was doing in the middle of the forest and remembering his father's words. He inferred that in addition to knowing that he was lost, the lepiota had already analyzed that in his current state he was not a threat, so it didn’t bother to confirm anything before offering help. Or he was very careless.

<If I hadn't accompanied my father as a child, I would have never have noticed that this young man could measure me in such a short time> thought Darthañan trying to control his nerves. With his level of power very few would be able to analyze it, even in the serious state he was in.

"We would be glad with some water, please"

"Very well, there is enough for everyone" Fusca smiled.

“Thank you”

Frigglene, who had been about to show herself, stopped when she saw a female lepiota appearing behind Darthañan and, without making any noise, communicated with Fusca by hand signs.

"No problem, follow me and we'll give you something to eat and drink." Fusca turned around and began to guide Darthañan to where the others were.

When they got to the clearing of the forest, Darthañan could see the approximately 50 beings who were gathered in an altar carved in dark purple glass, with sculptures of different types of plants in a much lighter glass. The altar stood on the edge of a huge moat from which I could barely see its ends. Nature seemed to avoid the moat, as the forest was about ten meters away from the moat making a more or less symmetrical circumference around it.

“Look at a human”

“He looks like a shaved Pikmi”

The smallest creatures, those with humanoid flower appearances couldn't help but start commenting. Darthañan felt quite uncomfortable, but being used to events where he received all kinds of glances he decided to ignore the small flowers and continue walking behind Fusca.

When they arrived in front of the altar, Fusca stopped and knelt down.

“Father, I found this lost human in the forest. We could give him some food and water. He carries two offspring of the same age as my brothers”

The eyes of the leader who was on the altar scanned Darthañan, his face had a sinister smile that in an instant faded. The presence of the lepiota changed in a moment, now he seemed to be immersed in his thoughts with seriousness, something he had never shown before his children.

“Father?” asked Fusca.

“¡Stop!” The lepiota shouted, stopping his son with the palm of his hand.

“Little Darth, I don't know what happened to you to ended up in those conditions in front of me”

Darthañan raised one of his eyebrows not understanding what he had just heard.

“Don't worry, here you will be safe with your wife and your children. Tell her to come out. Seeing your condition, we should not spend time playing”

Darthañan doubt what he had heard. This strange person knew his name, that was even more suspicious.

“Seriously?” asked the lepiota, letting out a frustrated sigh. Immediately he began to search his pockets and then took out a small coin. On one of its faces it had a six-pointed star and on the other it had engraved "We remember” on the top and “we will return" in the bottom.

"If you recognize this coin tell your wife to come out" said the creature starting to pass the coin between his fingers.

“Frigg…”

"Here I am" Frigglene interrupted her husband as she left the forest.

Behind her appeared another 3 lepiots. During all the time she was hidden, she had not realized that they had been observing her. If not for the leader's scream, these three mushrooms would have killed her without her noticing.

“This human, the vampire and their offspring are friends”

He waited a moment for the vampire to arrive.

“I need to speak to them immediately, tomorrow morning we will finish with the offerings”

All the beings present nodded and started to prepare to camp without questioning him.

“Please follow me, we need a private place to talk”

 

About ten meters away from where the altar was, now Darthañan and Frigglene were alone with the leader and the other 5 lepiots. Fusca took a metal disk with runic inscriptions from the bag on his back, injected it with some energy and placed it on the ground. Within seconds the disk generated an energy field that covered them all.

"Now no one will be able to hear us" Fusca stated.

His father, the chief, nodded before fixing his gaze on Darthañan.

“By your grimace, I take it that you don't remember me”

Darthañan could only reply with an awkward smile.

“I am Baron Helvella, like you, I belong to a family of guardians. These are my children: Fusca, Albella, Latispora, Brevi and Rivularis”

The five young Lepiots bowed their heads in greeting when their names were mentioned.

“I know both your father and your grandfather, I even met you when you were just 6 years old. If you allow me to ask, what are you doing here under those conditions?”

Darthañan took a moment to digest what he had just heard. And with pain in his voice he replied.

“They tried to exterminate my family”

Helvella couldn't help but laugh.

"Jojojo, from all the powerful beings on Almawarth which one was so stupid to try eliminate the Pralefur family?"