Chapter 749 (1/2)

Naffur just looked at the tree boy, wondering what he could say to convince him. “You really refuse to go toward those lights…? It looks like a festival. And I don’t know about you… but I haven’t bathed in weeks…”

The slightly smoldering tree crossed its arms and shook its head vigorously.

Sighing, Naffur asked. “Is it because of burning the flowers?”

The tree’s foliage springing up from his back drooped. Over the past four days, Naffur had accompanied this strange tree and gathered a few dozen flowers of different varieties. Naffur had no idea what the tree boy needed them for, but there was such an honest joy in his motions that it was hard not to get caught up in it. In addition, monsters seemed to avoid the tree boy, so it had been a relaxing few days.

But then, Naffur tripped. When he sprawled forward, the bouquets he was carrying slammed into the tree boys chest. At first, nothing happened. The tree boy rushed forward and hovered around Naffur, making concerned noises.

Naffur honestly wanted to roll his eyes. He wasn’t a kid. He had plenty of stats in Endurance. What the tree boy should really have been worried about was Naffur’s head, that he managed to trip in this world where he was empowered by the System.

But right as the treeboy was about to help Naffur up, his face twisted in fear and panic. Naffur could feel the strange being’s body flush and throw off a wave of heat. It was so much so soon that Naffur scrambled backward. The flowers that had gotten caught in the tree boy’s foliage slowly withered and simmered.

That had been several hours ago, and so much of the cheer from the treeboy had disappeared that Naffur wanted to run away from the thing. But…

“It will be fun,” Naffur said plaintively. In his life, he never had much cause to try and cheer someone up and felt extremely awkward about the whole situation. “You need a distraction.”

The treeboy pantomimed being locked behind bars.

Grinning, Naffur rushed forward and shoved the tree boy. With the same silent, clown motions, the treeboy tumbled to the ground. In its wake, a wave of heat spread outward, sizzling the grass.

Naffur nodded in satisfaction and held up his hands to demonstrate. “Look, not burned. You only heat up when you worry about it, dummy. As long as you stay calm, you won’t burn anybody. Let’s go to the festival!”

Although the prospect of people made Naffur extremely nervous, he had realized how foolish he had been to rush into the wilderness without any preparation. Having a place to gather supplies was important. Naffur was tired of nuts and berries and cold monster meat.

The treeboy seemed torn, but then he reached down and picked up a twig. He gripped the thing for several seconds. Very soon, the twig flickered and warped. A second later, thing tongues of flame sprang up from the place where the treeboy was gripping.

“...well, it’s not perfect,” Naffur said awkwardly. He scratched the back of his neck. “I’ve spent a few days with you. We aren’t super close, but… I noticed some things. This forest at night is super cold. I honestly wish you would produce more heat while you are doing your nighttime dance. But you don’t.”

The treeboy gathered his hand twigs into a fist and slapped it down on his other palm. Then he mimed shivering with chattering teeth.

Naffur glared at him. “Yes, that’s me being cold because you aren’t throwing off any heat. And anyway, why would you throw off heat. You aren’t on fire. If you were on fire, wouldn’t you also throw off light? It’s just…”

For several seconds, Naffur’s words got caught in his throat. But he forced them out. “Sometimes… life sucks. It’s really shit. And you worry about being… well, about people liking you. And you are so worried that you just sit in your little shack and watch the stars. And the next day, when no one new likes you, you feel a sick little bit of satisfaction because you were right. Just like you expected, nothing’s changed. But don’t you see? The reason you… the reason I was alone for so long was that I was too afraid to try anything else.”

Naffur’s mouth felt very dry. “And even now… When something happened that worried me… I just ran. I didn’t… try anything. When she- I just ran. But I also ran because I was afraid of what would happen if I ran… well, you don’t need to know that. But yanno, I was giving in to my fears and facing them. Just maybe in the wrong order.”

The treeboy cocked his head to the side.

Throwing his hands up in the air, Naffur released an aggrieved breath. “I don’t know! Your chest is hot and tight and queasy and you don’t know what to do. That’s just the way things are. So stop being a baby and pound it!”

Naffur raised his fist. The treeboy blinked his bright eyes and simply looked at Naffur.