Dance with the Devil

The dryad nodded and did just that. She then stared at Willow.

The illusionist smiled smugly. "Of course." Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"all better now" willow smiled more. "Not now azzar I want to see this dude's illusionist"

The dryad turned around scouted ahead.

"So, does this mean she's gonna help us?" Autumn asked. "Why was us having a child with us suddenly change things."

"Children are innocent," gramps explained. "It's likely that it thinks she became lost and we came looking for her, only for us to end up lost as well."

"Yay, five! I knew tree ladies weren't mean." Lotus proclaimed.

The illusionst scratched his head; most people would turn around.

"whatever the reason..I'm glad it's not going to hurt us anymore.." "What's wrong? Aren't you going to show me the big illusion?"

The group followed the dryad, but it did not lead them to a place that had anything of interest, just an odd-looking tree with green bark and pink leaves.

More dryads appeared, now four in total and all of them bowed before the tree.

"I have a baaaad feeling about this," Autumn whispered. "Anyone else feel the same?"

The illusionist sighed and just walked away from her.

"nice tree...But yes I am a little worried..." Lillith followed the illusionist. "What happened? Did i do something wrong? I just wanted to see an illusion"

A much larger, dryad-looking being emerged from the tree, adorned with roses, thorns and donning a crown of petals. It pointed at the dryad that led the kitsune there and said dryad stood up.

It spoke briefly, again in a language that sounded like wood and the dryad understood, offering her hand to Lotus.

Autumn's suspicions rose.

"Illusions don't work on you, I'm afraid," the illusionist explained. "Did you want something else?"

"what a beautiful dryad. " Willow said watching. Lillith looked sad. "Aww really? Try again"

Gramps allowed Lotus to go with the dryad, thinking its some sort of greeting.

When the child reached the big dryad, it twitched and its chest opened, revealing a large, carnivorous plant.

Lotus screamed in terror and Autumn got his fire spells ready once more. "You tricked us!"

The illusionist used a spell on Lillith, but it had no effect. "Like I said, they do not work on you," he said. "I attempted a temporary blindess curse, but it failed. Strange; I never had this happen before."

Willow gasped and summoned fires everywhere. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE PROTECTORS OF THE FOREST AND YOU DO THIS?!?" "Really? But...I was sure I could see illusions..."

The dryad that led them there shielded the group from the other dryads, even going as far at snatch Lotus right from the big dryad's mouth.

"w-what's going on?!" Autumn asked, trying to destroy the protective shield from the inside. "what are you doing?!"

With considerable trouble and effort, the dryad let out a pained 'hel-ping'

"Not from me, I guess," The illusionist said. "Aren't you an illusionist by chance?"

Willow mad sure not to hit the dryad that was protecting them. "I don't know...I went to illusion school for a week...And I was an assistant for an illusionist for a while..Does that make me an illusionist?" Lillith tried making an illusion of her wearing a top hat.

The monstrous dryad lost its patience and simply destroyed the shield. To restore some of the power it lost, it ensnared one of the dryads that were attacking the shield and devoured it in front of them.

With a roar, it tried going for Lotus again.

"Pretty much," The illusionist said. "Nice hat, by the way."

Willow went in the way an literally put her whole body on fire. "DIE!" "I'm not wearing a hat"

The remaining dryads switched sides and were now helping kitsune take down the monster. When it became weak once more, it tried ensnaring everyone and then devouring yet another dryad to heal itself.

The illusionist's hand went above her forehead and sure enough, the illusionist stole her top hat and claimed it as his. "I like this hat."

Willow threw some fire balls at the dryad."what? How did you...But that hat isn't real...How are you able to touch an illusion? "

The parasitic plant became enraged and started killing the dryad it merged with to heal itself. It threw barrages of thorns at snares at complete random.

"Illusory objects," the illusions said. "They temporarily appear and behave as the real deal. Not used very often."

"we all have to get to cover!!!" "I had no idea I could do that"

The same dryad that protected them just a minute ago had no second thoughts about using itself to tank the plant's attacks.

When a vine impaled it, even the other dryads watched in horror as it grew weaker, but it flinch one bit.

Now was the right time to attack.

"Takes training," the illusionist told her, taking out a pair of sunglasses out of nowhere. "Almost as cool as ice mages."

Willow attecked and ran to the dryad. With all her flames. Lillith laughed. "Yeah.."

The plant screeched and burrowed itself deeper into its host, who at this point was barely standing.

"You gonna be one of the spectators?" the illusionist asked. "There'll be a mage tournament here."

Willow grabbed it and tried to pull it towards her. "Whoa a tournament!! That sounds so cool!!!"

The plant jumped and tried to latch at her, leaving the big dryad and making it faint.

"I signed up," the illusionist told her. "I hope they don't make battles to the death, though."

Willow didn't move fast enough. She was trying to shake it off. "That would be fun though"

The big dryad cut away its limps and impaled it with a vine. Then another and another. It didn't stop until the plant was definitely dead.

The small bits that clung onto Willow withered and died.

"Maybe for you," The illusionist smiled. "Demons are a lot harder to kill than mortals, am I right?"