Journey to the Trinity Tree

Cole was tense beside Kina, obviously nervous in the middle of the decaying army and facing down the tree in front of them. While she sat almost immediately after the gnarled, disgusting tree asked them to, Cole stayed standing, his tail whipping back and forth in agitation behind him.

"Calm down. We ought to at least here him out," Kina murmured from beside him, and he grunted in affirmation. However, although his tail stopped whipping back and forth, Cole still did not sit, opting to continue standing and cautiously eying the army surrounding them. Kina wasn't positive, but she could have sworn he even was making a point to stand a bit more protectively over her. "Even if this place does feel like it's dripping with death..."

Shaking her head clear of that thought and trying to keep from looking at the soulless eyes of the army around them, Kina focused straight ahead on the tree before them. "You summoned us here?" she asked, her question not all that unlike everyone else's so far. If Kina was being honest, the black and brown lioness hadn't even fully processed the information they had already been presented with, her blue eyes narrowing in confusion as it began to sink in. However, her question was lost in the thundering response that the tree got from everyone else after it spoke, all of whom were just as curious about many of the peculiar aspects of their time in this world so far.

Granted, all was an exaggeration. Some of the champions, upon arrival and hearing the tree speak, had took off running. Kina had initially feared for them when they bolted, worried that the tree would lash out and send his army to attack them, either killing them as punishment or dragging them back to force them to listen. Instead, the army didn't even turn their heads in their direction, and the tree made no move or comment to stop them. Other champions lashed out, trying to fight the tree and the army. They obviously had a one-track mind, and there was no room to question whether the story they had already been fed was correct or not. Kina could tell Cole at least related in part to that reaction from the way he flexed his claws against the ground, obviously resisting the urge to get involved in the skirmishes that had broken out.