"......" Adam was silent as Callie asked her question.

"...Fauna, Earth, Wind, and Arcane are confirmed as captured/killed." he told her silently.

"Time is unknown. Nobody's seen anything of them for quite a long while, so... it's hard to say. Could be captured, could not be." he went on.

"And Metal.... well... admittedly, it's been even longer since anyone heard anything about Metal." he then admitted. "See, the problem with that one is that it's... not natural." he told her further.

"So that one is even MORE of any unknown." he muttered.

"But yeah... 3 confirmed to be lost..." he repeated dejectedly.

"......hm." Adam mumbled.

"Maybe." he said.

"Depends on what's being down to them, or whatever." he told her.

"I just... it's horrible to think about." he whispered.

"Sends chills down my spine."

"....indeed." Adam replied.

He then looked around, scanning the area.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Our best bet is to find a cave or cavern of sorts." he commented.

"Come on, let's look around." he said.

"Call out if you find something." he told her.

Adam was silent in response, at least at first.

He then just coughed a little.

"Not just you." he told her.

"This is alarming." he said further. "It seems like the forest is going into some serious defense measures, but it's not sure where to throw them." he went on.

"Just... this can't be good." he continued.

"If this keeps up, the forest may... die."

Adam brought his hand to his chin, and looked at the thorns.

".........hm." he mumbled.

"Yeah." he said.

"We really do." he agreed, before walking over to a tree, and placing his hands on it.

"I'm going to see if I can try and communicate with the forest." he told her.

"Get it to see we're here to help."

"...ngh." he grunted, as he rose to his feet.

"All right..." he mumbled.

"That failed." he said to himself.

"Looks like things aren't going to be that easy." he said further, before looking at Callie.

"It almost worked." he told her.

"But then it suddenly went completely wrong." he continued.

"...clearly." he finished, before lifting his shirt, and seeing his newly coloured abdomen.

"Ugh..." he grunted, shaking his head some.

"Great." he mumbled.

"Just great." he growled.

He then took a case out of his pocket, opened it, withdrew a pair of prescription glasses, and put them on.

"Guess I should wear these." he mumbled.

"Callie!?" he then called out, as he made his way towards where he heard her footsteps.

"Uh..." Adam stammered, before sighing.

"I wasn't." he said.

"But... one of the trees got violent with me..." he told her, before explaining what had happened, and showing her the resulting bruise he had.

"And my vision got wonky and weird, so I put these on." he said further.

"I can see well enough without them, but I kinda-sorta need them at times." he told her. "And glasses aren't a very common fashion here in Adaminia, so I generally go without, to avoid detection, or standing out."

He accepted the makeshift icepack, and placed it on his injury.

"It is." he said.

"Hurts like a bugger." he told her.

"But yeah, this isn't going to be easy." he commented.

"It got as violent as it did against ME, which means we'll need to stop this at its cause... whatever it may be." he explained, looking around.

"And we need to do it quick."

"......." Adam was silent as he heard that.

"You're right." he said.

"And... listen." he then said, pausing, and listening to their surroundings.

"Nothing." he commented.

"No chirps, no chitters, no growls, no grunts. Nothing." he said, as he got a bit closer to her.

"It's... eerie and unnerving. This place is usually teeming with life." he told her further, as he started to look around, this time more towards the canopy.

"...something must be scaring them off."