Caera Denoir
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Arthur replied, without turning.
"It could be a trap!" I warned.
He stopped, but only for the span of a single breath. He glanced over his shoulder, looking a little annoyed with that infuriating, deliberate calm of his. "Look, if you're scared, feel free to stay behind and wait for us." His voice was smooth, almost lazy in its arrogance. With that said, Arthur continued to follow... whatever that thing was.
I didn't stop. My legs kept on moving, keeping pace behind him. I turned to my mentor, who doesn't seem to want to talk to me for now. Her gaze fixed forward as she walked ahead of me, composed in that infuriatingly distant way of hers.
"..." I sighed.
Yeah...
Right...
Maybe I was overthinking things. Maybe I was worried for nothing.
After all, I'm with the strongest Lance and a Scythe.
What bad could happen down here?
***
Arthur Leywin
What a mess...
Almost everything is pink.
I stepped carefully through the wreckage, boots crunching over shattered ice and broken branches, my eyes darting from one side to the other, taking in everything around me and the path ahead.
I hope this thing actually knows where it's going.
'Yeah, I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to,' came Regis's voice, curling through my mind like tendrils of smoke.
'Same here.'
"Wah!" A sudden squeak snapped my attention forward. The thing skidded to an abrupt halt in front of me.
I stopped short. "What is it?" I looked around and saw nothing to be concerned about—no. Aether began to vibrate, oscillating all around the little thing as a central point. Each particle spread, and without any sign of warning, they turned blindingly bright.
'Shit!!'
"Shit!!" I turned my face and threw up an arm to shield my eyes—and then right after, I was already somewhere else...?
"Arthur..." Caera's voice snapped me out of my daze.
"...What? "
"Where are we all of a sudden?" Seris spoke.
There were a few odds and ends scattered here and there among the ruins that had fallen here, which clearly show that someone must have stayed here for a while.
'To figure out how to get that thing to work.' Regis murmured.
'What?'
'Look behind you.'
I turned.
"Huh..." And there it was.
An arch made out of stones fused with lines of runic etchings, stood crooked just a few paces away from me. Half of it had lay crushed beneath the weight of a boulder that must have fallen moments ago.
"...Can it be fixed?" Seris came up from just behind. Her question was dry, yet... also very anxious, even though she didn't make it obvious.
I exhaled, slowly stepping toward the arch. "By the looks of it... I don't think so." I crouched, slipped my fingers under the edge of the boulder, and flipped it off to the side. Dust clouded the air. "But I'll try to rebuild it. Just hope there's still enough of it left to do so. Especially the parts with carved runes."
"Wah!"
I glanced up just in time to see the little thing darting off into the bushes.
"Where's it going?" Caera asked, pointing weakly after it.
I wiped the dirt from my palms. "Probably just hungry," I muttered.
***
"Done!" I announced at last, straightening up and brushing my hands together as I stepped back to have a good look at the arch.
It was a rough reconstruction, but the structure held.
'Barely.'
"You should've let us help." Caera complained with her arms crossed. "It would've gone faster."
"..." I ignored her.
Stepping up to the arch, I began to channel a slow, steady stream of aether into the carved runes.
'The portal requirement is... suspiciously simple, don't you think?' Regis commented.
The runes drank it greedily as a crackling energy flared to life within the archway, flickering wildly in and out of focus in rapid succession before stabilizing itself into a rippling sheet of purple light.
'it is, yes.' I reached out, cautious, intent on testing the portal's surface—and just as my fingers brushed on the wall of aether, the surface sputtered out with a harsh pop.
Gone.
"What—"
Being blown away in an instant when a rush of force slammed into me. Pain snapped within my skull, detonated down my spine and ribs the instant I was hurled through the air, tearing through rocks and woods until finally everything came to a brutal stop as I crashed hard against a bulky tree trunk.
'—thur! Arthur!'
"Ghh—blearghhh—" Blood spilled from my mouth and nose as I doubled over. My limbs twitched as I clawed weakly at the bark behind me, trying to pry myself free.
'Shit—don't move! Let yourself heal first!'
'Go find the other two!'
'They'll be fine.' Regis started, hesitated. 'No—actually, Seris will be fine. I doubt Caera survived that—I mean, look at you!!'
"Regis!" I croaked aloud.
"Alright, alright!" He emerged from my chest in a wisp of a purple flame that later turned into a wolf and ran off.
"..."
The ground shivered beneath me, followed by a frightening roar that reverberated from the very ground underneath.
I managed to stand as I fully healed.
"GURAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Then came the roar again—closer this time, raw and unrestrained. A silhouette of something both large and tall quickly surged upward from the earth and was able to reach and block most of the sky, while its vast shadow soon buried all things around me in a field of shady black.
Ten of its eyes blinked one after another in sequence. Each one turned and fixed itself onto me.
Its skin was shiny, armored in layers of thick and rugged ridges that ran along its overly long length. Most of its twisty build hovered above, while the rest of it stayed down on the ground to balance itself on its legs.
I stared.
"Shit—"
It dived down.
And I reacted.
Aetheric pathways stretch to the far limit, taking me away as I god step.
The air behind me exploded. The shockwave spread, rippling through everything and sending disasters flying as it spread.
I god stepped further away to avoid them. And with a third God Step, I landed atop the tallest tree I could find, clutching the trunk for balance as I turned to have a look at what was happening.
Below, the centipede thrashed, twisting its enormous body as it searched for me, shaking the forest to its roots.
Aether manifested itself into a blade in my grip.
I leapt.
Wind howled past me as I descended. I advanced with the few fast and strong strides before god stepped toward the centipede.
I moved with burst steps. Each strike continuously cleaved clean through its towering legs as thick as tree trunks.
The centipede screeched, its regeneration immediate. More legs rose, swinging blindly at me.
I burst stepped away.
And I reappeared—God stepped—this time above. Being suspended midair, I angled my blade down at the armored skin on one of its segments.
And as soon as my sword stabbed down—a jolt, a cold numbness bloomed from my shoulders down.
Blood bled out freely and splattered to the side.
My weapon instantly shattered into a spray of purple dust.
And with it, my arms fell clean off.
Immediately I god stepped away. Bones, flesh, and skin knitted back together into new arms.
Danger came.
Barbed thorns lashed out like living arrows.
I god stepped, but that wasn't enough to get away from those thorns flying toward me.
They kept on coming. Tracking me down.
Aether coalesced and hardened, forming a new sword in my grip. Scales of black and gold armor wrap me up in its protection.
And I began to move faster—slashing and parrying as the storm of thorns closed in from all directions.
"GURAAAAHHHH!! GURAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" The beast raged, spitting more thorns from its gaping maw. It slammed its body down in fury, sending more tremors through the earth, tearing the forest apart.
I grit my teeth and endure. Pathways spread here and there as I god stepped again and again to avoid the chaos.
And eventually, in the blink of an eye, I landed on the centipede. Aether ran from my core to my legs in a flash when I burst stepped, sprinting up toward its head.
"GURAAAAHHHHHHHH!!" It writhed madly to shake me off. Thorns lashed at me, trying to slow down my advance. Some I dodged by instinct, and some I left for my armor to tank.
More aether surged into my limbs like wildfire. I poured it mostly into my legs as I burst myself onward through the wave of thorns.
Once I had come close to its head, I raised my sword.
More aether rushed into my weapon, altering my blade into a greatsword as it expanded.
I let myself be lifted—body arcing into the air as all the gathered momentum carried me headfirst toward its head.
And I struck.
I god stepped out of the recoil and landed below. I'd already turned to look—
But its head was still intact.
Damaged. Mouthparts badly severed open. But survived... somehow.
Still breathing and more furious.
"GURAAAAAAHHHHHHHH—!!"
"Alright, this is annoying," I muttered. "Fine, I will do it again, and this time I'll make sure you're—"
I saw something tiny near its mouth. Crawling up.
I squinted. "—Dead...?"
It quickly moved into the centipede's mouth and allowed itself to be... swallowed.
"..."
The centipede twitched.
Its body began to writhe, spasming with sharp, wild jerks. Its segments rippled in succession, and its exoskeleton stretched, distending like an overfilled balloon.
"What—"
With a drenched crack, its abdomen split open.
A gush of gore and internal organs spilled out across the area, followed by a startling amount of artifacts, weapons, and all kinds of junk.
I took a step back away from the pool of blood that was flowing towards me. "Ew..."
"Ah... Ha..." A gasp could be heard in the pile of bloody junk, and I saw someone's arm rise up from there.
"Cough! Cough!!" A man with an awfully wounded form made it out and was barely standing.
His gaze found me through the mess of gore matting his face. For a moment, he just stared as though the painful wounds or even his lost arm no longer mattered now.
Then his eyes widened.
"Oh... Oh my goodness..." He rasped, "General Leywin."