#and the lush caves that keep going and going and going on for miles | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gallickingun · 4 years ago

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last chance || b.k.

SUMMARY: After All Might’s demise at the hands of an unlikely hero-turned-villain, the world unfurls into chaos. Villains run rampant, heroes are dying in the streets, and you are left with a rowdy group of renegades to seek out the legendary Ground Zero, a vigilante that you’ve only encountered through ghost stories. After narrowing down his sightings to one central location, you are sent out to beseech him for help, if he even truly exists in the first place.

PAIRING: Apocalyptic Pro Hero!Bakugou x Renegade!Reader RATINGS: M/E+ WARNINGS: language, violence, smut, etc. WORD COUNT: 7.3k+

FOREWORD: For all intents and purposes, we’re going to pretend that All Might hasn’t lost his power, even after handing it off to Deku!

LINKS: ao3 | masterlist | mobile | writing tag

Author’s Note: This is my submission for the bnharem nsfw collab, apocalypse edition! I was shocked that I was able to snag Bakugou on my first round of collaboration, and I’m so stoked to read all of the other fics! The masterlist can be found HERE. This might feel a little OOC, but hopefully it makes sense by the end. It is an AU after all.

“The Symbol of Peace is dead.”

You pull the bandana further up around your mouth and nose, the ash in the air seeping into your lungs, clouding your vision as the debris strains your breathing. Your ankles ache, mile after mile threatening to grind your bones to dust.

“It would seem we never knew the true power of All Might’s quirk, now known as One for All.”

A thickness swells up in your throat, your eyes blurring with tears, and yet you keep walking. You push through the thickets of overgrown foliage, slashing away with the machete you usually keep tucked against your hip. Crying will do nothing to help you, not now. Tears are for the weak.

“He had passed on his power to a successor, a young student named Midoriya Izuku.”

The darkness of night helps to hide you from those who want you slain where you stand. Your black clothing keeps you but a shadow amongst the trees, concealing your identity to anyone who might gaze upon the horizon. Even though you are alone, your mission keeps you company.

“The young boy became an amazing Pro Hero, climbing the charts quite fast once graduating from Yuuei High. And then, something happened.”

You grit your teeth when you see your destination ahead – a large cliff, covered in moss and dense, lush kudzu. There is a cave carved into the side of it, hardly able to be seen from the distance with which you are currently separated from it. And yet, you’ve been dreaming about this place for years, ever since the overture.

“It would seem that young Midoriya Izuku, also known as Deku, has killed the Symbol of Peace.

All Might is dead.”

The weight of the world settles on your shoulders at the memory of the news broadcast. It is like this new path you’ve gone down has formed you into some sort of Atlas, a woman in charge of holding the world together from the shadows, as if it may fall apart if you falter for even the slightest of moments. Your knees ache and your back is slick with sweat, but somehow you manage to shoulder the burden and keep walking, galaxies treading in your wake.

After all, finding Ground Zero is your responsibility.

“We need him.”

You brush your hair from your eyes, looking down at the map strewn out in tatters on the tabletop, “No one has seen him, not really. He’s practically a myth, a legend. Even if he’s real, what makes you think he’ll help us?”

The redhead beside you slams his fists together, the echoing sound of stone impacting stone reverberating in the room. You wince at the sharpness of it, but combined with the determined expression rooted within his features, you feel a renewed sense of purpose settled into your spine. You straighten up, curling your hands to fists, and match his manifestation of conviction with a grit of your teeth and tilt of your head.

“You’re right, Kirishima,” you point to the central location on the map, the one you’ve been investigating for what feels like years, “Ground Zero will be there. And I’m going to convince him to help us.”

The stone bites into your blunt nails, drawing blood that makes it even more difficult to scale the side of the structure. You knew this would come, so the makeshift climbing gear strapped to your waist keeps you secure as you continue to lower yourself down.

At the mouth of the cave, you see a small overhang, just far enough past the opening for you to land. Once you’ve gotten close enough that you know you won’t fall to your death into whatever disastrous demise may greet you thousands of feet below, you drop onto the ledge. Your knees wobble, ankles turned at just the right angle that they absorb most of your fall.

The opening of the cavern is dark; ominous smoke leaking from the front of it, furling around in midair. Your body shudders, a chill sending a fresh wave of goosebumps over your skin, and for a moment you wonder if you should retreat.

Kirishima’s crimson eyes, hard set and piercing, are all you can see when you close your eyes. His voice rings in your ears, reminding you that this is what you must do, you have to find Ground Zero. He is the only one capable of taking down Deku.

You swallow, bracing your spine and curling your fists, forcing yourself to take the first step forward. There is a curtain of vines separating the inside of the cave from you. You reach forward, curling your fingers around the thick, verdant tendrils, and push them to the sides so you may walk through.

Every single nerve within your body vibrates with the knowledge that you may die here in this cave, alone and forgotten. Your lower lip wobbles, but you stamp down the negative emotions and rather channel them into something akin to confidence. Once you’ve passed through to the other side, you release the vines and find yourself shrouded in darkness.

It takes a moment, but your eyes adjust eventually. You can make out the walls of the cave, glistening and jagged, and you use the reach of your arms to press against the rocky surface, guiding yourself further down the winding path. It is strange when you feel a substance much more powdery beneath your touch, and when you pull your hand away to smell it, the scent reminds you of soot.

Sweat rolls down your spine, tickling your skin, but you do not have the patience nor the ability to redirect your attention to it, for fear of what might happen when you refocus to something less important. You hold your breath, trying to listen as best you can for any and all sounds echoing within the walls of the cave, but all you hear is quiet.

Your imagination begins to wander as you take each step, furthering the horrific ends you’ve conjured up for yourself within the confines of your mind. The chill of the cave in tandem with your sweat creates steam from your body, rising high and bringing forth a bout of humidity that gives your lungs more difficulty.

Turning a corner, you feel the air begin to get warmer. You force yourself to take short breaths, bringing oxygen to flow back through your blood as it rushes through you, thundering in your ears. The sound does little to quell the panic rising in your throat, like a billow of smoke suffocating you as it rolls through your body.

Fear grips your heart when you hear the first sound.

You stop, turning your feet in case you need to bolt in the opposite direction. Your eyes are widened, pupils dilated in the dark to try and accommodate. It does not repeat itself, but rather alters, when you hear it again.

“Tch.”

The human-like nature of the sound brings about a whole new level of anxiety, lightning strikes underneath your skin as reality settles in. You lick at your lips, the dryness of your mouth ever present when you prepare yourself for a speech. You continue down the cave pathway, the faint glow of orange beginning to color the walls, giving you more light to see your feet in front of you.

Eventually you are able to stumble through the cavern on your own now, without the guide of your hands on the rock on either side of you. Shallow breaths fill your lungs, erratic breathing making your shoulders shake in anticipation. You lick at the seams of your gums, begging your mind to call forth a beautiful string of words that will convince this legendary vigilante to once again rise up, with the backing of your renegade fighters, to take down the villainous once-hero Deku.

You come up on the furthermost part of the cave, the base of it opening up and rounding out to provide the hideaway with a spacious enough cavity to serve as a living space.

Your eyes are drawn to every inch of the room, starting with the wall where weapons are strung up like trophies. Chiseled into the stone are hollows in the shape of guns and knives and grenades, acting like shelving for the tools of destruction. Beneath it is the fire pit, burning high with flames, licking up at the air and peeling away what little oxygen remains. You find it harder to breathe here, mostly in part to the depth of the cave and the ongoing fire, stealing the breath from your very lungs.

Then your eyes find him, his back to you, settled on a log that will most likely be used for firewood at a later date. Your tongue feels like a sandbag in your mouth and you can’t force yourself to produce enough saliva to make up for the smoke in your throat.

And then he rises.

He is every bit as beautiful as they said he would be in all of the stories. Tales of bulging muscle and tall stature, hands that save the world with each flex of his knuckles, scars littering his body like a map, or like veins of pain running through slabs of chiseled marble.

He turns, and his eyes seem familiar.

You take a hesitant step forward, captivate by his serious stare. The rivulets of crimson and amber swirling in his irises make you want to drown in a lake of fire, burned at the stake for the sake of his cause. Your body cannot resist him, so you draw closer, further into the heat, begging yourself to become a slave to it so long as it means you can continue to find him in the flames.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

You are fumbling for words when he speaks again, “You’re wasting my time, baka. I’m not sure what about the sight of a secluded, secret cave gave you the idea to waltz in here like you own the damned place, but I’m kind of busy. So leave.”

The way your eyes roam around his abode, settling on each small space and dissecting it for everything that it is worth, unsettles him. He steps closer to you, blocking your vision with his wide shoulders.

“It doesn’t look like you’re very busy.”

The words are blurted from your mouth with little forethought, but they have you both reeling, your hands slapped over your lips as if you could take them back with simple action. The man stood in front of you shifts into some sort of attack position, hands curled into fists and the air begins to smell sickly sweet.

“Fucking bitch,” he bites the words as they exit his teeth, narrowing his eyes to you until they are but slits, “Get the hell out!”

“No, no!” You are flailing now, the impending doom of your failure to bring him back with you turning your stomach into knots. You shake your head, reaching out to press your hands to his chest, “Listen, please, you are Ground Zero, are you not?”

The sound of his own name echoing in the cave gives him pause. He tilts his head, ashen locks falling over his line of sight. You notice his head is buzzed at the base, nothing but blonde stubble left behind, however the top of his head is covered with pale locks of spike hair, as if he himself is a bomb ready to be blown at all times.

“I don’t know who the hell told you where to find me, but I’m not the guy you’re looking for.” He smacks your hands away with the back of his wrist, turning to stalk back to the fire. Once he settles on his stump again, he pulls another skewer of meat from a pack off to the side, rotating it over the fire to begin roasting it.

All you can think is how much of a let down this entire trip has been. You have walked for miles, for days, in order to hunt him down. You have hidden in jungles and abandoned buildings, and almost been caught by several villains with quirks you almost could not overpower on your own.

“Kirishima spoke so highly of you,” your voice is faraway, like you are on another plane of existence, looking down on him from above, “I thought you’d be more heroic than this.”

At the sound of your friend’s name, the man’s head tilts, eyes shifting as he looks over his shoulder at you, “Kirishima? Eijirou?”

“Y-You know Kiri?”

You take a cautious step forward, unsure of whether he believes Kirishima to be a friend or a foe. His eyes are lost, somewhere between here and there, unable to focus on any one thing as he rolls the name around on his tongue, tasting the distant memories there while they play out against the cavern walls for only his eyes to see.

“Kirishima was my-” he pauses, gritting his teeth together as his knuckles turn white around the skewer, “…he was my friend.”

The man stands to his feet, discarding the half-cooked slab of meat into the fire, “If Kirishima sent you, then things must be bad.”

You nod, striding forward until you are just close enough that his body heat is intoxicating, and the scent from earlier, the one that makes your head spin with saccharine promises, fills your nostrils until you cannot make out anything else.

“We need your help,” you say, voice wavering in the middle, “Deku has started to search for every hero, every renegade, and he’s murdering them. I came to bring you back to the rest of those who are still fighting. You are a legend, if we have your help, there’s no way we’ll lose.”

A wry smirk adorns his mouth, quirking his lips upward, “Kid, I don’t know who told you I was a legend, or that I’d be of any help, but I’m out here for a reason.”

“Just come back with me,” you plead, resisting the desire to wrap your fists around his tank and pull, “we need you.”

There is a hesitant look in his vermilion irises, something that tells you he is still hiding something. But, he straightens his spine anyway, a deep breath puffing out his chest, “I always did like to kick Deku’s ass.”

You cannot contain the beaming smile on your face, even when you turn on your heels to begin walking out of the cave and back to the light.

Which keeps you from seeing the dejected look in his eyes.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Weeks of planning the perfect attack have brought you and Ground Zero closer.

Although now you know him as Bakugou Katsuki.

When he first reunited with Kirishima, and his presence was made known to your rag-tag team, you were shaken at the realization that legends are people too. Even in his vigilante times, Bakugou still held that same spark that lit his flame throughout the duration of his time at Yuuei, much of which he spent with Kirishima by his side.

“Holy shit, man!” Kirishima reaches around his shoulders for a hug, which Bakugou hardly reciprocates, “I can’t believe Ground Zero is you!”

There are moments where you catch his gaze lingering on you – when you are cooking dinner, when you chop firewood – and of course your eyes find him too. He trains shirtless most of the time, body on display as the sweat rolls down his body. His knuckles are bruised and his body is battered, and yet he continues to get up every day and start all over again.

You do note that you have not seen him use his quirk, not since he arrived at your renegade hideaway. It seems to be in reverie of everything going on, but from what you remember, Bakugou Katsuki was not a shy man, never one to keep himself from the spotlight. It is why he is the only one who pushed himself hard enough to compete with Deku, and to stay as his rival.

When you ask Kirishima, he just shrugs it off, “He probably doesn’t want any attention. Would you, if you felt like you had run away when the world needed another hero?”

So you co-exist. He near you, and you near him. Always orbiting, but never colliding.

There are times where you allow your affections to slip. When you’re passing him by, a gentle palm on his hip to alert him of your presence. When he reaches above you to pull a weapon off the shelf, his hand finds purchase at the base of your spine, as if steadying himself even though he is one of the sturdiest men you have ever seen.

There is a moment, a drunken haze, that leads you to believe he might even kiss you, however it is gone before it has the ability to flower into anything more.

Time passes, months that feel like years, of tracking and sleuthing and killing. There is murder on both sides, and you have both suffered losses.

One night he finds you, sitting on the beach, your tears glittering like starlight on your cheeks.

“This is war,” he says, squatting in the sand, “none of us is innocent.”

You sniffle, rubbing your arm against your face to rid it of your transgressions, “And what about those who want to be?”

Bakugou reaches forward, a careful palm gliding over your cheek as a new bout of tears springs forth like a leak. You can’t see the sad smile on his face through your tears, your vision glassy and clouded, and he is thankful that you cannot spot his weakness. He brushes the tears away and turns your head with the gentle flick of his wrist, “We’ll get there when we get there.”

You want to crumble, to falter and fall into a million shards of glass, and he knows this. He must, because there’s no way that the pressure of the lives of the rest of the world does not eat away at one’s soul until there is nothing but barren earth left. You circle your hand around his wrist, leaning your cheek into his palm so you can feel the heat of him and find comfort in his touch.

“What if we never get there?”

You can’t look at him, not when your scars are on display. Your heart wrenches in your chest and the pain is like a thousand cuts littered across your body until you are nothing but bleeding wounds. In your mind, you’ve succumbed to the sea of red, drowning in it, choking on it.

Bakugou does a strange thing then. He presses his other palm to your waist, drawing you forward so he can kiss the smooth skin of your forehead, “Don’t be an idiot.”

And then he turns to leave.

Your forehead burns like a blister with the echo of his affections.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

The time finally comes.

After months of research and loss, there is a plan.

“We know where he’s hiding,” Kirishima points to a central location on the map, releasing a breath as he looks up to Bakugou, “the guards will change shift at midnight, and that’s when you’ll attack. We’ll be on the ground to distract any other, smaller threats, but we’re counting on you to take him down in the end.”

Bakugou shoves Kirishima, but he falters himself, eyes unable to focus on any one thing, “I know, idiot. You didn’t bring me all the way out here to take my victory from me.”

You smile at the scene, catching his gaze as he turns to look back at the rest of the room. There is a crack in his armor when he sees you, confidence melting into something else, another emotion you can’t quite pin down. And you’re not sure if you really want to.

The rest of the meeting is all logistics, something you have already heard a dozen times, so you find yourself wandering along the coastline, the night air washing like a balm over you, sea salt in your lungs when you breathe. Your feet are barely in the water, but enough for it to lap up around your ankles with foam when the waves crest to shore. You hold yourself around the middle, as if you might be able to keep your broken pieces from shattering if you squeeze tightly enough.

Tears of salt match that of the ocean as the droplets roll down your cheeks, hanging on your jaw until they are too weighty, and then they fall into the seawater, melded together as if they belong. Your fingers ache, digging into your biceps to give yourself some sort of anchor while you watch the moon and stars shift in the night sky.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

The words are reminiscent of the first time you met, all those months ago. They make you smile, a gentle huff of a laugh escaping your lips, even if the gesture does not quite reach your eyes. You turn to look at him over your shoulder, arms still wrapped around your torso, the jagged edges of your soul sinking in deeper the more you try to hide your faltering pieces.

“Thinking,” you answer quietly, soft voice almost overwhelmed by the waves.

Bakugou is drawn in closer, as if you are the sea, a siren calling to him from the beyond, and he strides forward until he is parallel with you. His eyes watch the waves, but the pull is to you, and he can only resist for so long.

“It’s just Deku,” he is trying to reassure you, reaching out to rest his palm on your neck, sifting fingers through the hair at the nape of it. “I won’t lose to him, not again.”

This brings your attention to his eyes, your body turning so you can approach him head-on, fear wracking your body like a storm. You gaze up at him, jaw quivering under the stress of your teeth grinding against one another, “Why did he do it?”

His hand glides from your neck to your jaw, tilting your eyes upward so you cannot look away from him, in spite of how difficult this conversation might be to have. He has not spoken of his childhood rival for what feels like an eternity; airing out his burdened confessions is but a foreign concept. He would rather keep them bottled away within the cage of his ribs, until the poison slowly dredges through his veins and he can fall away into some deep sleep brought on by death.

“No one could have expected it,” Bakugou starts, thumb tracing the curve of your jaw as he speaks, like the ministrations may give him the groundwork to have the conversation, “but One for All had too many wielders, had grown too powerful. Deku’s body couldn’t contain it and still stay sane.”

Bakugou looks frustrated, his brow tugged so his forehead wrinkles. You reach up to brush your thumb over the creased skin, “I’ve heard the stories. That the call to power was too strong, and he never told anyone because he was afraid of being weak.”

“Izuku has never been weak.”

His voice is ragged, as if glass has been lodged into his throat to inhibit his speech. Bakugou turns his head so you cannot see the emotion welling up in his eyes, “All Might should have seen it, but by the time he caught it, Deku had already gone mad. He snapped All Might’s neck on live television, the fucking bastard.”

The heaviness of the situation sits on your shoulders and you wonder if Bakugou has ever felt the burden of Atlas; you recall the significant burden weighing you down when you were first sent to retrieve him. Your mortal body wanted to crumble beneath the importance of your mission, you can’t even begin to fathom the overwhelming guilt he must be riddled with every day from the moment he wakes until he falls asleep.

“Then he came after the rest of us, one-by-one. Todoroki was next, then Uraraka.” Bakugou swallows the thick, pent-up emotion settled in his throat like barbed wire. He steels his gaze, even though it is only focused on the moon. “Kirishima was able to take a group of heroes and hide out when Deku came for me.”

You recall the fight like a movie playing on the backs of your eyelids. Bakugou and Deku fighting head to head, lightning and explosions igniting the swirling storm the unfurled around them. Pouring rain and debris flying, small tornados brought on by the use of Deku’s quirk, destroying the nearby buildings until there was nothing left.

Bakugou’s voice is heady, hands fallen from your face as if he no longer deserves to touch you. He takes a step backward, the roaring of the ocean giving him a pause, as if he were listening to the water for some sort of encouragement to continue his tale, to keep fighting.

You can’t help but wonder if losing the proverbial fight against Deku has tarnished his soul much deeper than he would ever admit, if his body has been at war with itself for years, unable to choose a side, unable to relent.

“I fought him for what felt like hours. Whatever One for All had done to him, corrupted his mind, broken his spirit,” Bakugou shakes his head, a snarl on his lips, “that wasn’t Deku that I was fighting. That was someone else.”

His breath hitches, “I-I’m not sure what the fuck possessed him to do what he did next, but he took-”

Bakugou’s throat bobs and his eyes flit from you to the water, unable to look at you in the face as he gnaws on his lower lip. The words must be too harsh, a pain running much further than skin deep. You know that his soul must be bruised, the very core of him broken beyond recognition.

“Took what, Katsuki?” you ask gently, reaching to tug his chin back so he is looking down at you, “You can tell me.”

Bakugou’s breathing is labored, quick, a mixture of frustration and anguish pressing down on his throat like a pair of hands, encasing his esophagus in a tight grip. He shakes his head, “He, uh- he let me go.”

It sounds disingenuous coming from his mouth, as if he’s forcing a lie through his teeth, his voice grating against his gums like metal. You reach out to touch his arm, but he sloughs you off with a quick movement, taking a step and pushing you further. Tears glisten in his eyes, but he does not let them fall; he cannot lose the battle with his body too. He looks up to the moon and lets loose a feral growl, crumbling to his knees and digging his hands into the wet sand, like tearing into it might provide him some sort of release.

“And then I tucked my fucking tail and I ran. Like a goddamn coward.” Bakugou’s jaw is rippling when he snaps his attention to you, eyes ablaze with red fire, “And that’s the hero you all claim to have needed. I wasn’t a hero, I was a fucking pussy. I was weak.”

Bakugou rises from the water, a murderous glare in his eyes, “And now I’m done being weak. I’m going to finish what I couldn’t before, I’m going to kill the bastard.”

You have let him vent his personal failures into the air, but now it is your turn to speak. Circling your fingers around his wrists, you pull yourself closer to him, as if the two of you are bound by an invisible thread.

“You’re not going alone,” you tell him, voice sure. You stand rooted in the ground, feet dug deep in the sand, “I won’t let you.”

He rolls his eyes, blowing a breath out of his nose, “And you think I’ll let you? No fucking way.”

The words sit on your tongue, burning like embers, syllables you’ve been stoking for months as you’ve grown closer to him. Your body rises up on your toes on instinct alone, eyelashes fluttering shut as you take him in one last time. You grit your teeth and a breath shudders from your lungs, shattering your heart like glass.

Your fingers traipse up his torso, climbing over the mounds of muscle that he has worked so hard to perfect. You feel the heat of tears well up in the back of your eyes, your vision blurred as you try to memorize everything about him in the short time you have left. When your palms reach his cheeks, fingertips dancing against warm, tanned skin, you can’t help but to tug yourself closer.

He can barely protest before you have melded your mouth to his, arching your back so your chest is flush with the broad plane of muscle in front of you. Bakugou hesitates, but just as you are about to pull away and profusely apologize, his arms snake around your waist to yank you closer. Your hips roll into his reflexively, finding the hardened length of his cock almost instantly.

Bakugou’s kiss is bruising, a heated ferocity driving him forward to part your lips at the seams, delving his tongue between your teeth at the first chance he receives. You moan at his affections, your hands threading through his hair, pinkies finding the stubble of his undercut while the others sift between blonde locks.

Tears are pushed from your eyelids, and he feels them against his cheeks as he kisses you. Bakugou slips his hands under the thin fabric of your tattered shirt, warmth spreading from the base of your spine outward to every extremity.

“I won’t lose you,” you manage between breaths, forcing the words out despite the possibility of his rejection.

Bakugou does not stop loitering affection over you like it were his job just because you show a moment of vulnerability. Rather, he’s spurred on by the admission, his hands digging deeper into your muscles now, most likely leaving bruises in their wake, and his teeth and tongue are merciless on your mouth.

The palms of his hands slowly drift down until he has cupped your thighs, his body folded just enough to give him a better angle to pull you up into the air. You hold in a squeal, unwilling to alert the rest of the camp, quickly wrapping your legs around his waist.

He breaks the kiss as oxygen begs his airways to open up once more, heaving breaths making his chest expand with sharp inhales. Through gasping breaths, he shakes his head, “I’m not going anywhere.”

You’re not sure how best to beg him to take you for all you’re worth here on the beach, but somehow you must silently communicate it, because he finds a secluded place and lays you down there, your back dug into the ground, but you are rather uncaring to it all. Your hands can’t find enough of him, insatiable in your efforts to map him out to memory, burning the impression of him into your mind so you may never lose him, even if something tragic were to part the two of you forever.

Bakugou’s fingers make quick work of the button of your shorts, delving his hand inside to brush at the bare folds of your core, already slick with arousal. He chuckles, nudging his nose over your neck, “Prepared for this, were you?”

A laugh is cut short by a whine, his teeth sinking into your jugular, sucking harshly on the skin there. Your hands find his shoulders, blunt nails bludgeoning the skin of his shoulders so he is seething into your body, curses flying from his lips as if they might brand your flesh if he whispers them hotly enough.

You whimper his name as he sheathes his fingers within you, two knuckles stretching your inner walls, scissored fingers making you throw your head back. Your body does not feel like your own, every wanton moan and twitch of your muscles in response to his salacious ministrations, reactions that you cannot fight, even if you wanted to.

Giving in, you reach down desperately, clawing your nails at the waistband of his cargo pants, uncaring as to how you get your palm underneath his underwear. Bakugou uses the hand not buried in your pussy to grab you by the wrist, pinning your hand over your head.

“You’re a needy little slut, hah?” Bakugou tightens his grip and speeds up his pace, earning him a wriggle from your body as you try to fight back. He smirks, teeth and gums on full display as he glowers down at you, “Don’t you worry, baby, I’m gonna give you my cock. Be patient.”

You whine in response, tilting your head to try and capture his lips again. Bakugou finds you halfway, his mouth parted so you can begin mapping out the curves of his teeth with your tongue. You kiss him as if your life may depend on it, like the time you are sharing may end at any moment.

You kiss him like he may die tomorrow.

There is fervor and passion and admiration conveyed with each smacking of your lips, your noses brushing when you try to angle yourselves to become closer. All the while, his middle and fourth fingers are working you forward into the throws of pleasure, lightning striking your core whenever his fingers brush up against your glutinous walls in just the right manner.

“Katsuki, please,” you beg of him, dragging your nails over the corded muscle of his shoulders. You can feel yourself slipping already, the impending doom of what is to come giving your body more urgency.

Bakugou growls when he feels your cunt clamp around his fingers, the thought of his cock within your tight hole making him dick twitch. You buck up when the head of his length brushes your thigh in his arousal, seeking him out despite the fullness you already feel from his digits pumping up into your heat.

Your whole body is shaking with the threat of your impending orgasm on the horizon, brought on by his disastrous fingers urging you forward. You cry out for him, wanton and begging as you pant his name repeatedly, rocking your hips with the rhythm of his fingers. Bakugou’s eyes roam your body as he leans back from you, gaze immediately drawn to the bounce of your plush chest. With each thrust of his fingers, your body quivers, and he knows he won’t be able to last apart from you for much longer, regardless.

As his fingers slowly peel from you, a whine tears your chest wide open. Tears drip down over your cheeks, a mixture of emotion and erotica giving the sound much more conviction. Bakugou feels the reverberations of your voice in his chest, stirring him to brush your silken slick along the length of his cock, pumping his shaft a few times before repositioning himself above you.

Bakugou rolls his wrist so the tip of his dick butterflies your pussy lips. You pant at the exhilaration of it all, your cunt fluttering as he pulls himself away from you only to bring it all back. His teasing strokes make your head spin, eyes barely able to peel open to look up at him. Your tongue lolls out of your mouth, and Bakugou leans forward to tug the muscle between his teeth, earning him an animalistic howl from the back of your throat.

The plea from you gives him the last push he needs to rut forward and claim you in one fatal stroke.

Your hands sink into him like hooks, eyes screwed shut as he starts to suck on your tongue. Bakugou’s breath spills over you like a wash of heat, sending a shudder down your spine. He uses his hands to grip you by the thighs, yanking you closer so your hips are flush as he sinks all the way into you all over again.

“Ka-” you can barely make a sound with the way his mouth has destroyed yours, suffocating you until you are lightheaded with the thought of him. As you struggle beneath him, Bakugou releases you in favor of leaning back to watch as his cock separates your walls and fills your cunt until it stretches to fit his thick girth.

You are a blubbering mess the moment he allows you space to breathe. Your hands can’t find enough of him to paint with your touch, nails dragging thin, angry red lines into his thighs, and your throat only knows how to say his name.

“Good girl,” he chuckles, watching you come undone beneath him, “I can’t wait to feel you come all over my cock.”

His dick is rutting into you at an impeccable pace, the tip of his cock brushing against your walls as he twitches from your tight pussy. Bakugou digs his fingers into the skin of your thighs, likely bruising them with the intensity of his grip, pushing your knees back until they are pressed against your chest so he can fuck into you from above.

You lick your lips, thin rivulets of drool seeping out of the corners of your mouth, “Please, Bakugou, I-I wanna come.”

The desire to rip your arousal from you until you cannot speak in full sentences gives him a fiery drive, his hips slamming into your ass as filthy words fall from his lips. You can feel his cock bottoming out within your cunt, thickening with each stroke of his hips as he grows closer to the end himself. You beg for his spend, for him to coat you until you are dripping with his seed, the mixture of your arousal and his pre seeping from your lips and furthering the wet sounds that echo whenever his balls slap against your ass.

“You wanna come on my cock, yeah?” he asks, voice dithering the longer he’s within you. You are begging him now, your back arched forward so you can seek him out with wide eyes and pleading palms. He soaks in the affections, your hands on his face and in his hair, your lips finding purchase on whatever part of his body you can reach.

A snarl makes his throat shake and, if possible, he rips into your even further, growling voice speaking into your ear as you fall back against the ground at the sheer force of his hips, “Then fucking come, slut.”

His words are all you need to push you into the next plane of existence, where a shattering orgasm racks your body. You convulse around his cock, the newfound tightness as you milk your own release pushing him over the crest as well. He drives his cock as deep into you as he can, your hips flush at the juxtaposition of your sex as he spurts up into your core. You feel the heat of his release, the twitch of his cock, and your limbs grow numb from effort.

Bakugou leans forward so he is balancing himself on his forearms, nosing over the swell of your chest and the column of your neck, small, chaste kisses littered over your skin like stars. He sighs, nudging your collarbone, “You’re not coming with me tomorrow. I won’t lose you too.”

Your heart sings at his admission, and your spirit wants to argue, but when he kisses you again, you can’t find it within yourself to tell him otherwise.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

“All right, man,” Kirishima claps him on the back, leaning against the brick wall of the alleyway.

You can tell that there is much more he wants to say, but Bakugou has never had much patience for any sort of sappy confession, so all that passes between them is a nod of understanding. You, on the other hand, are careless in your affection, launching yourself forward to wrap your arms around his neck and kiss him full on the mouth, uncaring for the onlookers unbeknownst to your time together.

When you pull away, there are tears in your eyes, but you force the words between your teeth regardless, “Don’t die on me.”

Bakugou’s eyes are sad, holding such a dark color in his usually bright irises, “A real hero always comes out on top, no matter what.”

Usually it is said with much conviction, but this time, it sounds like he is trying to convince himself more so than anyone else. Your hands palm over his face, committing him to memory one last time before he turns his back to you, headed towards the end of the line, unknowing as to which side he may end up on this time.

As soon as he steps out onto the pavement, he’s greeted with the familiar laughter of an old friend.

“Oi, Kacchan. It’s been too long.”

Your heart leaps into your throat and Kirishima has to hold you back, hidden away in the shadows. You look at him over your shoulder, eyes blown wide as your pupils swallow your irises, “H-He was supposed to be alone.”

The look in Kirishima’s eyes is haunting, a desolate gaze turned on his best friend. He tightens his jaw and breathes heavily through his nostrils, an answer never given as he watches on in horror at the scene in front of him unfolding.

“I thought I told you to get lost,” Deku speaks, voice confusingly innocent despite the feral look in his eyes. A cackle parts his lips and you’ve never seen Bakugou this quiet during a fight, “But, then again, wouldn’t a fight between the All Mighty Deku and a Quirkless Kacchan be entertaining?”

Your whole world turns sideways.

Bakugou’s words from the very beginning replay on loop in your mind as your breathing corrupts your own lungs, shattered and shaking as your body coats itself in sweat.

His breath hitches, “I-I’m not sure what the fuck possessed him to do what he did next, but he took-”

“Took what, Katsuki?” you ask gently, reaching to tug his chin back so he is looking down at you, “You can tell me.”

Bakugou Katsuki is quirkless.

Now more than ever you want to dart out into the street, to throw yourself down like a sacrificial lamb for the slaughter. Whatever it takes to keep Katsuki safe. Tears blur your vision and anger scars your heart, marring up the organ until you cannot feel it beating within your own chest.

Bakugou turns his head, vermilion eyes seeking you out in the darkness of the alleyway. He smiles, for the first time in full, and offers you one final look at his body completely intact before he returns his gaze to his childhood rival, hands turning to fists at his sides as he gets into his fighting position.

“So pathetic, Kacchan.” Deku looks Bakugou in the eyes as he ignites his quirk, green lightning dancing around as a storm begins to brew.

He holds up his hands, palms open-faced as his skin crackles, the sweet smell of saccharine turning to ash in the air. Colors of orange and yellow cast frightening shadows along the length of the street, a familiar power exploding on the cusp of Deku’s fingers.

“And now you die.”

a/n: i don’t think that went how anyone thought it would! it’s a lot different from anything i’ve ever done, and i’m not fully happy with it. but thank you for reading, if you got this far!!

#bakugou katsuki #bakugou katsuki smut #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou x reader #bakugou smut #bnha x reader #bnha smut #morgan writes bnha #my writing #bnharem #server collab #bnharem server collab

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n0tamused · 3 years ago

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- | Afterlife

Warnings: angst, description of gore, talks about death, character death.

Song recommendations: Her & the Sea - The Clann

Word count: 1,945

Characters: Kaliyah Sen-Ryokō, Ginjiro, mentioned/implied Tobirama?

"What happens after we die?"

The question made the silver beast stirr from his half-sleep, his large emerald eyes opening to stare at the back of his master. She sat closer to the edge of the great mountain cliff, a giant towering over all others. The sun was still high in the heavens and the wind was ever present, eternal on the mountain peaks. Leaves rustled in it, brushing against each other and creating a symphony of nature along with the little songbirds who sat scattered across the treetops. Waves crashed against the nearby shore below, the sight going on for miles and miles with nothing but vastness of blue. Specs of white dotted the sky, fluffy and shifting with the currents of wind.

"What brings this question forth all of a sudden?" Ginjiro asked in turn, silence following his question for a moment before pushing his head and body forward in the slightest, dragging across the lush grass until his head sat beside her. Kaliyah sat quiet, watching the sea move, waves lapping at the shore. Her lips moved into a thin line, her throat bobbed up and down as she swallowed. Ginjiro's eye went over her features, and she seemed to shrink under his gaze. Her eyes were glossy and watery all of a sudden but her expression remained cold and unmoving.

"I don't know.. it just appeared in my mind. Along with that "prophecy" of the Old Nan." she finally answered, her voice as stable as it could be although it wouldn't take Ginjiro a moment longer to understand that this was bothering her for a long time, much longer than what she was letting on now. Deep within his chest he could feel the phantom sting of pain, anxiety in gut and lungs that she was feeling.

"Prophecy?" He opted to ask; he didn't remember her mentioning any prophecies of her.

" I never mentioned it to you.. She said... 'Water will destroy you' " said Kaliyah after a long moment of silence. Her eyes still remained on the far horizon, knowing if she even dared to look at Ginjiro that the feeling in her chest would seize her whole.

"I know I shouldn't believe in it, Old Nan gave many so-called prophecies and none of them ever came true but this… this one is harder not to believe." She continued, chest heaving in silent and forceful breaths. Lifting her head up she hoped for the fresh air to soothe her nerves.

Ginjiro retorted to look forward towards the sea too, removing the tension of his gaze.

"You were always an amazing swimmer, you're like a fish, I'm not sure how that prophecy would ever apply to you" said the beast calmly, his great and slim whiskers moving as he spoke, flowing. She has always seemed to love the water, to swim and dive and retreat many shells and pretty rocks. His hiding cave was filled with them, all of various sizes and colors. At his words Kaliyah shook her head, shamefully.

"And all I can think of is how many times the water almost took me; and I may be a good swimmer but unlike fish I can not breathe under water. The waves are always too strong, the currents too quick and the many times they almost took me for themselves I…" she trailed off. More and more of her fears started to surface.

The beast beside her opened its mouth to speak, only to be cut short by the girl again- "It's not death itself that frightens me."

That went back to her question, he noted.

"I am not scared of the pain either, the pain is the least of my worries, Ginjiro. What scares me is what comes after that. Is it darkness that awaits me? An eternal hell of raging oceans that keep drowning me? Which I can't escape from. Will I ever see the ones I love again? Or will I just... disappear?" It was getting harder to breathe, yet she forced herself not to shed any tears. Her chest began to quickly rise and fall with labored breaths, her hands tightening their hold around her legs, knuckles turning white and trembling. The view of the sea was no longer clear but blurry instead, dancing with her unshed tears that kept building up.

"You… are too good to keep suffering in death, my little one." Ginjiro said reluctantly, for even he wouldn't be able to answer such questions, nothing was certain about that inevitable fate.

"I hear many talk about the Pure Lands. And there, there is no suffering, no raging fires or oceans and certainly no darkness." He kept going only to see Kaliyah crumble furthermore. The sight immediately silenced him,more concern sprouting within him; he had never before seen her like this. Not even when she came desperate for his aid.

Big tears ran down her cheeks as she finally succumbed to the feelings that were eating her inside out like a beast. Her legs went to tuck themselves beneath her as she bent forward until her forehead touched the ground, her hands covering her face as she wept. Blades of grass poked at her neck and arms. Ginjiro was swift to lift himself from the ground, pained expression painting his draconic features. He grumbled quietly as he came to lay his large body between her and the sea. Casting a large shadow to befall on the girl. His wing came to come over her, in the form of a hug; shielding her away from the offending sights and the stares of trees, birds and the sun. All fell quiet suddenly, only the whistling of wind remained.

"Shhh now.. shhh.. don't you cry." Ginjiro was at a loss for words once again. And it was believed he was wise, he knew the answer to many questions and riddles but not to this. This was way out of his reach, and it pained him further that he couldn't bring any comfort to the one that grew so close to him.

" I- I don't want to forget anyone after death! I want to see everyone, I want to reunite with the ones I love; another life would be a blessing to me as long as I don't get to sit in darkness." she spoke through numerous gasps for air and hiccups, her throat closing on itself. It sounded as if she was angry at the world for this mystery. Ginjiro wrapped himself around her completely, as much as his flexibility would allow him. Now she was pressed against his belly, right beneath his shoulder while his maw nudged her carefully in affection. One of his whiskers came to drag across her arms and hands. Small noises came from him, rumbling through his throat. A noise that could easily be compared to a cat's purr, only softer. Like a turning of many wooden wheels behind layers of thick walls and even more soft cottons. It was distant and warm like a blazing hearth. Crackling of fire that brewed.

She continued to weep, watering the grass with her tears while her hands remained clamped over her eyes and face. A desperate attempt to shield her sorrows, something she found weak, shameful. Everything felt out of place, forced against her.

"I don't want- to die." came a small voice, Kaliyah's voice. A stark comparison to her usually stoic tone, a commanders voice. No- this was the voice of a girl ashamed of her fears, scared and paranoid of most things around her, scared of the future and scared of her own mind and doings. Ginjiro nudged her head again, her whole body too, to get her attention, to try and get her to look up.

"You will not die Kaliyah." he said.

And at mentioned of her name she seemed to recollect just the smallest bit of courage. She looked up, her weeping ceasing for only a moment. His eye shone like fragments of emeralds exposed to the sun, even under the umbrella of his wings. It was dark, only small bit of light came into the tent that was his body.

"Not for many more years to come." Her eyes widened, staring at his narrowed eye, brows furrowing in confusion. What the beast said was a promise. "And certainly not from something as silly as water" he finished.

-"I would sacrifice my last breath to give you one more. I'd give up the world so you may remain whole.. so worry not, little one. An infinity of such pain is nothing compared to the mere thought of losing you-"

Now as she watched blood trickle down his scales as she repeated the same words, she cried even more than she did that day. Screaming at the world and at it's cruelty. She wished she could give him the life he had promised her, wished she could take away the pain and the wounds. He had kept the promise.

It was the only thing that was shared equally in the world and that thing is unfairness. She wished she could go back to those cliffs and stay with Ginjiro forever, overlooking the world from the enormous heights.

Blood coated her clothes, tattered and dirtied, it matted down her hair and his silver mane. She stood in his blood and her own. More rivulets sprang forth and ran down her body from her own wounds. Still, she forced herself to stand, to go to Ginjiro and be beside him. None of the pain could compare to the one in her heart. She would rather face a thousand of swords all over again, she would face those raging oceans and empty darkness for an infinity of time rather than be here now. Here where Ginjiro lied dead and she kept on trying to move him, fisting his long mane in her hand.

All the power in his last breath went to pouring all his life energy into her, and the stone that hung around her neck. One they both created. Blood had stopped circulating in his system minutes ago, yet she couldn't bring herself to accept it. She wouldn't. Despite all the proof, she wanted to believe he would live. Even with his hollow wounds gaping at her from his chest and wing; wind whistling through them. His giant wing stood above her, shielding her from the sky. The contents of his insides were spilled across the ground outside the village grounds. The great walls looming in the distance, while the surrounding woods remained silent in sympathy. Moments ago his blood was steaming hot, pouring like waterfalls from a hot spring. Now, his body lost its fiery heat. Many wounds littered his body, painting a print of a tiger on his body in red.

The soil was soaked with his blood, so much so that the earth couldn't accept more, leaving a large puddle behind. Crimson puddles swirled with the dust and dirt. And a stray leaf went to fall into it, dancing with the current the wind created. With all her might she tried to shake the beast's head to get him to wake, he was so much larger than those years ago, so much heavier. His eyes stared at the sky overhead, stars looking at themselves in his dilated pupil like a mirror.

Darkness started to dot in her eyes, vision dancing with tears. It all tunneled until all she could see was the dull green eye. And for a moment she could swear she saw it move, all color return to it as it lazily blinked at her before the ground disappeared under her feet and hands seized her shoulders

___________________

-My Ao3

#original character #naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto oc #dragon #Ginjiro #Kaliyah Sen Ryoko #angst #idk which account to post these on anymore here hahas #kunoichi #warring states #naruto angst

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nicholas-salzano · 3 years ago

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Nicholas Salzano - Best Beaches in the World

Nicholas Salzano is a well-known travel blogger. Nicholas Salzano writes regularly on travel tips and his travel experiences. Get Nicholas Salzano's latest content.

What makes a great beach is up to the travelers. Some people like wide sandy beaches with lots of activities and crowds to watch, while others like deserted shores and calm waters.

US News has determined this and other factors such as unique landscapes, beach quality, and general accessibility to determine the best beaches in the world. (Note: Some of the destinations below may be affected by the corona virus outbreak. Please consult CDC and the U.S. State Department before traveling.)

Nicholas Salzano - Fiji

Fiji has turquoise waters, sparkling beaches and luxurious resorts, similar to many other tropical resorts. Similarly, an island composed of 333 islands is suitable for all kinds of love birds. In addition, explorers such as surfers and divers appreciate the quality of the waves and the coral reefs of the archipelago. But Fiji has different supernatural characteristics from other island destinations. Fiji is more than 1,300 miles from the North Island of New Zealand in the South Pacific, providing you with a pleasant feeling of isolation.

When you drink Fijian sour beer and watch the sun set on the horizon, you will be as far away from reality as possible. Fijian style will also make you feel a million miles away too: have you tried the dazzling cava? Or have seen people braving fire and walking on hot stones without burning their feet? If not, it is time to do it.

Nicholas Salzano - Bora Bora

Bora Bora (about 6 miles long and just over 2 miles wide) is full of beauty. A dormant volcano rises at its center and expands into the dense jungle before overflowing into the Aquamarine Lagoon. In fact, the author James Michener who wrote "The Story of the South Pacific" called Bora Bora "the most beautiful island in the world." In the 18th century, British explorer James Cook even hailed it as the "Pearl of the Pacific." As the definition of a tropical resort, the wonderful Bora Bora has luxury resorts, clear skies, warm waters and friendly people.

In short, go to Bora Bora to enjoy the natural beauty, to relax completely, if you have the money, go.

Salzano - Maldives

You've seen photos of the Maldives before: the perfect private villa suspended in the stunning blue waters, alabaster white sand beaches and a spectacular sunset jumping into the horizon. The beauty of the Maldives is worth seeing and can only be understood by visiting the scene.

The island nation of Maldives is extremely popular with honeymooners seeking hermitage and adventurers looking to explore the depths of the ocean through snorkeling and diving. Tourists who want to relax can relax in the spa on the island, and all tourists should spend a day exploring Male’, the capital of the Maldives. The hotels in the area are breathtaking, from underwater hotels to private overwater bungalows to stunningly beautiful resorts.

However, getting to and staying in this tropical paradise requires patience (there are no direct flights from the US) and enough cash. The Maldives is located between the Arabian Sea and the Cardiff Sea, about 500 miles southwest of Sri Lanka, as isolated from the world as possible; this is just another of its many charms.

Nicholas - Tahiti

Miles of coastline, dozens of resorts, mouth-watering French cuisine-Tahiti has all the conditions for a honeymoon destination. But beach bums often cross the sands of Tahiti and head to the Ivory Coast of Bora Bora. Despite its idyllic reputation and convenient transportation, Tahiti is not so much a romantic holiday destination as a place off the beaten track. However, this does not mean that Tahiti should be ignored.

The wooded forest is next to the beach, and the French crepes are served with Tahitian poisson cru (raw fish). If there is one place that can embody the beautiful duality of French Polynesia, it is Tahiti. Here, the quirky and often chaotic atmosphere of Papeete, the island’s capital, complements the unspoiled natural beauty.

In fact, Tahiti, the largest of the 118 islands in French Polynesia, is often referred to as two separate islands, although they are connected by a small land bridge.

Tahiti Nui is the largest northern area where Papeete is located. Tahiti Iti (the smaller half) is not easily accessible, although many tourists hike here to experience the isolation. Keep in mind that spending a week anywhere in Tahiti will cost you a hefty price. But travelers agree that the warm waters, dense jungles, and luxurious resorts are worth it.

Nicholas Salzano - Maui

Maui isn't as big as the Big Island, it's not as small as Lanai, as vibrant as Oahu, and not as quiet as Kauai. For many visitors vacationing in Hawaii, Maui is the perfect place, from its majestic wildlife to fascinating history and culture; it offers all the flavors that Aloha has to offer. Visit here to swing with a professional hula dancer,play golf on the coastal streets, zip around, snorkel with five different types of turtles, or just go on some of the most famous beaches in Hawaii rest.

Maui, one of the archipelago's most popular tourist attractions, lies between the Big Island and the small Molokai (you can explore it by signing up for one of the best tours on Maui). Maui is divided into five different regions. Many visitors settle on the sandy beaches of South Maui (where the famous Wailea Beach is located) or the coast of West Maui, the sandy beach of Kaanapali Beach and the music home of the old Lahaina Augrand. But the rest of the island cannot be overlooked.

Travel along the Road to Hana, experience the scenic east coast of Maui, explore Haleakala, the largest dormant volcano in the inland world, and explore the ancient tribal battlefields of Iao Valley State Park in central Maui. If you want a panoramic view of all of this, book one of the best helicopter tours in Maui.

Nicholas Salzano - Whitsunday Islands

The Whitsunday Islands are located off the northeast coast of Australia and it feels like a whole different world. The archipelago is adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef and has an extremely unique but fragile ecosystem. Some of the best beaches in this collection of 74 islands include Betty Beach, Whitehaven Beach, and Chalkis Beach, but there are plenty of amazing attractions to choose from as well. When you're not sunbathing on pearl-white beaches or snorkeling in turquoise waters, you can relax in luxurious or eco-friendly bungalows on Hamilton Island or Long Island.

Nicholas Salzano - Mauritius

Located in the east of Madagascar, this picturesque African island has a number of beaches that deserve priority. According to visitor reviews, the west coast of the island has some of the best, such as Flic En Flac and Le Morne, There are beautiful white sand beaches and the perfect viewpoint to watch the sunset. Beachgoers near amenities prefer the northern coastal beaches like Granbe, while those looking for a more remote beach experience prefer to visit the eastern and southern coastal beaches like Tu Island and Blue Bay.

Nicholas Salzano - St. Lucia

Lush and unspoiled Saint Lucia has a growing fan base. Some of its vacationers are music lovers, chilling out at the St. Lucia Art and Jazz Festival in the spring, or adrenaline junkies, climbing The Pitons or zip-lining in the Chasin area rainforest to test their limits. Others are honeymooners relaxing on the island's chalky beach or hiding out in a secluded resort.

But what if any of these categories are not suitable for you? Do not worry: Saint Lucia refuses to be classified like any "kind" of Caribbean vacation. In addition, you don’t have to spend a lot of money (its reputation as a luxury hideaway is reasonable to some extent). To discover some of the indescribable charms of the island, you must visit it yourself. Wake up in the morning and admire the orange sunrise over Soufrière, and then "jump" (or dance) along the Gros Islet in the evening to end the afternoon.

Nicholas Salzano - Railay Beach

Railay Beach (also known as Rai Leh) is located in Krabi, Thailand, next to the Andaman Sea. The area is made up of four main beaches, with soft sands, clear waters, stunning but climbable (for experienced climbers) cliffs and dense tropical rain forests. For a truly breathtaking beach experience, head to Phra Nang Beach, where you can explore caves, islands and coral reefs. Another Railay Beach coastline that you must visit is the beautiful West Coast of Railay, just steps from a plethora of shops, restaurants, bars, and resorts.

Also check this video of Nicholas Salzano on topic: I traveled Syria Before War, and It was Heaven

youtube

#Nicholas Salzano #NicholasSalzano

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banalbones · 5 years ago

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The Petite Prince: Chapter 4

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, 7, 8

Chapter 4: The Treasure Hunt, Part 1

Summary: Roman is a child. Virgil and Logan lost him, and are on a quest to find him. Meanwhile, Remus loves his baby bro.

Words: 1920

Ships: Familial prinxiety, logince and Creativitwins. Eventual familial royality, roceit and DRLAMP

Genre: Fluff with a side dose of angst

Warnings: swears, falling, arguing, creepy little gnomes, tell me if there’s any more!

Taglist: @pricklyfish777 @sunflowerblondeuwu @itriedandimtired @draw-your-perfect-world

_____________________________

“Virgil?”

“Yea- oh no…”

“Exactly.”

_____________________________

Logan knew many idiots.

Roman, for one, when he was not a child. Patton, Remus, Thomas and even Virgil, from time to time, were on it.

Logan never knew he could be included on that list, but there he was.

He and Virgil had checked every room in the mindpalace, even Janus’s, but searching for a small child you can’t help but love, whilst simultaneously panicking because you had lost said child, makes you forget certain things.

Remus being certain things.

The pair had somehow managed to forget about the one person (or metaphysical person) who would willingly cause the angelic young prince harm.

The one person!

How does that even happen? How could one overlook something so dire?

Meaning, the resident nerd was in a bad state.

Virgil was in an even worse state.

Logan picked up the small paper crown, being careful not to tear it, and looked to the anxious side.

He really didn’t look great.

_____________________________

He looked horrible, actually.

Hey! It wasn’t that bad!

It was.

_____________________________

Virgil really didn’t look great.

Or feel great, for that matter.

They had lost the bean, which was bad enough, he had already been panicking about that, but, losing the bean to Remus?

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Thoughts were such a beautiful insight to one’s character.

The emo looked to where Logan stood, then to the deep depths of the Dark Imagination.

He had already been to the ‘Light’ Imagination, with its singing birds (annoying) and its lush forestry (also annoying), but the Dark Imagination was still a mystery.

It was comprised of living trees, dead trees, semi-dead trees and any other things that Remus could have thought up.

Meaning, Virgil was terrified to go.

But, he (and Logan) would do what had to be done to save the bean.

_____________________________

Why do you keep calling him ‘the bean’?

‘Cause that’s what I was calling him in my head the whole time.

Aww, cute!

Shut up.

_____________________________

As the left brain boys mentally prepared themselves to go into the hidden depths of the forest of the Dark Imagination, the two brothers (you can’t exactly call them twins at the moment) were having the time of their life.

In Remus’s room, of course.

Remus had seen his fellow sides enter the Imagination, and came up with a brilliant plan.

--------------------------------

“Hey RoRo, do you wanna prank LoLo and Virgey?”

“Wha d’you have in mi- have in min- in mind?”

“How about we make them go on a little treasure hunt?”

“Yeah!”

--------------------------------

The smol one hadn’t been hard to convince. He also didn’t know that he was the treasure, which was kinda funny actually, seeing as he kept asking what it was.

--------------------------------

“Wha’s the trea- the treasure?”

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

“But I don’ wanna…”

--------------------------------

So, while Logan and Virgil panicked about the paper crown, Roman and Remus created a devious little ‘treasure hunt’.

“Can they figh’ a dra- a dragon?” The miniature royal asked.

Remus looked to the map of the Dark Imagination he had laid out on the table.

“Sure.” He grinned. “Armor and weapons or no?”

Roman giggled.

“With!”

Damnit.

Remus suppressed a groan.

“Whatever you say, little prince.”

_____________________________

The forest was dark and creepy and honestly kind of disturbing.

Virgil shuddered as he caught sight of one of the flying eyes that were following them.He tried to keep his eyes in front of him.

He was failing, but it’s the thought that counts.

“There’s a tower, maybe a mile away.” Logan muttered.

“That’s probably where he’s keeping Roman,”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

A pause.

“I though you didn’t have that one.”

“I now do.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“No, you can’t, you can hear it.”

“Same difference!”

“That doesn’t even make sen-oh shit!”

Oh shit?

Virgil looked over to Logan.

Wait, where was he?

“Loga-AhHhHhHhHhH!”

_____________________________

Ow. That was unpleasant.

Logan stood up.

Or attempted to stand up.

“Ow!”

Why was this place so small? And dark? He was already blind, for crying out loud. Also, where was Virgil?

…

“AhHhHhHhH!”

…

There, apparently.

“Don’t stand up.”

“What the fu-ow!”

He sighed.

That was what happened when one didn’t follow his instruction.

“I know that sigh. Logan?”

“Yes. It is me, Virgil.”

“You could have warned me about the ceiling.”

“I did.”

“And the hole.”

“I literally fell through it before you. How could I possibly have warned you?”

“By screaming ‘hole’ instead of ‘oh shit’.”

“Well-”

“HeLlO bOyS!” A voice screeched from somewhere in the darkness.

Virgil screamed and grabbed Logan’s arm.

Ow. Why do I keep getting hurt?

“I hAvE a RiDdLe FoR yOu!”

Virgil tightened his grip, causing Logan to wince.

“What is it?” he questioned.

Might as well.

There was a sound of a throat being cleared.

“WhAt Is SmAlL aNd CuTe, LoVeD wHeN yOuNg BuT nOt WhEn OlD? AnSwEr CoRrEcTlY aNd DoN’t GeT eAtEn By GnOmEs!”

The voice then laughed (or screeched, depending on how nice you are) and disappeared.

For a moment there was silence.

Then,

“What?”

_____________________________

Remus and Roman cackled as they viewed what was happening through the fly-eyes. The treasure hunt was going as perfectly as planned.

(Apart from the two getting hurt, Roman had frowned at Remus for that, causing Remus to pout back. The exchange had ended in giggles.)

“Hey ReeRee?”

“Yeah?”

“I wan’ my cro- I wan’ my crown back.”

Remus turned his head to view the three year old.

_____________________________

He actually looked four at this point.

How come?

He was getting happier, so he was getting older.

Oh.

_____________________________

“Do you want a new one?”

“No.”

“Do you want some cuddles instead?”

“Maybe… but my- but my cr- cr-crown…”

Remus saw the smol one’s lip start wobbling, and oh god if it wasn’t the most heartbreaking thing (apart from hammers).

“Do you want Virgey and LoLo to bring it back?”

And then, as if by magic, Roman adorable little grin returned. He lunged forward, hugging Remus’s long, skinny legs.

“Yeah!”

Remus inwardly let out a sigh of relief. He loved his little brother with all of his (admittedly, shrivelled) heart, but he wasn’t prepared to deal with tears.

“Do you still want cuddles?”

“Duuuuh!”

_____________________________

“A toy?”

The screechy laugh returned.

“YoU iDiOtS! tHe AnSwEr WaS rOmAn! GoOd LuCk WiTh ThE gNoMeS!”

Virgil, for a moment just sat there, shocked.

Roman?

The moment lasted for approximately 0.6 seconds as the sound of footsteps filled the hole.

Many, many footsteps.

Virgil swallowed, his breathing quickening, as Logan scooched closer to him.

Then music started playing.

Virgil took a breath.

Do it for the bean.

_____________________________

“Holy mother of hell.”

That had been terrifying. Even for Logic himself.

He had screamed. So had Virgil. And so they decided they would never speak of the incident ever again.

Logan took a few deep breaths as he regarded his and Virgil’s attire.

His tie was ripped, along with his shirt, and Virgil’s jeans were more than a little worse for wear.

Getting away from the gnomes had been easier one would think, simply crawling through the hole they (he shuddered) had come from allowed them to escape.

It had led the pair to a cave in which they were able to stand.

Thank Einstein, I hate crawling.

“So, now what?” Virgil’s voice echoed throughout the cave.

Logan stepped forward.

Do it for the child.

“We walk.”

_____________________________

Roman, after a healthy dose of ReeRee cuddles, started to feel curious.

There was so much stuff in Remus’s room, after all, and though his ankle still kinda hurt, he still reeeeeally wanted to poke it all.

Possibly with a stick.

“BroBro, stick?” he asked, missing the way Remus’s face filled with joy at being called ‘BroBro’.

“On the way, your highness.”

Roman like the nicknames. Big him never really got all these nice ones.

After being handed the stick by a grinning Remus, the petite prince took a stool (Or what seemed most like a stool) and started calmly climbing the shelves, poking at the stuff in the jars if it was colorful enough to catch his eye.

Remus, on the other hand, was laying on the floor, hands on his heart.

BroBro.

It was so. Pure.

The young prince would perhaps heal his blackened soul.

The Duke was so distracted by the purity of his baby brother that he didn’t even try to dodge the glob of purple luminescent slime.

He blinked.

And heard a snort of barely muffled laughter.

“I’ve been betrayed,” the trash man said dramatically, “By my own brother, no less!”

More giggles were escaping.

“And I am now… dead.”

Remus let his head flop, hitting the floor with a small crack.

After a few seconds, he felt a small finger poke at his cheek (How had that kid managed to get down so fast?) and a voice.

“ReeRee?”

“Ahhh!”

Remus jumped up to lift his little prince into the air, spinning him around and around and around.

Roman squealed and laughed, his little legs kicking the air.

The cutest boy, change my mind.

_____________________________

Virgil and Logan walked. And walked. And walked.

“Are we there yet?”

Logan deigned not to respond. Virgil had already asked seven times. In the past five minutes.

“Are we?”

His voice was higher this time.

Logan groaned.

“No.”

_____________________________

“Hey L, I see a light! At the end of the tunnel! Freedom!”

Virgil had been panicking (shocking) for the past twenty five minutes.

Logan had been getting increasingly irritated for the past twenty five minutes.

Virgil didn’t know why.

(He definitely knew why.)

“I see it, Virgil.”

“But do you really?”

“Yes.”

…

“Mind if I join your conversation?”

Virgil jumped at the lilting voice.

“I’ll do it anyway. Hello fellow travellers.”

“Who the heck are you?”

A small flame jumped out of the darkness, illuminating a figure with delicate features and large wings.

Wings?

“Why, I’m the Dragon Witch of course! Care for some bones?”

“I thought Roman killed you.” Logan remarked.

“He did. That’s why I’m here. Who else could sell bones but the dead? Speaking of,” the witch smirked, “You should buy some.”

“Why?”

The smirk grew.

“Why not?”

____________________________

And so, the left brain boys bought a few bones, in exchange for a shoe each, before going on there way.

The Dragon Witch smiled as she slunk back into the shadows.

Remus would be pleased.

____________________________

Remus was most definitely pleased.

Two more shoes for the collection!

“Hey RoBro, look! It’s Virgey’s shoe! And Logan’s!”

“Shoes!”

“Shoes.” He nodded.

Roman was playing with a few birds that had followed him from the Imagination. And the squirrels. And the deer. And all of the other forest creatures.

The smol one truly was a prince.

I wonder if they have names.

_____________________________

Roman was enjoying playing with the creatures, especially Elphaba.

Her emerald green feathers shone brightly in the golden light of… something. He didn’t know what, as Remus’s room didn’t have many lights, lest not gold-ish ones.

Suddenly, a thought popped into his mind.

“Hey ReeRee?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think if I si- you think if I sing, the birdies will- the birdies will too?”

Big him always did that. It seemed fun.

ReeRee looked a bit confused.

“Li-li-li-”

Roman got stuck on the word. They were the worst sometimes!

“Big me!”

Remus seemed to catch on.

“Like big you does?”

Roman nodded aggressively. Yes! Maybe Big Bro would sing with him! That would be so fun!

_____________________________

As Virgil finally stepped out into the light, relishing the sweet, sweet sunlight, a bunch of birds appeared and started tweeting out… a song?

Well that was odd.

“Hey Logan?”

“What.”

“Is that the tower you mentioned seeing earlier?”

Because standing in front of them at fifty feet tall, was a tower.

And on top of that tower, was a dragon.

Fuck.

_____________________________

Thanks for reading this chapter of the Petite Prince!

I’m going to introduce Patton and Janus soon, so which one do you want to see first?

#sanders sides #thomas sanders sides #tss #roman sanders #baby roman #ts roman #remus sanders #virgil sanders #logan sanders #i hc ro as a disney princess #but a prince #feedback is appreciated

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goldeneyedgirl · 4 years ago

Text

JaliceWeek2020 Day 7

JaliceWeek2020 Day 7: Yeehaw/Western/Sheriff

Love & Duty

Notes: Okay, I’m pretty sure this isn’t nearly ‘cowboy’ enough, and I’ve already started an alternative piece, but I found an old tumblr post about how cowboys were just daytime witches, and I frickin’ loved it (I’ll link it in the morning) and my excitement got out of hand again. There’s definitely going to be more to this story, but separately.

I also just wanted to prove to myself I could smash out two prompts in one day, honestly. I opted for quantity over quality, and I currently only have some regrets - 4.5 down, 3.5 to go.

The old farmhouse sits outside Laredo, Texas. The wood has blackened from decades underneath the sun and seems to sink in on itself; the ground cracked and dry. The barn roof has caved in, obviously years before if the elaborate nest tucked at the edge is any indication. At the end of the drive, the sign once bore the name of the owners, but that name has long since faded into the wood.

It is an unwelcoming place, for any passerby or stranger - a house that actively discourages anyone from crossing the boundary, even if they never notice it.

But for those that sought it out, and for those few that lived there, it was very different.

��

It was a sacred duty, once upon a time - the Guardians of the Border, sent to protect and prevent the Southern Wars from spilling over from Mexico into America proper. For decades, girls from all the old families across the country were sent to Texas to run the Guard Houses, to protect and shield those. Back then, there were so many daughters that only the very best were accepted at the Border Guard Houses, most of them settled in the city houses, mixing the potions and preparing the weapons. Some girls were even sent home - there were only so many beds, after all.

And Texas remained well-guarded.

But time marches on. Vampire wars, human wars, they all have a death toll, and entire family lines died out. It became less of an honour, more of an obligation, and one that fell to the oldest daughter, or the oddest daughter, or the ugliest daughter. It became more important to keep the bloodlines strong than to protect the South from the never-ending Wars.

Mary-Alice Brandon was never surprised to be banished to Texas on her sixteenth birthday; she’d known her entire life she’d don the blacks and take up the mantle as six generations of Brandon witches had done before her. She was not good breeding stock, with her ‘visions’ and her temper and her complete disinclination to conform to her parents’ social obligations. Cynthia was a much better heiress, and so off to Texas Alice was sent, to three ancient ‘aunts’ who would train her in all she would need to know, having lived their entire lives defending the Laredo house.

The house wasn’t so bad, if you looked past the glamour. The house was in good repair, and the aunts maintained a lush garden out the back, of herbs and flowers. They had two strong horses - Hallow and Haven - and half a dozen well-pleased cats. Her own bedroom looked over the road, hidden only by the branches of an ancient willow tree. Of course, the aunts were strict teachers that expected impossible standards, and third-rate cooks. But no place was perfect, and at least here no one cared about manners or propriety.

But she missed the sunshine. That was one thing the aunts never budged on. “Day is for sleep.” And hell was raged over her head if she wasn’t tucked up tight in bed every morning before dawn, the curtains drawn tight and refusing to budge. Once every moon cycle, her aunts would have a dawn meeting with someone but she wasn’t allowed to join those until she was twenty one, when she formally became a Witch Guardian. Until then, she was just a handmaid and dogsbody.

Which is why she was up to her ankles in mud, trying to pry an overzealous hemlock plant from the ground because it was smothering the chamomile again, with nothing to light her work except the lanterns on the porch. And this was just the first of the positively irritating chores she had been assigned that night.

It was her own fault, really. She should have kept her nose out of the books, and maybe there’d be more lessons for her to finish.

Shoving her hair out of her eyes, Alice glared viciously at the hemlock plant, and wondered if the aunts would consider it ‘inappropriate behaviour’ to curse the damn thing to burn.

“Mary-Alice!”

One of the aunts came dashing out of the backdoor - all three were fairly interchangeable, which felt like an uncharitable thought, but it was the honest truth - looking more agitated than Alice had ever seen her.

“Yes, Auntie?”

“Get out of the mud, and go and fetch one of the horse,” the older woman said, buckling an over-stuffed messenger bag. “Be quick, girl. Change your boots, don’t worry about your dress.”

Struggling out of the garden and into the house to find her riding boots, Alice knotted her hair back before hurrying to the barn, where all three aunts were gathered, Hallow already saddled - she would have thought Haven a better choice, since Hallow was so big and she was not the strongest rider.

“You’re going to Del Rio, girl,” one of the aunts said, shoving over a mounting block with surprising strength. “One of our allies has suffered an injury and cannot be moved. Hallow should have you there by dawn.”

“Del Rio?” Alice couldn’t remember the last time she’d been into Laredo, let alone more than a hundred miles up the border.

“Yes. Now, they’re expecting you,” the second aunt said, taking her hand and half shoving her up and into Hallow’s saddle. “Everything you need is in the bag; there’s food and water for you, but you’ll need them to provide more for your return journey. Hallow knows the way; if you hit the yellow farmhouse, you’ve gone too far. There should be a scout waiting for you anyway, don’t worry. It’s a long trip, but it’s a good practice for you, and you’re a good, clean healer.”

“The boy’s in a bad way, so you best be off,” the final aunt said, looking grim. “Let us know how long you’ll be staying and when you set off home.”

“Okay,” Alice managed, a bit dazed from the amount of information she’d just been given.

“Blessed and safe journey, my dear,” the first aunt said, looking worried before Hallow decided they had lingered long enough, and moved out of the barn.

Alice suddenly regretted cursing the hemlock.

—

The ride was long and hard. She honestly regretted not getting changed into something more sensible - she’d learnt to ride as a girl English style, side-saddle, but the aunts had laughed at that particular pretension, and Western saddles and long skirts were not a winning combination.

The bag wasn’t heavy enough for any of them to have thought to pack her a clean dress, either, and she was truly wretched at cleaning spells. Perhaps the Del Rio coven could loan her a dress.

Hallow stopped some time after midnight, and she took that opportunity to eat - a floury apple, some dry bread, and cold chicken that was so well cooked it might as well have been ash. But it was food, and the urgency that she been sent off - alone - implied she didn’t have more than a few minutes to rest.

The rest of the trip felt long, and as pink and gold streaks began to hover at the horizon, Alice wondered if she’d taken too long - if the poor boy (boy? she’d never heard of a coven accepting a boy, but maybe the Guard Houses had decided to modernise) had already succumbed. But it wasn’t like she was provided with a map or proper direction…

It was dawn when Hallow began to slow, and she saw a man leaning against a signpost with an indecipherable sign, the road behind him leading to a fire-decimated house on a hill in the distance.

“Miss Brandon?” the man said, looking at her with suspicion before his eyes softened. “Ah, Hallow.” The horse clearly recognised him, nickering affectionately at the man.

“Yes, I am Miss Brandon. You are the scout from Del Rio?” she asked primly, as if she didn’t have mud on her face and dress and sleeves, and no hat.

“Yup. Come on, he’s in the house. I’m Peter,” the man said. “Budge up.”

Within seconds, Peter had swung himself onto Hallow behind her, and Alice gasped at the impropriety, but didn’t get a moment to say a word as Peter clicked and Hallow took off like a bullet.

As Hallow passed another sign that couldn’t be read, the fire-ruins shimmered before reforming into an expansive and well-lived farmhouse, with a large barn. Out the back, she could see pristine fields full of horses and cattle. It was like chalk and cheese from home, and for a moment, she was jealous.

As they stopped in front of the house, Peter slid off, and tied off Hallow’s bridle to the porch railing, reaching up to help her down.

“Quick now, one of the boys will come take care of Hallow, we need you to tend to Jasper now,” Peter said, half dragging her up the front stairs and into the house.

It felt like a bustle of activity, and was so bright and airy. The smell of fresh bread filtered through the house, and Alice couldn’t help but snatch a look as she was dragged deeper into the house.

“Char! The witching’s here!” Peter bellowed, and suddenly Alice was presented with a drawn-looking woman with strawberry-blonde hair.

“Oh, thank gods,” she said. “I’m Charlotte. Come with me. His fever keeps getting higher, and I’ve tried everything I know. We called out to everyone, but your aunt was the only one who got back to us.”

She was lead into a backroom, where a mattress was laid out on the floor, and the curtains were drawn. And in the middle of the room, moaning in pain and sweaty, was a tall man covered in scars.

Alice tried not to gasp. The scars were quite clearly vampire bites, healed ones. Covens had some natural immunity to vampire venom, but it only slowed down the process and allowed it to be reversed. There were dozens of stories of girls who couldn’t be saved, and had been burnt before the change could be completed. It was, unfortunately, one of the risks of their duty.

“He got ambushed,” Charlotte said, kneeling beside the man. “The harpy practically gutted him, but he got away okay.” She pulled back the sheet, to reveal an enormous wound that had been clumsily stitched, from the middle of his chest, slashing downward over his stomach to his hip. “It needs cauterising I think, but I’m no healer.”

Alice came back to herself then. Whatever was going on here - male Guardians, this untrained woman, all the bite marks - could be questioned after this poor man - Jasper, had Peter called him? - was treated.

Dropping to her knees, Alice quickly inspected Charlotte’s stitching of the wound. “It will need cauterising, it’s too deep,” she determined quickly. “And treatment for infection, but stitching it was a smart thing to do.” Charlotte looked relieved. “Did he get bitten?”

“His arms,” Peter said, and Charlotte quickly pulled off bandages, already blackening from the venom. Three bites on one arm, four on the other. Bad, bad business.

“Okay. Do you have a smock, and a place I can wash up?” she said, standing quickly. Walking into a sick room in her filthy clothes and boots had been a stupid thing to do, but nothing for it now.

“Of course - show her the bathroom, Peter,” Charlotte darted out.

Within moments, Alice had a smock over her underthings and a pair of borrowed slippers - Charlotte promising to wash her dress immediately - and she’d scrubbed every visible inch of her skin as fast as she could, her hair pinned under a kerchief.

It was a very, very long day. The bites had to be purified, cleaned, and bandaged to draw out as much venom as possible; the bandages had to be changed four times every day, to prevent the venom lingering against the skin. Jasper had to be fed the tonic that the aunts had sent every two hours to flush any venom that had already ended his system. Then she had to treat the fever, to lesson his evident discomfort, and treat the infection that had clearly set into the wound Charlotte had stitched, whilst reassuring Charlotte that it was nothing actively wrong that she’d done, just the unlucky result of riding home with an open wound.

But by the time night fell, Jasper was somewhat more comfortable - the moaning had stopped, and with a generous dose of pain and sleep tonic, he seemed to actually be sleeping.

Alice wished she could.

Instead, she changed his bandages again before finding herself in the kitchen, with Charlotte piling plates with food.

“We heard from the others,” she said, taking her own seat. “Days away, Carlisle is furious. Emmett’s already on his way back with Rosalie, but they won’t make it here for at least a week.” Charlotte looked exhausted. “At least they’ll bring supplies.”

“What’s done is done,” Peter said smartly, watching Alice as she began to eat, exhaustion in every one of her motions. “Jasper will be okay now, yes?”

Alice looked up. “Well,” she began, and sighed. “There were so many bites,” she managed, trying to be kind. “And he’s been bitten before - even one previous bite decreases the effectiveness of treatment. I swear I am doing everything I can possibly do.”

“You’re young, yes?” Peter shot back. “Not even a full Guardian yet?”

“Peter!” Charlotte scolded.

“No, I’m not of age yet. My title does not affect my ability - I have been trained. I have completed my lessons. There is nothing I can think of that I am not already doing,” Alice retorted.

“And we are grateful,” Charlotte broke in.

“Yup, I’m positive Jasper would be thrilled that his life is in the hands of a schoolgirl,” Peter muttered before getting up from the table and storming away.

Alice was too tired to be angry, and just sighed and went back to her food - Charlotte was far and away a better cook than the aunts; perhaps a week of edible food, and she’d be filling out her dresses properly.

“I’m sorry, Peter and Jasper… they’re like brothers. They’ve been together for years,” Charlotte said, looking at her plate. “…Please, please don’t let Peter’s rudeness dissuade you from helping Jasper…”

Alice looked up in shock. “No. No, of course not. I understand his frustration, I do. And there’s nothing he could say to me that would make me treat Jasper any less, I promise.”

“Thank you,” Charlotte smiled, and began to clear the table. “The guest room is at the top of the stairs, I’ve laid out a nightgown for you, and some towels. Peter’s taken care of your horse, and I’m sure…”

“That’s very kind of you,” Alice said gently, “but I’ll sit up with Jasper tonight; he’ll need watching.”

“Could I help at all? Watch him in shifts?” Charlotte asked, but Alice could see the exhaustion and worry in every line of the woman’s face. If they weren’t careful, Charlotte would fall ill too and she’d have two patients.

“No, it has to be me, to make sure the bites are clean and the tonic takes. We’ll have a better idea of how he is tomorrow, though,” Alice offered. “I would like to bathe, though, if you could watch him?”

“Oh, of course - there’s a washroom in the guest room,” Charlotte said, gesturing to the stairs. “Thank you, Alice. I mean it. Thank you for coming, I feel like everything is going to be okay now that you’re here.”

—

It was a long night, with exhaustion setting in for Alice - she hadn’t slept in over a day, had ridden half-way up the border… she felt like an old woman. But it was her duty. And she would do it to the best of her ability.

Charlotte had leant her several dresses, and it was quite strange to wear a colour that wasn’t black or grey, but a welcome novelty, even if the dresses were a size too big.

Settling beside the sickbed, Alice administered the tonic every two hours, and found herself changing the bandages obsessively, as soon as she saw or smelt the venom. She flushed out the bite wounds - one would need stitching. She’d have to cauterise the chest wound first thing in the morning; his fever still lingered, but the tonics and potions seemed to have had a powerful effect on the infection, with the red veins having already retreated.

Though, she might have to teach Charlotte how to administer stitches whilst she was here. The woman was clearly unfamiliar with stitching flesh. Maybe some rudimentary treatments so that they didn’t have to wait twelve hours for help.

The aunts had packed her two new books to read - purely educational, histories of the coven, that were not even a little bit relevant in her current situation, or interesting. But they did keep her awake.

Morning came, and Jasper’s fever had broken. She nearly cheered at that, and when Peter and Charlotte burst in at dawn, she gave them the good news. She thought that Peter was going to cry - Charlotte certainly did. But then she required the couple hold him down as she cauterised the chest wound.

Charlotte ended up vomiting at the smell, and Peter looked at little woozy, but at least he was held together with more than embroidery thread now. She quickly applied a fresh layer of ointment that smelt like mint and tea leaves to the raw wound and bound up his chest up in fresh bandages. At least Charlotte had the practicality of preparing an immense quantity of fresh, sterile bandages that looked like they been cut from good quality bed linens or petticoats.

The day moved slowly; Charlotte brought her meals in on a tray, and sat with Jasper whilst she changed her dress again, and sent a message to the aunts. Peter was very respectful around her, and brought her anything she asked for - purified water, feverfew, lavender, aloe vera. Jasper seemed to sleep more comfortably each day, as she fed him cold tea laced with every possible tonic and potion she had in her bag and could create from scratch. His bite marks were cleared every day, settling into fresh scar tissue. She was genuinely sorry that they had scarred, but there was nothing for it.

But only time would tell if the venom had made it to his heart.

—

Seven days. She had been at the Del Rio house for seven days and seven nights. Jasper had passed out of danger, and was now just healing, though he hadn’t regained consciousness. But Alice continued to nurse him, as was her duty and purpose here. She fed him careful sips of tea and then herbal broth, to build up his strength and hopefully reinforce his immunity; she rubbed ointments into his new wounds to keep the skin supple and preveshe lnt thick scar tissue and ease any discomfort. She helped Charlotte wash and dress him as soon as she deemed it safe.

That she had not been expecting. She hoped her poker face was good, because she’d really never seen a man’s body before. Not like that - she was only nineteen, had lived with the aunts since she was sixteen and had never been courted. Even her lessons had been done on whatever animals they could hunt or trade for from the market, not really humans. And this man, he was… handsome. He was tall and just the right amount of muscular and tan and, she shouldn’t be having these thoughts.

She couldn’t even imagine her embarrassment if this Jasper had seen her in such a way.

Oh, she was definitely sleep deprived. She had yet to sleep a single second in the guest room, snatching cat naps in the corner of Jasper’s sick room when she couldn’t hold her eyes open a single moment longer.

Which was what she was doing now. She twisted her neck uncomfortably; she’d been sleeping at a funny angle, she’d be feeling that all day. Stretching out, she looked over at her patient, only to see Jasper staring back at her curiously.

“Oh my gods!” Alice gasped, scrambling over. “You’re awake? How are you feeling? How long have you been awake?”

She quickly helped him sit up, reading for the water cup on the beside table. He took two deep swallows before coughing.

“Oh, it’s got lemon and mint in it, for healing,” she explained. “It’s helped, I promise. Hopefully we can get you back to normal drinking water and food tomorrow.”

“Who are you?” croaked Jasper, looking up at her with glazed eyes.

“Oh. Um, I’m Alice Brandon. From the Laredo Guard House,” she said, embarrassed. She was acting like a bumbling sixteen year old trainee, not a proper Guardian. “I was summoned when you were wounded.”

“Alice Brandon from Laredo,” Jasper repeated, a quirk of his lips. “Thank you.” His energy seemed to drain out of him all at once - totally normal for the severity of his wounds and his recovery.

“It was nothing,” she said. “Sleep now. It’s a great healer. Charlotte and Peter will be awake in a few hours.”

He nodded half-heartedly before he closed his eyes again, and Alice sat backwards. He was okay. Two blue eyes without a hint of red, talking and lucid, and drinking easily. She did it.

He lived.

—

Both Peter and Charlotte had wept when they realised that Jasper was conscious again, and Peter had nearly tackled the man when he saw Jasper sitting up, drinking water and talking to Alice, trying to piece together what had happened to him, and to learn how she had treated him - the Del Rio Guard House had fallen to the Whitlock-Hales several generations ago, and many of the old skills - like healing - had been lost.

In fact, it was only him, Peter, and Charlotte who were at the house full-time now - they hired local boys to help out on the ranch that funded the Del Rio clan. Jasper’s own sister and brother-in-law visited regularly, as did various other friends and allies, “but none of us are witchlings,” he coughed. “We were raised in the sun, not in the night.”

She smiled at reference to the old rhyme. “Even your sister?” she asked; girls were kept to the night, boys to the day. Old attitudes that had held true - girls were protected and cloistered (and much less likely to be caught poisoning or cursing) in the darkness. Their herbs and plants bloomed and grew so much harder under the moon than the sun. But boys, they were the fighters, the warriors, and battle against vampires and other dark creatures was best done when there was no darkness to escape into.

“Even my sister,” Jasper had smiled. “Rose would have made a horrible healer - punched me in the arm and told me to ‘man up’ the first time I fell off a horse; my arm was broken. She’s not nearly as committed as I am, but she helps. Her husband’s good at it too, he just married into the madness.” He spoke about his family with such affection, Alice felt a little jealous, but before she could ask any other questions, Charlotte and Peter were there, Jasper just as pleased to see them as they were to see him.

Alice slipped out to give them privacy - a bath and a clean dress sounded heavenly right now, and she ought to send another message to the aunts. She’d help Jasper wash and change afterwards, and hopefully be able to move him from the sick room to his usual quarters with fresh sheets. He’d sleep more comfortably in his own bed.

By lunchtime, Jasper was safely ensconced in his own bed, in a room that overlooked the a paddock of horses. He’d eaten some broth and drunk as many cups of herbal tea as Alice could press on him, as she fussed around. Peter had headed off to get ranch work done, and Charlotte had taken up a vigil at Jasper’s bedside with some sewing.

“Alice, please, you don’t have to do anything of that,” Charlotte laughed as Alice began folding clothing. “You should rest - you must be exhausted.” Turning to Jasper, she continued, “I don’t think she’s rested this entire time - she sat with you every night, didn’t even wake us to help change your bandages. She insisted Peter and I sleep.”

“Oh, I’m up at night anyway,” Alice laughed. “And I’m here to help.”

Jasper was watching her carefully now.

“She hasn’t stopped at all. I cannot imagine how efficient the Laredo House is,” Charlotte shook her head. “Though, I’m sure having proper recruits makes a difference.”

Alice shook her head, as she reached out to plump a pillow behind Jasper’s head. “Oh, it’s just me and the aunts,” she said airily. “All the old families are dying out, and, well, it’s not exactly a glamorous position. I knew I’d be sent to Laredo since I was very small, so I suppose my mother and father prepared me for it.”

“It sounds lonely,” Jasper said quietly.

And it was. She always tried to think of the positives, that she had her own bedroom, and she got to learn so quickly and do hands on practice much more quickly, and there were practically no chores but she had still been alone there for three and a half years. No companions, just duty. It hadn’t felt quite as bad until she’d come here, to this bright, happy place with sweet Charlotte and practical Peter and handsome Jasper…

“It’s home,” she finally said, honestly. “But I will take you up on that offer for a rest. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to wake me.”

“I’ll be fine, I promise,” Jasper said.

“See that you do - you’re my first official patient, and it would look terrible if you died when I was napping,” Alice teased, before slipping out of the room. She could sleep, finally.

—

The next week and a half fell into a routine. Jasper regained his strength surprisingly quickly, and went from being bedridden to eating meals in the kitchen with them all, to back on his horse - an enormous brown beast named Duke - within the week, though he did seem to tire quickly.

He took to showing her their operation - the wall of blessed weapons in the barn and in the house, the modified saddles to carry the weapons, the horses carefully trained to protect their rider and be desensitised to the presence of vampires.

It turned out that Charlotte was a newcomer, a local girl raised as a kitchen-witch whose brother had worked on the ranch. Charlotte had fallen quite hard for Peter, to hear Jasper tell it, and hadn’t flinched when she realised she’d married into a quasi-family of cowboy vampire hunters. She had started a small greenhouse with many common herbs that was a good start, but Alice knew that they needed something a little more robust for their ‘business’. She immediately promised Jasper to write them a list of additions they needed - and send them seeds and samples - and their purpose as soon as she was back in Laredo.

It was all very pleasant, but Alice realised quickly that Jasper was, for all intents and purposes, healed. She had no place here any longer; his sister would arrive soon, and he had no use of a nurse or witching now. She needed to leave.

She announced those plans at dinner that night, as Charlotte presented another one of her delightful spreads.

“I’m going to miss this,” she said ruefully, as they all dug in. “The aunts cannot cook at all.”

“Miss this?” Charlotte asked innocently, passing out hot rolls.

“Jasper is healed,” Alice smiled, trying to keep her voice upbeat. “Your recovery will continue, and you should be conservative about what you take on for a months or two, but you have no need for me any longer. I should return home first thing tomorrow.”

Everyone froze.

“So soon?” Jasper managed, almost looking… hurt?

“The aunts need me. They’re elderly,” Alice explained, “and it’s where I belong.”

Silence.

“Well, we’re mighty grateful you came all the way out here for us,” Peter said. “We’d all be happy to see you around here again.”

“Ah, but that would mean one of you was hurt, and that would be acceptable,” Alice teased. “You’ve been very kind to me. If I could trouble you for some food for the trip home, Charlotte…”

“Oh, of course,” Charlotte nodded. Jasper was focused on his potatoes and not looking at anyone. “You must stay in touch, yes? It’s been so nice having another woman here.”

“Of course,” Alice gushed, trying to ignore the reaction she knew the aunts would have if she started using the messaging system for socialising. “I’m going to be lost without you!”

“You’re not the only one,” Peter murmured, and Alice chose not to pull at that thread, and instead turned the conversation to Jasper’s sister’s arrival and tried not to dread the next morning.

—

It was a moment of weakness when she waited til Jasper was downstairs helping Peter wash up, when she slipped the medallion into his cowboy boots. He’d never feel the tiny silver charm, blessed with protection and a long life, but it would keep him safe.

She tried to convince herself it was because he probably wouldn’t survive another bite, but it didn’t work.

—

She left just before dawn, once again clad in her blacks - freshly washed and mended by Charlotte - and Jasper was waiting there, holding Hallow’s bridle as she walked out, Charlotte’s food tucked into her bag.

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that,” she said, realising Hallow was saddled and ready to leave.

“I wanted to.” He looked her up and down. “You look beautiful.”

Alice smiled - her black lace dress, from ankle to wrist to throat - was practically her uniform; she had four more just like it hanging in her wardrobe at home. Any particular beauty in the garment had faded the one hundredth time she wore it.

Jasper stepped closer to her; standing on the second step of the porch, they were nearly eye-to-eye.

“I never truly thank you for what you did for me - Peter and Charlotte filled me in,” he continued.

“It was truly nothing, it was what I was born for,” she said, wondering if it was Jasper’s proximity that was making her so warm, or if summer was coming early.

Jasper just stared at her and all of a sudden his lips were on hers.

She had never been kissed before, not even once, and it was… unexpected. Within a moment, Jasper deepened it, and she was properly clinging to his strong shoulders and oh, how could he do such a thing to her when she was about to leave?

Pulling back slowly, Jasper ducked his head. “I just wanted to do that once,” he murmured. “I couldn’t let you walk away without…”

“I can’t,” Alice whispered, somehow unable to pull away. “I… I’m not allowed. I would have to recant my vows, and the aunts have no one else to take on the Laredo house… I just can’t.”

Jasper looked at her. “That seems cruel,” he said in a low voice. “Looking after some old ladies until they die, then being left alone without being allowed anything more.”

“It’s how things are done,” Alice took a shaking breath. “I’m sorry. Please thank Charlotte and Peter for their hospitality.”

And with that, Alice took Hallow’s bridle from Jasper and mounted her horse, leaving for the Laredo house, trying to drag her mind away from what was behind her, from the first (and likely the only) kiss she had ever been given. From the way he looked at her, like she hung the moon.

She was, in all probability, never going to see him again. And that was how it was supposed to be.

#jaliceweek20 #does this even count?#it's set in texas and there are horses #alice cullen #jasper hale #my fic: love and duty #jalice #alice/jasper

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lillaxtrigger · 4 years ago

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Young Hope: Chapter 37

The shining sun beats down its heat rays upon the vast, greenless landscape of Utah; the only shadows cast along the dry grounds be from the towering rocky formations upsetting the wasteland horizons. Miles underneath all this dry ground however be a network of caverns that stretch out deeper down into the earth, signs of green spreading out through the caverns the deeper down they go until growing to cover the rocks in the massively sized flora. Suddenly from an entire wall of the overgrown plants, a blade of jet black pierce right through and slice the vines straight off their stems; all the severed leaves and petals fluttering down to the ground and clearing the path for the black horned demon himself, Alex. Following the shape shifting demon through the flora dressed caves be his purple haired mentor and his orange haired sister; both of them trailing behind the boy as he continues to slice through the vines and plants in their path. “Roy, do you honestly think its still a good idea to come along down here; I mean you still haven’t fully healed yet?” the orange girl questions her purple hooded brother. Traveling along the back of the pack, the merc can’t help but scratch the spot where is missing arm once was while he answers his sisters worry with: “Mal, relax. The doc said herself how bout 94% of my bod’s good to go, practically ready to take on whatever wants me to bend over and take it from behind. A bit of minor pains ain’t gonna stop me from thrusting myself straight into the action.” “You’d like that, wouldn’t you. All I’m saying is that it wouldn’t hurt ya to spend about another week or two in bed.” “Tell ya what. Ya hire a nurse with some sweet ass cake to come in and give a full body on body exam and I won’t be a bitch. Til then, I ain’t layin in that bed another day. There’s only so much pornography can satisfy before it stops being pleasurable and starts making ya feel sad, like the kind of sad that makes ya question the fuck your even doing with your life. And you and I both know that I don’t need that being crammed in my overflowing vault of mental problems right now.”

“Hmph. Like your the only one with ongoing problems. One that would be nice of you to answer is why you decided to drag me along in this horrible ordeal of a spelunking expedition; having to soil my ability gardening through this overgrown cavern just so clear a path. It’s patronizing.” the demon leading the way chimes in with. “What it is is that I’ve been letting you metaphorically sit on your demonic ass for way too long now. We need to get back on track with our regimen so your don’t wind up turning into a pompous chode hole, that’s how ya ass gets flat. You wanna be out walkin around people hiding that plank ass of yours, or you wanna bake some delicious thick cake for whoever ya fancy given a slice too?” “For the love of sweet satan, just shut the hell up!” the flustered demon demands, his cheeks blushing bright red. “Yeah, please stop.” the purple angel’s sister begs for him.

“Aight, fine, fine. I get it, the sexual innuendo quota’s full here. Let’s just change the subject.” “Yes, lets.” “So, what’s with those numbers that you found in the middle of the mountain with yer threesome pals.” “I-” A small sigh escapes from her lungs as she decides to simply skip past her brothers wording and starts to dig into the contents of her backpack; soon pulling out the very same withered piece of wood that takes the shape of a severed hand. “We went and found this next to all those carved in numbers. Ryan claimed that they were a bunch of coordinates that pinpointed somewhere deep underneath the soil of the Utah wastelands. It’s still shocking to find something other than hallucinogenic liquid filled cacti growing down under the scorching rocks.” “You’d be hella shocked what sort of stuff you could find under the earth if ya dig deep enough. I recall the time I took a job digging out for an underground trading ring and wound up finding a bunch of people going around and trading all sorts of human, animal, and miscellaneous organs and body parts. Like it seriously didn’t matter where the hell it came from; long as you had a working organ from anything, you could make a marginaly medium profit from your harvesting venture. I specifically remember this one guy cashing in like 450,000 dollars for trading in a whale eye; a whole giant functioning whale eye. I seriously didn’t expect something so fucking huge to have an eye the size of a baseball.” “That is-...that is some serious grody stuff. What sort of demented and horribly grotesque mind would even think about running a bracket like that.” “Never really went and questioned who was running that joint, though that might’ve been for the best. The organ black market is vast Mal. Long as people need working organs to live, somebody’s gonna be in the market to trade for one.”

As the demon cuts straight through another bramble of plants that stand in the trio’s way, Alex’s foot is caught on a wooden root that sprawls across the ground and lets out a yelp as he starts to trip over; both Mally and Roy witnessing the demon straight through the ground. “Holy shit! Alex!” the orange skater exclaims while rushing over to where she had seen the demon fall, discovering a steep dark pit before them. “Alex!” she shouts down, gazing into the dark void of the cavernous pit. Amidst her panicking worry that she witnesses their demonic third simply hover right back out from the depths of the pit; the skater’s worry diminishing as she proclaims that: “Oh yeah, you can fly. It’s been a while since I’ve seen ya, hasn’t it.” “Hmph! Did you really believe that my demise would come from simply falling into a lowly pit? I thought you would have known better.” Alex scoffs. “Geez, sorry for being so concerned.” the orange skater coldly retorts, her expression beginning to sour. “Kinda looked like you didn’t exactly remember for a sec there either, mate. Seriously just yelping there like a little jackal getting their foot caught in a bear trap.” the merc jests to the demon. “Gee, I’m quite blessed to have so many others with my best interests in mind.”

Their eyes trail over to all the roots that pierce through the caverns hard rock, following them all straight into the very hole that the demon had fell down into; all the wooden roots growing thicker as they slither down into the holes depths. “I’m definitely feeling alotta stuff crawlin down there, it ain’t just these plants either. I’m talking strange things here.” the merc mentions. “What else could be crawling down this deep in the earth? Do you think that it could be hell down there?” his orange sister wonders aloud. “Hardly. We’d be drowning in our own sweat if it was.” the black horned demon corrects. “Whelp. Guess there’s one way to tell what’s down here.” Speaking this does Mally leaps right down into the depths of the mysterious hole, with her purple brother following her straight down into the void after; Alex simply hovering right over the hole and stating out: “As if you’d see me recklessly plunging down into some random pit.” Countering the demon’s very statement, Roy reaches right out from the depths of the void and grasps his pupils leg; Alex letting out a terrible shriek as he’s forcibly pulled down into the abyss.

Amidst their delve straight into the unknown depths of the pit, the three suddenly feel themselves splash down into a strong water current; the trio fumbling through the dark rapids as they’re swept deeper into the cavern river. While fighting against the forceful water flow, Mally reaches into her backpack and feels around for her trusty grapple-yo; her eyes adjusting to the darkness as her and the others that fumble behind her. Finally does she pull out her gadget right out from her pack, immediately tossing the yoyo straight to her brother; the gadgets string wrapping right around the merc’s leg. “Roy, get Alex!” she calls out to her sibling. Though Alex rolls right out along the merc’s left, Roy nonetheless attempt to catch his pupil before he could fumble further down the rapids; his right arm failing to reach the demon in time before Alex tumbles further down the current. “He coming your way, Mal!” he alerts to his sister. When seeing him tumble straight her way, the orange skater reaches out for demon and tightly grasps one of his black horns; Alex letting out a little yelp as the unexpected touch makes him puffs into smoke to switch from a boy to a girl. Despite the rushing rapids thrashing them all about, Mally maintains her hold upon her two companions as they all steer through the twisted and dividing river; the skater refusing to let go of either of them no matter how hard they slam against the rocky tunnels. But through the harsh of it all, the trio are soon greeted by a growing light coming from the end of the tunnel; the three of them closing their eyes tight as they’re forced straight through the end of the river rapids.

After a moment or two, the skater feels next to nothing underneath her feet; Mally slowly opens her peepers back up and lets her eyes adjust to the bright light that shines before her. As her eyes get used to this newfound light, the orange girl first beholds the very tunnel that her and the others had rode in through; the waters falling straight down and crashing into a lake below. Aiming her gaze straight up does she discover her gadgets string still tied to her brother’s leg, keeping her from plummeting out of the air. “Roy, you know where we ended up.” she asks him. “Just look for yourself.”

Gazing ahead like her brother suggests, Mally’s very pupils widen when discovering the incredible site that sprawls out before them all; the skater left to behold a vast, luscious jungle that sprawls out form what seemed like hundreds of miles on end; the horizon before them lush green mountains and peeks aplenty. Her site peers down to the plains that loom down below; finding what were numerous giant dinosaurs of many shapes and sizes all roaming through the valleys and lumbering across the thick jungle forests. One of the reaches its neck out up far above the treetops and lets out a thunderous roar that echoes through the entire vista; dozens of other dino’s and hovering birds joining alongside the outcry and creating a booming sonata of the jungle. “Whoa...But where is the light...” The orange skater peers right up above towards the very roof of these wondrous caves and discovers them covered in a blanket of strange crystals, all of them softly mimicking a glow that seemed like the sun itself; a light intense enough to avert her vision before it could harm her eyes. “All of this was underneath the dry lands of Utah the whole time. Incredible.”

Mally’s enchantment is then broken when hearing a voice beneath her grab her attention with: “Excuse me!” Glancing down to the demon she holds in her grasp, she hears Alex further request that: “Might you be so kind as to let go of my horn!?” “Oh right, sorry.” the skater utters as she complies to the demon’s demand; releasing Alex’s horn from her grasp and letting the demon hover through the air on her own. Aiming her site back up to her bro, Mally takes a turn to request that: “Yo Roy, mind kicking me up?” Upon his sisters request does the merc jerk his leg back and flings the skater right up in the air; Mally flipping through the air as she descends back down and lands right atop her flying brothers back. “So now that we got all the excess eye candy outta the way, what do ya think were supposed to be lookin for down here?” the purple merc asks her. “Hmmm...Good question. Guess what were hear to find out is what that hand we found in the mountain might’ve been trying to tell us.” “So just to be clear on this, do you even have a plan set on what were doing here?” Alex questions as she hovers over to their side. “Uh...Not really. I’ve kinda been following bread crumbs this entire time.” “Well, that certainly reassuring.” the demon sarcastically claims. “Guess that’s why they call it an adventure; to broaden our comfort zones and plunge straight into the unknown. I mean if people weren’t forced straight into the wondrous horizons, then they wouldn’t have gotten used to living alongside people like you.” the merc explains to his pupil; something that Alex seems to take visible offense to. “Wait, I didn’t mean...” Before the purple angel could apologize for his miswording, the demon looks away from him; Roy letting out a little groan upon his blundering statement.

As both the angel and demon start to float down onto the rough jungle landscape, Mally hops right off her brothers back and onto her own two feet; all the while Alex keeping her back turned away from her purple mentor. “Shit. Did I really sound that racist? Or demonist, I think? I just meant how anyone these days is willing to let others in their social circles.” the merc whispers to his sister. “That might just be the problem though. The few times I actually catch Alex at school, she’s usually all by her lonesome; sometimes snooping around to stalk Kingsley from class to class. I mean sure, there’s Cayenne jumping in to keep her outta trouble. But beyond that, most people that are around just tend to avoid her.” “Damn, didn’t realize how off I was with that whole xenophobic ball busting speech.” “I’m not sure if that really the crux of the problem.”

Peering back to the girl in question, the two look over just in time to witness a small lizard start to crawl out to Alex; the demon turning into a boy as he reeling back exclaiming: “Ugh! Vile thing!” Flailing his foot out to the small and harmless reptile, Alex scares the tiny lizard back from whence it came; gazing to the retreating reptile with a wicked grin as he taunts with: “Yes, run; you fowl creature! Return from the dung filled hole from where you spawned!” A short grunt manages to slip out from his mouth before the purple merc laments on how: “I thought this whole self superiority bullshit would’ve been buffed outta him by now.” “How you even brought up the subject of humility at all to him?” Mally then question. “Where exactly am I supposed to start with a mess that big?” “Come on, Roy. We both know you were an even bigger mess at 3 quarters of his age and you manage to get better. You need to make some leeway through to him, and what better time than any.” his orange sibling proclaims before shoving the merc right over to the demon; Roy nearly falling over from the unexpected push.

When realizing his purple mentor approaching, the demon simply gives Roy the cold shoulder as he simply peers away; Alex hearing the angel let out a little sigh before attempting to state: “Alex, listen. I think I need to clear up a couple things on what I said a few minutes ago. See, when I said that, what I meant was-” Right before Roy could even speak even another word on the matter however, all three of them hear a thunderous roar ring out through the whole jungle; one loud enough to cause the tree’s surrounding them to tremble like tuning forks. Emerging out from the treeline be the head of a monstrously sized Tyrannosaurs rex, its gigantic sharp toothed maw drooling as its cold beady eyes stars down upon the three; none of them even slightest bit fazed as they all look back to the giant. “Eh, gimme a sec here.” the merc request as he turns over to face the dinosaur. The towering T-rex then thrusts its gaping maw straight out to the approaching merc, ready to chomp down upon his flesh with just a single bite. Just before the ferocious beast could chomp down upon the purple angel, Roy throws his only fist straight out to the dino’s head and punching the dinosaur hard enough to send the thrusting back out through the jungle depths from where it had emerged; its careening body knocking down dozens of tree’s before skidding to a stop in the dirt. Arising from the soil, the once mighty T-rex gazes back over to the very angel that had sent it flying; the dinosaur racing away in a trembling fright and retreating deeper into the jungle.

When Mally peers over to her brother’s side, she notices him having a little bit of trouble moving his arm back into place; small grunts quietly escaping from between his teeth as he slowly jerks his only arm back down. “Roy, you sure you’re as aight as you say?” “Come on Mal, you know it ain’t nothing I’m used to.” Turning back to both his orange haired sister and pupil, the purple angel continues with: “So, whatdya think that hand ya found back in the mountain might’ve been trying to tell us pointing out a place like this?” “I’m...I’m not really that sure. That ice golem that guided us into the center of the mountain was hella bummed about whatever was on that icy pedestal going missing. These coordinates that hand left behind might’ve been a warning. Least that’s how I’m reading it.” “You think that the sites you had on this Mall guy Tore’s paling around with might be starting to line up?” her brother asks. “To be honest, I’m hoping they’re not.” Amidst their conversation, Alex cuts in between the siblings and claims how: “Hmph! If your blue brother was gullible enough to hastily set out with some rando he barely knows, then I say that fool might as well deserve whatever trouble he ends up in.” “Thanks Alex for your completely unnecessary and impractical input.” his purple mentor mentions. “It’s apparently all I’m here for.” Letting out a frustrated groan, Mally starts to trek out through the forest as she suggests that: “Let’s just get a move on. There has to be something here that this hand might’ve been trying to warn us about.” While the two boys begin to follow the orange skater through the thick of the prehistoric jungle, a figure peeks out from the tree’s behind them; their sky blue sclera squinting as they stare out to the trio as they trot along.

Not long after starting their trek through this prehistoric window through time, the three come to discover a deep, vast valley of thick, ivy covered tree’s that tower high up above; all the numerous branches that spread out from their bark stretching out to twice the size of jumbo highway truck beds. “Damn, can’t even see those crystals under these thick ass trees. You needin another flight, Mal; cause I don’t think Alex would say no if you rode him.” “Excuse me? As if I’d let anyone taint by backside so casually.” the demon object. “Doubt you’d be bitchin right now if it was Kingsley.” “You two are kidding, right? You really think I’m gonna pass up a chance like this? Check this out.” Upon her very words, Mally lunges straight out to the collection of ivy covered tree’s and lands right on one of their many branches; sliding right along the length of ivy until jumping out to the next branch. “That’s the spirit, Mal.” her purple brother cheers her with; both he and his pupil gliding through the jungle air to follow after.

Along her little skate through the prehistoric thick jungle skyline, Mally skillfully leaps right off from branch to slippery branch as if she was grinding from rail to rail; dozens of exotic birds fluttering out from the tree’s as she and the boys speed through the forest. Up ahead does she find barely any branches along the path to jump to, the skater eyes peering up to discover a couple of other limbs hanging above; Mally taking out her hockey stick upon seeing the opportunity before her. Leaping further up to one of these branches, the orange hooks the head of her weapon right along its bark; the momentum of her jump causing her to flip along the limb until she launches herself upwards to the treeline above. Once coming to the arch of her ascent, the orange lass takes out her trusty grapple yo and tosses it right out towards the branches ahead; the gadgets string enveloping one of the branches and letting her swing right up to another stretch of ivy.

After landing right along the branch does a blur streak right past the girl, nearly hitting the skater right along her side. “Whoa, what was-” Gazing out to the site up ahead, Mally finds an entire flock of winged reptiles gliding right towards them; their cold eyes glaring to the trio as their jaws ready to bite upon their skin. Another lizard breaks off from the flock and lunges ahead to the skating young girl; loud hiss escaping from its maw as he dives right down to its potential prey. Just as the carnivorous reptile was ready to sink its teeth into her, Mally swings her hockey stick straight into its open mouth and sends it careening straight back its flock; the lizard crashing straight into a number of its brothers and sending them down to the jungle floor with it. When a chunk of their flock is struck down, the entire swarm charges out to the young lady all at once; Mally tossing her grapple-yo out to the crowd and wrapping one of them in its string. Having one of the lizards in her grasp, the orange skater leaps right off the branch and spins right in the air; twirling the trapped reptile around and swinging it right back to its very flock. The entire swarm splitting off in different directions to evade another of their swung back members.

Despite the flock of deadly lizards having been broken apart, a couple of them persist and glide right out to the girl just as she starts to land upon another ivy covered branch; both of their mouths salivating as they attempt to strike from above and below. Moments before either of them could take a bite right out of the airborne skater, a pair of streaks swoop right in and knock the right out of the air; Roy kicking the one above while Alex slices the other clean in half. Finally landing upon the jungle branch below, Mally turns out to her two partners as they start to hang back and gives the duo two thumbs up with a thankful smile.

“Rather vapid of her to thank us for fixing her screw up. I would have at least made sure the whole flock was killed so that none of them could come back.” the demon claims. “You weren’t exactly eager to jump in against them all with her. Doubt there would be any of them left.” “Please, why would I even waste my breath on such inferior reptiles unless absolutely necessary?” “Because your part of this team, dick wit.” “Ha! Team. I seem to recall you practically kidnapping me against my will, all the while deceiving my foolish mother in claiming it all to be nothing more than a simple train trip.” “Hey! I didn’t spurt out a single white lie to your sexy milf momma. I told her that life ain’t gonna wait a single sec while you prep for whatever kind of curveballs its got planned to throw at ya pair of sweet cheeks. Gotta be ready to bat the ball back right into its stupid fucking face.” “Oh, believe me. I am more than prepared to face whatever challenge this existence has to stop me.” Right on queue of stating this does the demon accidentally smacks straight into a jungle branch, his purple mentor slowing down to witness Alex plummet straight down to what seemed like the waiting maw of a giant plant. “Agh. Mal, might need an assist here.” he calls out to his orange sister. Hearing her purple brothers call out, Mally takes a look back in time to witness the giant weed devour the little devil with just a single gulp; the skater letting out a little yipe before she takes out her grapple-yo and tossing it back out towards the site.

While racing right out to the towering plant that had consumed his pupil, Roy aims the palm of his hand out to the weed and fires out a beam of black and purple straight to the neck of the carnivorous flora; the ray cutting straight through the stem like clean butter and decapitating the plant in one swoop. The head of the monstrous plant having been severed, the purple merc gazes down to its giant bulb along the bottom and discovers something kicking underneath. “Alex, just cut right through!” he shouts to the demon trapped within. Upon these very words does a blade of jet black pierce straight out from within the bulb and slices straight through the flesh of the plant; a bout of steam wafting out as the black horned demon attempts to crawl his way out from the flora’s very stomach. Right as he begins to fully pry himself out from the depths of the plant, an entire mess of tendrils wrap around parts of his body and start to drag Alex straight back within the stomach; the slashed piece of the bulb regenerating as the demon is pulled right in. “Dammit!” His eyes are drawn above the bulb when the cut stem attached starts to furiously wriggle and bulge; the neck erupting in a splatter of gooey chlorophyll as a half a dozen more voracious plant head burst out, growling out a vicious sonata as she peer out to the angel hovering over them. “Gotta be kidding with this kind of Cerberus bullshit.” he curses. “Hydra.” his sister corrects as she swings right into the scene.

The orange skater swings over to take a crack at the deadly weed herself; leaping into the air and tossing her trusty gadget straight out to the bouquet of carnivorous green, her yoyo’s steel string wrapping around the plants numerous necks to bundle them all together. Mally streaks right past the tied tethered green and slams straight down onto the ground; all of the heads struggling and squirming as the orange skater tugs them all aside, demanding that her purple brother: “Get’em outta there!” From his sisters request does Roy delve straight down towards the stomach of the carnivorous plant, ready to thrust his fist through its flesh. Before the merc could even touch a single leaf of the restrained bouquet, a thick tree suddenly bursts out from the ground right underneath him and practically uppercuts the angel up to the treetops; Roy screaming out as he’s launched out beyond the leaves above. “Roy!” Among witnessing her brother being shot right out of the scene, the string wrapped around the bouquets numerous necks start to unravel; Mally ultimately losing her grip as the deadly green shakes itself free and is flung straight out towards the trunk of one of the jungle trees. Right after feeling the jungle tree’s harsh bark slam right against her back, Mally peers up to witness all of the heads that she had once kept down now lunging their maws right out to her; the orange skater able to do little but hold her hockey stick up to black the oncoming heads.

Right as all of the deadly heads tempt to take their bites out of the young girl, Mally sees each one of them suddenly come to a halt just a few feet from her; drips of their saliva drooling along the grounds right next to the young lass. Whaaa… As she questions why every one of them stops just short of gnawing her to bits, the skater watches as all of them forced to retreat back to the very bulb that keeps them together; even the heads being pulled right back from wench they had sprouted. Once all the heads were sucked back in, the bulb itself starts to shrink down while being uprooted from the earth; Mally glancing underneath the shrinking weed to find something of wood standing right behind it. As the entire plant is further shrunk down, she soon discovers not another strangely shaped tree, but a figure made from wood roots and leaves that grasps the weeds bulb and sucks every part of the plant into its body; their bright blue sclera upsetting the aged wood that makes up the figures very features with some of the deadly plants head poking out from its roots. The bulb that had trapped the demon is finally dispersed, exposing a female Alex to the open jungle air once more; her face twisting in utter disgust as she finds herself covered in juices and chlorophyll. “Ah, wretched!” Once having absorbed the rest of the killer plant straight into its body, the figure of wood and leaves thrust its other arm straight down into the soil beneath its feet; the roots of the carnivorous green sowing out from its body and straight out into the soil below, all of them watching as the plant worms away deeper into the jungle.

While Alex remains occupied with swiping away all the leftover strange goop that covers her body, Mally walks right past the demon as she approaches the wooden figure that had saved their hides; extending a hand out to them as she greets with: “Man, I don’t think we can thank you enough for-” She’s just a couple feet away before the figure turns right back, the roots of its arm stretching out to form a sharp tipped lance that’s pointed straight down the orange skaters neck. The figures bright blue sclera narrow as it continues to stare down orange young girl, finally questioning to her in a raspy, but faintly feminine voice: “What are you doing here?” “Ju-just take it easy. We didn’t come here lookin to start trouble.” the skater assures the wood woman, her brother crashing straight into the ground a couple yards behind her. “We just wound up following some coordinates and got swept straight in this prehistoric jungle.” “Who told you of this location.” the withered wooden warrior demands to know, pointing the tip of her bark lance right onto the girls neck. “We found the numbers carved in the center of a mountain next to this hand.” Mally explains as she starts pulling out the withered wood hand in question. As soon as her blue eyes behold the palm she pulls out, the wood woman turns her weapon arm back to normal as she snatches the severed hand right out from the skater grasp; the wood woman retracting her arm back to her head so that she can examine the palm closely. The wooden warrior once cold killer gaze twists into a mixture of bewilderment and lament while staring down to the severed palm she holds in her hands, letting out a small breath before whispering: “Nevaline. So you did make it.”

Amidst this brief moment of grief does a streak of black and purple streak right past Mally and rockets right into the wooden warrior; the purple merc grasping the wood woman by the neck and pins her right against the side of a thick jungle tree. “Roy, wait!” Mally shouts as she races out to the two. Though the orange girls fails to stop the conflict from starting as the wood woman shoves her arm into the very tree her purple foe pins her down to; a sharp branch suddenly bursting out from the side of the tree and twisting right at the merc. Roy lets go of the wood woman as he retreats away from the thrusting limb, the edge of the bladed branch slicing the socket of his missing limb; the limb twisting around and attempting to drive its tip straight into the purple angel. Right before the branch could drive its tip anywhere into the merc, the orange skater delves right in the nick of time and breaks the limb in half with just a single swing of her hockey stick. In the very next moment does Mally drive her weapon straight into the earth and leaps backwards to kick her purple brother aside; Roy skidding across the dirt and stopping just short of slamming right into a rock.

“Ah! Mal, what the hell was that for!” the merc exclaims. “You just tackled the person that saved Alex’s hide.” “What?” The merc witnesses his demonic pupil walk into the picture as she swipes away the last of the gooey chlorophyll off her; confirming that: “Indeed. And about time to. It was practically vomit inducing within that vile plants stomach.” “Try telling that to my arm socket.” Roy counters with; pointing out the bleeding gash inflicted onto where his arm once was. “I can-I can mend your wound. Just let me...” the wood woman offers as she starts to approach. Rising right off the ground, the purple merc starts to back away from the wood woman as she nears; ready for whatever sneaky bull she attempts. Peering right behind the wooden warrior however does he see his sisters cautious gaze, his siblings stare telling the merc to put his guard away; Roy stops backing away and presents his cut to the wood woman.

The wood woman reaches down to one of the patches of grass and makes a couple of blades slither right into her arm while warning the merc that: “This may sting a bit.” From this does the wooden warrior reach her arm over to the very wound that she had inflicted; the palm of her hand hovering over the merc’s arm socket as the pieces of grass she had taken slither out from the wood woman’s roots and pierce through Roy’s skin. The purple angel lets a little hiss escape from between his teeth as the grass worms its way around and over his arm sockets gash, the strings of green tying themselves together and effectively closes the merc’s wound. “That should stop any more of your blood from spilling out.”

Having patched up the cut she had inflicted upon the angel, the wooden warrior turns back to the orange skater and presents the severed palm to demand: “Now answer me; what urged all of you to follow Nevaline’s directions down into this window of still time?” “We’re just trying to find where our brother went, following all this trace clues from an underground mystical library all the way to the center of a mountain and wound up coming down here-” Before Mally could admit any further info, her purple brother steps in front of the orange lass and starts to whisper: “The hell are you doing spilling our business to this piece of morning wood?” “She’s practically been the only thing down here that hasn’t tried to tear us into bloody meat chunks.” “Speak for yourself Mal. You serious not recall her launching me into the sky and cutting by arm socket open, recently?” “Honestly, that sounds like the fault of your own. Surely you of all people should’ve sensed her coming from a mile away.” their demonic partner brings up as she butts right in. “Gimme a damn break here. You know how many predators are lurking through these parts stalking us, and I was a tad busy saving your ungrateful ass.” “Yeah, we should be thanking...uh, thanking...” the orange skater mentions, her site turning over to the wood woman as she attempt to fish for a name.

“Carila, the soul keeper of this slice of time long forgotten and the very secrets it holds. I had intervened against your struggles against the deadly viper bulb to save the plant from your wrath.” “Well, seems for a keeper, you weren’t exactly in much of a hurry to aid us in the fight against that Tyrannosaurs rex or those vile flying raptor.” Alex snidely points out. “I admit, I thought that nature would simply take its course upon you all. But simply from observing you fend off all those carnivorous predators with such ease; I realized how less and less of a possibility that was. I approach you all now to request that you take your leave from this natural wonder and never return.” “Yeah, that ain’t happening.” Roy then tells her. “Indeed. And I’d like to see you stop us, you flat chested wooden tramp.” Alex adds. “If that’s what you wish.” Carila states as her limbs form into weapons.

Right as the three were about to lunge right out to one another, the orange skater once again stands between both parties; speaking on behalf of them all to the wooden guardian on how: “What Alex is trying to tell you that we can’t exactly leave yet, not until we get some answers for all the clues we’ve been following up til now. Whoever that hand you hold belong to, they used their last fleeting moments to carve in the coordinates we followed to get down here. You mentioned their name, you gotta know what they’re trying to tell us.” “And you said that you found these coordinates within the middle of a mountain.” Carila questions. “Yep.” The wooden keeper peers down to the withered hand that rests in her palm, letting out a little groan as she finally gives in and claims that: “If it was Neveline’s final request, then so be it. One that I hope was thought through. Just keep up.”

All of them watch as their newfound guild leaps right up to the tree’s and slithers along their bark like a serpent, Mally ready to jump after before she stops in her tracks when hearing her brother’s pupils remark: “Please tell me you’re not this daft.” “Excuse me.” the orange skater utters while glaring back. “Are you that moronic enough to trust the word of a strange woman that dared to point the tip of their weapon right to your neck?” the demon reinforces, her body shifting to that of a boy. “That strange woman just saved your buns from getting digested.” “Please, I did not need her charity. I was on the verge of escaping from the belly of the beast myself. I assure you that I’m not as defenseless as you’re claiming I am.” “I didn’t say a damn thing like that.” “No, but please. If you wishing to lead all of us to our eminent doom and destruction, then be our guest.” Alex states.

As Alex hovers out in the direction the wood woman had slithered out to, his mentor approaches the girl he had just argued with as she mentions: “Does he not realizes that this is why no one wants to hang around him?” “Yeah, I think I might need to have a word with him.” the merc admits. “Hey, are you to coming along or are you just gawking about waiting to be a prehistoric meal, keep up!” they hear the demon call to them with. “I hope you do so soon.” Mally hopes as both her and her brother leap up to the treetops to catch up to their wooden guide.

While both the purple angel and his demonic pupil hover through the jungle treetops, Mally grinds from branch to branch as all of them follow their newfound wooden guide, who slithers in and out from tree to tree. In the midst of their travels through the tree’s, the wood warrior decides to pry with: “Might I ask what may your ends in coming down here be? I wish to know what Nevaline was attempting to warn you all about.” “Uh...” Leaping right off the tip of a branch, the orange girl spins back to peek over to her purple brother for a clue of what she should do; finding the merc simply shrugging at her as she lands right upon another limb. “Like I said, we’ve been trying to find out where our brother wound up being dragged to. Our one solid lead to go off of is what he not only called himself, but what he had called the man he follows too.” “You seek knowledge of the Kybr, correct?” Carila question.” “Ah, yeah. How’d you-” “Believe me when I say that the Kybr have quite the extensive history; one that the gods themselves were hoping to bury with the passage of time.” “Any chance you could teach us what that history might be?” “Afraid not. But do not fret, your answers shall all be revealed once we travel to the very edge of this domain. Then and only then will you find out what the Kybr truly were.”

Tailing right behind the orange girl and wooden woman, Alex hovers aside his black angelic mentor to comment: “I highly doubt that this living bunch of old roots is so willing to lead us through this jungle for the sake of her departed friend. There’s a clearly ulterior motive afoot.” “I ain’t doubting that. But this whole trail for Tore’s provin hella thin as is; we gotta take in every lead that we get here.” “Rather foolhardy on your end if you ask me.”

“Yeah, speaking of shitty ends, we gotta talk about the way you just piss people off.” “Agh, not you too. I get enough of that sort of infernal yapping from my asinine mother.” “I’m just gonna cut through the bull here and say that maybe constantly acting like pompous dick horned asscheek ain’t gonna get up any friendly faces. You’d probably get way more tail and cooch waiting for ya at the end of the day if ya quit being such a stuffy little bitch.” “Oh, and you’re confident that piece of advice fares no hypocrisy coming from you? How everyone just tends to avoid you as well? Don’t think for a moment I haven’t heard all the stories concerning you and your demeanor when greeting others. Of how you ask almost everyone, even going up to multiple people at once if they’re down to quote on quote “Diddling down in the back alley” with all the charm and subtly of a wayward perverted slob.” From this very statement does the purple merc let a bout of laughter escape from him, Alex hovering back a bit as his mentor’s chuckling starts to die down before the merc responds: “Diddling down in the back alley”. Where did you even-...Did someone actually say that or did you just pull that outta yer ass.” “My point being here is that don’t not exactly have the heart of the public eye either.” the demon rings back. “Hey, least I’m open and outta the gate with that to people. Ain’t like those kinds of dipshits that try to walk around questions and be those fedora tipping self entitled jackass’s. I mean if the people would be less strict about fucking one another, the world would be an honestly happier place for everyone.” “What in the living realm of sweet satan are you paddling about?” “Uh, what was I talking ab- Right, right, right, right, your attitude. All I’m saying is if you don’t wanna wind up reflecting back on your life wondering why ya got nobody to talk to and comfort ya; then quit recklessly putting other people down and stroking yourself like a self masturbating stiff prick.” the merc concludes

“Oh really. Did you hold that sort of attitude when you were with Roxanne?” The mere mention of the girls very name proves enough to send a powerful jolt through the purple angel’s entire body; his expression breaking into disbelieving shock as he turns to his pupil and simply utters: “What?” “Did you really not hear all the rumors and blog posts being passed around about all that juicy drama? Cause from what I’ve heard, the two of you didn’t exactly split things off quite cleanly. All of them kept saying that you were the one acting like the right dick in that whole shpeal.” “W-wh-what the hell does all that gotta do with now?” “I’m just saying that if you’re wishing to criticize me for my behavior, shouldn’t you set a better example?” “You have no fucking clue what happened between us that night!? You really think your gonna get away with going for those kinds of low blows!?” “Hey, if were taking stabs at each other for how we treat people; then I sure as hell ain’t gonna miss the chance to get a couple in. An eye for an eye sort of approach really.” Upon the demon’s very words is Roy left utterly speechless, his enraged gaze cooling into a contemptuous glare before he finally responds with: “No wonder you don’t have any friends.” This last remark manages to shatter Alex’s smug grin so that only a glaring hurt remains; the demon shifting into a girl as she watches her mentor glide out ahead to both the orange girl and the wooden woman up ahead.

Gliding right between both his orange sister and the wooden woman, their newfound guide can’t help but squint her blue sclera eyes straight the purple angel; Mally meanwhile questioning her: “Why can’t you just simply explain all this yourself.” Shaking her gaze away from the purple merc and states how: “The knowledge that you seek simply cannot be put into words; thus I lead up all through this slice of still time to something needs no words to show you. Held with the confines of my sacred grotto lies a piece of wood nymph wood containing an unflinching, unbiased memory of the nature of its time. One that has been preserved since the Kybr’s inception. If you truly seeks to learn of what the beings that she seeks out truly are, then they must let this root pierce into their minds and share its secrets with them all.”

Along their travels do the numerous jungle tree’s finally begin to thin and dwindle before them, letting the sunny light shine upon them once more as all of them start to reach the end of their forest trek. Leaping straight through the end of the woods do they come to witness a vast, crystal clear lake, reflecting the soft glow of the shinning rocks that shimmer above them all. Mally strolls over to the shoreline of the wide lake to discover half a dozen towering dinosaurs that float just above the surface; some of them swimming over to the shores to walk upon the land. “Wow...” the orange skater wondrously utters. “Yes indeed. Let’s truly thank our rashly trusted guide for leading us to absolutely nowhere, I’m sure that the majestic site was more than worth nearly being devoured alive.” the demon sarcastically mocks. “I did bring all of you hear for more than just the site. The scared grotto of my kind lies right underneath this very lake, buried underneath the galleons of crystal clear waters.” Carila counters. “Hang on here; you seriously expecting us air breathin motherfucka’s to swim all the way down into this who the hell knows how deep body of water?” “Oh no. You won’t have to touch a single drop to enter. Give me just a moment.”

Saying this does the wooden nymph waltz over to the very edge of the vast lake, lifting her root arms as high as she can before kneeling down and thrusting them right into the shoreline; the wood warrior remaining utterly silent as the trio behind her simply stare and watch. “Oh, the hell is this woman even doing?” Alex asks. “Are...are we supposed to do something with her while she’s like this?” Mally questions. “I think I know exactly what were supposed to do with her.” Roy suggests with a stretching grin. “NO!” both his sibling and pupil harshly deny.

Its after the two deny the merc’s request that they begin to feel the ground underneath their feet start to gradually quake, all the exotic birds perched along the edge of the woods behind them flying off as the trembling grows more fierce. Among the constant quaking are their sites drawn over to the lakes quivering waters, where upon they begin to witness dozens upon dozens of what seemed to be wooden tree roots arise from the surface; all of the clustered together as they erect out from the center of the lake. Water spurts right out between the encircling walls as the roots continue to rise out, the trembling starting to die down as they trio see before them an entire sphere made from wooden entangled roots; a path of wood erecting out from the lake trailing straight to the hole leading right inside. Once the entire ball had been risen out from the depths of the lake, Carila finally uproots her arms right out from the shoreline soil; the wooden nymph slowly pulling herself off the ground as the angel behind her questions: “So, this the grotto you talkin about.” “Indeed...” Though Alex is left agap by the incredible bout of natural power that the wooden woman had just displayed before her; the demon shakes off her astonishment and recollects herself to faux say: “I-I-I must admit, that was not half bad for a woman with such a plank chest.” Peering over to the very woman who had just finished erecting the entire cluster of roots, Mally finds the wooden warrior on the verge of passing out; the orange skater coming to her side and brushes her hand against the wood woman’s side. “You need a minute?” Upon asking of her well being does Carila simply swipe Mally’s palm away from her side; simply responding with: “I’m fine. Let’s just move out.”

While Mally follows the weary wood woman along the freshly erected root built path leading straight ahead, the demon and her mentor opt to simply hover along overhead; Alex glaring down to the wooden nymph as she ponders aloud: “Does she really take us for such dimwitted fools? Surely she doesn’t think that we would let her lead us right into her “sacred grotto” without even an iota of suspicion?” Hearing his remarks gaining not even so much as a single response, the demon peeks over to the purple angel hovering right beside her and see’s him simply ignoring her; rather staring down to his phone and texting. Left upset with the merc’s lack of attention, Alex shifts into a boy as he further questions: “Oh come now. Are you really still upset from calling you out over your double standards? Get over yourself already.” Despite his pupils clearly callous, Roy simply continues to look down to his phone, watching as a fresh text from his sister comes in reading:

Mally: “Did he seriously went and bring that whole mess up?”

Roy: “Yep.”

Mally: “What the actual hell! I kind see where Alex is coming from, but seriously bringing up that whole business with you and Roxanne was just a step too far.”

Roy: “I’m just done here. I seriously don’t know what to do next.”

Mally: “Why don’t I chip for a bit, have a little talk with him.”

Roy: “Wouldn’t mind if you whipped his ass either.”

“I must warn you now.” the orange skater starts to hear their wooden guide start to speak; Mally putting her phone away as she listens to what Carila has to further say. “Due to its very nature, the memory root shall attempt to bore itself into your mind to share the knowledge locked away within its very veins; the knowledge of the Kybr themselves.” “We really can’t thank you enough for leading us through this slice of prehistory; I gotta come clean here. That whole bread crumb trail I’ve been following was serious about done. I couldn’t figure out what the hell we were supposed to do down here before you came along.” the orange skater admits. “If that is all you simply wish out from this trip down, then I’d be more than happy to speed your trip along; simply as you not disturb any more of this domain.” “Ya don’t gotta worry a little green leaf on your head about it. We’ll be outta your hair faster than you can produce chlorophyll.” “Oh, I’m betting on that.” Nearing the hole leading straight into the spherical root cluster, both Roy and Alex begin to lower themselves down behind the orange skater and their wooden guide wander straight inside; a strange light beating upon them all as they enter.

Once their eyes start to adjust to the heavenly glow, the three peer out to behold what was field of red, near dying grasslands; the eerie plains of which decorated with open and withered tree that still drip out water from their hollow insides. “This is your grotto?” Mally despairingly question.” “It was...” the wooden warrior despondently confirms. “This is serious meant to be your sacred grounds? All the near dead flora spread through here makes it seem like a forlorn garden if nothing else.” the demon remarks. “Quit it.” Roy harshly growls. “What. No snappy and lewd comeback on your end?” Alex barks back. Rather than respond to his pupil, Roy simply glares out to the plains that lie ahead; the demon himself scoffing from his mentors shunning as he shares in the site.

Out along the very edge of this near lifeless grotto does the wooden woman lead the trio over to a small den made from the inside of a large hollow tree; the inside letting out this strange yellowish orange glow. Walking straight into this den do all of them find the very source of the light; a long single root that pierces straight through the earth below, with Carila proclaiming to them all that: “This root here is the very same that bestows the memories of the time it had grown in; to let another peer into the nature of its time. It however can only share its memories with but single entity and burrow its roots with their very mind to share its wisdom. So I must ask now, which of you three shall approach and bear the history it has to tell?” “You’re seriously expecting one of us to let this thing dig its tendrils into our heads? As if I’d let a dirt ridden plant like that come anywhere near me and taint my mind.” the demon rejects. “Yeah, I ain’t exactly in the mood to get brain probed either. Already made that mistake once letting the Austrian gov cut me open and dig out a chip that they accidentally lodged in there. The scares on the back of my head still itch like hell.” the merc also denies. Mally peers over to the two to find them both staring right at her, the orange skater asking them: “So your seriously expecting me to step up to the plate?” “Mal, you went through the highest of mountains to the deepest of pits just to try and find our bro. If anybody’s earned to find out the truth of this whole mess, it you.” her brother responds. Upon her purple brother’s very words does Mally take in a deep breath while turning out to the mystical root in question, exhaling before beginning to approach the piece of wood; the orange girl feeling a strange sensation through her body as she nears the glowing root.

Once the girl stands before the glowing enchanted root, Mally and those behind her watch as the tip starts to grow out towards the young girls head; the tip splitting in two as it wriggles near the sides of her cranium. With the roots only a few inches away from her head, Mally peeks back to the wood woman and asks: “This isn’t gonna hurt, right?” Right then and there does Mally get her answer when the root’s tips pierce straight through the sides of her head and burrow themselves into her cranium; a yelping shriek escaping from her mouth as she starts to spasm and tremble. The angel and demon taking in the site see the young girl shortly stop her violent shaking and watch her as she slumps backward, discovering her eyes devoid of any pupils as she blankly stares out to them both. “Uh, she gonna be fine after this, right?” Roy concerns. “These roots secrete a special ooze which mends injury upon exiting the host. She will awaken as if nothing had happened.” their wooden guide assures. “And how long will it take for her to wake up?” “With how much the roots have to show, I imagine a long while.” From these words does the wooden warrior start to stroll back out towards the way they had ventured in, the demon asking: “Where the hell do you think your going?” “I have duty to fulfill. One that I had held myself to since I was just a sapling.”

Upon the wood woman’s leave, the two peer over to the young skater as she remains utterly comatose; neither of them able to do much in the moment besides wait for Mally to finish her little history lesson. “Whelp, got nothing better to do.” the purple merc, waltzing out towards a couple of dead hollow tree’s. “Th-that’s it? Am I not to expect some sort of evaluation, training regimen, or any kind of inine physical activity that involves violence, most inflicted on my end.” the black horned demon questions. “I...I-I’m not really in the mood Alex. I’d rather just go behind a couple tree’s and alleviate some stress going through my head...by masturbating.” As his mentor walks out to the dead tree’s, Alex peers to the purple merc with hints of wondering disgust; grumbling: “It still baffles me what sort of sick forces present in this universe that chose him over anyone else to me my guiding mentor.”

Once delving deep within the mental depths of her own subconscious, natural sunlight shines out as the orange skater opens her eyes; Mally giving herself a moment to adjust to the heavenly glow before finally taking in the very site she stands upon. Stretching out as far as her eyes could see, Mally beholds a vast, luscious meadow filled with colorful flora; the likes of which rival the size of oak tree’s as the sun shines upon their petals. Fluttering along all these numerous flowers does the girl witness what she at first seemed like dozens of butterflies; their wings showing dozens of unique designs and patterns with glisten with the sunlight. When one of them starts to descend down towards her, the girl holds her hand out to let it perch atop her index finger; her eyes widening when it finally touches down and discovers what these creatures truly were. A fairy. A small fairy the size of her head greeting the young girl with a friendly wave. Mally left astonished as she gazes up to the numerous others that flutter and dance away from her; the one that stood on her finger gliding off alongside the swarm.

The orange skater follows after the flock of fairies through the lush meadow of giant flowers, soon peering out from the flora to come to a steep incline leading up to a clearing above; the face of this grassy cliff decorated with dozens of branches. Immediately does the girl start to climb up to the top of cliff, grasping hold of the patches of grass and tree limbs that litter its very face; all the while gradually losing site of the fairies that hover above. When just about to reach the top of this steep cliff face, a patch of grass that she holds onto breaks off from the rock; Mally losing her grasp and plummeting back down to the bottom of the incline. Moments before she could slam down onto the earth below, the girl feels something grasp her arm and stop her from taking the nasty fall; the skater peering up to find one of the branches that sprout from the cliff face holding onto her wrist with a warm greeting smile. More of this wooden limb begin to crawl out from the depths of the cliff, revealing itself to be a figure completely made from bark and leaves; quite similar to the guide that she and the others had recently met. The rest of the branches that protrude out from the cliff all start to erupt from its very rock, all revealing themselves to be other wood nymphs that start to sprout out from the earth. When the whole group of wood nymphs start to pull themselves out form the earth and start to climb up to the top of the cliff, the one that holds Mally flings her straight up with just a single sling upwards; the orange girl grasping the very edge of the cliff when coming to the top.

All the sprouting wood nymphs climb to the top of the steep incline as the young skater pulls herself up above the edge with them; Mally standing tall above the rock to behold the site that lies before her. Frolicking through the meadow plains does she discover numerous mystical and legendary creatures, all roaming about and coexisting with one another; centaurs proudly galloping through the calm plains, hard rock golems lumbering out in the distance, foxes with numerous tails racing along the thickets off grass, rabbits with but single horns protruding out from their heads that feast upon the wood nymphs offered leaves, even strange chimera’s sporting the body parts of numerous animals. When she finds dozens of shadows gliding over these flowery plains, Mally’s eyes peer up to the clear blue skies above and witnesses dozens of hovering beasts and creatures all taking through and sharing the air. Pegesi that gallop through the air, griffins that flap through the skies, dragons that huff out bouts of sparks from their nostrils, harpies that share the lower forms of wolves gliding alongside the gentle breeze, little plant creatures whose petals spin like helicopter blades. Incredible. These creature are all from legend, myths. They’re numerous. But why are they here? What even is this place?

The beautiful site of these vast and lively plains start to waver when dark clouds begin to blanket the clear blue sky in their darkness; Mally beginning to feel the very ground that she stands upon start to gradually tremble. Midst this earthly quaking does the orange skater discover a bright tan light that emerges out from the clouds, the glow beaming out from a pair of angelic wings that stem from the back of a human that hovers above them all. Is that… Fluttering above all the numerous mythical creatures of old, this winged figure thrusts their limbs down to the very trembling earth below; the rocky grounds soon fracturing apart at the very seems and uprooting chunks of the earth up towards the skies. The chilling outcries of the numerous mystical fauna pollute the very air with terror as the earthbound creatures fall into the depths of the stretching fissures, never again to see the light of day as they plummet down into the once peaceful grassy plains. Not even the giant rock golems prove safe from this horrifying phenomenon, their very earthly bodies fracture and crumble into chunks of broken stone; their remains joining the chunks of the earth in their ascent up towards the angel. Presented with this very threat do all the numerous sky bound beasts all take charge towards the angelic figure, their claws and beaks ready to rend the angel to pieces in their vengeful rage. Yet their numbers prove utterly fruitless as the angel gathers the ripped pieces of earth aside him and cast them all forth towards the armada; the entire airborne army shot down out of the sky from the barrage of rocks. Left distracted by the horror’s playing out before her, Mally fails to notice the earth beneath her feet crumbling apart; the ground finally giving way and causing the young girl to plummet down alongside the dozens of other mystical creatures to their doom.

Among plummeting through the dark abyss, the orange skater starts to feel the very air around her grow warm the further she descends; drops of sweat beginning to drip up from her body while falling. Its suddenly through the dark that she feels herself slam right down upon a patch of flat earth, feeling an almost relaxing warmth radiating onto her back. From the unexpected impact, the young lady opens her eyes once more to find every bit of the void she had once descended down through replaced with warm streaks of red and orange that waft through the wavy air above; with only the site of a single hand with a fiery orange tan upsetting the site. Mally reaches up to the presenting palm and grasp it to feel herself being pulled right off the warming stone, peering out into the horizon ahead to discover a vast fiery valley made from scorched rock and veins of lava that flow through the land like natural rivers. Beyond these streams of burning liquid, she finds dozens of flaming creatures that crawl and slither through this burning valley of blackened rock and lava; slugs made from molten liquid, butterflies whose wings blaze as they flutter through the air, fiery phoenixes that trail embers through the skies above, packs of deer with curling horns that spurt out flames, insects sporting hardened magma carapaces. Even the flowing rivers of lava hold their own life that breach out from the gooey surface like hopping mullets partaking in the air above.

Her eyes wonder away from the rivers when noticing humanoid like inhabitants roaming throughout these lively scorching plains; their skin a fiery tan orange, their hair bellowing through the air like burning flames as they all ride atop equine boasting skin of blazing rock and flesh. While she views some of these fiery nymphs mingling with one another as they relax along the lava riverside; other ride through the blistering hot valley brandishing weapons that blaze crackling flames; the pack charging through and hunting the blazing deer that roam the plains. Staring out to the site of all the numerous fiery people does Mally suddenly feel a hand grasp at her shoulder; the orange haired girl glancing over to her side to find a woman with long fiery hair, giving her a warm and welcoming smile.

Breaking her eyes away from the welcoming fiery nymph does the orange skater come to witness a hint of blue corrupting the blazing orange sky; Mally peering out to discover this blue light to belong to a pair of flaming blue angel wings attached to what seemed to be a regular human. When the angel thrusts their hands straight out the fiery plains it hovers above, the orange girl begins to hear a disturbance; her attention drawn back to the blazing woman that stands beside her to witness her violently spasm and fall upon her knees. Collapsing onto the scorched earth does this woman start to vomit out spurts of lava from her mouth; her fiery color draining away as more and more of her precious molten ooze spews out from her maw. The whole display brings out an unimaginable fright upon the young orange haired girl as she watches the crying fiery woman suffer from the uncontrollable hurling; Mally retching only further when daring to look out to the others that reside in the blazing valley. Every other living creature from the nymphs to the magma insects all start to quake and collapse in unimaginable agony as their blood of red hot magma spews and burst out from their orifices; all of their bodies breaking apart as more of their bright lava escapes from their flesh and arise up into the fiery air. Among this horrifying nightmare do the veins of lava that had flown through the land erupts out in columns of blazing bright red, mixing along with the bright orange blood that twist through the air and gather atop the angel. All the lava extracted from every single piece of land and creature below the angel gathers right above their head into a massive sphere; one that threatens to grow to the very size of the moon. Out from this newborn core of burning hot lava, a bout of flames spurts out from the underside and descends out over to the young orange girl below; Mally closing her eyes and putting her arms against her face as the fires were seconds from engulfing her.

Outside of Mally’s full on mental envisioning nightmare, the orange girl’s body yet remains complacently right within the small wooden den as the memory root remains within her head; the black horned demon standing outside tiring of simply standing watch and starts to wander out to the dozens of hollow tree’s that litter the grotto. She’ll be fine. Rather take this dull moment to investigate something a curious notion itching in the back of my head. Upon approaching one of these withered trees, the first detail that catch’s Alex demon red eyes simply be the very middle of their stretched and bulged out inside; with only the parted wood leading within the hollow center. The lack of any visible marks outside suggest something might’ve resided within these tree’s once. But what strange and disgusting sort of creature could have dwell underneath it very wood, and why are they practically the only noticeable foliage decorating that wood woman’s grotto? Finally taking a little peek within the hollow inside of the tree, the demon discovers some of the roots failing to simply rise up with the wall; rather a good half of them rising out to the center of the empty space. Far be it from me to waste time studying dendrology, but its a certain fact the inside of them don’t form like this. Seems more likely that something grew from the depths of this wood. But was it what manner of creature that grew within it sapped away its very life, or perhaps would it be something else?

Before the young horned demon could continue to ponder any further on the whole strange matter, Alex lightly jumps when feeling what he felt like raindrops pattering along his backside. The devil? The young demon climbs right out from the depths of the hollow tree and peers above to discover a light drizzle pouring down from the roof of the enclosed grotto; drops of water leaking through the root cluster and dripping down towards the ground. Rainfall? We’re underground, under the dry wasteland of Utah. What matter of trickery is this? In pondering this very phenomenon does he witness an entire chunk of the ceiling break right off; an entire torrent gushish right out from above; Alex finally realizing the events that were transpiring. “Oh sweet Satan, the grotto’s sinking!”

Once realizing the watery doom encroaching upon him and his other’s, the orange demon disappears in a poof of black smoke; swiftly reappearing out to the cluster of tree’s that his mentor had retreated to. “We need to escape immediately. This whole poor excuse of a garden is starting to sink back do-” Amidst attempting to warn his mentor of the looming watery doom encroaching upon them all, Alex transforms into a girl as she riles back in utter disgust when witnessing Roy watch his phone with his pants down. Hearing his pupils verbal retch, Roy swiftly pulls his underwear right back and puts his phone away in a startled panic; collecting himself before turning back to the demon and questioning: “A-Alex! Pht-thed-de-Th-the hell is gotten into you!? Don’t you know better than to disturb somebody while they’re appreciating the precious art of multiple biological copulation?” “Can you quit jelling off to your disgusting smut for a single minute and look up!?” the demon demands. Humoring his pupils request, the purple merc peeks up and behold the root ceiling breaking apart and letting torrents of water flood down and drown the garden. “Oh Jesus, the grotto’s sinking.” the merc states in a blatant calm tone, Alex letting out furious growl upon his mentor finally realizing severity of their situation. “Kay, how bout you go over wake Mal up and get her while I try and figure out where my pants went.” the black winged angel orders, both of them splitting apart as Alex zooms out to the den they had left Mally within.

The demon zips straight inside that very same den, finding his purple mentors sister remaining attached to the memory root, still as comatose as ever. Alex rushes right over to the orange girls side and swipes her body right off the floor by her collar, frantically shaking her while screaming straight into her ears to: “Wake up, you crass ruffian! Our aquatic doom is loom over us and your still casually napping away like the moronic brute you are!?” A furious growl escapes from his teeth as he finds the young girl failing to awaken from her coma, Alex swiftly resorting to physical means to attempt to snap her out from her daze; be it slapping her in the face, kicking her in the shins, and twisting her arms with Indian rope burns. Alas do any of these methods yield even an inch of progress in waking Mally from her unconscious stupor, the demon throwing her body down on the ground in his frustration. “What must I reduce myself to free you, dammit!?” Upon exclaiming such a question do Alex’s bright red eyes trail from the sides of the orange girls head and all the way out to the very root bounding her in place; the black horned demon letting out an irritated sigh as he shifts his hands straight into a jet black axe. Nrrr. Lumberjacking it be then.

Moving right over to the root that holds his mentor’s sister in place, the demon tucks himself back before swinging the blade of his newly formed hand axe out to the side of its very wood; putting every bit of himself in each swing as he repeats the process over and over. With nicks of the root being chopped through, eventually does he manage to severe the wood straight off the trunk; Mally’s body falling over as the root tumbles down onto the ground. Returning to the young skater’s side however, Alex finds the girl still out cold. Damn woman! His masters sibling refusing to awaken from her comatose stupor, the demon is left with little other choice but to simply carry the girl out and starts to pick her right off the ground; Alex surprised with how easy he could heave her right over his shoulder. Huh, lighter then expected. Perhaps this whole training nonsense may not have been a complete waste of time.

The orange skater nestled atop his very shoulder, Alex zooms right out from the den and start to glide straight towards the flooding grotto’s ceiling; peering out to his side to witness his purple mentor return to his side donning pants and all. “This rugged sibling of yours refuses to awaken!” the demon tells the angel. “That so? I ain’t so sure she’s exactly done with her little history lesson yet. That root that’s in her head’s gotta have a hell of a bombshell to drop if she’s still out. “Agh! Of all times for class to be in session.” The angel leads the demon out to one of the rapid torrents that fall from the broken ceiling; Roy warning his pupil to: “Hold your breath.” Both Alex and his mentor take in as much air as they could while rocketing straight towards the descending torrent; the two piercing straight through the water in a huge splash.

Hurdled through an entire stream of bubbles, Mally herself careens through a body of thick, crystal clear water; attempting to close her eyes and hold her breath for as long as she could while submerged. Alas can she could not hold her breath a second longer, a great exhale escaping from her mouth with next to no bubbles of air coming out; the skater left astonished and dumbfounded when finding the water around her as breathable as air. Right, all this a memory. None of it’s real. Her eyes open out to the crystal clear waters ahead and let her behold the numerous aquatic life that swims through out these oceans; schools of fish traveling together, octopi stroking through the waters, sting rays gliding through the sea like butter, and other sea life flowing all around. Yet these dozens of common sea creature be not the only that roam through the ocean, the likes of which that catch her eye being what she could only remember described as myth. Semi aquatic humanoid people dawning scales across their skin with manes of teal that flow like the wind as they swim through the waters; dressed in clothing holding swirling bright color’s and golden jewelery. Giant serpents that stretch along the sea, their gnarling teeth contrasting with their gorgeous fins as they devour prey whole. Some pieces of the coral ocean floor arising and revealing themselves to be massive turtles that trudge along the bottom of the sea. A massive shadow casts down onto them all, some peering up to find the silhouette of an incredible leviathan passing above. But all this was, wasn’t it? What happened to them all?

Midsts pondering of this beautiful sea’s very fate, Mally comes to witness a light of orange delve down into the depths; a human dawned with bubbling orange angel wings glide straight out right in the middle of this oceanic site. When the figure motions their arms straight up towards the surface, pillars of light rain down and pierce through the waters; galleons of sea water being lifted up within the light as the inhabitants retreat deeper down into the depths. Despite swimming as fast as they could, some are engulfed within these glowing columns; some of the sea folk watching in utter terror as their fellow kin are forced to rise from the ocean and up and breach the surface. Engulfed within one of these pillars, Mally is forced straight up alongside the galleons of ocean and flies straight through the surface; covering her eyes as she rises up into the light.

The young girl feels that very light eventually dim, letting her slowly open her eyes to adjust to the newfound site; Mally staring straight up to an entire sea of stars that glisten like diamond along a dark blue sky. Something about the ground beneath her feels strange as she pulls herself up, a comforting surface the likes of which she had never felt before; the skater aiming downwards to find whatever she stands upon wistfully fluffy and dark gray. She sees this fluffy gray shortly end straight out towards an entire thicket of clouds that stretch out beyond the horizon; mountains of fluffy gray ascending up above like mountains, with some puffs drifting across the skies. Alongside these stretches of gray fluff, Mally witnesses dozens of airborne creatures gliding through the skies while sharing the air with one another; avian birds that boast majestic feathers that bellow through the air, glistening lizards that crawl just along the clouds, airborne manta rays that glide through the breeze. Among these numerous skybound creatures does Mally witness numerous people; humanoids with hair like flowing clouds and tattoos of the very winds that streak across their pale bodies. While she finds some of them simply standing tall upon the clouds and taking in the view and mingling with each other, Mally see’s others ride through the air atop the numerous creatures of the night sky. All this was here once before, wasn’t it? But then…

The moment of calming sireen is then disturbed when another angel with wings of pulsing teal winds erupts right out from the sea of gray clouds; the figure hovering above them all as they wave their hands above their head in a swirling motion. The very air itself that was once peacefully still following the angel’s motion and is quickly whipped in a bellowing frenzy, the dozens of creatures and birds that once glides through the sky are cast aside by the raging winds; some of them torn right apart in horrifying fashion as easily as tissue paper among the gales. Its among the swirls of their hands that the angel thrust their palms straight up to the very stars above; the winds that surround them all blending together to form a powerful twister, one that rips apart the stratosphere itself. Countless outcries and panicking screams flood the raging air as all the creatures and people swept up into this deadly tornado are plucked out from the earthly skies and our sent straight out in to the cold void of space; never to be seen again. Try as she might to keep herself gripped upon the night clouds, Mally’s grasp proves not enough to fight against the incredible gales and is caught within the winds alongside the dozens of other people and mystical animals all drawn straight into the tornado’s wrath; thrust upwards into the starry abyss of space like the rest.

Along the very surface of the Jurassic lake do a pair of figures breach out from its very very depths; the water that splashes out from their ascent glistening from the sunny crystals above; both the purple angel and black horned demon gasping for much needed air as they water splashes back down. After coughing up whatever water may be still left in his mouth, Alex peers out to the shoreline to discover the very wooden woman that had guide pulling her arms right out from the ground; cursing out: “That vile wooden bitch! She did attempt to drown us in that horrid grotto!” While his angelic mentor shakes off all the water that soaks him, the demon then witness’s the wooden woman start to flee out towards the jungle edge; a sinister gnarl escaping from Alex’s teeth before he tosses the comatose skater in his arms out to his mentor with: “Here!” Though caught off guard when his pupil throws his unconscious sister straight to him, Roy manages to catch Mally with but his only arm; his demonic student then delving straight after the retreating nymph.

Racing away from the lake shoreline, Carila gallops back towards the very woods she lead her guests through as fast as she could run; suddenly stopping in her tracks when a streak of orange and black crashes down before her. The dust settles to reveal the black horned demon with his hand in the form of a spiked hammer, ready to swing down upon the wooden warrior. She leaps back away from the demon’s hammering assault and beholds the fury burning with the demon’s bright red eyes; Carila’s own eyes widening as she utters: “Y-You!? But that means-” The wood woman’s face morphs into a star of utter horror upon discovering the demon’s angelic partner touching down; witnessing him gently put the unconscious girl down along the grassy plains before fluttering closer. “Noooo!” she growls. “Indeed.” the demon counters, slowly marching to the wood woman. “Were you really foolish enough to believe that galleons of dirty Jurassic water would be enough to do away with me? A miscalculated assassination attempt that that we’ll shall surely make sure you pay with your life.” “Why did you trying doing that shit, anyway? If its for the whole jungle protector bit, I think punching some dinosaur and cutting some weeds isn’t exactly worth getting so pissy over.” the purple merc questions. “...Do you honestly believe that this has anything to do with any meaningless duty? Do you not know the ramifications that your very existence implies!?” From these very words does the wooden warrior transform one of her arms into a sharp splintery mace; soon charge out to the purple angel as she declares: “This stopped being about the job the moment all of you came down here!” Carila swings her mace arm out to his head once close enough to the purple merc; Roy swiftly kneeling down to evade the spiked weapon and kicks the wood woman right off her feet, making her fall flat onto her back. Peering up does the wood nymph witness the purple angel lifting his leg up and diving his foot straight downwards; the wooden warrior acting fast and burrowing straight down into the soil before Roy could stamp her right out.

Having witnessed their foe dig through the dirt to escape, Alex sweeps his site all around the shoreline; wondering aloud: “Where the hell did that wooden harlot scurry away to?” Glancing over to his purple mentor, the black horned demon finds the merc waltzing to his side while staring straight out to the jungle edge behind him. “The jungle?” Alex utters. Fully turning over to the forest edge, a smarmy grin stretches across his cheeks as he lets loose a little chuckle; mocking out with: “A failed assassination attempt and fleeing into hiding? What a sheepish loathsome guardian.” “Don’t think she’s exactly done yet.” his purple teacher warns. From this warming does the forest before them begin to quake, numerous jungle tree’s spurting out from the earth and clustering together to form one gigantic arm; the limb hammering its hard wood fist straight down to the duo. Roy and Alex split away from eachother as the giant arm dives straight down upon the earth in a furious hammer; the demon between them blocking the flying debris before he claims that: “No doubt she’ll keep attacking like this unless we flush her out.” “Think I know a way that we can to.” Roy follows with.

Along the other end of the gigantic wooden limb, Carila manages to dislodge her own arm right out from the stub of the massive cluster of jungle trees; the wooden warrior peeking out along the stretch to witness the purple angel zoom right out from the horizon. Once the wood woman was right in site, Roy fires out a deadly ray of black and purple out from the palm of his hand and straight out to his wooden foe; Carila springs up to the treetops above to evade the dark blast. As soon as she lands atop one of the branches overhead does the wooden guardian thrust her foot deep into the bark of the tree she stands upon; all the moss covered branches that protrude out from the tree lunge straight out to the approaching angel, with their sharp tips ready to pierce through flesh. The purple angel weaves himself around all the branches that thrust their tip out towards him as he zips straight towards the base of the tree; not a single bit of their rough jungle bark able to brush along his precious purple hood.

Once near the tree his foe stands upon, Roy rams his legs right against its trunk hard enough make the jungle wood begin to tilt over; the towering tree’s roots tearing out from the soil as its plummets. With the very tree she stands upon on the verge of crashing down, Carila pulls her leg out from its very bark and leaps out towards one of the logs that neighbor her; the purple merc seeing his moment to strike and rapidly rocketing right up to the airborne wooden warrior. Right when the guardian was about to land right onto another branch, she feels the mercs fist right against her chin; Roy delivering a rising uppercut that sends her flying straight up through the treetops. Having been sent several feet above the treetops, Carila regains her composure just in time to witness a pterodactyl gliding through the skies; a smile cracking along the wood woman’s cheeks as her arm sharpens into a thin tipped pike.

The merc soon breaches through the treetops himself and hovers along the brightly lit cavern skies, holding his hand right above his eyes to block out the light of the crystals as he peers out to where his wooden foe might’ve went. A high pitched screech then rings right in his ears from behind; the purple angel peeking back just in time to witness the sharp beak of a pterodactyl thrusting out to him. Roy veers out along the side in an effort to evade the dinosaurs skewering tip, feeling the underbelly of the winged beast brush along the fabric of his hood as the pterodactyl passes by; purple angel peering out to the dino to discover the wooden warrior riding atop the monster, all with one of her limbs rooted right into its brains. “Jeez, who’d think that the protector of the jungle would stoop to such hypocrisy; how the prideful and bold have fallen from grace.” he mocks. “To hell with this outdated piece of earthly history, it could drown into the depths of the abyss for all I care anymore! For once in my long and arduous life of wasting away in this worthless hole, I’ve found a calling of greater importance.” Upon these very words does the wooden warrior swing her arm out in the air, flinging out an entire salvo of splinters and thorns that rain down towards the angel; Roy covers his face as the flurry of wooden needles showers down upon him. Her angelic foe distracted by the shower of sharp thorns, Carila forces her flying steed to glide out to the young merc once more; her free arm morphing into a splintered scythe as she rapidly approaches. Just as the wooden warrior was ready to chop her foe’s head clean off his neck, Roy quickly jets up right out of her blades swing and grasp the guardians arm before she could pass by; the purple angel uprooting Carila straight out of the pterodactyl’s brains and flings her back in the direction of the lake. The wooden warrior crashes right along the Jurassic lakes shallow shores, waves of the water splashing and rippling from her little dip. Water leaks out from the opening along the roots of her wooden body as she lumbers out from the lakeside; her bright blue sclera eyes trailing over to the comatose orange girl left resting along the shore.

Hovering down over to the shores where he had tossed away his wooden adversary, Roy’s eyes widen when that very same foe holding his comatose sister by the shirt collar; Carila brandishing a blade of wood straight against Mally’s very neck. “Listen, I get how all the work stress ya got piled up made ya fall from grace hard as hell; but going so low as to take a hostage that can’t even fight back? Not a bad play there if I’m being honest; even if its a dirty one.” the merc briefly praises. “Don’t you dare lecture me on morality, not after all that I had experienced. I imagine that with what the memory root is showing this girl, she would more than agree on how justified this is. A justice with which fate has bestowed upon me after enduring countless years of haunting memories and infinite sadness. And now...you shall taste that very same despair!”

Right as the wooden woman was ready to thrust her wooden blade straight into the comatose girls body, a sudden sharp pain thrusts into her side; the pain enough to paralyze the wood woman from moving even a single root. Slowly she peers down to the side of her lower torso and discovers one of the girls arms piercing straight through her wooden body; the orange girls head rising from its slump to reveal the bright red pupils staring back at her. A sinister chuckle leaks out from her devilish grin as the girl’s body start to morph before her eyes, the roots attached to her head transforming into a pair of jet black horns. “You blind fool. Did you honestly believe we didn’t think this wouldn’t be the first thing that you would try?” the girl asks as she finally fully forms into the very demon that had accompanied the two. With but a single swift movement, Alex slides his razor sharp hand blade across the wooden warrior root body while slipping right out from her grasp; Carila effectively split diagonally as what remains of her upper body is sent careening back in a splatter of chlorophyll. In a sudden poof of black smoke does the demon return over to his mentor’s side, Alex’s smile remaining when fully expecting some form of praise for his performance. His prideful grin deflates when peeking over to the purple angel and finding him not even uttering a single word as he simply stares outward.

When hearing the sound of agonizing grunts and gnarls, Alex glances out to the very wood woman he had just finished slicing straight in half; left astonished when watching her pull what little was attached to her head off the ground. “Gotta give it to ya; pulling yourself back up after having most of yourself slashed off; color me impressed. Even a pornstar’s morning wood would have trouble keeping itself up after getting slashed, they’d be lucky enough to walk away with even a slightly functioning libido afterward. And yet, here you are, ready to erect herself out from your slump and willing to get back in the shoot. Bravo” the merc further compliments with a full blow applause. “Will my disgust of your horribly perverted mind ever cease?” the demon beside him comments.

A bout of lime green pukes out from the fallen wood warriors maw, commenting in between her breaths that: “So many millennia have passed...and nothing...nothing has changed...You still treat us as clay...patronizingly abuse and mock us…as if were nothing but meager toys you could mold to your sick whims...completely disregarding the fact that we had lives of our own...You’re nothing but a sick little fledgling!” “Hmph, whatever qualms you had against demon kind, your grudge was surely not worth the sorry state you’re left in.” Alex chimes in with. “This is far beyond any demons, you irritating little imp. If you wish behold a true monster, look to the man beside you. His very presence is nothing but a reminder of horrors not just countless others had to suffer.” the wood woman specifies, Alex gazing back to the purple angel standing beside him. “Um, mind being specific here? I gotta a mile long list of people I screwed over who want to rip out my testies.” Roy requests.

Carila coughs up little bits of chlorophyll that splatter along the grassy shoreline, taking in another before continuing to explain: “My kind had been plentiful and happy. More than willing to support the very world we had shared with others. All that changed when your kind...the Kybr had revealed themselves...countless worlds and the lives that inhabited them were torn asunder and changed into whatever demented forms they had desired them all to be; caring little of how much any creature in this universe was suffering under their omnipotence. Throughout the ages did the wood nymphs dwindle in number in the struggle against the Kybr, their blood mixing along the oceans of other creatures that had fought against them. Not even the most powerful of demon’s could stand against them. I was helpless to watch as my people had thinned to a meager handful, constantly fleeing from a threat nobody in this universe could even comprehend stopping. I could no longer look to that very grotto under the lake as the place of my birth. All it stands to be now is a graveyard where the last of my kin had faded away.”

The wood woman grunts out as she stands atop her severed upper torso, resuming her lament with: “And though the Kybr have vanished, the scars they had inflicted still remain upon the universe and those who reside within; wounds that prove far too severe for time itself to heal. This jungle, this slice of frozen time was all that the wood nymphs had left to them; one of the pieces of this universe left untouched by the Kybr. And so with nowhere left in this world to harbor, we were tasked to preserve this land....I didn’t ask for this. None of us had! My own mental scars ached the very moment I had laid my blue eyes upon your black wings; the display of power he had demonstrated against this harsh natural land was more then enough proof that you were indeed one of them...one of the Kybr. You claim me as a hypocrite, yet here you stand, demanding one hurt by your ancestors to recount the tails of trauma they had inflicted. You spill the blood of their fraternity and now this? You Kybr are the real monsters.”

Having fully sat through the crippled wood woman’s brief history lesson, both the angel and demon look upon her with pitiable contempt, the merc between them stating: “So all this was just a ploy for vengeance over people that are not here anymore? I mean I respect the dedication, at least.” “But it seems that you’re admirable ploy for such pointless revenge has run its course. A shame.” the demon beside him joins. “Oh, but my ploy is far from over.”

Upon the very next moment does a giant stomp between the duo and their fallen foe; both of them gazing up to find the foot belonging to a massive sauropod that lumbers into the lake beside them. Once the giant dinosaur passes by, Alex returns his eyes over to their front and discovers their thought to be beaten foe having vanished; the demon’s eyes peeking over to his purple mentor to find him still staring over to the sauropod. Returning his sites back to the dino in question, he shares in the site of the wooden woman fleeing atop the beasts very back; a small growl escaping as he readies to fly out in pursue. Without even so much as a word of warning does his purple teacher suddenly take off after their retreating foe; Alex left behind to cough up whatever dirt wafts through the air from the unexpected takeoff.

The dust finally settles, Mally coughing up what dirt had slipped into her mouth and uncovers her eyes to the scene set before her. She stands in the midst of vast army stretching out for miles on end, made from diverse and numerous mystical creatures, people, animals that marching together; limb and limb, hand in hand; all of them determined to face the threat all of the stare out to. Turning over to the direction the battalion marches does she see a brilliant gleaming like that shines upon them all, a warm glow filled with comfort and hope. Peering beyond the heavenly light does she then discover what manner of foe this entire battalion faces; a giant withered head with angel wings coming out from its mouth and flapping in the wind, all attached to a centipede like body sporting numerous eyes along its glimmering exoskeleton. All the numerous eyes that decorate this holy abomination slowly begin to open; a shinning glow pouring out from their pupils and glimmers upon all standing before it, making the entire army stop dead in their tracks. The young girl standing out among them all watches as the sheer determination that once radiated from the entire army crumbles away in but a single instance; every single creature that had marched out to the celestial being now kneeling upon their knee’s and bowing faithfully to the angel’s blinding glow.

This hope filled light starts to fade away and lets the orange skater view the world around her once more; Mally discovering herself standing among yet another army made from numerous magical creatures, mystical beings, and mighty deities. Peering out to the direction they face does she discovers the angelic monstrosity they stand against; a twisted and warped purple shape protruding out several heads of different creatures from its edges, with wings flapping out from these creature’s eye sockets. A deep purple mist exudes right out from the dozens of mouths that the angelic horror opens; all the demons, gods, animals, and people that stand together against this threat all are halted mere moments from attack as this mist blankets them all. Among the army’s stupor does the girl see all of their eyes glow out with the very same purple they breath in; their daze swiftly turning into absolute maddening fury; raging screams and horrified shrieks echo out from the entire battalion as anger and confusion overwhelm them all. Mally watches in utter terror as all these people that once stood together in the face of greater adversity were now violently ripping each other apart; bloody chunks and part flying across the air in the descending madness. The angelic horror pours out more of this maddening mist out from its numerous maws until the very air itself was consumed in raging violet.

Soon enough does this fog eventually lift, letting Mally come to see herself hovering along in the void of space; staring down upon the earth as thousands, if not, millions of holy abominations much like the two she had seen before hovering alongside their angelic humanoid counterparts, surrounding the very planets stratosphere and beyond. Beholding this is she forced past all the winged monsters, her site zooming in towards the center of South America and keeps closing in until she sees a golden tower that stretches from the ground to the shrouding dark clouds. Atop this golden tower was a massive halo that holds a strange space within; all the while beneath this ring stood numerous figures, one with orange horns with a flame in the middle, another the head of a skull surrounded by a cosmic aura, one bearing a crown of pure flames and three eyes, one with a tiara of ice crowned atop her head, another garbed in a cape of winds, and finally one donning a set of armor made from thick bedrock. The millions of holy monsters and human angels all start emerge out from the surrounding clouds, all of which approach the towers very top as the halo overhead starts to rapidly spin and pulse. Working underneath this very ring is a lone angel donned with wings of pure solid matter, typing across and adjusting numerous holographic panels; this lone man pressing one final button on the screen right as all of his fellow kin lunge forth. All the numerous celestial beings that surround them are all drawn straight into the space held within the ring; the halo’s reach extending out to all the angelic beings that surround the very planet as the earth glows brighter and brighter the more of them are absorbed.

Her entire vision engulfed in this glow, the intense light finally starts to fade away and letting Mally open her eyes once more; the orange skater rubbing her head and flakes pieces of root off her head as she sits up. Greeted with a much softer glow set among the darkness, she starts to crawl out from the gap and comes to find herself back out in the prehistoric open air; the echoes of the jungle’s wildlife ringing in her ears. This ain’t the grotto. Is this still...What the hell even happened in the time that root burrowed through my skull? As the young lass ponders weather her surroundings are reality or not, a rumbling explosion draws her attention out along the lands very edge; Mally immediately taking off towards the direction she heard the blast go off without even a moments hesitation.

Once having climbed up to the towering head of the sauropod, the wood woman digs her roots straight into its head and burrows right into its very brains; the dinosaur crying out and flailing before the parasite atop its head takes control. Forcing the dino’s head to peer back, Carila is alarmed to discover the very angel that she had cursed in hot pursuit; the wooden warrior thrusting the sauropods elongated neck straight out to the nearing merc in a desperate attempt to swat him away. Roy hovers right aside the dino’s thrusting head and slaps the beast hard enough to make it careen out from the lake waters and crash along the opposite shoreline; the lake waters trembling from the hefty impact. Gliding out to the lake shores himself, Roy lands right atop the fallen dinosaurs very head and peers down to the hole that she had burrowed into the poor thing; a trail of its blood leading straight into the forest edge. A sinister chuckle leaks out from the merc’s maw before he shouts into the woods: “Running like this ain’t gonna do you a lick of good. You’re the one that started this whole shitshow, you should at least have the theoretical vag eggs to take the consequences like a stiff bean cu-” Right upon the very instant does massive mess of wooden roots stretch out from the edge of the forest and envelope the angel’s entire body; pulling Roy further into the depths of the woods.

All the numerous roots tied around the purple angel’s body bash the boy into tree after thick prehistoric tree pulling him deeper through; some of the towering tree’s crashing down to the ground from the slamming impact. Once dragged far enough through the woods, all the roots that bind the purple angel’s body unravel and send the merc crashing right into the face of a towering cliff; chunks of the rock descending alongside him as Roy shakes off his daze just in time to witness his wooden foe lunge out from the forest with a freshly made body. When Carila thrusts her newly made splinter claws right out to the falling angel, Roy strafes aside the wooden warriors thrusting jab; her claws digging straight through the rocky cliff face as she slides down. Carila bounces right off the rocks and out to the receding purple angel; Roy holding up his only arm as the wooden woman feverishly lashes her thorny claws and smashes through the fallen boulders while furious screaming: “Die!...Die! Die! Die!” “Still can’t believe your using the old and tired “sins of the father” bullshit just to throw this little shit fit of yours. Least you could do is come up with a better excuse that doesn’t dump all your problems on somebody vaguely related to some assholes that screwed you over. You might as well just be pissing in the wind at that point.” “What the hell could a cretin like you possibly know, left utterly ignorant of your ancestors sins inflicted upon this very world, all the tormentous suffering that had echoed across the anneals of time to countless others thanks to them. What would you know of that pain, of watching all the people you hold dear die before you!?” Upon the wooden warriors questions of suffering does the merc’s smug grin suddenly shatter, the skin along his arm socket violently pulsating as he leaps right over one of the Carila’s swipes. Hovering right above the wood woman, Roy hammers his tightly clenched fist straight down onto her head and punches her straight down into the dirt; shouting back: “You think I wouldn’t know that pain!?” Carila’s crash down into the earth manages to leave a crater the size of a small home; Roy glaring down as what remained of his wooden foe worms down into the soil. A serene breath passes out from the merc’s mouth, putting aside his short lived anger like a briefly brandished weapon. Easy Roy. Don’t need to get worked up all at once. Just start digging this morning wood out from the ground and then we can starting beating on her.

Right as the merc readies to thrust his arm down into the dirt, the crater he stands upon suddenly erupts in an explosion of dirt and rubble; the intense force of which launching the angel back up into the prehistoric air. Once stopping in the middle of the air, the purple angel peeks back down to discover what looked to be a gigantic worm all made from numerous roots bursting from the soil and rising straight after the merc; Carila riding right atop the worm with fury in her blue sclera. Roy ascends up along the cliff face as the wood worm furiously gives chase, the ascent crumbling into rocky chunks as both of them head towards the top. Coming out from the cliffs ascent, the purple angel glides straight into the forest edge perched along the top; peering back to see the worm stopping just short of the woods and continues the chase on foot. Yet even as Roy stays a good distance away from the pursuing wooden warrior, Carila refuses to hold up on her relentless assault and start to shove her arms straight into the very tree’s she runs right past; uprooting them from the soil and tossing them out like thick, ivy covered spears. Seeing all the plucked out tree’s descend down towards him, Roy weaves out from all the treetops that slam down upon the jungle grounds; some of them even knocking down the surrounding tree’s upon the descent. Jeez, seems like this bitch’d tear through this whole damn forest before calling the whole thing quits. Course, it be a bit easy just to tear and blast her to pieces; but that sure ain’t no fun. Think something more ironic might be better thematically appropriate here, but how to go about that? Upon coming along the next part of the jungle does the purple angel sense his answer, a devilish grin creeping out from between his cheeks as he peers out along his left. Oh yeah, that’ll work beautifully.

Back out along the receding lakeside, the black horned demon stares down into the water as it reflects her feminine form; a low growl slipping out from between her teeth before she swats at her own image. Where does that purple low life get the nerve? Ignoring his his own pupil and leaving them behind on the shores of a prehistoric lake. He should know better than this, dammit. Don’t say that he’s still upset of our last conversation? You’d think somebody with such grizzly professions would be more thick skinned than to be affect by something so harmless as words. How foolish.

On these very thoughts, the demon’s ears catch something rustling behind him; Alex quickly pulling herself up and turning out to the forest edge to find the bushes quivering. Her alarm dies down when witnessing none other than his mentor’s sibling emerge out from the green; stating: “Oh, its only you.” “A-Alex? Is- is this another...Is that you?” Mally utters. “Oh I don’t know, has that rancid branch that bore into her head deprived her of what sense you had?” “Okay, yeah, this is real.”

Strolling over to the demon’s side, the orange skater peers out to the vast lake before them while questioning: “So, where’s Roy.” “Hmph, that depraved brother of yours is off somewhere in combat with that wooden harlot after she attempt to drown us all.” “Ke-I-what...Agh...I’m out for about an hour and I miss all this. Though after everything that root wound up showing me, I shouldn’t be surprised things went downhill like this. We need to find them before it gets worse.” “Why should we? He doesn’t seem so eager to so much as speak to me, let alone fight by my side. Pretty rude if we’re being honest. Why should I humble myself to go crawling back to him?” Alex refuses with arms crossed. “Jeez, starting to see why he just up and ditched ya.” “What are blathering about?” “Did you seriously expect him to just leave off like nothing ever happened after you deliberately trash talking him about the beef with his ex?” Mally asks him, fully turning over to the demon. “Well, guess that should be the turnabout to it all, should it? If he’s so eager to jest of my demeanor; then he should be prepared to face the same sort of judgment. And from all those rumors said what had happened; its no wonder that she dumped him.”

Seeing her demonic partners make this last statement with a smug grin prompts the orange skater to slowly start stroll closer towards her; remaining silent as her fist clenching tighter the closer she nears. Once standing right beside the black horned demon, Mally roughly grasps Alex by the throat and pulls her closer; the skater swinging her fist hard enough into her jawline to splash her down into the shallow lake water. Pulling herself right out from the shallow end, Alex starts to cough up bits of water as she rubs the part of her chin that was struck; glaring up to the skater with: “What the hell is your-” Before Alex could so much as utter another word, Mally grasps the demon’s shirt collar and pulls her face to face; drips of sweat running down the demon’s head as she stares upon the skater blood red glare. “Did you not think that black horned head of yours that he said all that to you to try and help you, to try and break down the raw reality of how you treat people like they’re nothing just to try and change your sad, sorry situation. Cause if there’s one thing that my bro’s on the mark with, its that you no one likes you; and you saying shit like that is exactly why. You just treat everyone around you like your better than them, like barely anybody you know is worth your precious time. You think that’s the reason why everyone stays away from you?”

The demon’s face sours upon the girl’s enraged ranting; Alex growling back: “Like hell you know what people are really like around me, the way they all stare as if they’re very eyes say that I don’t belong with them. You wouldn’t dare say all this to me if you could see the scorns they’d give as far back as preschool.” Suddenly does Mally lay down a nasty headbutt right upon the demon’s face, one that makes Alex splash back down into the shallow shores; her node blood floating through the lake water as the skaters shadow looms over her. “You think that excuse is gonna come even close to working here? I knows somebody who has the same sort of copy paste sob story of being rejected cause of the way they look; somebody who could’ve just as well wound up being just as much of a bitter prick as you’re being. But she didn’t. She kept going and kept her chin up despite all the names, all the scorn, all the mockery. And thanks to that, she wound up having people that cared about her by her side, ready to throw down life and limb at the drop of a hat for her if ever need; and they’d sure as hell know she would do the same for all of them.”

Clutching the wet demon’s shirt collar once more, Mally drags Alex right out from the lakeside and has her stand right on the solid shores behind them; keeping her enraged glare upon the demon as she claims how: “Now you’re gonna go out and make up for the inexcusable shit that you said to Roy; or so help me god, I’m going to take you by the horns and drag your sorry ass out to him so I can shove my fist down your bunghole far enough to make you puppet out an apology. Do you understand me?” Among Alex mix of borderline fright and questionable arousal, Alex calms herself and states that: “Fine. But I’m going out of my own volition.” Saying this does the demon start to hover out to where her purple mentor had flown out to, all while the skater follows behind with her hockey stick brandished.

Perched along the branches of the prehistoric tree’s, several exotic birds that once called these woods their natural homes flutter away in terror as a streak of purple and black zoom right past; the tree’s that they once inhabited soon absorbed within a slithering mass of roots and bark that pursues after. While swerving around the dozens of towering jungle tree’s, the purple angel peers back to the mess of gathered wood that chases after his hide and finds his wooden foe riding atop the mass; her upper half sinking into the mass as she feverishly pursues after. Yeah, that’s it girl. Keep that raging hate boner up chasing after this sweet ass. Your gonna find out in a sec that this tail’s way too tasty for your own good.

Soon enough does Roy manages to glide right out from the depths of the forest and starts to descend down into a small valley clearing; the merc peering back to witness Carila leap right out from the woods, rocking a gigantic body cobbled together with dozens of jungle wood. While the two race through the valley field, Roy takes the time to peer back to the wooden woman feverishly chasing after and further demeans: “Ya know, I’m beginning to wonder when exactly all this pent up hatred and rage made ya loose yer head. Course, its another question to ask weather you had a mind in the first place underneath that mess of aging roots that you unfortunately gotta call a noggin.” Rather then attempting to respond back with words of her own, Carila instead lets out a monstrous screech as she leaps up through the air; her heavyweight body plummeting down towards the merc like a tumbling tree. The purple angel weaves right out from the wooden warriors plunge, her massive body crashing back upon the earth with a trembling quake; strands of white and yellow goo splattering along her feet the moment she stomps down.

Her blue sclera locked right upon the purple merc, she witnesses him retreat out to the side of a towering rock cluster; Carila wasting not another moment to lumber out towards her target. Roy rises right out from the wood giants tackle upon the last moment and makes her crash right into the rocks; countless boulders break off as the cluster crumbles to pieces, a couple of other strange boulders falling over and breaking apart into yellow goop. Carila keeps her killer glare onto the angel as Roy hovers high above and lands right atop a towering jungle tree sitting right in the middle of the valley; the merc sticking his tongue out while nonchalantly flipping her the bird. The wood woman stretches out her massive log of an arm right out to the very tree that her foe is perched on, plunging her roots straight into the tree’s very wood. The towering tree within her grasp, Carila uproots it straight out of the soil and flings the merc right off; several oval rocks falling off the branches as she continues to flail the massive jungle tree about. “Why won’t you die already!?” the shrieks whilst continuing to violently swing out to the fleeting angel. Straight into a cliff face, sweeping out through the meadow, and down upon uphill ascent of an incline; Carila slams the tree into wherever in her efforts to strike the purple merc out from the sky; Roy continuing to simply evade her flailing without so much as counterattacking himself.

Eventually does one of the wood nymphs aimless swings actually manage to swat the angel out of the air, sending the merc straight down in the middle of an enclosed cliiffside. An unhinged laugh escapes from the nymph as Roy pries himself off the soil; Carila’s blue sclera locked as she finally corners the merc. “Not once in the thousands of years I had been cursed to remain down in this slice of frozen time did I ever this this chance would grace me. But it shall be all worth it for avenging my ancestors that had suffered at the hands of you Kybr; forcing us all to hide down in this hellhole until our inevitable extinction.” “Funny as hell for you of all people to brag about taking vengeance. Just hope your ready to have those same words spewed right back in yer face.” Roy warns her.

These words of warning spoken do both of them hear an enraged roar ring out from above, the wooden warrior glaring up to the top of the cliff to witness a vicious T-rex start dropping down; the dinosaur descending down onto the wooden giant and digging its sharp teeth straight into her shoulder. Carila tumbles back as she attempts to pry the dino right off her as a triceratops charges in, ramming right into the guardians shin and knocking her down upon her back. The very moment she tumbles down into the ground does a pterodactyl swoop down and try to dig its claws straight into the wood woman’s tiny head; a whole pack of velociraptors joining in and clinging to part of her wooden body as she struggles against all the furious dinosaurs piling onto her. “Why!? Why are you all- Why is this happening!?” the guardian yelps out among the chaos.

The giant wood woman hears a devious laugh sound out alongside the growling dinosaurs, her head peering up to see the laughter coming from the purple angel as he hovers above; further berating her as she’s being torn apart at the seems. “Can’t believe you seriously call yourself a guardian of these parts. You’ve been on the job for serious how long now, and you were so occupied with wanking off your hate boner that ya didn’t realize where I lead ya to.” Curious of what the merc was prattling on about, Carila peers out around the very valley she had just thrashed about in. Absolute horror crawling through her as she finally discovers all the broken eggs that litter the ground, their shells and yolk splattered and scattered along the grassy plains. “You’ve been calling me a monster this whole time, all for a bunch of shit people related to me did a long while ago. And yet look at what you just did now. You were so busy trying to stamp me out that you wound up screwing over all these poor dino motherfuckers. Guess’s it might not be worthwhile if that kinda reach around prankster bull ain’t poetically catharsis.” The angel taunting words finally break the last bit of sanity holding the wood woman together, a maddening cry echoing out from her maw as all the roots that make up her body pierce through the dozens of dinosaurs that once tore her flesh apart.

Along the valley’s edge do both Alex and Mally emerge out from the forest in time to behold the wooden behemoth draw in the numerous scaly beasts within her own body; the dinosaurs crying out in agony as the wood nymphs roots tear their flesh and consume their very forms. Peering away from the agonizing site to find her purple brother hovering overhead, left utterly mesmerized by the grotesque scene playing out under him. “Shit man...” “Roy!” he hears his sister call out to him with.

The purple angel parts his eyes away from wretched site and gazes down to discover both her and his pupils approaching; Roy himself fluttering down to greet them back with: “Welcome back to reality, Mal. The hell sort of trippy sites did ya see while that root was digging in your brains?” “I...I’m not even sure I can put what all I saw into comprehensible words. But I can definitely say that whatever the Kybr were, friendly sure as hell is the furthest words away from them. I practically saw them all tear apart worlds and people effortlessly before my eyes.” the orange skater describes. “Wait a moment. Are you saying that irritating splinter woman’s venomous words towards your perverted brother hold some modicum of truth?” the demon questions. “Yep. Terrible stuff.”

“And speaking of mistakes, I think that Alex’s has something she wants’ta say to ya, Roy.” Mally segues to. “That true?” Roy asks, his purple eyes locked to the demonic girl. After transforming herself into a boy, Alex coughs a little bit before taking in a deep breath and going: “I-Indeed I do. For you see, underneath my awe aspiring complex personality; I am in fact capable of humbleness. And I dare slaughter anyone that says otherwise… My point is that humility allows me to perceive some ill made mistakes I have made; specifically making mention of your most recent relationship affairs as a crutch to counterargument. Such behavior was out of line for me. I’m starting to understand why those around me might react when taking aim for a more personal target. And for such an undeserved low blow; I must sincerely ap-..apo-…apollll...apolooo...ap...apooolllo...” Amidst the demons’s attempt to apologize, his mentor takes a gentle grasp upon his shoulder and gives a grin while responding: “Eh, I can probably take that crappy attempt of a sorry. Sound like I finally broke through to ya on that shit.” “Yes, well...best savor that. Don’t expect me to lower myself to such levels again.” Seeing the two make up brings out a warm smile across Mally’s cheeks a moment that’s promptly interrupted when a trembling squeal screeches before them all.

The trio glancing back towards the ongoing scene and come to watch as their wooden foe rises upon her feet, the countless dinosaurs that had once attempted to rend her to pieces now sown into her very roots; the head of the tyrannosaurus stuck to end of her right arm while the head of the triceratops is stuck to her left. The dozens of velociraptors decorated across her torso. “My duty doesn’t matter anymore; it never did in the end. Attempting to safeguard that which the Kybr had destroyed, it was nothing but a fruitless endeavor to falsify a purpose; one that I attempted to engrave in my fateless life for the sake of those long past. But now, a new road stretches out before me, one to prevent those like me to spawn in this world with such predetermined scars; ones that ache with a cold and empty loneliness and yearning for others that will never come to pass. And the first step upon that path is with the Kybr’s true extinction!” Upon those very words do all the dinosaurs trapped within her body all roar out at once; their outcries ringing across the entire prehistoric jungle.

“Oh yeah. Kind forgot about that. Probably should just blasted her to bits while she was turning, huh. Still, hearing Alex let out hilarious attempt of an apology might’ve been worth it.” the purple angel claims. “A rather careless mistake if you ask me; should’ve just ended her quite long ago. But this laughable error matters little in the end. No matter what grotesque form this worthless wood woman takes, its doubtful it would be nowhere near enough to stand up against the might of me and my constituents.” the black horned demon adds. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” “Glad to see things are finally back on track.” the orange skater among them states; the trio taking their stance against the behemoth of wood and dinosaur flesh.

The horrible amalgamation of jungle wood and dinosaur flesh suddenly lunges forth, thrusting its T-rex limb and opening its jaw wide as its maw races to the three. The trio split apart before the head of the beast could sink its teeth into them all, with Roy leaping right back into the fray after which and kicking the head of the dino right in the cheek; the purple angel’s kick strong enough to make the entire giant tumble aside. As the wooden behemoth continues stumbling back, a lone yo yo twirls around the very same arm and wraps the T-rex head within its reinforced steel string; the string pulling back and keeping Carila front regaining her balance. Peering back does the wooden warrior discover that very string belonging to the orange skater, Mally single handedly keeping the amalgamation of wood and beast from standing on her own two feet. Its in that moment that the wooden woman hears the air above her let out a distinctive poof, the head of the giant gazing up to discover the black horned demon plunging down upon her with his hand taking the form of an axe. Alex slams his transformed axe hand down onto the wood girl’s neck, the impact however not being enough to make a clean cut; the demon’s weapon only getting through about a tenth of their foe’s thick neck. Before the demon could take another swing at her neck, Carila swats the imp away with her other free arm; this very action causing the giant body to finally fall onto the earth with a trembling quake. With the chimera of wood and flesh having crashed on her backside, the purple angel ascends the air above the fallen giant and holds his only arm up in the air; a sphere of purple and black cultivating in the palm of his hand. As the angel above her prepares his assault, Carila glances over to her arm to find the skaters string still wrapped around the head of the T-rex; a sinister smile cracking between her cheeks before she starts to pick herself off the ground. Rising right off the ground, the jungle wood giant thrust her arm straight upwards and flings the orange girl that had held her back up towards the purple angel; Roy discarding his ball of purple and black to catch his sister with but his only limb. “Dammit!”

With but a single hand, the merc manages to grasp his orange sibling before she could be flung right out into the jungle; Roy keeping Mally in his hand as the giant above continues to pull its heavyweight body off the ground. “Kay, we might need a plan here. How bout pulling out one of those strats of yours out, eh Mal?” “I ain’t too sure. Alot of them won’t be as effective with our blue brother AFK.” “Let’s just cobble one together instead. This 20 ton of morning wood is practically on high alert for anything I do.” “She didn’t exactly see Alex coming though. He got a good chop onto her neck before he was swatted away.” Mally gazes out behind the rising giant and discovers their demonic third gliding out from the depths of the woods, sweeping away whatever leaves and branches wound up on him. “I think that might just be our winning ticket. Fling me out.” the skater requests. “Uh, kay.” When her brother tosses her up into the air, Mally stiffens her entire figure before landing right back in Roy’s palm; the merc holding his sister like an Olympic javelin thrower as he asks: “Where at?” “Aim for the head.”

Just as his orange sister instructs him to, the purple angel lobs Mally straight towards the very head of the giant of wood and flesh like a throwing spear; the skater flipping herself feet first as she streaks through the air like a missile. Though Carila attempts to lift her triceratops head to block the oncoming lass, its weight simply proves far too much of a hindrance to lift up in time; the wood woman able to little but brace for impact as the orange skater harshly stamps her feet straight into the behemoth’s tiny face The wooden giant reels back as Mally leaps right behind the amalgamation and out to the approaching demon; Alex’s pupils shrinking when peering up and discovering the skater descending down towards him. “Grab me! Grab me! Grab me! Grab me! Grab me! Grab me!” the skater screams while plummeting down. Any attempts to catch the girl dropping down towards her are forsaken right then and there when the black horned demon disappears in a puff of smoke; Mally dive bombing straight through the cloud and violently crashing down into the dirt below. Alex reappears a few feet beside as the orange skater plucks her upper half right out from the soil, shaking the dirt out of her hair before sarcastically thanking the demon with: “Gee Alex, sure appreciating ya catching me in the air like that. Sure saved my hide from crashing down into the dirt face first!” “I’m honestly at a lost on what exactly you were expecting me to do with you bombing down to me at breakneck speeds.” Alex earnestly questions. “Well, can I at least expect ya to listen to a little plan I got going on in the deep fryer?”

Freshly recovering from the orange girls harsh stomp, the behemoth again charges out to the purple merc that hovers before her, thrusting the open jaws of her T-rex head towards the angel to try and take a bite out of his purple hide. Roy strafes right aside the dinosaur heads clamping teeth and darts straight to the giants chest to attempt to counterattack, ready to deliver a punch right through the sternum. Just before the merc could even touch a single root of the wooden giant, Carila’s chest suddenly burst open before him and unleashes an entire gaggle of velociraptors; all of the mule sized motherfuckers lunging out from the depths of the wood woman and biting down on the angel. “Gah!” Right as one of them was on the verge of piercing through the skin, Roy acts fast and casts a beam of dark and purple down upon where they spawned; effectively forcing all of them to retreat as the giant herself stumbles back. Once free from the numerous dinosaur jaws, Roy fires out another ray up towards the gigantic amalgamation’s head; the wood woman raising the shield like head of the triceratops; the beast moaning out in pain as its forced to take the blast literally head on. Having blocked the angel’s beam, Carila suddenly charges towards the purple merc while keeping the triceratops head up; Roy gliding back as the giant of wood and flesh readies to slam the head right into him.

Distracted from her feverish pursuit after the Kybr, the wood woman then and there feels something land atop her head and hook into the wood woman’s bright blue sclera; Carila letting out a horrible shriek as the hook digs further into her eye socket. Gazing up amidst her painful agony, the giant discovers the black horned demon perched atop her relatively sized noggin and shoving his transformed hook hand deep down into her eye; Alex wearing a deliciously sinister smile as he keeps holds onto his wooden foe’s head. “You-!” Just when she attempts to reach over and pry the demon off her, Mally leaps right onto the top of her arm and casts her grapple yo to the T-rex head stuck to the end; leaping off as its string wraps around scaly beasts upper jaw. Landing back onto the ground, the orange skater wrangles the massive tyrannosaurus head; the beast struggling to free itself as Mally keeps the beast bound. “Go for it, Roy!” she shouts to her purple brother. Both of his teammates keeping the giant mess of roots and dino flesh, Roy swoops back in the fray and takes hold of one of the triceratops’ horns before lifting the entire behemoth up towards the crystal coated ceiling.

The orange haired skater and demon release the giant from their grasps as the angel continues to drag the wooden giant straight towards the glowing roof of the prehistoric cavern. Once close enough to the shinning crystals above, Roy heaves the behemoth of roots and flesh skywards; Carila’s massive body crashing right into sharp glowing rocks hard enough to cause the entire roof to tremble. Alongside chunks of the glowing crystal and stone, the behemoth starts to plummet back down towards the prehistoric earth; Roy ordering his pupils to: “Finish it!” The demon is more than happy to obey his mentors command and lunges out towards the falling giant at breakneck speeds, clasping both of his hands together and forming them into the head of a giant axe. Closing in towards the very head of their wooden foe, Alex swings the edge of his weapons to the wooden warrior as she opens her maw wide; the demon only able to cut about 6/10th’s through the giants thick neck before suddenly feeling an overwhelming pain surge within his stomach. Roy and Mally gaze upon the site in a horrifying blend of alarming terror and utter dread; beholding a single straight root that had erupted from their foe’s mouth and pierced straight through Alex’s body.

The very silhouette of the root piercing straight through his pupil’s stomach causes his vision to fade in purple; the shadows of the site transforming into a pair of shadowy winged figures, one of which driving a sword through the other’s chest in a haunting similar manner. Bouts of purple liquid spurt out from the stabbed figures mouth as it slowly tilts its head towards Roy, its eyes reflecting despair and dread as it leaks out tears of violet. The very image pulled from the boy’s demented mind is swiftly overcome by a creeping darkness that stems from these figures and consumes Roy’s whole vision; the angel plummeting down to the earth as the socket his left arm once was start violently pulse.

The giant of wood and flesh finally crash back down in the once pristine valley, the dust swiftly settling to reveal Alex remaining utterly limp while dangling unto the very pike that pierces his body. “You nasty little devil...” Carila sighs. The wooden warrior’s arm staggers as she lifts the head of the Tyrannosaurs rex up to the impaled demon; the dinosaurs teeth glistening as its starts to open its drooling maw. “You’ve caused me enough trouble.” The T-rex’s mouth just inches away from the black horned boy, a streak of orange zooms through and breaks the demon off the wood woman’s pike just seconds as she bites down; Carila peeking over towards the same direction to discover the orange girl swinging away with the boy on her shoulder. While Mally flees out towards the jungle’s edge, she peers back to find the giant refusing to pursue as the wooden behemoth rises off the floor to instead face the purple angel; her brother continuing to struggle and tremble as he remains kneeling on the ground. Come on, Roy. Don’t quit now.

The merc breath shakes as he trembles onto the floor; the giant that he had once tossed aside now towers over him, with her very shadow looming over the young angel. “Do you feel it yet, Kybr? That is the very same horror and despair that your ancestors had inflicted upon not just me, but all the wood nymphs that had suffered under your power. Unlike those wretched monsters however, I take no joy in watching you suffer from your loss. Be grateful, young Kybr, for you shall join your demonic ally in his passing very soon.” the giant states, staggering her tyrannosaurus hand down to the trembling angel. “This day shall be remembered. The day the last of the Kybr are snuffed out from this worlds existence.” The tyrannosaurus’ close in on the kneeling merc, ready to tear apart the angel with its sharp killer teeth at any moment; its hungering breath waft upon the boy’s entire body.

The very moment the teeth of the beast were on the verge of clasp down upon him, the purple angel finally rises off the valley grass as the stitches along his arm tear off; the Tyrannosaurs rex’s assault suddenly thwarted when strands of pure black puncture through the dinosaurs head. Carila watches as these newfound strings push their way from the head of the T-rex and weave themselves across the cracks and crevices of her gigantic arm; the wooden warrior gazing down along her limb and discovering the very source of these strands. From the angel’s missing arm socket do dozens of these black tendrils wriggle out from the depths of his body; drips of the merc’s blood trickling down his torso and staining the grass beneath his feet. Though the amalgamation of jungle wood and dinosaur flesh attempts to jerk her arm away from the angel standing before her, the numerous strands of black enveloping her arm refuse to free her from their grasp; Roy lifting his head up and staring to her with his eyes glowing a sinister shade of violet. A single jerk back is all it takes for Roy to rip the gigantic log that was his foes arm straight off the rest of the giant’s body; Carila tumbling back to the edge of the small valley and falling upon the face of a rocky cliffside. Out from the fall does the wooden woman gaze back towards the violet angel, watching as the Tyrannosaurs rex and all the other tree that made up her severed limb are covered in more and more of these black lines until the fully envelope the limb; all of it swiftly devoured until being reduced to nothing underneath the shadowy mass.

As the giant wooden woman slowly pulls herself up along the cliffside, she keeps her eyes locked to the angel as he starts to hover out to her with his tendrils of pure black squirming like a mass of raging worms. “You think you’re the only one who can regrow their limbs?” she remarks. Though the giant reaches her only arm up to the forest above the cliff, not a single roots starts to stretch itself up towards the top no matter how hard she reaches. “Why...won’t...my arm...My neck!” Glancing down along the edge of her neckline, she finds the veins that run along the side of it now left severed and disconnected; a seething growl escaping from her mouth as she curses out: “That little bastard!” Its in that moment that the angel’s strands of black all wrap around the wooden behemoths massive log of a leg and tear off the entire limb in but an instant; some of the velociraptors that were once trapped within Carila’s body scrambling away through the valley.

Left desperate to end the angel that hovers before her, the wood guardian leaps into the air with but her remaining leg and hammers the head of the triceratops down upon him; the entire jungle trembling from the incredible impact. A moment of silence passes among the small valley, the giant letting a breath escape as she assumes the fight to be over. Alas does she swiftly retract that same breath as she begin to feel her entire arm quake; the head of the triceratops slowly forced back up by the dozens of the violet angel’s stands of pure black. “No...No!” Carila screeches; shoving her arm down towards the earth. Before the giant could crush the angel under her weight, a great surge of purple and dark blasts out from underneath the head of the triceratops; the pulse launching the giant of wood and flesh right off Roy. The ground beneath the behemoth cracks as she crash back down; Carila peers up from beyond her body to witness all the merc’s tendrils lunge out towards her; their ends transforming sets of deadly sharp teeth that open their maws as they close in.

All the maw made from the dark mass sink their chompers down into the giants very roots and begin to rip and tear apart the wooden guardians gigantic body; stains of chlorophyll and bits of red splattering across the valley grass as Carila struggles and flails under them all. When attempting to smack all the mouths of dark away with her other arm, she finds the beast itself missing from the end of her limb; the triceratops once trapped among her roots fleeing out in the jungle. All of her options to retaliate dwindling at the very seems, Carila decides to just simply cut her losses and makes a small branch protrude out from the side of her head; the wood woman pushing up from her shoulder and pulling her head off her giant bodies neck. Once freeing herself from the roots of her own body, the wooden warriors head leaps away before a set of black teeth could clamp down upon her head; Carila feverishly racing away from the scene and out towards the forest edge. The violet angel lets all the black strands that had emerged from his arm socket quickly finish devouring what remained of his foe’s abandoned corpse; and though silent, Roy keeping his enraged glare locked to the head as she pathetically flees.

Once getting far enough away from the action, Mally hops down from the tree branches and lands along the jungle floor with the wounded demon in her arms; the orange skater gently setting Alex along his side. The black horned demon lets out a retching groan as he squirms on the soft grass, the girl stating for him to: “Take it easy, Alex. Y-You’re gonna be fine.” “That fucking wooden plank of a nymph! I refuse to be left down by such a dastardly surprise assault!” the demon growls aloud, grasping the pike left stuck within his stomach. Before the demon could even start to pull the piece of root out from himself, Mally grabs hold of his arm and warns: “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! We can’t just pull that outta ya yet, we don’t got anything to patch it up with.” “Then what do you suggest we do?” “I-I don’t-” A brief breath escapes from the orange skater as she peers up to the roof of the prehistoric cavern; reviewing how: “Even if we could get back up to the surface, the nearest hospital’s probably miles away. Maybe we can...No...Ah...”

In the midst of breathing through the uninterrupted pain surging through his stomach, a strange scent greets the demon’s nose between his breaths; Alex taking a deeper smell of the air before concluding: “Is...is that me?” “Dammit Alex, can you stop thinkin about your self image for one bleeding second and worry about the literal hole in your stomach!?” “No, you rambunctious git! I can smell more of myself, more of me than their should be.” “Is all the bleeding making you hallucinate already, or are you just screwing with me? Cause at this point, it seems like either or.” The skater watches as Alex struggles to pick himself off the jungle grass and starts dragging himself across the floor; the demon heaving himself out towards the direction they’d just came from. “This...this could be just what I need.” he claims aloud. “What the hell are you on about?” the girl standing beside her questions. “This newfound darkness that permeates the air. If I can find and consume it, then it may be enough to patch up this pathetic wound I’m being forced to endure.” “And you’re sure about that?” “I’ve never been so sure in my entire life.” Upon those very words does the demon then feel something sweep him right off the rough jungle floor; Alex gazing up to find himself carried within the orange skaters arms. “Right, just lead the way.” Mally request as she starts to jog back. Gently caressed by the skaters firm, but soft arms, Alex reactively transforms into a girl as a bit of blush glows along her cheeks; the demon shaking this off to peer out to the woods ahead.

Feverishly dragging what remains of herself along the grassy valley, the wood woman’s fearful gaze begins turning into a hopeful smile the closer she nears the forest edge; Carila just a couple more feet away from her only salvation out from the brink of her demise. But just when she was ready to reach her arms out to one of the towering jungle tree, her hopeful grin shatters on the spot when feeling something grasp the back of her head and haul her away from salvation. “No! No! No! No!” she screams out as the dozens of black strands all jerk her back through the valley plains; the tendrils swiftly tossing her remains through the prehistoric air. Her careen through the valley air comes to a sudden end when caught by the purple angel’s actual arm, with the merc grip tightening as he clutches the head by the eyes. The wood woman hopelessly struggles as visible cracks start to form around her very head; the base of her neck falling apart as the fractures worsen.

Moments from snuffing out what remained of the once proud guardian, Roy stops tightening his grasps when hearing the head let out a wheezing chuckle; Carila proclaiming with a weak smile: “So you finally embrace it, do you?...You’ve decided to finish what your ancestors had started so long ago...It’s not surprising, not even a smidgen. Snuffing out the future of a species that your people had dwindled to near nonexistence; you’ll be no better than them in the end.” “Ya know...” Upon these very words does the purple angel resume squeezing the head of his foe in his iron grasp, Carila’s face contorting into sheer agony until finally breaking into chunks of withered roots; the wood woman’s remains scattering along the valley grass. “I can live with that.” Feeling something left within his grasp, the purple merc opens his palms and discovers something peculiar leftover from her demise; a set of strange seeds now resting in the palm of his hand, decorated with a bright blue circle along the middle. Hmm…

Among pondering what to do with the leftovers of his foe does he then sense both his sister and his pupil on the approach; Roy dunking the seeds down into his pants pocket as Mally lands behind him. Once gently setting the wounded demon down upon the gentle valley grass, a stark shock is reflected through the orange skater’s eyes as she peers up to discover all the waving black strands along her brother’s side; stuttering out: “R-roy?...Wh-what the hell are all those things?” “Why’d you come back?” he asks her. “Uh, well. Alex wanted to-”

Midst attempting to explain themselves, the black horned demon herself slowly arises from the valley earth while grasping the pike left lodged in his stomach. In just a single swift pull does Alex uproot the sharp spike straight out from her body in a splatter of black and red; an action of which catches both Mally and her brother completely off guard. “Give it to me...Give them to me!” she shrieks before lunging over to the dozens of strands stemming from the merc’s side. Both the merc and skater remain utterly astonished as the demon sinks her teeth into these black tendrils and tear them right off their stems; Alex slurping them all down like an Italian dish. While watching the demon continue to consume the numerous strands from her brother’s side, Mally’s attention is drawn over to the open wound left along Alex’s stomach; a thick black goop dripping out from within the demon’s body and filling the hole, all until the terrible wound that she had suffered from moments ago disappears.

A heafty sigh escapes from Alex as she leans away from the tendrils she had spared; claiming with euphoric calm how: “Ahh. Finally, that horrible pain has ceased.” “Alex...the fuck happened?” her mentor obviously questions. After pulling herself off the valley grass, the demon clears her throat before explaining: “Is it not obvious to you yet? All those black strand that had erupted from you’re arm socket, their very same substance is what makes up my biological makeup; tis why consuming them dressed my wound so efficiently.” “So this stuff coming out of his arm is some sort of demon goo?” the orange skater behind her asks. “To be less moronically blunt then that, this substance is one the feeds of negative emotion. I can only imagine something that this purple pervert thought off had awoken it from its slumber.” “So this stuff is a part of you. So can I...” Upon pondering of something, the merc begins to concentrate while keeping his eyes locked to the dozens of strands. All these dozens of black lines start to form together under the merc’s very command, forming straight from his arm socket and growing to match the exact length of his other arm; leaving five strands out along the end to form the fingers and thumb. Beholding the results of his concentration, Roy thrust his fresh new arm of pure black into the air as he cheers out: “Hell yeah. Got me a fresh new arm, bitches! I’m ready to belt people across the ass and make em scream out for more...Wonder what jacking it with this must feel like?” “Hmph. I’d normally be quite upset from this newfound development. The fact that you happen to sprouts a fresh new limb that happens to be made from the same biological material I am. But seeing how it had bloomed at such a convenient time, I suppose it’s something I can overlook. Consider it a gift then, for your gracious and surprisingly effective training.” A warm smile stretches across the angel’s cheeks when hearing his pupil state such, responding to the gesture with: “He he he. That ain’t the only gift that’s being given out today. I got something for ya that you’ll love.” “Oh, a present for me? You shouldn’t have; but please go on, don’t let me stop you.” the demon tells him with a grin.

Roy approaches the young demon before kneeling down to her very level; putting his hands upon her shoulders and simply stating to her that: “You pass.” From these very words does Alex’s grin suddenly break apart at the seems; the demon uttering: “P-Pardon?” “Congrats, kid. You graduated from your training, all with flying colors too. You’ve gotten over your smug demeanor and finally shown some actual growth and maturity while under my wing. I’m absolutely certain now that whatever this harsh existence that we have deemed to be life has to blindside ya around the corner with, you got enough in ya to take from their hands and shove it straight back down their damn throat.” “So...I won’t have to drag myself to your training sessions?” the demon softly asks. “Yep, you your own demon now.” “Uh...Well, that’s...quite the relief. All those regimen were beginning to grind through my life.” she responds with half hearted faux smug.

“Hey, uh, hate to bring down this his precious moment of euphoric conclusion of character growth, but I got a hell of a bombshell to drop here.” Mally cuts in with. “If it ain’t aimed at the Ukraine, the fire away.” her brother requests. “That memory root made me see a lot of things that Kybr had done in their time; none of it being remotely good. I’ve seen them change and transform so many lands and homes by just the wave of their hand; uncaring of how many people they kill, lives they ruin, or how many they driven to utter extinction.” “Eesh. Really that bad.” “So much worse than you think. And the cherry on top of this impending nightmarish sundae is that I had a horrible realization. Tore’s been out there helping somebody that wants to release them all back into the world.” “But we still don’t have a single clue where he might be.” “I think I might know where. But if we don’t hurry back up to the surface and out to them, then we’re gonna have a hell of a lot more problems that nobody can ever prepare themselves for.”

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As so, the truth behind the Kybr and their past has finally been revealed to Mally and her friends, but can she relay this newfound knowledge to her brother in time before those how had once terrorized the universe could be freed? Find out on the season finale of Young hope.

#Young Hope #lillaxtrigger #princesscallyie

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