With the entire forest gone hundreds of monsters that would normally be hidden were instead clearly visible, and horrendously displaced. This made clearing through the monsters incredibly easy. Zypher picked off most of them before they even knew what was coming, while Alden and I launched some large area-of-effect attacks where we could. The most annoying part were the giant mosquito-like flies that would pop out of the muddy ground and swarm us, they were quite resilient to our element based attacks so I mostly let Alden cut them down.

“It’s all mud, bugs and those stupid Gulgans…I feel like we could have handled this better,” Alden whined.

“Probably? But at least everything is easy to see now. Also, I sense a pretty sinister aura ahead, I’m willing to bet that’s the witch,” I observed.

“Yeah, that’s actually a pretty oppressive aura,” Zypher agreed.

“Oh my,” I said, stopping dead in my tracks.

The area around us was suddenly bathed in a thick dark purple miasma. The ground began to dissolve as the thick purple haze crawled along the ground. As it moved in to engulf us Nicole erected a barrier of water around us. The miasma sizzled off her barrier but it held steady.

“Yeah…I’m pretty sure she’s here now,” Nicole said, as a portion of the miasma transformed into a giant spider in front of them.

It was massive, at least nine meters tall, with a woman's torso where the spider’s head would normally be.

“I don’t think I like spiders anymore,” Zypher stated, nervously.

“Yeah, I think I’m right there with you,” Nicole agreed, wiping sweat from her brow, half from the previous exertion and half because of the monstrosity in front of them.

“Anyone have some input?” I asked.

“Hit it really…really hard?” Alden suggested.

“Sorry I asked,” I groaned.

“You are humans. You’ve done well in making it here alive,” the spider witch, Kivensi, said to us all telepathically. “It seems that little fairy has you ill-informed. This incursion ends now, surely you don’t believe you’re the first ones to have come here in an attempt to claim my land? Leave this place and I will spare you, otherwise…Well, I’m sure you can understand,” she continued.

“Yeah, the whole sinister monologue thing doesn’t really work for me,” I said plainly.

“Right? Logically speaking, if we didn’t have a chance you’d have just killed us outright instead of bothering with useless warnings,” Alden agreed.

“How little you understand. Perhaps I shall eliminate you two first,” Kivensi stated aloud as another giant spider form appeared next to the first one.

“Oh…A clone, clever,” Zypher observed curiously.

For a moment we all stared in silence as Kivensi and her clone circled Nicole’s barrier, examining it. After a couple more full revolutions, she gave it a light tap with her spiky leg, popping it like a bubble and our eyes shot wide in surprise. Alden hurriedly summoned a gale of wind to blow the miasma away but it had little to no effect on the sheer volume of toxic gas surrounding us. Reacting quickly, we flew upwards out of the miasma, stopping part way as we realized a gigantic web barrier strung up around us.

“Well, this is going to be interesting, we’re enclosed from both sides,” I said, as threads of web shot up through the miasma and into the air.

There were strange human-like puppets attached at the ends of each thread. With a quick observation of the aura seeping into them, it was clear Kivensi had made the puppets almost as strong as we were. In total there were about fourteen of them with claw-like appendages, no faces and oozing with a purple goo.

“I think we may be in trouble,” Nicole said, floating closer towards me.

“It’ll be fine,” I said, enveloping myself in Sakujo, but as I did it, I felt a sharp twinge of pain in my chest.

“Are you ok?” Nicole asked, noticing my slight hesitation.

“All good here,” I said, hiding my cringing face. “Do you think you can work on absorbing the miasma with Meigetsu?” I asked, as a thought occurred to me.

“I think so? Her slime form is fairly flexible,” Nicole stated.

“Let's give it a shot then. Zypher, you know what to do.”

“Suppressive fire, sounds good.” Zypher said as a large, long barreled rifle appeared in his hands.

“I should be immune to the miasma while Sakujo is active, but I can’t summon my weapons with it on. With that in mind, I’ll leave those puppets to you Alden. We’ll handle the big spider,” I stated with Alden nodding in acknowledgement, summoning his swords.

“Give me a moment though, I want to try something,” and just as Alden made his request, the puppets started attacking with Kivensi shooting jets of poison into the air.

“Sorry, I don’t think I can. You’ll have to manage on your own for now, or at least until Nicole gets rid of the miasma,” I said, flying downwards to engage Kivensi.

As I flew down into the miasma, I could sense it being erased by the green aura surrounding me.

“Interesting. I’ve never seen anything like that before. How do you do it?” Kivensi asked.

“It’s pretty simple, just combining elements together to create an antimatter barrier,” I said, confidently.

“Child, I am a witch, master of the elements and this is no such thing. As you say, you’ve enveloped yourself in different base elemental energies which increases your overall defense and resistance but not the effect in which you speak,” Kivensi said as if chastising a student for poor form. “Nevertheless, I will dissect you and discover your secrets,” she said, waving her hand in front of her.

A large purple orb flew towards me, hitting my aura and harmlessly vanishing.

“Nice try bu-” suddenly I felt a blast of concussive force from inside my body and almost passed out immediately from the pain.

“I simply need not attack you directly. A couple more of those and your insides will turn to jelly,” she laughed as I coughed in pain.

As she finished laughing, a barrage of high powered shots slammed into her side knocking her off balance. Trying not to miss the opportunity, I lunged towards her, intending to shove my hand through her head. I swiped but my hand flew harmlessly through the clouds of miasma as she melded into them before appearing behind me.

“Damn it…” I coughed, the pain in my chest intensifying. “This does not bode well…” I said, falling to one knee.

“We’ll need to end this quickly Cadeyrn, I got a bit too carried away with these new abilities I think,” I said telepathically.

“Indeed Master, it seems your soul is becoming quite unstable by the minute,” Cadeyrn agreed.

“Freezing water from the underworld, seal my foe in an eternal coffin! COCYTUS!” Alden yelled suddenly.

At that moment, all the miasma froze into mist and fell to the ground. Landing next to me was Alden with what seemed like three copies of him.

“What the hell?!” I yelled in surprise.

“I figured I’d give creating clones a shot,” Alden smirked.

“Ahh…You are a dangerous one,” Kivensi said, slowly pushing her frozen body up off the ground.

As she raised herself, the frozen ice around her body broke and fell off harmlessly.

“I see you defeated my puppets as well…no matter,” Kivensi said, lunging into a double claw swipe with her spiked legs.

Two of Alden’s clones parried the strikes directly into the ground causing Kivensi’s legs to get stuck, he then followed up with his own lunge, plunging both swords into her chest.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Impudent brat!” She screamed telepathically while letting out some sort of sonic attack which rattled my brain.

Alden ignored her outburst and, instead, poured as much energy as he could into his swords. The quick gathering of energies inside her caused a massive explosion sending Alden and I flying backwards. Kivensi exploded into little tiny fragments that clattered to the ground.

“Holy crap…” I said, astonished at the adeptness of Alden’s kill.

“Wew…That was exhausting,” Alden said, as his copies turned into wisps of light and entered his body.

Nicole landed next to me as I watched Meigetsu’s slime body begin devouring all the rest of the miasma and fragments of Kivensi. Inside of Meigetsu, the fragments had turned into little tiny spiders struggling to escape.

“She’s still not dead?!” I exclaimed.

“I’m not sure we can kill her. We only won because she severely underestimated us. Hell, she barely casted a single spell, or whatever witches do,” Alden said, as he took a seat on the ground, sweating profusely.

“Yeah, I noticed…” As I finished, Meigetsu's slime form abruptly exploded as the spiders broke out and started to reform into Kivensi.

“What exactly did you win?” Kivensi’s voice echoed out. A large runic circle with intricate sigils spread out swiftly on the ground surrounding us.

The circle was an impressive display of her craft, spanning a twenty meter radius, it suppressed our aura and quanum.

“I think I will enjoy turning you all into puppets,” and as Kivensi finished speaking my body began to slowly go limp.

I assumed it was the miasma paralyzing my body but then something else from deep within felt like it was ripping its way out. Slowly, I started to stand despite my protests and lunged violently at Alden, Sakujo enveloping my body. Alden immediately grabbed Nicole and dodged backwards.

“Run, this is not going to end well,” Alden said, his tone turning grim.

“We can’t stay here. My attacks require too much focus and I don’t want to risk seriously harming Cian,” Zypher said, running over to join Alden and Nicole’s retreat.

“I’m not leaving!” Nicole shouted as Alden pulled and Zypher pushed her away from Cian.

“He’s clearly not himself now, I’ll go back for him but you need to stay away,” Alden said, his tone firm.

It felt as though I was underwater, their voices barely reaching my ears. The cool embrace of some sickly aura from deep within my soul began to suffocate me. I could feel my body being taken over externally, and some semblance of resistance internally, the process was slow and excruciatingly painful.

“This isn’t the time, if you’re not going to leave, at least put up your barrier. I won’t be able to protect you!” Alden shouted causing Nicole to put up her barrier without further argument.

“Oh. I won’t bother with you. My new toy has a lot of interesting features,” Kivensi stated, with a sinister chuckle.

“Hehehe, HAHAHA!” An even more sinister chuckle came from my mouth.

“Who…what are you?!” Kivensi shouted audibly this time, stumbling back from me in fear.

“Silence. This is my vessel,” the ground began to rumble and crack as a thick miasma leaked out and crept across the ground. “You seem to have the right kind of aura to feed me,” my body moved at blinding speed and suddenly I was behind her, covered in black ichor, holding what seemed to be her arm.

Kivensi screamed in agony and surprise as black liquid poured out of where her arm had once been.

“Indeed, you have the perfect essence to help facilitate my true awakening,” the sickly voice came from my mouth once more.

“T-That’s…Yuumiir I think? The same being appeared when Cian’s father was helping us with soul sense,” Zypher informed Alden.

“Another one? How many souls does he have in there. Regardless, this does not bode well. I get the distinct feeling we can’t let him kill Kivensi. Can you break this circle?” Alden asked.

“I can try,” Zypher acknowledged and began work deciphering the runes.

Nicole remained in her barrier, waiting for Meigetsu who was slowly reforming.

“Feed me your essence!” Yuumiir said, as he lunged at Kivensi again, only to have his hand blocked by Alden’s swords.

“I can’t let you do that. And I think you all need to start paying rent, housing isn’t cheap in this economy,” Alden stated, glaring through my eyes at Yuumiir.

“Well, that’s unsettling. You really can see me can’t you. The rest see Cian’s body, but not you… Curious,” Yuumiir said before blasting Alden backwards without even flexing a muscle.

Kivensi attempted to drop the entrapment circle but it had no effect, Yuumiir had superimposed his will onto it. In a last ditch attempt, she launched a barrage of purple orbs towards him. Yuumiir raised his hand out causing the orbs to converge into one spot and then crushed them out of existence. Raising another hand, he blocked Alden’s sword that had come from completely out of view. In one smooth motion, Yuumiir threw Alden to the ground and stomped on his chest but his foot fell right through his body as it became water.

“Too late,” Alden said as his swords pierced right through Kivensi’s heart.

“You would dare?” Yuumiir glared at Alden.

“I would. I won’t let you hurt my friends and I won’t let you take Cian’s body,” Alden said sternly, smiling mischievously as he slowly walked towards Yuumiir, Kivensi’s body crumbling away into nothing behind him, her essence flowing out into the air like mist.

“Your calm demeanor is deeply unsettling,” Yuumiir stated as purple tendrils of energy broke through the ground, wrapping around Alden, Zypher and Nicole.

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice you working to destroy the encirclement?” Yuumiir said, chuckling.

“No, but it doesn’t matter. You’ve lost,” Nicole said as the magic circle abruptly faded and vanished.

Yuumiir whipped his head around to see Meigetsu, unaffected by the tendrils, dismantling the last of a core set of runes.

“Curse you!” Yuumiir growled.

“Now, LEAVE!” Nicole shouted, her visceral anger reverberating through the air.

Yuumiir collapsed to his knees, clutching his head in an attempt to cling to control. The tendrils that had bound Alden vanished and he calmly continued over to Yuumiir, placing a hand on his head.

“See you later buddy,” Alden said as Yuumiir’s visage, visible only to Alden, vanished from around my body and relinquished control back to me.

I fell onto my back, exhausted and panting heavily. Nicole ran over and clutched my hand. I saw tears streaming down her cheeks as she squeezed it tightly.

“We did it…” she exclaimed softly, holding my hand to her face and crying.

“Thanks guys. That was not a great time. I mean, it was fun up until I wasn’t me anymore,” I chuckled.

“Let's try not to do any more of that again, yeah?” Zypher said, chidingly as he walked over to join us.

“Agreed,” Alden said, offering out a hand to me.

I took it without hesitation as he pulled me up. In that moment I could feel a depth to his soul that I hadn’t felt before, as if I had just been dropped into the middle of the ocean. I stumbled briefly as the feeling vanished completely—what the hell was that?

“Now, I guess it’s time to meet the fairy queen again,” I said, regaining my composure and brushing myself off.

“Well, let's go then, I want to meet this adorable fairy queen,” Nicole said, smiling brightly, and adopting her usual happy-go-lucky demeanor.

Her hand tightly clutching mine told a different story than the one plastered on her face—I’ll have to work harder at controlling this…for her.

“I certainly wouldn’t call her adorable, but time is running out, we’ll need to wake up soon,” Alden said.

“What happens if we don’t wake up?” Nicole asked, innocently.

“I mean, we still need to eat…bodily functions…all that kind of stuff,” Alden replied with mild sarcasm and Nicole simply rolled her eyes at him, pulling me along towards the village with her.

We steadily made our way to the familiar stone village, Olin, built into the cliff faces. This time however, we were not greeted with giant boulders being lobbed at us and instead were welcomed through the front gates without hassle. The ground shook subtly as a large stone golem rolled its way to meet us.

“The queen awaits,” it stated simply and directed us to follow the same path to the queen as we had the last time we visited.

“Well, let's go I guess,” I said, grasping Nicole’s hand as we slowly made our way through the town towards the queen.

As we headed down the path, Alden and I pointed out all the things we witnessed the last time we were here. We shared our theories on their implications, like the tiny houses and furniture. Our current theory was that the rockmen were actually fairies in hiding, using the golems like an exoskeleton.

We made our way into the queen’s throne room, this time she awaited us in her chair.

“Ahh, you returned successfully,” she said immediately as we approached her.

“Actually, we didn’t manage to get the core,” I said, disappointed but Yuenna just stared at me with her tiny eyebrow raised in confusion.

She slowly floated over to me as if she was simply sliding forward on her stomach, her chin resting in her hands. Yuenna stared at me for a moment before poking my chest and a small orb popped out, floating into her hand.

“That beast inside you tried to hide it from me. Cheeky,” Yuenna said, smirking.

“Now, then. I see you’ve also brought some companions,” she said, floating towards Zypher.

“An intrinsic mind. Clever and forthright but no chance at romance. I shall bestow upon you a gift,” Yuenna said, tapping his forehead which caused him to glow momentarily.

“W-what was that?” Zypher asked, shocked.

“You’ll see eventually,” she replied as she floated over to Nicole.

“You…” Yuenna said, looking at me briefly before turning back to Nicole.

Yuenna stuck her hand out and a green stem sprouted up from the ground until it fit between her forefinger and thumb. As she closed her fingers a white flower bloomed and she plucked it off, with a quick wave the flower turned into a hairpin and she slid it into Nicole’s hair as it magically tied itself into a bun.

“Never remove this, not even for an instant. Do you understand?” Yuenna said, with a grim and commanding tone.

“Yes, I understand, thank you,” Nicole said nervously, bowing awkwardly.

“Now, as previously agreed, Alden and Cian, you may peek upon my memories,” she said, as her size increased just enough to match ours and held out her hands for us to grasp.

Without hesitation we each held a hand and then the world around us warped and distorted until we were in the cold darkness of space.