The bird, meanwhile, had flown out of view after its last attack. The loud drum beat of massive wings could be heard somewhere high above the trees.
“Like, where could have possibly flown off to now? It's less funsies if I can't see you! Are you really gonna hide now when there's a pretty girl on your tail?”
The noisy cracking of branches breaking could be heard overhead, rapidly inching closer each second. Another large ball of phlegm had shot out from above, crashing through the tree limbs and landing dangerously close to the witch’s legs, causing her to stumble back onto the snow. She looked over at the fallen sludge then back up at the trees.
“Missed me! Missed me! Now you gotta kiss me!” The witch cackled inappropriately. She raised her staff triumphantly and searched around the frozen branches blindly. A sweet smile stretched across her face. “Kiss this!”
Radices Invasor Ex Natura!
Twin thick roots shot up from each side of Heloise and shot upward toward the sky. Each vine slithered upward with the force of a cannon, violently breaking through the treetops like brittle glass. Both converged and wrapped around the Caladrius’s feet, binding them tightly and forcibly pulling the bird down to the ground in a powdery white explosion.
“Ohoho! Didn’t I warn you?” Heloise skipped merrily to where the bird had landed several dozen feet away, leaving bloody prints in the snow behind her. “You were, like, so beautiful before this whole mess started too. Why did you have to mutate into this awful, awful thing? Because I shot you? Well clearly it was no big deal for you to shrug off, so why are you mad at mee~?” The crystal on her staff emitted a powerful glow, she then swung it a few times in succession. With each swing, the roots coiled around the bird mimicked her staff’s movements, slamming the bird between various trees.
The witch, in her delirium, failed to notice that on her final swing, the wretched bird had once again melted its form into a puddle of black bile that was slowly oozing back onto the snow. As she approached to investigate what she assumed was a captive bird, the bubbling sound of the inklike liquid seeping under her foot quickly caught her attention.
“Whoops!” exclaimed Heloise. She stamped her boot down on top of the puddle she had stepped in, her laughter becoming more deranged with every stomp all the while. The bile that was ascending her leg had cut her laughter short. She tilted her head in playful curiosity.
The slimy black ooze stretched outward and formed into an amorphous-shaped head of a bird. The outline of its beak had begun opening slowly. The sorceress’s eyes widened in surprise as she realized too late what was happening. A fetid mass of sputum was spat directly at her, landing wetly atop her head.
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“Ah… I…” Heloise stuttered before letting out a series of coughs. She tried to remove the phlegm coming down her forehead, but recoiled at its touch. Her demeanor had sunk in on itself. She stumbled backwards, stepping out of the remaining black bile. “G-Get it off…! My head hurts… My throat… Everything hurts.”
Her emotions were becoming jumbled, a twisted slurry that was throwing her mind into turmoil. The witch could barely get a grip on herself and was beginning to lose all control. She could feel something welling up inside her, wanting to escape desperately. She dropped her staff before dropping to her knees. Another fit of coughing that quickly turned into gagging. She vomited. Heloise finally understood the dangerous situation she was in.
“I’ve gotta… Should’ve done this from the start. Where is it… Where…?” Heloise weakly fumbled around in her bag, barely retaining her sense of self. Her body was burning up accompanied by a small jolt in her shoulder where the cursed brand had taken hold of her. She ignored it and continued digging, reaching for a small ornate treasure box lying at the bottom of her bag. The thick phlegm continued rolling down her face, while the inky poison staining the snow a few feet from her inched ever closer to her. She opened the small box to reveal what looked like a small, ordinary egg. Still kneeling and barely keeping herself balanced, she tapped the tip of the egg with one of her rings and used all her energy to toss it.
“Carthas… Get your ass… over here!” Heloise yelled defiantly, struggling to get the words out as her remaining energy faded from her body. Feeling defeated, she collapsed into the snow—the glow radiating from the cracked egg spilling out over the immediate area.
The exploding radiance focused into a beam of light that streaked upward, a large screech echoing across the sky. The glowing form of a black bird of a different variety with red eyes and golden wingtips took shape in the skies above the mountain. Powerful cawing could be heard distantly above them.
The exhausted witch smiled smugly.
The witch’s familiar came swooping down, landing right next to the fallen witch. “You know, I was all ready to make a cool entrance and claw out your enemies’ livers but now I'm seeing you're all alone. What gives?”
“That.” Heloise weakly raised her finger and pointed to the black sludge moving slug-like across the snow.
“You got your ass kicked by a pile of goo?”
“That’s not just any pile of goo. It’s a Caladrius. A bird famous for spreading disease, but it can also cure it. Definitely wasn’t expecting it to be so powerful. Was almost royally fucked.” The witch grimaced in pain, shaking her head and shutting her eyes. “Just do your fucking job, Carthas.”
“A bird, huh?” replied Carthas. “I suppose that is my area of expertise. You know, maybe I can just talk to him?”
“Merde! I don’t care! Do whatever it takes.”
“Have you tried, perhaps, doing your weird transformation thing? That was a nice little powerup you obtained in exchange for Alma. I’d say it was worth the trade—”
“Carthas!”