"NOOO!" Tsugi screams. She runs over, stumbling over her own feet and falls into the deep hole that felt like it was being filled up with mud and dirt from underneath the surface. Holding her breath she plunged under and dug at the quickly filling dirt with her hands.
The grains of dirt embedded into the gap between her nails, seemingly peeling them off as she eagerly moved as much as she could, but she couldn’t feel the pain. Pulling and pushing mounds of mud, her chest was tightening like someone was sitting upon her chest and she needed to come up for air.
Kicking off the ground she resurfaced and gasped loudly, throwing her hair out of her face. She pulled herself up to stand on the shallow edge.
"Ruzo! Blow!" The war wolf inhaled a deep breath, as his chest expanded exponentially. He plunged his giant head under the water shoving his muzzle into the actively filling hole, and howled a powerful blow into the hole.
The ground rumbled dangerously, and geysers of water exploded out of the ground all around them, throwing the grucain's into the air. They screeched from being caught off guard, their eyes wide with fear. In that moment that seemed to have slowed, Tsugi spotted a floating dress at the corner of her eyes. Lugo flicked his hand through the air and a door appeared underneath Ellie as she was free falling. He held out his arms and caught Ellie just as she fell into them.
Tsugi quickly glanced around and assessed their situation. There were over fifty grucain's, that were discombobulated and about to land.
"Down!" They quickly took the chance and hopped onto Ruzo's back. "Run!" The warwolf darted through the air at thundering speed. "Steer!” She screamed at Lugo and made her way to the middle of Ruzo’s back.
Lugo held the unconscious Ellie in his arms as he grabbed hold of Ruzo’s fur on his scruff.
The creatures chased after them, surrounding Ruzo on either side.
Their speed had caught Tsugi off guard. She hadn’t expected them to keep up with Ruzo.
The grucain’s leapt into the air, their claws drawn and teeth bared. Trickles of water flew off their tough skin and drool dripped down their chins as if about to feast.
Tsugi summoned her daggers and swung them through the air, in a forcefield like fashion, surrounding them in a huge protective bubble. The whirring sound was loud and deafening. As the blades hit the water, they carried the water along with it, making it look like a wall of water was forming around them.
The grucain’s were already in mid-air and couldn’t stop themselves. Their faces panicked with their arms and legs flailing as if they could paddle and swim away in midair. Tsugi sped up her movement, bracing for impact. As soon as the creatures touched her barrier, they became mincemeat, splattering into tiny bits all over the marsh.
In the blink of an eye, Tsugi retreated her weapon. Taking in a deep meditating breath, she lifted her arms to her sides and vines burst out of the ground binding what’s left of the grucain’s as they screeched in horror, struggling to get free. She clenched her fists and the roots crushed the creatures leaving nothing but a puddle of blood behind.
She exhaled, and heaved for air, collapsing onto Ruzo’s back. She was feeling dizzy and her equilibrium was off. She grabbed onto Ruzo’s fur and held on as tight as she could, so she wouldn’t fall off.
“Ellie.” She gasped breathlessly, dizzily. She turned and looked at Lugo’s back. She took in deep breaths, hoping the air entering her lungs will keep her awake. She shook her head, slowly making her way to him. She reached him and collapsed onto her knees. Grabbing onto his shirt, she pressed her forehead against his back – his back that felt oddly warm – oh so warm and soothing. Only then did she realize she was cold and shivering. She had used too much earth magic at once.
“Tsugi?” Lugo’s voice was worried and concerned. “Are you okay?” He tried to turn to her, but he couldn’t. She only nodded in response, but her grip weakened and her hand fell to her side. “Tsugi!” Lugo’s voice became faint and distant.
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Lugo quickly reached an arm behind him and caught her. The impact was hard enough to jerk her awake.
“I’m fine.” She sat up, alert, yet she felt high and drunk at the same time, a little discombobulated. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his warm, soothing back. She inhaled and breathed in his scent that she could feel in her chest, like it soothed her from the inside and she couldn’t quite explain it, but she felt safe.
They finally came to a stop and Lugo pulled them both off Ruzo.
“Ellie.” Tsugi breathed. She made her way over to Ellie who was lying on the ground, covered in dry mud and dirt. Her lips were purple and her face was turning blue. “No!” Tsugi started to breathe into her mouth and pump her chest, again and again. “No!” She screamed and repeated the process. “Damn it Ellie!” She pounded on Ellie’s chest and with a spurt Ellie coughed a lungful of water into Tsugi’s face. “Oh, thank you – thank you, thank you, thank you.” She cried, pulling Ellie into her arms, before quickly releasing her and allowing her room to breathe.
“Oh thank goodness.” Lugo sighed in relief.
Ellie weakly raised up her hands. {Why are you crying?} She gave Tsugi a weak smile.
Tsugi chuckled. {How can you have humor at a time like this? I thought you died. I was so scared!}
{Well, I’m fine, so stop crying, weirdo.} She chuckled, coughing some more.
Ruzo whimpered loudly behind them and laid on the ground, aggressively licking at his wounds.
“NO!” Tsugi yelled and trudged over to him. The acid was eating into his skin, and after licking it, it was now cooking his tongue too. She held his muzzle in her hands as he continued to whine in a high pitch tone. She placed her forehead on his giant nose and felt his gust of breath blow her hair back as he sniffed her.
Pulling all the earth energy she had left, she gathered the life from the plants and poured them into Ruzo. She was heaving, dizzy and her knees felt weak. With her eyes closed, she felt like the world was spinning around her, but she tried to concentrate and pull the acid to the surface, engaging the coagulation cascade and forcing the tissue to heal as fast as she could make it heal. A hand touched her shoulder and shook her, but she refused to let go.
Ellie yanked Tsugi’s shoulder as hard as she could with all her strength. {STOP!} She growled, her stare: intense; ferocious; and threatening. {Didn’t Master Lumes warn you already?! Stop!} Ellie placed her hands on Ruzo and closed her eyes. The plants withered and died around them as Ruzo’s skin began to heal.
Lugo quickly pulled out his waterskin and washed the acid away, assisting in any way he could.
Tsugi smiled in relief, but her breath was shallow. She could do nothing but watch as Lugo, Ruzo and Ellie spun in circles around her. Saliva pooled in her mouth and a wave of nausea hit her. She dropped to her hands and knees, hurling up anything in her stomach, to include yellow bitter bile that burned her esophagus. She shook and shivered uncontrollably, and her ears rang loudly, drowning out everything else, to include the constant voices in her head. Dry heaving again and again, she was hunched over into a ball on her elbows and knees. She felt like she was freezing and couldn’t stop her body from shaking. Her breath and lips shivered, but she was covered in sweat as she turned paler and paler with every passing second.
She started to feel a warm, tender, circular rub on her back, soothing her senses back to her. She groaned and spat saliva onto the ground. With the ringing starting to subside, the inaudible voices started to return as distant muffles.
“...here.” Lugo’s voice was now clear enough for her to understand, and she realized it was him that was rubbing her back. Realizing that he could possibly feel her binding, she quickly shoved his arm off of her and scooted away on her butt, while wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
He tilted his head, and scrunched his eyebrows together, bewildered by her reaction. In his hand he held a stick of jerky. “Tsugi?” He said with caution.
“I’m fine.”
“Nice to meet you, Fine. I’m Lugo.”
“You’re joking at a time like this?” She groaned, rubbing her forehead in exasperation.
“There’s the Tsugi I know.” He sighed and approached her again, holding out the jerky. “You need to eat.”
“Thanks.” She smiled sheepishly and took the jerky from him. Biting into it, it was heaven. The flavors of the herbs used to marinade the meat, and the smoked flavors burst in her mouth, pooling saliva in her cheeks and on her tongue. A huge sigh of relief left her when she started to get her senses back. She looked around and saw Ellie munching on jerky, leaning up against Ruzo, who seemed to be healed, and now with a stomach full of grucain’s, he was exhausted.
“You –” Lugo bit off some jerky and chewed on it. “need to stop being so reckless.” He sat on the ground next to her.
Tsugi squinted at him, letting out a low rumbling growl under her breath, but she knew he was right. She can’t pass out in the middle of battle. Sighing loudly, she pulled the band out of her hair and swung her hair around, loosening them. She gathered up all the loose strands before tying her hair back up into a high ponytail. She took another bite out of the jerky and looked over at Lugo who was now frozen, with his mouth gaped and his eyes stuck on her like he had seen a ghost.
“What?” She cocked an eyebrow at him, continuing to chew the meat.