“Oi! Get back here, ya blastie-hair critterscritch!” Coco tries to pounce on one of the blaze pandas she and Gruicelle -currently occupying Lykha’s body- believed they had sufficiently cornered. In spite of the terrain, though, the animal is able to climb and squeeze through spaces even Coco struggles to maneuver through, and Gruicelle calls out, “Coco! Hurry! He’s getting away!”

“Aye! What’cha brainin’ I’m doin’!?”

However, the racoon-like creature darts up one of the gigantic trees, circling to the far side and out of sight with impressive speed, chattering and squealing the whole way as if taunting them.

Gruicelle COULD pursue with ease, but she would fall out of range of Coco, and the contract with Lykha would be void.

Still, in spite of their third failure attempting to ambush one of the blaze pandas, Gruicelle takes a seat on Coco’s shoulder as the teen catches her breath. She laughs lightly saying, “It may be no dra-uh… Monster slaying, but… this is fun.”

“Speak for yeself, Zinglebrain. I want me one of these blasties.” Coco continues panting, leaning her back on the tree.

“I didn’t expect them to be so fast. They don’t look it.”

“Aye…” Coco swallows and straightens her posture. “Be a real rock to the brainbox if they wanted to eat us instead.”

Gruicelle nods in agreement. She points, “Let’s try that way. I don’t think we’ve been over there yet, and one of them ran that way earlier.”

Coco nods, walking with Gruicelle still sitting on her shoulder.

Lykha’s voice murmurs in Gruicelle’s mind, I’m not a huge fan of this whole ‘adventure’ you two are on, but couldn’t you, maybe, try blinding one with a flash before trying to net it?

Gruicelle nods, “We could. But, it might hurt itself if it’s completely blind.”

“Oi! Wha’di’ Tricksie say?”

“She asked why we don’t just blind them first.”

“Aye! Tha’s no’ a bad think. How they gon’ get hurt?”

“Think about it. They’ll be extra scared if they’re blind. More likely to run into something too hard or fall off of a tree or something.

What about her shocker then?

“Shocker?” asks Gruicelle, confused. “Coco has something like that?”

“You daf’ Zinglebrain!? I shock ‘em, then they blast up a real blaze for sure!”

“Hey! It wasn’t my idea!”

“I’m no’ so easy to fool! Tricksie knows better! She done blasted goobs that way before!”

That was an accident! cries out the young fairy’s voice in Gruicelle’s head.

The spirit crosses her arms, “So, what do you suggest, Coco? I can’t imagine this plan’s going to get easier the more tired you get.”

“Bah! I’m fine! I’ve jus’ been goin’ easy on the little critterscritches. Did’ne wanna make Mury and Gyrryth jealous.”

Gruicelle scoffs and laughs. “Right. Something tells me Mury knew this was going to happen.”

“Aye, but we have’ne hurt ourselves yet. An’, just think how impressed he’ll be when we succeed.”

Gotta admire her confidence…

“Alright. Let’s try again. If we can get one by itself, I’ll try blinding it. At least then, it’s the only one at risk. If I can get close to its head, I might be able to put it to sleep, too.”

“You coul’ do that this whole time!?”

“I could vaporize them, too. Schieranna is the weakest of us, so holding back for her was much easier. I’ve never held back, so I don’t know how.”

Lykha coos, Ooo! Ooo… Starting fires here, Gruicelle.

Gruicelle adds, “Anyways, light magic broadly covers healing, including easing pain and consciousness -among other things-. So, I could try to put it asleep from range, but I might knock out half the forest, or I can do it much easier if I lay hands on my target. Make sense? But, it takes a second, so it can’t be bucking around.”

“Aye. Do tha’ then.”

Gruicelle nods. She hasn’t told Coco, but something ominous drew her attention the moment they left camp, and she’s been navigating them roughly that direction since. It’s not much further, and the spirit doesn’t quite know what she’s sensing. It’s not a magic aura, as far as she can tell, since she can easily detect magic around her. The blaze pandas don’t possess any magic beyond a basic soul, and otherwise, they are just lifeforms to her. She genuinely has no intention of putting Coco in danger, especially so soon after Schieranna’s mishap with Maerin. The wind spirit was terrified that Lykha would cut off the other spirits then and there, but the young fairy asked Gruicelle if she was ready for her turn, surprising them all.

That said, her nose tickles with a slightly unpleasant odor -something standing out over the general smells of swamp, mold, mildew, decaying leaves and plant life, and even the faint hints of dead animals all around them-. Gruicelle isn’t quite sure how to describe the smell, though it most closely reminds her of the smell of dead things.

Coco crouches suddenly, whispering, “There… A wee blaze pandy for us. Look how cute he is.”

Gruicelle smiles. “Okay. Stay here and keep an eye on me. I’ll try to put him to sleep, and then you bag him with the net. Got it?”

Coco nods, and the spirit in a fairy’s body hovers silently wide around the young blaze panda as it munches on a fruit of some kind. She stalks closer through the air, completely undetected by the juvenile creature. Coco shifts slightly, ready to spring into action, and the blaze panda looks in her direction. She holds absolutely still, and the panda chatters lightly, seemingly cautious, but convinced that nothing is there.

Gruicelle sighs internally. She hovers ever closer, now just over top of the blaze panda. If she can just make contact with its head…

The blaze panda suddenly looks startled, staring in the direction opposite Coco, and Gruicelle flinches. She looks as well as sudden rustling startles her. Just before she or the panda can react, the brush explodes, and bodies stampede past them both. Gruicelle is slammed by one of the bodies of an animal, tumbling to the ground as the animals cry and squeal. She can hear the blaze panda crying as it is being trampled by the merciless and blind stampede, and Gruicelle does her best to cover her head as she is scratched and batted around by feet and even what feels like hooves.

Suddenly, a body dives to the ground over her, shielding her as the stampede rumbles by. She easily recognizes Coco’s gear bag and weathered clothes and baggy gloves. The teen is holding a torch, which seems to be driving the animals around them as they panic and flee past them, keeping the impacts with them to a minimum. Gruicelle is surprised when the young blaze panda even takes shelter under Coco’s chest, though the teen is shielding her eyes mostly. She asks, “Lykha!?”

“I’m here Coco! Gruicelle still! You saved me!”

“Wha’s happenin’!?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t do anything!”

The stampede finally subsides, and Coco pants. Gruicelle notices blood drip from above her, and she looks at the teen. Coco has taken several hits, including some rather severe scratches, and she’s panting. She was terrified, and yet, she came to Gruicelle’s rescue. Or, at the very least, Lykha’s rescue. The teen glances around, ensuring they’re safe. She asks, “Wha’ had them so splashed!?”

Before the spirit can answer, a new figure stumbles out into the trampled path the creatures came from. At a glance, it appears to be a wolf, which could explain everything on its own. However, a glance is not enough. If it ever was a wolf, it appears to have died and been resurrected, as its body is full of missing patches, with gaps in its skin revealing tendons and muscles, and a sinister-looking grey haze sprinkling from its body, similar to a continuous stream of ash. However, it is not on fire, and doesn’t appear to be smoking from being on fire at any point.

The strange wolf opens its jaws, but instead of a howl, it emits a terrifying shriek. Coco scoops up both Gruicelle and the little blaze panda instinctively, in spite of the panda crying. Gruicelle, thinking quickly, casts a flash spell ahead of them, but the monster doesn’t even recoil, even as Coco screams out, covering her eyes. Gruicelle replies, “Sorry!” She looks at the wolf-monster again, and it stalks in a strange, almost limping posture towards them. Its mouth drips a similar, ashen fluid, and it flexes its jaws in preparation.

The spirit sighs. “I don’t care for this.” She casts her most powerful single-target spell; affectionately known by the Holy Order stooges as ‘Judgement’, which creates a column of purifying light. Unlike Nieolsynnys’ Soul Break spell, which severs the soul of living creatures, Judgement overcharges the soul, causing the target’s body to burn away. Under the right circumstances, the body can be recovered, creating the illusion of ‘divine judgement sparing the righteous’, when in fact, it’s an elaborate ruse.

That’s neither here nor there, of course. In the present moment, the column of light ignites, reaching for the heavens. Leaves quiver and fall around them as the spell swirls the air. The monster shrieks again, but when the light fades, it is standing completely unharmed. It’s not even injured -beyond what appears to have been injuries already-, and it’s not writhing on the ground like what happens if Soul Break is used on animals and colossi.

In a moment of panic, Gruicelle says quickly, “Lend me strength, Nieolsynnys!” She channels her sister’s dark power, casting instant death, similar to what the Void spirit used on one of the paladins recently.

Still, the creature is unaffected. It stalks towards them with vicious intent. Coco asks, “Zinglebrain!?”

“Run…” whispers the spirit. “I… I can’t… We can’t…” She has only one last idea that can spare her the impending doom she’s feeling. It’s not something to be proud of, but it’s what she chooses to do.

***

Lykha watches as the spirits around her, Niolsynnys the Void Spirit, Merzianne the Water Spirit, Rui-Buri the Fire Spirit, Ulterrynn the Land Spirit, and Schieranna the Wind Spirit all quickly discuss in shock the creature completely immune to both Gruicelle’s most powerful spell AND Niolsynnys’s instant-death.

Rui-Buri cries out, “I thought only dragons were immune to magic!”

“They are!” retorts Nieolsynnys.

“Well, how do you explain that!?”

“I don’t know!”

“It’s not a dragon!”

“I CAN SEE THAT!”

Ulterrynn adds nervously, “Could we try some of our other spells?”

“Yes,” agrees Schieranna. “Maybe it has a different weakness elements can exploit.”

Merzianne nods. “The forest is abundant in water. If nothing else, it can be washed away from them. Gruicelle! Sister, I’m lending you…”

Suddenly, Gruicelle appears in the circle with Lykha, and she forcefully shoves the young fairy out of the circle, which causes the young fairy to return to her body. The other spirits stare at her in shock.

***

Lykha blinks her eyes clear, disoriented by the flood of information to her eyes where a moment ago she had a small window into the world and utter darkness around her. Just as her vision clears, she can see the monster Coco and Gruicelle were just facing, but already lunging at her.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“LYKHA!” A heavy wrench swings in just in front of Lykha’s eyes, knocking the monster off course briefly as the fairy is snatched into a firm grip. “WHAT YA DOIN’ YA ZINGLEBRAIN GOOB!?”

“C-Coco?” asks Lykha as the teen runs through the forest.

“Tricksie!? Why you here!?”

“I… I…” Lykha glances over Coco’s arm as the teen carries her in a sprint. The wolf monster was not alone, but its ‘pack’ is also not what one would expect from wolves. There is some sort of deer-like creature bounding in uneven leaps towards them, while a bird-like creature runs in a teetering and unbalanced sprint after them. Coco drops her wrench when she stumbles, but she doesn’t stop for it. She bats brush out of her face, screaming, “WHICH WAY!?”

“Didn’t you-!?” Lykha stops. She had no control over the situation, and she trusted the spirits again. But then, is this the fault of Gruicelle? Forcefully swapping Lykha back was rather cowardly, but also not completely unreasonable. It’s Lykha’s body after all.

Coco falls, slamming into the dirt. She cries out in pain, bleeding rather heavily from injuries she sustained protecting Gruicelle. Lykha scrambles up, crying out, “Coco! Get up! Keep running! I’ll fly! I-...”

They’ve run out of time, though. The wolf is nearly on top of her, limping in a rather fast step and gaining distance on her.

A loud ‘BOOM!’ explodes over their heads, and a familiar flash of lightning hits the wolf, tumbling it across the ground. A second shot thunders out, and a powerful bolt hits the bird, tumbling it as well with the sounds of breaking bones sending a chill up Lykha’s spine.

However, she focuses on Coco. She chants quickly, “Pixies come forth and make it right! Heal this girl with all your might!” She does as Maerin has instructed, pouring her energy into the spell, not just letting it draw what it wants. A warm glow passes across Coco, and some of her most obvious wounds close quickly, while some of the others fade, drastically reducing Coco’s pain and bleeding.

Gyrryth, the towering lizardman looming over them as he paces around the two girls, already has a fire pistol drawn, and he fires it at the deer just as it bounds within a single pace of the girls. It tumbles away from them, though the wolf is already clawing its way back to its feet and the bird is flopping around on the ground. On a positive note, if such a thing can exist at a moment like this, the bird’s broken bones seem to be hampering its ability to stand, though it also seems to be ignoring the pain.

Even Gyrryth is confused by the monstrous beings, growling, “What manner of devilry is this?”

Regardless, he doesn’t wait for an answer. He shoves his spelldusters back into their holsters, and he scoops Coco up, sprinting much faster with her through the brush as Lykha follows. His direction differs only slightly from Coco’s indicating that maybe she was at least heading in the right general direction.

It isn’t the camp that they arrive at, however. It’s the river, and Gyrryth doesn’t hesitate to wade in quickly, ordering, “Both of you take a breath and hold as long as you can. Lady Gruicelle, my bag!”

Lykha nods, “Right!” She dives into his bag, holding on as she and Coco both take in the deepest breaths they can, and they brace as he dives under the water. With his powerful reptilian form, he swims against the current, out of sight and smell of both creatures pursuing them.

Less than a minute later, Gyrryth surfaces, quickly rising high enough to lift Coco and Lykha out of the water as both of them cough. He wades back to shore, exiting the river and hiking the rest of the way upstream. The distant, shrill screech of the monsters pierces the forest as birds panic and flee the area.

Coco asks as she catches her breath, “You… You followed us?”

Gyrryth nods. “Indeed. Sir Murtoa ideally did not want a repeat of Schieranna and Maerin. I would ask forgiveness…”

“No!” retorts the teenage techromancer. She coughs again, adding, “We be monstie food other’go. Thanks…”

He nods. He then asks, “Lady Gruicelle, the creatures do not appear…”

“She swapped back, Gyrryth. It’s just me.”

“Oh! Gentle One, I was unaware. My apologies.”

“No need, Gyrryth. Thank you for pulling us out of that. Do you have any idea what they were?”

“No. They appeared to be common creatures of the forest, yet… corrupted. I pray Sir Murtoa has an answer. They were far too aggressive for any of their species.”

“Agreed.” Lykha wrings her hair to remove some of the excess water, climbing out of Gyrryth’s bag to flicker her wings to dry off. Lykha then hovers to Coco, asking, “Hey, Coco. How do you feel? I can try healing again…”

“Nay. I will make it to camp. Th-... Thank you…” She looks away from Lykha. The fairy hovers down, taking a seat on Coco’s chest as Gyrryth carries her. The young fairy gingerly pets Coco’s cheek, saying tenderly, “You protected me, Coco. Thank you.”

Coco tries to look even further away, retorting, “Z-Zinglebrain ‘posed to know the way back. I was keepin’ her from gittin’ squished.”

“And, me too, by extension.” Coco crosses her arms, grumbling, “Cost me favorite wrench, you did.”

Lykha chuckles, replying softly, “I’ll buy you a new one.” She hovers close to the teen’s head, and she whispers, “Also, you called out for ME when you rescued Gruicelle.” She kisses Coco’s cheek as the teen’s face fills with color.

The tender moment doesn’t last forever. The shrill squeal fills the air again, once again close to them, and Gyrryth draws his other fire pistol. He chants the spell to empower it, glancing around as he jogs more quickly upriver.

The lizardman spellshot slides to a halt in the mud suddenly, and Lykha hovers close to his shoulder. The deer got ahead of them, and when they all glance back behind them, the wolf has cornered them. They could attempt to go through the river again, but there’s an increasing risk that the monsters will head towards the camp.

Gyrryth eases Coco to the ground, saying sternly, “I shall endeavor to buy you time. Follow the river, and you will find the campsite. Inform Sir Murtoa and leave immediately.”

Coco snarls, “We’re no’ leavin’...!”

“GO, CHILD!”

Coco’s eyes go fearful for a moment, but her angry defiance quickly takes over, and she turns her back on him, drawing her slinger -a crossbow-like upgrade to her slingshot-. She grumbles, “Either ye run with me, or I stay with ye. I’m no’ leavin’.”

Lykha offers, “I can fly to them and get Mury to bring the vehicle here! Will that work?”

Gyrryth nods, “It will have to. Go!” He fires his fire pistol at the deer, stumbling it, and he draws both of his explosive pistols, powering them up as the wolf charges. The deer is already recovering to its feet, and Lykha races into the air.

She doesn’t make it far before more rustling approaches, much faster than the monsters were running, and she hesitates, ready to cast something -anything- to help.

The deer pivots, surprised by the newcomer, apparently, and it squeals its shrill cry.

Coming from the direction opposite of the river, a new figure bursts from the brush, darting straight for the deer. Lykha’s heart skips excitedly, though she also knows it ruins their plan for escape.

Dashing in to the rescue once more is quite possibly her favorite person in the world at this point. The only contender for the number one slot would be her mother, but the unorthodox human knight certainly never fails to instill a sense of safety and hope in the young fairy.

Murtoa of Lakia, quite possibly the most proficient and definitely most legendary monster slayer in the world, dashes past the deer with Zaermaa drawn, slashing its head clean off. He whirls, though, parrying a kick from the headless monster that causes Lykha to gasp. However, she’s instantly just as relieved -and pleasantly surprised- that he was able to stop it. He slashes again, severing its front legs, and the deer flops to the ground, kicking its hind legs in futility.

This gives Gyrryth and Coco an adequate window to bombard the wolf, and the spellshot fires both explosive spelldusters in short succession. Though flesh is blasted away from the wolf, it manages to rise to its feet once more, and Coco hits it with vials of Maerin’s mixes. None of them seem to have any effect, but the teen keeps firing, hoping any one of the chemicals will prove like the guanidine to the solaghoul. Glass shatters as the wolf stumbles forward, dead-set on reaching them. Gyrryth draws his void pistols, chanting his spells.

Lykha darts to the lizardman, saying quickly, “Gruicelle tried that! Void magic and light magic didn’t work!”

“I assumed so. But, these and light magic are all I have remaining.”

Lykha thinks quickly, running through options or ideas. She glances at Mury as he jogs quickly towards the wolf. Coco is still slinging everything she has, several at a time now, just trying to get a reaction.

The teen launches a larger jar filled with a tacky-looking brown liquid, and it smashes against the wolf.

And, it suddenly shrieks, recoiling away.

Everyone stares at the wolf for a moment as it squeals in agony, retreating several limping steps as it seems torn between pursuing and retreating. Its skin boils and smokes briefly, and it shrieks again.

Thankfully, although the monster doesn’t seem to be dying quite as definitively as anyone would like, it distracts the wolf enough for Mury to draw close, and he decapitates the wolf with a vertical swing, spinning to avoid the wolf’s claw as it tries to swing at him. Once more, he hobbles the creature, backing away several steps to rejoin his party.

Lykha pinches her nose, crying out, “AH! What is that!? What did you throw!?”

Coco chuckles nervously, saying, “I… Tha’ was… outrun.”

“Outrun?”

She fidgets, saying sheepishly, “F-Flush pipe clean out… W-When I was… cleanin’ the sludge out.”

“Y-... You mean…” The fairy feels like she turns several shades of green as the smell becomes VERY familiar suddenly. She hovers away from everyone, throwing up on the ground.

Mury says curtly, “Let’s move. We should leave the area in case there are more.”

“Any idea what these creatures are?” asks Gyrryth urgently as he holsters his spelldusters.

The human warrior shakes his head, “No. Sick animals, it looked like, but what with I don’t know. They were missing too much flesh to still be alive.”

All of them look when the deer head huffs, trying to bite even though it has no way of moving otherwise. The wolf head is doing the same thing.

Lykha hovers to Mury’s shoulder, gingerly gripping his shirt as she asks, “Mury…?”

He looks at her, acknowledging that she spoke. She asks softly, “Wh-... What if… How do we stop it?”

He looks at her silently. After a moment, he finally says, “Something in that last jar affected it. We’ll have to see if we can figure out what. Gyrryth, take Coco and ready the trunk winder to leave. I’ll collect some samples for Maerin to experiment on.”

Gyrryth nods. “Be careful. The holy texts speak ill of such dark omens.”

Murtoa nods, and he walks towards the fallen wolf. Its head continues to try to bite, but it can’t move to lunge at him.

Lykha hovers over his shoulder, murmuring, “Thank you, Mury.”

“You’re welcome. Glad I made it in time.”

“How did you know we were in trouble?”

He chuckles, replying as he uses a knife to scrape some of the wolf’s skin into a vial. “I heard Gyrryth’s shots.”

“I see…” She watches him work a moment. She hugs herself as she ponders the strange affliction the wolf seems to have. But, she also has a different thought. “Lykha’s wondering if you should be worried about catching it yourself.”

Mury replies without looking at her, “I know it’s you in your own body.”

She smiles, but tries to keep the test going. “That’s pretty bold of you to say. I’m-...” As she says the second part, Mury’s voice matches her word for word, “...- the great light spirit, Gruicelle.”

The fairy gasps, asking quickly, “How did you do that?”

The human knight chuckles, “Do what?”

“Read my mind! Are you magic? Have you been lying to me all this time?”

Mury chuckles again as he seals the last of his vials. “I’m sorry to say, you’re a terrible liar, Lykha. I doubt Gruicelle would ever have said something like that.”

Lykha crosses her arms, “You don’t know.”

“No. But, I know you pretty well, I think. You carry yourself very differently from the spirits. Or, even Maerin. You both fly differently.”

The young fairy hugs herself again, murmuring softly, “You… know why that is…”

“True, but it defines both of you. But, you probably wouldn’t mistake me for Gyrryth at a distance based on how we walk, would you?”

Lykha thinks about it, replying, “Huh… I guess… that makes sense.” She smiles at her friend as he looks at her. She says rather arrogantly, feeling a little nostalgic to the early days when they met, “You can admit it.”

He scoffs, “Now what?”

“Just say it, Mury. We both know it to be true.”

“We should get back. The further away we can get, the better.” He starts walking towards the trunk winder.

Lykha hovers in front of him, putting her hands on her hips as she flies backwards, “Ah ah! Don’t you want to answer me while we have a moment alone? It’s so rare that we have time like this, just the two of us.”

“I didn’t realize you were having trouble with the others.”

“What? NO! Of course not. I just mean… This is your chance to admit your true feelings for once. Just between us. After all, you specifically told the other two to go back, but didn’t tell me to go with them.”

“I’m… not sure I’m following what’s happening.”

“Oh, Mury. So, so typical. You don’t have to hide it. I know you pretty well, too.” She smiles sheepishly at him. “So, just say it.”

“I… didn’t ask you to leave because you would be able to provide adequate backup?”

She flinches in her flight, but resumes her posture, “W-Well, I’m happy you feel that way. BUT, I meant…” She fidgets with her hands gingerly. “Isn’t there something else you want to tell me? Anything at all?”

“Good work?” states Mury. He’s genuinely confused.

Lykha sighs. “Thank you. But, play dumb all you want, Mury. Someday very soon, I’ll get you to say it.”

“A good place to start would be to tell me what you’re fishing for.”

“Nope. I think you know.”

“I sincerely don’t.”

“Sure, sure.” She takes a seat on his shoulder as he walks, leaning against his helmet. She sits up just as suddenly, though, saying, “What if it’s a germ of some kind? Maybe Maerin’s treatment chemicals did it.”

“That’s what I’m thinking. Coco said it was flush-out sludge. It must have been from earlier when she was cleaning out the bilges and the waste tanks.”

“Why would she have kept a jar of that?” asks Lykha with disgust.

“I suspect she was planning on using it on me or Maerin again.”

Lykha frowns. “That girl…”

Mury chuckles, “I’ve been in worse.”

“I KNOW!” Lykha huffs, “I’VE been in worse. Doesn’t mean it’s funny.”

The warrior scoffs, adding in a fairly humorous tone, “You’d have hated me as a kid, then.”

“OOoo! Tell me! Please!?”

“Maybe later. We need to get on the move as soon as we can. Do you mind flying ahead and telling Maerin to find something to seal this in? I don’t want to take any chances.”

Lykha looks ahead. The vehicle is in sight, and she nods. “I suppose I can do that. For you.” She smiles at him warmly, and he nods. “Much appreciated.” She flies towards the vehicle to find Maerin as requested, and Coco and Gyrryth are both already working on stoking the fires on the boiler. Mury pauses at the hose to rinse off his equipment, while Coco and Lykha approach him with the requested sealed box. Mury stacks the samples inside carefully, and he instructs them to ask Maerin where to put it.

Just as Lykha is flying back into the vehicle, she hears a sneeze. She calls out, “Bless you!”

Mury replies simply, “Thanks.”

Lykha continues with her present task, content that such a terrifying encounter is over. Just as with the Solaghoul, Maerin will concoct something to protect them from this strange new affliction, and Mury will protect them until then.

So long as, of course, a sneeze is just a sneeze.

***