Leaf rushed ahead, Ether channeled throughout his body. Red flared in his eyes, indicating the energy flowing through him. His steps struck the ground with enhanced strength and sent him flying forwards with each kick off of the ground. Such was his speed that only Geroth and Romina could dash past him. Yet, it was not only his speed that aided his sprint through the forest. The natural grace of his half-elven blood, honed by years of traversing the woods, granted him a dexterity that allowed him to slip through the forest brush with ease. With his Ether bolstering his physicality and perceptions, he could maintain his newly enhanced speed while avoiding any stray branch or root that would have tripped or collided with the unaware. It was because of this that he kept apace with the wolves, and was with them by time they arrived at the source of the roar.
If the stag’s pure white coat had not caught his attention, the raw power that radiated off the beast would have done so in its place. To call him large would be an understatement, as he was bigger than even Bessie was in width and standing at a height that was twice Leaf’s own. A pair of large, ashen gray antlers sprung from the stag’s head, splitting into erratic tines that spread out into a shape similar to the trees around him. A soft, pale white filled the beast’s irises, matching the color of his aura and barely a sliver under his dilated pupils. A sign of danger.
Leaf followed the stag’s eyes, focusing his Ether into his own. They fell upon a tree that was only a breath away from him. What awaited twisted his stomach.
He knew no other word for it other than aberration. A lanky, spindly creature the same size of him with skin that was yellowed like old paper and matted with pock marks across its leathery surface. Its back and head were covered in chitinous plates that folded into one another, shifting colors as its body heaved with a rattled breath. Its head was cone shaped, with lines that separated the natural armor of its crown, trailing to meet at what Leaf could only assume to be its lips. A pair of pure black eyes nested between the head plates, their matted color showing no indication of where it could be staring. Its arms were taught with muscle so striated that they appeared to be made of rope, bundling into claws that were long and thin, dug into the tree that the aberration was wrapped around. Its legs held three joints, bent and warped in a shape similar to the stag’s own. They were thick, composed of that same stringy muscle that knotted through all its body.
If its physical appearance was not unsettling enough, the sickly green aura that bled from it sent shivers up Leaf’s spine, soaking into the wood pierced by its claws and smothering the aura of the tree itself. He saw a blur further behind the creature, and stepped back upon seeing three more of its kind crawl around the tree. All of them had been facing the stag, bodies tense and waiting, but upon his movement, one of the abominations snapped its head to him.
Its lips opened into what he could only see as a grotesque, fleshy flower of six petals, dripping with saliva that splashed onto the ground below. At the center was an undulating maw of teeth smashed into wet, pink flesh that protruded out and shook as the creature's cry left its mouth. A warbled sound echoed out from its maw, strangled like it had been screamed just under the surface of water. It struck Leaf, filled with its corrosive energy, and as the sound set fully in his ears he felt himself freeze for just a second.
At that moment, the creature struck.
It kicked off of the tree, the force in its legs powerful enough to shatter the bark beneath it. It flew towards him, mouth open and still screaming as it closed the distance between it and Leaf in the space of half a breath. He felt his body unfreeze, but, even with his enhanced reflexes, he knew it was too late to get out of the creature’s way. Its fleshy maw was spread open, ready to wrap its sharp teeth around his throat, and the only thing he could do was raise his arm and brace himself.
The creature was knocked to the side as a bolt of pure white light struck it at its flank, exploding into a blast of force that kicked it into a nearby tree. It collided against the wood, its spindly frame wrapping around the bark with a sickening snap that cut off its cry. The aberration landed on the ground, twitching as Leaf heard bones snapping back into place.
A blur of white rushed past him, manifesting as the stag once it loomed over the creature. He reared back, lifting his hooves into the air. A pulse of white surged through them before the beast stomped onto the aberration’s head, splattering the creature’s skull into a stain of brackish green blood. The stag whirled around right after, orbs of light forming and orbiting around his antler as streaks of white flowed through their tines. He faced the remaining three creatures, who had all opened their mouths into their true, grotesque shapes.
They leapt at the stag, shaking the tree as their combined jump shattered the bark underfoot. The beast’s head was a blur of motion when he snapped it to the side. Two of the creatures were swatted away, but the third let out a strangled screech as it was pierced at its side by the stag’s antlers. One of the beast’s orbs of light shot forward and hit the aberration right at its center, striking with enough force to rip it from the stag’s tines and slam it into the tree it came from. It landed on the ground with a wet, yet soft, thud, and green started to stain the snowfall around its corpse.
His demeanor calm and posture upright, the stag faced the other aberrations, who had just begun to stand up from the forest floor. The beast leapt forward before they could fully recover and stomped one in the chest. Ether flowed through his hoof, reinforcing it before it caved in the creature’s torso. It spasmed and its lips opened in a silenced screech before falling still upon the ground. The rest of the stag’s orbs flew from their orbit and pelted the remaining aberration. Three explosions of force were followed by three cracks of broken bones. The scream of this creature was not muted, but it did not last for long as the beast kicked it in the head. Such was the force of the blow that the flesh of the aberration’s neck ripped open, making the creature reach for its throat before it went still.
The stag’s head turned to the side and it let out a bellow that tore through the trees in a pulse of translucent force. Leaf peered in the direction of the beast’s roar, his enhanced vision now revealing shimmering shapes that clung to each of the trees. Chitinous plates shifted apart, revealing scores of the aberrations embedded into the bark. Their mouths opened in a wave, letting out that same shrill screech infused with their corrosive power. White trailed from the stag’s fur, flaring outward to collide with the sickly energy. The stag’s power smothered the aberrations’, leaving nothing but the steady thud of snow falling from the trees.
Then, the wolves struck.
Geroth arrived first, a storm of fang and claws wreathed in emerald light. He collided with a tree covered with four of the aberrations, summoning a burst of air and force that wiped the creatures from its bark. The white wolf caught one of the creatures in the air with his jaws and spun to slam it into another with a crack that curdled the scream from both of the aberrations fleshy maws. Green Aether flowed into Geroth’s back legs when he landed, and the wolf whirled around to drive them into one of the creatures on the ground. The aberration flew through the branches in a series of snaps and weak cries that fell silent the moment it returned to the dirt.
The final creature managed to recover and leapt at Geroth, its fleshy lips splayed open to bite into the wolf’s hide. He jumped to the side, avoiding the bite and snatching the aberration out of the air by its leg. With a quick snap of his head to the side, Geroth smashed the creature into a tree, wrapping its lanky form around the wood as it let out a final choked cry. The white wolf snarled at the rest of the creatures, rage clear in his eyes as he chased after the ones scrambling through the trees.
Romina had attacked shortly after Geroth’s initial assault. Rather than the speedy flight of her mate, the black wolf was clad in stone that covered her head, torso, and claws. She took aim at a group of five aberrations that were on the ground, doing their best to blend in with the snow as they crawled along the forest floor. It did them little good, however, as Romina barrelled into them like a runaway wagon. She trampled one creature with her stone clad claws, smashing its head to a pulp as she lowered her head to catch another aberration at its side with her charge. The creature could do little as it was swept off its feet and rammed into a branch closer to the ground. Green blood coated the tree’s limb when it pierced through the aberration’s side, holding it up while it kicked the last of its life away in a fruitless spasm.
The other creatures leapt at Romina and latched onto her flanks with their grotesque mouths. Despite their struggling, the black wolf’s stone armor remained unfazed, and she slammed her side against another tree to shatter another creature’s body against bark. She reached around and snatched one of the two remaining with her teeth. Her paw stomped the ground, jutting out a spike of stone from the ground. Romina whirled her head around and drove the creature in her jaw onto the spike. No sounds escaped the aberration’s lips as stone stabbed through its chest, and Romina carried forward in a sprint. The remaining creature stuck against her armor was knocked loose from the wolf brushing against a tree during her dash. It landed onto the snow in a heap, fighting to get back to its feet. The black wolf spared the creature no quarter and pivoted around to kick its stone covered claws against the aberration’s head. The blow crushed the creature’s head against the tree it was rammed against, flattening its crown with a wet squelch. Like Geroth, Romina’s eyes were also filled with a feral anger that carried her further into the woods.
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Such violence took only a matter of seconds to unfold, but It did not take much thought for Leaf to know what fueled the wolves’ rage. The energy from these creatures was the same that Merida had pulled from Snow more than a week ago, and the cub’s parents were out for vengeance. It was this that pulled the archer from his stupor, and he shook his head to settle his senses.
Aberrations aplenty were leaping through the forest, but their numbers were starting to thin as they fled from the wolves. The stag flared with a white light before he rushed ahead to join the canines in their pursuit. Rather than join him, Leaf stepped back and knocked an arrow into his bow. He kept it ready as he smothered his sense of touch to bolster his sight with Ether. The cold around him lessened and his hands started to feel numb, but Leaf was now able to more clearly make out the ever shifting plates on the backs of the aberrations. Two hid from the stag as the beast charged through the trees, but as he passed they instead turned their heads towards Leaf. Their mouth’s furled open to scream and Leaf’s instinct made him loose an Ether infused arrow into one of their heads. It pierced through the aberration’s fleshy maw and broke through the plate on its head before embedding itself into the tree the creature positioned themselves upon.
The other aberration managed to leap from its own spot, but Leaf already had another arrow ready. He landed the projectile into the creature’s mouth mid flight and stepped to the side to avoid the now dead body tumbling through the air. The display made the stragglers close to him scatter away and try to blend in with the forest brush in their flight. They leapt through the trees in the direction of Merida and Helbram, who had just arrived at the battle. As they passed by the two of them, a few of the creatures cut their attention to the Druid and dove at her from above.
Merida, having seemingly sensed the creatures before they made their assault, rapped her staff against a tree. A creaking sound ripped through the air, following the sudden twisting and bending of the branches above into lash that whipped out. It struck one of creatures with enough force to shatter its head plate and slam it against a tree with a crunch that twisted its limbs into an unrecognizable mess. Right after, it snatched another mid leap and drove it against a boulder that jut from the forest floor. The creature’s head was reduced to a green smear upon striking the stone. Another creature flung itself through the trees in another attempt to bite Merida, but the Druid intercepted the aberration with a wall of stone that was summoned with a tap of her staff against the ground.
The creature rammed into it with a dull thud and crumpled to the dirt. It tried to recover, but that proved to be short lived the moment the center of the wall started to glow red. Merida drove the tip of her staff against the stone wall, a pulse of red Aether flowing throughout its intricate wooden make. Upon striking the stone, the center of the wall crumbled into specks of yellow energy that funnelled into the three Circles that orbited around Merida’s head. The power’s color shifted from yellow to red and surged into the Druid’s staff, where it emerged as a burst of flame from the catalyst’s tip. The fire struck the creature in its unarmored center and punched a hole through its chest. The flames seared the wound, leaving the now corpse bloodless as it fell to the ground.
Upon seeing such a display, the remaining two aberrations fled from Merida as well. They may have made to flee entirely, but there was one last target that caught their eye. One that had yet to be tested.
“Helbram!” Leaf shouted, “From your sides!”
The warrior nodded upon hearing the archer’s words. His head cut from side to side, catching notice of the creatures’ shimmering, nearly concealed shapes. He readied his sword and shield and hopped back, drawing the two aberrations into a leap. The creatures sprung from their positions at the same time, but rather than brace himself against their charge, Helbram pressed forward. He caught one of the creatures by the mouth with his shield and used his momentum to force it backwards. Doing so made the other aberration just barely leap past him, and the one that had been intercepted found itself stuck on the shield’s wooden grain. Helbram ripped his arm up and drove his sword into the creature’s now exposed chest. It spasmed, but went still as the warrior kicked him off his weapons and to the ground.
He spun around and faced the remaining creature, who had landed and was now charging at Helbram with its claws. Helbram kept back from the aberration swipes, drawing it in circles. Leaf pulled another arrow to finish the creature, but he could sense that the warrior was up to something. Helbram swiped at the creature a few times with his sword to repel it, the attempts threatening enough to make the creature retreat, but without the usual force that Leaf knew his companion to have. The archer’s eyes widened once he realized what the swordsman was up to, and held his hand up to stop Merida, who was in the middle of conjuring a spell.
“What is he doing?” The Druid asked, her tone a mixture of confusion and urgency.
“Studyin’,” Leaf said. He looked around, forcing more of his Ether into his eyes and smothering his sense of touch entirely. The random flare of sunlight hitting snow made his eyes narrow, but he was able to maintain enough focus to tell that the rest of the creatures were chased away by the stag and the wolves.
He directed his attention back to Helbram, who was provoking the aberration into twisting its body away with a series of thrusts from his sword. Seemingly satisfied, the warrior rapped his sword against his shield and goaded the creature into attacking him. Leaf flinched upon hearing the aberration’s screech, and reached for an arrow the moment that he saw the creature’s sickly green energy surge forward with the sound. However, when it struck Helbram, it did not seem to affect him. Instead, the warrior charged ahead, unhindered, to meet the aberration in melee.
He began his assault by ramming his shield into the creature’s face and forcing its head up. The aberration tried to strike with its claws, but they bounced off his shoulder plates and could not manage to pierce through his brigandine. Helbram rewarded the creature’s fruitless attacks by stabbing his sword through its back leg, eliciting a pained scream from the creature and forcing it to scramble to the side. The warrior followed after it and struck its face with the edge of his shield. The blow made the aberration stumble back and, with its weakened leg, it fell on its side. Its position exposed its unarmored underside, leaving it open to Helbram’s stab as he pushed his blade into its chest. With a final spasm, the creature went still.
The warrior pulled the sword out of the aberration’s corpse and looked around the surrounding forest. “Are we clear, Leaf?”
“Yes, Geroth and Romina have chased the bastards away. The stag went with them, but I don’t know if…” The archer’s words trailed off when he heard the faint sound of galloping through woods. He turned to face it and saw that the stag had returned, with Geroth and Romina at his side. “Well, consider that curiosity answered. As for the other one in my head… the hells are these hideous things?” Leaf walked over and kicked one of the aberration’s corpses. Its mouth splayed open, forcing a gag from the archer’s throat.
“Fel beasts,” Merida’s tone was worried, “but they aren’t supposed to be here. They usually make their habitats in the Broken Lands.”
“Things have a habit of wandering out of there from time to time,” Helbram said in a tired, knowing tone, “but this part of the Freemarks is quite a distance away from the Broken Lands…” he shook his head, “We can worry about the details later. For now, I believe the stag wishes to speak with us.” He wiped his sword off with a rag and sheathed it before tilting his helmet towards the enlightened beast.
Merida turned around and allowed herself a relieved smile upon seeing Geroth and Romina. When she faced the stag, however, her expression shifted to one of reverence and respect. The Druid appeared smaller than usual as she walked up to the large beast, but the hand that she held up to him was steady. The stag leaned his head down and pressed his forehead against it with closed eyes. A soft, white light glowed from the point of their connection, and Merida also closed her eyes as she communed with the stag. After a moment, the Druid’s eyes opened and she turned to face Leaf and Helbram.
“He says that the fel beasts have been a problem within these woods for years, but that their presence has started to propagate much more as of late.” her brow furrowed, “the creatures are a… corrosive presence to the environment, and the more that there are, the more of an impact their energies will have upon the forest. Before, the stag was able to keep them under control, out of the eyes of the villagers, but as of late…”
“Something has changed,” Helbram said, “and he is asking for your help.”
Merida gave a solemn nod, “He is offering to guide us to his home, after he clears the area of corpses. Even in death their bodies can poison the dirt.”
“Should we burn them, then?” Leaf asked.
“That is one method, yes, but I believe the stag has his own methods of disposal.”
“No doubt,” Helbram walked up to the beast, “but I must ask that you leave one corpse alone.”
The stag tilted his head.
“The village near here, Geldervale, must know of this threat as soon as possible,” the warrior explained.
His mention of the town made the beast narrow his eyes, but the stage eventually huffed his consent.
“Thank you,” Helbram turned to Leaf and Merida, “You two go with him, I will take the corpse back to the village. Would one of the wolves mind joining me? The faster that Felix and the others know of this, the better they will be able to deal with this threat.”
The Druid said something to the canines in that same melodic, calm language that he could not understand, but felt oddly familiar with. Geroth grunted in response and stepped up next to Helbram, who placed a hand on the wolf’s back with an appreciative expression.
“Just give me one moment to do something.” She ran a hand along her staff, filling it with a mix of blue and yellow Aether before tapping some of the dead shrubbery and a low hanging branch. With a twist of the catalyst, Merida bent and wrapped the foliage into a makeshift sled that fully formed under the corpse of the fel beast that was the least damaged. With another snap of the staff, she wrapped the branch, now smoothed out and behaving more like a vine, around Geroth’s torso. “I would be remiss to let such creatures bleed on my friends.”
Helbram nodded, “‘Tis a wise decision, thank you.” He looked at Leaf, “Keep an eye out, I know naught of what else may be waiting in the woods.”
“Speak for yourself,” the archer said, “Get back quick, Geroth should know the way. I expect a four page plan before I return.”
Helbram snorted, “So long as you do not mind it being written in a very large script… be careful, Leaf.”
“I will, Helbram, now get goin’.”
The warrior hopped onto Geroth’s back and patted the wolf on the shoulder. With a huff, they dashed into the trees.