“Time for what?” Zalia asked, her heart beginning to beat heavily in her chest.

“You know what,” the collective said.

And she did. The ‘danger’ Delphi had spoken of. She had a choice, at that moment. She could turn around and leave by the tunnel she had just dug, become the hunted in the Cormaine or she could face whatever lay ahead and trust in the collective's sight.

“What do you see?” Zalia asked, a little bit of fear tinting her voice.

While she was by no means a coward, but, the whole damn collective sitting there staring at her with those all knowing eyes, an unknown enemy at the surface, well, it was not something any sane person would find relaxing.

“We see what must be done. It is time,” the collective said.

Her fear, just a little bit of it, turned to anger. She was sick of their obscurity.

“Fine, let’s go see what the hell is so important that you won’t tell me about it,” Zalia growled.

She turned on her heel, making her way towards the entrance of the Grove, Boreal close behind.

They reached the entrance and Zalia pushed aside the thick vines there just a little to peak outside. In the sky above, flying through the shades, Zalia could see three figures flying through the sky towards them. She recognised the figures as the same race of creature that the previous demon she had killed had been. The one at the front, however, was much larger than that one had been. The two behind it were smaller by a bit, not so calm as the central figure, constantly striking out at each other like they were vying for power.

“And what else is coming,” Zalia whispered.

She couldn’t see anything else but even with the aura blocking effect of her living rituals and Grove, she could feel the corruptive aura growing stronger. It wasn’t as strong as the one created by the twisted monster she had seen flying over the island hosting Hetheir but it was definitely something more than just the three creatures she saw before her.

She heard the little tapping of the hoard of frogs approaching behind her and turned to see three of them were sitting watching the map she had left on the ground. She’d forgotten about that and walked over to see. Approaching from the same direction as the three flying figures were a large number of red dots. The shades were blinking to life on the map as the three figures moved closer to them, as if their presence was turning them from mindless parts of the scenery to creatures actively looking to kill.

“Well that’s certainly a lot more than three,” Zalia said.

“It certainly is. We will do what we can,” the collective said.

“Are you sure we should even fight this battle?” Zalia asked.

There was a momentary pause, as if the collective was trying to decide what to tell her.

“It is important that we do,” they replied.

“Why? What will happen?” Zalia asked in frustration.

“Since you have arrived in Cormaine, our visions have gone from ones of bleak and eventless future to ones of great change. We cannot tell you of those visions, only that this battle must be fought, what comes must happen for the future of Cormaine,” they explained.

Zalia stopped for a moment, taking in the fact that they had even explained at all. Maybe what was to come was now no longer stoppable. She turned to Boreal.

“We’ll fight down low, in the forest. That is where our strengths lay. Stay safe, do not take any risks. I don’t want you dying today nor any day,” Zalia whispered, gently holding Boreal’s head.

“We will both live,” Boreal said.

Her usual tone of humour and joy was gone, replaced by something more serious. An understanding of the stakes, perhaps a fear of losing another mother.

Zalia applied the protective rituals she could on herself and Boreal, as well as the base Zephyr for slow fall. She did not apply the flight ritual, thinking it would be unwise to be flying up to where the three demons of unknown rank and the shades they controlled at any point.

She gave Boreal a kiss on the head and sprinted out of the Grove, Boreal following behind and overtaking her as they reached the forest edge.

She could see the three flying overhead as the trees and branches flashed past at speed. She ignored many of the obstacles, dashing straight through them with her intangibility. The aura out here was significantly stronger, especially so without the protections of the Grove. It only grew stronger as they found the first of the creatures running through the forest.

It ran on all fours yet was humanoid with a snarling face filled with sharp teeth. Its back was hunched, large spikes coming out like those of a hedgehog. Its eyes were beady, filled with a hunger, a rage, a madness. It was unlike anything she had seen in the others so far, be it corrupt human or demon above. It was most comparable to the madmen that charged the rebels camp yet was so, so much more. It was less mindless and more focused.

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Fortunately, it seemed these were the lower ranked of the demons above for as she saw more and more, they were all of Tin or Iron rank.

The first began dying as she released arrows from the treetops, Hunter’s mark and various rituals being applied as their screams rang out from the forest. She saw one die to an icy approximation of Boreal that jumped from under a root, catching it by the neck and ripping through with ease.

Another died as a spike from a tree extended out, impaling it through the head to another tree nearby, holding the corpse up in a macabre false life.

Dozens died as Zalia focused on spreading the lava curse through their ranks, others yet becoming blind as she cast a mass ritual of Bitterbalm major and Glowing Cavern Fungus minor. Many of those stumbled into various traps, a pit in the ground filled with spikes at the bottom, a tripwire that wrapped around the stumbling creature growing ever tighter in a death hold.

Far above, two of the demons dropped down, noticing the chaos that had begun within the ranks of their creatures below. The larger one hung above, frozen as if battling some kind of mental battle, most likely the target of the collective’s attack.

Boreal appeared from the shadows, the dozen creatures immediately freezing at feeling the aura she emitted. She must have been holding it back since Zalia had not felt it like this, a prey instinct within her yelling that there was a predator she must avoid. She quickly shook it off but the creatures facing her were not so lucky. Heads were bitten almost all the way through, bodies slashed apart. One creature was slammed with so much force from the armoured Boreal that it flew back into a tree, impacting with a sickening crunch.

The two demons that were flying down swerved towards Boreal as she made an appearance but Zalia wasn’t about to let them team up on her. Ignoring the many creatures dying or wounded around, Zalia dashed through the treetops towards the two, releasing arrows. One of them caught an arrow to the leg and another two to the chest. Mortal wounds for the low ranked below but an annoyance for the Bronze enemy before her.

It swerved away, coming towards Zalia and she sent a quick mental message to Boreal to watch out for the other that still approached her. Focusing on her own battle, knowing that Boreal would be saved by Zalia’s Healing presence should she receive a fatal blow, Zalia released more arrows as she applied rituals to the quickly approaching enemy.

It vanished, leaving the rituals in empty air.

This time, Zalia expected the move, immediately using her own teleport to appear a few metres back, behind the enemy that had appeared behind her. Her weapon, already transformed from bow to sword, came down in a quick and brutal strike that clipped one of the demon's six wings off. It spun around in anger and pushed into an attack. This time Zalia was also Bronze rank, however, and she more than held her own.

Thanks to her sword passive, she could see and feel how the enemy would attack and reacted in kind, moving swiftly and sure of foot back through the treetops. She parried a strike, gaining a burst of speed that she put to good use, pushing the attack back.

A quick ritual had a vine grow from the trees underneath the demon wobbling in its unbalanced flight. Her sword struck true in that moment, cutting deep into its right shoulder. She ripped it out and dodged the desperate strike coming at her. Confident in her victory in the fight, she waited for a good moment to strike rather than pushing her advantage hard, knowing she could have a safe victory in time as long as she was patient.

The other demon came hurtling towards her and for a moment she thought it was coming to defend its ally. However, the shades it was controlling were swarming behind it and the thing held an expression of… fear?

As it dashed past, Boreal appeared from a shadow amongst the treetop and slammed into its side, her jaw clamping around its neck, the two dropping from the air immediately. Zalia heard a crunch but quickly focused back on her own opponent.

With a dead ally and bleeding heavily from a wound that glowed with a burning light, it looked like it might try flee as well. At that moment, the whole fight changed.

An aura that Zalia recognised all too well began pressing down on the battlefield and it was only the rituals she had applied to herself, her abilities and Bronze rank that allowed her to stay standing at feeling it. She thought it had been bad when she had been in the keep but out here in the open it was something else entirely.

She was pushed to her knees, her opponent standing straighter as if bolstered by it. It felt hopeless, the aura of the thing alone enough to put an end to her.

The demon stood before her, arm raised and ready to strike her down. It might take it a while to rip her apart piece by piece with her healing keeping her alive but it would do just that.

The collective had lied, this was the end.

The corruption ate her body.

The demon swung.

The attack ripped across her throat and she gurgled as blood flowed. Another hand punched into her chest and reached for her heart but the life saving ability of Healing presence shoved the arm back out, covering her in a shimmering green light. The wounds began quickly closing even as the demon railed against the shield.

Just then, the aura disappeared.

Ro-ak, Nateysta, bigger than before, swooped in from far above and the aura was pushed back.

Zalia felt hope again, the emotional and physical crushing sensation gone as she used her teleport to get some distance from the demon before her. Its swing barely missed and she quickly looked up.

Above, the monster she remembered, feared, had nightmares about, flew on its fiery bat wings, a thousand eyes observing the battlefield. Slamming into it was Ro, her little crow friend turned god. His power matching that of the creature, a fight of gods above as the smaller creatures fought below.

Zalia turned back to her opponent, no longer at any disadvantage.

She pushed forwards, taking an arm in a quick manoeuvre fueled by the speed of Fight or Flight. She could sense exactly where its next strike would come from, parrying its sharp claws and using the further burst of speed to remove its head from its shoulders.

“Where are you Boreal?” Zalia called out with her mind.

She could feel her direction and began making her way towards it.

Boreal had hopefully already taken care of her enemy but she didn’t have as much protection from that aura as Zalia did.

“Safe,” Boreal replied.

Zalia breathed a sigh of relief, slicing a hunched creature in two as another got a leg slammed in a bear trap, its head caught by another as it fell with a screech of pain.

She found Boreal hiding within the little safe spot that she had set up in the forest, protected by the aura blocking effect.

She didn’t have long to be relieved as she saw another of the thousand eyed creatures flying in from afar.

“Oh no,” she whispered.