The brand sizzled on the hydra's chest. Both hydra heads opened their mouths in feral snarls as the Brand of Discord expanded. It resonated with a single facet of the conglomerated soul, carving bleeding lines that stung and burned. Two additional bleeding runes took shape with agonizing slowness.

The first: Restrict

The second: Movement

The hydra knew no language, yet it instinctively comprehended these runes. They weren't mere symbols of a mortal language but fundamental symbols of reality. A piece of infinite.

The second head gingerly reached for the brand with its mind, drew out the power within, and directed it at a nearby tree.

//Restrict Movement//

The Brand flared. A power rushed out of the hydra's second head and formed a shimmering sphere of distorted air around a [[Blackburr Spire]]. The effect wasn't immediately apparent. The tree didn't move much in the first place. The trunk of the tree ignored the effects, but higher, where the branches thinned and presented their green fronds up to the sky, that was where the Brand's magic was apparent. The gentle wind flowed across the branches, but where before it managed to cause the canopy to sway, now it struggled to push past the inanimate object.

The Hydra perused this new information but ultimately dismissed it. It had better things to do, specifically conferring with the second soul that had awoken with the second head of the hydra.

[[Action: Aevum head will lead the body to the lighter woods(presumably) around the city away from the deer, and Maximum head will look at our status using Control Status]]

The heads conferred. It occurred in the blink of an eye. Their souls were bound, after all. They decided many things, but the first was the question of names. True Names would be preferable, but neither soul was willing to share the very meaning of their existence. They settled for something lesser: a descriptive pronoun to ease the differentiation of the separate heads.

The first head became Maximum, as it was eager for everything.

The second became Aevum, for it was more patient than its exuberant forerunner.

The second decision was what to do, and they swiftly came to a decision: Go out—away from the woods, to the forest's edge, where they could discover new and exciting things.

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They headed out, away from where the [[Briarblood Charger]] had caught them last iteration. With two heads, two minds, and two active searching souls, the tasks came easily. Aevum led them through the forest with careful patient steps. Nothing like the quick, exuberant rush preferred by Max. It wasn't the best tactic in an unfamiliar forest, so Max handed the reigns over to the other soul. Aevum struggled slightly, as the body of the hydra was cumbersome and unfamiliar, but the soul learned quickly from Max's shared memories.

While they traveled, Max used the Brand on anything and everything that moved. The first target was naturally itself.

```[[Hydra of Discord]]

A young amalgamation of corporeal and incorporeal elements forged directly by the God of Discord known only as Hydra. The creature is exceptionally young and small, with only two of the heads that its nigh limitless adult form will eventually take. Each head is capable of an unpredictable array of magyks, though this hydra is capable of elevated status control and movement restriction.```

Meanwhile, Aevum's efforts had yielded fruit. Traveling the forest unseen and unheard was difficult. The constant chittering of the forest was helpful, but it came from a variety of downright lethal birds ruffling their feathers in the canopy.

```[[Morfischer Scout]]

A highly territorial flocking bird most commonly found in forested and jungle climates. Oddly, the Morfischer is descended from aquatic ancestors, and some members of the species are known to possess low-tier water magic. Individually, this creature is small and weak but fast. When threatened, it will attack with every member of its flock.```

At one point, the attentive birds nearly discovered the hydra. Max swiftly sent a holographic blue interface flying up into the sky, distracting the birds long enough for Aevum to scuttle around another tree, making sure to avoid the rare [[Briarblood Charger]] they encountered.

In due time, they came to the edge of the [[Forest]] and beheld the [[City]]. Everything was made of stone, with massive parts of the city appearing to be hewn from the mountain directly. The road leading to the front gate was packed with a long line of short, stocky, bipedal creatures. Humanoids, whose defining feature was a barrel-shaped chest and long scraggly beards that reached far below their sternums. They stood in a disorganized line, waiting with carts and mules, as they waited to enter the [[City]]. Even from this distance, the hydra could faintly hear their raucous complaining carried to it by the wind.

Dwarves, Max's Brand burned, but it struggled to glean any additional information across the large distance.

Two roads converged on the city. The first led east to a foggy [[Lake]] that was just faintly visible in the distance. Its surface became wide and paved, with small dots all along its length. The second was smaller. A path more than a road that wound its way through the steep terrain to get to the top of the [[Mountain Range]]

Nothing has bothered you yet, and this entire scene is almost idyllic compared to the violence of your previous iteration.

What do you do?

[[```Action:```->A complete exploration of powers]]