Φ I am scared, completely terrified of everything. The world is so much bigger than I thought, and all of the people I care about have been thrust into it, with very little way of backing out.
Some have already come back with scares, both mental and physical. And I fret the idea that others will soon have scares like this as well, which could be a lot more deadly than the ones I have already seen.
But what terrifies me the most is my lack of ability to do anything about it. Back when me and Orb were hunting predasaurs I was scared but knew deep down I could overcome them if I trained.
However, this world we live in is one where even a genius like Orb can be devoured, and I don’t think I can survive in such a place. I am frightened that one day all I have, all I love will crumble. So maybe it is better to die right here.
Still, I made a promise to always be there for my wife, and to be a living example of Orb’s hope for people. So I will take this sensation, take this fear, and move on.
Standing up, I look at the Fanalis and say, “I am not done yet.”
Turning to me, he snickers and says, “Pfft, if you can’t even stop shaking don’t talk as if you are worth even a second of my time you bug.”
With my hand still shaking from the eminent fear of death, I put on the best smile I can, and say, “You're so amazing yet you can’t even finish off a bug, looks like you rate yourself to highly.”
Angered, he says, “Ok then, I won’t let you die peacefully.”
He lunges towards me, and I pretend to enter a position ready to parry, and as he punches at me, I move my sword and let his blow break my sword in half.
With one of my arms broken swinging a large sword like I wasn’t effective, so fighting this way will allow me to fight somewhat effectively.
With my broken sword, I slice a part of his leg and then start to run away. As I do he screams, “YOU THINK I AM GOING TO LET YOU GET AWAY!”
He is about to lunge towards me but then stops as he notices where I am standing. Stamping my foot on the ground, from the trap spring again which causes the gas to come, and following this throughout my body I start to feel numb.
Looking at my hand which has stopped shaking, I say, “I can fight like this now!”
I then slowly approach him and say, “What are you scared of a little poison?”
He lunges towards me, and as he does I dodge the best I can, my head feels clear as if the pain doesn’t exist, but still, I am limited physically by the shape my body is in.
He spends fast blow after fast blow, but I am able to barely dodge each now that I am accustomed. He does spend a different type of attack every now and then to mix it up, but using my spirit energy I am at least able to hold on, though to an onlooker this fight would be anything but even.
Still within brief moments where I see and opening a land a slice on both of his arms and his legs, and then I say, “Looks like I am far more than a bug.”
Angered he punches directly towards my face and I use my broken arm reinforced with spirit energy to block. This blow causes so much pain it overrides the numbness in my body and sends me flying away.
On the floor with teeth missing, I say, “Is that all you have got!”
He then lungs towards me, and says, “DIE!”
But as he lunges towards me a large snapping sound happens and he falls towards the ground and looks confused. “What the hell is going on.”
Getting up, I say, “The Ruathar hopper is a wonderbeast that uses special muscles located in its limbs to instantly accelerate to any speed necessary to surprise and catch its prey, but it shouldn’t be used too many times in rapid succession. So I have been damaging those muscles every so slightly, and have waited for you to overexert yourself.”
“That’s impossible, I have no limit to my ability.”
“Of course, that’s what you’d think but have you ever been forced to use it in such rapid succession like this, and thanks to the numbness you got from walking into the poison you didn’t even feel the pain that would come with strain, then using my sword I made sure to make this situation every so slightly worst.”
He looks dumbfounded, on the floor, so I say, “How would you even know about this!?”
With a sadistic smile, I say, “When I first arrived I got beaten quite badly, so I have spent the last two days with the druids memorizing everything I possibly can about all of the wonderbeasts they have on record. I don’t have a legacy or special abilities, but I do love animals with all my heart, and I know that the Ruathar grasshopper's belly is incredibly shock absorbent, and incredibly weak to slashes.”
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He gets up and runs at me, then says, “I will kill you bastard!”
Quickly I move forward then with my sword, I disembowel him and say, “It is over.”
As he falls to the ground, I look at his body and then say, “This is the first time I have ever killed someone intentionally. He is an awful person but this is equally an awful feeling.”
Staring at the blood on my hand, I feel rather intense emotions, but the numbness throughout my body stops any physical expression of this. I start to breathe in again and again, with the speed increasing with each breath, yet I cannot calm down no matter how much I try.
But suddenly, I see Suzuka's face in front of mine and she says, “WILLOW ARE YOU OK!?”
“Ye-.”
Before I can finish she grabs and holds me then in her panicked state, she says, “Willow don’t die, please don’t die, if you do Maple will cry and I will cry so don’t die, don’t die!”
Pushing her face away, I say, “Please don’t kill me off in your mind, I am fine.” Looking at the beaten body she is dragging, I say, “So you managed to capture the perpetrator.”
“Yes, but we need to hurry back over to Maple.”
“That man was riding on a Wonderbeast right, so take it go.”
“I can’t just leave you behind.”
“Enough with that, I am able to bandage up my wounds by myself so all I need you to do is go right now.”
“No Willow, I don’t know how to ride a horse, much less a wonderbeast. I also forgot the way we came here.”
“Huh, YOU FORGOT!”
“Don’t yell at me, the entire time we were coming here I was so panicked by being next to you that I couldn’t remember anything!” Starting to cry, she screams, “Orb, Maple, WILLOW IS ABUSING ME!”
“HEY DON’T GO MAKING UP LIES!”
As Suzuka cries, I say, “Hey if you stop I will tell you some of Maple and Orb’s embarrassing secrets.”
“Really?”
“Really! But now we need to find a way to get us all there.”
As me and Suzuka mull over and think about what to do, we hear a loud quaking sound and soon we see something that shocks us both to our core.
-Break-
Location: Plains of Díoltas
Φ Me and Iancu continue to fight with all of our hearts. We do whatever we can to slow them down, using our legacy the best we can. But the beastkin are simply too varied in the ways they attack and how we deal with them.
Each of them has a different animal which affects the way they move, think, look, and can do. They are all special, their greatest blessing is what is about to make them lose it all and there is nothing I can do about it.
From my back, I feel something strike me, and turning around, I see Iancu is preoccupied with keeping so many beastkin from moving through that one that looks like a chameleon has snuck behind him and hit me.
The Fanalis then tries to go for my neck but using my bow I block in then with my finger coated in spirit energy I strike it in the eyes and kick him off me.
Standing I look around and with my enhanced vision, I see that we are already overwhelmed and in mere moments they are going to start fighting, feeling defeated I am about to drop my bow.
But I tighten my grip, and say, “Even if I can stop one more person from dying it will be worth it.” So I prepare to shoot a final shot.
But as I do, I feel a quake through the ground. Something that I felt for the first time a few days ago. The quaking keeps happening so regularly that everyone on the battlefield can’t even stand.
And mere moments later we see something running at us. It is the biggest living thing that I ever have seen, a giant silver wolf covered in tattered robes similar to those of the druids, and just like the druids it has two tree horns growing out of its head, but unlike the druid, the branches raged across its body.
It’s arms are long and sore our it’s legs. Throughout its skin are scars that are bigger than houses, and wounds that carve out its flesh. But despite all of that this beast in front of us has a regal aura.
As the beast comes to a halt it looks down at us, and in that moment it says, “For the first time in two thousand years, I have left my prison of repentance, and this is the sight I see, how humorous.”
Everyone in the area feels fear overtake them and they don’t know what they are looking at, but from the moment I felt the quaking I knew who it was.
Ganthrú instantly falls to the ground and says, “EVERYONE BOW YOUR HEAD AT ONCE!”
A Fanalis who is trying to hold back her fear says, “Why would we ever bow are head to one of you.”
Ganthrú screams, “BE QUIET FOOL BECAUSE THE ONE IN FRONT OF YOU IS OUR HIGHEST AUTHORITY, IT IS THE GRAND DRUID!”
Hearing this name, the rest of the beastkin in the area quickly start to fall in line, for that is the respect this beast commands.
Name: Bursting Bear
Height: 230 cm
Type: Wonderbeast, Omnivore
Description: It is a large quadrupedal wonderbeast, with two long Appendages attached to its back that look like furry wings. It is incredibly similar to a black bear in terms of looks, but it has orange markings throughout its body that allow it to compress and stop heat inside its body, allowing for both offensive and defensive use. The two wings like appendages on its back are adaptions it made so it could better insult other wonderbeasts that don’t have heating capabilities.
Fact: The bear is a social and friendly wonderbeast, and it will fall into a deep depression and die if left alone, so it adapted the wings on its back to better keep other wonderbeasts without insulting capabilities alive through harsh conditions.
Name: Eclipse Ant
Height: Undefined
Type: Wonderbeast, Omnivore
Description: An ant-like wonderbeast, that has incredibly powerful blade-like legs, and wings that are as strong as they are light. It is capable of gripping onto any surface, and it can secrete a special kind of drug that reduces pain and raises one's physical capabilities. But the most important aspect of them is that the longer they stay in their cocoon the bigger it's size becomes and the denser it’s muscles get.
Fact: If a beastkin is born with this wonderbeast as it’s animal the pregnancy process is described as utter hellish and that no pain on earth could even compare to it.
Name: Nord Dragonfly
Height: 20M
Type: Wonderbeast, Omnivore
Description: A wonderbeast that looks like a long slim, serpent-like dragon with glowing blue orbs hanging throughout its body. Its body is incredibly stretchy so it can take all forms of purely physical impact without a dent
Fact: Despite how they look they have no alignment with the dragons or the draconic wonderbeasts, they are insects. Over the generations the dragonflies used their rubber-like bodies to stretch and model themselves into a new shape, to ward off predators. This led to an issue where humans would easily hunt them and think they are not capable of hunting dragons leading to a high amount of corpses.