“Elder Zinnica, before I head out, may I ask you a question,” Eiji spoke.
“Of course,” Zinnica replied.
“The necklace you gave me,” referring to the necklace he wore, “what’s the purpose of it? I thought Abminus fused with roots to access their truest potential. If you say my human half is where my powers lay dormant, shouldn’t I be looking for the root that compliments me?”
“Ho, ho, it would seem you are keeping up with your studies.” Elder Zinnica replied, plopping on her butt atop the pig that always accompanied her. “The truth is, you’re already wearing the root you fused with.”
“What?!”
“Your power will awaken in time, I’m sure of it.”
“But when did this happen? How do you know this?”
“I fused with the Minus commonly known as a Mefer; it’s derived from memory ferns. With it, I can see people’s pasts.”
“Hm, okay,” Eiji said, turning to leave, but before leaving he asked, “Was it cool?”
“It was pretty cool,” Zinnica replied.
“Sweet.”
***
“Dammit, no matter what I do it just isn’t coming out!” Rai shouted. “Stupid ikken. Hey Plu, I need to eat you, get over here.” Rai marched over to it. Plu, playing with a four-leaf clover, popped its head up, and upon seeing Rai coming its way, it ran off. “Get back here!” Rai shouted, chasing Plu around the forest where they were camped.
Meanwhile, Eiji was near a lake studying the necklace he normally had around his neck. “Coulda been a sword,” he said, twirling it around his finger.
“Coulda been a dress,” Lily said, sitting down next to Eiji.
“True. How’s your training with your legacies going?” Eiji asked.
“No good. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Seems to be the movement around here,” Eiji sighed. “For most of us at least.”
They both glanced into the distance where Aegis was. He had joined them on their venture in hopes of joining the elites; he wanted to supply for his younger brother Yuta.
Yuta, caressing the cat from the Underrenna, was watching intently as his brother mobilized different shadow steps, cutting down a few trees in his path.
Eiji sighed, “Coulda been a ninja ghost.”
In the distance, Rai shouted, “Fine! I’ll figure it out myself,” before storming off into the woods.
“There he goes,” Lily said.
“Seems to be his movement,” Eiji stated.
Rai tended to march off when frustrated.
“Maybe a snack will help,” Lily said, hopping to her feet. Walking over to a tree with strange tube-like stems drooping from it, she stroked one gently, and soon, rich honey emerged.
“How’d you do that?!” Eiji said, running next to her.
“Eiji, you of all people should know about this,” she giggled, licking the honey off her finger. “These are Yabber Honey’s, it’s the root form of the Minus Pinet's merged with – Honey Yabber.”
“Right,” Eiji said, examining the long skinny tubes hanging from the tree. “Step one. Grip trees extended honey dispenser. Step two, kneel gloriously.” Eiji, gripping the long stemming funnel of the tree while kneeling under said, “Step three, enjoy.” Squeezing the tree, nothing came out. Eiji looked into the funnel that the honey should have come out of, when suddenly a wave of honey splashed over him, completely draining him in honey.
Nearly an hour later, inside the woods, as Rai continued to stubbornly walk, he muttered, “What’s the point of having an awesome attack I don’t even know how to use.” His eyes followed a trail of fallen leaves, but upon looking up he noticed another person nearby.
They had long silver hair, with a touch of black mixed – their eyes were fixed on the ground. The man looked of nobility but wore a simple kimono.
“Hey,” Rai said, curious as to what they staring at. Glancing at the floor – about a dozen red bugs crawled about.
Pointing at the bugs, the man said, “Poker ants. Similar to Red Hot Poker’s.” His finger shifted toward a yellow bug – it was making its way to the pack. “Thought to be extinct, years ago, yet here they are, though, it’s likely this may be the last of their species.”
“Ok…” Ra said, confused.
“The yellow’s a female. When she reaches the males, should she remain that color she will likely mate, releasing many eggs and saving their kind from extinction. But, if she turns blue, then she’ll eat every one of them present, essentially committing genocide.”
The yellow bug, entering the group of males, searched around before stopping at one that seemed to pique its interest, however, moments later, its shell turned a shade of blue, biting the head of the bug off.
“Talk about a fatal attraction. Guess she wasn’t feeling the love after all,” Rai said.
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One by one, the bug ate the others.
“Is the act of killing it justifiable, when it is what it was intended to be?” Looking at Rai, the man said, “Kill it and save the rest, or, let nature play its course. Which would you choose?”
Rai, puzzled, didn’t know how to respond – instead watching the blue bug continue to eat the red until there was none left. Not long after, the mysterious man walked off without saying a word, disappearing into the woods.
“What was all that about?” Rai wondered out loud.
Later that night, Rai and everyone else were gathered around a campfire.
“So, Aegis, how’d you end up in a place like the Underrena?” Lily asked.
“My father put me there. Thought it would harden a soft heart, as he put it. Yuta was their way of holding leverage over me, otherwise, I would have left the place a long time ago.”
“I’m sorry, that must have been tough,” Lily said.
Yuta was sleeping at the moment; he was curled up in a sleeping bag with Plu and the cat.
“Crackle crackle,” Eiji whispered to himself, hovering his hands near the fire. “Anybody got any scary stories?”
“Nada,” Lily said.
Aegis shook his head, signaling he didn’t have any to share either.
“I might have had a few moments that qualify,” Rai snickered.
“What, nothing? Lame. Okay, I got this,” Eiji said, leaning in so the fire would cast an ominous shadow on his face.
“Really?” Lily said, leaning in. She loved a good story.
Eiji cleared his throat, his voice dropping to a whisper as he began his tale. “Legend speaks of a creature that haunts the waters around here, born from the darkest recesses of the forest's heart. Others say it was once human, cursed by the spirits of the woods for daring to trespass into their sacred domain.”
A shiver ran down Lily's spine as she imagined the creature lurking beneath the tranquil surface of the lake nearby.
“Is it a guardian, tasked with protecting the secrets hidden within the depths, maybe a vengeful spirit, hungry for the souls of those who dare to venture too close.”
A rustle in the trees sent a chill through the members of the group, their eyes darting nervously into the darkness beyond the fire's glow.
“One thing for certain, on moonlit nights like this,” Eiji continued, his voice barely above a whisper, “it emerges from the depths, its form twisted and ridiculous, eyes glowing red.”
The crackling of the fire seemed to resonate with the pounding of their hearts as they waited for Eiji to continue.
“Muwaaah!” Eiji, pretend lunged towards Lily who shrieked.
A branch snapped in the distance, causing Rai to jump and clutch his coat tighter around him.
“And though many have tried to escape its grasp,” Eiji concluded, “few have lived to tell the tale.”
“You’re pretty good at that,” Rai said sitting down.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Lily replied.
“Thank you, thank you,” Eiji said, standing and bowing similarly to how one might do at the end of a play. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I will be leaving to taketh the pee-ith.” Swirling around, Eiji walked towards the lake.
A little while later, there was screaming from where Eiji was.
Running over, they found Eiji staring at them confused.
“We heard you scream?” Lily said.
“Yeah, I skipped a rock and it only hit twice. It was perfectly shaped too, totally botched it.” Eiji said, slumping over.
“Eiji you woke Yuta and Plu up,” Lily said, disapproving.
Shaking their head, everyone was about to leave, when a large creature emerged from the lake, slinging its tongue around Eiji. “Huh?”
With a harsh tug, the amphibian creature swallowed Eiji, before jumping back into the lake.
“Eiji!” Lily said, running after him. She was about to jump into the lake when Aegis held her arm, shaking his head to disapprove of the decision.
“Not the wisest idea,” he said.
Rai however jumped right in. Moments later he came swimming back up with another chasing after him. “Help!”
Aegis swiftly chopped the creature down.
The mantical of Eiji's roared, causing any remaining cryptid lurkers to dive back into the murky lake.
After, examining the dead one, Aegis said, “Cryptid Lurkers. They live in deep lakes, normally in forests far from here. They eat by keeping their prey captive within their stomach, letting the lack of oxygen handle it from there. Their stomachs are comparable to that of a steel cage.”
“Then I don’t know what we're doing waiting around here,” Rai said, heading back to the lake. “Come on Plu.”
“Eiji is half Nefarian, correct?” Aegis asked.
“Right,” Lily said.
“He should have some resistance to any acidic properties within the beast, which leaves, maybe an hour before he runs out of air...”
“You coming or what?” Rai hollered from the lake.
And so, Lily stayed behind while both Rai and Aegis descended into the lake in search of Eiji. Any creature that came forth, Aegis handled. Spotting a lurker retreating into a dark hole, the two followed, emerging from the water not long after. They were now in a hidden cave!
Exiting, Rai using Birchet’s amulet, lit the space around him. Placing his hands along the walls, he whispered, “Roots? Even down here.” The cave seemed to be a hallowed out – super root, deep within the earth.
“The world tree extends everywhere, it’s no surprise,” Aegis said.
They ventured down the dark tunnels, using flux to locate their captured friend.
“This is impossible,” Rai said. The network of tunnels extending way beyond the reach he’d expect it to.
“At this rate, he’ll die,” Aegis admitted.
From Rai’s coat, under his hood, Plu’s head popped out.
Lily had sewn a pocket of sorts that was located under Rai’s hood; that way Plu could have a more convenient place than the inside of Rai’s jacket.
Poofing into an apple, Rai snatched it mid-air, saying, “You sure buddy?” With no answer, Rai figured it was okay. Eating it, a rush of energy entered his body. “Alright, so what now?” Rai asked out loud, but right after a sensation came around. Looking down one tunnel of many, he said, “This way.”
“Are you sure?” Aegis asked.
“I’m certain.”
Carefully headed down the tunnel, after a few minutes, Aegis asked, “What made you choose this way?”
“After I took a bite of the apple, randomly I got this feeling that he would be this way. I can’t explain it, but my guts telling me it’s this way.”
Not long after they came across a large room with many Cryptid Lurkers.
“Looks like you were right.”
“There’s so many of them, how’re we going to find Eiji?” Rai said.
“We're short on time, there’s only one way,” Aegis said, slaying a sleeping creature nearby. Darting off into the fray, Aegis continued to mow down every creature in his path.
Although it wasn’t something he was entirely comfortable with, Rai proceeded to do the same.
After enough time passed, Aegis, slicing open a creature, stumbled across Eiji. He was still unconscious at the time.
Checking his pulse, Aegis gave Rai a nod, signaling he was okay.
Rai, huffing, said, “Found him at last.” Looking around, countless dead creatures littering the floor. After releasing some Flux to reform the apple/Plu Rai muttered, “Come on, let’s head back.”
However, before they could, tiny flapping feet slapping against the ground reveal a baby version of the Cryptid Lurker.
Aegis walked over to it, ready to put it out of its misery.
“Wait, it's just a newborn,” Rai said.
“Cryptid Lurkers can bear children on their own. If we leave it here, it’ll likely expand in numbers and attack future travelers. It's better if we kill it now.”
Rai, couldn’t argue with the facts of what was stated. Turning his view from the creature, Aegis proceeded to end its life.
Upon returning to the top, Lily said, “Eiji!”
“Remind me to never pee over a lake again,” Eiji said, falling to the floor, exhausted.
“Alright, time to hit the sack,” Rai mumbled, his tone weary. “We'll make it to the empire by tomorrow.” Rai, walking past Eiji, curled up in his sleeping bag without saying another word.
“What’s up with him?” Lily asked.
“Guess he's had enough excitement for one day,” Aegis remarked.
Lily shrugged, “Can't blame him. It's been a wild ride so far, but tomorrow we finally arrive.”
With their minds aiming toward what awaited them in the Illuminus Empire, they slept, preparing for an early arrival.