The sprite watched this newly arrived group from the safety of the canopy. One of them had done something with the air. Because of that, getting too close felt weird. It was almost like trying to swim through honey. Still, it had a job to do. A few days ago people started to arrive in the forest again. It had been a long time since anything like that happened and these people didn't seem to respect the sprite's homeland as they should. Without asking or anything, they came carrying machines and things from other places. Things that shouldn't be here.
For an elemental spirit to survive, they had to be in a place with pure mana that matched their own element. And that was exactly what this forest had. Everything in here only had a single type of mana inside it. Sleep mana. When the outsiders brought in those machines fueled by mana crystals, the surrounding mana became tainted, and the sprites had to run away from the road to avoid getting hurt by the stray elements that seeped out of the foreign objects. Because this was happening, the sprites had to defend themselves and attack anyone leaking mana like that.
A few people were able to pass without too much issue. The forest had ways to purify the surrounding mana. It was something that took time, but as long it wasn't too much mana, it wasn't an issue. However, this group that just arrived wouldn't be like that. Almost all of them were leaking mana, and one of those people had so many different elements surrounding her that just looking at her made the sprite feel sick. Not just that, but all the sprite could sense from that person was shadow mana in a very concentrated form. It was a signal that she was a mage, which only made the sprite angrier.
Among the roles, one, in particular, had a very complicated relationship with elemental sprites, and that was the mage. Due to their own nature, their mana would change to a specific element and, because of that, any elemental spirit that didn't share their element would naturally be hostile to the mage. On the other hand, when they found an elemental spirit that matched the same type of mana they had, the spirit would feel attracted to the mage, and it would be easier to form a bond.
The sprite knew that watching this group was all it could do. They were too many, and there was too much mana leaking for it to be able to do anything. However, that didn't mean it had no other options. It already had sent a signal to its kin about this new danger. Soon they would gather around and use their sleep mana to drive these people away from their homes.
"Man, I don't even know where to start," Helena sighed and looked around. The sprite was gone, and no one could find it again, even with Hera and Shane's spell.
"Is that something we already should know about?" Bonnie asked.
"Not really, although, surprisingly, you didn't stumble across that during your research," while Helena talked, the group still kept walking. The mage was also trying to be as quiet as possible, speaking in a low voice, "In simple terms, elemental spirits are creatures made out of pure mana. They are kind of another type of people we can find in the MAZE, but they can't talk to us."
"They can't talk? What about writing?" Alex asked.
"It doesn't work. They can't understand what we say, and no one has figured out a way to teach them our language in any form. Even charades don't seem to work. The only way to understand what they mean to a point is to have a spirit partner."
"What's that?" Hera asked.
"When you manage to befriend a spirit, they can offer to help with some of their mana. Then you have a sort of link with them, and when you use a spell of their element, you share the cost of mana. I always wanted to find one for me, but it's hard to find a shadow elemental spirit," Helena explained.
"That seems amazing! Why have we never heard about that before?" Bonnie asked.
"Probably because it's dangerous, and almost no one wants to risk getting a spirit partner," Shane replied in a cold voice.
"Why is that?" Blue turned to the explorer.
"Because Helena is not thinking about what that partnership means. You and the spirit will be linked. Your emotions will be affected by that," Shane stopped the group and used her gauntlet to make sure there was nothing coming towards them.
"I still don't get it. Why is that bad?" Silah asked.
"Because elemental spirits react to things differently, they take their emotions from the mana they are made of," Shane didn't look back to reply. She was focused on the surrounding forest.
Silah turned to Hera with a confused expression, but her girlfriend just shook her head, "I don't understand either."
"Elemental spirits are made out of mana, pure mana. When they get in contact with another type of mana, they get hurt, and in extreme cases, they can turn into a daemon," Helena explained when it became clear that Shane wasn't going to talk about that anymore.
"Daemon? So they actually change species?" Bonnie asked.
"Kind of, for them, being tainted by mana is like a dog getting rabies. There is no way to cure that, and they lose all their sanity and any control over their emotions."
"That's why people say it's dangerous? Because since we share emotions, when they go crazy, so would we?" Alex asked.
"Exactly, and we can't take that much mana. What tends to happen is that people lose control and just start rampaging fueled by the daemonic energy supplied by the former spirit," Helena gave them a sad smile.
"Does that happen often?" Silah turned to Helena.
"I don't know. Like, having a spirit partner is already a rare thing. Not as rare as a legacy by any means, but it's still hard to see people who have them," Helena shrugged.
"But when it happens, things can go bad very fast," Mylo said.
"Like how?" Blue asked.
"Guys, shut up for a second," Shane called out, "There is something coming."
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Everyone stopped talking and got ready for whatever Shane saw. To the south, they heard the sound of heavy footsteps. Not wanting to be caught by whatever was coming, the group started running again. They were still deep in the forest, and it would take some time to finally escape it, but there wasn't any other choice. Whatever was coming after them had the home advantage, even if they tried to hide, they had no idea how the creatures here would track them. Having elemental spirits in the area only made Helena, Shane, and Mylo even more worried. No rule stated that humans, dwarves, or a specific race were the only ones who could have spirit partners. In fact, there were quite a number of reports of monsters who worked alongside the elemental spirits. If this was the case, whatever was coming wouldn't be something easy to deal with, and without any information, it could prove to be a danger for the group.
The footsteps kept getting closer and closer, despite everyone's best efforts. They could hear a low growl coming from the darkness behind. Hera glanced back as they ran, seeing a pair of piercing yellow eyes staring back at her. A momentary sense of dread washed over her when she realized where she had seen those eyes before. Instinctively, she reached out for her scarred ear. The cold of the armguards was comforting, but at the same time, it only increased her worry. Could there be wendigos here already?
"Hera? What's wrong?" Silah asked after she noticed her girlfriend lagging behind.
"Nothing. Just keep moving," Hera turned back to the path ahead and used another pulse, focusing the spell mostly on her back. If one of those things were around, she had to keep an eye out.
"Aaahh!" Alex's scream came out of nowhere. She sent a few blades of wind flying to the side. The spell hit one of the trees, but there was nothing there.
"What's wrong?" Bonnie started to slow down, but Hera pushed her forward.
"Don't stop! I think there is a wendigo here," Hera called in a hurry.
Hearing that, Helena turned pale. Even if she already had gotten rid of the parasites, the memory of what happened, of what those things did to her, was still fresh in her mind. Shane fired an earth spike bullet to the side, but the projectile hit nothing. It exploded on the ground, damaging some of the nearby trees. A loud roar echoed through the forest, and the footsteps became louder. Hera glanced back again and saw the purple panther, much larger than it was before and with parts of its skull growing over its flesh. She tried to use her [Observe], but nothing happened. For the first time, her skill had failed completely.
"Get off, get off, get off," Bonnie started to scream and slap her own body.
"Shane… he's here again," Mylo was staring at the other side of the forest.
"What the hell, guys?" Blue gasped while looking around. She couldn't understand why everyone was acting so weird.
"We need to get out of here," Helena turned around with shadows covering her entire body. She was no longer a person. Now she was the embodiment of darkness. With a quick movement, that dark figure vanished from sight. Helena was running even faster than Alex with her buffs.
Bonnie looked at her arms and splashed some water on them. After a moment, she clenched her fists and looked up, "Ignore what you are seeing! These things are not real."
"Are you sure?" Silah was staring at the sky with wide eyes.
"I'm positive. Just ignore these things and run," Bonnie started moving again, pushing the rest of the party to make them start going.
They managed to push through their fear and keep moving. It helped that what all of them were seeing was some sort of creature chasing them. Bonnie was the only one who was seeing something that would disrupt her movement. Then again, anyone would have trouble focusing with spiders crawling on their arms.
"What the hell is happening?" Blue asked, still confused about the situation.
"We are seeing illusions. I guess each of us is seeing something we are afraid of," Bonnie shouted from the front while she forced Mylo to move. The fighter seemed very perturbed by whatever he was seeing.
"Really? Why am I the only one not seeing it?" Blue asked.
"Are you really complaining about that?" Alex shouted as she threw another wind blade at the forest.
"Stop attacking. These things are not real," Bonnie yelled.
"It was a reflex!" Alex barked.
Bonnie finally managed to push everyone forward, and they kept running for a few minutes. They were all tired, but at the same time, stopping here felt like a horrible option. Hera still couldn't believe that this was just an illusion. The panther looked so real, and it acted just like the one she fought. Even the weird way to run to hide the noise of its footsteps was the same. Although now that she was trying to find differences, she noticed that it was a bit offbeat. Not just that, but it seemed like two of its legs were heavier than the others.
Hera glanced back one more time, and above the wendigo, she saw another creature. A large purple monkey with massive arms and a face that seemed to have had all the moisture sucked out. The skin was sticking to the bone. What was more unsettling was the fact that it didn't seem to have a mouth. There was a jaw and fangs but no opening in the skin. As the monster roared, it looked like it was suffocating in its own flesh. Hera tried her [Observe] again, but it still couldn't see the name of either monster.
"I heard that one," Blue looked back.
"Great, now you are also being affected. Keep running!" Bonnie shouted.
"Are we sure that is a monster and not just another illusion?" almost as if in response to Shane's question, the monkey clawed at a small tree by the side and sent it flying towards the group, "Nevermind."
Mylo and Hera quickly jumped back and created barriers to stop the flying trunk and kept running. Hera got worried about Silah since she was considerably smaller than the rest of the group, but when they managed to see the exit of the forest, the dwarf bolted at such a high speed that she left everyone else eating dust.
"Why is everyone suddenly faster?" Alex cried. For an assassin who took pride in being among the most agile members of every party, seeing that was starting to hurt. Alex activated her buff and dashed forward, accompanying Silah, who was already a few meters ahead.
Everyone else stayed behind, but not by that much. A couple more minutes passed, and they reached the edges of the forest. In front of them, there was a rocky plain and, beyond that, the settlement. Hera took one more glance behind and saw the panther wendigo and the monkey giving up on their chase, but they were still there, watching the group.
"Is everyone ok?" Shane asked.
"I hated that," Bonnie still had goosebumps from the spiders crawling over her.
"Same. I really hate frogs."
"Are you ok?" Mylo asked Shane.
"Yeah. Nothing I can't handle. What about you?" Shane replied.
"I just hate that goose," Mylo replied.
"Goose? You saw a goose?" Blue was staring at the fighter.
"Yeah. Why?"
"No. Nothing. I was just curious," Blue walked away, understanding that this wasn't something Mylo wanted to talk about.
"What about Lena?" Hera asked the group.
"I'm here," Helena was sitting on a rock, sweating buckets and having trouble catching her breath.
"Ok, what the hell just happened? And what is that monkey that was chasing us?" Blue asked.
"I don't know, but let's talk in the city. I don't want to start a discussion with that thing watching us," Shane gestured towards the forest. The purple monkey was still there, staring at the group with an angry expression. Hera also could see the panther hidden amongst some bushes, with its yellow eyes glued to her.
"Yeah. Let's get out of here," Alex turned towards the settlement and started walking. She didn't have to say anything. This was something that everyone agreed on, and they all headed to a safe place where they would have warm beds and, hopefully, no more nightmares.