Arthur's Point of View

The Hollow Forest

Kine rolled his eyes as he moved forward. "No one doubted you, Ayda." The Zugal then looked at me and scoffed.

Ignoring the cocky bird, I looked to Cassidy, who waved. "Ah told ya she wanted ta talk to ya." The redhead stated with a smirk.

Typhon was also present who walked over to the large crevice and examined it. "Woah…" He let out in an impressed manner. "Did you do this?"

"Unlikely." Ayda quickly answered. "Only one of the Priestesses would be capable of such a feat." Her matter of fact tone pissed me off.

"I don't know…" Floyd said from one of the trees above as he laid out on a branch. "Maybe we shouldn't make assumptions. Arthur did save them after all."

"Supposedly." Ayda shot back and quickly moved to me. "So, what are you doing back out here, Sir Arthur?" She inquired as she looked me over.

Replying with a sigh got everyone's attention. "Making sure the forest was clear of any more possible threats."

The Elf scoffed at me. "It's the Hollow Forest, Sir Arthur. It will never be clear of threats."

Closing my eye, annoyed, I quickly responded. "Threats of the Ghoul and assassin variety." Gesturing to Cassidy, the redhead tilted her head. "I told Cassidy the same thing earlier."

"That he did." She confirmed. "Still don't know why ya had ta do it yerself."

"Mostly because all of you have mostly gotten in the way every single time I've come out here." My dry response got a glare from Kine.

"Hey! We didn't get in the way!" The Zugal shouted.

Looking at the man, I spoke. "Do you have to shout every time you talk?" He opened his mouth again, but I raised my hand, signaling him to stop. "Don't answer that. I really don't care if you do, but I find it annoying, so do it somewhere else."

Floyd chuckled. "Always in a good mood, arentcha Arthur?"

Ayda quickly summoned her magic and started casting spells around the area. "These readings are certainly powerful, but definitely within the range of the Priestesses abilities." Then she cast a spell on me. "See, none of the magic in the area is Arthur's!"

Probably because I don't have magic, you dumb bitch. "Fascinating. Now that you got your answers, will you please leave? I have work to do."

Typhon quickly moved next to Ayda. "Is it true you really fought both Priestess Arceana and Priestess Elincia at the same time?"

"Who told you that? You left, so you didn't see anything, or are you just making assumptions." I inquired.

"Priestess Elincia told me you held your own against both of them and that she was really impressed." Ty informed me. "That, and you looked really determined to fight them. It was a misunderstanding, so I'm glad no one was hurt."

I'm glad I could use them as bait, including myself, if it gave you the opportunity to run away with no issues. "Me too." Then I gestured for the group to leave. "Now run along. I've got a few more things I need to do." At this point, I was really hoping they wouldn't follow me into the forest every single time I wanted to train.

Cassidy just chuckled. "Ah don't think Ayda's gonna leave without askin a few more questions first."

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"Well, Ayda can suck my left nut. In case all of you forgot, you lost our little bout, which means none of you get to ask any questions." Then I gestured to the crazy Elf. "You still do, which is super annoying, but I've come to accept it. However, right now, I am busy." Pointing back the direction they came, I continued. "So, why don't you all march right back out the forest and go back to-"

I didn't get to finish as Ayda pulled out the book of Prophecy that the Priestesses showed me and cast a spell. "I want answers!"

The spell hit me dead on, and I winced as I wasn't expecting the sudden attack. "You stupid, bitch!" Stomping over to her, I grabbed her by the arm. "What did you do to me?!" Shaking her violently by her arm, Ayda looked afraid of me and dropped the book as she cowered.

"It should have worked…" Ayda replied meekly as she brought her free hand between us to cover herself. "How do you feel, Sir Arthur?" She asked.

Clicking my teeth in annoyance, I pushed her away and began to examine myself. I didn't care that the others were on edge from me pushing her, but at least most of them realized Ayda deserved her treatment. Nothing appeared to be wrong, and that worried me. Magic seems to always affect me differently than most intend, and I seemed more sensitive to it than being stabbed with an actual steel blade.

"I feel the same." I said as I looked myself over and turned to Cassidy. "You see anything wrong?"

Cassidy frowned. "No." She answered and then turned to her friend. "Ya said ya were gonna ask him questions, Ayda! Not attack him!" The redhead stepped in front of Ayda disapprovingly. "Ah can't believe ya just did that!"

Ayda frowned. "I am sorry…" The Elf said quietly. "I just wanted to know more about what happened."

"Hey, to be fair, the dude doesn't talk to anyone. I understand why Ayda resorted to such drastic measures." Kine pitched in, which I gave him the middle finger in response as Typhon and Floyd tried to comfort the Elf.

Whipping around and pointing an angry finger at the Zugal, Cassidy spoke in a warning tone. "Don't you start!" The redhead sighed as she turned back to Ayda, exasperated. "What was that spell supposed ta do anyway?"

Before anyone could respond, the book of Prophecy started to glow a brilliant green that matched Ayda's magic aura and floated into the air. All of us watched on, almost mystified, but I was also on guard. The spell hit me, so if anything were to happen, it would be directed towards me. My eye focused solely on the book that was getting brighter with each passing moment.

"What's happeni-" Before I could finish, blood erupted from my lips as my head flung back, spraying it all over my chin.

Bringing my fingers up to my lips and touching them to inspect the blood, I brought my head forward to see the group looking at me in horror. Each one had frozen aghast at the sight before them. They weren't looking me in the eye and instead focused on my stomach. Following their gaze, I saw what appeared to be a magical claw sticking out from my stomach. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that I had been run through right under my chest plate.

"What the fuck…" I said in disbelief.

The green claw that looked like Ayda's magic pushed in deeper. More blood poured out of my mouth, and I tried to grab the magic attacking me. When I did, a bluish-purple portal appeared directly beneath me where dozens of these claws poured out of. It's likely there was one there already but much smaller. Now it was almost ten feet in diameter and the others backed away fearfully. Violently, the claws began to attack me, and only me.

"Arthur!" Cassidy cried out in horror as she rushed to me.

I tried to fight back, but my sword was knocked from my back as I was pushed down into the portal face first. Thankfully, I wasn't pushed or pulled through, but I was sinking. The claws started to hook into my arms, legs, hands, and any other place that wasn't covered in armor. My eye looked around for my sword to see if I could reach it.

Cassidy reached me first, and Typhon was next. Both started to remove parts of my armor to have more room to remove the claws. It made sense, and it surprised me that they were so quick on the uptake. The claws had positioned themselves in spots that used my armor as a way to seal my movements.

"Hang in there, Arthur!" Cassidy called out as they stood in the portal. "We're gonna get ya outta here!"

As they pulled off almost all my armor, they started to try and work the claws out of my body. "Help us!" Typhon shouted at the others who stood idly by, but they just continued to watch.

The portal shifted, and stardust started to float around the area as I struggled to stand up. Moving to my knees, I was able to get my face off the ground as I struggled against the claws. However, they soon shot up and wrapped around my shoulders and over the top of my arms. Sinking into the newly revealed flesh, they pulled me down as my knees were sucked down into the portal. Some even started to weave in and out of my skin in a horrifying manner.

"Get my sword!" I forced out through clenched teeth.

However, before either of them could register my words, a burst of wind shot out from the portal. It was strong enough to seemingly lift me in the air and blew both Cassidy and Typhon out of the circle of the portal. The claws slammed me back down into the portal, and one scrapped the side of my head, which tore off my wrapping around my eye.

Slamming my eye shut, so it wouldn't hurt anyone in this situation, I looked to Ayda. "Get Arceana and Elincia! Do something!" All the Elf girl did was watch with tears in her eyes as I was pulled further into the portal.

"His sword!" Cassidy shouted at Typhon.

"Hurr-" Typhon scrambled toward the blade, but when he looked back, all that was left of me above the portal were my eyes.

"Arthur!" With one closed eye, I saw Typhon shout my name one last time before he and Cassidy reached out for me futilely.

I felt my body become completely weightless, as my vision filled with stardust and light as I was pulled through the portal. The good thing was that I still felt alive. Despite all my wounds, while extremely painful, they didn't seem to be killing me at the moment. However, as time passed as I traveled through the portal, I felt my body growing weaker and weaker. Eventually, the claws all disappeared, and my body went limp as I was flung from the portal.

Now my body was sailing through the sky, and I spoke in an exhausted and wounded tone. "Where am I?"

Not being able to get my body to work properly, I twisted in the air until I could see a forest underneath me, approaching at an alarming rate. It was much too vibrant looking to be the Hollow Forest, which meant I had been transported elsewhere. That was all I was able to realize before my body slammed into the top of a tree and tore through it violently and painfully. The tree in question practically exploded where I hit it and fell down.

Landing on the ground created a deep crater, much like the one I made when I first arrived here. Unfortunately, this time, I wasn't in good shape. Excruciating pain could be felt from the entirety of my body. Lying there as I felt blood pooling in the dirt beneath me, I started to shuffle slightly to examine the wounds.

Blood poured from every spot the claws had pierced my body. It was a slow process. Much slower than it should've been for the size of the wounds. A chunk of wood was lodged in my lower abdomen from the tree. My arms were too heavy to move, and I felt myself fading fast. I tried to force myself awake, but I was quickly losing consciousness.

"God damnit, Farro…" Were the last words I said before I passed out.