The pressure in her chest and the difficulty breathing was causing a lack of oxygen in her body. Alanna recognized that she was in some trouble. She pulled on her willpower and forced herself to think clearly even. She had one enemy in front of her grinning evilly as it stalked closer. It had a bit of an injury to its right hand where her staff had taken out a small section of flesh. It was slowed by its attraction to the pooling blood on the floor. Its black beady eyes glancing from her to its former companions and the beautiful crimson pool close by. It turned its head toward it and Alanna felt she could cast her regeneration spell once again. Doing so immediately brought the attention of the redcap fully back on her and it snarled in anger and sped toward her once again.
Alanna rolled backward kicking out hard to both give her some momentum and hoping to hit the little monster. The lady of luck seemed to smile on her as the pool of blood was just enough to cause a slight stumble from they typically fleet-footed redcap. It easily corrected the slip with the next step but its direction was now fixed and the left foot of the druidess was headed straight up toward the underside of its chin. In desperation it leaned back and raised its arm to deflect a likely killing blow given their size difference.
Alanna rolled up onto her feet and brought her shillelagh to guard diagonally in front of her chest in time to see the small creature flipping backwards. It landed roughly on its front side and let out a groan of pain. Alanna wasted no time and rushed forward lifting the staff over her head and bringing it down hard on the redcap. Like the first two, this creature also exploded into a pool of gore.
Her lung had healed quickly at first allowing her to reinvigorate her body with oxygen but she was still in quite a bit of pain. The skin and muscle on her chest was still trying to stitch itself together and the roll then subsequent strike on the creature caused it to rip anew. No other creature had made itself known during the few minutes she was fighting but Alanna did not want to take down her guard. She had only been in the otherworld for a short time and already she felt exhausted. She knew most of it was mental exhaustion as she, while having the memories and knowledge of her past selves, was still pretty new to the stress of combat and violence.
She understood conceptually what she needed to do. She recalled scenes and moral justifications for fighting and killing. Still, knowing something and experiencing it are quite a bit different. She also had started getting a strange feeling about the creatures she was battling. She could not quite place it but there was some sort of connection with them. It felt like they were tied somehow to the land but also not. They were repulsive to her. She had a passing thought that they were invasive. She couldn't understand why but that felt right.
The druidess made her way through the room refreshing her armor and ensuring her body was fully healed from this ordeal. She found the layout pretty much the same as the floor below and now completely empty. She also found that the pools of blood and gore had faded away into piles of crimson dust. Even the backside of her clothes was no longer saturated in the remains of the redcap she flattened. There was a bit of dust she wiped off but that sticky warm and wet feeling had thankfully passed. With the room clear she made her way up the tunnel toward the next floor.
When she was certain there was no other enemies around she moved back down into the cavern and cast the Land's bounty spell creating a pool of water that bubbled up from the ground. She used it to drink to her fill and then rinsed herself as thoroughly as she could. She took a few moments to rest her mind and regain her calm. She also thought about the quests she had to remind herself why she was going through any of this. She took a deep cleansing breath in then released all the negative thoughts and her stress upon her exhale.
Alanna pulled her phone from her pack but the device would not turn on at all. She sighed and shoved it back into the pack. She did not believe it would work but didn't carry another method of telling time. If she were to venture a guess it had to be close to three hours she spent on this trek. Without knowing for sure she decided the best thing to do would be to continue onward. The trek to the next floor was quiet and uneventful. As with the path below it spiraled up and around the outside of the open cavern until a replica of the previous two appeared.
She silently entered the room and took in everything she could of the layout. Unlike the previous rooms this one looked like an underground forest. It was lightly lit as the other areas had been and she could hear the sounds of a babbling brook on the right side of the room. She bent down into a crouch to lower her profile crept forward anxiously. She focused on her hearing and vision trying to find whatever horror lay in wait before it found her.
After a few minutes of sneaking and searching she found the creature of this floor. Unlike the other floors this one had a strange alcove dug into the outer wall where in a large creature lay. Alanna saw what appeared to be an iron cage with what appeared to be human bones inside behind the creature. On the left of the alcove there appeared to be some sort of table with various items strewn across it. Alanna could not tell what they were from her position but something about the room resonated with her. This was the first time she felt a positive feeling from something and while she didn't know exactly what it was, she knew it wasn't from the creature.
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The being gave off a feeling of wrongness that made her shiver. It was worse than the redcaps and her spirit was filled with revulsion. A part of her demanded the ending of this being and before she could stop herself, she crept forward. The creature looked to be asleep and unaware of her presence. It was at least 2 and a quarter meters in height and badly deformed. It was roughly humanoid in shape but had a reddish purple skin color. It was naked but for a loin cloth that was well and truly soiled. Alanna looked at the staff in her hand and at the giant creature. She knew it would do some damage to it but it would take quite a while to beat it to death even if there was some mystical properties to the wood. She carefully and quietly moved the pack from her back and rummaged through it until she found the sheathed iron scian her grandfather had packed.
The druidess unsheathed the blade and held it in her dominant hand swapping the staff to her non dominant side. She crept toward the giant figure careful to make as little sound as she could. She pulled from memories of her past self where she had been a hunter and her body weight shifted back a bit allowing her calf muscles and core to support the wait while she stepped toe to heal. She felt the burn in her muscles as she stalked silently forward She moved toward the creatures head and prepared to strike with the dagger but paused. The deformities of the creature were so prevelant that she was unsure where the best place to strike would be. It was laying on its left side which held a massive arm. The right, however, was short and thin almost as if it had belonged to another creature. Its back was malformed and there was a severe curvature in its spine near its head which caused a hump like appearance. Its legs were long and looked somewhat normal when compared to a human but on its larger upper frame they looked oddly to thin. She could not quite make out the head from this angle and given that she was unsure as to its anatomy she was concerned about where she should strike first.
Alanna called upon her memories hoping that something would trigger and eventually it did and from Nuada. The creature was one of the fomorians and in this form could be dispatched like any other humans. It was a bit smaller than the fomorians they fought from the past and it made Alanna feel as though it were a runt or perhaps a younger creature. The part of her that was Nuada burned with rage and this creature and she did not hold back her strike. She carefully thrust the dagger into the creatures hump severing its spinal cord in a quick decisive strike. Unfortunately, given the shape of the spine in that location, the creature retained use of its arms witch it flailed back at her. Fortune had not fully fled for Alanna as the creatures smaller weak arm did relatively little as hit struck her. The creature rolled over and screamed in rage as its legs failed to move it held itself up with its massive arm and tried to pull the dagger from the hump with its smaller arm.
A part of Alanna felt terrible for the pain she had caused and the lack of a clean kill. However, there was another part that reveled in the carnage. She was afraid of the two disparate parts of her psyche and did her best to walk a middle ground. Still, she had a quest to complete and this thing was in the way. Something was in the alcove and she needed to know why it called to her.
She raised her trusty staff above her head and proceeded to beat the crippled fomorian until it could no longer move under its own power. It seemed like she had done pretty severe damage but it was still breathing. Alanna felt sick but she rushed behind it and removed her scian and pierced the creature repeatedly until it dissipated into a reddish purple dust.
Alanna felt the exhaustion of the day pressing upon her. She was not at all used to these actions. She rationalized it and even somewhat excepted her actions, but she was still exceptionally mentally fatigued. She looked down at where the fomorian's blood had been before it turned to dust. "What have I become?" she asked. She wasn't exactly upset but more confused by her rapid acceptance of the need and even, if she were honest with herself, the desire to satiate a deeply rooted bloodlust.
The exhausted young woman inhaled deeply seeking the cleansing good of the world. When her lungs filled to capacity she held it in and reflected on her life and her recent actions. She accepted who she was in the past. She was timid and afraid. She was afraid of committing to any goals because she was afraid her mother and maternal grandparents were going to force a life she did not want upon her. She was afraid to make connections with people because she was afraid of their judgment when she would be lost in an episode. She even left for Ireland because she was afraid to disappoint a father she didn't remember. Sure she loved the land and did not want to leave it now but when she felt the call she just wanted to finish school and be left to her own devices.
Alanna accepted that this was her past and accepted that is who she was. Then she exhaled and let that all go. It was no longer who she is. She took another deep cleansing breath and thought about her actions the past few weeks. She thought about her reuniting with her selves. It was an incredible journey through her 800 lives. She got to learn about who she had been. She was a fighter. She was a lover. She was a sibling. She was a mother. She was also a father at times. She was a hunter. She was a tribe leader. She was a doctor. She was a druid, and she was a king. She was all of these things and more. She accepted her past lives. Then she exhaled and let that all go.
Alanna took in a last deep cleansing breath. She thought about who she wanted to be. She wanted to be a warrior. She wanted to be a healer. She wanted to create a home for her future. She wanted to be educated. She wanted to help the land thrive. She had a half remembered memory from a time when the Tuatha De Danann lived in the other place. A promise was made a pact was formed. She wanted to fulfill an oath and to do that she must become stronger. She would become whatever was required to fulfill her goals. Blood would be on her hands. Some would be from the violence she would cause. Some would be from the allies she would heal. Yet blood there would be. This was her life now. This was the choice. There was an ancient promise tied to her soul and she would see her people to their final home. Alanna exhaled and let that all go. It was time to continue on.