What the hell am I doing? Ralph thought, weaving between the tightly clustered trees as he traversed the forest. Urn had sent him off to search for the exit while he retrieved his locket; but they’d already spent their first two days in the forest searching for the exit. Some last-minute frantic searching would do them no good. And it’s boring as fuck too.
Ralph stopped in his tracks, running his hands through his hair and ruffling it up exasperatedly. “ALRIGHT, THAT’S IT!” Ralph shouted, spinning around and heading the opposite direction. He was tired of aimlessly wandering, and he was-
Ralph was violently flung off his feet and slammed into the tree behind him as a brutal wind ripped through the forest, causing the trees to sway and lean uneasily. As suddenly as the wind came, it vanished, and Ralph fell to the ground, panting for air as he stared at the direction the wind had come from. Leaping into the air and scaling up the tree as quick as he could, he clambered onto the treetop to get a good look at whatever the source of the sudden blast of wind was, and nearly fell off at the sight of the enormous tower of water swirling around in the air.
In the blink of an eye, the tower of water had completely vanished, and the only thing left in the air was a body, falling towards the ground slowly.
Or more accurately, pieces of a body.
A dismembered leg, two arms, a head, and a locket wrapped around the head’s neck fell through the air in a cluster. Ralph’s eyes widened as he recognized the person to whom the head belonged to, and the locket as well. Urn. He thought panickily, and immediately shot into the air, darting from tree to tree as quick as he could.
Crashing towards the ground, he planted his feet into the rocky soil and sprung into a careless sprint, completely disregarding his surroundings, and totally unaware as Khai descended from above, slamming his fist into Ralph’s back and slamming the guardian flat onto the ground with ease. Alci, creeping out of the shadows, stood beside Khai and glanced at the direction the tower of water had rosen from.
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Ralph, seizing that moment of distraction, transformed himself into a fish and wriggled out of the man’s grasp, shooting towards Urn’s directions once again, only to be jabbed in the chest by Khai who violently pinned the goldfish up against a tree with a finger. “Who are you? What are you? Transforming into a human isn’t something your run-of-the-mill magical beast is capable of.”
“Move your hand or I’ll crush it.” Ralph threatened, transforming back into a man and grabbing Khai by the wrist, trying to yank off Khai’s hand; yet the warrior’s hand would not even budge as Ralph continued to struggle.
“Khai, release him.” Alci said. “We have bigger issues, like confirming if the Locket Bearer really did battle with Zeadra.”
“I’ll dispose of him quickly, just in case he’s with the Locket Bearer.” Khai outstretched a hand, magical energy shrouding his nails, which shifted into razor sharp claws the size of strands of grass.
Urn needs me! Ralph though, desperately squirming in an attempt to free himself from Khai’s grasp as the warrior's claws grew closer. Just when the claws were at his throat, Ralph felt a sudden rush of power invigorate him, the exact same feeling he’d gotten from Urn’s awakening. Bursting with vibrant magic energy, Ralph swung his leg up and towards Khai, who quickly backed away, slicing at Ralph’s head, yet the guardian had scaled up the tree to avoid the attack, and then sprung off the tree, towards the direction of the blast of water.
Khai whipped around towards the direction Ralph had run off too, about to give chase, but was promptly stopped by Alci who held his hand out in front of Khai.
“...We have company.” Alci explained, nodding his head towards a nearby tree. Sauntering out of the shadow of the tree, Naadi blocked the two’s path, his blade poised at them; he was clearly ready for battle at any moment’s notice.
“Not a step further.” Naadi said, drawing a line in the ground with his sword. “I have some questions that need answering; and depending on your answer, I might have to execute the two of you.”